On Fri, 27 May 2011 10:31:07 +1000, David Hare-Scott
wrote:

Wikipedia says pumpkins are a warm season crop and in the US most grow
in Illinois and are planted in July.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumpkin

Now obviously the US is a big place and has different climates in the
north and south but in my experience pumpkins need a long growing
season to allow the fruit to reach full size and to ripen.

There is a subtle difference-- but what IL is claiming is that they
provide 95% of the "Processed" pumpkins. not Jack-o-lanterns. That
might be in large part because Nestle is there- not because of their
'perfect for pumpkin' climate..

The Sugar Baby pumpkins that I used to grow for pies were a 60-70 day
crop- unlike the big ones that are 120+.

-snip-

If it is too cold to plant until July how long can the season be, two
or three months? Does this mean that each vine only ripens the first
set fruit in the limited time? What kind of yield per vine do they
get?

Could somebody with relevant experience who is not too far from
Illinois shed some light please.

I'm not in IL- but I'm zone 5. My sugar baby's were a long time ago,
but if I remember correctly, the vines would set a 1/2 dozen fruit and
they'd ripen. Kind of like a determinate tomato.

Jim