Re: long gourd

Ok I'll give the list my thoughts....... Per Marv's request!!
    First I am deffinetly not the expert on growing these things..yes I have had some success.....a few years over the 90" mark but I have had my failures also!!! as this season has been ....but I am continueing working on making it towards my goal of  atriple digit goal..something I have been close to but not quite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
   anyways....Pruning...i pruned religiously my first 2 years.....treating it like  a pumpkin plant... only this plant is verticle and then runs horizontally some 14 to 16 feet....ANYBODY WANTING PICS OF A PLANT ON A TRELIS JUST WRITE and i'll send yo uone....DO IT to me personally not to the list..no need clogging everyone up with this stuff unless they really want  to see it....
   anyways...the problem I found with pruning is that these things keep sending more and more and more tert. vines......in the same spots...ove rand over again.....after a while I found that I just could not and did not want  to keep up with it .......hey aren't like a pumpkin....once you cut off a tert. on a pumpkin..game over from there on.....MAYe you'll get  alittle shoot coming up in late season but that is after a long time frame...
  these things keep them coming......
  SO I quit pruning....PERIOD......and that year I grew a 95 7/8" incher...WOW I thought I had it...truth is .....It was probalby a combination of better weather and healthier plant and such....soooooooooooooooooooooooooo
    It can be done without pruning......It's the lazy mans way to do it...BUT you may end  up witha  healthier plant IF you prune some the the excess out ..next year i plan tto prune one plant and leave the other run wild!!! So I'll only be half as lazy as normal!! LOL!!!
    those are my thoughts at this point of the learning curve.... I have  along ways to go and my biggest concern is finding out why I get so much die back ......as in plant dieing off......thsi year and last year have been terrible and th esplits in the main vine  down at the base are probably the main reason..what causes it I don;t know but I will continue the fight for a triple digit GOURD!!!! KEEP THE FAITH MARV! SOMEONE will do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DANNY





M*@aol.com wrote:
99.2ac769ea.2a85f497@aol.com"> In a message dated 8/9/02 3:04:27 PM Eastern Daylight Time, B*@aol.com writes:


How do you prune em?


Brian

I don't prune the long gourds very much but do pinch the growing tips of most of the side shoots that seem to appear from everywhere. Some of the bigger side vines I remove later when they start hanging down from the sides of the trellis but usually I wait until I have one set for sure just so I have the maximum amount of flowers available for pollination. I've hand pollinated a few but most of the ones I've had have been done by insects. I did all of mine in the evening but you may have something in waiting for morning. I'll be checking mine tomorrow a.m. see how the pollen looks. Also, I think a brush is almost a necessity for pollinating these small delicate blossoms.

I've only grown them a few years myself and don't have much data recorded other than growth history but the morning pollination is something I will try. Records of evening vs. morning success rates may lead to something. I'd love to hear Dan Carlson's thoughts on this. My best was from one of his seeds.


Marv 


-- 
It's all fun 'til someone gets hurt...........
then it's hilarious!

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