# Pumpkin Planting



## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

Just curious, who else here has taken a stab at planting their own pumpkins this year? My plants are a few weeks old now and are doing well. The vines should start flowering pretty soon.

Anyone else doing this too?


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## chubacabra (Jun 14, 2007)

I've been planting pumpkins for a few years now. My plants are lookin good, and should flower any day now. 
I think the rest of my garden gets mad at how much time I spend on my pumpkins.


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## krypt (Oct 25, 2005)

Yeap heres pictures of mine and they are right on schedule for oct i think there are 6 or 7 so far ....

Pictures by kryptonoff - Photobucket


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

Hey krypt, I think your plants are developing powdery mildew. The grey splotches on the leaves look like powdery mildew. What time of day do you water them?

Also, you're at a key time in the fruit's development when slugs will start being drawn to your pumpkins. If at all possible, get some sand and lay out a ring of sand around each pumpkin to prevent slugs from being able to get to your fruit.


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## krypt (Oct 25, 2005)

Those are spots from the rain and they come and go .... i have the slugs covered sand? .....Salt ever poured salt on a slug not a pretty sight.


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## oct31man (Sep 19, 2006)

This is my first year trying it! Here are some pics of one my plants.


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

krypt said:


> Those are spots from the rain and they come and go .... i have the slugs covered sand? .....Salt ever poured salt on a slug not a pretty sight.


Good. It was hard to tell if it was grey splotches or just moisture. July/August is where the powdery mildew does start to rear its ugly head, so try and avoid watering near the evening. The moisture on the leaves overnight is a perfect breeding ground for fungus, which is what powdery mildew is.

There are also fungucides that help prevent it. Don't know if you're trying to go organic or not. I don't eat my pumpkins, so I have no issue with using fungucides. I always wind up with powdery mildew otherwise.

Another trick to avoid slugs is to place dishes of beer around the area. They're drawn to the beer, climb in the plate, get all drunk and can't get out and die. There's also "slug bait" on the market, but you need to till that into the soil, and from the looks of it yours are growing out over a lawn, so I bet that's not an option.


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

Wow, you are all much further along that I am. I'm betting most of you will have August harvests. Mine -- provided they continue to do well -- will be a mid-to-late September harvest.


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## krypt (Oct 25, 2005)

Yeah i believe it is from when it rains then 90 degree sun pops up and burn sun pots on em thats what it seem like anyway....I HOPE!

and im hoping for 2 weeks in oct for harvest time with the cold nights at first planting them and the 120 days it takes till harvest seems like it is gonna be right at oct....
Crossing fingerss!


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## Lakeside Haunt (May 31, 2007)

Ive planted pumpkins and they always turn out nice in october I don't plant large ones though just the small ones.


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## Beepem (Jul 17, 2006)

mine have been flowering for a bit now, one of my vines is 2 feet long and hasnt flowered though...


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## gmacted (Jan 18, 2006)

I planted three mounds of pumpkins (2 jack-o-lantern size and 1 small size) in early June and they have already taken over. About 1/2 dozen pumpkins have already started to grow and my flowers are in full bloom. I'm hoping for a better crop than I had last year.


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## chubacabra (Jun 14, 2007)

Just checked today and I've got one large flower  Hopefully more will start blooming


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## Ms. Wicked (Nov 14, 2006)

I used to grow pumpkins in England. For the most part, I was pretty successful. The ground was quite fertile and my vines produced nice fruit.

I *seem* to remember that on a single vine, after the fruit start to grow, that all but one (maybe two) fruits will fall off, leaving just the one to grow to maturity. Perhaps this is only true of certain varieties, or perhaps I'm barmy and just didn't grow them correctly. But I do remember fruits falling off of my vines.

Either way, it was fun. I just thought I'd share that in case somebody else has had the same thing happen.


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## krypt (Oct 25, 2005)

You guys watch out i lost two pumpkins and two vines to squash vine borers yesterday NASTY maggot looking things.....Its very dissapointing! ...NAAAAASTY THINGS!


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

krypt said:


> You guys watch out i lost two pumpkins and two vines to squash vine borers yesterday NASTY maggot looking things.....Its very dissapointing! ...NAAAAASTY THINGS!


I use insecticides to keep such bastards off of my plants. My first year I had this problem and it killed off all but one of my plants. Now, since I don't plan on eating them anyway, I use a spray of Sevin to keep pests off of my plants.


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## pyro (Oct 7, 2006)

1st year and they are dead -my watermelon dont look good either--do you think its too late to plant more, i think there are some at k-mart


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

pyro said:


> 1st year and they are dead -my watermelon dont look good either--do you think its too late to plant more, i think there are some at k-mart


I wouldn't wait any longer. What's the worst that will happen? At this point, you don't have anything to harvest so taking another stab at it certainly isn't going to hurt.

Just curious, what killed them?


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## pyro (Oct 7, 2006)

not sure z--maybe not enough sun maybe they drown, i dont see any bugs


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## krypt (Oct 25, 2005)

If they are dying and dead look inside the vine for SVB....they look like fat maggots... two of mine killed over within a day b/c of those [email protected]#$%^&*().


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## Beepem (Jul 17, 2006)

my pumpkins are doing good...I'd appreciate some female flowers though...

anyone get powdery mildew on their vines? one of my moms squash plants is covered in it....fungicide doesn't seem to be helping either


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

Beepem said:


> my pumpkins are doing good...I'd appreciate some female flowers though...
> 
> anyone get powdery mildew on their vines? one of my moms squash plants is covered in it....fungicide doesn't seem to be helping either


With powdery mildew, prevention is the only cure. I've struggled with it every year I've planted. I've still had successful crops, despite having had plants covered with it. If you can keep it at bay until the fruit is nearly ripened, you'll still do ok.

From what I understand, once it starts growing the fungicide can't kill it. Fungicide can be used to prevent it though, so spray it on the leaves even if you don't have a problem with it to stop a problem from developing. That's what I'm trying this year and its working out so far. Late July and early August will really tell me if it's working or not as those are the most humid months.

Also, don't water before dark. Dark + moisture + big leafy surface = Powdery Mildew. :zombie:


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## krypt (Oct 25, 2005)

do you guys water the leaves? i have heard not to i just water at the base of the vine where it starts and we are realy humid here and i have not had any problems just watering one location... maybe thats why i dont have the mildew problems.


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

krypt said:


> do you guys water the leaves? i have heard not to i just water at the base of the vine where it starts and we are realy humid here and i have not had any problems just watering one location... maybe thats why i dont have the mildew problems.


Hmmm... I've always watered the entire plant. Maybe you're on to something there. I'll have to try that and see what happens.


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## gmacted (Jan 18, 2006)

Zombie-F said:


> Hmmm... I've always watered the entire plant. Maybe you're on to something there. I'll have to try that and see what happens.


I use Aqua Cones to water my pumpkins. I have two cones per mound and water them twice a day (once in the mornining and once at night). The leaves don't get wet and each mound gets about 3 gallons of water per day. It has worked well for me so far.


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## sarahtlee (Jul 14, 2006)

We've planet some. The vines are growing like crazy. No flowers yet though. We might be moving before October so I'm hoping that I'll be able to transfer them to the new garden


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## krypt (Oct 25, 2005)

Well i checked my vines today and had the borer eggs i believe looked kinda like jelly. So i broke down and hosed everything off with liquid sevin. I dont want anymore damage done and i did some more surgery on the vines cutting those borers out the vines recently and they dont seem to care when i do that its like the vines grow wilder when i do this. The worst part is it rains and stroms 1-2 times daily so thats alot of spraying but hey what ya gonna do...:::sighs:::


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## Bodybagging (May 8, 2006)

we have one the size of a basketball already, go baby go!!!!


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## MacabreManor (Jul 23, 2007)

Have any of you seen pumpkin plants for sale? Not seeds, but established vines? Just wondering because I haven't and following a recent move across the city...I've gotten too late a start to count on seeds.


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## octoberist (Apr 3, 2007)

*Pumpkins ahoy!*

Hey everybody. I never tried to grow pumpkins before, but I thought I'd give it a go this year, and - much to my surprise - they seem to be maturing really good.

They started out slow but now our vines are weaving around like mad. Reminds me of that movie "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." And there are like a million orange-yellow blossoms dancing in the breeze. And lots of bees in them sucking on their sweet nectar. On the news not-so-long-ago they said that all the bees were dying off - but that's not the way it's going in my yard. Plenty of bees here.

And we've got several pumpkins plumping up nicely. Already I've got one that's the size of a cordless phone. Not the handset part but the whole phone including the base where you set it to recharge. And we have another one that's the size of one of those packages that holds 50 Sony DVD-R's. And we have another one that's the size of a wadded up ball of newspaper covered tightly with duct tape. Not covered super-tight with the duct tape - but wrapped pretty tight nonetheless. And we have another one that's the size of a man's wristwatch. And one the size of two office staplers duct-taped together.

Those are the ones along the side of the driveway. In the back of the house we have a pumpkin that's the size of a balled-up pair of white sweat socks with gray heels. And another that's the size of a baby's dress shoe that he wore at his step brother's wedding. And another that's the size of two more staplers taped together. And one that's the size of a small loaf of stale sour dough bread.

This is a great experience for me. Thanks for all your well-wishes and advice.


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

I think I might have planted mine early - I did 4 mounds then did 4 a month later... the first set have vines about 8' long and one has a cantalope sized pumpkin growing, another has a golf ball sized one.. the younger plants are only about 1-2' long and they just started to bloom last week. we'll see how it goes...


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## MacabreManor (Jul 23, 2007)

In my younger days I used to go around and ask for everyone's pumpkins and jak-o-lanterns after Halloween. Friends and I would bring them home and beat the heck out of them with bats They made great compost and a new batch of pumpkins for next year srouted up every year.


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## oct31man (Sep 19, 2006)

Only one of my plants grew into a vine, and it hasn't formed any pumpkins yet. I get flowers, but they fall off. It looks as though they have been neatly severed. Is there a bug that causes them to just fall off like that?


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

oct31man said:


> Only one of my plants grew into a vine, and it hasn't formed any pumpkins yet. I get flowers, but they fall off. It looks as though they have been neatly severed. Is there a bug that causes them to just fall off like that?


Actually, what has happened is the flowers aren't being properly pollinated, probably because you only have one plant. It's key to have more than one so it is more likely for a bee to pollinate the female flowers with pollen from the male flowers.

You can perform the pollination yourself with a Q-Tip. I've never done it, so you may want to search the web on how to pollinate a pumpkin.


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

I read one article that described the differences between a male and a female flower but I couldn't see any difference w/ mine.


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## krypt (Oct 25, 2005)

Also when the plant starts to flower it only produces male flowers to draw in the bees then it does this for about a week or two then you will start to see the female flowers. Remember the flowers are only open for 1 day then they die and fall of the vine if not pollinated. Female flowers have a buldge at the base of flower looks like a baby pumpkin your most likely seeing all male flowers at the moment no worries.

Hand pollinating is simple pick the male flower off carefully tear the petals off the male flower and gently wipe the stamen on the the female stigma of the flower. The flowers wont stay open for long so if you want to pollinate you have to get up at around 6 this is what i did tilll the bees started showing up and when you think you have no bees Bam they are all over every flower in the yard flower to flower all day long!


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## oct31man (Sep 19, 2006)

Ah, thanks! I have noticed the flowers don't stay open long. And I have seen the flowers with the little pumpkin ball on it. I'll give self pollination a try!


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

Here's some photos of one of my plants. In all, I have 8 vines. 7 of them are doing quite well, the 8th was eaten a bit by something small and furry. It seems to still be growing at a much slower rate, but I don't expect anything out of it.

I have the pumpkins growing so each plant will weave its way in between two rows of corn. I have mulched the entire area with my grass clippings to minimize weed growth and this has worked nearly flawlessly so far.

Have a look at some pics! Photo number one is of one of the better plants and photo two is a closeup of the end of one of the vines. Isn't weird how alien the plants look?


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## ZombieLoveme (Jul 6, 2007)

How many pumpkin seeds should I place in each mound?


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## Catbert (Jul 20, 2007)

I tried last year, but it was too warm for them to get pollinated, and we don't have many bees where I live. I couldn't find my seeds this year, I think they got thrown out.


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## widowsbluff (May 24, 2006)

I put about nine in each mound, groups of three. They were all doing well and setting fruit until the attack of the deer! I have tried spray, fence, radios and nothing seems to keep these guys out. It's too late for this year, any suggestions to keep the deer out for next year?


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## krypt (Oct 25, 2005)

widowsbluff said:


> I put about nine in each mound, groups of three. They were all doing well and setting fruit until the attack of the deer! I have tried spray, fence, radios and nothing seems to keep these guys out. It's too late for this year, any suggestions to keep the deer out for next year?


I heard urine from something bigger then the deer. Like marking your territory maybe even human urine its high in nitrogen i believe its nitrogen so it wouldnt hurt anything i don't think.....Well I am not saying go out in the back yard and whiz everywhere but, if a deer smells i don't know bear urine? I don't think he is gonna stick around. Don't ask me where to get bear urine b/c i have no idea but you get what i am saying. Maybe they have something like that at a hunting place but be careful then you might get some bears looking to mate around and thats not a good thing either.


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## krypt (Oct 25, 2005)

Or put chicken wire around your plants.


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## DRoZ (Oct 24, 2006)

krypt said:


> I heard urine from something bigger then the deer. Like marking your territory maybe even human urine its high in nitrogen i believe its nitrogen so it wouldnt hurt anything i don't think.....Well I am not saying go out in the back yard and whiz everywhere but, if a deer smells i don't know bear urine? I don't think he is gonna stick around. Don't ask me where to get bear urine b/c i have no idea but you get what i am saying. Maybe they have something like that at a hunting place but be careful then you might get some bears looking to mate around and thats not a good thing either.


I can imagine it now.... about this time next year .... "Great News!!! I have had absolutely no problem keeping the deer out of my garden this year, however I dont think I can harvest any of my pumpkins.. you know... because of the bears and all....  jk


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## pyro (Oct 7, 2006)

well i found out what killed my pumpkins, watermelon, kukes------dam woodchuck, i think the flowers are tasty


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## widowsbluff (May 24, 2006)

Well we don't have bears, but when I first read your reply I thought it said "beer" urine! That we can get. Thanks for the suggestions.


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

here's mine so far... 1 cantaloupe sized pumpkin, 1 racquetball sized one and a golf ball sized one who's stem is 3/4 broken...


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## gmacted (Jan 18, 2006)

NickG said:


> here's mine so far... 1 cantaloupe sized pumpkin, 1 racquetball sized one and a golf ball sized one who's stem is 3/4 broken...


No offense, but that's the strangest pumpkin I've ever seen. Are you sure they're pumpkins? My pumpkins start out green and then turn orange when they're "ripe"/ready.

Your pictures almost look like gourds.


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

Mine are showing their first flowers today.

ON a side note, I've also got some ears of corn starting to form on my corn plants.


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## krypt (Oct 25, 2005)

Not saying that they are not pumpkins also but they do look strange.

You might of gotten a seed pack that was mis labeled it happens quite often.
What variety are those? and brand?


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## krypt (Oct 25, 2005)

Zombie i took your advice with the liquid Sevin with the borers and its not helping have any other ideas?


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

krypt said:


> Zombie i took your advice with the liquid Sevin with the borers and its not helping have any other ideas?


Krypt, once they got in it was already too late. You have to use the sevin to prevent them from getting in. Prevention is the only cure for this problem.

Since you already have fruit on the vine, you may still wind up with a harvest. I had borers one year after the fruit started to grow and I still wound up with nice-sized pumpkins.

The best insecticide for borers is called "Diazinon," but it's illegal in my state now and may be as well in your state. But again, it's a preventative measure, not a cure.

This is pretty radical, and I don't recommend it, but I've read of people slicing their vines open, removing the borer with tweezers, and "bandaging" the vine where they cut it by burying the cut portion in the dirt. I advise against this as you may kill your plant and not wind up with fruit at all whereas you may still have a fruit in the end if you leave it be.


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## krypt (Oct 25, 2005)

Zombie-F said:


> This is pretty radical, and I don't recommend it, but I've read of people slicing their vines open, removing the borer with tweezers, and "bandaging" the vine where they cut it by burying the cut portion in the dirt. I advise against this as you may kill your plant and not wind up with fruit at all whereas you may still have a fruit in the end if you leave it be.


Thats exactly what i am doing little slice, open the vine up ,and pluck the borer out and still have 3/4 of the vine feeding the pumpkin seems to be working.

My next ? is if i duct tape the whole vine, borers could not get in as easy and Im considering this but.... Have any thoughts on this?


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

the first / larger plants are called "big max pumpkins" (See: http://www.yankeegardener.com/seeds/pumpkin-bigmax-lg.html ) and the smaller plants, we forgot, think they were standard pumpkins.


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

Well, despite my best efforts to prevent it, my plants have started to show signs of powdery mildew. I guess you just can't win against the fact it will rain and condensation will collect on the leaves at night.

Anyhow, I'm not giving up. I've treated them with a fungucide (that I was also using as a preventative measure) and it doesn't seem to be getting any worse.

On the flip side, I've also got pumpkins growing now! About 5 little golfball sized pumpkins have showed up on the vines at this point. Lots of flowers too, so I expect more.

Here's my latest batch of photos:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y32/Zombie-F/Pumpkins%202007/pumpkin-10.jpg http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y32/Zombie-F/Pumpkins%202007/pumpkin-11.jpg http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y32/Zombie-F/Pumpkins%202007/pumpkin-12.jpg​


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## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

tht's good Zombie..treating them is realy al you can do.. they say to sometimes thin out some of the leaves to get air going thru patch...
after applying the fungicide it only stops it from spreading, the spots still stay.
Krypt
wrapping your vines will not work..be sure to treat the base of the plant that is most likely where they are getting in then they work there way up the vine.
"Diazinon" like Zombie says is best but alas not available in al lareas check your local gardening shop they may have something else.


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

Lilly said:


> tht's good Zombie..treating them is realy al you can do.. they say to sometimes thin out some of the leaves to get air going thru patch...
> after applying the fungicide it only stops it from spreading, the spots still stay.


Thanks for the info on the spots. It's good to know that I may not be in trouble if the spots don't disappear.  This problem has been blight on my crops every year I've grown them.


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## oct31man (Sep 19, 2006)

I had a nice pumpkin growing. It got about 6 inches long and now is decaying!
I now have a few small ones starting, but who nows????


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

oct31man said:


> I had a nice pumpkin growing. It got about 6 inches long and now is decaying!
> I now have a few small ones starting, but who nows????


Could be slugs and/or bugs getting to them. Once the skin is eaten away in a spot, it will cause your fruit to decay.

There's a few ways to combat slugs. There's a slug bait on the market that you till into the soil. Never used it myself, so can't really comment.

I've had success luring them away by leaving small dishes of beer around here and there. They crawl into the dish, drink some of the beer and are unable to get out.

Another thing to try against slugs is to surround the pumpkin with sand. The slug can't cross across the sand and the fruit is safe.

If it's bugs eating it, you could use an insecticide if you're not against that sort of thing.

The final culprit could be squirrels. Squirrels will gnaw off some of the skin of well-developed fruit.


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## oct31man (Sep 19, 2006)

It seemed to be doing OK other than some very small bugs on the bottom stem or the stamen of the flower. I put some sevin dust over the whole plant and then I noticed a day or two after, that the pumpkin was decaying. 
I wonder if I burned it with too much dust?
Thanks for the sand tip!


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## Holyhabanero (Aug 9, 2007)

Just a little tip. After you harvest your pumpkins, and carve them up for decoration or cooking, make sure you save the seeds from the best pumpkin(s) you have. Then let the seeds air dry and then store in a container to plant next year. I've done this for five years and haven't had to buy pumpkin seeds for several years now.

By the way, My favorite type of pumpkins are the ones with deep grooves darker color and, IMO more character such as the Fairytale









Or the Rouge vif D'Etampes


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## oct31man (Sep 19, 2006)

Hey, how did everyones' pumpkins turn out? I ended up with one survivor! It is huge! I haven't harvested it yet, I think it gets bigger every day!
I'll post a pic soon!


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## octoberist (Apr 3, 2007)

From the two pots at the side of our house and from the patch in the small garden behind the garage, I got a total of 13 pumpkins (with two more still to be harvested). Three or four are pretty small, but the others came out excellently. Big healthy specimens. 

I had the powdery mildew, but in the end it didn't hurt the crop at all. I had never grown pumpkins before (or grown anything for that matter), but I am so pleased with the whole experience.


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

Well, as long as the frost holds off for about another week or so, I'll have about 8 or 9 pumpkins. I already harvested one so far and the rest are in varying stages of "orange-ness."


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

my first set of plants that spawned the odd yellow looking things are pretty much all leafless, though there are still a couple yellow/orange round things on the vine (wouldn't call them pumpkins) 

my second set of plants yielded two very healthy mounds that have 1 orange, and 3 more greens on the vines, hopefully the greens will turn before the big day... the orange one is about the size of a volley ball. 

overall, very disappointing for how much work I put into them, probably just buy some next year - the soil in my area isn't great and it would take a lot of effort to get a nice batch, the drought didn't help much this year either... I'd also bet I spent more on water from watering them than what I would have spent buying 6 or 8 pumpkins.


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## gmacted (Jan 18, 2006)

I ended up with about 15 small size pumpkins and 4 jack'o'lantern size. It wasn't a very good year for pumpkins (too dry!).


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## Adam I (Jun 16, 2007)

We had a poor year too dry and the weeds to over.
No large one's just medium and small.


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## octoberist (Apr 3, 2007)

Here are some pics of most of my pumpkins. 
I am so happy to have any home grown pumpkins as I have never planted them before. 
It was a lot of fun and I am so proud to have grown my own.


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## JohnnyL (Aug 17, 2006)

Beautiful pumpkins!

I am seriously thinking I'll attempt it this year.


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

well, this is what I got from planting 12 mounds with 3 plants each mound, and watering them every single morning and sometimes in the evening during the heat waves... 4 small pumpkins and 3 really confused gord / pumpkin things. I had to go to walmart and spent 10min and $15 and got 5 "ok" pumpkins to carve.. (they're the ones that actually look like usesful pumpkins in the back row)

so, I dono. I probably won't plant next year.. the whole idea was to save money and have our own pumpkins, but I must have spent at least $50 in water for those things... granted, the soil in these parts kinda sucks, I did add half a bag of topsoil to each mound and used fertilizer every week.


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