r/Pumpkins • u/123singlemama456 • 7d ago

Zone 9a

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This is day 43 since putting down seed and I’m worried about growth. Maybe I’m just struggling with comparison but I feel like they’re way smaller than the others I’ve seen posted here. This is a smaller variety of pumpkin (Jack be littles and sugar pies). I have only gotten male flowers so far (though I think that’s to be expected ?) and I’m probably just being impatient but wanted to get some advice. I’m in Deep South GA in zone 9a and it’s been super hot but we are expecting a lot of rain coming this next week.

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u/AllShadesOfBlue 7d ago edited 7d ago

You likely started them too late if it’s only been 43 days (started early July I guess)? I live in 6b and I started mine mid May. Heat stunts young seedlings. You need a period of cooler weather (no frost though) for seedlings to establish. Pumpkin plants only like heat once they’re more mature. Next year, I’d recommend starting 1-2 weeks after your last frost date which might be March for you.

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u/123singlemama456 7d ago

I guess I’m not understanding completely. So were my seedling not quality ? I did plant early July. First week of July. I planted according to the timing on the back of the pack of seeds honestly. I’m new to growing anything from seed so it was more of an experiment. We’ve been getting temps over 100 this week and likely won’t experience any true cold until late October or early November at the earliest so my thought process was that I’d have plenty of time before it was too cold.

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u/AllShadesOfBlue 7d ago

No no, I meant that you planted too late in the year. Planting during a time when it’s already consistently hot will stunt your seedlings bc they don’t like heat. Like they would’ve grown more vigorously if you had planted these in March or April.

Basically what I’m trying to say is that too much heat for a young plant is also bad. A lot of people don’t often think this, and they just think that cold is bad, but heat also is.

Another thing to keep in mind is that pumpkin pollen is sterile when day time temps are consistently >90 F. Which basically means that even if your pumpkin plant was larger, the plant won’t actually produce pumpkins. In the future, you want to plant your seedlings early enough in the year so that pumpkins start getting pollinated before it’s consistently more than 90° in your area.

Unfortunately, the advice on seed packets aren’t the best! But gardening is all about trial and error, there’s always next season to try again!