From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada

Last year was my first attempt at growing an AG. All in all, I would consider it a success. Finished the season at 1276 pounds on a 325 square foot patch, all while trying to figure it out as I went along. I'm curious what people's thoughts are about growing on relatively small patches and odd shaped layouts. I've uploaded a picture to my diary showing last year's patch layout. I had the stump next to the driveway in part for ease of access for monitoring it as well as because that spot is where the soil is the best (ammended with manure and hardpan broken up a couple of years ago). The result is a plant where the pumpkin had to be set on an OK but perhaps a slightly smaller plant than I would have liked (about 10 feet, 17 nodes out) and side vines that took a while to fill in.

I'm curious what people's thoughts are about using this sort of layout vs. planting closer to the house and growing out towards the street resulting in short side vines and perhaps a larger plant before I pollinate a flower. Also, when you have a smaller patch that fills in relatively quickly, do you let vines continue to grow so you have new fresh growth to feed the plant with? Or do you terminate everything once it's filled in and then just hold on until the end of the season with no tips growing? I expect my patch will be filled out by late July or early August.

4/3/2023 7:30:21 PM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

Who needs a double driveway? Jackhammer, concrete removal and more compost and soil is all you can do there.

Seriously, a 1276 lb in your first season is an incredible success. Follow your success from last year and you should have another good year.

4/4/2023 10:30:26 AM

Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada

Thanks, North Shore Boyz. Yes, I was shocked when it went 21% heavy. I was just crossing my fingers that I could reach 1,000 pounds as that was my hope when I started the season. I'd love to think that I can do even better this year, but I'm struggling with deciding whether setting on a short main vine and having lone side vines like last year is the best plan or whether I'll be better off if I turn it 90 degrees and plant closer to the house with the main vine heading toward the street. Either way, this spring has been ridiculously cold and needs to warm up a bit before I can get things started.

4/4/2023 11:29:16 AM

Grittyville, WA

The diamond pattern may be underrated. It was used by Noel to grow 2k+. Not sure if other top growers have tried it or not. Its where the vines are allowed to get longer and longer as they get closer to the pumpkin. For any plan you come up with, just keep in mind different plants can grow differently, some will do what you think they should do more easily than others.

4/4/2023 1:15:53 PM

Syracuse, NY

Okay, just for that, I'll do an HOURGLASS configuration where the vines are SHORTEST nearest the pumpkin, lol---
Gotta stop somewhere! eg

4/4/2023 4:46:02 PM

Kutztown, PA

Considering the current CAN $ to US $ exchange rate, i.e. USD 74 cents, I would split your patch in half and sign up for the 150 sf contest. :)

What seed did you grow last year? Great work!

4/5/2023 10:02:37 AM

Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada

Garwolf, it was an 1163 Farrell (2261 Schmit x 2183 Paton).

4/5/2023 5:59:17 PM