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Re: Vine Size

Stewart,
   Most , but not all, world class pumpkins are set on the main vine. The
gentleman with the gardening show is correct when he says that pinching
growth will stimulate side vines, branching and flowering. When you pinch
growing tips you are altering the hormonal balance in the plant which creates
the branching. This may be O.K. for flowers or ornamentals but would not be
wise on a giant pumpkin. I can't imagine terminating a nice 2 inch main vine
before it has flowered, to set one on a skinny side vine. If you are having
trouble setting fruit, by all means, try to set fruit on side vines or
anywhere you can.....virtually all top growers, if given a choice, would set
fruit on a main vine. I have seen Atlantic Giants branch so severely that
they lost their main vine and just had a mess of skinny branched vines. I
believe this garden show man is trying to apply a proven technique for
African Violets to the Atlantic Giant.....some horticultural techniques do
not apply to everything. Keep your main vine and try to set fruit on it and
terminate main and side vines when the plant is big enough. Most everyone
feels that 500 to 1,000 square feet is a good sized plant. 500 might be the
minimum. Bernard Lavery is a good grower, but if he said that a 128 square
foot plant is all you need, I think he is way off the mark. If you set a
fruit 10 or 15 feet out, you would have to terminate the main vine right
after the fruit and have 4 foot side vines....there is no way that is big
enough. Leaves are the source of food for the plant and it doesn't make sense
to limit them , that severely. If you grew a 600 pounder on a plant that
small, maybe it could have been 750 pounds with more leaves. To each his own.
                                             pumkinguy@aol.com
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