Or maybe you're planning to pick up your pumpkin at the local farmer's market or pumpkin patch for decorating or creating our best pumpkin recipes. Either way, make sure to choose a pumpkin with no bruises, smooshy spots, nicks, or cuts, which will reduce their lifespan especially if you want to display them, not eat them.
Here's what else you can do to prevent pumpkins from rotting on the vine if you're growing them— as well as tips for how to keep a carved pumpkin from turning mushy long before Halloween. Before you even pick your gourds, understand that their lifespans vary based on whether or not you cut into them.
Uncarved pumpkins can last two to three months if kept out of the hot sun or freezing temperatures. Carved pumpkins may last only a few days, so time your carving accordingly if you want to display them on Halloween.
Water just until fruit appears. Let nature do her thing. Pumpkins set lots of flowers then drop the fruit the plant can't sustain to maturity. It's fine to leave any mushy fruit on the vines, but gently lift the healthy pumpkins and place them on a small wooden box, straw nest, or small pallet to protect them from getting too wet, says Buskirk. Try raised beds and hills. If you have loads of problems with rotting fruit, try planting in raised bed planters or hills about 3 to 4 feet wide next year.
Sow about 3 to 4 seeds per planter or hill, then thin to one or two plants. When the pumpkins are set, place the fruits up on the tops of the planters or beds, which allows the extra water to run off. In smaller gardens, you can grow pumpkins vertically on a trellis or fence, providing additional support for heavy fruit by making little hammocks from bean or pea netting. Wash down the outside before carving. Keep your carved pumpkin safe from squishiness by wiping down the outside with a diluted bleach solution before carving.
This will remove microbes that cause decay. Leave the affected soil unplanted for a season, and be sure to sterilize any tools you use in your garden. For more information, check out my article on how to sterilize your garden soil. Pumpkin plants are not immune to pests either. Here are some common ones that you might see in your garden. If these pests do enough damage to the plant, it may drop some of the fruit in an attempt to conserve energy and survive.
These are tiny insects that are green, gray, or black. They gather on the bottom of leaves, sucking the juice out of leaves and vines. For more information, check out my article on how to get rid of aphids.
These bugs are brown and somewhat oval-shaped, and they suck juices out of stems and leaves, much like aphids. Damaged leaves have pale green or yellow specks, which indicate areas where squash bugs have been feeding. Squash vine borers can disrupt the flow of water to the leaves, flowers, and fruit of the plant.
The vines can wilt suddenly if squash vine borers are present. If you see silver or gray trails through your leaves, which start small and get larger, then you have leafminers. These little maggots baby flies create tunnels inside the leaves. These insects are bright white, and when they are present, you will see a clear, sticky residue on the leaves. You may see a black coating that can be rubbed off sooty mold , which grows due to the sticky residue. There are some ways to prevent pests from ruining your pumpkin plants.
Pesticides are one option, but I would only use them as a last resort. Many of these pests have natural enemies that can keep them in check.
For example, ladybugs are natural predators of aphids, so releasing some ladybugs into your garden can help to control the aphid population. You can also try companion planting, which means planting pumpkins together with other plants that drive off pests. For example, marigolds are thought to deter beetles. The way you are planting your garden can also have an impact on the health of your plants. If you plant your pumpkins too close together, or too close to other plants, then they could end up competing with one another for water and nutrients.
If the plants are overcrowded and competition gets fierce, some of the plants may drop some of their fruit, in order to conserve resources and focus on survival and growing fewer pumpkins to maturity. Each pumpkin plant should have about 50 square feet of space if it is a vine, or 12 square feet if it is a bush.
For a vine, this means planting pumpkins about 5 feet apart. There are a few other factors that can cause pumpkins to die on the vine or drop off the plant. The ideal pH range for a pumpkin plant is around 6. If the soil pH is too high or too low, it may prevent the plant from absorbing certain nutrients from the soil.
For more information, check out this article from Research Gate on nutrient availability by soil pH. To find out you soil pH, you can buy a test kit online or at a local garden center. You can also send your soil to be tested at your local agricultural extension.
To learn more, check out my article on soil testing. If the pH is too high alkaline , you can add sulfur to lower the pH. If the pH is too low acidic , you can add lime calcium carbonate to raise the pH. If you know that your soil pH is correct, then you may have an imbalance of nutrients in your soil. For instance, excessive magnesium can prevent a plant from absorbing calcium, even when there is plenty in the soil. A nutrient deficiency can occur if you plant the same crop in the same place in your garden every year, but fail to replace nutrients with fertilizers or compost.
The best way to tell if you have a nutrient imbalance or deficiency is to do a soil test and check the results. Rotate pumpkin plants to a new location in the garden each year.
Melissa Lewis is a former elementary classroom teacher and media specialist. She has also written for various online publications. By Melissa Lewis Updated December 27, Related Articles. Tip Wear gloves when working in the pumpkin patch since the vines are prickly.
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