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Vegetable yield - help!

13 years ago

Hello,

I am curious what other gardeners yield off of their plants. I understand so many variables come into play, but just roughly on average, what to you guys yield off the following:

-tomatoes

-peppers

-cucumber

-cantaloupe

-watermelon

-squash

-eggplant

Just want to know how many fruits of each plant do you yield on average.. Just a rough estimate from your experience.

Appreciate it,
Joe

Comments (29)

  • 13 years ago

    -tomatoes Cherry tomatos did really well for me last year-only time I have grown tomatoes. More then I could possibly use from 2 plasnts.
    Full sized, I grew a Mr.Stripey which I got as an over sized seedling-never really recovered I got 2 tomatos.
    Early girl and best boy-I got about a dozen from each plant-they really did not like the growing conditions and the fact that circumstances made me neglect them starting about mid season.

    -peppers I have grown these for about 4 years. I get about 2 dozen peppers from each plant 50 from hot peppers. I grow in 2 gallon buckets.

    -cucumber they hate me-I have never gotten decent yields-about a dozen a plant I haven't even attempted them the last two years.

    -cantaloupe

    -watermelon

    -squash depends on variety-zucchini hate me but I get lots of yellow squash per plant maybe 12. White bush scallop are a favorite of mine probably about 8 per plant but they taste so good.

    -eggplant Black beauty 2, Japanese style 2 dozen or so per plant-although with two plants it seems like I was able to walk out the door to the garden and pick one anytime I wanted all summer long-and I gave some away so maybe I am underestimating.

  • 13 years ago

    Sjkly - thanks so much, that's exactly what I am looking for!

    Appreciate it,
    Joe

  • 13 years ago

    My list is probably not typical-I do mostly container gardening not ground planting.
    I do have a small bed but it isn't in a great position and only gets about 6 hours of sun.

  • 13 years ago

    Depends on location and season length. This is a big country.

  • 13 years ago

    tomatoes - depends on the variety. I don't grow cherry types just slicers and beefsteaks for the most part and we are cutting way back this year to only 40-50 plants as it will be the first year we aren't growing for market. Average - 20-25 fruit per plant.

    peppers sweet - 10-12 per plant
    peppers hot - 50-75 per plant or more in a good year

    don't grow melons any more

    squash - winter 6-8 per plant
    squash- summer 12-15 per plant

    eggplant - 6-8 per plant

    All estimates.

    Dave

  • 13 years ago

    Thanks Dave, I appreciate your post!

    Little Minnie: I understand it depends. I stated in my first post that I understand there is so many variables.. I am asking from your experience what does your garden yield.

    Thanks,
    Joe

  • 13 years ago

    I love this post- I too am curious everyones answer. Been vegetable gardening for the better portion of my adult life, but its my first year as a market grower, so I think its fascinating to know the differences by region! Im in the foothills in california, zone 8b.

    tomatoes
    Cherry: literally HUNDREDS per plant (sungold, black cherry, sweetie)
    Heirlooms: anywhere from 6-20 per plant
    slicers/hybrids: 30+ per plant

    -peppers
    bell: about 8 per plant, more if i pick green all season
    hot: 40ish, or more
    specialty (italian frying peppers, giant marconis, etc): 20

    -cucumber: I've had horrid luck with cucumber beetles/aphids every year, but I still managed to get about 10 per plant on a trellis before the bugs got to them!

    -cantaloupe: allergic, dont grow it!

    -watermelon: I'll get about 7 or 8 babies per plant, I will pinch off any extras after 3 to keep them big however

    -squash: Squash bugs galore here. I get about 10-15 zuchinni per plant before I rip it out & burn it (I direct seed every three weeks throughout our growing season... its the only way I can keep a steady supply). Although when i lived in an area without the squash bugs, I would get 60-70 per plant in a 6 month span!

    -eggplant: 7 or 8 per plant, more for smaller asian varieties (little fingers gave me over 30 on a single plant!)

    Hope that helps!

  • 13 years ago

    Katy thanks so much! It seems like you get a lot more tomatoes from your hybrids, that's interesting... I grow all heirlooms, wouldn't expect such a difference! I'm glad you found this post helpful.. You gave me an idea for another one! You just have to wait to see!

    Joe

  • 13 years ago

    Tomatoes- sungolds-even in a bad year, zillions! Others, I usually grow 5-6 plants and get enough for sauce for the 2 of us for the year. Maybe20 per plant in a bad year to 100 per plant in a good year!
    Peppers- usually bells about 5-10 per plant. Same with hots
    Cukes- Usually 10 per plant
    Cantelope- just grew my first Cranes at my school garden....got 2!
    watermelon- no
    squash- enough to shred a bunch for muffins, breads etc, many to eat and plenty to put on the neighbor's porches and RUN LIKE HELL!!!
    Eggplant- I like the little Japanese EPs! They are much less bitter and great to saute up with some onion, garlic and squash! I find the little Japanese give so many more....maybe 25 per plant?
    As others have said, it all depends on the weather and the conditions! Nancy

  • 13 years ago

    Thanks Nancy! "Enough to put on your neighbors porch and run like hell", you're funny! Are the muffins bad, or you just dont want to talk to neighbors or what? I got a few funny stories... That's for another thread..

    Thanks,
    Joe

  • 13 years ago

    It dependson so many factors and some of it out of control. The heat, The wind storm, The rain, the insects especially the fungus. Some seasons we have it good and in some seasons no luck.

  • 13 years ago

    I understand there are so many variables.. Just merely saying it depends is of no help.. At least say " look, on a good year we get roughly this much, on a bad year we ---" .. Just saying "oh,it depends" doesn't help anyone..

    Thanks,
    Joe

  • 13 years ago

    But Joe, yields-per-plant can range from zero to world-record. You are getting feedback from people all over one of the world's most diverse continents. What are you trying to learn from this?

    My home garden tomatoes last year developed early blight, and for the first time since I began gardening here in 1998 I did not get a ripe tomato from some plants. What does this mean? It means that early blight is a problem. What does it mean if a plant yields 15 lbs of 8-brix tomatoes? It means that all of the many factors controlling yield and plant nutrition are near-ideal.

  • 13 years ago

    I don't count individual fruit (cherry tomatoes would be ridiculous, given how they produce) in most cases, but cantalopes seem to put out 3-4 good melons for me.

    But it really does depend. What do you eant to use the various veggies for? Might be able to steer you towards a rough planting estimate based on that.

  • 13 years ago

    tomatoes
    I usually grow determinates because of our super-short season. I usually get, oh, five or six trusses (minimum in a bad year) with four to six large fruit each. They're full-sized slicers, but not giant beefsteaks.

    peppers
    Again, short season here, so it's rare that I grow a ripen-to-red sweet pepper. I get roughly half a dozen or so green sweets per plant, but my plants are small. Something like a Hungarian stuffer will give me eight to ten perhaps. I won't even guess how many hots I get per plant, they're so prolific.

    cucumber
    From seven plants last year, I picked a large kitchen mixing bowl (maybe a gallon and a half?) full of pickling peppers (very young as we prefer baby pickles) every other day for roughly two months.

    squash
    I've only ever grown pumpkins as we don't like summer squash. I usually get two to three very large carving pumpkins per plant with Connecticut Field. My fav is a smaller bush hybrid that actually ripens in the field (amazing for our short season); that one gives me two good-sized pumpkins per bush. My mother-in-law grows zucchini and she gets the same sort of harvest as Nancy (lol).

    cantaloupe, watermelon and eggplant - don't grow

    Our soil is very silty and behaves like clay. Our subsoil about a foot down is actual clay. The native soil in Saskatchewan is naturally high in potash (we're the largest producer in the world), so we never add that as a fertilizer. We mix in natural sources of N in the fall (or very early spring if we got behind). I use a synthetic starter fertilizer on transplants. We don't fertilize the rest of the year and the only pesticide we use is BT on the brassicas. We seed or transplant cool crops in mid-May and transplant or direct seed everything else between late May and early June. Our first frosts come any time between late August and late September. (I know this wasn't part of your question, but growing conditions are very relevant to yield.)

  • 13 years ago

    Macky, I'm surprised you need bt, I wouldn't have thought that the various cabbage worm species could overwinter there. I know they generally don't in northern VT.

  • 13 years ago

    Thanks for giving some useful information Macky, appreciate it..

    Pnbrown - I am just curious to see what others in different climates yield.. I am not trying to predict weather.. I an asking you what did your garden yield last year or the other years.. Everything depends, you don't have to tell me that one my friend.. I an just curious to see what others gardens yield say last year.. Yes it depends,ok? But we all know that.. I am asking your specific yield for your garden say 2011-2012 or whenever.. I'm not calculating rocket science here...

    Sunnibel - Yes I could imagine counting cherrys.. Ya we got a good 637 of em, I be, I was up all night countin' them suckers! I already have my garden layout planned, was just a little curious..

    Appreciate you all,
    Joe

  • 13 years ago

    My garden is so inconsitant that I just put up what ever it produces. one year my onions produce like crazy. Nice 3/4 pound each. then next year only golf ball size. Canned quarts Of diced onions one year, next year we pickled them cause thats what they reminded us of pearl onions.
    If I had to say what does well here I couldn't.
    cherry tomates , Lrg red cherry and yellow pear produce more than we can eat. good thing our dog likes them.

  • 13 years ago

    I think about this stuff more per person :).

    4 summer squash plants = enough for one person for the summer, more if you want to freeze.

    4 chard, 2 regular kale or about 15 tuscan, 2 komatsuna, 1 collards, 1 mustard = one person for fresh winter greens

    2 roma + 1 cherry tomato for summer, if you don't eat a lot of tomatoes. More if preserving or like marinara.

    And so on...

  • 13 years ago

    On the grens, I have a gang dibber thats marks off 16 holes 2 inches apart. For most seed I put 2 seeds per hole.
    When the plants are big enough I might remove every other plant for salad. After a couple times the remaing plants are big enough I cut just a few leaves off each plant. You get food earlier this way.

  • 13 years ago

    Joe - your title of the post indicates you are seeking some sort of help. What help specifically?

    A random sampling of production numbers from all over the country - especially when they are all estimates - helps anyone how?

    You could 100 replies with a 100 different answers and still not know anything concrete. So it isn't a valid comparison of zone productions or of weather effects or even of variety selections not to mention all the other variables. So could you be more specific as to what is it you are trying to find out?

    Dave

  • 13 years ago

    Dave:

    I stated in my original post, I am just curious what other gardners in different climates yield off their garden. I don't neccesarily need help, I was just trying to get peoples response, making this thread more lively if you will.. But i think it does help to see what other gardeners are producing out their gardens.. If you insist I need help, then it helps my curiosity..

    Sorry for the misunderstanding,
    Joe

  • 13 years ago

    I don't "insist". You did. Normally when one adds "Help!" to their title of a post it indicates a sense of urgency, a need for something specific, and an ASAP need for an answer.

    If one wishes to just chat about gardening, which is what this thread has turned out to be, then the "Help!" in the title is misleading.

    But you have properly stressed that the many variables between gardens should keep any any readers from being misled into believing they are doing something wrong if their results don't match those posted here or doing everything right if their results exceed don't match.

    Because of all those undefined variables one really can't compare zonal, regional, or even neighboring gardens with any degree of validity.

    Dave

  • 13 years ago

    Pnbrown... unfortunately, cabbage worms are alive and well here on the prairies. They laugh at a couple of weeks of steady -35C apparently, lower with the windchill. Some years, you see them like white clouds settled in the ditches along the highway. I wonder if there's some sort of commercial crop that they're attracted to because I always see more of them out here in the country than in the city. Canola maybe? Who knows. I tried covers one year, but they were always in my way with all the dandelions and Canada thistle we're constantly weeding. The BT is more convenient and works well. I get 1 to 1.5 lb heads from our broccoli, plus shoots. :) (That was for you, Raw, since I was sort of off-topic there.)

  • 13 years ago

    Canola, very likely since that is in the brassica/mustard clan. Too bad, I'm always interested to know about moth-free zones.

    Florida is free of ICM, BTW. You could move there to escape the moth and be warmer. No more rhubarb pie, though.

  • 13 years ago

    No deal then. ;) I must have my giant rhubarb patch.

  • 13 years ago

    Joe, I'm not throwing muffins at the neighbors! I'm leaving the zuks on the neighbors' porches! Nancy

  • 13 years ago

    Right I know.. But u mentioned that you put the zuchs on their porch and run like hell.. I was curious why do you run, to avoid neighbors? It was more less a joke.. Funny..

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