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Massillon, Ohio

A few years ago "tertiary" was practically a dirty word. Then in '07, the McKie bros had such great success & revealed they had done some creative vine patterns using tertiaries to provide late season fresh leaves for hopefully more late season pumpkin growth. At the beginning of'08, several growers said they were going to try patterns using tertiaries either before or after the pumpkin. Soooo.....Did you try it? How did it work for you?

11/25/2008 6:06:28 PM

Ohio

Great question ! I have grown a good many pumpkins and have never had very much growth(vines and leaves) on any of my plants once the pumpkin was set and started to grow. On the 1631 plants diagram of the vines, showed a massive amount of green growth past the pumpkin, how that plant still grew all them vines and leaves while growing a 1631 lb pumpkin still baffles me.

11/25/2008 6:33:43 PM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

I attended last year's OVGPG seminar in Canfield, where the McKie boys were invited to speak and they showed us their pruning technique. I tried it this year on the 1524.5 Liggett.

The idea is to push the main vine out as quickly as possible to maybe 15 or 16 feet before setting the fruit and allowing the plant to fill in behind the fruit afterward. This required cutting secondaries.

The first secondaries on either side of the main were allowed to grow at a 45 degree angle rearward. This required placing the plant 8 feet farther out into the patch than normal. Tertiaries off the rear of these grew rearward in the same direction as the main to the edge of the patch. Tertiaries on the front side of these secondaries were grown perpendicular to the main, with the longest being 12 feet.

The next secondaries were grown out 7 feet farther up the main and curved rearward in a 'S' pattern to a total length of 15 feet. No tertiaries off these. The next two sets of secondaries were allowed to grow out 12 feet, again with no tertiaries off these.

The next secondary in line was grown perpendicular to the main and tertiaries off the front side only, angling 45 degrees outward past the pumpkin to the 12' secondary termination point.

The last set of secondaries grew perpendicular to the 45 degree tertiaries on the previous secondary to the edge of the patch at 35 feet and terminated. Tertiaries were grown off this secondary, front side only, parallel with the main to the edge of the patch at 35 feet, with the longest being 13 feet.

Very wordy I know, but I'm looking at this diagram as I type.

I think I'll try it again this year on a couple of plants.

11/25/2008 8:20:04 PM

Minnesota([email protected])

So does cutting off secondaries increase the growth rate of the mainvine? I've wondered this in the past.

11/25/2008 9:01:02 PM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

It did for me.

11/26/2008 4:38:12 AM

Columbus,ohio

I didn't do any of it ...next year will be my first year with good seed and soil...Any way is the point of getting the main out sooner to get a fruit set eairler and therefor more time to grow?

11/26/2008 10:00:30 AM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

The point is to get a fruit set out farther on the main early and fill in behind it later.

11/26/2008 10:05:59 PM