I have done my share of trellising projects in my garden over the last few years. Today I would like to share with you one good reason NOT to trellis the bigger vines of melon, pumpkin, squash and gourds.
In the photo above, I have circled in yellow the area where my vines left their raised beds. If you look closely you will see that in each case the original vine has died. Perhaps due to lack of enough rain, and perhaps due to a vine boring insect (I have no idea which) all of these vines have died off in the original spot where I planted the seeds.
But look again and you will see that, indeed, they live!
These types of vines will sprout new roots anywhere they come into contact with moist soil. Given enough time, the new roots will grow large enough to support at least a portion of the vine. In this case the new roots are keeping my vines alive and growing, even through their parent plant is dead and gone.
If these were trellised, I would have lost the whole vines when the one and only set of roots died back.
Posted by Rachel on August 20, 2010 at 10:06 am
Thanks – great advice and it’s a very cool botanical quirk. I’m seeing the same thing with our butternut squash (it’s powdery mildew, though, not a vine-boring insect.)