Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Yana on August 16, 2013, 07:18
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My jack o'lantern pumpkins and Turks turban squashes have all set fruit but there is still growth well beyond the point where the fruit is. I can see very small fruits and lots of trailing leaves, but the fruits are not likely to grow big enough now to be of any use.
What is the best thing to do? Cut the growing points of each of the trailers two leaves beyond where the large fruit has set or leave be? I am sure I should be doing something because all the energy will go into the small fruit won't it?
Thanks in advance for any advice. :D
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I can see very small fruits and lots of trailing leaves, but the fruits are not likely to grow big enough now to be of any use.
At a wild guess, I'd say you had at least another good 6-8 or more weeks before the first frost so still plenty of time for those set fruit to get big enough with not much detrimental effect on the others. But if you really want fewer fruits on a vine to get the full benefits, then by all means take off the baby ones. I never bother nipping shoots off as it is in a plants nature to throw out new ones which takes just as much energy.
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If they are small or medium size squash, then I agree there is still time for the littl'uns to grow to eating size :)
Maybe not the big'uns or pumpkins :unsure: You can always chop some bits off them to make sure the ones already set get bigger, or if the leaves/shoots are in the way, though ;)
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My Uchiki Kuri Winter Squashes are about 12' long now (with a few side shoots that I can't actually reach to cut off without doing myself a mischief!) and I too am debating whether to try to divert the plant's energy into the existing fruit, some of which are still quite small.
I've noticed that the plants have rooted in several places where the nodes happened to be touching the soil, which I'm hoping will add to the plant's resources, so I may well just leave them to it.
Bit of an experiment because I've only grown these a couple of times, and a gamble on the weather too, but hopefully more to potentially gain than lose.
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My Uchiki Kuri Winter Squashes are about 12' long now (with a few side shoots that I can't actually reach to cut off without doing myself a mischief!) and I too am debating whether to try to divert the plant's energy into the existing fruit, some of which are still quite small.
I've noticed that the plants have rooted in several places where the nodes happened to be touching the soil, which I'm hoping will add to the plant's resources, so I may well just leave them to it.
Bit of an experiment because I've only grown these a couple of times, and a gamble on the weather too, but hopefully more to potentially gain than lose.
Mine are rooting too JayG and it seems to be near this point that the small fruits are growing.
I'm going to take off the really small pumpkins and leave the squashes to do their thing. Just happy I've got some this year. Hopefully I can keep hold of them....... Last year my best pumpkin was stolen. Bit pointless as it wasn't ripe. :mad:
Thanks all. :)