Britannia Ovens (esp Range cookers) your experience

[veggiemad]

Morning everyone!!

 

I'm growing BNS for the first time this year and am letting to trail along the ground, I've noticed some tendrils (sp?) , is it worth me nipping these off in order to let the fruit develop better? also i seem to have alot of leaves and long stems but no fruits yet.

 

Any advice to a novice appreciated.

thanks

[HappyhenSG]

I've noticed the same tendrils on my pumpkins this year. I've not grown them before and am assuming this is normal I wouldn't have thought taking them off would produce more squash. I also have dozens of flowers on the pumpkin plants and several are already turning into pumpkins - hubby reckons I should 'thin them out' but I'm not sure about that either.

 

Any expert veg growers out there to help us novices please?

[Lesley]

I'm no expert but I do grow a lot of BNS. The tendrils don't need taking off, they will help the plant to climb if they have something sturdy to hold on to but they will be quite happy trailing along the ground.

 

I stop pumpkins and BNS after they've formed a few fruits especially if they're late in forming. Ours have around 4 fruits per plant, about 5"/6" long. I do remove about 50% of the leaves.

 

If you want to grow a large pumpkin then pinch out the growing tip after one or two fruits have formed and started to grow - don't be too quick to do this in case the fruits start to rot and drop off.

 

Hope that helps.....I'm sure others will be along with advice soon.