One way of making pumpkins grow fast is to feed with water. Make a hole in the stalk of the pumpkin and insert a cotton candle wick in the hole with one end. Place the other end in a jar of water. The water will wick itself into the pumpkin. Always make sure there is water in the jar.
By Janette from Parkersburg, WV
This page contains the following solutions.
When you have finished with your pumpkin in the kitchen, bury the seeds in you garden. They don't take any love or care and grow fantastically. Next year you won't have to buy pumpkins!
This heirloom Amish Pumpkin plant chose to climb a smallish apple tree in our garden. When you look closely at the first photo, you can see the apple tree branches smothered by pumpkin leaves.
If growing pumpkins this season, grow them in a large container filled with compost, manure and fertile soil. Once they are full grown and ready for harvest, take pics of your little ones with their pumpkins.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Bugs And Worms Eating Pumpkins
Get chickens, maybe poults, already yard ready, if you can of course. Or ducks?
I planted pumpkin seeds for the first time. They were growing and had started bloom, then they just died. Any ideas of what might of happened? Thank you for any advise!
Sounds like a squash borer. Google it and you'll go 'oh yeah!'
Can you grow pumpkins from the seeds we have just scraped out of the pumpkin?
By village from England
Yes, let them dry and you can plant them next year! Let them dry completely before storing them in an airtight container!
If you or your neighbors grew squash, your seeds may not produce pumpkins. Instead,you may get a cross between a squash and a pumpkin.
Years ago after Halloween we threw our jack-o-lantern into the garden, thinking nothing of it until it sprouted in the late spring. We left it alone and it produced a very large pumpkin. Not sure how heavy but we had to use the wheel barrow to haul it to the front porch to carve.
How do you tell the difference between male and female pumpkin plants?
By Paul
I don't think they are different plants; I think they are like all flowers with male and female parts. Look at the blooms. The fuzzy ended stalks around the center with the dust are stamens (male) and the single one in the center is the female part (pistil) which will turn into a pumpkin.
The female flower will start a pumpkin, the male flower will just die off. My husband is trying to grow the "1000 lb ones from Big Atlantic Dill.
I want to plant one acre of pumpkins, I live in east central Ohio. What would be the best soil type, and pesticides needed? Any help or advice would be very appreciated.
Contact your local county extension agent for info on raising pumpkins in your area.
Other farmers who raise pumpkins near you would be another source of valuable info.
Good growing,
Denise McCall
How many flowers do I leave on my pumpkin vine and do I help them to fertilise using a paintbrush?
By Rosemary
Check out these photos.
Here is my son Ethan in our volunteer pumpkin patch. We didn't plant them, they must have grown from last year's Jack O' Lantern seeds. I think we dumped them into the compost and then spread it out over this section of the yard in the spring.
Do you think pumpkins know we want to carve them up? These three look like they did and wanted to escape from my garden! Ha ha ha.
I use the square foot gardening for 3 gardens. I planted these miniature sugar pumpkins. I waited and nothing came up. I just assumed they didn't take. Two weeks ago, I started seeing small yellow fruit.
There is white powdery stuff on my pumpkins. I'm assuming it's powdery mildew. The leaves are already turning brown, and I'm worried that I will loose my pumpkins before Halloween. Does powdery mildew affect the pumpkins themselves, and if so how can I save them from going bad? Please help! Thanks.
Get a head start on the growing season by starting now. Yes before Christmas and here in Canada, the middle of winter.
I have two pumpkin plants that are growing beautifully. I don't have any fruit yet and no blooms but the plant themselves are very big and beautiful.
My pumpkins have already turned orange. Will they last if I leave them on the vine until Halloween, or will they rot before then? I don't want to pick them yet, as the whole reason I planted them was for Halloween.
ThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.
My tip for growing pumpkins. I have a large drum filled with potting mixture about 1 foot from the top. I placed seeds in and the plant is growing well. All my lawn clippings go in the drum. It has a little water hole about 6 inches from the bottom.
Can you help me with my pumpkins? They grow well, but only produce male flowers, therefore no pumpkins. What am I doing wrong?
