Pumpkin Crop

[Luremaker]

Those pumkins look great. Much more neat and tidy than mine that are running accross the grass. :laughing:

I was at our patch late yesterday and and the vines are now entering the grass like yours. Lots of bee activity and lots of pumpkins ranging from golf ball to soft ball sizes. Still no sign of beetles!!! This just might be the best pumpkin crop I've had in years if powdery mildew does not show up in August. I planted around 1400 plants so should harvest 2100 or so pumpkins plus miniatures and gourds.

 

[barrybro]

My pumpkins as of July 31.

 

[firefighter9208]

Can I jump in here???

I have 3 acres planted in Alabama. I planted on June 14th. Here are some pictures from about 4 weeks ago. I will get current pictures this afternoon.

It's so hot here that I'm having to irrigate about 4 hours each day. The temperature yesterday was 100 with a heat index on 114.

I put in almost 11,000 feet of drip tape (buried with my Farmall 140) and am running a 2" pacer pump to pump water out of a pond. You can see the pond in the background of the second picture.

I planted the following varieties:

2 rows 200' long of Little Pumpkemons
3 rows 200' long of Baby Boo's,
4 rows 200' long of Jack B Littles

2 rows 500' long of Atlantic Giant
3 rows 500' long of Lumina
8 rows 500' long of Gold Medal (Jack O Lantern)
4 rows 500' long of Touch of Autumn
1 rows 500' long of Monster Smash

 

[buckeyefarmer]

my pumpkins already got ripe, and are now rotting on the vine

 

[nmu98]

I was out with my baking soda and soap trying to fight off the powdery mildew that was brought in my pumkins by the deer going from my pickes to the pumpkins.... Sucks...

 

[barrybro]

my pumpkins already got ripe, and are now rotting on the vine

I had that last year, I had planted in early June and had pumpkins turning orange in August. Most did not make it until October. This year I planted the 19th and 20th of June. I was getting worried because of the lack of pumpkins forming. It is just starting to happen now. Lots of female flowers are forming and pollination seems to be going good.

Barry

 

[firefighter9208]

I had that last year, I had planted in early June and had pumpkins turning orange in August. Most did not make it until October. This year I planted the 19th and 20th of June. I was getting worried because of the lack of pumpkins forming. It is just starting to happen now. Lots of female flowers are forming and pollination seems to be going good.

Barry

Barry,

I did the same thing. Last year I planted on May 15th and had to pull my Atlantic Giants and put them in the barn. This year I planted on June 15th (as advised by the seed company) and am worried if the Atlantic Giants are going to make in time. I've got some that are about 24"-30" across at this time.

When I left work yesterday the thermometer on my car said 102 at 3:00 PM. It was still 94 degrees at 7:30 last night. I've been watering my pumpkins 4-6 hours a day just to keep the vines alive and keep them from shedding the pumpkins.

Hopefully this heat will break and we'll get back to our normal highs in the low 90's with lows in the low 70's at night, instead of it staying above 80 degrees all night.

Chris

 

[butternut]

Yeah, I've got some ripe pumpkins right now too, but not so much because I planted early. After an outstanding start in this new patch, I was hit with a super tough mid season...

* Lots of cucumber beetles
* Some mosaic type disease which I think came in with one of the seed varieties I planted
* Twice the normal rains on clay soil
* Some nutrient leaching
* Powdery Mildew started early (two weeks ago)

I've really fought my way through it, but yield and quality are going to be way down. I've learned alot. I'll post some pics, but it isn't as pretty as it was in late June that's for sure. About 4-5 more weeks until frost. Until then, I've found in the past I can store most of the fruit in the field if the vines are still going. But if the mildew really gets the upper hand, and the leaves are yellowing and dying off for whatever other reason... I'll pick off most all the pumpkins and store in the barn. I spray them with 10% bleach solution. It starts getting pretty cool around here come late August, and I've always been able to keep them fine through October.

I'm interested in what everyone else does regarding picking/storage.

 

[barrybro]

I picked a large chunk of my fields last year and put into bins. Stored the bins in the barn. I felt like I had a lot of rot loss when they were in the barn. I plan on keepng them out in the field this year and pick as needed.

Barry

 

[firefighter9208]

:mur:

I picked a large chunk of my fields last year and put into bins. Stored the bins in the barn. I felt like I had a lot of rot loss when they were in the barn. I plan on keepng them out in the field this year and pick as needed.

Barry

Last year we pulled a little over 1000 Atlantic Giants and Big Max. I had 3 barns full (24'x36', 16'x40, and 24'x36') stacked 2 deep. Boy it was fun getting in there to remove one when it rotted. We pulled them the first weekend in September, because the vines were dead. I got luck though, because the rain set in the week after we pulled them and it rained almost every day for 3 weeks. They would all have rotted if I had left them in the field.

It took 10 people with 2 tractors and 2 trailers over 10 hours to get them from the field to the barn. A little over $1000.00 in labor :mur: . That hurt.

We put the jack o lanterns in bins and I would go through them every few days and remove the rotten ones.

That's why I planted later this year. Hoping that the vines would "stay up" until closer to Halloween.

Chris