Midnight Pumpkin Hybrid

MINI PUMPKIN for Halloween and processing

Sow at 3 lbs./1 kg per acre; oz./28 g sows 20 hills.

Pumpkins take over 100 days to mature from seed. Don't wait till late June to seed them or they will never mature! You can start seed indoors in 3 in./8 cm peat pots about May 1st. Plant 2 seeds per pot 1/2 in./13 mm deep, cover seed with fine soil and firm. Maintain a soil temp. of 65-70°F/20°C. After seeds have sprouted, feed pots once lightly with a soluble fertilizer. Grow at 60°F/16°C for sturdy growth. Transplant in a sunny spot in 5 ft./2 m rows, staggered 8 ft./2.4 m apart in every other row. Each plant requires 15-20 ft./5-6 m in diameter. Dust plants regularly, every week to prevent cucumber beetles. Water plants at first sign of wilt throughout the summer- but don't wet the leaves, it encourages disease. Feed regularly (once every 15 days) with a weak solution of 5-20-20 fertilizer. Pick pumpkins after they are bright orange, and the skin is hard. If it doesn't freeze hard or rain for long periods leave them on the vine till Halloween. Harvest before severe frost, keep cool at 55-60°F/13-16°C. Leave a bit of stem on each fruit, when it is cut from the vine.

large CROPS: Sow outdoors from May l0th to June 10th (no later). Grow in 6 - 9 ft./2 - 3 m rows, 4 seeds per ft./31 cm of row, or in hills of 5 seeds per hills, 4 ft./l22 cm apart in the row. Thin to 2 ft./61 cm or 2 seedlings per hill. All vine crops depend on insects for pollination. Limit the use of insecticides when blossoms are setting.