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Arkansas

Would there be any benefit of planting seeds directly into the ground if you could get the soil temp high enough with heating cables and a heater?

10/25/2022 3:21:28 AM

Johnston, R.I.

I dont think so.

10/25/2022 4:05:34 AM

Grittyville, WA

I like the idea of selecting the plant that is best adapted to the patch soil. Plus it avoids potbound roots. But its also a good way to lose an expensive seed, because the real world brings its additional real world risks. Later in the season, I think growers can benefit from having clean/non-disease promoting potting soil around the stump. The stump is a point of entry for whatever is in the soil.

10/25/2022 4:25:34 AM

Syracuse, NY

I grew 3 of my 178 from '14 by putting them directly into where another 178 had died - into SS Mix that was already there; What did I have to lose? They grew faster, stronger and more quickly than any of my other plants that had been started indoors and had had to suffer in my basement under fluorescent lights, some for 2 weeks, a month or more before being planted out. The typical standard is 10 days in a peat pot or as soon as the direction of growth is determined by generally knowing that the plant grows in the OPPosite direction of the first true leaf, between the first seed leaves.

I'll just have to determine how much later I can plant the seeds 'directly'.

PS---I grew these three from within 6 inches of each other and each pretended to be its own lengthy vine, as if it were one plant, so I put one sprinkler right near the middle as well. I did have one 'volleyball' blow up and one cracked and fell to rot - the third is 178 X 1374 Engel - looking forward to any viable seeds! eg
PSPS - the SS mix already had Mycorrhizae in it and if I was planting seeds of my own OR an expensive, acquired seed directly into native soil I would provide EACH with a 12-quart bag's worth of Jiffy Mix amended with 1/3 gallon of H2O and one half cup of Joel Holland's Bio-Grow Endo Plus Mycorrhizal Inoculant. Even just the Jiffy Mix would be fine, lol---I DID plant 6 field pumpkin seeds directly into native soil that did NOT have Myco installed and they grew very well once their roots became well-established; I'm having good luck with it, so, you can, too---eg

10/25/2022 5:13:37 AM

Upa Creek, Mo

Not really which is why most don't do it.

Biggest issue I see is you can't pick which direction it will grow when it germinates from the ground.

When started indoors and moved outside, they usually grow opposite the first true leaf.

10/25/2022 8:29:24 AM

Kutztown, PA

You could start them in 5" peat pots with potting soil and put the peat pot in a hole in the ground. Like Gritty said though, it's risky business. If you do it you should have backup plants ready to replace it. It's tough enough trying to keep a well started plant from succumbing to the cold or worse. I don't really see a significant upside to do it. I don't know a lot about growing big pumpkins, but I know a lot about killing small pumpkin plants. :)

10/25/2022 9:54:19 AM

President - GPC

How many times do you inspect the stump, and find circular roots in a ball that resembles the pot they were started in? I think its worth giving a try in climates that dont have to worry about 24 degrees a night. Jduke I would give it a try, your climate a bit better that ours in Colorado.

10/25/2022 10:01:18 AM

Kutztown, PA

Like they say, " You try it you buy it." Would I do it with a $120 seed that I have only one of. Nope!

10/25/2022 10:30:52 AM

Syracuse, NY

If anyone is leaving the plant in the peat pot, I'm gonna say 'Holy Mackerel'!
Plan(t) B is to plant the seed @ 90 degrees from the desired direction so that there is only 90 degrees of correction - and, we're all about that, right? later---eg

10/25/2022 1:42:18 PM

Muddy Waters

One problem is a young seedling can be destroyed much easier then a decent size plant. Cut worms birds etc.. I would not recommend it.I like a big root system to go in the ground on day one.

10/25/2022 7:07:46 PM

Bethlehem CT

Here is some information on this from way back
I always wanted to try it.
https://www.backyardgardener.com/garden-forum-education/pumpkins/direct-start-method-of-pumpkin-growing-by-george-brooks/

10/25/2022 7:16:36 PM

Grittyville, WA

I agree Bubba. I vowed never to set out anything small after a slug munched one down to just a stem. A sprout with just cotyledons... they can accomplish that in one night. Bigger plants, not so much. As for the growth direction of the plant, just drop a bucket on it... thats what Travis does.

10/25/2022 10:30:03 PM

Muddy Waters

I always lay a ring of sevin dust around a small plant. Risky planting, cut worms

10/26/2022 4:52:07 AM

Kutztown, PA

Wow big moon, read at the link. That seems like a lot of work. Timing is important I think. If I plant 2-3 weeks before outside day I'll use gallon pots. If I only had a week I'd put them in peat pots and peel off the outside at planting. Some folks say that could harm the roots. If I forgot to plant I might start the "cheap seeds" in the ground. having said that, some peat pots deteriorate quicker than others especially the bottoms. I have planted the peat pot directly in the hole with lots of different types of vegetable plants and haven't seen any consequential negative results. I think I did hear some roots calling out one morning, "Help me, I'm Trapped", but it was ephemeral and ultimately a false alarm. :)

10/26/2022 11:33:34 AM

Kutztown, PA

Meant: Wow big moon I read at the link you sent.

10/26/2022 2:35:16 PM

Kutztown, PA

Here's some interesting info on "Peat Pots".

https://laidbackgardener.blog/2018/03/09/peat-pots-for-fragile-roots-2/

10/26/2022 3:43:02 PM

Muddy Waters

If you sre growing say 800-1000 lbers for fun stick the seeds in the ground if soil temps are over 65. Go for it

10/27/2022 5:24:49 AM

Syracuse, NY

A directly-planted seed's plant never has transplant shock.
As I had said, these three I had direct-seeded were my own seeds and took about 5 days to sprout but once they did (my 178) they really took off. I have some reading to do above but think about this as well: How far along do you think the roots would get if they did not have to contend with the peat pot, ever? - and how many do you think never get out of the peat pot anyway? I also use clear plastic cups that are free (lol) so that my plants' roots are as potbound as possible and yet are in immediate contact with my SS Mix concoction ASAP once I finally get them out there;

My 6 FPs I now realize, after a day to think OF it,
were NOT direct-seeded - the ones that grew so well - only 1 of the original 6 came up and was not the greatest - NO Myco at all and the other 5 were germed in SS mix with Myco, as usual; They DID all get to be fast-growing and such but only long after they got established root systems. I call 'em as I KNOW 'em, lol---eg

10/27/2022 6:23:09 AM

Grittyville, WA

Shoild we all just throw a seed in the ground as a backup, at the same time we transplant, and see how it does compared to the transplant?

I think the transplants would win 4 out of 5 times, but some of us may have a few extra seeds in our cupboards or refrigerators. Might be worth playing around with it.

With up to 6 seeds in one spot, the odds are one or two will grow in the right direction :) It doesnt get any easier than that.

10/27/2022 7:09:02 AM

Kutztown, PA

Last year I started all of mine in gallon plastic pots. I split them at for places down the side, put them inside of another gallon pot, then planted. I guess the theory is that you can slide the split pot out, peel down the sides and plant the pumpkin without having to squeeze or shake it out of the pot. That would be great if your plants had a big root mass at the time of planting, but that wasn't the case with all of mine. I was pretty gentle but still believe I lost a rather expensive Mendi plant that didn't have a lot of root mass when I put it in the ground, i.e. soil falling off the roots while I was removing it from the pot. The previous year I used 6" peat pots and had no problems. The plants took off just as well as gallon plastic. Maybe that was just an anomaly - who knows?

10/27/2022 9:17:21 AM

Germany

Here´s how I treat my seedlings the first couple of days. This method (starting the seedlings in those plastic pipes rather than using pots) allows for easily releasing them (even without a real root bale) into the patch without the surrounding soil falling apart. I prefer to transplant them very early from the plastic pipe right into the patch rather than placing them into a bucket for another couple of days, the latter merely serves as a plan-B if soil temperature is a bit too cold at that time.

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=196308

10/27/2022 10:16:48 AM

Germany

Dale M is using a similar method to minimize transplant shock ...and I must admit, the containers of his seedlings are looking much better than mine ;)

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=323094

10/27/2022 10:20:41 AM

Kutztown, PA

That's interesting Pumpking. I might try something like that but maybe forgo the small pipe pots and make a removable bottom for some bigger ones then I could just slip it all off when the plants in the hole. So many possibilities, so little time.................. Prost!

10/27/2022 2:18:23 PM

Germany

I like that size, usually that´s the size when I transplant the seedlings into the patch:

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=253619

I simply dig a hole, remove the plastic bottom plate from the pipe, hold it on my hand (my hand thus prevents the contents from falling down through the bottom), put it into the plant hole, cut open the tape which is around the pipe, then I fill the plant hole with soil and then pull the pipe out of the plant site. That size of pipes is a good size as starting pot as well, it fits nicely into a small incubator (8 of them at a time), whereas bucket sized containers require so much more room, much starting mix (even for dud seeds...a waste of room and starting mix) or they would require a first transplant from a small starting pot.

10/27/2022 3:11:12 PM

Kutztown, PA

Pumpking, can you please describe your "Incubator"?

10/27/2022 4:00:44 PM

Syracuse, NY

I'm lovin' the idea of the 'spring-loaded' pipe that will make the seedling's release 'into the wild' go well - it'll be a long winter just thinking about it, now - Dang! eric g

10/28/2022 2:53:38 AM

Germany

My incubator for the seed starting pots...is somewhat MacGyver-style. It is a carboard box. Ok, rather than describing the actual dimensions of my incubator, I better describe the general how-to.

What you need: A big carboard box which has a (width x length) to easily accommodate 8 of the seed starting pots, and the height should be the height of the pots with at least 6 inches of additional room.

Step 1: Fill plastic bags (zip-lock bags) with a 1 inch thick layer of wet sand to form the bottom (hence, size of the bags should be sufficient that one or two bags cover the bottom of the cardboard box).
Step 2: A silicone-coated heater cable (in my case it´s an 80W cable) is positioned on this bottom of sand bags in an even manner.
Step 3: The cable is covered with a second bottom of those 1 inch thick sand bags.

...This way, you can heat the wet sand (it will take a while) and you avoid hot spots on the surface where the sand bags meet the bottoms of the seed starting pots. The cable is then combined with a timer, and the on/off rhythm of the timer is then adjusted to produce the desired temperature in the incubator box. Hence, the end of the cable and the plug should be outside the box, and the thermometer should go into the box somewhere.

Step 4: Place the seed starting pots in zip-lock bags and then place them into the incubator, check temperature occasionally.

10/28/2022 5:18:22 AM

Germany

Why the heck did I write carboard box... It must read cardboard box.

10/28/2022 5:18:59 AM

Germany

...need to take some pics of that box somewhen and post them in my diary. Have used it for at least three years, and I´m happy with the way it works.

10/28/2022 5:20:21 AM

Kutztown, PA

Does anyone know what the preferred humidity for seedlings is?
I have a large incubator that I use for egg hatching which can be temperature and humidity controlled that I can hang a grow light inside of but I'm afraid of to much or not enough humidity.

10/28/2022 8:31:08 AM

Grittyville, WA

Put a plastic food container lid on the soil to keep it from drying out during germination.

10/28/2022 3:44:12 PM

Germany

Hi Garwolf, a couple of minutes ago my latest diary entries appeared. On Oct 29th I have posted a brief description of my incubator (five diary entries with pic and some text...tried to limit the latter to a minimum). Would you please check the contents if they are sufficient to serve as a useful description for you and, hopefully, for other growers as well. Thanks alot.

11/1/2022 9:14:40 AM