Pumpkin problems? This is what you’re probably doing wrong
You’ve been waiting all year long to carve out the pumpkins you’ve been growing to celebrate Halloween, but if they’ve ended up small, distorted or ravaged by disease, you may wonder where you’ve gone wrong.
So, what are the main problems that gardeners might face when growing pumpkins?
“Pumpkins are really quite hungry and quite thirsty, so soil preparation before planting out is really important,” says expert Pippa Greenwood, a regular on BBC Gardeners’ Question Time.
“Add lots of bulky organic matter, some well- rotted manure, even a bit of fertiliser in spring. If the soil isn’t well prepared, you’re likely to get smaller fruits.”
Alison Mundie, team leader for the kitchen garden at RHS Garden Harlow Carr, adds that many problems happen when you first plant your young plants into the garden, after growing them from seed indoors, when either frost or slugs can devastate the tender plants.
“They don’t tolerate any frost, so it’s a danger point if you don’t put them out at the right time,” Mundie explains.
Here, the two experts offer advice on the pitfalls of growing pumpkins, and how to address them. Pumpkins need a lot of space to thrive, and overcrowding them can be the catalyst for failure, Greenwood notes. She recommends spacing each plant 6ft apart.
“They are related to courgettes and marrows but they are the more tender, fragile, pernickety cousins.
Ideally place them somewhere a bit sheltered in full sun,” she says.
Pumpkins like quite a bit of moisture, says Greenwood. The main rule is to ensure the plant’s root is just moist, but not wet.
One of the main things to look out for is powdery mildew which looks like a fine white dusting on the surface of the leaves, which becomes whiter and denser as it attacks the leaves, which will wither and die.
“It thrives in damp air when the soil is dry,” Greenwood explains.
She recommends gardeners water at the base of the plant, underneath the leaves, so you don’t wet the foliage. Dry roots also encourage the problem, so be sure to keep the roots moist.
“If I catch it early, I take the scissors and cut off the worst bit, or remove the whole leaf, which will hopefully stop the infection spreading.”
Lift them on to some roof tiles if damp weather is a problem, Mundie recommends.
Some gardeners use a bed of straw, but this is more likely to harbour moisture and slugs, Greenwood warns, and they can be a big problem, chomping on young plants and fruits.