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Michigan

Tomorrow will be 8 days after pollination and I've let the main vine continue. I trimmed secondaries off the main behind the pumpkin. How long should I let the main vine continue on before I cut it, or should I not cut it?

Thanks for any input. It's my 1st year.
Adam

7/4/2021 9:34:39 AM

Syracuse, NY

In any event, stop cutting off secondaries until you've seen other new growers' questions that you can read by simply going through the last year's (or further back) questions that preceded yours. There is a Search Window on the top left of the Home Page here that, even though you might not name something perfectly and it sometimes says 'you must enter valid search criteria', keep trying and it will fill you up with a lot of info until experienced growers answer you back here, directly, since it is the holiday and so forth.

F'rinstance, I typed in

to cut or not to cut

and i was surprised to have anything come up, but it worked, lol---

Let the main vine continue, grow secondaries off of it up until they reach your boundaries or 15-17 feet max. each one and they then get dead-ended (carefully cutting the vine away after the furthest leaf out to finish it off, so to speak) and all vines present now including the main but not too close to the stump (1 to 2 secondaries' distance?) get 'buried' with soil at each base of each leaf stalk to cause more roots to develop from there, enhancing the root system. There's no need to bury the entire vine.

NOT burying on either side of the fruit for 2-3 leaves'/secondaries' distance each way is advisable to allow the vine to rise with the upward growth of the pumpkin(!).

Another thing to Search is

vine length

Once that comes up, go the BOTTOM for discussions about it and the TOP few dozen will have grower DIARIES and pictures of the topics in question --- Good Luck, and Happy Growing----eric g/pumpkinpal2

7/4/2021 11:11:38 PM

Colorado

I like to let the main go for as long as possible after pollination.I let it fill in the far corner of the plot and then run it around the periphery. My patch is all dirt so i try to get all of the main after the fruit rooted.Some pumpkins will slow the growth of the main almost to a stop and others wont.

7/5/2021 7:47:51 PM