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Willamette Valley, Oregon

Has anyone weighed the rest of the pumpkin plant (roots/leaves/stems) after the fruit is harvested? Any estimates on total mass? I'd guess somewhere between 250 lbs and 1000 lbs wet weight. Is it more than that?

5/7/2009 3:17:17 AM

Michigan

pumpkins have alota deep roots how would i separate the roots from dirt or r u weighin um with some dirt? i wanna try this!

5/7/2009 12:39:42 PM

Willamette Valley, Oregon

I wasn't going to get too technical, just roll up the whole mess and get a ball park weight. I'm thinking that I'll need a fruit weight and non-fruit weight to determine what nutrients were removed and what I need to add back next year.

Another way might be to weigh 10 average leaves and petioles and count the total number and scale up to a total weight. Also weigh 10 ft of stem and scale into total feet and 10 nodes worth of roots and scale into total roots (maybe weigh stump roots separately and add them in).

5/8/2009 12:06:25 AM

Rhode Island

why on earth would we care what the plant weighed? lets concentrate on growing skills and developing good garden habits and health.
geezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz talk about why no heavy hitters post?
pap

5/9/2009 5:50:31 AM

awwwww, pap kinda closed minded from a forward thinking guy like you.

Imagine the possibilities here, whole new divisions at the weigh offs. Secondary prize sturcture for those that "lost" a fruit or NEVER had one, another meaning for the GPC (giant plant commonwealth)

the possibilities are endless 8-)

(and if anyone thinks I am beening a smartazz on this one,,,you are RIGHT !!)

grow some pumpkins people ,,,,,,,,,geeeze

5/9/2009 7:20:43 AM

Rhode Island

i think we should weigh the grower along with his/her pumpkin ? id have a winning chance every year.

5/10/2009 7:58:00 AM

Falls City, NE

wait a minute we should have a giant seed competition also. We could go by color and lentgh and wieght this might work. Lmao

5/10/2009 7:42:28 PM

Willamette Valley, Oregon

OK you jokesters, I wasn't talking about a competition on plant weight.

I'm assuming we all remove the plants and the fruit from the patch at the end of the year to avoid disease build up.

The question is: how much nutrient capital do we remove in the process? To calculate that you need to know the total weight of the vegetative parts and the fruit and the nutrient content of each. (Remember that pumpkin fruit and leaves are about 90% water and lab results for nutrients are based on dry weight.)

Once you know the nutrient removal you have a base to estimate fertilizer needs for next year. Depending on the nutrient (N,P,K,S,Ca,Mg,etc.) you would add at least as much as was removed to maintain soil fertility.

5/11/2009 1:34:35 PM