# so has anyone started to grow there pumpkin patch



## pyro (Oct 7, 2006)

ok i started my seeds 2 weeks ago , just started to sprout. i should have about 10 plants for my patch if they live, 
last year was my 1st attempt and i failed big time- 
what are your tricks for some great looking pumpkins?


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## Denhaunt (Aug 18, 2006)

I tried a couple of years back and had the same result mostly becasue I had no idea how much room a single pumpkin plant really needed (about 30 sq ft). I decided to try again this year and I'm in about the same stage as you. After a ton of research, it would appear as if there are 3 important factors. First, all day, direct sunlight, lots and lots of water, and when you begin to get your little pumpkins be sure to put a piece of wood underneath to keep them off the grass (I think that dirt is okay - but they will mold and rot if they can't keep their skin dry). Here are a couple of links I found valuable:

http://www.backyardgardener.com/secert.html
http://www.backyardgardener.com/wcgp/tips/10steps/10steps.html

Good luck to both of us this year!


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## HalloweenZombie (Jul 22, 2007)

I tried to grow pumpkins two years in a row. I got lots of vines and flowers, but no pumpkins.


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

Seems to me I read somewhere you have to have a lot of pollination to make the fruit. Don't know what you do about that. Become a bee keeper?

I would love to have a garden with pumpkins but it is just so darned arid here in north Texas. I don't even want to water the grass much less douse a garden every day in the 100 degree heat. YUK!

Good luck with your pumpkin patches.


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## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

Bayou ..you do that yourself ..one male ,one female flower..either with a paint brush or the stamen itself...no bees needed

I also read somewhere to plant radishes around the pumpkins it keeps the slugs off.


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

I still need to get mine in the ground...I have several different types...hope I can get one pumpkin out of the group!


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## Dr Morbius (Sep 21, 2004)

Seems the cost/effort/water/space/time ratios doesn't pay off to just buying a pumpkin. Maybe if you are really into gardening, which I'm not, it might be fun but it just doesn't pay off according to my calculations to grow your own unless you grow en masse to sell them.


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

But there's still that inner desire to personally create the most _sincere_ pumpkin patch. :coolkin: that's worth a lot.

I've never grown pumpkins, but I bet if I had, they'd be rotted by now with how waterlogged everything is here lately. :crykin:


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## midnight_moon (Apr 28, 2008)

My yard is way too small for a pumkin patch. 
but it would be cool to grow one


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## Catbert (Jul 20, 2007)

I just bought seeds online. probably too late.
but I ordered the giant pumpkin and a grey one.


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## GothicCandle (Mar 26, 2007)

last year i planted some. great looking plants. nice flowers, nice leaves, no pumpkins. Yep, great looking plant, never made any pumpkins. it was annoying.

after halloween, my friend took my pumpkins i bought 2006 and she put them in her compost heap. the seeds grew great! and she didn't even mean to grow them.


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

I didn't think of pollinating a vine myself. Sounds dirty! LOL!


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## Merlin (The Quiet One) (Feb 23, 2006)

I have some volunteers that grew from seeds of last year's pumpkin. Got to thin them out. I've tried growing them in years past but usually lose the plants to powdery mildew. Will see what happens this year.


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## HibLaGrande (Sep 25, 2005)

I think they do better in the sun planted in an elevated mound of dirt, aprox. 3ft diameter once a melon forms on a vine remove all other flowers and melons, so all the nutrients go to just one fruit. Set it in a "nest" on top of the mound.


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## Bethene (Jan 19, 2008)

I got my seed planted about 2 weeks ago- they seem to be coming up good, I got them in later this year because the weather was so cool here, frost watches real late this year.

WELL- first let me state I am no expert, but every year I learn more, and get a little better, last year I had 5 pumpkins, every year I get more, so looking forward to maybe 10 this year (fingers crossed). But I did learn the self pollinating thing, and had it work for me so here goes (BLUSH-LOL) 
First you will get only male flowers, for maybe two weeks before, you have to keep looking, daily or at least semi daily. A female flower is a little smaller, and has what looks like a baby pumpkin where it meets the vine. You should be able to see them for a few days, before they open, You have to keep checking, and have to do it in the morning, cuz they stay open for a short time, and if not pollinated , die. If a female flower is open, take a male, pick it, pull the petals off, and take the inside of the flower, it will be yellow fuzzy pollin type stuff, , rub it in the center of the female, maybe use 2 or three males to make it work ( little hussy's aren't they), some times I even leave the male flower in the center, cuz I always am in a hurry before work, so am out there 6:30 or so, other wise will be too late when I get home from work. Just keep looking at the flowers, and you will easily be able to tell the female when you get one. 
GOOD LUCK every one- keep postin how you are doing!!


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## Ms. Wicked (Nov 14, 2006)

I actually got my seeds sown a couple of weeks ago. Mr. W brought the pots to the new house and about eight of them germinated.

The previous people had a vegetable patch so I'll plant them hopefully some time this week. I grew pumpkins successfully in England, and never tried at the Chicago house. Fingers crossed that I can crop a few here!.


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## Bethene (Jan 19, 2008)

with all the rain and the heat, mine are doing great!


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## widowsbluff (May 24, 2006)

I have some pretty good size vines going and a few flowers. I don't see any sign of pumpkins yet.


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## Ms. Wicked (Nov 14, 2006)

Mine have taken off also. All seven are doing well; they all have flowers already.


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## Stiff Kitten (Oct 2, 2007)

A friend of mine gave me some plants a couple of weeks ago. They have flowers now. This is first time trying them.


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

Got all mine planted on july 4th...five types from gaint to tiny


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## Merlin (The Quiet One) (Feb 23, 2006)

I've got 2 pumpkins! I'm so excited, my vines usually die and this is the first time I've ever had any pumpkins on them. Yeh, I know it's probably too soon, they'll rot before Halloween, etc.....but right now I have 2, yeah!


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## widowsbluff (May 24, 2006)

Congrads! I still have vines everywhere but no pumpkins.


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

Do your vines have blooms?


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## pixiescandles (Oct 18, 2007)

best thing I ever started doing other then growing my own pumpkins and saving $$$ was to plant flowers in the pumpkin patch.....marigolds work best because alot of bugs wont go near them....that is also a great thing to do for your tomato plants too. I dont even buy seeds anymore....once I am finished with the pumpkins...I always have some we paint or leave untouched...I place them in my patch and nature does the rest...this year there had to be at least 100 plants out there!!!! I posted a bunch on the freecycler about a month and a half ago and kept about 20 plants.
My brother swears by miracle grow....I think I am going to buy some and try it....his plants are busting with baby pumpkins and are 10 times the size of mine


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## widowsbluff (May 24, 2006)

Mine had flowers and I tried to pollinate them myself, I think I might have a squirrel problem; it looks like something has been nibbling on them.


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

Here is my pumpkin patch...also the first prop that went out this year.... to guard and incourage the pumpkins. (A nice little blucky made by Bone Dancer, my secret reaper)









I made 11 mounds like this one, and looks like about 30 plants. We have had no rain for over a week, so I will build a irrigation system tomorrow.


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## pyro (Oct 7, 2006)

i now have flowers--


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## Night Owl (Feb 28, 2008)

What the? I swear I think I have a volunteer plant growing smack in the middle of my backyard. I suppose it's possible, cause we have carved our pumpkins out back for a couple of years. The leaves are huge and I thought it was just another weed, but I left it growing due to the pretty orange flowers... and just plain curiosity. Now it has these spouting at the base of it.

View attachment 464


Could it be? Does this look familiar to anybody?


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## Ms. Wicked (Nov 14, 2006)

I have a fruit on one of my plants!!!!

Mr. W and my son noticed it over the weekend. It's about 8" round! Yay!!!


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## spidermonkey (Jul 29, 2008)

Mrs. W. That is great that you have a pumpkin growing.

Berzerkmonkey and I planted our first pumpkin crop during the spring and they are growing fast. Until a few weeks ago we only had male plants. I was concerned that all the males flowers had sprouted too soon but we started seeing females pop up and so far we about 4 pumpkins growing.

I heard that if you cover pumpkins with pantyhouse, it will keep the pests from eating the pumpkins. You might want to try this if you're having problems.


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## Night Owl (Feb 28, 2008)

So I definitely do have a Pumpkin plant back there. I looked it up on the web. It seems happy, so I'll just let it do its thing... that means let it take over the whole neighborhood, but what the hell. I rent.


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## AzKittie74 (Aug 10, 2007)

So I was told that because of where I live (arizona) that I could start growing my pumpkins as late as now and they would be ready for Halloween....it has been like 9 years since I last grew them. But when I am checking up on the web it says I'm to late. Anyone know if it will work if I do it now?
it won't be cooled down here until like October really.
I read it takes 161 days.... MAN!!!!


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## Night Owl (Feb 28, 2008)

Heya Azkittie. I've read that in warmer climates the plant can bloom all season long. Maybe you could buy a plant that is already growing and transplant it to your yard. I'd bet that you'd have some baby pumpkins sprouting in no time, and if they were still a little green come Halloween you could still use them for the rest of the Fall season. Besides, I think there's still plenty of time left for those of us who don't have to worry about early frost.


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## AzKittie74 (Aug 10, 2007)

Well I planted them and was worried BUT I have a plant already!!!And alot of roots for the others so I think I'm gonna be ok!! YIPPEEE


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## Night Owl (Feb 28, 2008)

Yay!!! I read that 160 is the maximum amount of days to expect for a _giant_ pumpkin. Regular old Jacko variety is way shorter. Two months should do it.


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## pyro (Oct 7, 2006)

ok i give up- planted real early, i have vines, and a whole lot of flowers for a month now, but no pumpkins


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## spidermonkey (Jul 29, 2008)

pyro said:


> ok i give up- planted real early, i have vines, and a whole lot of flowers for a month now, but no pumpkins


Do you have female flowers?


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## Night Owl (Feb 28, 2008)

View attachment 479


Ain't he Beautiful?


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## AzKittie74 (Aug 10, 2007)

Awwww Yes he is!


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## spidermonkey (Jul 29, 2008)

Very Handsome. Is he a sugar or a jack?

Do you have problems with slugs? If so what are you doing to get rid of them. They got hold of my only casper and killed it. I noticed a few bits into one of my sugar pumpkins and started putting nylons around them. 

I have tried the pie pans with beer. This only last a day due to the rain. Of course I handpick them and throwing them into a cup of salt.


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## Night Owl (Feb 28, 2008)

Well, I think he's a... mutt 

Honestly, I'm not completely sure since it's a volunteer. If I had to guess I'd say jack cause we carved the store bought Pumpkins out there a couple of years ago. How crazy is that? 

Luckily, I haven't had a problem with bugs or slugs so far. What's the pie pan with beer thing? I've never heard that before. (In case you can't tell, a master gardener I am not.)


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## spidermonkey (Jul 29, 2008)

This is my first attempt at gardening.
In addition to the slugs, I have mildew on some of pumpkin leaves and somthing knocked down my corn and ate them. Sigh.

The pie pan is placed in the ground with rim level with the dirt. Beer lures the slugs in and they drowned (or get tgo drunk and die).


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## Ms. Wicked (Nov 14, 2006)

pyro, don't lose hope! Many varieties (most?) only produce one fruit per plant... When I grew them in England for the first time, I was disappointed when the flowers would start to fruit, only to fall off. Eventually, one of the fruits would set and go on to mature.

In the meantime, I just went out to check my vegetable patch. It went bezerk while we were on vacation! 

I spotted two fruits!!! One is nearly ripe already! The other has started to color from green to yellowy-orange. I'm so excited! There may be others but it's such a jungle in there, I didn't see them. Hopefully they'll all make it!


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## Rocky (May 4, 2004)

I gave it a try this year but there's only flowers so far...


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## pyro (Oct 7, 2006)

well if i get nothing -at lease i have vines for my tomb stones


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## Merlin (The Quiet One) (Feb 23, 2006)

I'm down to one single pumpkin and it is only about the size of a basketball. Other small ones have appeared only to rot and fall off within a few days! Not sure what is going wrong. Oh, well, at least I have one.


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

Sipdermonkey, The best thing I've found for slugs are ducks. They love slugs. I don't know if you're country or not.


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## spidermonkey (Jul 29, 2008)

Merlin (The Quiet One) said:


> I'm down to one single pumpkin and it is only about the size of a basketball. Other small ones have appeared only to rot and fall off within a few days! Not sure what is going wrong. Oh, well, at least I have one.


I was going through something similiar. It took me forever to figure out what was going on.

I believe it is blossom rot. I read that if the plants are in stress from lack of fertilizer or from watering issues the bottoms were the flowers were will rot.

Scareme...
Good to know but I have no ducks that come around here.


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## Bethene (Jan 19, 2008)

I have 5 orange pumpkins and 5 white pumpkins coming, I am so excited. Two of the orange ones are pretty big with one starting to turn color. The problem I have is mildew, I used a organic method and treated them, don't know if it will work, may need to buy something. I also have a wood chuck that I thought I got rid of eating the leaves. I cleaned my cat boxes and dumped it down his tunnel and filled it in, he was gone for a couple of weeks, but I noticed yesterday leaves were eaten in a different spot, can't find his burro this time, can't walk thru the pumpkin patch good or would wreak the vines, stupid critter!
Another possiblility for the baby pumpikns to die , depending on if it was right after the flower bloomed, is they didn't get pollinated, the baby pumpkin with the flower on it need to be pollinated to grow, so If you see one that is just open, pick a male flower , pull back the petals, you will see the little flecks of pollen, , rub the pollon in the female flower, maybe use two male flowers, and it might take then, other wise have to rely on bees and such.


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## Ms. Wicked (Nov 14, 2006)

I'm sure your pumpkins will be ok Bethene!

I'm excited too - now that we've had time to assess the "jungle" I'm happy to find that we have five pumpkins. (We didn't prep the vegetable patch after moving in - just got plants in the ground and it's weedy).

One already seems ripe and another is not far behind. I'm not sure when to harvest them, for fear that the ones already ripe/near ripe won't last. But if I leave them in the ground, they're like to suffer a fatal fate anyway...


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## Holyhabanero (Aug 9, 2007)

For the past couple of years, the weeds have been so bad, that this year, I didn't grow anything, and have been working on making my garden weed-free. This should make it easier on me in the years to come. However, I'm finding that things just aren't the same around here without pumpkins growing in my garden. I'm jealous of all you who have them growing this year.


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## Merlin (The Quiet One) (Feb 23, 2006)

So far I have another small survivor pumpkin. Still have several blooms so I guess I will try to make sure they get pollinated! thanx for the tips.


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## cinders (Jul 30, 2008)

I have one teeny, tiny (3 inch) pumpkin so far out of four surviving plants. But, I also have the one white Lumina pumpkin that I grew last year still sitting on my kitchen counter--not rotted yet!


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

I tried pumpkins last year but it was a total bust... I had 12 mounds and wound up with 4 "pumpkins" I could "carve" iirc. I think I spent 2x the cost of buying pumpkins in water... however, good luck to those of you who are having a go at it this year.


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## AzKittie74 (Aug 10, 2007)

R I P my poor babies....

I moved 7 count them 7 miles from my old house where my seedlings were growing so nicely and fast. NOW they are all brown and shrivled up, my neighbor lady told me " it is always 5 degrees hotter here" and I thought it is 7 miles can't be that much different WELL.... the soil was never dried up, they just BURNT. my poor babies. I really thought they were gonna make it in time for the big day. *Sulking* I am still trying to save them but I believe they are gonners.


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## Night Owl (Feb 28, 2008)

Sorry, AzKittie. If I were you, I would cut off the dead stuff and hope for the best. The roots are still good, so maybe you can save the plant. Still, what a bummer...


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

I have 2 plants going (giant variety), but I lost my 1st pumpkin to a critter (rabbit?). I have a couple on the second plant (1 fair sized so far). I got 2 good pumpkins last year (50 & 33 lbs). I now have my Halloween prop vulture guarding my plants.


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## spidermonkey (Jul 29, 2008)

Azkittie74 I am sorry to hear about your loss.
I agree with Night Owl they still my make it. 
My pumpkins were overtaking my watermelon so I transplanted the watermelons. they whithered and turned. I gave up hope but yesterday I found baby watermelon. 

Does anyone know if the leaves of pumpkins die back? I have a big bald spot at the base of the plants. I am now noticing more die back elsewhere where the older leaves are. I am fighting mildew and my pumpkins are looking okay.


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## Merlin (The Quiet One) (Feb 23, 2006)

I too am now beginning to see some mildew but the smaller pumpkins are looking okay still. Hoping for the best. Hope your little ones survive Azkittie74.


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## pyro (Oct 7, 2006)

ok i give up all i have is vines-and flowers , ill just leave them there till halloween then i'll hang them on my scare crow


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## Night Owl (Feb 28, 2008)

So Pyro, I wonder why you don't have any female flowers. Maybe the female flowers aren't getting lucky? I don't think it's too late to have a Pumpkin or two... but I'm just guessing, so don't take my word for it. On the upside, the vines look really gnarly when they shrivel up and die. Should make for some spooky scarecrow accesories!


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

I get plenty of bees around the pumpkin flowers, but often the little ball at the base of the female flower does nothing. Sometimes I help the fertilization along with a paintbrush.


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## Ms. Wicked (Nov 14, 2006)

Well, I went out to the veggie garden for a close inspection of my pumpkins, since many were already ripening and the leaves were starting to die out.

I found two more pumpkins that are still green (one is only softball sized). That's a total of eight pumpkins!

In the meantime, six were ripe. Of those six, three already fell off of the vine or the stem was completely dried/withered. I also discovered that slugs had just found the ripe fruit. So I decided to bring in the ripe ones since I caught them just in time before any damage was done.

I'm uncertain as to whether or not they'll make it to Halloween - it's so early. But my grocery store has them out already, so who knows? I'll be happy to cook with them if need be.

My pumpkin harvest (with two more to go!).


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

Looking great, MS W!!!!


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## spidermonkey (Jul 29, 2008)

Totally cool Mrs. W.


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## throughthepatch (Sep 3, 2008)

I grew my first patch this year. They were going gangbusters for a while. Flowers everywhere. Then, right around the time Veronica was born and I wasn't paying much attention they were descended upon by powder mildew and hordes of squash bugs. I tried the 'soapy water' solution to kill the bugs. Didn't do much good. 
Now most of the vines look like something built by pumpkinrot. But I have managed to get three pumpkins out of it.
Definitely going to keep trying.


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## Merlin (The Quiet One) (Feb 23, 2006)

Nice looking pumpkins Mrs.W.


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

I had one nice pumpkin (~60 lbs) from my two plants until yesterday.

Before









After groundhog









Not sure if I can save this pumpkin. I cut it off the vine to prevent more damage. Any advice to protect the damage parts until Halloween?

All the rest of my pumpkins (5 or 6) got about as big as a baseball or softball and then died. Something has been eating the leaves of the plants also.


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