Corn & Pumpkins

I have been planting pumpkins with a John Deere 290 2 -row planter for several years. You have to make your own plates (big enough slots for pumpkin seeds). Of course, you only use one row at a time and space rows at least 12 feet apart.

Bryan; I have two planters that you may be interested in.
One is an old IH duplex corn and bean planter with a fertilizer distributor that is specifically for a farmall cub.
The second one an old JD model 25B and is for a three point hitch. It also has a fertilizer hopper and has hill drop parts
for planting pumpkins, squash or watermelons. Let me know if your interested.
Thanks OB

Tom; The planter that I have that you could use on your 9N is the John Deere 25-B. Its a single row planter that attaches to a 3pt hitch 2 1/2 inch tool bar. It has a fertilizer hopper and two planter hoppers (one to use and the other for a spare) There is an assortment of seed plates for corn, beans and seeds and all the little interchangeable gears that you need to set up the fertilizer drop and seed distance settings. There is also a hill drop attachment for planting seeds in hills like watermelons, squash or pumpkins. There is also a copy of the original operators manual and parts manual. I'm told by my JD dealer that all the parts for this planter are still available if you need any. The planter unit has been kept in my barn and is in good shape but has some rust on it and will need cleaning up. It is located near Pensacola Florida (60 Miles east of Mobile Alabama) and I am asking $300. for it plus shipping.
That about all I guess. Let me know if you need more info. Regards OB

I suppose you could use a plate type corn planter. We had a late 1960's vintage International 4-row that we planted corn and beans with. It was a plate-type, not air planter. One year we experimented with sunflowers in an 18 acre patch, and used sunfower plates (plastic) that had a spacer ring under it because the plate was thinner than the normal corn or bean plates. The spacer ring had a hole which allowed the seed to drop through into the chute. If you had a plate that would handle the pumpkin seeds, you might be able to block some holes and space the pumpkins out some. I've seen bean plates for this type of planter that had some rather large holes them. Perhaps a plate of that type could have some holes filled with epoxy or brazed shut, and let the remaining holes drop pumpkin seeds a few at at time in "hills" a few feet apart. You could put pumpkin seed in one box, and corn in the others. Interesting idea, I'd like to know how it turns out if you try it!

: I suppose you could use a plate type corn planter. We had a late 1960's vintage International 4-row that we planted corn and beans with. It was a plate-type, not air planter. One year we experimented with sunflowers in an 18 acre patch, and used sunfower plates (plastic) that had a spacer ring under it because the plate was thinner than the normal corn or bean plates. The spacer ring had a hole which allowed the seed to drop through into the chute. If you had a plate that would handle the pumpkin seeds, you might be able to block some holes and space the pumpkins out some. I've seen bean plates for this type of planter that had some rather large holes them. Perhaps a plate of that type could have some holes filled with epoxy or brazed shut, and let the remaining holes drop pumpkin seeds a few at at time in "hills" a few feet apart. You could put pumpkin seed in one box, and corn in the others. Interesting idea, I'd like to know how it turns out if you try it!

My dad told me one time that when he was growing up, they planted a lot of pumpkins with the corn. He said grandpa would just throw a handful of pumpkin seed into the hoppers of the corn planter. This was back in the 1930's or so and they were using a horse-drawn, plate type, two row corn planter. Two years ago I decided to try planting pumpkins like this since I figured the plants would spread well after the last run through with the cultivator and would give me some extra pumpkins to sell. I filled the hoppers about half full with corn, mixed in a handful of pumpkin seed and topped off with more corn. The outside rows did real well, but that was it. The pumpkins in the inside rows never got enough sun to grow and only produced a few small pumpkins. Dad said that of course when they planted it was all check row corn! I could understand it then since the extra distance between corn in the row would give the pumpkins the room they need. I still haven't figured out which was worse, picking corn by hand while walking through the pumpkin vines or picking pumpkins and packing them through the corn rows!

: : I suppose you could use a plate type corn planter. We had a late 1960's vintage International 4-row that we planted corn and beans with. It was a plate-type, not air planter. One year we experimented with sunflowers in an 18 acre patch, and used sunfower plates (plastic) that had a spacer ring under it because the plate was thinner than the normal corn or bean plates. The spacer ring had a hole which allowed the seed to drop through into the chute. If you had a plate that would handle the pumpkin seeds, you might be able to block some holes and space the pumpkins out some. I've seen bean plates for this type of planter that had some rather large holes them. Perhaps a plate of that type could have some holes filled with epoxy or brazed shut, and let the remaining holes drop pumpkin seeds a few at at time in "hills" a few feet apart. You could put pumpkin seed in one box, and corn in the others. Interesting idea, I'd like to know how it turns out if you try it!

: : My dad told me one time that when he was growing up, they planted a lot of pumpkins with the corn. He said grandpa would just throw a handful of pumpkin seed into the hoppers of the corn planter. This was back in the 1930's or so and they were using a horse-drawn, plate type, two row corn planter. Two years ago I decided to try planting pumpkins like this since I figured the plants would spread well after the last run through with the cultivator and would give me some extra pumpkins to sell. I filled the hoppers about half full with corn, mixed in a handful of pumpkin seed and topped off with more corn. The outside rows did real well, but that was it. The pumpkins in the inside rows never got enough sun to grow and only produced a few small pumpkins. Dad said that of course when they planted it was all check row corn! I could understand it then since the extra distance between corn in the row would give the pumpkins the room they need. : I still haven't figured out which was worse, picking corn by hand while walking through the pumpkin vines or picking pumpkins and packing them through the corn rows!

I DON'T HAVE ANY EXPERIENCE IN IT, BUT I've been told that in areas where there are lots of racoons, it was common to plant pumpkins in the perimeter of a corn field. Apparently the theory is that the spines on the pumkin vines discouraged the racoons from harvesting the field. As I understand it, only the outside edges of the corn field were interplanted with the pumkins, not the whole field.

If you could find set of pumpkin plates it would work I don't know if they were ever available. Normal spacing on pumpkins was about 5 feet between hills. Corn spacing is 6in-10inches. pumpkins would be a little thick at that population.