Rogue Pumpkin questions
 

A pumpkin grew out of our compost bin. I've never grown pumpkins and I
have a few questions...

First, the plant was huge, it was 25 feet long and 15 feet wide before it
grew the first pumpkin, is that normal?

The pumpkin has been growing fast and the vines are dying around it. The
squash did the same thing so I suppose that's normal.

The pumpkin is about 6-8 weeks old and the fruit is bright orange. When do
I harvest this monster?

There is one more pumpkin starting to grow... but most of the vine is dead
now, is it likely to get anymore big pumpkins?

Any care tips?
--
Mac Cool

Mac Cool said:

A pumpkin grew out of our compost bin. I've never grown pumpkins and I
have a few questions...

First, the plant was huge, it was 25 feet long and 15 feet wide before it
grew the first pumpkin, is that normal?

Well, maybe a little larger than usual.

The pumpkin has been growing fast and the vines are dying around it. The
squash did the same thing so I suppose that's normal.

Seems typical.

The pumpkin is about 6-8 weeks old and the fruit is bright orange. When do
I harvest this monster?

When the rind is too hard to pierce with a thumbnail and the stem is as hard
(or harder) than wood. You can't necessarily go by color, as there are strains
of pumpkins that color up early ('precocious yellow' gene).

There is one more pumpkin starting to grow... but most of the vine is dead
now, is it likely to get anymore big pumpkins?

In general with squash: the larger the fruit the fewer per plant. 1 or 2 is typical
for some varieties. In contrast, mini-pumpkins might bear a dozen on one vine.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)