My first time ever growing mini pumpkins, need advice? photos

12 years ago

This is my first time growing miniature pumpkins, or any pumpkins for that matter.

My husband and I inherited a garden in the Spring and we are completely new at this whole gardening bit. I thought that I should start off with something small and easy and I chose "Jack Be Little" miniature pumpkins.

I directly sowed the seeds into the soil in April. I only planted one plant because I did not know how much room it would need.

Now the plant has plenty of leaves and flowers. I think I also have some pumpkins beginning to grow, but I am unsure?

Does the plant look healthy? Should I put a piece of wood or something under the baby pumpkins to stop them from touching the damp soil? Is it too late in July to sow one more plant before Halloween (zone 6 Europe)? Are there any other tips that you can give a newbie like me?

Thanks!

The whole plant:

What I think is a baby pumpkin:

Flowers on the plant:

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Comments (5)

terrybull
12 years ago
that is a female in your second photo and a bunch of males in the third waiting for her. watering regularly. you can put a pile of sand under the pumpkin to keep it dry. i dont think you have time to start any more but you will get more on that plant. it looks healthy and watch on the ends of the secondary vines to see more babys. are you going to hand pollinate or let mother nature do it?
weirdtrev
12 years ago
You chose a great plant to start with. It looks really healthy and they have the potential to be very productive. I have a hill of Jack-be-littles (3 plants) and so far I have counted 26 small pumpkins on the plants. You can use some of that loose soil to cover the vines. Given the right conditions at the base of each leaf secondary roots can grow. Covering the vines with soil helps with this. Just put maybe an inch of soil on top of the vine, don't worry about covering flower buds the'll poke through, just don't bury the female flowers. This of course isn't necessary but it helps the plant be more productive if you have the time to spare.

I also agree that you likely don't have time to start more ... however if you have the space and nothing else planned for it I think you should give it a try! I've planted late before and I've gotten diminative plants that still produce a single fruit.
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After pollination it takes 50 to 90 days for a pumpkin to mature. Whatever you do, don't cut leaves or the vine. It needs all the photosynthesis it can get. By the looks of the photo, I suspect your plant may be challenged to get enough direct sunlight. Yet it looks healthy and green, which says that it has received enough, up to this point. The only thing I can think of, to help it mature would be to somehow cover the plant with a clear plastic covered frame, later in the season, when nights begin to cool. Warmth speeds maturity. However: 1) You do not want to damage the vine, 2) You do not want to reduce its light and 3) building and placing such a structure would be both rather complicated and risky, in terms of potential damage to the vine. So, I would recommend that you just leave it be. You will know for sure, that the pollination took, when the little fruit grows. Within two or three days it should be twice as large as when you did the pollination. George Tahlequah, OK
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Lorelei80
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks for the advice and comments! :)
I only get to visit my garden on the weekends, therefore I have to rely on nature to take good care of everything during the week. Fortunately we seemed to get enough rain so far, no droughts, etc.
I was pleasantly surprised to find at least 6 baby pumpkins and more female flowers on the vine today! I put some sand under them and they look really nice and healthy.
I'm also very lucky to not have to hand pollinate anything in my garden as there are two bee keepers in the neighborhood with multiple hives. We get PLENTY of bees and other insects visiting.
I did sow a a few more pumpkin seeds. I had them laying around and I figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. If I'm too late, then it is not such a big deal.
If I get a good harvest, then I will post more photos! Thanks again!
sitting_boy
12 years ago
In the bottom right corner of the first picture is that a potato plant? I beleive I did hear that you should not plant potatoes near pumpkins. I don't know for sure, or if the roots of eachother don't reach eachother, but maybe next year you should plant pumpkins somewhere else in the garden. I myself planted a pumpkin plant once next to a potatoe and it did terribly, but I was only 10 years old, so maybe that's why.
Sunnabunna
9 years ago
This is my first year as well growing pumpkins. Out of 5 plants, I have two growing pumpkins. I've just encouraged support roots to grow this week, hoping it would help the plant. I have a lot of female flowers that are near blooming like the picture I've attached, but they usually die off before the flower opens. This female has looked about the same size and with the petal portion looking the same for about a week. Looking at time lapsed pumpkin growth videos, it seems like this stage should only last a day (or so) and a week seems like a long time. I'm worried the unpollinated fruit with die off before the petals open so the many bees in my garden can pollinate it (and I'll attempt hand pollination as well just in case). Why aren't the female flowers opening up? I check them every morning around 6:30 am.

(BTW I've had some ants in the patch so that brown bit in the picture is cinnamon to dissuade them).

My first time ever growing mini pumpkins, need advice? photos

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terrybull

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My first time ever growing mini pumpkins, need advice? *photos*

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My first time ever growing mini pumpkins, need advice? photos

Lorelei80
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