How to grow a pumpkin plant
Pumpkin Planting & Growing | Learn How Pumpkins Grow – Bonnie Plants
Whether as smiling jack-o’-lanterns or stacked near cornstalks, pumpkins are a symbol of fall. Get expert tips for growing pumpkins at home.
Growing pumpkins stands as an enduring symbol of fall, whether they end up as smiling jack-o'-lanterns or stacked near cornstalks for a lovely autumn scene. But this vegetable boasts more than good looks. It's also full of nutrition, dishing up vitamin C, beta-carotene, fiber, and potassium. One half cup of cooked pumpkin provides a day's supply of vitamin A.
In the garden, pumpkins crave lots of moisture, compost-enriched soil, and plenty of sun. Meet those requirements, and these sprawling vines will bear a bumper crop, especially when you start with strong young pumpkin plants from Bonnie Plants®, the company that has been lending a hand to home gardeners for over 100 years.
Quick Guide to Growing Pumpkins
- Plant pumpkins in early summer near the edge of your garden.
- Space pumpkin plants 2 to 5 feet apart (depending on the variety). Grow each pumpkin on a 3-foot wide mound of warm, fertile soil that has a pH of 6.0 to 6.8.
- Improve your native soil by mixing in several inches of aged compost or other rich organic matter.
- Pumpkins require a lot of water, so it's best to use a soaker hose or drip irrigation. Avoid wetting the leaves.
- Give your pumpkins plenty of nourishment with a continuous-release plant food.
- As pumpkins start to form, elevate them off the soil to prevent rotting.
- Harvest pumpkins once they reach their ideal color. The skin should be firm and stems will have started to wither.
Soil, Planting, and Care
Like its cousin the cucumber, pumpkin demands warm, fertile soil for growth. Soil pH should be 6.0 to 6.8. Plan to give each vine at least a 3-foot diameter mound, or hill, of warm, enriched soil. Test your soil every year or two to determine how to amend it for ideal pumpkin growth. If you don't do a soil test, you can improve your existing soil by mixing in compost or aged compost-enriched Miracle-Gro® Performance Organics® All Purpose In-Ground Soil with the top few inches of native soil, to provide more nutrition and improve the soil texture. In cool climates, warm the soil a week before planting by covering it with a piece of black plastic. To plant your pumpkin seedlings, cut a hole in the plastic and plant through the hole.
Pumpkin vines grow aggressively, covering lots of ground. To keep your garden from being engulfed by vines, site plants near the edge of the garden. As vines grow, direct them toward the outside of the garden. Space full-size plants 5 feet apart, and mini pumpkins 2 to 3 feet apart.
Plants need ample water when flowers and fruits are forming. It is best to use a drip system or soaker hose to directly water soil at the base of vines so as to avoid wetting foliage. Try to water in the early morning, so that any water that splashes onto leaves can soon dry. Wet foliage is more susceptible to fungus, such as powdery mildew, which can slowly kill all the leaves on a vine. Most vines wilt under the bright, hot afternoon sun, but if you see foliage wilting before 11:00 a.m., that's a sign that they need water. It's also a good idea to feed pumpkin plants throughout the season with a continuous-release fertilizer like Miracle-Gro® Performance Organics® Edibles Plant Nutrition Granules, which provides a source of steady nutrition for strong growth.
Some gardeners promote branching to get more pumpkins by pinching the tips out of main vines when they reach about 2 feet long. You can also increase the yield on a vine by removing all female flowers (these have a small swelling at the base of the bloom) for the first 3 weeks. These practices may produce a sturdier vine that can set more, albeit smaller, pumpkins during the growing season if you have good soil, sun, and moisture. If your goal is fewer, larger pumpkins per vine, once you have 3 to 4 fruits on a vine, pinch off all remaining flowers as they form.
For a little fun, you can personalize pumpkins for children. While pumpkins are small and skins are soft, scratch a child's name into the skin. The name will increase in size as the pumpkin grows.
Troubleshooting
The first few flowers on pumpkin vines will be male blooms. Their pollen attracts bees so that when the female blossoms begin to open, the bees will have the pumpkin vines on their daily flight runs. Male flowers last one day, then drop from vines. If vines are stressed, male flowers may predominate. Insect pests of pumpkins include spotted and striped cucumber beetles, which can transmit bacterial wilt disease, which causes vines to collapse and die. Treat adult beetles with neem or pyrethrum. Be aware, however, that these are toxic to all insects, including beneficial predators and bees. Make applications at dusk to avoid harming bees.
Other insect pests include squash bugs, which must be controlled early or they can be devastating, and squash vine borers.
Powdery mildew, a fungus that produces white spots on leaves, can weaken plants.
For instructions on how to handle pests and diseases, contact your regional Extension agency.
Harvest and Storage
As pumpkins form, you can slip a piece of cardboard or folded newspaper beneath the fruit to prevent contact with soil and possible rot, especially if you are growing a precious few. Toward the end of the season, remove any leaves that shade ripening pumpkins. Harvest pumpkins before frost. Fruit is ripe when the outside is fully coloured, skin is hard, and the stem begins to shrivel and dry. Pumpkin vines are often prickly, so wear gloves and long sleeves when harvesting to keep from itching. To harvest, cut stems with a sharp knife, leaving at least an inch of stem on fruits (more stem is better). Lift pumpkins by slipping your hand under the bottom of the fruit. Never lift a pumpkin by its stem; if the stem breaks, the pumpkin won't store well.
Before storing, cure pumpkins by setting them in the sun for 10 to 14 days to harden the skin, seal the stem, and improve taste. Dry, warm weather is best; protect curing pumpkins from frosty nights with old blankets or by moving them into a shed or garage. Store cured pumpkins in a cool place, arranging them so they don't touch. The ideal storage space has a temperature of 50 degrees with about 60 percent humidity, but since a root cellar is hardly standard in most homes, do the best you can in a basement, vermin-free crawl space, or other frost-free storage. Under ideal conditions your cured pumpkins should store for 2 to 3 months.
FAQs
How do I know when pumpkins are ripe and ready to harvest?
Pumpkins should be harvested before the first hard frost. Vines die back and leaves shrivel at the end of the growing season. The fruits change from green to yellow to sunset orange. Cut pumpkins from the vine when the rind is firm; leave several inches of stem attached to the fruit to avoid rot.
How do you prolong the life of a carved pumpkin?
Allow the pumpkin to sit for 30 minutes after carving. Dry out the cut areas and the insides with a towel. Coat the cut areas with petroleum jelly. This reduces moisture loss and helps protect against rot for a few days.
How long can pumpkins be stored?
If kept in a cool dry space, pumpkins can last up to several months.
Growing Pumpkins Growing Techniques Pumpkin Pumpkins Vegetables
Growing Pumpkin Plants - Stages of Growing a Pumpkin
While pumpkins are known as fall decorative staples, especially when it comes to Halloween, they also make fun objects for carving or delicious pies for gatherings or after-dinner dessert. There are orange, white, mini and large options you can choose from your local pumpkin patch. But if you want to experience what it'd be like to have some in your own garden, we're sharing expert tips on growing pumpkin plants.
Browse through our pumpkin-growing guide to inspire your backyard plant collection. We've got pointers from Rosie Lerner, extension consumer horticulture specialist at Purdue University, on how to grow, harvest and care for your pumpkins, including how to protect them from pests to keep them in the best shape for weeks.
FotoDuets//Getty Images
1. Choose your pumpkin seeds.
Pumpkins come in hundreds of varieties differing in size, color, taste and texture, so no singular type can claim the title of "best." From ballooning giants to teeny-tiny gourds, there's a variety out there for you. Check out some seeds available for online ordering below:
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2.
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Pick a day after the last frost to sow seeds directly in the ground. Each seed packet will list how long on average the plant needs to produce full-grown pumpkins ("Days for Maturity"). For example, Small Sugar Pumpkins need 100 days to reach maturity. If you wanted them to ripen about a week before Halloween, then plan on planting them in mid-July.
Select a full-sun spot and space out the seeds based on the recommendations provided on the packet. Pumpkin vines can sprawl quite far, although there are some "bush" varieties that grow in a more compact form.
If you're feeling ambitious, plant the seeds in pumpkin "hills" — mounds of dirt slightly raised off of the ground. "The hills tend to warm up faster and they drain water faster than just planting them flat on the ground," Lerner says. "It gets the plant up and allows the long vines to cascade down a bit."
Westend61//Getty Images
3.
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Most vegetable crops need a deep yet gentle soaking once per week — about an inch of water at a time. Adjust based on rainfall accordingly. Note: Pumpkin leaves can look wilted in the afternoon heat, even if the soil is still moist. Resist the temptation to douse the dirt even more if the foliage perks back up again in the evening or under cloud cover, as overwatering can contribute to root rot. Mulching your beds will help keep pumpkin plants more consistently hydrated and also tamp down weeds.
In general, you do not need to prune your vines. Big leaves help them produce more carbohydrates, which mean more pumpkins. Some people will thin their plants to one or two fruits each in order to grow giant prize pumpkins, but everyday backyard gardeners can skip this step.
4. Fertilize the soil as needed.
Pumpkins are heavy feeders. Using an all-purpose vegetable garden fertilizer (not one designed for lawns) can provide them with the right food they need. It's also a good idea to test your soil every couple of years. The results will reveal what type of dirt you're dealing with — including the pH and nutrient levels — and help you plan accordingly.
Khanh Bui//Getty Images
5. Harvest your pumpkins.
After several months of growing, your pumpkins will reach maturity when the rinds harden and reach the desired shade. Definitely harvest before a heavy frost, which will damage the fruits, Burpee advises. Cut the vine with pruning shears, leaving several inches of stem attached. Then enjoy the fruits of your labor — either by carving, cooking or decorating.
Common Mistakes When Growing Pumpkins
Growing your own pumpkins can be a great learning experience, especially for those looking to expand their green thumb. However, if you don't take the proper time to care for your future jack-o'-lanterns, you may find them quickly crawling all over your garden and taking up more space than wanted. Here are a few mistakes and how to solve them.
- Underwatering the plant: Because pumpkins grow so quickly, they require plenty of water daily. Use a watering can or steady drip hose to give them the proper amount.
- Harvesting them too early: Pumpkins turn orange when they're ready for plucking. If they're yellow, leave them on the vine until they turn a bright orange.
- Leaving the pumpkins on the ground for too long: To prevent the bottom of your plant from becoming soft or rotting, use a barrier, such as cardboard, underneath.
- Growing them close to other plants: Pumpkin plant vines can become overwhelming, so growing them too close to your other plant babies won't leave space for the others to prosper. Leave at least one foot of space between each one and give them their own bed.
- Ignoring pests: Always pay close attention to your plants to make sure they're healthy.
After diagnosing the issue, treat certain pests (such as cucumber beetles, slugs and flea beetles) with insecticide, while fungal disease can be cured with fungicide.
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Have more questions about growing gourds? Here's what you need to know.
Can I plant the seeds from a store-bought pumpkin?
You're better off buying seeds from a reputable brand than saving ones from a random pumpkin. "It may or may not be harvested when the seeds are completely mature," Lerner says. "Chances are pretty good they're not."
Even if the seeds do germinate, they may produce a different plant if cross-pollination with another squash species occurred. Using saved seeds could serve as a fun experiment, but it's worth spending a couple bucks on vetted seeds for reliably growing jack-o'-lanterns by Halloween.
Can I grow pumpkins in containers?
Yes! The bigger the container, the better. (A half-barrel planter could do the trick.) Take care to monitor the soil — container gardens will dry out faster than normal beds.
What should I put under growing pumpkins?
Spreading a layer of straw underneath your developing crop can help protect the gourds during the hot summer months. "Having some kind of mulch, like straw, will help reduce the evaporative loss of moisture from the soil, and it will help cool the soil a little bit and keep the pumpkins cleaner," Lerner says.
How long does it take to grow a pumpkin?
Pumpkins generally take about three months to reach maturity, but it can depend on the variety. Check the seed packet for the "Days to Maturity" to determine when you can expect to harvest your crop.
Is it too late to plant pumpkins?
It depends. Many varieties need at least 100 days to grow gourds, making July a great time to start planting. But as long as you have enough time before cold weather and winter frosts set in, go ahead!
Why are my pumpkin flowers falling off?
Pumpkins produce both male and female flowers. (You can tell them apart because female flowers in the squash family have an ovary — what looks like a mini fruit — right below them.) The male flowers typically open first and fall off. That's okay! As long as the female flowers get pollinated, you're set to go.
How can I protect my pumpkins from pests?
At the beginning of the season, cover your plants with floating row covers to protect them from common culprits like squash bugs, squash vine borers and cucumber beetles. Remove these covers as soon as flowers develop, because you'll need bees to pollinate them! For that same reason, always take care when using any type of insecticide on your garden. The chemicals can harm these all-important creatures and consequently prevent the plants from producing any pumpkins!
Caroline PicardContributing Writer
Caroline is a writer and editor with almost a decade of experience. From 2015 to 2019, she held various editorial positions at Good Housekeeping, including as health editor, covering nutrition, fitness, wellness, and other lifestyle news. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism and dreams of the day Northwestern will go back to the Rose Bowl.
Monique ValerisSenior Home Editor
Monique Valeris is the senior home editor for Good Housekeeping, where she oversees the brand's home decorating coverage across print and digital. Prior to joining GH in 2020, she was the digital editor at Elle Decor. In her current role, she explores everything from design trends and home tours to lifestyle product recommendations, including writing her monthly column, "What's in My Cart."
Mariah ThomasAssistant Editor
Mariah Thomas (she/her) is an assistant editor for Good Housekeeping, where she covers home and lifestyle content. Mariah has more than four years of editorial experience, having written for TLC, Apartment Therapy, Women's Health and Avocado Magazine. She received her master's degree in journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and published her first book, Heart and Soul: Poems of Thoughts and Emotions, in 2019. She's also the founder of RTF Community, a platform for creatives of color to connect, learn and showcase their work.
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growing from seeds, planting and care in the open field, photo
Author: Elena N. https://floristics.info/ru/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=19 Category: garden plants reprinted: Last amendments:
Content
- Planting and Care for Pumpkin
- Botanical description
- Growing pumpkins from seeds
- How to Seine Seeds
9003 - Loosening
- Thinning
- Pumpkin top dressing
- Pumpkin treatment0007
Pumpkin vegetable is not only tasty, but also healthy, and the pulp of the plant, which contains, in addition to a number of substances necessary for humans, rare vitamin T, and pumpkin seeds, the oil from which is a regenerating and anti-inflammatory agent that does not cause allergies, also benefit.
In this article we will tell you how to grow pumpkin seedlings, when to plant a pumpkin in open ground, how to water a pumpkin, how to treat a pumpkin from diseases and pests, how to fertilize a pumpkin, what causes a pumpkin to get sick, and share other important information that will allow you will not hesitate to start cultivating this tasty and healthy plant.
Planting and caring for pumpkins
- Planting: sowing seeds in the ground - when the soil at a depth of 7-8 cm warms up to 12-13 ˚C; sowing seeds for seedlings - in April or early May, planting seedlings in open ground - in late May or early June.
- Soil: any, but better fertile, previously dug up with organic and mineral fertilizers.
- Watering: after planting the seedlings - daily until the seedlings are established, then infrequently until the ovaries reach the size of a fist. In a season with normal rainfall, you can not water at all. When the fruits begin to gain weight, gradually increase the water consumption to 1 bucket per 1 adult plant.
- Top dressing: 1st - with a solution of chicken manure or mullein one week after transplanting, then 3-4 organic top dressing every month.
- Propagation: by seed seedling and non-seedling method.
- Pests: gourd aphids, podura (or white springtails), wireworms, slugs.
- Diseases: white rot, anthracnose, ascochitosis, powdery mildew and black mold.
Read more about pumpkin growing below
Botanical description
Pumpkin root is branched, rod, creeping, five-sided, rough stem with prickly pubescence reaches a length of 5-8 meters. The leaves are alternate, heart-shaped, five-parted or five-lobed, long-petiolate, with a plate length of up to 25 cm, pubescent with stiff short hairs. A spiral tendril develops in the axil of each leaf. Flowers unisexual, large, solitary, orange or yellow. Female flowers on short pedicels, and male flowers on long ones, bloom in June or July and are cross-pollinated. The fruit is a fleshy, large, oval or spherical false pumpkin berry with a large number of seeds, ripening in late summer or early autumn. Pumpkin seeds are creamy white, 1 to 3 cm long, with a prominent rim around the edge and a woody outer shell.
Growing pumpkins from seeds
How to sow seeds
Pumpkins are grown from seed using seedling and non-seedling methods, but the cultivation of the Muscat squash requires only seedling propagation. Sowing pumpkin seeds in the ground is carried out not earlier than the soil at a depth of 7-8 cm warms up to a temperature of 12-13 ºC. Growing pumpkins in open ground begins with pre-sowing treatment of the site and seed.
Seeds are heated before planting 9-10 hours at a temperature of 40 ºC, then immerse them for half a day in an ash solution (2 tablespoons of wood ash are diluted in 1 liter of boiling water with stirring), in order to facilitate the passage of the germ through a dense peel. The seeds are heated in the oven, then wrapped in several layers of gauze, richly moistened with an ash solution. You can, of course, do nothing of this, but then the pumpkin ripening period increases, and if you live in an area with a short and cool summer, then your pumpkin will not have time to ripen before frost without pre-sowing seed treatment.
Before planting a pumpkin (we will talk about how to prepare a plot for a pumpkin a little later), rows are marked in the garden and holes 30 cm in diameter are made in them. pour one and a half to two liters of water at a temperature of 50 ºC, and when it is absorbed, plant 2-3 seeds, but not in a bunch, but lay them out at a distance from each other, deepening by 5-6 cm, if the soil in the garden is medium loamy, and 8-10 cm if the soil is light. The seeds are covered with fertile soil, and the site is mulched with peat chips or humus.
Leave a gap of at least 2 m between rows and at least a meter between holes in a row. It is better to make holes in a checkerboard pattern. To speed up the emergence of seedlings, a film is thrown over the crops, sprinkling its edges with earth.
When seedlings appear, and this happens under normal conditions after a week, remove the film, wait until 2 true leaves develop on the seedlings and thin them out: leave no more than 2 plants in each hole, do not pull out the rest, but simply cut them off at the level land, so as not to injure the root system of the remaining seedlings.
If you are still afraid of frost, install a wire frame on the site and put a film on it.
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Growing seedlings
Planting pumpkin seedlings is carried out 15-20 days before planting seedlings in open ground. The pumpkin seeds that have been hatched after pre-sowing treatment are laid out one by one in plastic or peat pots with a diameter of 10-15 cm, half-filled with a soil mixture of two parts of humus, one part of soddy soil and one part of peat. The seeds are covered with the same soil mixture, but with the addition of a five percent solution of mullein and 10-15 g of wood ash. Crops are moistened, after which the pots are covered with a film.
How to grow pumpkin seedlings and prevent them from stretching, which often happens with seedlings at home? Caring for pumpkin seedlings involves keeping crops in good light, excluding direct sunlight, and at a temperature of 20-25 ºC, and when shoots appear, set the following temperature regime: during the day the room should be 15-20 ºC, and at night - 12-13 ºC.
If, nevertheless, some seedlings are stretched out, then after a week and a half, the subcotyledon section of such a seedling is folded into a ring and covered with moist soil up to the cotyledon leaves.
Water the crops moderately, avoiding waterlogging of the substrate. Twice during the seedling period, seedlings receive complex top dressing. Pumpkin fertilizer is prepared according to the following recipe: 1 liter of mullein, 17 g of ammonium sulfate, 15 g of potassium sulfate and 20 g of superphosphate are diluted in 10 liters of water. Consumption - half a liter of solution per seedling. Before planting in open ground, seedlings are taken out to the veranda or balcony and hardening procedures are carried out, opening the window for an hour or two, and gradually for a longer time, so that the plants get used to the environment in which they will soon find themselves. A couple of days before planting in the ground, the window is no longer closed at all.
Picking a pumpkin
To the question of how to pick a pumpkin, we answer: it is contraindicated to pick a pumpkin, because it is very easy to damage the root system of seedlings during transplantation.
That is why it is recommended to sow pumpkin seeds in separate pots.
Planting pumpkins outdoors
When to plant
Planting pumpkins in the ground is carried out with the onset of stable warm weather. This usually happens in late May or early June. Pumpkin is a melon culture, which means that it needs a lot of sun, so choose a southern site for planting pumpkins. The optimum temperature for pumpkin growth is 25 ºC, and if the temperature drops to 14 ºC, the growth of the plant stops. Pumpkin grows well in areas where green manure, onions, cabbage, carrots, beets, soybeans, peas, beans, beans, lentils or peanuts grew last year. Potato, sunflower, cucumber, zucchini, patisson, watermelon, melon and pumpkin are considered bad predecessors.
Soil for pumpkin
Pumpkin grows on any soil, but large and sweet, it can only ripen on fertile soil. A pumpkin plot is prepared in the fall: they dig it up, introducing 3-5 kg of compost or manure into infertile soil per m², 200-300 g of ash or lime into heavy or acidic soil, and 25-30 g of phosphorus and 25-30 g of phosphorus into any soil.
15-20 g of potash fertilizer. In the spring, after the snow melts, in order to prevent the soil from drying out, it is harrowed, then slightly loosened and cleared of weeds, and before planting seedlings or sowing seeds, they dig it to a depth of 12-18 cm. If for some reason you failed to prepare a plot with autumn, apply fertilizer at the time of planting in each hole dug under the seedling.
Growing in a greenhouse
Pumpkin is rarely grown from start to finish in a greenhouse. More often, a greenhouse is used to grow pumpkin seedlings, which are then planted anyway in open ground. Planting pumpkins in a greenhouse is carried out one seed at a time in 10x10 peat pots to avoid picking, which pumpkin seedlings are hard to endure. Until the seeds sprout, the temperature in the greenhouse should be 26 ºC, and from the moment the shoots appear, it is lowered to 19 ºC for a week, and then returned to the previous temperature regime. Two weeks after the appearance of the first shoots, seedlings are fertilized with mullein.
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Water the seedlings as needed, but plentifully: the earth should be loose with an average moisture index. Seedlings are planted in open ground 4 weeks after the appearance of the first shoots.
How to plant in the ground
How to place a pumpkin in the garden, we have already written, but the holes for seedlings are made a little deeper than when sowing seeds: they must completely accommodate the root system of seedlings at a depth of 8-10 cm. If you did not fertilize the site from autumn, keep in mind that when planting in each well, add half a bucket of humus or compost, 50 g of superphosphate and 2 cups of ash, thoroughly mixing the fertilizer with the soil. Here, based on this, and calculate the depth of the holes for seedlings.
Pour the holes with one or two liters of hot water, let it soak, and then transfer the pumpkin seedling from the pot with the root ball, fill the voids with soil, tamping it tightly.
After planting, the site is mulched with peat or covered with dry earth to prevent the formation of a crust on the soil surface.
Caring for pumpkin
Growing conditions
After planting the seedlings, care for them consists of thinning, watering, weeding, fertilizing and, if necessary, artificial pollination, for which, no later than 11 o’clock in the morning, a couple of male flowers are plucked, cut off on them the petals and anthers of both flowers gently touch the stigma of the female flower several times, leaving the last of the male flowers on the stigma of the female. This measure is necessary in case of incomplete fertilization of the ovaries, which can lead to the formation of irregularly shaped pumpkins.
Watering
Newly planted seedlings are watered daily until established. After that, the soil is moistened as rarely as possible until the ovaries become the size of a fist. If summer is rainy, then stop watering altogether. When the fruits begin to gain mass, the moistening of the pumpkin beds is resumed and the water consumption rate is gradually brought up to one bucket for one adult plant.
Loosening
After watering or rain, it is very convenient to loosen the soil around the plants and clear it of weeds. The first loosening to a depth of 6-8 cm should be carried out with the emergence of seedlings. Row spacing to a depth of 12-18 cm is better to loosen before watering, so that water penetrates to the roots faster. While loosening, slightly hill the plants, giving them stability.
Thinning
If you sow seeds directly into the ground, when the seedlings have two true leaves, you need to thin them out, leaving two sprouts in one hole of hard-barked or butternut squash, and one sprout of large-fruited squash. The second thinning is carried out when the seedlings have 3-4 leaves. But we remind you: you do not need to pull out extra seedlings, because you can damage the root system of those shoots that you decide to leave. Just cut off the unnecessary seedling at ground level.
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Top dressing of pumpkin
The first top dressing with chicken manure or manure diluted with water in a ratio of 1:4 is carried out one week after planting seedlings or three weeks after sowing seeds in the soil.
The frequency of such organic dressings is 3-4 times a month. Pumpkin responds well to top dressing with a solution of 40-50 g of garden mixture in 10 liters of water at the rate of one bucket per 10 plants. An excellent fertilizer is also considered a solution of a glass of wood ash in 10 liters of water. To apply the first top dressing, make grooves 6-8 cm deep around the plants at a distance of 10-12 cm and pour the solution into them. For further feeding, the grooves are made 10-12 cm deep, placing them 40 cm from the plants. After fertilization, the furrows are covered with earth.
If it happens to be cloudy for a long time, spray the pumpkin with a solution of 10 g of urea in 10 liters of water.
Pests or diseases
Pumpkin can be affected by fungal diseases such as black mold, powdery mildew, rot, ascochitosis and anthracnose.
Black mold manifests itself as yellow-brown spots between the veins of the leaves, which, as the disease progresses, become covered with a dark coating with spores of the fungus.
After the spots dry up, holes form in their place. Young pumpkins shrivel and stop developing.
In case of ascochitosis , large yellow-brown spots first form on leaves, stems and shoot nodes, then light spots with a chlorotic edge, covered with black pycnidia containing the body of a pathogenic fungus. The pumpkin dries up and dies.
Powdery mildew is a real scourge of gardens and orchards, the symptoms of which look like a thick whitish coating, similar to spilled flour, which contains spores of the fungus. The leaves affected by powdery mildew dry, the fruits are deformed and stop developing. This disease is most active in conditions of sharp fluctuations in air humidity and temperature.
Anthracnose appears as large watery yellowish spots on the leaves. In wet weather, the veins of the leaves are covered with a pink bloom. Gradually, pink spots spread over the leaves, petioles, stems and fruits, by autumn the affected areas turn black.
Anthracnose is most dangerous at high humidity.
White rot develops on all parts of the plant, causing damage to the root system, drying of fruiting stems and reduced yield. The pumpkin turns yellow, turns brown, and is covered with a flocculent coating of mold. Slime may appear on the stems. Gray rot is manifested by brown blurry spots that quickly merge with each other and affect the entire plant. Wet bacterial rot can occur as a result of damage by slugs or podura to ovaries and young fruits in too dense plantings.
Of the insects, pumpkin is attacked by melon aphids, podura, or white springtails, wireworms and slugs.
Slugs eat the leaves of plants, sometimes leaving only a net of veins. They are especially numerous during rainy seasons. In addition, they are able to live and harm plants for several years.
Melon aphid damages shoots, flowers, ovaries and the underside of leaves, causing them to curl and shrivel.
Podura are the smallest white insects with a cylindrical body up to 2 mm long, feeding on seeds and underground parts of plants.
Podura cause the greatest harm to plants in cold, wet weather.
Wireworms are larvae of click beetles that gnaw on the root collar of young seedlings, resulting in plant death. Most of all, wireworms like to accumulate in wet lowlands.
Pumpkin treatment
Control of pumpkin diseases is carried out factually and prophylactically, which is undoubtedly preferable, since the disease is much easier to prevent than to cure. In order to protect pumpkin melons from fungal diseases, it is necessary to observe crop rotation, comply with agrotechnical requirements, take a responsible attitude to each type of work, and especially to pre-sowing seed treatment. At the first sign of disease, spray the plants and area with 1% Bordeaux liquid or another fungicide. And try to make the spring and autumn treatment of melons with Fitosporin mandatory - this will help you avoid many unpleasant surprises.
Slugs will have to be collected by hand or set up beer traps for them: place bowls with beer around the area and from time to time collect mollusks that have crawled on its smell.
Wireworms are also caught with bait by digging pits 50 cm deep in different places, placing root crops cut into pieces - carrots or beets - and covering the pits with boards, wooden shields or roofing material. After a while, the traps check and destroy the wireworms gathered there. Podurs are fought by dusting the soil around the plants with wood ash. Aphids are destroyed by Phosphamide, Karbofos or a solution of 300 g of soap in 10 liters of water.
Still, we remind you that diseases and pests, as a rule, affect weak and neglected plants, so observe crop rotation, comply with agrotechnical requirements, take good care of your plants, and you will not have to treat and save them.
Harvesting and storage
Harvesting is usually done when the plants reach biological maturity, but make sure that the pumpkin is really ripe before harvesting. A sure sign of maturity is the drying and corking of the stalk in hard-skinned pumpkins, and a clear pattern on the hardened bark in varieties of large-fruited and nutmeg pumpkins.
You need to harvest in dry weather, after the first frost, which will kill the pumpkin leaves. The fruits are cut with the stalk, sorted by quality and size. Proceed as carefully as if you were dealing with eggs.
Unripe or damaged fruits must be processed, and those intended for long-term storage, dry in the sun or in a dry, warm room with good ventilation for two weeks, so that the stalks stick and the bark finally hardens. After that, the pumpkin can be put into storage.
Until frost, the pumpkin can be kept on a balcony, loggia or in a dry shed, covered with straw or rags, but when the temperature drops to 5 ºC, the pumpkin is transferred to a living room and kept in a warm, dry place with a temperature of at least 14 ºC - so it you need to store the first two weeks, and then you need to find a place for the pumpkin with a temperature of 3-8 ºC and an air humidity of 60-70%, where it will lie until spring, or even until the new harvest. Dry sheds, attics or basements are suitable for this.
At a higher storage temperature, for example 15-20 ºC, the pumpkin loses about 20% of its weight and may rot.
If the harvest is too large, pumpkins can be stored on racks, spreading straw on the shelves and laying the fruits in one row so that they do not touch. Or put them in boxes, sprinkled with dry moss. A mandatory requirement for storage is good air ventilation.
It is possible to store a pumpkin in the garden, in a trench lined with a layer of straw 25 cm thick along the bottom and walls. .
If the harvest is modest, it can be stored in an apartment or house, in a dark place so that the seeds do not germinate and the pulp does not acquire a bitter taste. Cut pumpkin is stored only in the refrigerator.
Types and varieties
All pumpkin varieties are for open ground, since it is difficult to grow such a large vegetable in a greenhouse. Although if you live in an area with short, cool summers but really want to grow pumpkins, try doing it in a greenhouse.
Three varieties of pumpkin are grown in culture:
Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo)
Herbaceous annual with large and smooth, round fruits, most often yellow in color, although there are varieties with fruits of other shades. The fruits of the common pumpkin ripen in September. The seeds in them are white or yellowish, with a thick skin, 3-4 cm long. With proper storage, the fruits can lie until the next harvest.
Best varieties:
- Spaghetti is an early maturing variety that ripens in 2 months. The pulp of the fruit after boiling breaks down into long fibers, similar to pasta, for which the variety got its name. The pulp is tasty both hot and cold;
- Gribovskaya bush 189 is a popular early-ripening variety that grows as a bush, on which usually two pumpkins, slightly ribbed at the peduncle, tear-shaped pumpkin, 6-7 kg each, ripen. Ripe pumpkins are bright orange with green fragments, their flesh is bright orange, juicy and sweet;
- Almond - mid-season climbing variety with round orange fruits weighing up to 5 kg with yellow-orange crispy, juicy and sweet pulp;
- Acorn is an early maturing variety, sometimes bushy, sometimes climbing, with small green, yellow or almost black acorn-like fruits with almost white or light yellow low-sugar pulp.
The second name of the variety Acorn;
- Freckle – early ripe bushy variety with small green mesh fruits weighing up to 3 kg with not very sweet orange or yellow flesh and small seeds;
- Orange bush - a variety with bright orange fruits weighing up to 5 kg with a soft and sweet heart. Pumpkins of this variety are perfectly stored;
- Altaiskaya 47 - early early ripening variety of universal use, ripening within two months, with yellow-orange hard-skinned fruits weighing from 2 to 5 kg with yellow-brown or pale yellow stripes. The pulp is fibrous. The grade is steady against low temperatures, is perfectly stored.
Muscat gourd (Cucurbita moschata)
Also native to Central America - Peru, Mexico and Colombia. This is a plant with a creeping stem, alternate, pubescent long-leaved leaves. It has yellow or brownish-pink fruits with longitudinal light spots and bright orange fragrant, tasty, dense, but tender pulp and small grayish-white seeds with a darker rim around the edge.
The species has a variety called chalmoid because of the unusual shape of the fruit.
The best varieties of Muscat squash:
- Muscat is a late-ripening, long-weaving variety with fruits weighing from 4 to 6.5 kg and dense, juicy and sweet orange pulp;
- Palav Kadu is a late climbing variety with large, round segmented orange fruits weighing up to 10 kg with juicy and sweet orange-colored pulp, which is distinguished by amazing taste;
- Zhemchuzhina – late-ripening pumpkin weighing up to 7 kg with dark green bark and very juicy, rich orange flesh;
- Butternut – late-ripening climbing pumpkin with medium-sized pear-shaped yellow-brown or light orange fruits weighing up to 1.5 kilograms with fibrous, sweet, oily pulp of bright orange color with a nutty flavor;
- Prikubanskaya – mid-late climbing pumpkin with smooth pear-shaped orange-brown fruits weighing up to 5 kg in brown and orange spots with tender, juicy and sweet red-orange flesh;
- Vitaminnaya is a variety of late ripening, ripening for at least 130 days, with dark green fruits in a yellow stripe weighing up to 7 kg with bright orange flesh.
Large-fruited pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima)
Presented by varieties with the largest fruits, which at the same time are the sweetest. The sugar content of some varieties reaches 15% - an indicator higher than that of watermelon. The stalk of the pumpkin of this variety is round, cylindrical, with a beardless rounded stem. The seeds of pumpkins of this species are matte, milky white or brown. Fruits tolerate low temperatures better than other varieties and are stored for the longest time at home.
The best varieties:
- Zorka is a mid-early variety with powerful and long lashes, with dark gray fruits in orange spots up to 6 kg in weight and bright orange, very sweet and dense pulp containing high concentrations of carotene ;
- Marble – late-ripening, long-branched, high-yielding variety with tuberculate round dark green fruits weighing up to 4.5 kg with crispy, sweet, rich orange dense pulp, rich in carotene;
- Sweetie is an early maturing climbing gourd with large, rounded red-orange fruits weighing up to 2 kg with dark orange sweet, juicy and dense pulp, rich in sugars and vitamin C.
This variety is cold-resistant and high-yielding;
- Volzhskaya gray is a mid-ripening climbing variety with slightly flattened round light gray fruits weighing from 7 to 9 kg with pale yellow to bright orange pulp of medium sweetness. The grade is drought-resistant and is perfectly stored;
- Smile is an early maturing variety with bright orange round fruits with whitish stripes and crisp orange, very sweet pulp with a delicate melon aroma. The variety is cold-resistant and can be stored for a long time at room temperature;
- Centner is an early maturing variety of universal use with yellow, very large segmented pumpkins weighing up to 60 and even up to 100 kg with white sweet pulp. This is an outdoor pumpkin that is often grown for its seeds;
- Arina is an early unpretentious disease-resistant variety with light gray, round, slightly segmented fruits weighing up to 5 kg with firm and sweet yellow flesh.
The seeds are high in oil content.
Literature
- Read related topics on Wikipedia
- Peculiarities and other plants of the gourd family
- List of all species on The Plant List
- More information on World Flora Online
Turnip: growing from seeds in the garden, varieties
Cucurbits: fruit and ornamentalSections: Pumpkin Fruit Garden Plants Melon Plants on T
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How to Grow a Pumpkin - Gardening
Pumpkin (from lat. Cucurbita) is a bright orange vegetable native to South America. In size, the fruits can reach up to a meter in diameter, and weighing more than 200 kg.
The entire pulp of the pumpkin and its seeds are used. The peel is quite rough, so it is not eaten.
Growing Ripe Pumpkin - Ripe Pumpkin
Pumpkin can be grown in areas where eggplant, tomato, carrot, beetroot, potato, cabbage and onion have previously been grown. It is not recommended to grow a pumpkin in the ground after cucumbers, squash or zucchini.
Pumpkins are distinguished by a high content of sugars, salts of potassium, phosphorus, iron, magnesium, calcium, zinc, sodium, copper, fluorine, a complex of vitamins, carotenes, starch, pectin substances. Pumpkin juice is recommended for the treatment of prostatitis, diseases of the cardiovascular system, gallbladder, liver, cholelithiasis, kidney stones. In addition, pumpkin is useful for improving metabolism.
Pumpkin fruits are used in soups, stews, purees, jellies, candied fruits, marmalades, sauces, compotes. In addition, pumpkin can be baked and canned.
Pumpkin cultivation
Pumpkin seeds are sown in moist soil warmed up to at least 14 o C or by seedling method, planting in open ground on June 10-15.
Since the pumpkin loves warm soil, the basis of the bed's biomass is the remains of haulm, leaves, brooms, sawdust, bark, kitchen waste, etc. left over from autumn. All this mass should fill the bed by about 2/3. In the spring, a significant amount of fresh manure and sawdust is introduced in layers on top of all this composition. Then holes are prepared for future plants with a diameter of about 50 cm, into which 1.5-2 buckets of humus are poured (you can take it from a tomato greenhouse).
Further, before planting the plants, the entire surface of the earth is covered with an old film and very carefully pressed both along the edges and in the middle, which will allow the soil under the film to warm up.
Growing pumpkins in the open field
Before planting, the seeds should be heated for 2 hours in warm water at a temperature of about 45-50 about C, then wrapped in damp gauze or cloth and kept at room temperature for 1-2 days.
Pumpkin seeds are sown in moist soil warmed up to at least 14 about C, while the optimum temperature for seed germination is 23-25 about C. You need to plant seeds in each hole, lowering to a depth of about five centimeters. Holes are located at a distance of at least 1 m from each other.
Before sunrise, the landing sites are covered with foil. When the seeds have germinated, a maximum of two strong plants should be left in each hole.
Growing pumpkin seedlings
Pumpkin seeds are germinated before sowing for about 10 days at a temperature of 25-27°C. Readiness of seeds for sowing - with roots 0.5-1 cm long.
Pumpkin seeds for seedlings in the Southern Urals are planted around the end of April-beginning of May in specially prepared containers with a volume of at least 1 liter. The soil has been prepared since autumn. Further care consists in timely watering (after germination, you can spray epin with a growth stimulator 1-2 times).
Seedlings should be grown under maximum light and should be hardened off before planting by keeping them indoors for several days at a temperature of 5-7 ° C below normal, and also fed with organic fertilizers.
Pumpkin seedlings - Pumpkin seedlings
Not earlier than the end of May - the beginning of June (depending on the prevailing temperatures) in the film lying on the ridge, above the holes, you need to cut holes with a diameter of about 25 cm. If necessary, fertilize the holes, then carefully remove the plant from the pot and plant in the hole, shed well and mulch. With the threat of cold weather, the ridge with pumpkin seedlings must be protected with covering material or film.
Some gardeners recommend growing pumpkins in a greenhouse, but this is not necessary in the Southern Urals.
Due to the fact that the pumpkin is a light-loving plant, in a limited space with the rapid growth of its lashes, it is necessary to shape the plant (for example, pinch the lashes after the ovaries, or redistribute the lashes over the surface of the ridge).
But since an area of about 45 m 2 has been allocated for pumpkins in my area, I do not experience problems with molding (I only make sure that long lashes do not climb into the neighboring area).
At the time of the rapid growth of the lashes, fertilizing with diluted mullein is carried out (I do not consider mineral fertilizers). At the time of intensive pouring of fruits, you can feed with two handfuls of ash (under each plant).
Pumpkins can be watered quite rarely, only if necessary in very dry weather, since the long main root easily gets water from the depth of the soil.
If you cover pumpkins with a covering material, then after the appearance of female flowers it must be removed, since all gourds are pollinated by insects.
Pumpkins are harvested in the first two weeks of September in dry weather. Signs of ripeness of the fruit are bright color and drying of the stalk.
IMPORTANT! When picking a pumpkin, about 7-10 cm of corked stalk should be left, which will extend the shelf life of the vegetable and protect it from premature decay.
Usually in winter, the pumpkin is stored at room temperature and in a dark place, which will allow you to enjoy its taste from several months to a year.
Growing pumpkins in the Urals
Growing pumpkin in the open field in the Urals - Pumpkin seedlings (planted in the ground). Growing pumpkins in the Urals.
Pumpkin seeds for seedlings were planted in peat tablets at the end of April. On May 10, seedlings were planted directly in tablets in a container with earth (cut off milk bags), and on May 25 (after cold weather) - in the ground (pictured).
By the beginning of July, 4-6 lashes 1.5 to 2 m long were formed on each of the plants and 5-8 fruits were set. After that, in order for the ovary to “fill up”, I pinched the ends of the lashes. The measures taken made it possible to get a good harvest of pumpkins in the fall (about 40 pieces of 30 cm in diameter), even though the summer of 2015 in the Urals turned out to be rather cold and rainy.