Who's growing pumpkins?

kfos

Active Member
I'm looking to start 500 pumpkins. I have 2 acres tilled last year. I want to do feild style crop. Do you need ground cover? How difficult is it to grow? What type do you grow? I have a near by creek so I can flood the feild if needed. Any pics would be appriciated.
 

NaturalFarmer

Well-Known Member
I grow long pie pumpkins, best tasting variety I have found and a huge yield for me (individual squash are never very big though). This will be my third year growing them but this is certainly a keeper. Apparently people would stack them like firewood on the porch (see below) and wait until Nov to ripen(they tend to stay green until mid Oct in Maine.

Here is the description

"Possibly an old Native American variety offered by Burpee in 1888 as St. George, still the best pumpkin for Yankee pumpkin pies. Though widely grown in Androscoggin County 75 years ago (an old-timer remembers them stacked up on porches like firewood), it almost became extinct. LeRoy Souther, a Livermore Falls, ME, native who maintained it for more than 30 years, brought seeds to cucurbit aficionado John Navazio at his Common Ground Fair squash booth in the late 1980s. Navazio exhibited one at the 1988 Fair, then reintroduced it to commerce through Garden City Seeds in Montana. 3–5 lb fruits look like overgrown zucchinis to the uninitiated, but the telltale sign is an orange spot where the otherwise all-green elongated fruit rested on the ground. Vines have enormous vigor that has been increased through selection by our seed growers and can achieve astonishing yields. In storage, the whole fruit first blushes, then glows bright orange, signaling that its delicious flesh is ready to be turned into incomparable pies. One of the best for continued ripening after picking, Long Pie stored at 50° keeps all winter. Germinates poorly in cold soil. The little immature fruit under 5" long at the end of the season make great summer squash."

https://www.fedcoseeds.com/seeds/search?item=1723

https://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-non-gmo-long-pie-pumpkin.html
 

dynospec

Well-Known Member
Ive decided to try growing pumpkins this year, I have started two jackolantern style types and one thats white and quite large "casper pumpkin" its called. I made the mistake of starting first one in small pot, but started more in 4' peat pots in case the first doesnt survive transplant. I guess theyre picky, nutrient hoggers, who need lots of space for cumbersome vines. but never actually experienced that yet. kinda worried if Ill have room for all the plants I started on my little balconies, and front door area.
 
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