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I'm in Atlanta area & Last year 2007 I got pumpkin seeds from HomeD store... and I DIDN'T EVEN GET ONE PUMPKIN although they grew nice leaves and had plenty of nice big flowers. I'm afraid it didn't get enough morning sun. I know it got plenty of water despite the drought 'cause I did drip irrigation. Does anyone know a good variety for Atlanta area? Prefer one with mildew resistance. I might have to try buying a grocery store pumpkin and plant it. Oh yes, and when should I plant pumpkins for Halloween? I've been planting them on July 4th and that timing seemed to be right, at least in 2006 it was. Thank you!
I don't know very much about pumpkin growing except that the deer here love to eat the leaves down to little 1" nubs. I did plant a couple of kinds of pumpkins last summer. One called Jack O'Lantern and one of those little bitty pumpkin kinds. I can't remember what it is called. We got 3 pumpkins off the large variety but none on the small variety at all.
Where is Farmerdill when we need him?
I hope someone will come along soon who can help you with better specifics.
I do answer D-mail you know. Most pumpkins cultivars grow in Georgia, not as pretty maybe as those grown above the Mason Dixon line. They do need full sun and space. The Halloween (carving pumpkins) (the 15-20 lb orange ones) are not particularly good eating. Sorcerer is one of the better ones for Halloween decoration. Frosty and Big Autumn are short vine types and easier to deal with where space is a factor. But there are lots of others that do well in this area. Just grab a Twilley catalog and find out what the market growers are growing. I don't grow many of this type preferring C. Moschatas and C. Mixtas. The Halloween types are very susceptible to squash vine borer, so you have pay careful attention to them. The pickle worm arrives here around the first of July, so I have to plant pumpkins early or late. Early so that the rinds are hard enough to be non palatable when the pickle worms arrive or for the young pumpkins to arrive in early September after the pickle worms have left for the most part.
I can't help in terms of a GA specific pumpkin (even though I used to live in Atlanta -- Go Braves!), but there are quite a few pumpkins that have been breed for powdery mildew resistance. Please note that they offer resistance, which means they survive the PM and still produce fruits while they have PM.
Here's a great list of PMR squash / pumpkins from the University of NH Cooperative Extension:
