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Anamosa, IA BPIowegian@aol.com

I did a search to find out how much of the main nutrients that various crops take out of the soil. I found a good one: http://npk.nrcs.usda.gov/ You can pick from a wide variety of crops, input your anticipated crop yield and it will tell you how many pounds per acre of NPK the crop will remove from the soil. It will even calculate the fertlizer equivalent of the P and K in pounds per acre. You just have to do a little math to convert your patch size to acres. They don't list Atlantic Giants, but they list 2 curcubita maxima varieties which should be fairly close. So if you are on a limited budget like me and can't afford a soil test every year, you can at least get a good starting point for what fertilizer you need to add to replace what you have taken out. And it will help prevent guessing and using too much fertilizer.

11/15/2009 6:56:26 PM

the money spent on a annual soil test is the best money spent PERIOD in this hobby

guessing at pH and using data from other varieties for assesing fertilizer requirments is worthless.... imo

there is nothing else in this area that will grow 22tons/acre or more

these things are freaks !

11/15/2009 7:13:48 PM

Anamosa, IA BPIowegian@aol.com

I agree that annual soil tests are best. But when you have been hit with as many medical expenses as I have the past few years and still want to keep growing, you have no choice but to cut some expenses. From 2000 to 2008 my little family of 4 has had 9 trips to the OR. This year there have been 3 with 2 more planned for December. So I guess I am lucky to be able to grow at all.

I have found that ph doesn't change a lot from year to year, unless you are adding an awful lot of acid or alkaline amendments at one time. So for skipping a year of testing, I found that this is the next best thing. I also know a lot of new growers who have never had a soil test. And a lot who are on limited budgets like me. This site can at least be a starting point.

By my calculations, the average AG patch is around 1/70 of an acre (622 sq ft) so if you grow a 1000# pumpkin the yield is 35 tons to the acre. For a 1500# pumpkin the yield is 52.5 tons to the acre. Agreed, these are freaks of the plant world.

11/15/2009 8:08:23 PM

I guess I don't understand how a website would give a new grower a starting point without an actual soil test being done.

Many of us are on tight budgets, I personally don't think skipping a $25 soil test is the place to save. When we are talking 6 months of hard work and all the other factors that are out of our hands.

11/15/2009 9:13:21 PM

Cedar Lake, IN.

Iowegian, thanks for the information. I went to that site and like it. Thanks again.

11/15/2009 9:43:35 PM

Anamosa, IA BPIowegian@aol.com

If you know your ph is in balance, and you know how much your planned crop will rmove from the soil, you can figure out how much you need to add to have that amount available. Again, it doesn't totally replace a good soil test. But I know a LOT of farmers who depend on this information, not just for their hobby, but for their livelyhood. There are shortcomings to this information. It assumes that just the fruit is taken of and the plant residue is returned to the soil. With AG's most groweres remove the plant due to disease issues. I just offered this as another tool to use, not the whole system.

11/16/2009 7:33:38 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Iowegian,

Do a search for "fertilizer efficiency factor".

Soil test data is meant to feed the crop. Not the soil. It can be done. I've taken Potash & Calcium deficient soil ahead of the test results in-season, while growing. But it's a lot of work.

11/16/2009 8:45:34 PM