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. Here they
grow between last frost and first frost, about 8 months, even so a
number are not full size or ripe as the vine keeps flowering and
setting fruit up until death. I grow table (not cattle) pumpkins and
in that time I get about 30 mature fruit (100kg, 250lbs) per vine. The
vine is quite large!
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.
David
Wiki also says "In Australian English, the name 'pumpkin' generally
refers to the broader category called winter squash in North America."
Winter squash are Acorn, butternut, spaghetti, etc. Here is a link
to the Burpee seed co. with instructions for growing.
http://www.burpee.com/vegetables/squash/
Select the page for their winter squash seeds. I noticed that the
dates for the average first & last frosts are the same for USDA
hardiness zones are the same for zones 7a and 5a (Chicago) are the
same even though the average low temperatures are about 10 degrees
different. The last frost is given as mid April and first frost is
mid October. I used zip code 60601, (Chicago) for Illinois.
I live in zone 7a (western North Carolina) and I just got my plants in
the ground this past week. I probably could have set them out sooner
but didn't have time. I start mine in the greenhouse. I planted
Acorn and Butternut squashes and Pumpkin. I also planted green and
yellow zucchini.
--
USA
North Carolina Foothills
USDA Zone 7a
To find your extension office
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/index.html