Pumpkin Crop

[Luremaker]

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.

You have a good eye. Those fields are around 500 feet long. The pumpkin patch is 4 rows spaced 10 feet apart. Hills are 40 inches apart with 3 to 4 plants per hill. Last year I never had to spray for beetles. They just never got out of control. I may be dreaming but I am hoping for a repeat of last summer.

The other fields are sweet corn. My corn is about 2 weeks behind this year because of all the rain we received in May.

 

[Ford850]

Several years ago when I started a new garden area (1/4 acre) I had great germination and a very productive patch. The past 2 or 3 years I've had 20 - 30% germination for my vine plants. This year I waited until June 1 to plant and it was plenty warm. We had nice showers for a week or so afterwards. I have the same poor germination. 12 hills of muskmelons and one plant total. I buy from several seed companies and haven't found a trend, as they all seem poor. Even the gourds germinate at 30% at best. I also plant sweetcorn and sunflowers in the same area and they seem to germinate at very good rates, probably 90% or higher. Does anyone have any ideas what might be causing this problem with my pumpkins, gourds, cukes, and melons? Next year I might try to start all my vine plants indoors.

 

[randy41]

maybe something is eating your seeds.

 

[Luremaker]

Several years ago when I started a new garden area (1/4 acre) I had great germination and a very productive patch. The past 2 or 3 years I've had 20 - 300% germination for my vine plants. This year I waited until June 1 to plant and it was plenty warm. We had nice showers for a week or so afterwards. I have the same poor germination. 12 hills of muskmelons and one plant total. I buy from several seed companies and haven't found a trend, as they all seem poor. Even the gourds germinate at 30% at best. I also plant sweetcorn and sunflowers in the same area and they seem to germinate at very good rates, probably 90% or higher. Does anyone have any ideas what might be causing this problem with my pumpkins, gourds, cukes, and melons? Next year I might try to start all my vine plants indoors.

I agree with randy41 something may be eating your seeds or you may be planting your seeds too deep and they are rotting in your wet soil. Gourds always take longer to germinate than pumpkins so be more patient with them.

Are you planting by hand? If so be sure you seed has good soil contact. I doesn't hurt to go over your rows with a lawn roller or step on the soil after the seed is planted.

You must also plant your curbits in warm soil or your going to have poor germination. I always plant them the first or second week of June after the soil has warmed. It's not too late to plant more pumpkin seed. This weekend I may plant two more 500 foot rows. Good luck.

 

[Ford850]

Thanks for the tips. The soil was warm, and tilled fairly fine. I planted by hand in hills, and firmly packed the soil over the seeds planted about an inch deep. The soil was about perfect as far as moisture and then we had severl light rainy days on and off starting about 5 days after planting. Most days have been in the 80's and several in the 90's since I planted. I felt confident that all the stars were aligned for a good crop this year and that's why I am disappointed. I couldn't fine any signs of any voles or birds digging the hills. I haven't disturbed them to see if the seeds rotted since I'm still hopeful. What about cutworms or slugs that might be removing them before I see the plants? Do any of you have problems with these?
Thanks again for your input.

 

[jinman]

I bought several tomato sets to put out for a late fall crop and I may have room left over for pumpkins. I'm just not sure young pumpkins can handle the hot summer here. We are 99 to 100+ every day now and the effect is brutal even on established well-watered plants. Everything wilts down in the heat of the day and perks back up overnight. Watermelons, tomatoes, okra, and blackeye peas (cowpeas) seem to handle the heat the best, but my squash, cantaloupes, and cucumbers all wilt pretty badly. They are all perky in the morning though and producing like crazy. I may try a few pumpkins to see how they do. If the soil can hold a little water and they establish a good root system, then I'm sure they will produce.

I've been pretty disappointed with several seeds I bought this year. I'm wondering if economics hasn't caused seed companies to be selling old seeds. I know that after the first year, only about 50% of seeds will germinate and only about 25% after the second year. I had some old watermelon seeds that I planted this year and put 5 seeds in every hill. I got 1 or 2 plants from most of the hills, but none from 2 out of 10 hills. Lack of germination can be an indicator of old seeds for sure. Do the seed sources you buy from guarantee seed from the previous year? The bulk seeds I bought this year for peas at the feed store and prepacks at Walmart were both sorry excuses for seed. They both failed. I had to buy a package of dried peas in the grocery to get germination and they produced almost at 100%. Go figure???:confused3:

 

[Ford850]

I'm wondering the same thing jinman. I buy from national mail order seed companies, but if you get assorted seed catalogs you can tell many companies are associated with the same main suppliers. Seed catalogs all arrive on the same day, and customer service calls are answered by general call centers that handle many seed companies calls, etc. This would mean there are limited seed suppliers but many sellers of those same seeds. One bad batch would be spread through many companies.
Gourds, Cukes, and Pumpkins seeds last for at least 5 years according to the research I've done, yet if I save them for 1 year the germination drops to nothing. I store my seeds in the freezer using the same previoulsy successful process I've used for many years. It used to work great, but now it seems like the seed is on it's last year of viability when sold. I guess that's why the packs say "packaged for 2010". It could be 3 years old and 2010 is the last year it will germinate. I did use last years cuke seeds this year, and only got one plant out of several hills. All the other seed I was talking about was new seed this year.
Back to the main topic... Of the pumkins that are growing, the cucumber beetles are hitting them hard and there are quite a few stink bugs already. I use sevin dust to control them. I apply a coating so light you can't see the dust and it seems to knock them out just as fast as a heavy coat, without damaging the plants.

 

[nmu98]

I bought several tomato sets to put out for a late fall crop and I may have room left over for pumpkins. I'm just not sure young pumpkins can handle the hot summer here. We are 99 to 100+ every day now and the effect is brutal even on established well-watered plants. Everything wilts down in the heat of the day and perks back up overnight. Watermelons, tomatoes, okra, and blackeye peas (cowpeas) seem to handle the heat the best, but my squash, cantaloupes, and cucumbers all wilt pretty badly. They are all perky in the morning though and producing like crazy. I may try a few pumpkins to see how they do. If the soil can hold a little water and they establish a good root system, then I'm sure they will produce.

I've been pretty disappointed with several seeds I bought this year. I'm wondering if economics hasn't caused seed companies to be selling old seeds. I know that after the first year, only about 50% of seeds will germinate and only about 25% after the second year. I had some old watermelon seeds that I planted this year and put 5 seeds in every hill. I got 1 or 2 plants from most of the hills, but none from 2 out of 10 hills. Lack of germination can be an indicator of old seeds for sure. Do the seed sources you buy from guarantee seed from the previous year? The bulk seeds I bought this year for peas at the feed store and prepacks at Walmart were both sorry excuses for seed. They both failed. I had to buy a package of dried peas in the grocery to get germination and they produced almost at 100%. Go figure???:confused3:

I have also had issues with many of our seeds we purchased from a well known agriculture catalog. Even our sweet corn has only had about a 50-60% germination. All of our pumpkin seeds that we dried and replanted this year are up and we have about 25 to 30% of our purchased seed hills not coming up.

If they are old, or they have some sort of mold in the seed, or they are poor quality, I don't know. I have purchased our farm vegi seed from this place for 15 years and never had such perfect growing conditions with so poor germination.

If it was not for cross polination of our larger and tiny punkins, I would never have to buy any punkin seed. The specialty pumkins start looking funny after you replant them a few years in a row.:laughing:

 

[Luremaker]

I have also had issues with many of our seeds we purchased from a well known agriculture catalog. Even our sweet corn has only had about a 50-60% germination. All of our pumpkin seeds that we dried and replanted this year are up and we have about 25 to 30% of our purchased seed hills not coming up.

If they are old, or they have some sort of mold in the seed, or they are poor quality, I don't know. I have purchased our farm vegi seed from this place for 15 years and never had such perfect growing conditions with so poor germination.

If it was not for cross polination of our larger and tiny punkins, I would never have to buy any punkin seed. The specialty pumkins start looking funny after you replant them a few years in a row.:laughing:

That' interesting. The pumpkin seeds I am using I purchased last year and I seem to be getting near 100% germination. Now one of the varieties of sweet corn seed I purchased this year is not giving me anywhere near 100% more like 75% germination.

As a rule I never keep any of my own pumpkin seed. I purchase fresh seed every 3 years and have never had any problems in the past.

 

[nmu98]

That' interesting. The pumpkin seeds I am using I purchased last year and I seem to be getting near 100% germination. Now one of the varieties of sweet corn seed I purchased this year is not giving me anywhere near 100% more like 75% germination.

As a rule I never keep any of my own pumpkin seed. I purchase fresh seed every 3 years and have never had any problems in the past.

How do you store your seed long term? In the refrigerator or in a moisture controlled area? I am not up on vegi seeds as much as i am up on tree seeds, but I know if you get them too dry for too long, they start to decrease in germination percentages pretty fast. The farmer next to me left his seed outside in the back of his truck on accident on a 90 degree day. Not a single seed came up for him this year. Was it because the glass hot them too hot or to dry, I do not know. Tree seeds like to stay moist or they loose a lot of their potential.

Why not keep your normal jack o lantern seeds? They are free and most times grow better than the purchased ones.

 

[Luremaker]

How do you store your seed long term? In the refrigerator or in a moisture controlled area? I am not up on vegi seeds as much as i am up on tree seeds, but I know if you get them too dry for too long, they start to decrease in germination percentages pretty fast. The farmer next to me left his seed outside in the back of his truck on accident on a 90 degree day. Not a single seed came up for him this year. Was it because the glass hot them too hot or to dry, I do not know. Tree seeds like to stay moist or they loose a lot of their potential.

Why not keep your normal jack o lantern seeds? They are free and most times grow better than the purchased ones.

I simply keep leftover pumpkin seed in the plastic bag they came in inside a cardboard box on a shelf in the unheated section of my shop. Temperatures will vary between 40 and 70 degrees depending on time of year. I even plated two lbs of last summer's sweet corn seed and it germinated in less than a week.

I never had much luck keeping seed harvested from my pumpkins. The seed would germinate well but not produce a good crop.

 

[Ford850]

Where do you purchase your seed? I use Gurney's, Park's, and Shumway's the most often. I usually stick with Howden pumpkins, and an additional variety each year. I've never had any beat the consistency and quality of the Howden though.

 

[Luremaker]

Where do you purchase your seed? I use Gurney's, Park's, and Shumway's the most often. I usually stick with Howden pumpkins, and an additional variety each year. I've never had any beat the consistency and quality of the Howden though.

I purchase my seed from OSC seeds.
OSC Seeds - Ontario Seed Has The Best Seeds for Any Place

I usually plant Howden, Jack-O-Lantern, Connecticut Field, and 5 or 6 varieties of miniatures.

 

[butternut]

I planted three of the old favorite, large, carving varieties: Connecticut Field, Howden (a couple different ones), and Jack-O-Lantern. Here are some recent pictures. Things are doing pretty well so far. While we're talking seeds... I did end up completely pulling 3 week old seedlings of one variety which were exhibiting a bacterial disease. I didn't wait too long to find out. I'm convinced it was in the seed. They were organically-grown supposedly, a Howden variety, and fortunately I was just trying a couple of packets that I bought at the local hardware store.

Other than that, I was hit hard early with cucumber beetles. I gave up on the rotenone/pyrethrin as just not getting it done. I went back to the trusty Sevin, what can I say. The hills are just starting to vine now. We've been getting very consistent rains. I wish for a little more sun, but the plants should be poised to really take off here for the next couple weeks.

 

[Ford850]

What type of fertilizer do most of you use, and when do you apply it?

Butternut, those are great pics. You have a very clean crop there. Do you hand hoe and till, or spray for weeds?

 

[butternut]

When I make the mounds, I load up the bottom with a couple big fork fulls of composted or partially-composted manure. If I have to haul water out there during the seedling/3-leaf stage (which I did this year because it was really dry then - that's changed now), I spike it with Miracle Grow. Now as the vines are just starting to run, I'm going to sidedress (lightly scratch-in) more manure around the base of the hill. Then I'll broadcast and till-in a chemical fertilizer between the rows. I know some growers can micro-manage the feeding at the various stages, but I'll use a "balanced" 10-10-10. That will probably be it, unless I find I need to keep the vines going late season.

Ford, thanks. Until the vines run, I cultivate between the rows with the tractor and a 6 foot tiller, and yep between the hills by hand. I've got 5-6 foot hill spacing. I could run the power tiller through that way, but I only have 60 hills, so it doesn't take too long by hand.

 

[Luremaker]

What type of fertilizer do most of you use, and when do you apply it?

Butternut, those are great pics. You have a very clean crop there. Do you hand hoe and till, or spray for weeds?

I agree, Butternut, your patch is looking great.

Pumpkins are heavy feeders. I broadcast mono-ammonium phosphate (11-52-0) 165lbs/acre because my phosphate was low in this field as per soil test. Then I side dress at 80lbs/acre with 23-10-20 at planting. Pumpkins require phosphate readily available to develop strong root systems. Just before vines take off I'll side dress a blend of urea (46-0-0) and 19-19-19 for a total application of 100lb/acre N, 200lb/acre P, and 30lb/acre K. Hopefully it all comes together and produces a nice crop.

I till between the rows like butternut.

 

[barrybro]

I planted 5 acres of pumpkins and 800 mums. I planed oats before the pumpkins and mowed once. I removed the tines in my rototiller except the middle and made rows. I then planted the pumpkins, sprayed the oats and applied herbicide and laid drip tape. This is the first time for the oats and we will see how it goes.

Barry

 

[Luremaker]

I planted 5 acres of pumpkins and 800 mums. I planed oats before the pumpkins and mowed once. I removed the tines in my rototiller except the middle and made rows. I then planted the pumpkins, sprayed the oats and applied herbicide and laid drip tape. This is the first time for the oats and we will see how it goes.

Barry

Hi Barry, that's interesting. I think many of us will be very interested in seeing how your pumpkin crop turns out. Your plants have lots of wind protection and likely stay warmer during cool nights. I wonder if rolling the oats would have been better for weed control.

I tilled my pumpkins on the weekend and side dressed them last evening. They should start to vine by the coming weekend. Not a single beetle on any of my plants yet.

 

[barrybro]

I have read about rolling rye and planting into it. I have about two acres of rye right now and it is about 6 feet tall. I could see how that would work as a good smother to weeds. I did want the herbicide to reach the ground. I used strategy and sandea.

Barry