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Central NY

I have a 16 day old 1894matison x 1766.5 debacco about 20 ft out on the main... Lots of healthy plant behind it ...Seems to be doing well, still shiney ,and another 5 ft past that , (a bee pollinated one which also looks like it took)...main terminated after that one... Wondering if I should cut the main right after the crossed kin to allow room for the secondaries behind the kin which are being a bit crowded by the turn in the main now... I think I want the cross mainly because it's our first attempt at a cross...should I do this in stages?.. Or just lop it off?... Thanks... No pics yet, my computer sucks

7/26/2014 3:18:52 PM

East Jordan, MI

16 days and growing....how big is it? If bigger than a basketball you should be ok.

On the note of deadheading the main at the pumpkin, I personally like to leave the main growing past the pumpkin. The idea is there is a hormone in the growing tip that sends a signal back to the root telling it "I'm not done yet, send me some more juice" but the pumpkin is between the tip and the root, so it gets first dibs.

We don't leave sides on the main and we just wrap it around the patch as it grows.

And on the third question (how much to remove at a time)
We deadend one or two vines or one pollinated pumpkin per day max.

7/27/2014 8:30:47 AM

Central NY

It's about the size of two basketballs side by side this morn...I will start snipping the 2nds after it.. And the smaller kin... Should I train the last secondary as the new main and let it go?..( snipping all secondary's of it as it grows?)... Or did I already signal to the plant that I'm a moron...thanks!

7/27/2014 9:33:13 AM

Lodi, California

Cecil,

The main terminated, so there would not be a hormone to be sent back?

7/27/2014 12:10:47 PM

Kentucky, U.S.A.

Shame to have this problem Porkchop! After four years the moron still gets in my way!

7/27/2014 6:24:26 PM

Central NY

It's a curse....

7/27/2014 8:23:44 PM

Stanwood, Washington

I have heard the vine tip hormone theory before and I don't know if there is any conclusive evidence on it. If there was it would seem to me that a growing vine tip on a secondary would accomplish the same thing as having it on the main. I personally terminated my main at the pumpkin and treated a secondary back a few nodes as the new main to keep the plant growing abd provide back feeding. However, this was mostly for positioning reasons as far as where I needed the fruit to end up in relation to my driveway.

7/28/2014 5:03:05 PM