Basil Chupin wrote:
John Savage wrote:

On our national gardening show (on ABC tv) Peter Cundall was talking
about pumpkins, and said growers should not to be reluctant to pinch
off the tips of long runners, this forces side runners to grow and it
is these side runners that bear the female flowers. So you will have
more pumpkins if you pinch off the tips of the main runners.

Anyone heard of this before?

Note: Americans would refer to these as "winter squash", I think.


Yes, it is a practice which Peter has been advocating for many years.
But the success of this lies in pinching runners only when they have
reached a certain length - and I don't remember what this length should
be (I have a feeling that it has to do with the runner having 3 side
runners before you pinch it but I wouldn't quote me on this).

I think the same applies to cucumbers.

Cheers.


Sorry for the late reply but I thought it was worth sharing my experience.

We haven't done any pruning of our 6 (or so) cucumber plants, and we've been
picking about half-a-dozen full sized cucumbers a week.

--
Ben Thomas
Narre Warren South, Victoria