| Will pruning my pumpkin vines back a little harm the plants and result in less pumpkins? |
| Pumpkin vines always grow bigger than we expect! When they escape from the vegetable garden, my husband mows the tips off when he mows the lawn. (This reminds me to reroute the vines back where they belong.) It does result in fewer pumpkins because there are fewer flowers on the plant to form pumpkins, but apart from that, in my experience nipping the vine tips with the lawn mower has never set them back noticeably. Cutting them back hard however, would reduce the foliage enough to cut down on photosynthesis and that might make a big difference in the health of the plant and the number of pumpkins it can support. Good luck with your pumpkins! |
