Saturday, October 12, 2013

No Till Pumpkin Patch - The Outcome

So, here is the outcome of our no till pumpkin patch.  It was a disaster!

The plants never hardly grew. It took forever for them to produce female flowers and the pumpkins that did grow, only grew very small.  We got about 20 little pumpkins and I planted enough plants to get between 1000-1200 pumpkins:(

I know why this happened, but I was hoping it wouldn't.  Because I decided after starting the process not to round up the surrounding area, the plants were competing for nutrients and water.  Plus, this land hadn't been used for growing before and needed a lot more fertilizer.  We had just gotten our pumpkin patch perfect for growing at our old place before we moved here last year.


Here are three of our little pumpkins
My conclusion is, next year we will need to cultivate the land and add LOTS of manure.  If we have a roto tiller, I will try to space the rows so that we can run the tiller in between for a while.

I'm sad it didn't work out this year and I know a lot of people from around our area were sad as well. But, hopefully we'll be back next year!
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5 comments:

  1. ShannonOctober 14, 2013 at 5:21 PM

    Thank so much for sharing this experiment. My husband has wanted to try this for the past couple of years. I just read him your post, so I don't think we will try it now. Your little pumpkins are so cute, and I love the miniature pig!! I'm so busy, I haven't been able to blog about anything, but I am having a lovely fall and enjoying apple and pumpkin season. I hope to update soon! Take care!!

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    1. Crystal @ Country Mom at HomeOctober 15, 2013 at 3:41 PM

      I'm really sad this didn't work. You could do more research just to make sure you don't want to try. I am so happy you are enjoying fall and I look forward to an update from you.
      Take care.

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    2. ShannonOctober 15, 2013 at 7:20 PM

      I'm really sorry it didn't work! We only planted giant pumpkins this year, and we only got about 8, and they just aren't that great for baking. I was disappointed in ours as well. I did find a local farmer selling them cheap, so I've bought a few good baking pumpkins and look forward to a new start next year!

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    3. ShannonOctober 15, 2013 at 7:21 PM

      OH, and they weren't giant at all.... :)

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  2. Dixie SlusarchukOctober 18, 2013 at 5:29 PM

    Thanks for posting Crystal. It must be such a big disappointment for you and the people who love going to your pumpkin patch.

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