help with growing pumpkins

[jordanno]

hi
im growing a pumpkin plant at the moment in a grow bag seeing as my parents wont let me have my own little patch so far its doing fine with a long stem and big leaves but its satrting to try and fruit but it wont seem to get to a large pumpkin when the flowers fertilised the old flower falls off and the yellow globeish thing just either rotts or gets eaten by slugs ill have a go at posting some pictures of it soon.
can someone help please? should i try a different varitey next year ?

[wetlands_wedge]

Originally Posted by jordanno

hi
im growing a pumpkin plant at the moment in a grow bag seeing as my parents wont let me have my own little patch so far its doing fine with a long stem and big leaves but its satrting to try and fruit but it wont seem to get to a large pumpkin when the flowers fertilised the old flower falls off and the yellow globeish thing just either rotts or gets eaten by slugs ill have a go at posting some pictures of it soon.
can someone help please? should i try a different varitey next year ?

Hiya Jordanno!
Are you feeding the pumpkin ........ they are very greedy! They also need regular watering, never letting the compost dry out entirely!
Good luck!

[jordanno]

no im not giving it fertiliser how ofen should i water it with fertilizer?
oh and the compost is always moist

[jordanno]

also is it too late to try again?

[wetlands_wedge]

Originally Posted by jordanno

no im not giving it fertiliser how ofen should i water it with fertilizer?
oh and the compost is always moist

Hiya jordanno!
Sorry that I took so long to answer you!
Yes you can feed when you water! Any proprietry feed should do. Glad to see that you keep the compost moist but make sure that it is not 'wet'!
I am afraid that it is a little too late to start again now but, for next year, grow it in the bucket that you are using for your carrots! (I read your other thead!) You can grow round or stump rooted varieties of carrot in your growbag! (Radishes between as a 'catch' crop!)
Mix some slow release fertiliser (like 'Growmore') in you soil for the Pumpkin and it will provide goodness as and when needed. The feed in your watering can provides an instant boost!
Have you got reasonable air flow around your plant? This will help keep fungus and mould spores from troubling it.
Hope that this helps,
WW

[jordanno]

thanks ill start giving it fertilizer also next year when i use the bucket do you suppose i could put some short rootted varites in with the pumpkin plant?
and the plant doesnt have any ventalation really it just sits there by the compost bin.i suppose theres not much hope left ill buy new seeds next year and start again

[wetlands_wedge]

Originally Posted by jordanno

thanks ill start giving it fertilizer also next year when i use the bucket do you suppose i could put some short rootted varites in with the pumpkin plant?
and the plant doesnt have any ventalation really it just sits there by the compost bin.i suppose theres not much hope left ill buy new seeds next year and start again

Hiya jordanno!
I wouldn't bother with root veg in with the pumpkin. The numbers would be too small to start with! Shame about the position .... ON TOP of the compost heap would have been perfect!
If you are going to use a growbag next year for plants, try growing a variety of salad stuff in it! One tomato plant. Lettuce, start one or two every week in yoghurt pots and transplant one into the bag when big enough to handle! Some Spring Onions and Radishes could be planted as well. The Spring Onions can be planted as one group at the same time, Radishes in small numbers regularly.
Most packets of seeds have far too many seeds in for this sort of culture so maybe you could get together with some freinds and share packets? You could have competitions for what you grow as well!
You never know, if you show your parents that you are keen and get results, they might let you have a small patch of your own!
Good luck and let us know how you get on!
All the very best,
WW

[Jensg]

We have grown a pumpkin plant this year, Jordanno said about his pumpkins rotting or getting eaten by slugs, we had the same problem to begin with. But now the plant has established itself properly, it has grown 3 rather large rather long vines, all spreading out in different directions (its taking over the garden!) and each vine has now got a pumpkin on it, that are growing very rapidly. I've not been feeding the plant at all, just watering it. So maybe there is still hope for your plant Jordanno. My only question is 'do I need to place the pumpkins on anything while they are growing and ripening or are they quite alright to sit on the grass while they do what they got to do?? We also grew courgette plants - 8 of them, think next year 2-3 plants will do, we have been eating them daily for weeks now! Very easy to grow though. It is our first year of veg growing and its very satisfying to see and eat. Loving it!

[Garden Carpet]

I put some straw under my pumpkins last year... i cant tell if it worked in keeping slugs at bay as i didnt have any to speak of.. the straw helped to stop the pumkin bruising from sitting on the hard path.. and helped air it.

Copper is good for keeping slugs at bay.. perhaps you could get some copper wire and make a wreath to go around your growing pumpkin... make it larger than the fruit... Good luck with them next year
jaki

[Keefie]

I have had the same problem as Jordanno. For weeks, the excitement of what appeared to be pumpkins starting to grow were dashed as time and time again the fledgeling pumpkins rotted or just dropped off. I would say the losses were into double figures. Frustratingly, I sought some advice on this and was told that the problem was either the exceptionally wet weather we were experiencing or the flowers were not getting pollenated. I have subsequently hand pollenated the flowers and now have three pumpkins. Better then none I guess!