pumpkins

more specifically, how do you grow them. this is the second season in a row that we've planted some pumpkin vines from seed. they grow really big and flower alot and the bees crawl all over them, but we never get pumpkins to grow on the vine. is there a trick?

What kind are you trying to grow? I have tried 2 years now growing the giant pumpkins and not only do the seeds rot a lot and I have to replant, I also have yet to get even one pumpkin of any size whatsoever.

3 years ago I grew pumpkins with great success in our garden up by the house but they take a lot of room and grow into other vegetables. So we tried doing a plot way in the back corner of our propertry but that is several hundred feet further away and difficult to care for and have had little luck the past two years. This year just one pumpkin and of the regular pie type. Last year we did better but a severe hail storm put holes in them and they rotted. I think next year I am doing them in the garden again.

Check your flowers to see if you have any female flowers:

Example:



IF you don't see them, then there maybe other issues. If you do have females, hand pollinate them by pulling the male flower off at the base, then remove the petals. You should be left with the pollen stalk. Rub the stalk on the center stalk of the female flowers to pollinate.

Some varieties may be harder to pollinate than others.

If you have all male flowers and lots and lots of vegetative growth you might be over fertilizing them. Most plants in this family put out male flowers first for ~2weeks then come the female flowers.

Here is what looks like a good site for info:

Pumpkin Nook : Pollination, Pollinating Pumpkins


Good luck

Grow em??? Around here we chunk em!!!

World Championship PunkinChunkin

i don't recall seeing those female sorts... hmmm... i imagine it's too late now to get a pumpkin growing. thanks for the help, we shall try again next year.

Learned a lot from you guys, thank you.

dataz722 said:

Grow em??? Around here we chunk em!!!

World Championship PunkinChunkin

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Those guys are Insane!. Some of those artillery pieces must have cost a fortune, achieving distances of almost a mile! I think I want go watch them this year

I grew Atlantic Giants this year. They didn't get as big as I'd hoped (3 plants) but they are at least 20 lbs. I started them inside a month or so before moving them outside, I also hand pollinated the flowers as mentioned. I only got one pumpkin per plant, you are supposed to cut off other pumpkins anyway to get the largest one you can, but only 1 grew so I didn't need to do that.

Dadrick said:

Those guys are Insane!. Some of those artillery pieces must have cost a fortune, achieving distances of almost a mile! I think I want go watch them this year

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Yeah, some of them are REALLY REALLY expensive. They actually just had to change locations a few years ago because they were outshooting the field that it was in and they were getting lost in the woods.

My friends and I have thought about entering one into the amateur catagory but never have. It's sad, I live about an hour or so away and I have never gone. Every year I say I am going to but never have.

conpewter said:

I grew Atlantic Giants this year. They didn't get as big as I'd hoped (3 plants) but they are at least 20 lbs. I started them inside a month or so before moving them outside, I also hand pollinated the flowers as mentioned. I only got one pumpkin per plant, you are supposed to cut off other pumpkins anyway to get the largest one you can, but only 1 grew so I didn't need to do that.

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I am going to try the giant ones again and I am really going to mix a lot of composted organic matter into the growing area. Pumpkins grow roots down the vine in places where they touch the ground so I plan to pay close attention to those places if I notice roots later on. I am determined at this point to grow one. I planted two packs this year only to find they rotted. I think the seed was dead before I planted them. Third try they all came up but by then the other pumpkins were so far ahead they shaded them and they never had a chance. I brought a pack once and it had only 3 1/2 seeds, WTH?