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.

 

[nmu98]

We planted about 400 hills last week and most of them are up. We are a few weeks late with the great weather we have had this year. This is the first year we put the hills closer together. If it works, we can double our production. Our hills are in rows that are 85" apart. Each hill is spaced 2.5 feet from the other. So they are close to each other in the row but have a ton of room between the rows. We also alternated our pumpkins and gourds... We have never mulched with straw, but i think it would be worth it!

 

[butternut]

Wow, that's a serious pumpkin patch! Love to pics as the season progresses. This is my first year with any sort of quantity, albeit just a fraction of what you have going. I figured I'd start with the very upper end of all the spacing recommendations I've ever read, and work down in the next years. I'm at 5 feet between hills, and 15 feet between rows. Yeah, I figured I'd mulch, just the hills. With just 60 hills, it was very manageable. The soil is plenty warm, and I mainly wanted some moisture retention for later on in the season.

 

[nmu98]

My kids are 6 and 4 and they love pumpkins. This year we plan to put some out for sale and to give the kids the money. Next year, I plan to ask them for more help in weeding. They love to plant and pick. My hope is that they will see this as a way to make money.

I hope it will also teach them the good and bad about business. They may see that all people are not honest or they may have to clean up after some kids who smash the pumpkins. All good lessons in life if it works out.

 

[Luremaker]

I plant around 2/3rd acre of pumpkins. I now plant in rows spaced 8 feet apart and hills (2-4 plants) every 3 feet. With large rows I can easily till the weeds between the rows until the plants begin to vine. I use my Cole 12MX planter to plant the pumpkin hills. Here is a picture taken early last July.

I tilled my patch again last night and hope to plant tonight if the rain holds off.

 

[butternut]

Here's a shot of my patch, and those wide rows. So far things are looking ok. They're on to the 3rd real leaf, and healthy for the most part. About the only thing has been a pretty good hit from cucumber beetles.

I do have a few hills though, same variety, right in a row, which aren't looking great. It almost looks like a foliage disease like a mosaic or something. It might have been the two Sevin applications though for the beetles, or a combination of insect and chemical damage. What do you guys think? Am I being paranoid? Should I give them some time, or not take any chances and rip those few hills out now and replace? The rest of the patch looks good.

 

[jinman]

I do have a few hills though, same variety, right in a row, which aren't looking great. It almost looks like a foliage disease like a mosaic or something. It might have been the two Sevin applications though for the beetles, or a combination of insect and chemical damage. What do you guys think? Am I being paranoid? Should I give them some time, or not take any chances and rip those few hills out now and replace? The rest of the patch looks good.

That looks like Sevin damage or water/mud splash kind of burning you get especially after fertilizer application. I would look at new leaves and see if they appear normal. If the new leaves are healthy and don't show damage, I think you are good to go without replanting.

I have one cantaloupe plant that was turning yellow just in one area near where the stem entered the ground. I thought it was too much water or the beginning of a disease. I moved the leaves around to inspect and found a huge hole in the ground where a bunny rabbit is trying to make a nest. Everytime I fill the hole back in, the rabbit digs it out again. I've filled it three times and I guess I'll have to put a rock in there or have me some early morning target practice. I put heavy deer netting all around my garden and now I have softball sized holes all in the perimeter down next to the ground where the stinkin' little bunny is chewing its way into my garden and eating my broccoli. I guess chicken wire around the bottom is the next step.

 

[bp fick]

Don't rip it out. If you are concerned, plant a sister plant right next to it.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

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.

I rolled a pumpkin over the hill last fall, and it lay all winter in my lower yard. This spring I pickup up the core with all the seeds, and put in at the end of my garden. I tilled in a bunch of compost, and put some extra compost in a pile right over the spot where I put the pumpkin seeds. They are growing like crazy.

 

[Luremaker]

Well I finally got a few pumpkin seeds in the ground last Friday (June 11) and they started to germinate on Thursday (June 17). Checked them out this morning and they seem to be doing good. I plowed new ground this year a half mile from last years patch so it should take the bugs a few days to find them. This picture was taken last night.

 

[butternut]

What a nice-looking field. I can't tell, is that 6 rows, like 400 or 500 feet? What do you have in those other seedbeds? When do you usually seed pumpkins up there?

I'll post a pic of my little 60 hill patch. I'm still battling the cucumber beetles, although the plants are 3 weeks old now and starting to get big enough to withstand a moderate infestation. I got a little shy about using more Sevin, as effective as it was, because I think I get some foliar burn... even with a dry leaf, cloudy day application, with the label-recommended mixture. I'm using Rotenone/Pyrethrin now, which doesn't have the knockdown power by a long shot, but I seem to gain on them each time. I amazed at how fast the were on this patch though, completely virgin till too, and I've never grown any cucurbits in any quantity anywhere nearby.

We've been getting consistent rain the last few weeks, not quite enough to be excessive, but close. It's just been a cloudy and cool between the rains, until lately when we've finally got some successive days in the 80's, and all the heat-loving vegetables including the pumpkins really took off.