Pumpkins?

[wishiwere]

Okay then! Let me start by stating that I don't think I've ever tried to grow pumpkins before, but once tried watermelons. They were not that good
So, mother started GIANT pumpkins this year and had several too many sprout, so shared her goodness with my brother and I. I had also 'thought' I picked up a small type watermelon plant and got home to find it's the FULL size ones Oh well...we'll see how it goes.

PROBLEM is this..... I forgot they cross breed and planted them all together in one part of the garden and who knows what could have happened when the bees were out there and I wans't! So.............. IS this what pumpkins look like as they are growing? I'm clueless here in the patch of waterkins, or pumpmelons, or are they really going to be pumpkins? There is ONE lone watermelon also, but that LOOKS correct to me!

[Chris_W]

Hi Jane,

When cross pollination occurs it only affects the seeds of a plant and does nothing to the fruit. So if you plant giant pumpkin seeds next to some other kind of pumpkin or squash, each will be perfectly normal this year but any seeds grown from them could be a hybrid of the different varieties. Melons won't actually cross with squash, but might cross with other types of melon. The melon itself will be normal this year but any seeds grown the next year could be a hybrid of the two and be different from either parent.

If these pumpkins were grown from seeds saved from a previous harvest then they could be hybrid pumpkin/squash/gourds depending on what they were growing with last year. Whenever I've grown different types of squash and gourds there are lots of self-sown seedlings the next year that create all kinds of interesting fruit. Or if a plant was originally a hybrid strain, subsequent seedlings won't be true to that strain but could be a combination of the original hybrid parents.

Yours doesn't look much like the giant pumpkins we grew as a kid, but looks like some kind of squash... Where did the seeds come from?

[JaneG]

Chris is right, the cross won't matter until the following year. I found that out last year when I let a volunteer plant come up and it was a cross between a pumpkin and an acorn squash. I had grown both in the garden previously. Funniest looking things . . . big and orange like a pumpkin, but the shape of an acorn squash with a pointy end and very distinct ribbing.

I posted a question here about it last summer, if you scroll down the list of topics you'll find it. Someone posted this helpful link with information about which plants cross with which and some other interesting information. http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews ... sspol.html

It will be fun watching your plant develop . . . you may not know what it is until fall.

[wishiwere]

These were store bought seeds she started in the house, so they should be pumpkins then unless......

I just had never seen a pumpkin at this age, so didn't know if they were that yellow? Interesting though. I'll save some seeds and see what happens next year. As you can see, they've grown about 15 feet from whence they came! Through the fence, and a garden to make it another 8 feet into the grass. Not sure what I'll do when the grass needs mowing. Thankfully I've not had to yet b/c of the lack of rain, but....could put newspaper under them with some straw hey? Keep them dry that way maybe? I'll have to get some saw horses to hold up the ones growing in among the daylily. I don't think those can support much more than that size they are now!

Thanks....let you know what happens anyway...

[Chris_W]

I did a google image search for giant pumpkins and this really could be one of those. Some were almost completely smooth, even after they were full grown.

Pumpkins don't always start out orange, and many actually start out more green and then get more orange later as they ripen.

We will be looking forward to seeing your carved pumpkins this fall (and to heck with those daylilies, we want giant pumpkins )

Chris

pumpkin05.jpg (39.59 KiB) Viewed 3387 times

[wishiwere]

Not sure how 'giant' they'll get, b/c she started them with her tomato and such, and I"m sure those who grow the really big ones start them a lot earlier than that! Also, I'm having a hard time cutting out the extras I'm told you have to weed them to one per plant to get the REALLY big ones. So we'll see!

I swear this thing went from baseball to 1/2 footbal in 3 days, then from that to this in another week! They grow really fast!

[Gardentoad]

JaneG,
Did you eat your pumpkin/acorn squash?
I just wondered what it would taste like.

I can't help with the ID. I'm growing sugar pumpkins this year for the first time. I read that they were high in vitamines and very versitile, you can eat them savory or sweet. They are supposed to last almost all winter without freezing or canning.

[wishiwere]

Jane, you are asking the wrong person! This is MY virgin go around with pumpkins! I tried watermelons several years ago, or maybe a few yrs, but that got taken over with weeds, so it produced not much

These are as I said, growing about 15' from the base, so who knows how they'll do. Hopefully no one trips over them in the dark when we have the campfire bug!

You should picks of your pumpkins so we can see too! Sound interesting! So how do you eat them?

[Spider]

[JaneG]

Gardentoad, I thought about cutting one open and seeing what I could do with it in the kitchen, but never did. Instead I used them for fall outdoor decorations.

Jane, mine did the same thing, all over the yard. We had a really weird mowing pattern all around the vines that spread like fingers through that corner of the yard. Looked pretty funny, but made for good entertainment checking on it's progress. Like yours, the fruit on this one grew so fast you would notice just one days growth! And it was loaded, we ended up with more than we needed, I had them in every corner of the yard, on the porch, tucked against the trunks of trees.....

Keep us posted!

[party_music50]

I'm really glad to hear that I'm not the only one who mows around the sprawling plants (like pumpkins) that come into the yard.

[DryGulch]

As a teenager I spent way too much time out in cucumber fields harvesting cukes. Pumpkins and melon and all their ilk can de easily trained to go where you want them to go by pushing and lifting against the sides of their vines with no harm done. Jusst try to keep the leaves right side up as to not sun fry the vines.

I understand what Chris and the rest here are saying about the hybridization process not kicking in until the next generation, but something there concerning the whole curcubitus (?) clan of plants doesn't ring quite true. It seemed truck farmers and commercial veggie growers were concerned with having zucchini or squash planted too near their cucumber crops. Not sure about that.

I have seen lots of baby pumpkins and most start out dark green. Yours looks more like a honeydew or some other more heirloom type melon.

[wishiwere]

Well, she/he is continuing to grow! I'm hoping dd enjoys carving them up! As for the seeds/meat, I'll have to ask my resident kitty! She's the one that crawls into them to eat the insides out! I've lost her kitten pics when she as actually IN the pumpkins, but here's one from about 5 years ago, enjoying the fruits of dd's labor!

[JaneG]

That's so funny about your kitty! But actually, I think it was on the Pet forum here, I've heard that it's good to feed a cat canned pumpkin. Someone recommended it when my cat was having digestion problems. I guess you'll have a healthy kitty there!!

[wishiwere]

Oh yes, she's loved fruit and veggies since she was tiny. Peas are #1, followed by watermelon, pumpkin, tomatoes, potatoes, uh...pumpkin..let's see...basically any veggie or fruit.

The only thing she can't have but absolutely is uncontrollable over is cotton candy! I swear, she's patient with everything else, waiting her turn for a piece left over, but the cotton candy! She smells it and will NOT leave me alone till I'm done and give her a tiny piece! She loves that stuff. Weird kitty!

[kHT]

wishiwere, we have grown the giants a couple times and yes they are yellowish when they are growing. They can get huge if you keep watering them. One year they took over the garden and the secret is to keep them cut back and not vine out all over. Select one or two pumkins and cut the vine away so the energy goes to the fruit.

[wishiwere]

Well, the vines aren't growing any more, the pumpkins are. I think the one plant is dying, as it's just not looking good, the sun has scalded the base of it, b/c it's been so danged hot!