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  • From: "Bill Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT inil.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Pumpkin Patch
  • Date: Fri, 28 May 2004 07:45:39 -0500

Matt

A few things to consider. Pumpkins are very important to growers around
here, and usually very lucrative. But they can be risky too. They have
numerous disease and insect problems. Though they don't need plastic mulch,
they respond well to it. You might consider spreading the rows out a bit to
save on plastic mulch and plant into it. That'll prevent weeds within the
row. Cultivate often between rows, until the vines fill in the rows. Without
plastic mulch, you might want to keep the rows closer so the vines fill in
faster. But plan on cultivating.

Plan on a final plant stand around 1800 plants per acre, unless they are
small plants, which would require about 50% more. Don't wait until the end
of October for harvest. Plan on having some mature around Labor Day, then
successive maturities until mid-October. People start thinking Fall when the
kids go back to school. Plant several different varieties and types. If
people have more choices, they'll buy more things. Talk to locals about pest
problems and solutions. You'll have pests. Be prepared. Maybe 2-3 acres will
be enough the first year. Around here that's a small patch. But there's a
big city next door too. But I know growers in very rural areas who grow 10
times that much and do quite well. But, better to start too small than too
big.

Good luck.

Bill Shoemaker
Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops
Univ of Illinois - St Charles Hort Research Center

-----Original Message-----
From: Matt Cheselka <cheselka AT theriver.com>
To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Thursday, May 27, 2004 7:15 PM
Subject: [Market-farming] Pumpkin Patch


>
>Hi Folks,
>
>I've got an opportunity to manage the development and growing of a pumpkin
>patch. If all works out, they'd be available to anyone who came and
>picked them (a "u-pick"). I'll probably charge something per pound, but
>that's TBD. Where the money will go is also TBD. Who will pay for the
>startup costs is TBD. I'll try to manage the whole thing, keep it
>watered, keep it happy, advertise it (if pumpkins actually *grow* there!
>ha!), and anything else I can do. I may or may not have additional help
>in terms of covering the initial cost, doing the work, etc.
>
>Anyhow, the land that's available is about 40 acres, but I'd never
>consider growing THAT much. I'm thinking more like 2-5 acres. Doing the
>math, if I put 2 seeds at 18" in rows 6ft apart, I'm talking (for 2 acres)
>about 18,000 seeds or about 6 pounds of seeds. Cool. Johnny's sells 5
>pounds of 'Tom Fox' pumpkins for $181. Cheap and easy. Any suggestions
>as to variety (and maybe I should consider a few varieties -- a pound of
>this and a pound of that). I'm looking at a customer base of about 30,000
>people.
>
>My *real* question is about two things:
>
> 1. Preparing the soil
> 2. Feasability in terms of manangement
>
>This land was used several years ago to grow pumpkins, which is why the
>idea came up to try to do it again. My guess is that the soil is fertile
>enough to just drop the seeds in, but maybe I should get some soil tests
>done. Irrigation is already in place, but so are the weeds. I'm going to
>have to find someone to at least disk the area to try to get rid of the
>weeds (any other suggestions on terms of weeding a 5 acre area would be
>appreciated). I've already been informed about liability insurance and am
>looking into it.
>
>Anyhow, for the moment I'm going to throw this topic out to you and see
>what response I get. I have my own ideas, but I've never done anything
>on this scale before, so I'd like to hear from those of you who've
>actually done something like this before so I can see if what I'm thinking
>is reasonable. Looking to have a harvest at the end of October, I need to
>get seeds into the ground by early-mid July.
>
>Thanks for any help and/or advice.
>
>Why am I wanting to do this? I dunno -- insanity comes to mind as a
>reasonable explaination. ;)
>
>Matt Cheselka
>Cosmic Lettuce
>
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>





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