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Los Angeles Ca.

i was wondering if pumkins gow thru growing spurts or are they pretty much steady growing?

8/6/2004 11:06:57 PM

Enumclaw WA

In general it seems (according the How to Grow World Class Giant Pumpkins III) that the most growth occurs between day 20 or 25 through about day 60 (that is days afer pollination). Lots of variables in the growth per day including weather, wather, etc. Some report growth of over 30 or even 40 pounds per day for a short time, while others are in the 10 to 20 pound per day range depending on growing factors. Good Luck, Kayla

8/6/2004 11:21:12 PM

Puyallup, WA

Kayla is "spot on"! We just had 3/4" of rain today and temps will be back to 80° by tomorrow or Sunday. That may be the impetus which might cause "splits"! Splits occur in my patch usually the first two weeks in August at around 5-600#. Ideally, we want nice steady growth through September.

8/7/2004 12:41:45 AM

Vancouver, White Rock, Canada

I plotted the growth numbers for a number of large fruit on a graph (yes, I have no life). It seems that pumpkins do start taking off around the 25th day or so, and continue rapid growth until about day 50, then start slowing down, and then after about day 60, they almost flatline. Of course there are dozens of other factors including weather, soil, date of pollination, etc, but it seems that the growth trend usually falls into that timeline.

8/7/2004 6:09:05 PM

Vancouver, White Rock, Canada

I guess if pumpkins grow the most between day 25 and 60, and considering you'd want the best weather for that time frame, and assuming that your best weather occurs in July and August, it seems the best date of pollination would be in the area of late June or early July, to be able to fit all of the main growth period into the warmest part of the summer?

8/7/2004 6:12:01 PM

Appalachian Mtns.

Lawman...it's generally understood that the primo pollination zone is July 1-15.

8/7/2004 11:43:50 PM

In the shade - PDX, OR

Stan - I bet you can guess what I found on my best fruit yesterday.


Cool weather for 3 days then a 1/2" of rain. Even with heavy handed watering I ended up with Split, split.


Steady growing is best, with consistant water and fert.

8/8/2004 11:13:30 AM

Wilmington,NC

Is it common for there to be rapid groth in the first few weeks ( from ping pong size to small basketball with in a few days then to slow untin day 25?

Does not seem to have grown alt all in the last 3 days ????? :(

8/18/2004 8:47:46 PM

Vancouver, White Rock, Canada

Usually early growth is a little more consistent than that? Your pumpkin may have aborted. Keep an eye on it and if it doesn't grow at all in the next few days and the skin starts to lose it's "shinyness" and develops soft spots, it's toast. It may start growing again, too, like mine did this year, so don't count it out just yet.

8/19/2004 1:18:33 PM