And a few more questions about pumpkin breeding

[ChimMAG]

Yes, growing pumpkins is very different from growing other crops. Spring has gradually arrived in the game, and I have a dozen or so pumpkin seeds, but I'm wondering - what's the best, most optimal way to grow them? Should I fence off a 7x7, 8x8 or 9x9 plot for each one? But even ten such plots is a huge area, and in most cases it won't be used at all. 

Just fencing off the area will require a huge amount of materials! And almost all of this land will not be used at all.

Perhaps it would be more profitable to place a water source diagonally from the seedling and a second pumpkin seedling even further diagonally? The chances of them blocking each other's growth are minimal.

More questions about soil fertility: some people on the forum said that it is more profitable to plant in the least fertile soil so that the seedling grows from stage 3 to stage 8 (when it dries out) for as long as possible. How good is this advice?

Another question: is it necessary to defend yourself from hares? That is, fenced areas need to be turned into beds so that hares cannot spawn there, or is it not necessary? If you do not plow, but lay out the stones, then will the seedlings not grow there in this direction? Conversely, will ploughed beds, as incomplete blocks, interfere with pumpkin cultivation?

In general, there are many questions, and I haven't even mentioned them all!

 

[Krougal]

Older versions it was like planting crops generated rabbits and the little pests destroyed your entire field. I used to just dig a trench around them and farm rabbits and drifters in the morning.

Lately I don't bother fencing fields since I don't think that is a thing anymore.

As far as pumpkins, give it a 9x9, only the center tile needs to be plowed, dig a hole in one of the adjacent corners and fill it with water (and if you don't have buckets yet, farming anything other than flax is the least of your worries). If you are going to tile them, then I have heard a 4 block gap between them is good. I have no idea about the low fertility thing, if it actually increases the yield or not. In that case I guess I'd omit the water as well.

 

 

[ChimMAG]

I found on Wikipedia that rabbits do not eat pumpkin or onion seedlings. So there is no need to fence them off. That answers some of the questions. But has anyone checked the impact of soil fertility?

[Maelstrom]

Pumpkins are affected by soil fertility just like all other crops. 

Pumpkin vines grow four blocks away from the block it's planted in on the cardinal directions.   Pumpkins will grow on either side of the vine anywhere out to the last block of the vine.  I have heard that placing a block on the diagonals adjacent to the tilled block can increase pumpkin yield.

[Thorfinn]

21 hours ago, Krougal said:

I have no idea about the low fertility thing, if it actually increases the yield or not.

It used to be good to plant on low fertility, because vine wilting was tied to fertility of the mother block, and once it wilts, that block is no longer a possible growth location. I never did try it with barren soil, because I couldn't find any, but low was definitely better yield than potash-fortified terra preta. Is that still the case? No idea. I rarely bother with pumpkins anymore, because I was being overrun by vastly easier to grow crops.

[ChimMAG]

It is necessary to test it on different soils. In addition, the growth rate can be reduced by eliminating watering of the beds.