Pumpkin Planting!

[natem]

I sold about 200 mums last year so of courst I went ahead and planted 800 this year.

I hope I sell them.

Barry

Could you give me a little info on the mums. I am thinking of growing some next year, is there a lot of work involved??? Do you need to prune them, or just let them grow?

 

[barrybro]

Mums are pretty straight forward to grow, the hard part is the "management". There are varieties that flower starting in early august up to October. My biggest struggle is the timing of the mums to flower when people want to buy. I start selling them on labor day weekend and then go through Halloween. It seems that people like to buy them when there are some flowers blooming but a lot more that are about to pop. For growing, I use a drip irrigation system. They like well drained soil (which mine is basically sand), but they don't like to get too dry. I also fertilize through the drip, they like to be fed. About every other time I spray the pumpkins for fungus and bugs I will fun the sprayer by the mums. I am not sure if they need it or not. The deer will go into the mums but they don't eat any. They step on a few. The weed control is a little bit of work. The weeds can mishape the mum if they get too big. I need to do something different than manual control next year. In Michigan they should be planted Mid June to Mid July depending on the size you want. I pot them when they are ready to go to the side of the road.

I really enjoy growing them.

Barry

 

[natem]

I was thinking of growing them right in the pots, and putting plastic down for weed control, I have seen them grown this way at the nurseries. Where do you get the plant plugs?? or are you growing from seed??

 

[barrybro]

I am growing from plugs (about the size of your pinky). I get mine from BFG supply (midwest company). They came in a 72 count trays via UPS. I think there are pros and cons to both growing methods. Growing in the pots defenitely saves labor in the long run. You will have to have irrigation into the pot, wether by sprinkler or tubes off of drip lines. Growing in fields defenitley helps cash flow. No need to buy the pots until it is time to harvest. You only buy pots for the number that is selling.

 

[natem]

I was planning on useing drip irrigation, seeing as i use it now for the pumpkins and works very well and is cheap, and easy to install. Thanks for the help, i cant wait tell next growing season now!

 

[Luremaker]

Mums are pretty straight forward to grow, the hard part is the "management". There are varieties that flower starting in early august up to October. My biggest struggle is the timing of the mums to flower when people want to buy. I start selling them on labor day weekend and then go through Halloween. It seems that people like to buy them when there are some flowers blooming but a lot more that are about to pop. For growing, I use a drip irrigation system. They like well drained soil (which mine is basically sand), but they don't like to get too dry. I also fertilize through the drip, they like to be fed. About every other time I spray the pumpkins for fungus and bugs I will fun the sprayer by the mums. I am not sure if they need it or not. The deer will go into the mums but they don't eat any. They step on a few. The weed control is a little bit of work. The weeds can mishape the mum if they get too big. I need to do something different than manual control next year. In Michigan they should be planted Mid June to Mid July depending on the size you want. I pot them when they are ready to go to the side of the road.

I really enjoy growing them.

Barry

Thanks for posting about your mums. I have never planted flowers in a large garden style. I just might give this a try next summer.