Growing Pumpkins

Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Pumpkins

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It may seem odd to think about pumpkins now, but they need a lot of time to grow. See how to plant, grow, and care for pumpkins so that they’ll reach their fullest potential come fall.

About Pumpkins

Did you know pumpkins have been grown in North America for almost 5,000 years? It’s a lot of fun to grow this American native. However, note that pumpkins do require a long growing season (generally from 75 to 100 frost-free days) so you need to plant them by late May in northern locations to early July in extremely southern states.

Pumpkins are easy to maintain if you have the space.

Of autumn’s wine, now drink your fill;
The frost’s on the pumpkin, and snow’s on the hill.
–The Old Farmer’s Almanac, 1993

Planting Dates for PUMPKINS

Planting Calendar for all Plants

Planting

Pumpkins do best when the seeds are planted directly in the ground. Wait until the plant soil is 70ºF or more before sowing seeds outdoors. Optimum soil temperature is 95ºF. Pumpkins are tender plants which are very sensitive to the cold.
Pick a site with full sun (to light shade).
Pumpkins also need lots of space for sprawling vines. Vine varieties need 50 to 100 square feet per hill. However, if your garden space is limited, no worries! Plant pumpkins at the edge of the garden and direct vine growth across the lawn or sidewalk. The vines will only be bothersome for a few weeks. You can also grow pumpkins in big 5 to 10 gallon buckets! Or, try miniature varieties.
Pumpkins are big, greedy feeders which need very rich soil that is well-drained and not too soggy. Mix lots of compost and aged manure into the planting site before you sow seeds or transplant. Learn more about soil amendments and preparing soil for planting.

How to Plant Pumpkins

Plant seeds in rows or “pumpkin hills,” which are the size of small pitcher mounds. With hills, the soil will warm more quickly and the seeds will germinate faster. This also helps with drainage and pest control.
Prepare the hills in advance with an abundance of old manure dug deep into the ground (12 to 15 inches). If you don’t have manure, loosen the soil and mix in a 2- to 4-inch layer of compost
Plant the seeds 1 inch deep into the hills (4 to 5 seeds per hill). Space hills 4 to 8 feet apart.
Your plants should germinate in less than a week with the right soil temperature (70 degrees F) and emerge in 5 to 10 days.
When the plants are 2 to 3 inches tall, thin to 2 to 3 plants per hill by snipping off unwanted plants without disturbing the roots of the remaining ones.
In rows, sow seeds 6 to 12 inches apart in rows 6 to 10 feet apart. Snip off plants to thin to one plant every 18 to 36 inches.

Check out this video to learn how to plant pumpkins.

Care

How to Grow Pumpkins

Use row covers to protect plants early in the season and to prevent insect problems. However, remember to remove covers before flowering to allow pollination by insects!
Pumpkins are very thirsty plants and need lots of water. Water one inch per week. Water deeply, especially during fruit set.
When watering: Try to keep foliage and fruit dry unless it’s a sunny day. Dampness will make rot and other diseases more likely.
Add mulch around your pumpkins to keep in moisture, suppress weeds, and discourage pests.
Remember that pumpkins are tender from planting to harvest. Control weeds with mulch. Do not overcultivate, or their very shallow roots may be damaged.
Most small vine varieties can be trained up a trellis.
Larger varieties can be trained upward on a trellis, too—though it is an engineering challenge to support the fruit—usually with netting or old stockings.
If your first flowers aren’t forming fruits, that’s normal. Both male and female blossoms need to open. Be patient.
Bees are essential for pollination, so be mindful when using insecticides to kill pests. If you must use, apply only in the late afternoon or early evening, when blossoms are closed for the day. To attract more bees, try placing a bee house in your garden.
Pumpkin vines, though obstinate, are very delicate. Take care not to damage vines, as this can reduce the quality of fruit.

Growing the Perfect Pumpkin

Pumpkins are HEAVY feeders. Regular treatments of manure or compost mixed with water will sustain good growth.
Fertilize on a regular basis. Use a high nitrogen formula in early plant growth. Fertilize when plants are about one foot tall, just before vines begin to run. Switch over to a fertilizer high in phosphorous just before the blooming period.
Pinch off the fuzzy ends of each vine after a few pumpkins have formed. This will stop vine growth so that the plant’s energies are focused on the fruit.
Pruning the vines may help with space, as well as allow the plant’s energy to be concentrated on the remaining vines and fruit.
Gardeners who are looking for a “prize for size” pumpkin might select the two or three prime candidates and remove all other fruit and vines.
As the fruit develops, they should be turned (with great care not to hurt the vine or stem) to encourage an even shape.
Place a thin board or heavy cardboard under ripening melons and pumpkins to avoid decay and insect damage.

Pests/Diseases

Squash bugs and cucumber beetles are common, especially later in summer. Contact your local Cooperative Extension for potential controls.
Aphids
Squash Vine Borer
Powdery Mildew
Anthracnose
Poor light, too much fertilizer, poor weather at bloom time, and reduced pollinating insect activity can negatively impact fruit set.

Harvest/Storage

How to Harvest Pumpkins

Your best bet is to harvest pumpkins when they are fully mature. They will keep best this way. Do not pick pumpkins off the vine because they have reached your desired size. If you want small pumpkins, buy a small variety instead!
A pumpkin is ripe when its skin turns a deep, solid color (orange for most varieties).
When you thump the pumpkin with a finger, the rind will feel hard and it will sound hollow. Press your nail into the pumpkin’s skin; if it resists puncture, it is ripe.
Harvest pumpkins and winter squashes on a dry day after the plants have died back and the skins are hard.
To slow decay, leave an inch or two of stem on pumpkins and winter squash when harvesting them.
To harvest the pumpkin, cut the fruit off the vine carefully with a sharp knife or pruners; do not tear. Be sure not to cut too close to the pumpkin; a liberal amount of stem (3 to 4 inches) will increase the pumpkin’s keeping time.
Handle pumpkins very gently or they may bruise.

How to Cure and Store Pumpkins

Pumpkins should be cured in the sun for about a week to toughen the skin and then stored in a cool, dry bedroom, cellar, or root cellar—anywhere around 55ºF.
If you’re saving pumpkin seeds, they should last for 6 years.
Check out this video for tips on curing and storing pumpkins.

Recommended Varieties

Miniature pumpkins: ‘Jack Be Little’ miniature pumpkin variety, perfect for a holiday table. Vine variety. Days to maturity: 90 to 100 days. ‘We-B-Little’ is an All-America Selection winner, and ‘Munchkin’ is another great miniature pumpkin. Miniature pumpkins are very productive and easy to grow, sometimes producing up to a dozen fruits per plant.

Photo Credits: National Garden Bureau. On the left, ‘Munchkin’ miniature pumpkins. On the right, ‘Wee-B-Little’ miniature pumpkins.

Pumpkins for carving: ‘Autumn Gold’ great for carving, decorating. All-America Selection winner. Vine variety. Excellent for Jack-o-Lanterns. Days to maturity are generally 100 to 120 days.
Giant pumpkins: ‘Dill’s Atlantic Giant’ jumbo variety can grow to 200 pounds. Great for those who want to grow a giant pumpkin. Vine will spread to 25 feet, so space is a must. Days to maturity are 130 to 160 days, so plant early! Thin to the best one or two plants. Feed heavily but keep cultivation shallow. Remove first 2 or 3 female flowers after the plants start to bloom so that the plants grow larger with more leaf surface before setting fruit. Allow a single fruit to develop and pick off all female flowers that develop after this fruit has set on the plant. Take care that the vine doesn’t root down near the joints to avoid breakage.
Perfect pumpkins for pies: ‘Sugar Treat’ semi-bush hybrid. Ideal for cooking and baking. Days to maturity are generally 100 to 120 days. ‘Hijinks’ and ‘Baby Bear’ are both All-America Selection winners and have sweet flesh for pumpkin pie. ‘Cinderella’s Carriage’ is also perfect for pies or soups. ‘Peanut Pumpkin’ also produces very sweet flesh and can be great in pumpkin pie or pumpkin puree.

Photo Credits: National Garden Bureau. On the left, ‘Cinderella’s Carriage’ pumpkins. On the right, ‘Peanut Pumpkin’.

Colorful pumpkins: ‘Jarrahdale’ has blue-green skin and makes for great decorations. ‘Pepitas Pumpkin’ is orange and green, and ‘Super Moon’ is a large white pumpkin.

Photo Credits: National Garden Bureau. On the left, a ‘Jarrahdale’ pumpkin. On the right, a ‘Pepitas Pumpkin’.

Wit & Wisdom

Pumpkin Trivia

Pumpkins were once thought to cure snakebites.
A slice of pumpkin pie before bedtime may help you to sleep. (That’s what we tell ourselves, anyway.)
Pumpkins have been grown in North America for almost 5,000 years.
Pumpkins are a nutritional powerhouse! Learn more about winter squash’s health benefits!
Cucurbits, such as pumpkins, are subject to an ongoing myth—that planting different family members or varieties will result in strange fruit. Actually, it is the seeds resulting from cross-pollination that are corrupted, so this is a factor only if you are planning to save seeds for next year’s planting.

Carving Pumpkins

Pumpkins have become a traditional Halloween decoration and treat in the United States.
Inscribe messages on growing pumpkins with a large nail. The letters will scar over while the pumpkins grow and will still be visible at harvesttime.
See 5 tips for picking the perfect pumpkin for carving!

Recipes

Cooking Notes

See how to clean a pumpkin for cooking.
Don’t forget about the seeds! Roast them with salt or cinnamon for a tasty treat.

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Reader Comments

growing pumpkin in small space

i live in an apartment in tennessee and last fall i carved two pumkins of medium size and left a few seeds in them both i left them to rott in the dirt and mulch all season through the winter and now it is spring and i have a lovely pumpkin patch with bright flowers and pumpkins are forming already...it didnt take any work at all.i do water them everyday though

deer

Does deer bother pumkin vines? Thanks

deer and pumpkins

Pumpkins may be more deer-resistant but nothing is truly off limits for deer except tall and wide fences. While they won't like the vine, deer love pumpkins.

pruning

I wish you would talk a little bit more on how to prun the vines, how to prun the pumpkin plant?

vines

To avoid having vine growth, pinch off the fuzzy ends of each vine after a few pumpkins have formed. This will stop vine growth so that the plant's energies are focused on the fruit.

hi what do you mean when you

hi
what do you mean when you say pinch off fuzzy end?
Also I "accidentally" started a pumpkin patch with an "old" jackolantern and found out that pumpkins are self seeders if that is the right lingo? well now I am really into the patch and it is growing really well lots of vines leaves and flowers, but the flowers are now just falling off... are they all male? I see a lot of bees in the patch which i know leads to fruit... help

pumpkin type

im considering growing some pumpkins but im not sure what variety would be best for me. I live in the lower mainland of bc canada. I'm wanting a large variety of pumpkin that would be good for carving and cooking. I would like to try making pumpkin pie among other recipes so it needs to be sweet.

Easy way to grow a pumpkin

I had cut a whole pumpkin in half after Halloween and put the halves in the yard for the birds. Over the winter, one half ended up in an area I had not raked before the snow hit. It was a small area, perhaps 2' by 3', with some leaves over concrete. Come spring, the half had sprouted a new vine, and we had a homegrown pumpkin for Halloween!