Growing Pumpkins Hydroponically

Can you grow pumpkins using a hydroponic system?

Pumpkin carving is an age-old Halloween tradition, and by nature, they are enormous fruits to grow! 🎃

They are usually grown in soil to provide enough space to thrive, but is it possible to grow pumpkins using a hydroponic system where the roots are suspended in water with a nutrient solution?

Yes, it is possible!

However, there’s not much information available on how to grow pumpkins using a hydroponic system.

First of all, pumpkins will need more space during their grow-cycle than other types of plants, but this can be facilitated using the right hydroponic system, which we will get to.

An increasing number of growers are supporting the grow-your-own-food movement, and hydroponic systems are being used more and more in food production.

What system would be best suited for growing pumpkins?

The main thing you need to know about growing pumpkins hydroponically is that they consume a large amount of water due to the size of their roots, meaning not every system will be ideal to grow pumpkins in.

We would especially recommend avoiding using an NFT system, which is often a popular choice for beginners, but pumpkins will completely clog up this type of system in no time.

Deep Water Culture

The hydroponic system we recommend using for growing pumpkins is a Deep Water Culture system.

This is because a Deep Water Culture system has a large enough root space for such an enormous fruit.

It is common knowledge amongst experienced hydroponic growers that the larger the nutrient solution reservoir is, the bigger the plant will get, so a large pumpkin will thrive in a larger nutrient reservoir.

If you use a system that has a large space for roots (such as a Deep Water Culture system) it will promote a more developed root system, which will lead to greater water and nutrient uptake.

Also, not only will this type of system have enough space for the roots but for the plant itself, as pumpkins can grow pretty large, so you will need to have enough space to house them!

Fortunately, the DWC system will provide more than sufficient space for your pumpkins to thrive.

We advise you to grow no more than 3 pumpkins in your first grow cycle, to ensure that there is definitely enough space for the roots, before growing more.

Optimum Growing Conditions 🎃

The optimum conditions for growing pumpkins hydroponically to ensure they will grow as large as possible must be maintained, as any imbalance will result in stunting the growth of your pumpkins.

Be sure to keep a close eye on them and monitor them every day!

Temperature

The perfect temperature for growing pumpkins is 65°F to 95°F when growing either indoors or outdoors, maintaining this temperature is vital.

Temperature levels will drop as Halloween approaches in October, at which point if you are growing outdoors you should move your system indoors for greater control over the temperature.

Note: When you move your grow system indoors you should consider using artificial grow lights as your pumpkins will no longer be getting sunlight.

Light Requirements

When growing pumpkins you must ensure that they receive at least 8 hours of full light per day whether outdoors on indoors, using grow lights will help you boost the yield.

LED grow lights will significantly boost the rate of your pumpkin’s growth.

Nutrient pH

You should aim to keep your nutrient solution’s pH around 6.0 to 6.8.

Pumpkins are notoriously heavy feeders that require a large amount of water and nutrients to thrive, therefore you will need to keep a close eye on your nutrient solution level each day and keep it topped up. However, make sure your solution level is not too high as this can cause root rot.

We hope this blog has well-informed you of the optimum conditions for growing pumpkins! 🎃

Thanks for reading! 🙂