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Williamsburg,KY

I havent made up my mind if I am going to enter the local vegetable contest this year. Last year I won first price and the money, $10. My idea this year would be to try to sell the pumpkin and not enter the contest. So what kind of price do I charge. At present I have about 7 growing on 5 plants. My big one is about 350# now and the others are smaller, from 200 to 90 pounds. Any ideas? I live in a very rural area and not many yuppies with expendable cash for such things. Any and all ideas are welcomed. I would like to enter the contest but there is only one other pumpkin grower who enters and not much fun. The fun was getting the pumpkin loaded on the trailer we had to buy, but that is another story.

8/17/2005 2:51:07 PM

Omaha, NE (N41-15-42 )

$1/lb is the price I have seen most often on this site.

8/17/2005 4:20:45 PM

$1 a pound is only for the larger ones (like 1000 pounds).
for pumpkins in the 500 pound range, it's more like 50 cents a pound.
there's a price list in one of the "how to grow" books but it may be outdated (due to inflation?)

8/17/2005 5:45:20 PM

Alex, IN

How to Grow World Class Giant pumpkins has,
1000 pounds = $10 per pound, and that was several years ago.

I myself think that 1 dollar per pound is pretty reasonable. You can go to Wal-Mart and pay $3.00 for a 15 pound pumpkin. Thats about $0.20 per pound.

Mikkal

8/17/2005 6:05:18 PM

Alex, IN

Sorry, that should be, How to Grow World Class Giant Pumpkins 2.

8/17/2005 6:06:38 PM

North Smithfield, RI USA

Would the price consider that we save our seeds ?

8/17/2005 6:32:02 PM

New Jersey

As you mentioned that there's not many with disposable income for such things in your area, demand will play a key role in your pricing no matter what a book says the price should be...

You'd pay more than $5 for a pack of cigarettes in NJ, yet pay less than $2 a pack in other areas of the country. Granted this is a tax issue on a product with a low price elasticity... but that's a whole different can of worms, addictions, and exploitation. Pumpkins would likely be highly elastic, in that as the price goes up, demand is going to go down...

In the end you are probably the best judge of what to charge people when there is such little information about the market. Come up with a price that sounds fair to you, then take judgement of the potential customer and adjust your price accordingly. If you want to be more systematic about it, set up a test market by performing a survey of an appropriate sample set.

Perhaps a better angle would be to donate your pumpkin to a nonprofit organization like the local church and deduct it's value at the HTGWCGP2 Rate... Ohh now that's an idea.

Disclaimer: Don't take my tax advice without researching it's legality yourself, it's just an idea and I'll just laugh at you if you start telling me the IRS is auditing you over my advice.

8/17/2005 7:04:14 PM

[email protected]

A guy who buys AGs for a nearby seasonal exhibition paid $.90/lb for 500-800 pounders if he picked them up. If you delievered he paid $1.00/lb.

Some of the bigger pumpkins made multiple showings but if you made prior arrangements most of the seeds were collected & given back to the growers in garbage bags full of slop all duct taped with the fruits "serial number" written on it.

I doubt very many other such lucaritive arrangements can be made.

8/17/2005 7:48:31 PM

Williamsburg,KY

Thanks everyone for your replies. I reckon that I will use my best judgement, somewhere between .20 and .50 per pound. Depending on the buyer. The local college makes a display each year and I feel they could afford a higher price. I liked the idea of donating and deducting, but we dont itemized, but a good idea. I'll let you know what happens. Anything would be better than $10 for all my work. And work it is to grow a big one..I really have a deep respect for anyone who grows them big.

8/18/2005 8:24:01 AM