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Minnesota([email protected])

For those who terminate the mainvine at the fruit, I have the following questions:
1.Being all the plant is before the fruit, how big is your plant area? If you set a fruit at 10', you'd need 20' secondaries at each side, to have a 400 sq. ft. plant.

2.Do you notice a lot of splits? (Some consider the growth after the fruit, as a saftey valve for growth spurts, I believe).

3. Is this mainvine termination more common with growers in certain geological regions, such as the Northeastern U.S.?

10/17/2005 4:54:46 PM

Manchester,N.H.

I did this for the first time this year. I set the pumpkin at about 18' and it left me with about 350 sq.ft. of plant in a 20' x 20' area. I noticed a lot of splits and had to cull the pumpkin at day 13.

10/17/2005 5:49:58 PM

Western NY

I've done it 4 times that i can remember, and 2 of those were after the fruit was over 200#, and stem stress was becoming an issue.

1 - i've never really thought about that one. on most of them, the secondaries were a bit longer than i normally would have.

2 - 2 split, 2 didn't. that doesn't sound like good odds, but one i can say for sure had nothing to do with the main termination.

i'm planning on doing this with a plant next year that will hold 5 fruit on. secondaries will each be 25-30' long, and the main should be ended with a pumpkin at about 20-25'

10/17/2005 7:51:45 PM

Cornwall UK.(50N 5W)300ft.

4 times here as well.
twice with fruit at 20 ft plus so the plant had filled its space anyway the other 2 nearer the stump I trained the secondaries forward to fill the space so those two plants had growing tips same as they would with secondaries allowed after the fruit.
1 of 4 split but I didn't blame the pruning method for that one.

10/17/2005 9:24:23 PM

Buffalo, MN ([email protected])

Doug, I also did it four times this year . In all cases the fruit was very young.

1    The 752 Blair, my dog broke the main just after the first female, I pollinated it at about 7 feet from the stump. Let the secondaries grow extra long. 877 Pounds.
2    The # 16 Gerry, the main had already grown 25 feet before fruit set, I terminated the main do to space considerations of the plants next to it. Let the secondaries grow 20 feet to 2 ft. 760 pounds.
3    The 1125 Frantz, I cut the main right after the fruit because of poor positioning. Left the secondaries grow 18 feet. 992 pounds. Let the trailing vine grow it’s own fruit which weighed 396 pounds.
4    The 1420 hail broke the main right after the second one, I left both grow and the let the secondaries grow to 14 ft on one side and did not terminate the other side. Fruit were 542 and 377 pounds.

No splits in any that the main was terminated right the pumpkin.

10/17/2005 9:33:25 PM

Appalachian Mtns.

I've grown 2 that were over 500# that way and no splits....approx. 800 sq ft behind on each.

10/18/2005 6:45:50 AM