If there was one thing I learned from growing pumpkins, it was that almost everyone loves these fascinating globes of wonderment. Young, old and, best of all, the little ones just go nuts around a pile of pumpkins.
I'm still not sure why they bring so much curiosity. Most pumpkins aren't edible. The only thing I could ever come up with was the size and feel of the pumpkins. The first thing people would ask me is if they could touch a pumpkin. And little kids, they would hug the bigger ones. This was my favorite part of selling pumpkins each fall. That's why, if I ever decide to run for a political office, my campaign slogan will be, "Drop pumpkins not bombs."
Everyone should experience growing a pumpkin from seed. If you have small children or grandchildren you are trying to introduce to gardening, then look no further than a pumpkin patch. This will give you a full season of joy and quality time spent watching the pumpkins grow.
Pumpkins are a warm season crop and do well in a sunny hot area of your yard or garden. They belong to the plant family of Cucurbitaceae. Pumpkins share this family with watermelons, gourds, squash, cucumbers and zucchini.
Pumpkins have both male and female flowers. The first flowers that open are male. They will be located near the base of the plant and alert bees to a new food source. The bees will already be working the pumpkin patch when the female flowers open seven to 10 days later.
This improves the plants' chance of being pollinated, as female flowers are only open three to six hours a day. At the end of each day, the female flowers drop off the plant, pollinated or not. The next morning new flowers open for pollination. Female flowers are located on the vines of the plant and have a small ovary at the base of each flower bud. If the bees do their job, this will be your future pumpkin.
I find the whole plant/bee relationship fascinating in terms of how the pumpkin trains the bees for pollination.
Members of the Cucurbitaceae family are known for being heavy feeders of soil nutrients. When prepping your patch for seed sowing, make sure to add a little extra compost or farm animal manure that is at least a year old. Fertilizer will still need to be added at different stages of plant growth to satisfy the pumpkins' appetites.
After the pumpkin plant has six leaves, adopt a biweekly fertilizer program and apply a liquid nitrogen-heavy fertilizer until you see the first flowers.
After the first flowers appear, use a phosphorus-heavy fertilizer. I recommend the granulated triple super phosphate. As small pumpkins begin forming, add potassium-heavy fertilizer, like potash. Follow the fertilizer instructions for application and feeding rates. Do not buy a 50-pound bag of fertilizer unless you are planting a large field. A 10-pound bag of each nutrient will last three to four seasons.
When planting your seeds, make the hills 5 to 6 inches tall and 14 to 16 inches wide. Plant four to six seeds in a hole 1 inch deep, and 2 to 3 inches apart in the hill. Cover the seed holes with loose soil, and keep the hill watered. Wait for all of the seeds to germinate, and thin each hill down to two or three seedlings, leaving the tallest and healthiest.
The spacing between the hills and rows will depend on the variety of pumpkin you are growing. Small varieties that bush need 6 to 8 square feet of growing space. Larger pumpkins need as much as 50 to 100 square feet. Make sure to buy the right size pumpkin seed for your garden or the plants will take over at an impressive rate.
Keep an eye out for squash bugs, cucumber beetles and squash vine borers. These insects love pumpkins. You can control them with a variety of sprays. Seven and Pyrethrum are common choices. Check with your local hardware store or feed store for more options.
Hand-picking is another good option if you only have a few plants. Make sure to inspect the plant and all of its leaves, including the underside. Destroy any insect eggs you see.
Powdery mildew is a very common problem for pumpkins. You can buy some pumpkin varieties that are PM-resistant. Even if plants are resistant to PM, you may need to spray the plats with a fungicide.
The first visible sign of a PM infection is white to gray residue (mold) on the tops of the pumpkins' leaves. This is a strong indication you need to spray your plants.
After the flowers appear on the pumpkin plants, use extra caution when spraying fertilizers, insecticides or fungicides when the flowers are open on your pumpkin plants. You will kill the bees with these chemicals. It is best to always spray your patch after 6 p.m., when the bees have finished pollinating for the day.
The first two weeks of June are the best time to plant your pumpkins for Halloween festivities. Make sure to follow the days to harvest included on your seed pack as an indication of when to plant and harvest your pumpkins.
If you are looking for some fun pumpkins to grow with kids, then you might look at Red Warty, Mr. Fugly, Cinderella, Fairytale, Jack-Be-Little or Knuckle Head. If you have the room and want to grow a big boy (150 to 600 pounds), then try Dill's Atlantic Giant pumpkin seed.
Be forewarned, growing the big ones can be very addicting. Before you know it, you will be sleeping in your patch just to guard your creation. Trust me, this does happen in the world of competitive pumpkin growing. If you decide to grow a pumpkin, I would love to see a photo of your success.
Chris Postalwait is the agricultural and environmental research station and greenhouse manager for West Virginia State University Research & Development Corporation. He is also the former owner of Orange Vine LLC, a wholesale commercial pumpkin and vegetable farm in Mason County. Contact Chris at postalcm@wvstateu.edu.