RE: Its the pits


Hi Mike,

  I've been using a combination of the hill and the honey hole.  I dig down
about 2½' and make it about 5' across and backfill with a mix of the soil I
have dug up along with organic matter, compost and a mix of sand, sawdust,
and dewatered biosolids from a local wastewater treatment plant.  This mix
has a good balance of nutrients and the sawdust, while initially binding up
some of the nitrogen gives it a long term nitrogen release.  This stuff
tests out comparable to chicken manure in nitrogen levels so there is plenty
available early in the season.  I use 50' soaker hoses and bury about half
this length coiled in the pit and then lay the last 25' in a trench I 
I plan to train the main vine along.  this raises the soil level about 8" to
12" above the surrounding 
soil.  Between the continued composting of the organic matter and the
elevation I feel I get a higher soil temp early and have not had any
problems with drainage.  I have pulled up roots up to 3' long at the end of
the season and they are still the diameter of a pencil where they finally
broke off.  I can test my theory of higher temps with the mound this year as
I purchased a soil and air thermometer over the winter.  My subsoil below
tiller depth seems to be fairly permeable and there are plenty of earthworm
tunnels through it so I don't have the problem of a hard pan.  This is one
great advantage of having one end of my patch only  90' from a river bank in
a broad valley.  The downside is its 20 minutes from home with no power and
I have to be there when I'm doing all my watering.
  I think the advantages and disadvantages of planting in pits or on mounds
are going to be highly variable and dependant on your climate and soil type.
We seldom have extended heavy rainfall in the summer months in Western
Washington which would pose a problem for Eastern growers who dig pits.  The
only way my patch would flood in the growing season would be if the dam
bursts thats about 30 miles upriver from the patch and if that happens we'd
have bigger problems than a flooded garden.  I couldn't possibly put enough
water on it myself to saturate the ground there.  I know at least one heavy
hitter who said last year he didn't believe pits were an advantage as his
roots would hit the harder subsoil and turn away seeking the path of least
resistance to get to nutrients and water.  This could keep the roots from
spreading as they need to. This may be the case with the soil he has, I've
never seen his patch so I can't make any observations.  He had used them in
the past but had abandoned the practice.  He has great success every year so
whatever he's doing it seems to be right for his conditions.
  I guess that's the point of all this rambling, you have to do what seems
right for your conditions.
In my garden I feel it helps me to concentrate a source of water and
nutrients where the plant gets its start.

Chris Michalec
Covington, WA
> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Vickie Brock [SMTP:vbrock@mcn.org]
> Sent:	Sunday, March 25, 2001 3:25 PM
> To:	pumpkins@mallorn.com
> Subject:	Its the pits
> 
> I was wondering whats the general consensus was on pits.  I know some
> growers feel that a nutrient pit  full of good stuff might tend to keep
> the
> roots  from spreading out.  Last year I tried the no pit method  and there
> didn't  appear to be a big difference although my weights weren't as high
> off by 50 lbs or so..........yes  its the pits ! but that season is gone
> now.  what to do this season.  I have also noticed some top growers that
> had abandon the pit  only to return......................what I am looking
> for are some monsters that have been grown without the pit
> practice............just tilling 10 inches or so...............or a
> general
> feeling towards the pits................................MB
> 
> 
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