How to Grow Pumpkins Vertically on a Trellis

06.06.2023 - 15:45 / gardenerspath.com / Laura Ojeda Melchor / Winter Squash

It’s cute, really, for me to look back on the little bamboo hoops I erected for my pumpkin plants earlier this summer.

I’d never grown the Cucurbits before, and I figured the vines would curl neatly around the tiny bamboo hoops and produce precious, delicate gourds.

If you have ever grown pumpkins, you know how wrong this is.

At first, the attractive hoops did the job just fine. The young vines grew slowly. I fastened them to the hoops with gardening ties and smiled at their gentle beauty.

We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission.

And then I left for the weekend sometime in midsummer. When I returned, my ‘Howden’ vine had turned into a thriving monstrosity.

It had essentially railed against the tiny bamboo hoop and demanded a better trellis. I responded by giving it some space on the tomato fence and apologizing for my rookie mistake.

If you want to train your pumpkins on a trellis but don’t know where to start, we’ve got you covered.

Here’s what I’ll go over in this article:

Somewhere in all my research about growing these members of the Cucurbitaceae family, I glossed over the well-documented fact that your average pumpkin vine can grow to anywhere from 10 to 20 feet in length.

Because of that, I ended up having to force my tomatoes to share a plastic trellis with my ‘Howden’ vines, because you can’t even see the little bamboo hoop that I initially installed anymore. The vines and leaves have consumed it entirely.

Even though my plant is being supported by a tomato trellis, the gourds are growing wonderfully.

Perhaps too wonderfully! One of my ‘Howden’ fruits is larger than my