"Mel" wrote ...
If I plant the seeds from a big orange "Halloween pumpkin" (in spring)
would
they be likely to grow successfully into a big pumpkin? I'd like to give
it
a go, but don't want to waste my time if they won't produce.


The answer is yes, they will grow like the parent, assuming they were in a
field of the same and didn't get cross pollinated by a "We be little" or
something else small.
I'm told by growers of large pumpkins the best seeds are the ones that have
grown nearest where the flower was and you want the largest of those.
In spring prepare a pit about the size of a dustbin round and a spit and a
half deep. Fill with well rotted compost, incorporate a little soil into the
top few inches, plant the pumpkin plant in the middle and make a soil wall
around what was the hole so that when you water it is all held in the
compost where the plant can get to it, put a tall stake in next to the plant
so you will always know where to water.
When the plant begins to take off use a good fertilizer, seaweed extract is
good initially, and water daily. 2 gals per day per plant is about right
when they are in fruit, more if it's very hot.
If you can get the nodes on the stems/stalks to root too, so much the
better, but it does mean watering the whole bed.

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London