Seed drill enquiry

[Gemlou]

Hi, we know we are a few weeks late in the year, however we have a small holding and need to know what type of seed drill we need to sow pumpkins. The farmer across the road has helped prep the land but he has not done pumpkins before so couldn’t advise us. Any advice greatly appreciated it is our first year trying this and we are hoping to open a pick your own pumpkins event later in the year. Thanks in advance

 

[solo]

Have a look at today at work thread. Muddy roads was transplanting brassicas today.maybe this type of planter would allow you to catch up on the season.

 

[YELROM]

@Charles Quick grows pumpkins so might be able to advise you on how best to drill them

 

[YELROM]

Direct/Strip-till drilling photo gallery

Spring oats drilled with Sumo DTS after a grazed cover crop vs p/p-h. Both up and away... Planted less that 48hrs apart. No rain to speak of for 3 weeks here but I don’t think that’s a concern at the moment but, slightly different moisture profile after the Sumo (right) compared to p/p-h...

thefarmingforum.co.uk

 

[Auckland Blue]

Neighbors planting pumpkins with a precision drill can plant maize with it to and some veg seed./ looks a bit like a beet drill.

 

[cquick]

It's not too late in the season yet but you'll want them in the ground sooner rather than later.
I direct drill the seed using a slightly modified OSR subsoiler drill into a standing cover crop, see the link in the post above
There are EAMUs for clomazone, Isoxaben and Propyzamide which should cover all bases weed wise.
I then go on with weekly sulphur through flowering, and a dose of Signum to finish. Shut the gate after that until cutting the handles off a week before the punters arrive.

 

[Gemlou]

It's not too late in the season yet but you'll want them in the ground sooner rather than later.
I direct drill the seed using a slightly modified OSR subsoiler drill into a standing cover crop, see the link in the post above
There are EAMUs for clomazone, Isoxaben and Propyzamide which should cover all bases weed wise.
I then go on with weekly sulphur through flowering, and a dose of Signum to finish. Shut the gate after that until cutting the handles off a week before the punters arrive.


Thanks for this, it’s really helpful

 

[Gemlou]

Do you know if they do any suitable attachments for a compact tractor...or do we need to upgrade our tractor!! Apologies we are complete newby’s, been restoring the farmhouse now doing something with the land apart from maintaining so learning as we go. with a little help from from local farmer and forums like this!

 

[cquick]

I think you're best off finding a contractor for the grunt work, and getting yourself a small sprayer to fit your tractor.
If the ground is already loose then you could try and get someone with a maize drill to give it a go. You'll probably get by just using maize singulator discs, the seed is lighter than maize and would suck down well onto the holes. You're looking for approx 1 plant per square meter, not sure if the maize drill would do that extreme spacing. Perhaps shut off 2 out of every 3 rows, with closer spacing in the row, and then grow vine types instead of bush types to fill the gaps better.

 

[Devil's advocate]

Transplants for a novice especially this late in the season.

Google plant raisers/propgators & see if any left.

Up to 10,000 plants you can plant by hand with a trowel if land is prepared by contractor

Agree with above comments you need a sprayer & training how to use it. I'm not a pumpkin expert but 36 inch by 36 inch will give you big pumpkins

 

[Flatlander]

Growing pumpkins is a popular past time for some here. Grown some at the farm here a couple of times. First year biggest was 616 lbs second year 746 lbs. was thinking I was a big shot with the size but a friend from over the border I to the states regularly has ones in the 1100. - 1500 lbs range. He’s won some serious money at pumpkin festivals.

 

[nonemouse]

Vegetable & Horticulture - J F Hudson Ltd

Vegetable & Horticulture JF Hudson works closely with producers of vegetables, pumpkins, squash, berries, cut flowers, Christmas trees and more across the United Kingdom. We have created a number of unique agricultural products which support these farmers’ work while allowing for greater...

jfhudson.co.uk

The person in the above link might be worth contacting, he imports drills suitable for pumpkin drilling

 

[Al R]

Neighbours used to do about an acre planted by hand. They then used to trailer muck on and spread it by fork off the back covering the whole area except for 4” around where the plant was, this saved doing any weeding or spraying

@CPF ‘s lot have got pumpkins in, he might know how they planted them?

 

[Bogweevil]

I like this for pumpkins, especially as OP has no pesticide training: https://mulchorganic.co.uk/collecti...s/biodegradable-bio-film-140cm-x-500m-organic Feasible to put in by spade on small scale.

Unless you are doing a huge acreage I would have thought it not beyond most peoples capability to dib in seeds. However module raised transplants might be safer if bean seed fly a problem in the district. Transplants can be tricky if no irrigation available.

 

[Hesstondriver]

It's not too late in the season yet but you'll want them in the ground sooner rather than later.
I direct drill the seed using a slightly modified OSR subsoiler drill into a standing cover crop, see the link in the post above
There are EAMUs for clomazone, Isoxaben and Propyzamide which should cover all bases weed wise.
I then go on with weekly sulphur through flowering, and a dose of Signum to finish. Shut the gate after that until cutting the handles off a week before the punters arrive.

what does cutting the handle do ? or is it just to stop the public ripping them off the plant ?

 

[cquick]

what does cutting the handle do ? or is it just to stop the public ripping them off the plant ?

You want the handle to dry out because it looks better apparently, and the stems are tough and covered in glassy spines which makes breaking it off by hand quite painful

 

[renewablejohn]

It's not too late in the season yet but you'll want them in the ground sooner rather than later.
I direct drill the seed using a slightly modified OSR subsoiler drill into a standing cover crop, see the link in the post above
There are EAMUs for clomazone, Isoxaben and Propyzamide which should cover all bases weed wise.
I then go on with weekly sulphur through flowering, and a dose of Signum to finish. Shut the gate after that until cutting the handles off a week before the punters arrive.

It might not be to late in Somerset but planting seed in Lancashire now is being very optimistic. Would help if we new where in the World the op is.

 

[Gemlou]

It might not be to late in Somerset but planting seed in Lancashire now is being very optimistic. Would help if we new where in the World the op is.

Sunny Suffolk!