Pumpkin spacing...

[northepaul]

Hi there,
I have quite a specific question regarding pumpkin spacing, my daughter wants to grow a halloween giant pumpkin - I have Jack o lantern seeds. Her little bed is 1m sq and wondered if this would be big enough for one plant? (with one pumpkin allowed to grow BIG)
Any advice apppreciated or recommendation etc...

Thanks

[Hazel at the Hill]

I grew 4 squash plants in a bed 4' by 16' last year, so in theory, that's about there-or-there-abouts.

HOWEVER the plants went bloody mad and drove me crackers as they constantly overran their area, however well I trained them round and round the bed.

[Creemteez]

I grew squashes between my sweetcorn last year in a bed about the same size as Hazel and had exactly the same rampant growth. The stems ran back and forth so many times it was impossible to tell what belonged to what and even then they strayed onto the paths. When I removed the plants at the end of the season I stretched one of the stems out and it was the same legnth as my plot. 35 feet!

[northepaul]

Would it be worth erecting some sort of wigwam to climb up in that case, do you think?

[jackyspratty]

Ive thought about that too. Our sons have a wooden play house thing on stilts, have thought about growing them over that, especially since they would get more rays that way. Would you have to net them in the same way you would melons do you think?:confused

Think that Ive read somewhere that you can stake them round themselves in a circle in order to control their spreading nature? Sounds a bit too simple tho, and as we know nothing in this life or the veg world ever is!

[Pumpy]

Jack O'Lantern won't be giants. You need Atlantic Dill or some other super size me seed for them.

I grew, last year, from very old supermarket pumpkin seeds, a 6lb pumpkin in a window box. Someone else grew from the same seed stock a slightly heavier one (my neighbour made that into soup, lots of soup!).
My vine growth was limited and most certainly well under 1m square, but I grew it in a container, my friends was rampant and was grown in a raised bed.
This is basically it, you can just see the bottom of the window trough:



Hope that worked anyway.

Having been bitten by the bug (hence my name), its Giants for me this year and have read both 8 and 15 feet as the recommended spacing between plants.

As a practical suggestion is there any possibility you can grow it in a container? It is possible to train the vines to go where you want them to but the structure must be strong enough to support the growing pumpkin and when they get going, they're off, so you need to keep on top of it.

HTH

Pumpy

[Hazel at the Hill]

Ive thought about that too. Our sons have a wooden play house thing on stilts, have thought about growing them over that, especially since they would get more rays that way. Would you have to net them in the same way you would melons do you think?:confused

Think that Ive read somewhere that you can stake them round themselves in a circle in order to control their spreading nature? Sounds a bit too simple tho, and as we know nothing in this life or the veg world ever is!

Again, theoretically yes, but when I tried it you only have to turn your back for about 2 minutes and you have great snaking vines escaping everywhere & it all need whacking with a big stick.

I'm guessing that tidy gardeners don't grow pumpkins in a confined space.

Also, even a modest pumpkin is going to weigh about 6lb (i.e.3 bags of sugar ) so support of the fruit is a must, I think, if you are growing them up supports

[SMT]

Hi northepaul.

Growing pumpkins is what got me into all this growing lark. Last year I grew a 675lb and 354lb off the same plant, but your talking about an area of 450ft2.

Heres the link to the picture of my 354lb giant Halloween carving from last year.

http://www.wychwood.com/competition_pumpkin_2009.htm

If your daughter wants to grow a giant lantern you need the correct seed. As previously mentioned, Atlantic Giant is the top seed for this but there are other not so large varieties that may be suitable for you. Maybe 'Sumo' or 'Big Max'. 2 years ago I grew a 139lb pumpkin from the shop bought 'Dill's Atlantic Giant' in a growing area of around 100ft2.

Pumpkin vines will grow rampant. My main vine last year grew 12inches within the space of 24hours. These vines generate a secondary root under each leaf node which gives it a secondary nutrient source. So a trailing vine is preferable on soil, but if your limited to 1m2 then I wouldn't worry too much. If your growing area is located near a grassy area I would let the vine run across the lawn or something. The more foliage you have the larger the pumpkin will be (In theory!).

Another reason to try and increase the area would be to increase the likely hood of finding a fresh male flower to pollinate the female flower (baby pumpkin). If you dont have a male flower to pollinate the pumpkin then the baby pumpkin will abort and rot off.

A little tip - you will probably find that a pumpkin grown on the main vine further from the stump will give you a larger pumpkin than if it was on a secondary vine near the stump. So try not to prune the main vine if you can. If you need to prune anything I would prune the secondary vines that come off the main.

One last thing - Pumpkin roots are very shallow. They can extend possibly 3ft out from where the leaves of the plant are. So try not to compact the soil around the plant by walking on it. Use a board to support your weight if you need to get close to weed etc. Likewise be careful when weeding not to disturb or cut through the roots.

Hope this helps a little

[northepaul]

Thank you all for your advice, Its so useful. Reading through your extensive remarks SMT and looking at your pumpkin diary, made me realise that I didnt mean a mammoth pumpkin - we couldnt pick it up , just a good one to make a jack o lantern (or being optomistic, maybe two!!) with. My daughters raised bed is 1m sq, its at the end of (what will be) my potato bed and by a fence, overshadowed by a shed, but is south facing so gets sunshine for around half the day.

Thanks all

[SMT]

Sounds like you will probably be fine with the seed you have then. Last year I grew 6 small rows of potatoes, mangetout, and carrots in the on coming path of the pumpkin. Kept harvesting the veg up as the pumpkin plant advanced. May or may not work for you, but possibly give you a little extra space.

Not sure if you plan on growing sweetcorn, but I accidently found out last year that the vines can grow nicely through a sweetcorn bed without disturbing one another too much. Just incase thats another option for you.

[Pumpy]

Sweetcorn, beans and squash grown together are known as the three sisters.

You may need more than 6 hours sun, but something should happen.

@SMT With 450 square foot, how much of this was taken up with pumpkin vine?

P

[SMT]

@SMT With 450 square foot, how much of this was taken up with pumpkin vine?

P

The leaf canopy covered all 450ft2 except where the pumpkin fruit lay. Sweetcorn rose above this canopy in a 6ftx6ft area.

I've looked through my photos from last year and found these 2 pics. The first shows the pumpkin plant at 2months since the pumpkin seed was sown. The potatoes are growing on the right hand side and mangetout just in view on bottom left hand corner. The second pic shows the same view but 1 month later.

I dont have a pic of the outside, but I allowed the side vines to grow underneath the polythene into another growing area outside where the sweetcorn, more potatos, cauliflowers and french beans were growing. These again were harvested as the pumpkin plant crawled closer.

[Pumpy]

Thats great thanks.
The reason I ask is that I am growing Atlantics in my neighbours garden this year, its 33ft x 18ft and I was thinking about 4 or 5 plants.
But am thinking this might be too many?

P

[SMT]

I suppose it depends on what your goals are? If your wanting to compete for shear weight then your probably best with 2. If your growing for giant halloween lanterns/eating then you could probably keep 4-5 pruned in that space. You could always start 4-5 and cull them down to the strongest 2.

[Pumpy]

Thanks, that makes sense. Goals really are to grow big pumpkins and to shade the weeds that grow there to stop them spreading into everyone elses with a view to leaving an area suitable to grass over at some point in the future, its not my garden at the end of the day.

I'm not going for a record, so 4 to 5 this year.

Thanks.

P