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Pulaski Tn blkcloud@igiles.net

on average..in a average patch with average dirt and a average plant..how many averages is that?? how much water should a plant get per week? 4 days in a row i have been working on my watering system and have gotten rained out...but when i do get it fixed i want to know how much to water them. thanks,keith

6/23/2004 10:10:24 AM

Arizona

well do you got sandy,clay,loam soil? well with clay here once a day or every other day is all it take. no Idea how much water I use.

Jeff

6/23/2004 10:17:04 AM

Utah

1 inch to 1 1/2 inches per week ...
To cover a 1000 square foot patch evenly with 1 inch of water it takes 623 gallons.

6/23/2004 1:10:15 PM

Cologne / Germany

For us metric guys: that´s approx. 2500 l per 100 qm each week. Pretty much more than a four person family ever needs. Who said that is a cheap hobby? :)

6/23/2004 1:29:59 PM

Wisconsin

A couple years ago I bought a couple tensiometers (devices that measure soil moisture levels). I have one at about 12" and another at about 30" deep. I base most of my watering decisions on these readings. I try to keep my soil between 80% and 100% of the soil saturation levels.

What I have learned from these is that I used to water far too much. I have a loamy soil and it takes very little water to maintain good saturation levels (probably somewhere around 1/2" every 4-5 days). It doesn't take much rain to achieve these levels. I think many of the problems I struggled with earlier were from overwatering.

I bet overwatering is a very common problem with pumpkin growers - we tend to follow the "more is better" philosophy.

6/23/2004 1:42:36 PM

Pulaski Tn blkcloud@igiles.net

man the stuff you learn here..i though i had heard of everything but a.. tensiometers.. that blows my pea brain..
this is pretty damn interesting..i'm gonna see about getting me one asap!!!!

6/23/2004 1:54:03 PM

Pulaski Tn blkcloud@igiles.net

aw yeah..thanks jimr.....

6/23/2004 1:54:23 PM

Pulaski Tn blkcloud@igiles.net

the good news...
i just checked ebay and there are 6 on there for sale now..
the bad news
..they go inside a airplane to check the tension of the aircraft cables....

6/23/2004 2:06:16 PM

Ohio, USA

I just water however much I feel like it.

6/23/2004 4:56:47 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Keith,

Set a bucket or straight sided can in the patch. If a half inch hasn't accumulated in 3 days, it's time to water. Comes in handy for other stuff too, but that's my justification for being lazy & keeping the Mrs from filling them upp with some sort of nonsense I'd rather see thrown away.

6/23/2004 5:15:54 PM

Cologne / Germany

Jim is right. A tensiometer can do it all for you if combined with any kind of irrigation system. Checked it for quite a long time, best product (subjective) is from Netafim called "Flori", over here it sells - including magnetic valve - for 180 $, 110 $ without valve. Just plug into the patch, it will check the moisture level (adjustable to your needs) and open or close the valve whenever needed. A review and additional info is here:
http://www.microirrigationforum.com/new/sensors/smi-article.html

6/23/2004 6:52:26 PM

Ontario, Canada.

Jim, great tip. I did some research last night and came up with a reasonabe priced $90.00 unit from Rainbird. This is getting to be a sience project. Another hurdle cleared. Leaving no stone unturned in the push to 1000 pounds.

http://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/detail.aspx?ID=911

6/24/2004 9:45:02 AM

Wisconsin

I am using the "Model R" tensiometers from Irrometer.

http://www.irrometer.com/agcat.htm

I have a 18" and 36" model that I have buried at about 12" and 30" depths. They seem to give pretty consistant and reliable readings.

I would not consider them an essential piece of equipment for pumpkin growing but they help me to water appropriately. More often than not, they tell me not to water when I think that maybe I should. My simple rain guage and my intuition are pretty poor indicators of soil moisture levels.

6/24/2004 10:40:06 AM

Utah

Yesterday I recieved my PGVG newsletter- in there Steve Daletas said that he waters up to 2 inches of water per week.

6/24/2004 1:50:49 PM

Canada

I paid $43.95 for mine. Its not top of the line or anything but seems to work well. Mine measures Both soil Moisture
levels and light levels, There are 2 scales on mine and upper and a lower scale. Top scale measures moisture levels
and bottom one measureing light levels.. Not overally $$$
but works good.

DaveM

6/25/2004 10:41:58 PM

San Diego, Ca.

What are the signs the plant will show when the soil is too wet? My neighbor waters her lawn very heavy and the water percolates down hill right to my patch. There is an underground utility box between our property that when I took the cover off I couldn't believe what I saw...About 8"-10" of water sitting in it. This box is just about the same level as my patch. Unfortunately, this is very near to where the stump of my plant is at(about 10 feet away). I don't water near the stump but maybe once a week because the ground is always damp. I haven't seen anything that looks abnormal about the leaves but about a week after I pollenated the second pumpkin on the plant almost all the plant growth has come to a halt. The pumpkin is growing but only about 3" a day on circumference and its day 19. Do I have any hope??? I asked my neighbor to ease up on the water but is it too late?

6/25/2004 11:27:59 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

If the soil is overly wet with poor drainage the leaves will start to get "Chlorosis".Chlorosis is an abiotic disease( not caused by a living organism). This is basically the roots drowning from the lack of oxygen and poor drainage. Then the plant is unable to produce chlorophyl, It then turns yellow. This can also becaused by a high P.H. tying up the available Iron for the plant. I am not sure how your drainage is there, But where I lived in Buena Vista we had excellent drainage. You could have left the water on 24 hours a day and the only issue you would have to worry about is the leaching of the nutrients and calcium from over watering.

6/26/2004 7:13:16 AM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

Since I grow on gravel ground and utilize a mound of peat rich soil, I water for 6 hours every day, reagrdless of rainfall. Water is my nutrient carrier. Plants are healthy year-long.

9/28/2004 9:16:33 PM