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Tipp City, Ohio

I heard of a man that raises acres of regular field pumpkins. He plants 3 buschel of rye per acre in the fall, then in the spring when the rye is a few inches above knee-high he sprays with roundup. Then he lets it sit for a month so he can no-till his seed into the ground. He claims that this method prevents a lot of weeds and retains the moisture in the ground and he has been doing it this way for years. Has anyone tried this approach in their patch? If so does it work?

10/4/2002 8:39:11 PM

Montoursville, PA

Bantam You have great growers with various means and methods in your state. Your gentleman sounds like a market grower. Those who coddle a patch or two for the big suckers may do differently. Pretty good idea to follow someone who has done many times over that which you would like to do. The largest fruit in Pennsylvania the last two years was a backyard pumpkin. Suggest you read the grower reports here on this .com site. You can build a single patch or two, to near excellent growing conditions, while a field is another story.

10/5/2002 4:28:11 PM