The Great American Pumpkin

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As you might expect, prima donna pumpkins need plenty of pampering. Space plants up to 50 feet apart, apply fertilizer, and water in copious quantities. When fruits reach the size of baseballs, remove all but one from each runner. When they reach basketball size, remove all but one from each plant, selecting one that's at least four feet from the center of the vine so it won't yank out its own roots later on.

Remove any new pumpkins so they don't rob nutrients from the Big One. Bury the tips of new growth to encourage auxiliary root growth. The more roots the plant has, the better it can feed the little monster, which should put on at least five pounds a day throughout August and September.

The biggest challenges in growing these giants are avoiding splitting and transporting the bulky pumpkin to the competition. Even the pros scratch their heads over what causes splitting—it seems to be a matter of bad luck. As for moving your pride and joy, the World Pumpkin Federation offers tarps with eight handles to help you carry it—with a gang of friends of course.

Know Your Enemy

The chief insect pests are vine borer, squash bug, and cucumber beetle. Diseases run the gamut from bacteria and viruses to fungi. Control bacteria and viruses by controlling insects. Minimize fungal attacks by watering only in the morning and applying water to the soil, not the leaves.

The vine borer, a fat, white caterpillar, burrows into a stem and destroys it. Evidence of its existence is a small hole at the stem's base and a pile of greenish saw dust beneath it. To control borers, destroy their egg clusters. If a borer gets by you, inject the stem base with predatory nematodes or Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis). Or split open the stem, remove the borer, and bury the slit part to encourage new root growth. If a vine doesn't revive, remove it.

Squash bugs are easy to recognize by their shield shapes and the triangular design on their fiat backs. They suck juices from leaves, causing them to dry out and turn black. Look for reddish egg clusters under leaves and destroy them. If bugs become too numerous to control, apply sabadilla dust to leaves.

The cucumber beetle, about 1/4-inch long, may be yellow or orange, striped or spotted. They transmit bacteria and viruses while moving from plant to plant. Spread diatomaceous earth around the plants' bases to kill larvae emerging from the soil. If they persist, dust with rotenone. Destroy old vines at the end of each season to discourage beetles from overwintering.

Pick a Peck of Pumpkins

As pumpkins mature, vines die back, fruits turn from yellow to bright orange, and rinds harden. Leave the pumpkins on the vine until just before the first hard frost. Pick your pumpkins with at least a two-inch stem. Cut, rather than break, them from the vine and they will keep better. Take care not to bruise them, which leads to early decay.

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