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Midway, UT

I've heard it said more than once on this board that all things being equal, the farther out on the main you set your pumpkin the better. What is the reason for that exactly? It makes sense to me that you need a good root system developed and enough leaves to power the pumpkin but other than that why would 11' be "better" than a set at 13' on average? Technically why does two feet and 4 sides vines make that much difference when those side vines are eventually going to grow anyway and they don't get slowed down much those first 10 days of growing? The numbers that Greg Hopson pulled together and shared a few weeks ago on this board would support that farther out on the main is better (although there is a certain bias built into those numbers because of grower preference to grow farther out on the vine) but why wouldn't 7 more growing days be a greater advantage? I don't really question that on average farther out on the main is eventually going to catch and pass a pumpkin shorter on the vine but I would like a better "scientific" understanding as to why or at least some experienced guesses. That way I can feel better when I cut off a nicely growing basketball sized pumpkin this week in favor of a softball sized pumpkin a few feet away.

7/19/2009 12:35:27 AM

Minnesota([email protected])

Good question. Many believe that the size of the plant before the pumpkin is an important factor in affecting the ultimate size of the pumpkin. The more plant(to a certain extent) the better. Also, after a fruit is set the plant growth seems to slow considerable after the fruit set. So, in theory, a further set on the main allows for a larger plant to feed the pumpkin. One way to get a larger plant before the pumpkin, with an earlier set, is to train some secondaries to grow up and around the pumpkin, instead of just perpendicular to the mainvine. There are other vine patterns that can acheive this.
Personally, if I had a basketball-sized pumpkin at 11' and a softball-size one a 13', I'd look at the following factors in determining which one to keep:
growth rate
pumpkin shape
the stem and it's relation to the vine
genetic cross(maybe a less significant factor...depending on goals)
Others may have differing opinions.

7/19/2009 9:46:43 AM