This is the third year (non-consecutive) that the Whatsit family has attempted to grow pumpkins, with middling success. The first year, we got a couple of pumpkin seeds in one of those jiffy cup party favors for kids’ birthday parties, planted them on a whim, and wound up with a front yard full of pumpkin vines, which was cool.
Then we moved to our new place, tried planting them in a garden bed the first year, and after a relatively healthy spring, the vines all turned yellow and died midway through the summer. I suspect fungus.
So then that brings us to this year. We planted them in a fresh, new bed, not near to where the old fungusy bed was. I got four starts from a local garden center, and planted them in spring once the weather turned warm. They took off like gangbusters and have been doing pretty well. But here’s the thing. It’s only mid-August and there’s already a ton of bright orange pumpkins out there, and many of the vines appear to be yellowing and dying. Is it normal for the vines to die off after the plants have produced pumpkins? Or is something else going on? And why do I have pumpkins in AUGUST? I thought these things were supposed to ripen in September or later. Did I plant them too soon, or what?
Advice from gardeners needed.
It’s the end of August, and not too early for these to be ripening. For your other questions – dunno, sorry.
Let me move your thread over to Cafe Society, which seems to be the home of gardening threads these days.
twickster, (flower) gardener and MPSIMS moderator
Everything is normal. This year’s colder weather and now the shortening days are making the leaves die. My large pumpkins are all a nice dark orange right now and the smaller ones are orange and green. The varieties matter as to how the pumpkins change. I’m betting your leaves are yellow on the edges and still green in the middle. They do need to be ripe before it freezes and that’s only a few weeks away.
Hmm, OK. This is probably a stupid question, but are the pumpkins going to last until Halloween? Do I need to go harvest them or do I just leave them out there?
The leaves are variable, btw. Some of them are as you describe but at least one of the plants has pretty much almost died. The leaves on it are totally yellow and wilted.
If you have only a few you should bring them into a frost free area at some point. Ripe pumpkins can take some freezing but it clearly affects how they look and how long they last. Don’t set them on something like cement or other hard surfaces. Set some newspaper or straw or cloth between them and the hard floor to prevent rot. Make sure they have space between them so rot doesn’t spread easily. The pumpkins are not going to benefit by leaving them on the dead vines. Vines that still have green can still provide food to the pumpkin if it’s still maturing. The only reason to worry about if they are fully mature would be if you want the seeds. For carving you can pick green and orange mostly mature pumpkins and they will still turn orange where you store them before Halloween.
This is my second year attempting pumpkins. I live in Kentucky, and both years, mine have seemed to be ready much earlier than I would have expected. I read someplace that they can stay on the vine until it’s brown and dry right up to the fruit.
Good luck!
they can last in storage or in the field. you might put them on something in the field to keep them off the dirt (board or straw, dead but not rotting vegetation), once the vines die the pumpkins could start slowly rotting where they touch soil. the fruit and plant will handle some frost and freezing OK.
plants can reproduce at a time in their life, based on daylight length and being stressed.
Oh, fabulous. Thanks, everybody. I guess I was thinking that they were like tomatoes, where if you leave them on the vine too long they’ll rot there.
I actually harvested two small ones today so that I could toast some pumpkin seeds and make pumpkin bread to take over to a friend’s house tonight. It’s 85 degrees outside but the house smells like fall. 
Try this Pumpkin Pound Cake I came up with in 2007 for Delphica. It’s super tasty. Most people that had some would have eaten the whole thing by themselves. Delphica linked me picture in PM when she made it, but unless she wants the link here I won’t post it.
I have planted pumpkins in the same feild 2 yrs strait. Last yr was good but this yr they are uneven due to dry weather I think. The ones that come up look half decent, My question for someone is can I keep planting pumpkins in same feild yr after yr
Joe Horney, I’m sure the 2009 growing season is way over by now. But yes, you can grow them in the same field over and over again.