How to Grow Pumpkins

This popular Pumpkin has richly coloured orange flesh with a nutty flavour and small seed cavity. A hardy and reliable variety with a heavy crop of one to two kg size fruit. 

A bush-type Pumpkin that's ideal to grow in a limited space. It's a compact variety that produces a good crop of mini Pumpkins with orange sized flavoursome fruit. 

A medium-sized Pumpkin with a uniform shape and easy-to-cut thin skin. It has smooth, solid orange flesh that is exceptionally sweet. It also stores well. 

A traditional favourite with blue-grey ribbed skin and sweet, dry rich orange flesh. It's a firm and reliable variety with excellent storage qualities.

Choose a sunny spot for your Pumpkin patch that receives at least six hours of sunshine a day, with well-drained soil. Large varieties of Pumpkins will need at least one square metre of space to give the vines room to spread.

Prior to planting, improve the soil with Yates Dynamic Lifter Soil Improver & Plant Fertiliser. It's a rich source of organic matter to help improve soil structure and water holding capacity, as well as attract earthworms and beneficial soil microorganisms.

Form small mounds of soil, spaced 1 m apart. Sow 3-4 Pumpkin seeds into each mound and water well. It will take 6-10 days for seedlings to emerge. Later, thin to the two strongest plants. Seed packets provide helpful information about sowing. 

If you'd prefer to grow your own Pumpkin seedlings that you later transplant into the garden, fill small pots or punnets with Yates Specialty Potting Mix Cuttings & Seeds and sow seeds 2 cm deep. Place the pot or punnet in a warm sunny spot and keep the mix slightly moist. Once the seedlings are large enough to handle, gently remove and dig holes in the soil big enough to accommodate all the roots. Plant the seedlings so the roots are covered but not the stem. The final level of soil around the seedlings should be at the same depth as it was in their punnet or pot. Water in well.

Snails and slugs are one of the biggest dangers to young Pumpkin seedlings, particularly during damp weather. You can protect seedlings with a light sprinkling of Yates Snail & Slug Bait.

Keep the soil moist as the plants establish. Applying an organic mulch, such as sugarcane or pea straw, around the root zone will help keep the soil and roots moist. When Pumpkin fruit develops, mulch also helps keep them from touching the soil, helping to reduce the chances of rot. 

Vining varieties of Pumpkins can be grown vertically, using a strong arch or support. Young seedlings may need help to find and start growing up the support but will gradually climb themselves. 

Keep the soil moist, particularly in hot or windy weather. Water plants around the root zone rather than over the leaves. This helps to reduce the chance of fungal diseases like powdery mildew developing.  

Your Pumpkin plants will be hungry and need feeding to make sure they have enough nutrients to promote lots of healthy leaves and get them prepared for flowering and developing fruit.

Feed Pumpkins every six to eight weeks with Yates Thrive Natural Vegie & Herb Organic Based Pelletised Plant Food. Sprinkle the pellets around the root zone and water in well. 

The ends of long rambling stems can be pinched off (pruned) to help keep the plant more compact. 

Pumpkins are ready to harvest when the vine dies off and the stalk is hard and brown. The fruit should sound hollow when tapped and the skin should be hard. Pick Pumpkins by cutting them off the plant with secateurs, leaving a few centimetres of stem. 

Harvested Pumpkins should be kept in a sunny, dry and airy place for 10-14 days. This curing process helps promote a longer storage life. After curing, move the fruit into a dry, cool preferably dark place. Pumpkins with undamaged skin that are cured and stored correctly can last for many months. 

In warm climates Pumpkins can be grown year-round. In temperate and cool climates, Pumpkins should be sown or planted in spring to early summer, after the danger of frost has passed. 

The best fertiliser for Pumpkins contains a balanced blend of nutrients to promote healthy green leaf and stem growth, as well as lots of flowers and fruit. Yates Thrive Natural Vegie & Herb Organic Based Pelletised Plant Food is ideal for feeding Pumpkins, simply apply the pellets around the root zone every 6-8 weeks. 

Pumpkin plants have both male and female flowers on the one plant, so you only need one plant to produce fruit.

Like most fruiting plants, Pumpkin flowers require pollination to help fruit set. Bees help with this, so it's important to encourage them to your garden by planting a variety of flowering plants, including Salvias and Lavender.

Pumpkin flowers can also be hand pollinated. Using a soft small paintbrush, gently wipe around the inside of a male flower (on a fairly thin erect stem) to collect pollen and then wipe the brush around the inside of a female flower (flowers on the end of a small swollen base). Do this multiple times, between lots of flowers. It's best to try hand pollinating in the morning when the flowers are open.

Pumpkin vines will grow horizontally if there is nothing to climb, but will happily grow vertically if given a strong support, such as an archway or trellis. Bear in mind that Pumpkin fruit can become large and heavy, so the structure will need to be sturdy enough to support the weight of the plant and all the fruit. Additional support can be given to support individual large fruit with makeshift slings or nets.  

Larger varieties of Pumpkins take 14-16 weeks from sowing until the fruit is mature. Smaller varieties like Golden Nugget take around 12-14 weeks.  

Pumpkin fruit that's in direct contact with the soil, particularly during damp or wet conditions, can be at risk of rotting. Mulch such as sugarcane or pea straw can help keep the fruit off the soil. 

Pumpkins are ready to harvest when the vine dies off and the stalk is hard and brown. The fruit should sound hollow when tapped and the skin should be hard. Pick Pumpkins by cutting them off the plant with secateurs, leaving a few centimetres of stem.

Harvested Pumpkins should be kept in a sunny, dry and airy place for 10-14 days. This curing process helps promote a longer storage life. After curing, move the fruit into a dry, cool preferably dark place. Pumpkins with undamaged skin that are cured and stored correctly can last for many months.

Poor fruit set can be caused by heat and/or water stress, particularly when plants are young. Ensure plants are well-watered, especially in hot and dry conditions. Applying mulch around the root zone helps keep the soil and roots moist.

Pollination is also important for fruit set. Hand pollination, using the technique above, can help improve fruiting.

Small Pumpkin fruit starting to yellow and wither can be a sign that the female flower wasn't pollinated. Try the hand pollination technique outlined above.

Splitting of Pumpkins can be caused by irregular or excess watering during late fruit development. Try slowly reducing the amount of water you apply as the fruit are maturing.

Avoid planting pumpkins in the same spot for up to two years – this includes other members of the cucurbit family (zucchini, cucumbers, melons and squash). This helps decrease the risk of soil-borne diseases.

If the plant looks generally healthy and the white markings can't be rubbed off the leaves, it's likely that the leaf markings are a natural variegation. 

A disease that commonly affects Pumpkin plants is Powdery Mildew, which appears as white spots on leaves. Infection often increases as the leaves age and if the weather is damp or humid. Large Powdery Mildew infections cause leaves to yellow and die prematurely.

Help reduce Powdery Mildew by watering plants around the base, rather than over the leaves, and control Powdery Mildew by spraying the plants every 7-10 days with Yates Mancozeb Plus Garden Fungicide & Miticide.

There are few reasons why a Pumpkin is not fruiting, or fruiting poorly, such as insufficient light, lack of fertiliser or incorrect fertiliser, incorrect soil pH, sap-sucking pests, lack of pollinators or the plant is too young.

To help your Pumpkins fruit properly, make sure they are getting enough sunlight (a minimum of six hours of direct sunshine a day), you are using a balanced fertiliser that's suitable for feeding vegetables, check the soil pH, check for signs and symptoms of pests, plant blue flowering plants nearby to help encourage bees, and if the plants are still young wait a little longer.

Pumpkins produce male flowers when young and later female flowers as they mature. Once there are male and female flowers on the plant at the same time, the fruit should start to appear.

Pumpkins are prone to a few common insect pests, including 28 Spotted Ladybirds.

The 28 Spotted Ladybird chews through and damages leaves. Pick these Ladybirds off by hand.