Re: vine burial

3.  About an hour a day per plant is how much therapy I need to

keep myself evenly unbalanced....


Cute and accurate for most of us
----- Original Message ----- From: "vince" <anaid_tecuod@yahoo.com> 
To: <pumpkins@hort.net>
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 2:32 PM
Subject: Re: vine burial



Hi Bridgette,


1.  No your growth pattern is not normal.  My guess is that
your burying of the vine ends shocked the plant. 2. I do not recommend burying vine tips once they are 
terminated as I explained before. I've seen fresh cut vine tips
bleed for weeks if buried.  Let terminated vines air dry and
heal.  This will reduce fluid loss.  I use bamboo stakes in a
crossing pattern to hold down the end of the vine at the last
leaf junction to keep the wind from flipping the terminated
vines.
3.  About an hour a day per plant is how much therapy I need to
keep myself evenly unbalanced....

vince


--- Bridgette Antoinette Tojek <honeybempowered@gmail.com>
wrote:


Here is what happened: I pollinated on July 13th, and once
the fruit
looked to be about beach ball size, I started measuring for
estimated
weight on a daily basis. I had a few days of 3lb growth and
the next
few days had a 5 lb growth and then a few nights experienced
12 lbs
for two days. It was worth looking forward too every morning!
I could
visibly see the change- and let me tell you the shoulders on
this chic
are wider than my boys and he is a Marine! That day I decided
to bury
all the secondary vines and the few tertiaries. I went and
put plant
food stakes by each buried vine and I had to feed the
surrounding
companion planted sunflowers and grass with a 6-10-10. I also
removed
all female blossoms and some male blossoms. I guess I put her
through
the wringer! I measured the next two days and there was no
growth at
all. I was so discouraged.  I figured the plant was healing
herself
and diverting energies to the buried vines, maybe growing tap
roots.
Then the leaves started turning yellow- I am guessing I over
fed it.
Three days after I culled blossoms and buried vines, I am
starting to
have a 3 lb daily gain, that has been for the last few nights
anyway.
Its as if I am back at the starting block.
I also put a smartgrow pad around the base which has a slow
releasing
feed as well as a moisture preservation component but most
importantly
slug repellent.  I have yet to have to use Sevin- the
Japanese beetles
are not too bad and I have not seen the moth that has the SVB
in my
area yet. I did buy a 5% dust and make keen daily
observations. I will
be ready in case I need to dust. Everything that is there are
attacking the  12 ft tall sunflowers, not the pumpkin. One
sunflower
is being herbiverized from the inside out by the ants but are
not
touching the pumpkin. I did not remove the grass- I figured
just as
many good things are there as bad. Next year I will remove
grass but
plan to keep the sunflowers as companions.
So I guess the main point is that the pumpkin was
experiencing
phenomenal growth and I decided to bury the vines, cull the
blossoms
and now I have stunted the growth considerably with only 7
weeks left
to weight off. I was so psyched that at day 30, I had a fruit that 
exceeded 200 pounds and this is my first year growing and now
it seems
as if I may have just lost my chance. My fruit is 8 ft from
the base
and there is 15 ft more vine past the fruit but all my leaves
are
considerably small for being on a Giant.  I think I may not
bury the
end of it because I do not want to depress the growth like I
did the
first time because if that discouragement creeps back in to
my life, I
may just find myself curled up in the corner in a fetal
position
calling for my grandma! !:
1:Is this growth pattern normal?
2: Do you think I need to bury the terminus of the primary
vine and
3: How many hours a week does the average competitive giant
pumpkin
grower spend in therapy?


On Mon, Aug 18, 2008 at 11:51 AM, vince
<anaid_tecuod@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I always let the main vine continue to grow until it
reaches
> the end of the patch which is about 30 feet.  Many growers
will
> terminate it at some point.  I think this is probably
pretty
> safe to do at about day 50 or so at which time all vines
should
> be terminated.  I have seen significant pumpkin growth to
day
> 100.  I like to have some newer leaves on the plant to help
> support that late growth.
>
> vince
>
> --- Bridgette Antoinette Tojek <honeybempowered@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> My main concern now is the Primary Vine. I removed all
female
>> blossoms, as opposed to the blossom and fruit from the
>> primary vine.
>> That was how I culled. Every time I removed the blossom
that
>> was at
>> the end, a new one would grow. This put on three more feet
>> because it
>> happened three times. I was trying to divert all energy to
>> the fruit
>> but as I culled, each time one more foot of new vegetative
>> growth
>> appeared with a new female at the end. What do I do with
the
>> terminal
>> end of the primary vine because once again, a new female
is
>> emerging.
>>
>> On Sun, Aug 17, 2008 at 11:04 PM, vince
>> <anaid_tecuod@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> > When terminating a vine or pinching off a teriary, I
>> usually do
>> > not bury the ends but leave them to dry in the air to
>> reduce
>> > the chance of causing the severed end to rot.  They will
>> air
>> > dry in a few days and I've never had a problem.  I
usually
>> > pinch off teriaries when they are very small which
leaves a
>> > very minor injury.  When I terminate larger secondaries,
I
>> > always cut right   at the far edge of a leaf juction so
as
>> not
>> > to leave a long hollow tube of vine.  The hollow part
>> narrows
>> > right at a leaf junction.
>> >
>> > I don't believe burying the ends of the vines provides
any
>> > benefit and could cause rot problems.
>> >
>> > vince
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --- Bridgette Antoinette Tojek
<honeybempowered@gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> >> Thanks for that info- I will carefully evaluate what I
>> have
>> >> been
>> >> feeding the plant and try to decide what went wrong. I
>> also
>> >> do not
>> >> know what it means to pinch the vine. Is this simply
>> bending
>> >> the end
>> >> and then burying it? Kind of clamping the end of the
vine?
>> I
>> >> just
>> >> worry about leaving an opening/ gap for bacteria and
such.
>> >> But I need
>> >> to do this as soon as possible but am reluctant to do
so
>> >> without a
>> >> response from the experts. I am sure it seems simple
>> enough
>> >> to most but to me it seems as if I am missing
something.
>> >> Sorry
>> >> Bridgette
>> >
>> >
>>
>


---------------------------------------------------------------------

>> > Pumpkin-growing archives:
>> http://www.hort.net/lists/pumpkins/
>> > To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net
>> with the
>> > message text UNSUBSCRIBE PUMPKINS
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --


=== message truncated ===

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Pumpkin-growing archives: http://www.hort.net/lists/pumpkins/
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PUMPKINS


---------------------------------------------------------------------
Pumpkin-growing archives: http://www.hort.net/lists/pumpkins/
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PUMPKINS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index