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milford, CT,

Is there a minimum plant area that guys shoot for before they pollinate. I know guys say after a certain length of the main, but what about secondaries and total plant area?

6/24/2006 9:34:29 PM

Connecticut, USA

To add to the question....what about terminating secondaries prior to pollination? Is it typical to have some secondaries already dead-headed before pollination?

6/24/2006 9:47:53 PM

Garden State Pumpkins

great questions...would terminating vines at pollination be a plus or a minus ? pushing a small pumpkin to early may just split open...Or wait till it's at a ten to fifteen day old where the volume might be able to accept more of the pump.

6/24/2006 10:50:51 PM

milford, CT,

Ken, I'm deadheading the first 3 secondaries tomorrow at 9ft, but the next 5 are only 2-3 ft long. If all goes well I'll start pollinating next week and I'll have about 250 sq ft of leaf canopy. I just want to provide enough power to let the pumpkin reach it's potential. Mark

6/24/2006 10:52:57 PM

Rhode Island

under normal circumstances we like to pollinate a fruit at a minimum of 11 to 12 ft out between june 30th and july 7th.
at that point you can expect anywhere from 8 to 9 sets of sides before that first pollination.

plus ,at that point the first two sets of sides (minimum) should be terminated at 11 to 12 ft to the left and right of the base of plant.
my best guestimate woulkd be a plant size of approximately 200 to 250 sq ft at pollination.
then of course idealy we would like the total finished plant to be between 600 and 650 sq ft.

6/24/2006 10:53:58 PM

Midwest

Milford: between June 25 and July 10th if there's a female over 10 ft out on the main, pollinate it regardless of how long your secondaries are. Ideally, there should be several terminated secondaries in front on the pumpkin. Judge the pumpkin growth and continue to terminate the secondaries as they become too long. By the way, some people terminate secondaries on one side or the other to stick with their growing pattern. I don't really know what the ideal percentage of canopy before the pumpkin grows the bigger ones? We need the experts.

6/24/2006 10:55:26 PM

milford, CT,

Since I, like a few others in my region, had some pollination problems last year I am planning on pollinating everything after 10ft. I have 2 on the 1081 Leonzi that should be ready next week and I'll be pollinating them. I am trying to set up the best possible conditions for increasing my weights this year.

6/24/2006 11:02:44 PM