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North Of The Border

I have not yet looked into what natural fertilizers are good for giant pumpkins because in previous years I have just tried to get a 200+ Lb pumpkin for a local fair. This year, however I want to get 1000+Lbs and just a few applications of miracle grow won't cut it. I just want to know what sort of organic fertillizers are good and cheap(ish).

2/8/2020 7:18:06 AM

Syracuse, NY

just so you know, i, myself use Miracle-Gro on my seedlings until they are out in the PATCH (a word seldom used on here anymore, i dunno why), and even then until they are
outgrowing their 8' x 8' floating row cover greenhouses.
the formula is like 24-8-16 as their standard, but i used to love even more the formulation 15-30-15. needs of the plant(s) will change throughout the plant(s') lifetime(s), so, look into that as well---just, fyi, Miracle Grow works well for ME through the times that i said, and it is @ 1 Tbsp/gallon of H2O whenever the plants get watered - and forget cheapy-weepy right off the bat; the more you put into this, the more you'll get out of it - or, divided by the # of plants you grow, lol---take care - eg

2/8/2020 10:51:53 AM

Central NY

Where ya at?....how’s stuff grow in that area now?...we’ve grown 1000lbs using Neptune’s harvest fish fertilizer and seaweed ferts...all the other plant maintenance rules will still apply..much more fun when the soil numbers are close to where they need to be though...would highly recommend a soil test from western labs...it just saves a lot of time...good luck, slow time of year on the boards here but ask any questions you have ...as former king of asking dumb questions?...they are useful...and plenty of great folks here with lots of experience...good luck!!!!!!

2/8/2020 10:54:29 AM

Central NY

To add- there are quite a few pumpkins grown over 2000lbs that The growers have shared exactly what /how they feed...check your local clubs newsletters!...

2/8/2020 11:02:56 AM

Grittyville, WA

I think I remember reading that Geddes or Haist uses horse manure as main amendment. Whatever you use when its aged at least 9 months... This seems to be when the plants benefit more... otherwise they may struggle a bit. Goat manure would probably be similar to horse manure. Chicken manure is different it has less potassium and more ammonium. Cow manure might have good microbes. It may have slightly lower nutrient levels than horse or dairy goat. Nutrient tests may be necessary to acheive the right balance for the healthy sustained growth needed to get above 1000. I haven't got there yet myself but from what I've seen and read, horse or goat would be my top recommendations... Good luck.

2/8/2020 1:47:04 PM

Anamosa, IA BPIowegian@aol.com

You need to what is in the fertilizer and what your soil needs. If you have a soil test and an analysis of your fertilizer,you can make better decisions. The big advantage of natural fertilizers is that the nitrogen is more stable and less likely to leach out. In the big flood year of 1993, the farmers that I worked with who used manure and had legume rotations had fairly decent corn yields. The farmers that used chemical nitrogen had terrible yields. The other advantage is the soil biology from beneficial bacteria in the fertilizer.

I get compost from Cedar Rapids, and they have it tested regularly. I also checkout Walmart in the late fall and pick up the organic fertilizers they have on clearance. their Expert Gardener and Jobes Organics have addition so of different beneficial bacteria, and the Jobes has mycorrhizae as well. I try to get my soils to Western Lab's recommendations with the compostand synthetic fertilizers, then use light amounts of the organic ferts from Walmart around the stump and root nodes. 2016 was a super wet year and most growers in our area lost all of their pumpkins. But I was able to grow a 1001# and took 5th place at Anamosa, even though my garden is on a damp creek bottom and I got no growth the entire last month. So I am sticking with that plan.

2/8/2020 5:17:54 PM

North Of The Border

I am in Ontario and mostly I haven't tried very hard to get stuff to grow so I wanted to actually try. Although I do have a fairly tight budget(about 150$) I wanted to know what would get me the most "bang for my buck" so to speak. I will probably not add manure because that would take extra time in the spring although next year I probably will. Spring time here is cold and I don't want to postpone planting at all so I was just wondering about ferts to use throughout the year.

2/9/2020 8:27:07 AM

Grittyville, WA

I dont know what your soil needs but I had an entire dump truck of goat manure dumped for $100. That one hill grew 2400 lbs of pumpkins and my native soil here wont get them past cotyledon stage so it made a big difference.
Ideally if you could get composted stuff you would be ok this year. If you are just going to buy fertilizer then you need a soil test... The soil test --and following recommendations as best you can --will give you the most bang.

2/9/2020 2:54:58 PM

North Of The Border

Yeah but, in my mind, that soil test is 20 dollars of money, which is about 1 seventh of my budget, that could be used for fertilizer. I have also not seen any places near me( South of Ottawa Ontario) that will deliver a large ammount of compost or manure for a good price. I also can't go to the town's compost facilities and get free compost because A our town doesn't do a compost pickup and B even if they did, my families car is a medium sized car so we would not have space to bring home enough to make it worth while. I am also trying to grow on a thousand square feet and I would want close to 10 cubic yards of compost/manure and that costs a few hundred $ to order. Last spring we ordered a load of mushroom compost for the normal garden, it was 8 cubic yards. We had the best yield we had ever had, but it cost $400. I can't spend 400$ because I don't have the money. So I don't think I will be able to get a load of compost.

2/9/2020 3:49:50 PM

Central NY

Aiight... if it were me, 150 budget, I would go 75.000 on daconil, liquid sevin and Bayer tree and shrub..you could skip those but bugs and the rest will take you out quick..25 on a premium bag of soil mix to mix in the mound when planting...15 for a bag of wallace wow starter packs to bury with until you run out,..35.00 on triple 10 granular..applied when the plant starts running...1lb per 100 sqft...Add that to all the rest of the plant training/vine burying and if your soil is decent,...I dunno, maybe....we’ve put tons of compost and the like into our gardens...150.00 in our soil goes a lot longer/bigger....so important to get those soil numbers close...what if your soil is perfect except for 50.00 worth of potassium?...can’t know for sure without a test...I say plant the pumpkin in the normal garden...let the veggies fend for themselves...good luck grower- lots of good growers up yer way...

2/9/2020 5:22:32 PM

North Of The Border

I was thinking, probably, 50.00 on some gypsum for calcium, about 50.00 on liquid fish and 50.00 on liquid seaweed. I had not really thought about it though. I don't believe my dirt would be that good because I have not added that much to the soil yet. I may be able to add some compost e made and I am planning on trying to make some 21 day compost with shredded hay and leaves, so I will be able to vine bury with that, hopfuly. Also you have to take into account, your math was with American money, Canadian money is worth slightly less. I have a triple 16 granular already that I bought, can use about 10ish Lbs of. I also have 5-20-20 granular that I can use 27-28Lbs of planning on using beside buried vines. Was going to get, not budgeted money, triple 20, and 4-32-37 water soluble chemical fertilizer. Also I found a way to get seaweed powder for about 35-40$ for 500 grams (makes 1250-1500L(312-375 gallons)). Don't know how much for fish emulsion but I will have $60ish for that. Of course that is just in rough, but that was essentially my plan. Any changes you think I should make, please tell me. I am also attempting, cabbage, watermelon, carrot, tomato, and rutabaga this year, so i need to think about all the ferts i can buy in bulk and use for assorted plants. So seaweed and fish are good as well as high nitrogen chemicl fert for cabbage, anf high potassium and phosphorous for my tomatoes and root veggies. I will just use the same stuff I will use for pumpkins for watermelons,I will just buy more.

2/9/2020 7:02:11 PM

North Of The Border

I also still have insecticides and fungicides from last year.

2/9/2020 7:03:37 PM

Central NY

Well if I had all that on the shelf I would get a soil test to see which one to use...western labs test...it’s 45 bucks or so...they tell you how much of what you have to put on a 1000sqft patch...good luck..make what you have work

2/9/2020 7:21:30 PM

North Of The Border

Okay, I may be able to get one because I actually have close to 190 dollars so I can spend about 55 on gypsum and 45 on the seaweed so that leaves about 100 which I can use close to half of on getting a test. Also thank you so much for the help you have been the most helpfully. Also I might get a few bags of manure to add to the ground. In the hill there will be rotting giant pumpkin from last year
r so it should be okay nutrient wise.

2/10/2020 9:19:43 AM

North Of The Border

Sorry I don't know why I typed a r

2/10/2020 9:20:10 AM

North Of The Border

So with that 100 dollars I will try to get a soil test for hopefully less than 50 and spend the rest on getting fish emulsion. I did not think that it was that much stuff I had but I guess it is. I will probably amend soil with triple 16 and then while burrying vines I will hopefully have good compost and I will dig a trench where the vine will go So that I can put the 5-20-20 along the side and with that I don't think I will need much more so I should actually be pretty goo

2/10/2020 9:53:24 AM

Central NY

Sounds like a plan ...post your soil test results for help to get dialed in...not crazy about the 5-20-20 but we’ll see what the test says...

2/10/2020 10:02:46 AM

North Of The Border

Well the5-20-20 was on sale for a very cheap price and I knew pumpkins needed lots of phosphorus and potassium to grow big so I bought it and it only costed 12-13$ So i was exceptionally happy with price. Also my soil test won't be done for a while because the ground is frozen solid and probably won't be thawed until close to late March so don't hold your breath. When I can get enough thawed soil for a sample I will send it in to get a soil sample and post results on a new post.

2/10/2020 10:46:52 AM

North Of The Border

Will be on soil preparation and analysis.

2/10/2020 10:47:46 AM

Central NY

Yuuuup...16” of snow here ...lots of time for reading “how to”....

2/10/2020 11:33:01 AM

North Of The Border

Yeah I hear you. Got over a foot of snow up here. Won't be able to plant yet lol. Shame was hoping for an early spring.

2/10/2020 11:55:53 AM

Central NY

Yuuuuuuup....here in the northeast you can wish in one hand, take a crap in the other.....see which one fills up first...but if you pick up some tricks here and there you can catch Mother Nature lookin the other way...;)

2/10/2020 6:41:00 PM