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caro mi.

if anybody has experience in trenching and then burying the vine ,i have a couple of questions for you . 1st do you also bury the secondary vines and if you do, do you bury them all the way out , 2nd quest . when vines are buried , what are the tricks to preventing stem split when pumpkin starts getting large , this seems like it would be a problem to me with the vine being anchored in the ground like this ? if anyone could enlighten me , would be appreciated DAN ORTON

3/31/2003 8:42:41 PM

canal winchester ohio

I only bury the secondary vines myself, leaving the main above ground. And I bury the secondaries when they are about a foot from the main by trenching ahead of the vine & backfilling as the leaves & male flowers mature. If you bury a vine to soon you can stunt the growth of that secondary. And to prevent stem split as the fruit grows I support the main by a bracket made of pvc & use pantyhose to cradle the main vine on the pvc. It may sound a little funny, but the pantyhose has a litle give to it as opposed to using blocks to hold the vine up........Paul

3/31/2003 8:57:34 PM

Garden State Pumpkins

Remember Dan the vines anchor themselves to the ground with roots and tendrils...the vine grows from the tips, extra care should be taken not to damage these tips as that will stop the vine right there...a simple pinch at the end of a vine terminates it...so will woodchucks, sevin burn etc...As Paul said some people just bury secondaries, some bury everything...I guess it trial and error of which will work for you. Just protect thos tips!! Grow Em BIg! Chuck

4/1/2003 7:38:24 AM

Garden State Pumpkins

Also you will stop burying the vine before the area of fruit set and try and give yourself slack by shaping it in an S pattern...this will allow you to raise the vine up like Paul said up to the pumpkin without undue stress on the Stem. good luck! plenty of help here from growers way more experienced the me.!

4/1/2003 7:42:35 AM

canal winchester ohio

I got the idea of using the hose for stem stress from a article I read some time back by Nic Welty. Here is a link to the complete article
http://web.raex.com/%7Eldnwelty/pumpkin/stemstress.htm

4/1/2003 8:22:06 AM

Key West, FL

If you are pinching off the tendrils (which makes the vines a lot easier to bury) make sure you give the wound from where the tendril was a day to dry before it goes in the dirt.

4/1/2003 2:22:38 PM