fishmanwilll
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jul 30, 2015 12:00 pm

Pumpkin plants not growing...?

Good Morning. I am new here and I have a problem with the pumpkins we are trying to grow. We live in Roswell, New Mexico. We planted the seeds on June 1 of this year and they sprouted quickly and grew to the size in the attached picture and then just seemed to stop growing. I have fertilized them and they get watered 2 times a week for about 30-45 minutes on the drip system. We have 10 of those boxes total with 2 plants in each box. The box size is 24"x24". This is the third year we have planted pumpkins in these boxes. The first year they did great! Last year they did not grow, they did the same thing, we thought it was bad seeds or something. This year the same thing, this is as big as they get. What are we doing wrong or what is causing this to happen? My wife really wants to grow pumpkins. Please help. Thank you very much.
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pumpkin plant size
pumpkin plant size

HoneyBerry
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1216
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 1:10 pm
Location: Zone 8A Western Washington State

The soil perhaps.

Taiji
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Posts: 921
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2012 3:19 am
Location: Gardening in western U.P. of MI. 46+ N. lat. elev 1540. zone 3; state bird: mosquito

Maybe the roots of the surrounding lawn are encroaching and competing with the pumpkin roots. Maybe the first year, this wasn't an issue...?

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jal_ut
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Posts: 7447
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

Yes, both answers are appropriate.

I would suggest a plot at least 4 feet by 4 feet. Dig it deep and work in some compost or manure in the fall. Never mind the screen. Plant your seeds about a week before your last frost date in the spring.

For these plants this year, may I suggest some ammonium nitrate fertilizer. It is about 30 percent nitrogen. Just sprinkle some on the bed, not too thick, and also sprinkle some on the surrounding grassy area and water it all in well. You can do this again in two weeks. I would water deeply once a week. This makes the roots go deep looking for the moisture down below. Squash vines often grow out several feet. Vining squash will also send down roots at the leaf nodes as the vines grow. The plant will have a root system that covers all the same area that the top growth does plus some and the roots will go 5 feet deep. So you see you need to attend to a large area to support the root structure?



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