Growing Pumpkin

Cucurbita sp. : Cucurbitaceae / the gourd family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
    S S                
        T              
        P              

(Best months for growing Pumpkin in USA - Zone 5a regions)

  • S = Plant undercover in seed trays
  • T = Plant out (transplant) seedlings
  • P = Sow seed
  • Easy to grow. Sow in garden. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed. Best planted at soil temperatures between 68°F and 90°F. (Show °C/cm)
  • Space plants: 35 - 47 inches apart
  • Harvest in 15-20 weeks.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Sweet Corn
  • Avoid growing close to: Potatoes

Your comments and tips

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29 Oct 14, Cheryl (Australia - temperate climate)
My mother has had diificlty getting her pumpkins to produce female flowers. She gets lots of leaves and male flowers, but no female. Any idea why, and what she can do to get pumpkins this year?
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08 Aug 14, Richard (South Africa - Summer rainfall climate)
A question can you grow pumpkin on the same soil again
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02 Aug 14, Laurie Thompson (Australia - temperate climate)
Have there been any memos on the Windsor Black Pumpkin lately . Laurie
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29 Jul 14, Garry (Australia - temperate climate)
Hey Pete, Reckon someones pulling your leg. Pumpkins produce male and female flowers on the same vine, but only the female flowers produce fruit.
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15 Nov 14, Hank (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi Pete, I am aware of that but don't you have to manually pollinate them and if so, what is the best way?
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27 Jul 14, Pete (Australia - temperate climate)
I am told by a number of people around my area that I should only plant seed from a 'female' pumpkin. I understand each plant has both male and female flowers needed to produce fruit. Am I being fed a myth? All my efforts to find out the facts lead nowhere. Question-- can you sex a pumpkin?
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02 Aug 14, Roz (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Hi Pete, Garry is totally correct. The same plant produce both male and femail flowers.
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16 Aug 14, Sally (Australia - temperate climate)
Female pumpkins have a large circle formation an the base (finger tip and thumb tip to make a circle size) and the males have a small circle( 20 cent coin size)
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06 Oct 14, Karen (Australia - temperate climate)
All fruit is sort of "female". Like all species only the female produces offspring. So you can't get a male or female fruit for that matter. Male flower, yes, but not male fruit. It's the female flower that develops into a fruit after pollination by a male. As Gary said, someone was pulling your leg.
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22 Jun 14, Lorraine (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
My pumpkin plants are not dead they are sending out new strong branches with flower buds. Will I leave them in for next summer? Will they fruit next summer?.
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Showing 551 - 560 of 834 comments
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Geraldine, each pumpkin plant should produce both male and female flowers. The earliest flowers that emerge will be male and all up there will be more of them produced in total than female. You may or may not have to encourage pollination. If you have bees hanging around they'll do it for you. Consider making your vegie patch more enticing to bees by companion planting some bright flowers (like calendula, nasturtiums, french marigolds, sunflowers, etc) to attract them. Anyway, the way to tell the difference between male and female flowers (in case you didn't already know) is that female flowers will generally have a bulbous base near the stalk, below the flower. Also, since they take up a lot of room, have you considered training the pumpkin vine along a fence or up the side of a garden shed? A workmate of mine had them fruiting up on his shed roof last summer.

- Jaci

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