Got Pumpkin Growing Questions?
Have you been looking for answers to pumpkin gardening questions that I haven’t answered on this site? How about any other aspects of pumpkin gardening?
My ears are always open! Leave a comment below and let me know, and I’ll certainly do my best to answer your question! In addition, this will allow me to improve the site for anyone else who might want to know the same thing as you!
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I started my Pumkin early its april and I all ready have flowers
should i leave them or do i clip them off what should i do?
@Matt Johnson,
Leave them. The flowers are male and female, and when they are pollinated by insects, your pumpkins will soon begin to grow.
@lars, so is the flower a fermafradite or are the flowers eather male or female??
@Matt Johnson, leave them
Im planting pumkins bought from a local nursery but arnt an experienced gardener they will be in raises beds and am wondering if they will be ok with other plants around them?
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They should be fine. They are going to be long vines for a raised bed. But, just let the vines grow out of the bed to keep from blocking sunlight to other plants.
can i use the seeds out of last years pumpkins-last fall i cleaned and dried them out. would they work? thanks
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Yes, plant these seeds. Saving seeds is an economical way to start a pumpkin patch. Folks have been known to keep pumpkin seeds in cold storage, too. But, as long as you cleaned them and let them dry out, they should be fine to plant.
Our pumpkin plant is growing like mad! About 3 months in we have several vines that are loosing leaves near the roots and then spreading out. Is this normal or does it mean that vine is going to die? Is it possible that we’ve let it grow too long and we need to some serious trimming? THANKS!
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Don’t trim the pumpkin vine. Pumpkin vines do not need to be trimmed. Double check and make sure there are not any vine borers. Also, it could be a nutrition deficiency. If you don’t see any pest damage signs, apply a little fertilizer.
I live in Montana – short growing season – a local grower said to pick the flowers and only let one or two stay. This would allow the plant to focus all it’s energy on one or two pumpkins and the largest pumpkin possible.
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It seems the plant should set fruit first. If you reduce the number of flowers, you reduce the chance of pollination. Even if you are hand pollinating, it seems you would want to make sure you had enough male and female flowers. Here’s more information on growing giant pumpkins in the home garden: http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1646.html. This site suggests letting the vine grow a few pumpkins to volleyball size before picking off a few of them.
i planted my pumkins extremly early, before january,
and there weren’t any frosts, so my plants developed; but, at
first i did not know how much space pumkins need so i planted
too much, and about a week ago i “cleaned” the garden and
left 2 pumpkin plants with enough spacing, and here is my
question: the female flowers started appearing, and when
they reached the size of 4\5′s of an inch they died and fell
of the vine with they’re “baby pumpkin”, even before they
bloomed. what should i do?
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If a female blossom opens and dies, it means it wasn’t pollinated. But, if your female pumpkin blossoms are not opening it could be a number of problems that are interfering with plant fertility. Check these things first:
1) Does your plant get enough sunlight?
2) Does the plant have enough nutrients? Also, keep in mind that too much nitrogen can affect the plant fertility too.
@guy,
ok, i’ll check, here are some more details:
*there is a wall on the north side of the patch.
*i didn’t fertilize my patch for a long time, so what’s
better, plant based compost or cow manure compost?
i also have all sorts of those weird bottles of special
plant chemicals and medicines, should i use them
any of them? thanks again.
@guy,
and i almost forgot, a farmer told
me i should use garlic for fertilization, should i?
thank again.