Pumpkin Problems

[Florence Fennel]

Sorry Jules and this might be stating the obvious, but did you sow the seed on it's side? I asked on the other thread if I could grow pumpkin in a 14 litre bucket, but the replies were pretty much in the negative. I might however take a risk and see if I can emulate Jacob's success!

[julesapple]

Not stating the obvious at all!

I sowed the seed pointy end uppermost. It didn't cross my mind which way up to sow the seeds and the nursery I bought the seeds from is one of those uber posh ones that just send the seeds in their own little designer envelope sans instructions.

I've put eight seeds in a wee lidded tupperware container on damp kitchen roll this lunchtime - fingers crossed!

I've telephoned to my SinL and asked if they fed the pumpkin anything special and she said she thought it was fed Nitromors!!!!

Don't know about you, but I use that for stripping paint, so I imagine she means a high nitrogen feed.

Jules

[Matt.]

First soak the seed for a few hours to help soften the shell. Plant on an edge (not flat) about 1" deep into moist compost and place somewhere warm such as an airing cupboard. You can cover with a plastic bag to keep the moisture in. Don't firm the compost.

This method should mean germination within 5 days or so. Some seeds will take longer but this generally indicates they're of poorer quality. If the shell is really thick you can gently file the edges but take care not to damage the pointy end.

Once the seedling emerges get into full sunlight such as a window sill. Make sure the pot is large enough and keep checking for roots to prevent getting rootbound.

Plant outside once frost free and keep well watered. You will need more than a 14 litre bucket for a carving pumpkin. Ideally plant into the ground. The first true leaf (not the two seed leaves) is opposite the direction of the vine so you can 'aim' your plant if you have a bed or border. To grow a large pumpkin aim to keep only one or two fruit on the plant so cull those that form after your chosen one. If you can bury the vine and side vines to encourage more roots but allow the vine to flex where the fruit is attached. You can trim vines and side vine but remember you won't get any new fruit form on a vine you've terminated. It takes about 90 days for a pumpkin to grow BUT you want to harvest before frost so aim for late September. Good luck!

[Kittypickle]

......somewhere warm all the time might be a problem.

We've no airing cupboard since having a combi boiler fitted last year, and I don't have a greenhouse, or a heated propagator. The central heating is off since it the weather improved.

I would use the daughter's barn owls' incubator, but the chicks and the daughter might object.....

Need to think about that one!

Jules

I have this problem and was wondering where I could put my sweetcorn to chit. Put a covered hot water bottle into my picnic cool bag with the sweetcorn on wet tissue in an old plastic takeaway container and zipped shut.

Had a nasty moment when I opened it for the first time as I thought it smelt a bit like cooked sweetcorn but it is fine - it's 48 hours since I put them in and 10 out of 12 have sprouted. I've just put a courgette, 2 pumpkin, 4 dwarf beans and some peas in another container as an experiment and am seeing if I how that goes.

[rogesse]

All great advice - pity I didn't do more research before 3 failed attempts at getting Crown Prince to germinate!

All things squash, cucumber, melon etc seem to hate me!

[julesapple]

Eewwwww!

I decided to dig the failed seeds out of the peat pot thingies today, so that I could reuse the compost & pots for my (hopefully) germinating seeds in the tupperware box.

But oh...eeewwwww......the seeds are crawling with minute white caterpillar jobs, about 4 or 5 mm long. The seeds are cracked open and there's nothing left inside them.

What are these oogey things? Could my nice seeds be infected too? Help!

Jules

[Skotch]

I too have had real problems getting my pumpkins to germinate - bought 4 varieties from Jungle seeds (snowball, Jack of all Trades, Kabocha and Buttercup). 40 seeds in all. I have had 3 germinate after the second attempt. Did all the usual soaking, sowing on edge etc keeping in a warm place. I must say I am most disappointed with the result - will now try to tend the germinated plants as best as I can.

On the other hand, bought a packet of Wilkinsons butternut squash F1 and all 12 in the packet have germinated and are going well.

I used the same compost for all of the seeds

[Florence Fennel]

That's great Matt, thanks very much for all the really useful advice, particularly about the vine being opposite the true leaves. Can I ask, if I dig out a kind of "pit" into the lawn, will I have to do one for each pumpkin plant, or should I dig out a big enough space for a pumpkin "patch" and is that a daft question?

[Matt.]

That's great Matt, thanks very much for all the really useful advice, particularly about the vine being opposite the true leaves. Can I ask, if I dig out a kind of "pit" into the lawn, will I have to do one for each pumpkin plant, or should I dig out a big enough space for a pumpkin "patch" and is that a daft question?

No its not a daft question and the answer is it depands on the growing space you've got. Planting multiple plants in one pit means they are more likely to compete but if that gives them the space they need to grow out so be it. You could try back to back (so they grow away from each other). I'll be doing this on my allotment with groups of squash and pumkpins. One variety per pit but up to four plants per pit. Ideallly I'd have one pit per plant but I'm lazy and don't want to do that much digging

[Florence Fennel]

Neither do I Matt, so I'm hoping to persuade someone else to do the digging for me. How big will you dig for your squashes & pumpkins? I'm beginning to look forward to this now, thanks Matt.

[Matt.]

As big as you can. But for squashes I'm sure half a metre by half a metre per plant is fine. For pumpkins maybe bigger.

[lyndap]

I was planning on placing pumpkin plant into a large bag of multicompost and trailing it along the old frame lay down on its side of a minigreenhouse.Do you think it will work? Haven't got much growing space but little grandson wanted to grow them!

[Florence Fennel]

I was planning on placing pumpkin plant into a large bag of multicompost and trailing it along the old frame lay down on its side of a minigreenhouse.Do you think it will work? Haven't got much growing space but little grandson wanted to grow them!

I've had so much good advice from this thread I'm feeling a lot braver and I'm going to give it a go. I'm putting three in the ground in a big "patch" (which I'm hoping will be dug this weekend if it stops raining, because it's belting it down at the moment) and one in a container.

[julesapple]

No Sign Yet

Jut checked my tupperware box, no sign of germination yet, but the pumpkin seeds are swollen-ish. Do hope they work.

Jules

[Florence Fennel]

Jut checked my tupperware box, no sign of germination yet, but the pumpkin seeds are swollen-ish. Do hope they work.

Jules

I do Jules and then we can compare babies! Luckily three of the four seeds sowed germinated, so now I've only got the problem of producing three pumpkins from these plants that will be big enough to make a decent lantern! From what I've read, if I want big pumpkins, I have to reduce the number of fruits. I'm sure I'll be seeking more advice from friendly grapes on here like Matt.
Flo