hello Gardener Scott I am growing 2 pumpkins but 1 of my pumpkin vines got whacked by a weed whacker from my yard people , how do i get the vine to regrow the root so it will help the vine grow flowers for the pumpkin not the main stem the main stem is fine, will i be able to save my pumpkin ?
You will get more pumpkins if you do some pruning you don’t have to do drastic pruning Just remove a few vine tips excess of vines will not give you more pumpkins
We eat the young pumpkins like you would a summer squash when we need to prune them, or if one gets accidentally knocked off before it’s mature. They are tender and delicious like a zucchini or patty pan. 😊
I"ve never thought of pruning pumpkins, thanks for this advice - very useful. Last summer (i'm in the southern hemisphere) I grew my butternut pumpkins up a trellis - I was late planting them, and with a very dry summer the fruit weren't big, and when picked (the stems had dried and it was moving towards winter) the one I cut open was still somewhat unripe, not very sweet and pale. Couldn't bring myself to compost them, so stored them inside. Finally cut open another to make pumpkin soup and it was the sweetest most delicious pumpkin - a lesson for me.
I just planted my Small Sugar Pumpkins today and am going to train them up a teepee trellis made of bamboo. Were in hot Northern CA so we have a long growing season. Hopefully I'll get some ripe pumpkins before Decemeber 15th which is our first frost date. :)
Tamara I hope you get a good harvest. I love making homemade pumpkin pies and have a video on it: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-C8xMVSSdT-4.html
What an interesting idea! I've battled pumpkins with vines creeping across the lawn and I'll admit that the pumpkin usually wins... It's just never occurred to me to prune it back. This year I never got my veggies going, but I had 2 pumpkin plants volunteer in my heugelkulture bed! That was a happy surprise! And I managed to build a strong trellis for them to grow on just in time to start training them.
This year is amazing. I have 25 mounds and fifty plants. They are growing like weeds with lot of pumpkin. It scary how many I may get and very large. With that said I think I’m going to choose maybe 25 pumpkin and cut rest.
6 weeks away from frost... I’m probably closer. Where did summer go? Thanks for all this information. Very helpful. I don’t have pumpkins in my garden yet but someday I hope I will. I do want to grow better fruits and pruning would help.
Pumpkin leaves are uses as vegetables similar to lettuce where I live, so when growing pumpkins two patches are mostly needed. One for the pumpkin and another for the pumpkin leaves an you need to take the tender leaves. They are thinly sliced then either stir fry them with onions or cook them with a bit of coconut milk/cream.
You don’t have to waste or composite blossoms or premature fruit. You can gather other edibles, rinse gently and slice in half lengthwise. Also, slice premature fruit and stir-fry in a hot skillet. Season with your favourite seasonings and enjoy! They fall into the gourmet category. Absolutely delicious! The pollen that remains in the blossom is amazingly! After all, it keeps the tiny powerhouse worker alive! The reason to slice the blossom in half, is to check inside it and to fit more comfortably in your mouth. 😊
An elderly lady friend was telling me they batter and fry the flower blossoms. In fact they grow pumpkins specifically for the blooms and never let pumpkins grow. ✌️💕 Update: so I Googled frying blossoms and come to find out there are all kinds of yummy recipes to use the blossoms.🤷♀️
@@Tweetheart67 Hey, that’s cool, about the pumpkin blossoms. Also, do they cut them in half to check for bees, or just peek and leave whole? Please forgive my typos, in the comment previously. I get speeding along and not watching my spell checker…it has a bad habit of inserting words for me! It gets a lot of people into trouble, (and can surely make us look pretty uneducated. 😏😂.
@@elizabethwatt8131 good question. I just know that they grow them and eat them that's all. I never got into the particulars with her. Don't worry about your spelling I use speech to text and I have vision problems so I don't always catch the errors. I don't trip if other people freak, I don't care, their problem not mine. I'm not here trying to impress anyone, the people that go around correcting everybody are the poor fools without a life and have serious issues about what is important in the grand scheme of life and what is not. Their stupidity is amusing✌️💕
@@Tweetheart67 grow pumpkin s for the flowers, when I make stuff peppers I stuff the flowers too, is a summer dish from the old country that my mother use to do also I make a frittata , the flower is also healthy ❤
Hello. New to Pumpkin Growing here and I have a question for you: If you have one pumpkin on a vine, and it's too late in the season for any other ones to grow and mature in time, is there anything wrong with cutting the vine just past where the pumpkin is (as opposed to cutting further down the vine)?
When I pruned mine, I pruned it past where it last rooted, which was about 2-3' further out. The reason is in case a vine borer gets the main stem, it's still got a root. Turns out I didn't have any vine borer damage this season... but I encourage rooting along the vine to keep it alive, in the event that happens.
Excellent video! I really appreciate it, I am always scared to prune but I know its needed. Thank you for actually showing us what we should be doing it was very helpful.
MG Scott, thank you very much for this video, which as always is very helpful. I am growing a different type of south Asian pumpkin but no doubt the same principles apply.
This was really helpful. Thank you! With the fires here in Northern CA we have a big cool down.....so.....I got to plant for my Fall Garden (which wearing respirator mask for the smoke!). I planted a pumpkin to go up huge 14 foot bamboo trellis I made :D First time gardening is so fun! Thank you again for your great things you teach!
I pruned my pumpkin vines in July/August after 3 good sized pie pumpkins emerged and looked like they will mature. The primary vine had 3 long vines running off it through my corn patch. I had already removed tertiary vines. I pruned the 3 vines past where they had rooted... The pumpkins are large for their type and ready to pick. Anyway, now all of a sudden I have more blooms every section and more pumpkins growing before I knew they were there. I'm leaving the blooms for the bees 🐝.
Thank you for your video. You make it look easy. I'm attempting pumpkins this year, I'm in the north-west Uk. My late mum was a keen gardener. I thought pumpkins would be good to cover the veg patch and I can give the fruits away to neighbours etc. Some of the people I support with my work will appreciate them too. I think my next step is to put the young plants into individual pots and harden off before I plant them out.
Mine are growing on spindly tree branches since I didn't plant pumpkins for years and I assumed the volunteers were acorn squash from last year. Oddly enough the vines are supporting the pumpkins hanging down, even the one approaching basketball-size. It's a waste of space but it's fun to watch.
Very good information as per usual. Thank you. I also like to prune to increase pollination earlier in the season. Because pollinators are attracted to color it's best to prune up to 1/3 of the leaves strategically to expose the blossom. You should just for kicks tell everyone how to prune a pumpkin to encourage extra large fruit (bragging rights pruning) lol
In nepal we use to cook the pumpking side growing branches but keep its growing small part for further. Its taste good if u want to know you can visit nepali videos of pumpking leaf curry.
Thank you I like how you explained things in your video thank you for helping a new Gardner like me .. I made a oopsie and planted roughly … 16 pumpkin vines and they are all thriving now I have some confidence I will have a handle on these babys 🤣
A lot of good advice (except throwing away the flowers apparantely). Thanks for sharing. Must admit that right now I'm fixated so all I see is a lot of green manure. Cheers
You are right, the vine will keep growing. I had one vine that went about 10 feet from the bed it was growing in all the way into another section of the garden.
Great video, it has been very useful to me. I have a question, if a pumpkin is growing on the main vine, would it be okay to prune all the secondary vines to focus only on the growth of that pumpkin or would it be a mistake?
Thanks. It's usually good to prune off other pumpkins on a vine to direct energy to one fruit, but the secondary vines are still generating energy for the plant. You'll want to keep some of them.
Last year was my first attempt at pumpkin growing. I had lots of vines and blossoms nut no pumpkins. I am going to try again this year and was wonder if anything I could try? this video was great.
Thanks. Check your fertilization. Too much nitrogen can hinder fruit development. Also, excessive heat can prevent pollination so if you're regularly seeing very hot days when they flower you might consider shading the plant to get fruit to set.
@@GardenerScott Thanks. That is it then. I cleaned out a sheep barn and planted directly into it. The sheep bedding placed over logs hugleculture style. The nitrogen had to be off charts. The vines and blossoms did well. Thanks and i make changes.
Thank you gardener Scott, as a beginner this is really helpful. I have a few yellow crispy leaves forming and I wasn't sure what to do. I could have watched you trim the whole patch for sure! 😊
I see that some of your pumpkin plant leaves have been slightly damaged. Mine were ravaged, by pests and powdery mildew. My watermelon plants' leaves would yellow, but then recover and I didn't lose any plants. It would appear that watermelons are easier to grow than pumpkins, here at least. Neither were pruned. I plan to give your pruning tips a try with next year's melons and pumpkins.
Thank you - this is very helpful - I've been growing pumpkins for years and years, but have avoided trimming. This year I will use your tips and be more proactive with my vines. This is the first year I have grown pumpkins from last years seeds. So far so good.
I have a compost corner on the property...the grass in that section looks like its on steroids...i was busy...two weeks...ignored the yard..when i checked....one huge pumpkin vine.I was scared....watched this video....now confident to go and trim it....thanks
Thanks so much! Your advice is thorough and easy to follow. I wanted to know how to increase the size of the fruit, as there is plenty already! This is great!
I am trying to grow a pumpkin. I have 4 plants growing in a raised bed. I have trained the main vines all down the length of the bed. One grew out of the bed approx. 3 feet. My husband weed eated 2 feet of it. I have no blooms yet. Do you think it can bloom and possibly grow a pumpkin on the 7 feet of vine still in the bed?
I tried planting pumpkins this year. Probably wont try again. This plant has taken over the entire garden and drowned all other plants in its path. Its too much for me.
Thanks for your help. I've been growing pumpkins for 10 years and this is the first year I have been doing more than just letting them grow all over. I'm experimenting with mulch and pruning. Do you use any mulch around your pumpkins?
Thanks for the information. I have a massive amount of pumpkin plants courgettes and watermelon and honey melon growing this year. I upped production as last year my courgettes were rotting on the vine going yellow and mouldy. My neighbor had the same problem. This year I have at least 10 plants to offset the failed ones. So far only a few have turned mouldy and a few pumpkins brown and looking bad like one in your video. Not sure what's causing it. I made the decision to buy a large poly tunnel greenhouse and I'm in France where we can grow tomatoes outside as it's so warm. Best decision ever as this summer has been the worse. So cold and many thunderstorms and rain. Two years ago we all lost our tomatoes as in may it rained every day. As soon as we get the sunshine and it hits 32c along come the government making grid pattern lines in the sky and then it's cold and wet and thunder for weeks afterwards. Makes me so mad what's happening..
To avoid stressing myself too much by overthinking this, I am going to simply ask. What is the rule of thumb regarding pruning to be sure I don't OVER prune and take off too much of the foliage?
Generally, vines should be cut when they are 10 feet long. Plants can easily support three or four pumpkins, but if the vines are shorter or you feel like you've over pruned you should cut off some of the fruit too.
Do you recommend the same pruning method for watermelon? I have three growing successfully (first fruits forming, first frost end of November) and they're all sending vines out from earlier vines. I'd like to focus the energy on the fruits I can see rather than the ones yet to appear.
Thanks for the great information. I'm new to this and had heard about pruning. Unfortunately I cut back leaves. But, I'm excited to see that my pumpkins are around the same size and development as yours. I'm in Evergreen, CO at 7600 feet. Is tenting my tall raised beds with plastic sheeting a good idea for all veggies, including the pumpkin and zucchini?
This time of year, having plastic over the beds can be good for all veggies for overnight lows. Be ready to remove it during the day so the plants don't get too hot.
So it’s July 30th, I’m growing big Max’s, I have roughly 5-6 that’s are the 2x’s the size of a basket ball, and maybe 5 others that are the size of a baseball or smaller. I have various vines should I start pruning now. Also I’m in the Ohio valley area and rain is scares this year.
PLEASE HELP: I've been trying to study this pruning thing all over the internet for a month and maybe it's the same website but I keep hearing not to cut any vines less than about 12' from where it's planted nor less than 12' past the last pumpkin which means I can only cut back about an inch and keep 26' of vine.. it also said to leave all the secondary vines which I don't want at all let alone 12' of (I only want to grow 2 big moon pumpkins because I want them to be very large). Lastly they keep saying after you snip a vine to bury it to avoid disease and bugs so I'm more confused (they also said to bury all the places where the vine is rooting into the ground).
It doesn't need to be that confusing. You don't need to do a big pruning when you're just starting. You can cut vines less than 12'. You can cut secondary vines. You don't have to bury anything. You decide how little or how much to do.
This video helps alot! Good info. One question tho.. I live in a higher elevation, so of course shorter growing season. My. Plant has 1 pumpkin on it and its about 6ft long overall. Its just starting some secondary vines. Should I cut off the first pumpkin that appears? Or let it be the one to stay?
I have a short season too and the first pumpkin is often the only one that ripens before the first frost in fall. Depending on when other flowers and fruit appear, it is the later ones to prune off so the early ones can benefit from more plant energy.
I know this is an older video, but I live in NorthEast Ohio and I grew pumpkins for the first time. I had no clue they would take over the way they did! I have a total of 4 pumpkins growing off of 2 vines. The rest of it just seems to be just leaves and male flowers. Should I trim all of them back?
Huh. We had accidental pumpkins growing one year. Seeded from rodents that ate our halloween pumpkins the previous season. We let a couple grow, knew nothing about controlling them or keeping them nice, never pruned, just let them do their thing. We had 12 REALLY nice pumpkins, good big ones I had troubles carrying. Then a few smaller ones that were perfect for just setting around the bigger ones for a display. They were absolutely gorgeous. I think if you only have one pumpkin growing on a single vine, your seed's genetics might be weak. Good genetic lines are important for a healthy yield too.
Great video, very helpful! I'm going to try growing some smaller varieties up trellis but having second thoughts because i learned they grow roots along the vine a bit, to help feed the plant. Do you think its ok?
Thanks! It's ok to grow pumpkins on a trellis. They can grow roots along the vine when the vine is buried, but that isn't necessary for good growth on a trellis.
It depends on the variety and how big you let them grow, but I usually get two or three. If there are still ripening pumpkins after a first harvest, go ahead and leave vines in place to supply energy to the young fruit.
