pumpkin seeds,,,

[maplehillfrm]

Hey guys, I think it was on this forum a few months back there were a few talking abouit pumpkins and planting them and such. I have been growing them for a a bit now but this year have a need to plant more, we are planning on putting in a few acres of them,, 5000 plants I believe,, my question is do you still put 2 seed into each hole ,, or can we get away with one per hole and then go back in a week or so and see of there are any that didnt germinate,,, I know we used to always put a few seeds in and thin,, but this year seeds were expensive,, hahah,,, just wanted to find out of you do it differently in a commercial setting,, even though I dont consider me commercial [yet,,hah] but have to keep costs down?,, any suggestions, or tips on how or why one seed per hole wont work,, wont have to thin them this way too?? thansk a bunch,pat

 

[glennster]

i planted one seed per hole this year, lot easier than thinning them.

 

[Anonymous-0]

We raised pumpkins for 22 years. We planted 6 to 8 acres. They were planted in ten foot wide rows and hills were 6 foot apart and four seed to a hill. We never thined them and most of time ended up with two to three plants per hill. We quite about 6 years ago. When we started there were only about three producers in the county.When we quit there were about 7.

 

[RGMartin]

"Two seeds in a hole" You mean you are hand planting them???

I use an AC air champ corn planter with home made plates. I try for 24" spacing and vary row width based on the space requirements. I can't imagine hand planting 5000 seeds.

Sure I end up with some misses from bad seeds or whatnot, but seed is one of the more expensive parts of the equation. Unless it is a godawful big hole a vine will find its way into it. Seems senseless to hoe out a good plant.


All that said, I only planted a couple acres, maybe 4# of seed, and I am only an amateur.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Planted all of ours by hand. Had a disk that would leave a groove ten foot apart did this all the way across the field. There were four of us.We each took one of grooves we had a bag of seed straped to our belt.We would step off 6 foot through in 4 seed ,take your foot pull dirt over seed in groove stomp on it and go to the next one. Does'nt take four good worker long to do 5-6 acres. Never thined them the ground would suport 4 plants per hill. We did the weeding around plants with hoes. The rest was done with John Deere L untill they started running.

 

[maplehillfrm]

yea we are seeding by hand,, I am seriously thinking of getting a planter next year ,I need to find one that will definatly plant pumpkins,, that being said, I agree with d beatty,, it doesnt take that long to plant them by hand,,
there are usually at least 4 of us,, it is a pain but can be done,, and is,, but like i said I want to get a planter especailly after this year with teh rain we are getting it in as we can,, I could be done on the good days with teh planter so it is on the list for sure,,
we also go for about 2 feet between plants and have like 12 foot between so I can still get tractor in there for watering,, for the most part all season,,thansk for the help,
I will I am sure going to be asking suggestions on what planter and what to do with teh plates,, pat---- I am starting to see pumpkin leaves coming through so thats a good sign,, now to find some bees,,

 

[Anonymous-0]

Knew of a guy that took an old Cockshutt corn planter and converted to plant pumpkins. It took him several years and a lot of planter plates to get it so it would plant right. He said he had to do a lot playing around with it to get the distance between plants. We quite about 6 years wife & I are in our 60's and both have had back problems. I retired a year ago after 38 years with a freight line. Good luck with your pumpkins.

 

[barrybro]

I just planted a little over 5 acres of pumpkins this weekend. I have a 6 foot wide rototiller that I take all the tines out but the middle ones for "strip tilling" my pumpkin rows. I then use an old fashioned hand jabber planter to plant the pumpkins. I put 2 to 3 seeds per hole (probably overkill). I space the rows 8 feed apart or 4 feet apart depending on the variety and anywhere from 2 to 5 feet apart in the row. I am not real precise I just take bigger or smaller steps.

Barry