From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Shreve, Ohio

How much is to much. How much water should a pumpkin be getting and does anyone have pictures of a good watering system.

6/25/2009 9:09:59 PM

Denver, CO

Here is a cut & Paste from a different post a few years back. It's always been a good guide for me. Also, go to http://www.starrfarms.net/sprinklerguide.htm for a guide to a greats watering system. But for beginers, a more simple overhead watering by putting sprinklers 3 feet up on post in the middle of the patch will work fine.


Heres the pasted part:

Tremor posting this awhile back and I still find it very usefull;

First figure out how much water you get per minute...get a 5 gallon bucket and do some timing and figuring. Then read this;

Let's boil this down by the gallon & some specified areas.

All of these quantities are for ONE INCH of water.

1 acre (43,560 sq ft) = 27,000 gallons
1,000 sq ft = 620 gallons
100 sq ft = 62 gallons
10 sq ft = 6.2 gallons
1 sq ft = 2.5 quarts

As the roots expand, the targeted irrigation area increase rapidly. The freshly transplanted seedling may only require a 1 square foot area of water for a week. Hence a gallon of water would be overkill.

Given good growing conditions, this area will expand to 4'x4' or 16 sq ft in the second week. So now 10 gallons will be needed to deliver a FULL INCH to the same plant.

If the same plant is ultimately rooted into an area of 600 sq ft, it will then require 370 gallons to achieve the same result.

So, for your garden of 1200 square feet, you would need 744 gallons of water to achieve 1" of water and like most here I would double that to 2" of water per week when there is no rain to help you out. So that would be a little over 3 hours of watering time to get that 1" of water or 744 gallons each time you water.....alot isn't it? Hope ya'll are not on a water meter and paying per gallon.

6/25/2009 9:41:39 PM

Gettysburg, PA

okay, dumb question, but say your goal is 2" per week, and you water every day or every other, you don't put 2" worth of water down every time you water, right? Just so all the water in that week equals your targeted amount?

charlie

6/26/2009 9:17:04 AM

Denver, CO

correct csterner. Spread it out over 7 days. One of the more important things to do in order to avoid a pumpkins spliting on you during rapid growth is to always keep the soil moist but not wet. Never let it completly dry out between waterings once a pumpkin is set and growing. But just moist soil, not wet or soggy.

6/26/2009 10:47:44 AM

Hamilton Nj

im a new grower and a half gallon a day is working for me very nice but will increase when it gets hot!!!!!!!!! pizza

6/26/2009 11:50:05 AM

Cochecton, NY

I water everyday that it is not raining! I evenly drench the soil a good distance around the plant, but do not drown it. It seems to work well. Even with all of the rain we have gotten here in the past month, my patch drains well and I am on top of a hill where there is always a breeze. Groud dries up quick, so I just keep it evenly moist from start to finish!

6/27/2009 7:32:48 AM