How to Grow Pumpkins

Feed Pumpkins every six to eight weeks with Yates Thrive Natural Vegie & Herb Organic Based Pelletised Plant Food.

Like most fruiting plants, pumpkins 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.

Hand pollination can be used to help improve fruit set. To hand pollinate, pick male flowers (sitting above a fairly thin erect stem), remove petals and gently brush over the centre of the female flowers (flowers sitting above a tiny swollen base). Do this early in the morning as the short-lived flowers can close by mid-morning.

You can harvest Pumpkins once the vine dies and the fruit stalk is dry and brittle.

After harvesting, if you don’t plan on using your pumpkin straight away, let it sit in the sun for about a week and then store it in a cool, dry and dark place. This can keep for 10 months or longer (provided the skin is unbroken). 

Don’t plant 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.

Poor fruit set can also be caused by heat and/or water stress, particularly when young. Ensure plants are well-watered, especially in hot and dry conditions. 

If the plant looks generally healthy and the white 'stuff' can be rubbed off, it could be a natural variegation of the leaf, or a leaf virus. 

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

To help your Pumpkins fruit properly, make sure they are getting enough sunlight, you are using a high potassium fertiliser, 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 after then.

Splitting of Pumpkins can be caused by irregular or excess watering during late fruit development. Try slowly reducing the amount of water you give to the plant.