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New grower here.
I planted 3 plants in 2 hills May 31 in 5'x5' enclosures, plan to cull to 1 plant per hill. 1 plant is 2 weeks older due to germination failures. It had two true leaves at planting. It now has several leaves and a 6" vine. A handful of blossoms have formed. Is this normal? The plant had a lot of root when I transplanted. It was in a 5x8" 4" deep peat pot. Root bound? If it is root bound is it a sure cull candidate? Should I snip the blossoms off? The other plants were planted with seed leaves only and now are at the 3 leaf stage. Seeds are Howard Dill. Is the size of the seed leaf important? One plant has much larger seed leaves (10" across both)Any advice greatly appreciated.

6/11/2003 7:26:58 PM

Garden State Pumpkins

Hey Livebait, Have you been using any fertilizer on the plants? Did you have the hoop houses up for a while before planting? fertilizers heavy in P like bloombusters 10-60-10 will cause a problem while also good for rooting if the soil is to cold it's gonna use it elsewhere. cold nights and no sun during the day doesn't help the rooting process if you can heat the cold frame might just get the soil temperature up. when did the plant actually germinate was it in that pot for a month? post as much information as you can these guys will help! Good luck grow em big! Chuck

6/11/2003 8:56:16 PM

Yes, Miracle Grow 15-30-15 and fish fertilizer 2-3-1 once a week for last two weeks. Houses were up in advance with heating cables. Cables still on, they shut down at 74 degrees. Plant was in the pot for about 3 weeks. Blossoms have appeared on one of the plants that was planted with only seed leaves which I think discounts my root bound theory. All plants were planted in potting soil with manure, soil and peat moss mix 3' deep below. Maybe too heavy on the fertilizer? I assume blossoms at this stage is not normal? Plants seem to be very healthy and growing fast. I Water with 2 gallons of water 3' around the plants and wait till the soil surface is fairly dry before watering again which is mostly every day somtimes every other day. I'm gonna pinch off the blossoms. How big should I let these plants get before culling to 1 per hill? Maybe they are too close together and root bound that way? (8-10 inches)The leaves are overlapping from plant to plant. I'll post some pictures when I get camera ready. Thanks Alexsdad. Good luck, you grow em gig too! Bait

6/12/2003 9:43:39 PM

Cameron,ontario Team Lunatic

I am a fairly new grower myself and found that if the plant gets pot-bound it matures to fast allowing the flowers to blossom early. I don't know if it will recover as I have terminated any plant that got that way. Maybe one of the experienced growers could comment on this. Good luck and have a great season

6/13/2003 8:38:53 AM

Garden State Pumpkins

maybe water more to get it down deeper and skip an extra day..make the roots reach deeper....everything else sounds good...can tell you did your homework... chuck

6/13/2003 8:45:17 AM

Montoursville, PA

I've had some very good coaching from this board and elsewhere. The only place I think you might do better is plant in at least a half gallon ice cream box. My roots from seed hit the sides and bottom, of a 1/2 gal. ice cream box, in just ten days. Seed in box April 28. First peeking true leaf by May 5th. Placed in patch May 7th. Another day or two would have been potbound. (meaning roots hit side or bottom and had to turn) Once a root is turned it will have been stressed or is headed for stress within its own little tight growing area. Breaking out is not an easy chore once the roots are turned to grow back into the ball.

Think and visualize this. All that the plant has left is to send out secondary roots is the showing root surface at the edge of the pot. The half mile or so of possible secondary feeder roots will be bound within themselves and not be able to get out and support the plant.

I do not think any annual plant ever overcomes this problem.
They like to be set free, to grow on, not bound up, to fight, their own way back out, of the ball, or produce skimpy secondaries, in an effort, to support the plant.

6/13/2003 11:08:17 AM

Thanks for the help. I removed the plant. As I did I realized on my plant stake the date was 5/4 not 5/14 duh!. (5/4 was date germinated seed was put in pot) When I planted roots were thick on all sides and through bottom. Lesson learned. Given the distance between plants, any suggestions on how long I should wait before culling to 1 plant per hill? Thanks, bait

6/15/2003 11:06:28 AM