Orange pumpkin Cucurbita maxima
Yellow flower and pumpkin Cucurbita maxima
Orange pumpkin Cucurbita maxima
Yellow flowers Pumpkin Cucurbita maxima
Green leaves Cucurbita maxima
Contents
Find all our tips in the Monstera application
The pumpkin, a squash from Japan
Contents
Find all our tips in the Monstera application
Scientific classification
Family
Cucurbitaceae
Type
Cucurbita
Species
Cucurbita maxima
What happens when a Pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) leaves its native South America for Japan? It turns into a pumpkin! First bred in the Land of the Rising Sun, these cultivars are prized for their sweet, chestnut-like flesh. Another major advantage over their big brother: their thin skin means they can be eaten without peeling!
How to recognize the pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima)?
The pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) is an annual plant with a creeping habit. Its cylindrical stems are covered with coarse, almost prickly hairs. They can grow up to three meters long and are fitted with tendrils.
The green leaves are whole and heart-shaped. Rough, they measure up to 40 centimetres long.
The yellow flowers are funnel- or calyx-shaped. The same Cucurbita maxima plant bears flowers of both sexes. Female flowers can be recognized by their ovary. This creates a bulge at the base of the flower, giving rise to the fruit.
Fruits are pear-shaped or spinning top-shaped. Smaller than the pumpkin, the pumpkin weighs up to three kilos. The rind can be red, orange or green. But the flesh is always orange. Its sweet flavor is reminiscent of hazelnuts.
Which varieties of pumpkin to choose for your vegetable garden?
There's not just one kind of pumpkin, but many. Depending on the space you have available, the climate and your preferences, opt for :
- Red Kuri: a highly productive variety with brick-red spinning top-shaped fruit and chestnut-flavored flesh;
- Uchiki Kuri: an early pumpkin that yields vegetables weighing around 1.5 kg;
- Bleu de Solliès: a blue-gray squash weighing up to 3 kg, with thicker, less fibrous flesh than the red varieties;
- green Hokkaido: dark green skin, orange flesh and a pronounced nutty taste;
- Petit de Rennes: a hardy variety with very sweet flesh.
Is the pumpkin toxic?
The pumpkin is not a toxic plant. You can grow them without risk. What's more, the fruit, including the skin, is edible.
However, Cucurbita maxima can accidentally hybridize with other squash species. In this case, it contains cucurbitacins, a harmful substance, and should not be eaten.
To find out whether a pumpkin is edible or poisonous, simply taste a piece before preparing it. Vegetables that are unfit for consumption have a bitter taste.
Our maintenance tips
Place the fruit on a brick or tile to prevent damage from damp soil.
Watering
Keep the soil cool and moist, but not soggy.
Water, preferably with rainwater, at the foot of your Cucurbita maxima.
Fertilization
Pumpkins are greedy plants. You need to fertilize them throughout their growth, adapting the type of fertilizer to their development:
- After planting: apply a nitrogen-rich fertilizer (special vegetable fertilizer or nettle manure);
- When flowers appear: fertilize with a potassium-rich fertilizer (tomato fertilizer or comfrey purin).
Plantation
When the risk of frost has passed, it's time to plant.
To enable your Pumpkin to thrive, leave 1.5 m between plants and 2 m between rows.
Pumpkins plants like rich soil. Before planting, work the soil to a depth of at least 45 cm. Spade, remove weeds, roots and stones. Amend with compost or manure.
Dig a hole slightly larger than the root ball. Add a nitrogen-rich fertilizer (ground horn or dried blood, for example) to the bottom. Plant your Cucurbita maxima without burying the leaves. If you want the stems to climb, place the first ones on the stake to guide them.
Tamp the soil gently and water generously. You can mulch the soil to conserve water, enrich the substrate and protect against slugs.
Seedling
Once the risk of frost has passed, you can sow your Cucurbita maxima seeds.
Pumpkins need space to grow. Separate seedlings by at least 1.5 m and rows by at least 2 m.
Loosen the soil to a depth of 20-30 cm. Incorporate well-decomposed manure or compost to enrich it. Remove weeds, stones and roots.
Pumpkins can be sown in stacks. Dig holes 1.5 to 2 meters apart and place 2 to 3 seeds per hole. Bury them under 2 cm of soil.
Water lightly after planting, then regularly. Keep the soil moist, but not soggy. Emergence takes about ten days.
Diseases / Threats
Information
| Lifecycle | Annual |
| Foliage | Evergreen |
| Exposure | |
| Substrat | |
| Planting method |
Open ground |
| Categories |
Vegetable |
| Tags |
Fritillary Large pot Soiffarde Edible vegetable |
| Origin |
South America |
| Hardiness (USDA) | 10b (1.7°C ≤ T° < 4.4°C) |
| Leaf color |
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| Flower color |
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| Fruit colors |
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