Re: Big Jon Hunt
Mike & Jon,
Yes the 1006 plant which grew the 977 was close to 1,200 sq ft. I did not
prune any side branches. Reading Jon' thoughts on pruning every other side
vine and having seen other heavy hitters use this technique of pruning with
consistent success I would venture to say there is definitely some merit to
this theory and method. I am going to concentrate on this next season.
Another question for Jon, how much sun exposure did you have on your patch?
Full sun all day or was the plant in partial shade during certain times of
the day? I am wondering if in hot climates, shade while cutting some
photosynthesis down might not be harmful but actually beneficial? I bring
this up as the 977 was grown on a plant which received only partial sun. In
the morning the North 1/2 side of the plant received full sun until about 1
PM. By this time the North half was in the shade and the South 1/3 of the
plant was in the full sun until about 4 PM, then filtered light the
remainder of the afternoon. This blew the theory for me of full sun, all
day, and the farther North you are the more sun light you have which is also
believed to be the reason more large pumpkins come from Latitudes farther
North.
Chris
==============================================================
>Jon,
>
>Here's the dilima, what I have seen in my patch is I had tried huge plants
>for a three years with results in the 650 range. Then i tried the X-mas
>tree style terminating secondary vines at 10 feet. Hit my personal best
>744. Then this year took them down even further to 7ft. Hit near 700 with
>rough weather conditions. I felt that cutting them down to 7 would be the
>equivalent to cutting out every other secondary. I believe that there is a
>level to which plants are EFFICIENT and then theres a point where its
>EXCESS and not really helping much? Was this your first year taking out
>every other secondary?? Now I am not sure but i think big Chris A. had a
>huge plant and didn't take out secondaries. 2 ...900+ different pruning
>tech. I think determining the number of leaves may depend on your
>climate or daylight hours so different growers have different experiences.
>I also wonder as long as there is some pruning and control of the plant the
>technique or style of pruning may not be as crucial as we think?? any
>thoughts from your experiences??...........Brock
>
>
>
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