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Sacramento, Ca

I've typically watered my pumpkins once a day in the early morning. After reading a few posts it seems most growers water twice a day. Is watering some in the morning and some in the evening after the sun goes down a good watering schedule for Sacramento Valley, CA?

4/3/2010 5:00:34 PM

Rudolph

typically you want to avoid watering in the evening,(because you'll have a higher chance of getting pm)I'll water once in the morning and once around 2-3 pm(4-5 hours before dark, that way your patch dry's up) on really hot days( I bet it's always hot by you)you'll have to water even more, you can tell if you need water by grabing some dirt 4-6 inches below the surface, press that dirt in the palm of your hand, and if it stays together you good, but if it crumbles bring out the water hose.

Hope that helped,
Josiah O, Brandt

4/4/2010 12:20:47 PM

West Chazy,N.Y.

I will water in the early morn before 7:00 am and then if it gets hot in the early afternoon just to {cool the plant down}then 2 hrs before sun set I will water heavy again "if it needs it" or just wet the soil down a bit
depending if the doil is dry or damp. this is what I do here in the NORTH N.Y.

Randy

4/4/2010 1:21:22 PM

Rhode Island

we let the soil tell us when to water. to much water can cause many problems with root diseases,etc.

during the dead of summer if we get no rain them we will water approximately 100 gallons of water and or water with drenching additives every other day.

if you can pick up the soil and form a ball in your hand ,then open your hand and the ball stays caked up? your wet enough.

right now if you pick up the soil in our patch it will run through your fingers like a bowl of yogert. but thats what tweleve inches of rain over a three day period will do for ya

pap

4/4/2010 8:23:13 PM

Deer Park WA

All that water is Gods way of flushing out excess salts pap! Happy Easter

4/4/2010 11:52:13 PM

Middle TN

Ok Im confused (nothing new there)... you use 100 gallons of water every other day? How many plants is that? I know giants take a lot of water but golly geez I wasnt expecting that much. If I need that much my water bill will be higher than my morgage! LOL
Tammy

4/5/2010 9:23:46 AM

Rudolph

100 Gallons every other day deppending on your soil(by forming the ball of dirt in your hands)sometimes you'll find yourself watering that much(yes per plant)every day.

4/5/2010 11:34:29 AM

Middle TN

Holy Cow! thats per plant!?! looks like with 100 gallons they'd float away! haha

4/5/2010 5:50:42 PM

Cedar Lake, IN.

Pray for rain...

4/5/2010 10:11:48 PM

Middle TN

amen Kurty! Im gonna swipe one of hubbys 55 gallon barrels to catch some rain water.
Tammy

4/5/2010 10:27:28 PM

3 acre corner in Whittaker,Mi USA (faulkner5@msn.com)

That's what I ended up doing last year with the rain barrels Tammy. Got 5 of them off craigslist last year and used the 4 for the rainwater catch at the downspouts and made a rotating compost tumbler out of the 5th one which worked out AWESOME. They really helped to keep my h2o bill down to just below the threshhold of me gettin my butt kicked by my wife!

4/6/2010 12:31:16 AM

Rhode Island

yes i was talking about 100 gallons per plant every couple of days depemding on weather $ soil conditions as noted.

4/6/2010 5:43:32 AM

Owensboro, Ky.

Tammy, have read on several occasions, that 1" of water per week, is an avg. of water needed. This also depends on yer soil. If no rain, this amount (in gallons) would certainly increase as the plant grows in size. The grab a handfull, and squeeze method is how I judge. Peace, Wayne

4/7/2010 11:46:01 PM

Columbus, GA

Ok y'all, I'm in the south of middle Georgia now, but I was born/raised about 65<> miles SE of Tammy. My daddy grew pumpkins for us kids every year for Halloween-not giant ones but pretty big ones indeed. Now understand we were farmers and poor as Job's turkey, so we didn't have the water to "waste" on pumpkins so they only got the water that God saw fit to give them. I gotta tell ya, those were some of the prettiest pumpkins ever so why are we now having to water water water them sooo much? I'm willing to do it but my pumpkin patch is nowhere near a faucet so I've already been thinkin about the 55 gal drum thing too. I was just wondering what has changed so much with punkin growin between then and now. :-/

4/13/2010 3:59:07 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

KK, the difference is that "NOW" the extreme watering,is to grow "EXTREME" pkns!!! Not knowing yer age, and smart enough not to ask...!!! LOL New world record has been set every year except for one, for the last 10 or so?? Major improvements in growing techniques, have led to the growth of Slungers!!! The 1 TON pkn is not far away!!! I know some folks, who pump water into a 500 gallon tank, and haul it a mile or so, and pump it into the patch a couple times a week, if needed!!! Extreme!!! Yes!!! Grow em BIG!!! Peace, Wayne

4/13/2010 11:32:33 PM