Pumpkin
Cucurbita pepo
Jack O'Lantern
Pumpkin: Jack O'Lantern
A type of winter squash, native to North America, pumpkins are one of the oldest domesticated plants, having been used as early as 7,000 to 5,500 BC. Jack O'Lantern variety has a relatively thin rind.
Planted March and May 2022
McKenzie seeds
Journal 2022
- March
- 11: Harrison and Olivia spring 2022 gardening season start now. I picked strawberry, Pumpkin, and pumpkin seeds for them. Olivia did prepare the tray for previous day's lemon basil seeds, but this one is prepared by me. The pumpkin seeds are from McKenzie. Only about 12 seeds in the package, planted all. Planted in Jiffy small pots with starter soil mixed with vermiculite.
- 17: bulge of folded sprout starts to be visible. About 5 mm in diameter.
- 18: Sprouts pop up with large leaves.
- 20: Sprouts grow very fast. In the begining, tomato sprouts appeared first. But very quickly pumpkin becomes much larger that tomatoes. 8 out of 10 seed pods have popped.
- 24: 8 seedlings are 12 cm, 1 is 6 cm. 1 didn't grow. The 9 is transferred to their destination outdoor container. 1x9 row near 1 of the side. Future plan is to combine them with sunflowers and bean stalks.
- 25: Watered thoroughly in preparation of 10 days holiday.
- April
- 3: Back from holiday, seedlings look very good and thriving.
- 5: Warm day, temperature above 10 °C. Put outside during warm hours. Will put back inside in the evening.
- 8: Many branches got snapped when moving inside and outside. Concern about space use vs fragility. Considering removal. Moved to a 30cm container.
- May
- 6: It survived. Moved to the new square black container to give more room.
- 15: Sowing 5 jiffies. McKenzie. Starting mix.
- 17: Re. Spider mites. Washed leaves of suspected invested plants. Basil, kemangi, mini rose, bunnytails, pole beans, cucumber, tomatoes, and pumpkin. Removed a lot of yellowing leaves. Cilantro thrown away since it's just more practical to restart.
- 20: Emerge.
- 21: Seedlings are large and root penetrate the jiffies wall strongly, over 5 cm outside. Seedlings are transferred to the main pumpkin container. In 4 corners and 1 in the middle.
- 22: 5 seedlings growing so well. one is above 10 cm already. So I decided to remove the older 3, just to minimize the chance of spider mites (or whatever the problem was) spread. They each only have a few leaves left anyway, maybe not even enough to support a healthy fruit.
Package information
- McKenzie $1.89
- Pumpkin: Jack O'Lantern
- 110 days, start early
- Days to sprout: 8-10
- Seed depth: 2.5 cm
- Seed spacing: 5 cm
- Plant spacing: 3 per hill
- Row spacing: 1.5-1.8 m
- For earlier fruits, start indoor 3-4 weeks before last frost.
- Perfect Halloween pumpkin, average 4.5 kg. From late summer, remove any unwanted blossoms or fruit to enhance the winning fruit to grow large.
Care
- Full sun
- Rich, well-draining soil. pH 6-6.8.
- At least 1-2 inches a week. Especially when blooming and setting fruit. Don't water overhead.
- 18-36 °C
- Fertilizing: Heavy feeder. Biweekly.
- N rich fertilizer early on for healthy plants foliage.
- P rich fertilizer once flowers start forming to stimulate plentiful blossoms.
- K rich fertilizer when actual pumpkin appears.
- Disease: Powdery mildew, fungal disease