Pumpkin Planting!

[Luremaker]

I'm happy with my pumpkin row spacing this year. I spaced my rows so that I could clean up around the plants with my cultivator and between the rows with my tiller. My corn is a different story. Between the rows it's weed free but between the corn it's all weeds. This year I have around and acre and a half planted. I actually tilled a few rows of corn last week because the weeds had over taken them. Any more would be stretching my weeding abilities. Barry, keeping three acres weed free is quite a challenge. Let's see a few pictures.

 

[Luremaker]

So...my plants look more like your second picture, probably a bit bigger, but not as large as your first picture.

Think they'll be ready in time? If not, any idea who would buy large quantities of pumpkins AFTER October?

I think it will depend on the heat. We need a few weeks of hot weather to get the plants up to size and producing large pumpkins. October is pumpkin month around here and any pumpkins still here after October become compost.

A few years back I harvested a large number of green pumpkins and they ripened up in the sun in a few days. They were smaller than average but at least I got rid of most of them.

 

[dsv farms]

DSV Farms, welcome to TBN. Here's a few photos of my Jack-O-Lanterns and miniature pumpkins taken last night. The Jack-O-Lantern plants are beginning to vine but the miniatures are growing very very slowly. No flowers yet. How large do your Atlantic's get?

Most average around 80-90 lb. I dont do anything special to try for extraordinary size, direct seeded same fertilizer as the others. Biggest i recall was about 175 lb a couple seasons back.

 

[barrybro]

I was out in the pumpkins this morning and bees were going crazy in the flowers. Most of my larger plants (planted the first of June in southwest michigan) have 1 - 2 fruits per plant.

 

[Luremaker]

I was out in the pumpkins this morning and bees were going crazy in the flowers. Most of my larger plants (planted the first of June in southwest michigan) have 1 - 2 fruits per plant.

That's great Barry. You should have some good sized pumpkins come September. I figure I average 1-1/2 pumpkins per plant for medium/large varieties and 8-12 pumpkins per plant for the miniatures. I am still waiting for my plants to start flowering. I see a few buds but no flowers yet.

 

[DMF]

October is pumpkin month around here and any pumpkins still here after October become compost.

Yup, ours do too, thogh I may have found a customer for late pumpkins...

 

[Luremaker]

Saw the first cucumber beetle last evening. Only one and I promptly dispatched it. Hope they do not get out of control like they did last summer.

After a week of warmer weather most of the plants have doubled in size with some vines now ten feet long and lots of flower buds ready to open. We had a few inches of rain over the weekend, the timing was perfect. It looks like we might have a good crop of pumpkins after all.

 

[DMF]

Sounds good Luremaker; I'm glad things are turning around for your crop. Keep an eye on those beetles though; where there's one there has to be more...


I weeded about 1/3 of our plants yesterday before the rain came back. There are sections of the two patches I have where I sank ankle deep in mud...there has just been too much rain! My plants are definately larger and this morning there were several flowers but they haven't begun to run yet... crazy year and the jury is still out as to what kind of a season I'll end up with. Keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[barrybro]

The big prolem with the beetles is the disease they carry. Makes me sick looking at the plants that are dead and dying from those things.

 

[Luremaker]

...I weeded about 1/3 of our plants yesterday before the rain came back. There are sections of the two patches I have where I sank ankle deep in mud...there has just been too much rain! My plants are definately larger and this morning there were several flowers but they haven't begun to run yet... crazy year and the jury is still out as to what kind of a season I'll end up with. Keeping my fingers crossed!

DMF, hopefully the weather co-operates in you area for the balance of the summer. We have had very little rain in July except for the past few days. The forecast is calling for seasonal averages for the next couple of weeks.

The big problem with the beetles is the disease they carry. Makes me sick looking at the plants that are dead and dying from those things.

Last summer the beetles showed up as soon as the plants germinated, I sprayed Sevin every 7-10 days to try to control them, but with little effect and lost at least a hundred plants to the pests.

 

[DMF]

DMF, hopefully the weather co-operates in you area for the balance of the summer. We have had very little rain in July except for the past few days. The forecast is calling for seasonal averages for the next couple of weeks.

Today looks good but the rest of the week has storms...

Ya can't beat the weather!

 

[DMF]

Lots of flowers in the patch yesterday, but they aren't running yet. What do you think that'll mean?

 

[Luremaker]

Lots of flowers in the patch yesterday, but they aren't running yet. What do you think that'll mean?

Maybe you have bush plants instead of vining plants. The big brown one should be ready by the first of November.

My Jack-O-Lantern plants are doing great. They are vining and have lot's of flowers and a few fruit. My Howden's have lot's of flower buds and are slowly running. My miniatures are very slow this year. Some of the gourds have fruit but plants are still very small for the end of July.

First picture is of one of the gourds. The second was taken today (Jul 31), last was taken 10 days ago (Jul 21). In ten days the plants have really grown.

Have a great weekend, I off in the morning to pick up my new 6 row corn planter.

 

[barrybro]

I had two varieties that were 112 and 115 days that I planted the first of june to be able to harvest starting the middle of september.

They are starting to turn orange already. Is this normal for some varieties. It just seems way too early. Am I going to have a lot that will rot before it is time.

 

[Baucom]

I had that happen last year. It was my first year with a garden and I planted my pumpkins around the first of July hoping they'd be ready close to halloween (~115 days). They were all ready to pick before the end of September (~90 days). It surprised me; I don't know if it's because we still have hot weather through September or not. This year I pushed my planting date back about 3 wks--hopefully that won't bite me in the backside.

 

[DMF]

They are starting to turn orange already. Is this normal for some varieties. It just seems way too early. Am I going to have a lot that will rot before it is time.

We had a crop that turned early (well, we planted early really) and we picked them early as well. If you store them in a cool dry place (we put some in the basement each year) they'll last a long time.

My wife always puts a few big ones in the basement that we can carve...of course, we never have time to do it and they last well after Christmas.

 

[dsv farms]

I had two varieties that were 112 and 115 days that I planted the first of june to be able to harvest starting the middle of september.

They are starting to turn orange already. Is this normal for some varieties. It just seems way too early. Am I going to have a lot that will rot before it is time.

We frequently have howdens starting to turn by mid august. As long as the plants are still green we leave them alone, but if they start to die off from powdery mildew or whatever we'll cut the pumpkins off the vines. Depends on the weather but we have cut the first week of september and had very little loss.

 

[Luremaker]

All of our plants now seem to be producing lot's of fruit. The Jack-O-Lantern plants are doing the best. The weather is much better now. Warm days (70+) and the nights only get down to the low 60's. We have had a few days of rain and all of the plants have lots of new growth. I have not even needed to spray for bugs this year. Looks like we might even have a bumper crop if all of the fruit reach maturity and we do not have an early frost.

 

[DMF]

That's awesome Luremaker!

We just took a look at our patches last night after being gone on vacation for a week. A lot of weeds even though I weeded before I left, a lot of flowers with some plants starting to run, but no fruit yet. Weather is getting better, but still not great. Last week while we were gone, we had a rain storm that dumped over 4" of rain in an hour and a half!

 

[Luremaker]

DMF, I can see the weeds just loving all that rain your getting. Are you getting any heat? You may not be getting any bees to pollinate the flowers. You may have to get the extra long Q tips out and start pollinating the flowers.