Re: how many pumpkins will powerful 940 Mombert plant support?

Matthew Isom wrote:
> 
> My 940 Mombert plant is so much more vigorous than other plants I've had
> in the past that I wonder how many pumpkins I should leave on the
> plant.  I know people used to say one fruit only per plant, but it seems
> that quite a few growers are keeping two, three, and even more on there
> now.  Harley Sproule, for example, told me that he thought his 968 would
> have blown up if he hadn't kept a second fruit on that monster of a
> plant.
> My plant is about 700 sq. ft. and I've still got a few side vines and
> the main vine growing.  Most leaves are 26" in diameter.  Reight now
> I've got three pumpkins about 70" in circumference (at about day 28) on
> side vines and have two smaller ones coming on fast (22" on main vine at
> day 9 and 31" on side vine at day 12).  Right now I'm thinking of
> culling my 69" and 67" and leaving the 74" 22" and 31" since the smaller
> ones are the only ones that seem to be growing fast enough to break 700
> pounds anyway.  That would leave me with a 74" on a side vine off the
> main, a 22" on that main vine about 25' out, and a 31" on a side vine
> coming off a second main.  Hmm.  Maybe I should leave the 67" which is
> on a side vine coming off a second main and cull that 74" since it's on
> a secondary (side) vine coming off my main vine.
> Well, the typical dilemma that we all find ourselves in, but I'm asking
> you since most of you have more experience at this than I do.
> One of my big worries is that if I cull a pumpkin, of two or three at
> once, all of the extra energy might cause a remaining pumpkin to blow.
> So, how do I do it?  Cull one pumpkin every two days, in the morning, or
> what?  I've only been chopping off one or two side vines per day out of
> concern that I might blow up one of my babies.
> 
> Any advince would be appreciated.
> 
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I'm not sure about which pumpkins to cull, but Alan Reynolds had a good
idea for the best way to go about it. Slowly cull a pumpkin over several
days by cutting only part way through the stem each day. This will
slowly reduce the amount of energy going into that pumpkin instead of
cutting it off all at once. This should give the other pumpkin time to
slowly adjust to the increase in growth.

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