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Cornucopia - Australia

growing pumpkins on a trellis

20 years ago

Is this a dumb idea? Or just not possible?

I was thinking of trying it with a smaller pumpkin like golden nuggget, as my back yard is not really big enough to accomodate a couple of full sized pumpkin vines... not if I want to grow something else as well.

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Comments (11)

greenfingers_ni
20 years ago
I think it's definitely worth a try, I've often thought about it as like you I don't have the space for sprawling things. You might need to support even the smallest of pumpkin varieties though - maybe sling them using netting or old stockings as support?

Regards,
GF
User
20 years ago
When I lived in Melbourne I had butternuts planted right at the end of the garden on the Chook Yard fence where they proceded to grow up and over all the chicken wire and settle on the Chook House Roof.

But I do remember that the pumpkins hung from the wire as well and we had a bumper crop too, thanks to the chooks, but they had something solid to grow on. So go for it and good luck I am just getting ready to plant mine now but have heaps of room for them to sit on the mulch under the trees out of the way, and at $3:98 a kg last week I will be planting lots of seeds...Cheers..MM.
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There's probably a good way to do this, but I have to admit that none of the pictures I've seen look very convincing. It seems hard to create a sling that will hold a full-size fruit and won't injure the vines. Some people use mesh bags, but you'd have to adjust it constantly as the fruit grows. Others set up platforms to support the fruit from below, but those have legs that have to be anchored in the ground near the vines, or even let the fruit drop from an overhead trellis. One approach may be to build two sturdy trellises a few feet apart, with crossbars that can be inserted to support fruits. Kind of like a jungle gym for pumpkins.
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Squash and pumpkin seeds are normally good at room temperature for about 10 years. We live in a hot climate and often refrain from running AC, for economic reasons. Yet I have germinated squash seeds as old as 15 years. At that point I see a notable drop in germination percentage. But those clearance sale pumpkin seeds are practically as good as what will cost a lot more, come next spring. As gardengal13 mentioned, if you store them in an airtight container in the freezer you can pass them on to your grandkids to grow! Here's a true story. In 1984 I was given a ripe squash by a customer at the store where I worked, It was really really good, so I saved seed, passing some on to a friend in Tulsa, OK. I grew it in 1985. In 1985 I named it Warsaw Buff Pie Pumpkin and hand pollinated for pure seed, passing on some seed to a friend of mine. I also started, probably in 1986, to distribute it through the Seed Savers Exchange. In 2004 I was going through some old correspondence and came across my Tulsa friend's address. I wrote him, asking if he still had tomato seed, of a variety I had shared with him. He responded that he did, and that he also believed he had seed of Warsaw Buff Pie Pumpkin in his deep freeze. He found it and sent me some. It was from his 1985 grow out. I planted this seed in 2006 and had nearly 100% germination! Now, growing on a Northern exposure, that might be a problem. Squash and pumpkins require a minimum of 6 hours direct sunlight. You might try checking on that before next spring. The days are shortening now. But you could get a good idea of whether or not you receive enough sunlight in that location. George Tahlequah, OK
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I just harvested my butternuts this weekend. I had 2 plants in a 2'x4' area of a raised bed. The trellis I used was two 7' fence T-posts and concrete re-mesh wire. I guess the complete trellis was 4' wide x 5 1/2' tall. The butternuts were fantastic. I did not prune them. I have to admit about August I got busy and quit training them and they took over the cantaloup that were next to them. But that should be chalked up to operator error rather than bad spacing. I guess the short end of it is that 2'x4' was really perfect for my zone 5 vertical butternuts. One thing I noticed was the squash on the trellis were more elongated than the ones that grew on the ground. I did not support any of the squash. The vines grew to accommodate the weight and held them just fine. I do the same with my cantaloup and spaghetti squash, no little hammocks. I have not grown pie pumpkins vertically.
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greenfingers_ni
20 years ago
$3.98/kg!!!!!! At that price I'd expect them to have gold seeds inside! I take back all my complaining about $1.99/kg.
paradisi
20 years ago
It does work - or at least growing them up trees and fences works. I grow queensland blue and Jap pumpkins along fences and up some of the trees in the neighbours down the back. They are a climbing vine and will take to a trellis with relish
goldhills
20 years ago
A few months ago I came across a site about growing them on a trellis. I can't remember where it was but try googling "growing plants vertically" or similar. The people had a trellis made of galvanised pipe and where the pumpkin was growing they would support it with a metal plate or something. It seemed to be a good idea but was a large construction. You could probably adapt a similar idea. I'll have a look and see if I can find the site again.
adamus
20 years ago
I saw some growing like crazy at Sarah's last year. They're really strong and even quite big ones can be put to a trellis.
It works fine.
jampolk
Original Author
20 years ago
ALRIGHTY!!
I'll be giving it a whirl right away.
I probably need better trellis stuff than that plastic green stuff.
I'll let you know how it goes.
jp
adamus
20 years ago
She(sarah) had wire on her fence. Worked a treat. We're doing cukes and melons and butternuts on trellis this year. Good luck.
ozmantis
20 years ago
The buggers will climb anything in their path. In short, go for it. Butternuts get a lot longer hanging from something rather than growing on the ground. I found this out last year, by mistake. Must be a gravity thing eh.
Got my Hercules in and up. Sarah, have you sown them yet?
Mantis
sarah_may
20 years ago
No I'm saving the hercules for next year in my new garden. I'm just putting in quick growing stuff & some tommies & chillies in pots this year :-(
As Adam said my pumpkins grow happily up & over things, I had them under my fruit trees & as well as climbing the fence they scrambled through the trees. They do get pretty rampant so growing them up a fence is a good way to save space, but yes, they do need fairly substantial support!
albinus_optusnet_com_au
18 years ago
All varieties of pumpkin will grow on a trellis - but be warned if you get a good pollination rate on the larger varieties (e.g. Queensland Blue) then you're likely to lose the trellis under the weight of the fruit! My latest Blue vine is snaking around the garden, in between the tomatoes, onions and what's left of the broccoli. Unfortunately despite hand pollination the female flowers died before opening, so only one pumpkin this time around.

The other curcubits I have (choko and squash) seem to be doing just fine!

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