[Biddy]

thanks for all your replies.  The grubs were really small - this is the second one that's gone like that.  The laughable thing is that another pumpkin seed has started sprouting from where I lifted the eaten plant!

I did get more seeds and the kids planted them about 2 weeks ago.  The other night I had a look to see what was happening as nothing was coming through.  They were there but buried deep down!! Kids for you.

I'll probably end up with over 12 now and won't know where to put them!

When I plant them in the allotment do they need loads of room?  How many do you usually get off one plant or are they all different?  The seeds are the hundregweight ones.

[Biddy]

I've never grown these before so would someone be able to answer me a stupid question.  The little buds on this picture - are they the flower buds that turn into the pumpkins?

[Oliver]

I've never grown these before so would someone be able to answer me a stupid question.  The little buds on this picture - are they the flower buds that turn into the pumpkins?

Right - two answers here: Hundredweight are 'trailing' pumpkins and they grow very long indeed, so although they don't need all that much space between each plant (from side to side) they grow very long.
I usually plant mine 3ft between plants in a nice rich hole, with a bund around it, at one end of a bed and then 'point' them in the direction I want them to grow. If you want a huge pumpkin off the plant, then remove the growing tip when one fruit has set and is growing nicely. If you want several smaller ones, then wait for a few to set, then remove the ones you don't want and the growing tip. Keep them all well watered (fill the bund every evening, unless it rains like crazy).

As for your picture - its hard to tell what the buds are going to become, but you generally get more male flowers than female flowers, and these look like males at this time. (Female flowers have a little 'bead' at the base of the flower. When the flower opens and a bee does the business, the 'bead' is fertilised and will grow into the pumpkin.)  Sometimes, after fertilisation, it starts to grow and then, for no reason that I can fathom, it falls off. That's why I say let a few set so you can be sure you will get (a) fruit.

You can pick the male flowers when they are very fresh and stuff them like courgette flowers and eat them if you are so inclined. Otherwise, just leave them, they will drop off by themselves after the bees have eaten the pollen, and, hopefully, fertilised a female flower for you.

There are probably other ways to do things, but this is what I do! Good luck.
Sounds like you are going to have one heck of a lot of pumpkins! (Or there may well be others on your plot who would like a plant. Why now have a competition to see who can grow the biggest? Measure the pumpkins (in about late September), around the equator and around the poles and add the two measurements together. The biggest number wins. I suggest two measurements because some pumpkins grow flat and round and others go tall and round ... if you know what I mean! - so this means other people can also have a go with whatever variety they have grown)

Oliver

[Biddy]

superb thanks.  I just wanted to make sure that I got 3 pumpkins otherwise the kids would cause a riot if one of them didn't get one!  I'll probably have LOADS but I will try to get some huge ones ha ha.

[Yorkie]

I've had trailing squash round the outside of the bed, so endorse that approach.

Oliver, out of interest, what do you mean by a bund?  Not come across that term before  :blink:

[mumofstig]

A bund is a sunken area to contain liquids.
In this case used to water the plant

[Oliver]

I've had trailing squash round the outside of the bed, so endorse that approach.

Oliver, out of interest, what do you mean by a bund?  Not come across that term before  :blink:

A 'bund' is a term used in the oil/petrochemical industry (amongst others) and is
an outer wall or tank designed to retain (110%) of  the contents of an inner tank in the event of leakage or spillage.  In our case its an embankment built in the middle of our heap of yummy earth around the plant so we can put a whole watering can of water without it running downhill and watering the rest of the plot.

[Biddy]

When I plant them on the allotment could I put them in the same bed as sweetcorn?  Do they need strong supports as its a southerly wind on our plot?

[Oliver]

When I plant them on the allotment could I put them in the same bed as sweetcorn?  Do they need strong supports as its a southerly wind on our plot?

Yes, you can grow them between the sweetcorns if you have allowed enough room to fit them in.  (This is how some Africans grow them. You can also eat the young leaves, apparently, although I have not tried this - the look a bit spikey to me! besides, I'm a cat and prefer more substantial fodder .....

They don't generally need support as they are grown 'trailing' along the ground. Some people do try to make them grow up, like a vine, but that would only work with smaller pumpkins and squashes.  Hundredweights (like their name says) generally grow HUGE and would pull any structure over :o
Oliver

[Biddy]

No I meant would the sweetcorn need supporting!

[gobs]

No I meant would the sweetcorn need supporting!

Earthing them up a bit is usually enough.

[mumofstig]

Try to make sure the pumpkin roots are away from the corn roots though as they're hungry feeders...just let the trailing stems run amok over the bed between the corn
I've had success like that , but never tried the beans as well

[Oliver]

No I meant would the sweetcorn need supporting!

Oo-er Silly me! No, they probably don't need supporting if you make sure they are firmly in the ground - earth them up a bit if you like as they are not deep rooters.
Oliver