If you’re new to growing pumpkins, a very basic and balanced 5-10-5 fertilizer applied moderately all through the growing season is much less intensive and should still yield good results. Similarly, too much potassium can sometimes encourage pumpkins to grow faster than they’re meant to and cause them to explode right out of their skins!Īpply your fertilizer in moderation and wait to see what results a little gets you before adding a lot. ![]() Nitrogen promotes growth, but if you add too much, you risk burning your leaves or reducing flower growth. Feeding Pumpkin Plantsįertilizer is important, but sometimes a little can go a long way. Pinch or snip off an offshoot at its base. Once the pumpkin seeds germinate, select two of the healthiest and thin out the rest. First, youll need gloves, pruning snips, a clear jar of water, and eventually a planting site or pot with well-draining soil. When the actual pumpkins appear, use a potassium-rich fertilizer for healthy fruit. In the mound, plant three to five pumpkin seeds about 1 inch (2.5 cm.) deep. Pumpkin plants do best if there are lots of pumpkin plants in one area, as the patch tends to attract beneficial squash bees (Peponapis species).These native bees look like honeybees, but the males like to sleep inside squash blossoms (like pumpkin blossoms). Once the flowers start to form, switch to a phosphorus-heavy fertilizer for plentiful blossoms. Apply a weekly nitrogen-heavy fertilizer early in the growing season to produce a healthy plant. Nitrogen promotes green growth, making for plenty of vines and leaves. When feeding pumpkin plants, apply three successive fertilizers, each heavy in one of those numbers, in that same order. But they are also sensitive to water stress. They dislike overly wet soil that, especially in warm weather, leads to diseases. These numbers represent nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, always in that order. Pumpkins grow best between 70-90 degrees F. Grow each pumpkin on a 3-foot wide mound of warm, fertile soil that has a pH of 6.0 to 6.8. Different nutrients promote different kinds of growth, however, so when fertilizing pumpkins, it’s important to pay attention to what stage of growth your pumpkin is in and feed it accordingly.Ĭommercial fertilizers come with three numbers on their packaging. Space pumpkin plants 2 to 5 feet apart (depending on the variety). Pumpkins are heavy feeders and will eat up whatever you give them. Keep reading to learn more about pumpkin fertilizer requirements. Connecticut Field is the biggest carving pumpkin. Fertilizing pumpkins is essential, as they will devour nutrients and run with them. Pumpkin plants produce sprawling vines that grow rounded fruits with edible flesh. You spend all summer tending your vine, and you want to get the most out of it that you can. Placing pumpkin seeds directly into the ground of your specially-dug vine garden is best, but in Ohio, our growing season can vary with the weather. ![]() Whether you’re after the great pumpkin that will win first prize at the fair, or lots of smaller ones for pies and decorations, growing the perfect pumpkin is an art form.
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