Pumpkin Crop

[butternut]

Any of you fellow pumpkin growers want to start a 2010 thread? I've got a relatively small patch of 60 hills, with very liberal spacing. I'll post pics. I'm off to a pretty good start I guess. I had an almost immediate attack of cucumber beetles at the seed/first true leaf stage. I hit them with Sevin, which was very effective. The first leaves are maybe 4 inches now. I am getting some actual leaf-eating (from the edges in). Too early I think for squash bugs. Might be critters, not sure. Keeping a close eye on them at this stage especially.

 

[Luremaker]

Any of you fellow pumpkin growers want to start a 2010 thread? I've got a relatively small patch of 60 hills, with very liberal spacing. I'll post pics. I'm off to a pretty good start I guess. I had an almost immediate attack of cucumber beetles at the seed/first true leaf stage. I hit them with Sevin, which was very effective. The first leaves are maybe 4 inches now. I am getting some actual leaf-eating (from the edges in). Too early I think for squash bugs. Might be critters, not sure. Keeping a close eye on them at this stage especially.

I'll start planting my pumpkins tomorrow if the weather cooperates. This year Ive noticed a lot of squash Beetles around but no cucumber beetles yet. I am not sure what might be eating the leaves.

 

[forgeblast]

What varities do you plant? This might be a good place to list ones that work great in your area or any that you find grow great. I usually plant 2-3 hills of them, mostly small pie pumpkins.

 

[butternut]

This is the first year I've gone from a casual couple hills for home use to a larger patch. I'm sort of testing the waters a bit on the prospects for pumpkin growing. If it works, I can go bigger. Hopefully, I'll be able to do a self-serve stand in October, donate a bunch to the local school for a pumpkin sale, and I have a wholesale buyer for the rest if there are any. It's still hobby-level/scale for me.

I planted all big carving pumpkin varieties, the old favorites... Howden, "Connecticut Field Pumpkin", and Jack-O-Lantern. I did them in prepared hills, 6 foot spacing between hills, and a big 15 feet between rows. I think I'm going to try 2 and 3 plants/hill. I planted 14 days ago, mostly because it warmed up quickly this year. I hope I don't regret that (planting too early), but I'm told with pumpkins it's always better to be early than late. In normal years, all of these varieties go 110-120 days, and first freeze median date is October 1st.

I haven't seen a squash bug yet. I was just surprised how fast the cucumber beetles get on those young plants. I've never grown anything in this spot. It was hayfield. You really have to watch them though. A major infestation on the cotyledon and first true leaf can really be damaging.

 

[yankeerider]

I planted 4 hills of small pumpkins last Saturday, noticed they were up day before yesterday. First time for me in over 20 years- I did it to have some to feed to my chickens.

I'm wondering, though- why hills? It seems like hilling them just makes the soil more prone to drying out in dry spells than if they were planted in flat ground.

 

[ShenandoahJoe]

Last November, I threw my jack-o'lantern on the compost heap. Didn't realize the bacteria were all done for the year, and no more decomposition was going to happen. So far, I figure I've got about 100 pumpkin plants. They're growing next to the tomatoes, between the beets, under the azaleas....

 

[forgeblast]

My grandmothers neighbors used to do this, every year just throw the old pumpkins in the compost heap, they had enough for the whole neighbor hood to carve or bake with the next year.

 

[jinman]

I had an almost immediate attack of cucumber beetles at the seed/first true leaf stage. I hit them with Sevin, which was very effective. The first leaves are maybe 4 inches now. I am getting some actual leaf-eating (from the edges in). Too early I think for squash bugs. Might be critters, not sure. Keeping a close eye on them at this stage especially.

Things vary so much from region to region that I can guarantee you my comments are a SWAG at best. From my experience, squash bugs and cucumber beetles appear at the base of fairly new plants and lay eggs on the stalks or the underside of leaves that look like tiny brown specks in 1/4" to 1/2" diameter groups. I think squash bugs also appear from the base upward and rush downward to hide when you spray them. When the eggs hatch the bugs eat holes in the leaves and stems instead of eating from the edges in. Holes in the stems are then an open invitation for squash vine borer to come set up houskeeping, and they are hard to treat. Often they cause your plants to just suddenly collapse. Edge-in leaf eating is normally done by caterpillars or grasshoppers (EDIT: or bunnies if you are talking about cabbage/lettuce).

I think you have to spray around the base of the plant at least weekly with Sevin or Pyrethrin to keep infestations at a minimum. My young squash have been infested with "mating pairs" of squash bugs over the last two weeks. I've sprayed twice, but squash plants are really susceptible to leaf damage from insecticide. The secondary problem of squash bugs and cucumber beetles is they spread squash wilt diseases that are impossible to treat once the plants are infested.

 

[ToadHill]

I have my field ready to go and will plant 3/4 lb of seeds this week. I've never planted this many and hope that my 1 acre field is enough.

The neighbor and I bought some piglets and plan to finish them off with pumpkins, I hear they love them.

 

[butternut]

Yep, the cucumber beetles hide down in the cracks of the soil. Also, I have my hills mulched with straw, so they disappear in there in a matter of seconds. Aside from potential major leaf damage at the very earliest stage, the cucumber beetles are also a vector for bacterial wilt disease. Fortunately, Sevin and some others are very effective in my experience.

Squash bugs don't try to hide as much I don't think. I've seen them (and those egg clusters) mostly on the underneath side of the leaf. They're harder to eradicate, but for me they seem to be around mid summer, the leaves are huge and I've never had a major infestation, fingers crossed.

Vine borers, yeah those things are a growers worst nightmare. I'm in a brand new area this year, so hopefully I won't have them around. Attached is picture of the little devil. The eggs hatch mid summer. A buddy of mine sprays shaving cream on the base of vine then, says it creates a barrier. Chemical treatment around the base can be effective, but once they're inside the vine, there's not much you can do aside from manual "surgery". I've never done that.