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scully931

I'm so sad!

scully931
16 years ago

My poor pumpkins!

I bought a house last year (on Halloween, actually) and have been so excited about having the room to grow pumpkins! I planted the seeds, water faithfully, check their progress each day, put netting over them to protect them from wildlife and sprayed Liquid Fence around them.

I had five nice sized pumpkins growing. Today I went out and four of the five have been eaten! :-( I've seen a chipmunk nearby and wonder if he could have done it. My question is - will more grow or would they be done producing for the summer? I still have quite a few flowers. (The ones that weren't eaten.)

I know it's not a great tragedy as far as life goes, but I've been really excited about them.

Thank you for any advice!

~Deborah

Comments (6)

  • growingup
    16 years ago

    If you still have flowers, you still have the possibility to grow pumpkins. I would remove as much spent items off and maybe even hand pollinate your blooms for the best chance. Most take 90-120 days to mature. That puts you end of Oct., beginning of Nov. Depending on how big you want them of course. Sorry yours were eaten, what a blow.

  • wild_forager
    16 years ago

    I wasn't aware that chipmunks ate pumpkins, especially immature ones. But I had cantelope one year and when I joyfully began to harvest, I noticed a hole on the underside of one where it touched the ground. It had been bored into and hollowed out from underneath! If you don't if you have any qualms about killing pests, I'd reccommend giving the axe to those little guys. They're cute, but there's nothing to stop them from getting your pumpkins again if they regrow.

  • weirdtrev
    16 years ago

    You will still get some. It actually takes less than the 90 - 120 days. That number is for the maturity of the plant, but you aren't planting new seeds and you already have good size vines. I have some of the smaller pumpkins (~10 lbs) and it only took them 12 days to reach their full size and turn dark green. Once they turn dark green they don't get larger they just begin turning orange and the second there is any orange on the pumpkin you can actually pick it and it will continue to turn orange. I wouldn't do that though unless there is a frost coming. I expect my pumpkins to be fully ripe in under 30 days once they form. So you should have plenty of time. Just think how long it took them to get to the size you said they were from a flower, that is all the time it will take them to reach that size again.

  • scully931
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Oh, well, that is some good news at least. I've revised my theory on who did it. Today I saw a groundhog coming out from my patch. I ran across the yard yelling, "I see you! You're not getting away with this!" haha. My neighbors think I'm crazy.

    I'm actually a really big animal lover, so I can't kill any of them. But, I'll read up on what will maybe keep them away. One of the neighbors who saw me yelling at the groundhog suggested dried blood or mothballs.

    That's a good idea to hand pollinate. I'll look up how to do that. I've been surprised at how fast they've grown, so maybe I'll still get some. Thanks for the advice everyone!

    ~Deborah :-)

  • iacche
    16 years ago

    For groundhogs I've also heard from a neighbor that throwing cat litter (cat feces, actually) down their holes will get them to pack up and leave.

  • chrismich250
    16 years ago

    If you don't want to catch and relocate your groundhogs here is an idea. Soak a big rag with AMMONIA and stuff it down the hole. Then fill in the hole with the soil from around it. The woodchucks usually leave that area of their tunnels. I was told that human male pee on a rag stuffed down the hole also works, but could not convince the 2 adult men in the family to do that. The rag holds the odor longer than just pouring it on the soil. My mother-in-law had raccoons in her chimney, and that is all the exterminator did, dropped down a rag soaked with ammonia, after closing her flue. The raccoon took her babies and left. good luck
    remember that woodchucks will kills trees by eating the bark, and will climb trees to get at your fruit. you may have to recheck in a month as the rag dries out, and do it again.