Pumpkin (Kaddu)
Cucurbita moschata / C. maxima
A sprawling ground vine that, unlike its cousins bottle gourd and bitter gourd, does not need a bower and does not have to be sold within days — a fully mature, well-cured pumpkin is one of the few vegetables on this site that genuinely stores for months, which is exactly what most growers get wrong by harvesting and selling it too soon.
Quick Summary
The key points from this page in about two minutes — read it or have it read aloud.
Quick Summary
Pumpkin (kaddu) is a warm-season cucurbit vine grown across India — West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat all grow it widely, usually as a summer (zaid) or rainy-season crop. Unlike bottle gourd and bitter gourd, it is not trained onto a bower; the vine is left to sprawl on the ground, so it needs far more space per plant and, in return, needs no trellis material at all.
The crop has two decisions that most other cucurbits do not. The first is pollination: pumpkin flowers open for only one morning, and if bees are scarce a poorly pollinated flower drops without setting fruit at all — many growers hand-pollinate a few flowers each morning in the first two weeks of flowering just to be sure. The second is when and how to harvest. Pull a pumpkin early like a bottle gourd and it never develops the hard rind, deep colour or sweetness that make it valuable; leave it on the vine until the rind is fully hard and does not dent under a thumbnail, cut it with a long stem stub attached, and cure it in the sun for a week, and it will then keep for two to three months in ordinary storage — something no other gourd on this site can do.
The rest of the crop is familiar cucurbit ground: red pumpkin beetle attacking the seedlings, fruit fly stinging the developing fruit, and downy and powdery mildew on the leaves in humid weather. A rich, well-manured soil and steady moisture through flowering and fruit fill carry the crop the rest of the way.
- Crop type
- Warm-season, ground-sprawling annual cucurbit vine
- Season
- Summer (Feb–Mar) or rainy-season (Jun–Jul) crop
- Suitable states
- West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat
- Growing duration
- 90–130 days to first mature harvest
- Water requirement
- Moderate, steady from flowering through fruit fill
- Temperature
- Warm, 24–30°C; frost-tender, poor fruit set in very high heat
- Soil type
- Deep, well-drained, rich sandy loam, pH 6.0–7.5
- Difficulty level
- Moderate (hand-pollination, judging harvest maturity, red pumpkin beetle)
- Expected yield
- 250–400 q/ha depending on variety and management
- Key risk
- Harvesting before the rind is fully hard — the fruit never sweetens and will not store
Overview
Pumpkin, or kaddu (Cucurbita moschata and C. maxima), is a warm-season vine of the cucurbit family grown for its large, hard-rinded, orange-fleshed fruit, eaten as a vegetable and used for sweets, soups and seed. It is a sprawling crop — the vine is usually left on the ground rather than trained onto a bower, so it takes far more space per plant than bottle gourd or bitter gourd.
It is grown across India, with West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat among the leading states, mostly as a summer crop sown February–March or a rainy-season crop sown June–July. The plant carries separate male and female flowers that open for a single morning, so good bee activity (or hand-pollination) at flowering is what actually decides how many of the many flowers turn into fruit.
Two decisions set pumpkin apart from its cucurbit relatives: making sure flowers are pollinated in the short window they are open, and harvesting only when the fruit is fully mature — a hard rind, a long stem left on, and a week of curing in the sun. Done right, this is one of the few vegetables here that keeps in ordinary storage for months rather than days.
Crop timeline, sowing to harvest
A quick visual map of the season — jump to any section below for the detail behind each stage.
- Day 0
Sowing
Seed dibbled 2–3 per pit at wide spacing (2.5–3 m between rows, 1–1.5 m in the row) on a well-manured bed; summer crop February–March, rainy-season crop June–July.
- Day 5–10
Germination & thinning
Seedlings emerge within a week; thin to the best 2 per pit once true leaves appear, and cover young seedlings against red pumpkin beetle.
- Day 25–40
Vine growth
The vine runs fast and is left to sprawl on the ground; a first top-dressing of nitrogen is given, and the field is weeded before the vine covers it.
- Day 40–55
Flowering
Separate male and female flowers open, each for one morning only. Check flowering plants in the early morning and hand-pollinate a few female flowers if bee activity looks thin.
- Day 55–100
Fruit development
Fruit sets and swells over several weeks; the rind hardens and colour deepens as it matures. Watch for fruit fly stings and mildew on the leaves through this stage.
- Day 100–130
Harvest & curing
Cut mature fruit with 5–8 cm of stem attached once the rind is hard enough to resist a thumbnail, and cure it in the sun for about a week before storing or selling.
Suitable states
States where this crop is grown at scale, highlighted below. Your local Krishi Vigyan Kendra is still the final word for your specific block.
- Jammu and Kashmir
- Himachal Pradesh
- Punjab
- Uttarakhand
- Haryana
- Delhi
- Uttar Pradesh
- Rajasthan
- Bihar
- Jharkhand
- West Bengal
- Sikkim
- Assam
- Arunachal Pradesh
- Meghalaya
- Nagaland
- Manipur
- Mizoram
- Tripura
- Gujarat
- Madhya Pradesh
- Chhattisgarh
- Maharashtra
- Odisha
- Goa
- Telangana
- Andhra Pradesh
- Karnataka
- Kerala
- Tamil Nadu
- Puducherry
- Ladakh
- Chandigarh
- Lakshadweep
Grown here
Climate requirements
Because the vine sprawls on open ground rather than climbing a bower, it is more exposed to soil-borne rot and to direct sun on the fruit than a trellised gourd — a light straw mulch under developing fruit helps with both.
Ideal temperature
A warm-season crop that grows best at 24–30°C. It has no frost tolerance and germination is poor below about 18°C. Very high heat during flowering (above about 38°C) dries out pollen and worsens poor fruit set on top of the pollination problem the crop already has.
Rainfall
Grown as a summer crop under irrigation or as a rainy-season crop on residual monsoon moisture. It tolerates short dry spells better than most cucurbits once established, but flowering and fruit fill need steady moisture; a long dry spell now gives small, poorly filled fruit.
Humidity
Moderate humidity suits vine growth, but prolonged leaf wetness in the rainy-season crop favours downy and powdery mildew and can rot fruit lying directly on wet soil.
Sunlight
Full sun is needed for vigorous vine growth, flowering and fruit colour; shaded vines flower poorly.
Soil requirements
Because plants are spaced 2–3 m apart and the pit — not the whole bed — carries most of the manure, under-filling the pits is the most common soil mistake: a vine planted into a poorly manured pit stays weak for its entire spread.
Suitable soil
A deep, well-drained, fertile sandy loam rich in organic matter suits pumpkin best. Because the vine is left on the ground and spreads several metres, land preparation is about the planting pit more than the whole field: a generous mix of well-rotted farmyard manure worked into each pit gives the vine the reserve it needs for its long sprawling growth.
pH range
Best at pH 6.0–7.5. It tolerates a slightly wider pH range than more sensitive cucurbits, but very acidic or very alkaline soil weakens the vine and cuts yield.
Drainage
Good drainage matters even though the crop tolerates dry spells — waterlogging around the root zone in the rainy-season crop quickly causes collar rot and vine wilt.
Organic matter
A heavy feeder for a vine crop: well-rotted FYM or compost dug into each planting pit, not just broadcast over the field, gives the strongest early growth and the best fruit size.
Land preparation
Same four steps whichever region you are in — only the timing shifts with the sowing window.
- 1
Wide-spaced pits, not close beds
Dig planting pits 2.5–3 m apart between rows and 1–1.5 m in the row (far wider than bottle or bitter gourd), since the vine sprawls on the ground rather than climbing.
- 2
Manure each pit generously
Mix 8–10 kg of well-rotted FYM or compost, plus the phosphorus and potash dose, into each pit — the pit is what feeds the vine for its whole spread, not the field between pits.
- 3
Level the sprawl area
Lightly level and clear the ground the vine will run over so fruit does not sit in low, wet patches, and consider a straw mulch under the area where fruit is expected to set.
Seed information
How the main varieties compare, so you can pick by duration, yield, disease pressure or what you are growing for.
| Variety | Duration | Yield | Disease resistance | Best state | Suitable for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
An IARI open-pollinated variety with vigorous vines and large, round, orange-fleshed fruit, widely grown across the northern plains for its heavy yield. | 110–120 days | 400–425 q/ha | No special resistance claimed | Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana | Main-season table pumpkin, heavy-yield plains crop |
An ICAR-IIVR (Varanasi) variety bred for very quick maturity, allowing an early harvest and a short crop cycle where land turnaround matters. | 65–70 days to first picking | 300–350 q/ha | No special resistance claimed | Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, eastern India | Quick-turnaround crop, early market entry |
An ICAR-IIHR (Bengaluru) variety bred with tolerance to fruit fly, the pumpkin crop's most damaging pest, alongside a good, uniform round fruit. | 100–110 days | ~340 q/ha | Tolerant of fruit fly | Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh | Areas with heavy fruit fly pressure |
An ICAR-IIHR bush-type (short-vine) variety bred for smaller plots and higher planting density, with medium-sized, good-keeping-quality fruit. | 95–110 days | 250–300 q/ha | No special resistance claimed | Karnataka, southern plains | Smaller plots wanting higher plant density |
A Tamil Nadu Agricultural University release with medium, oblong, orange-fleshed fruit, well adapted to Tamil Nadu's growing conditions and widely recommended there. | 100–110 days | ~300 q/ha | No special resistance claimed | Tamil Nadu | Tamil Nadu table and processing market |
A Kerala Agricultural University local favourite with soft, bright orange, sweet flesh well suited to curries and stews, popular in home gardens and local markets. | 95–110 days | 200–250 q/ha | No special resistance claimed | Kerala | Kerala home and local-market growing |
Pumpkin F1 Hybrid (private companies, e.g. "Amol") Several private seed companies sell F1 pumpkin hybrids for earliness and fruit uniformity — one widely traded example is sold as "Amol", giving flat-round, mottled-green-skinned, deep-orange-fleshed fruit of about 2.5 kg. Hybrid seed costs much more than open-pollinated seed and has no public trial data, so treat trader claims as a starting point, not a guarantee. | 85–90 days | Claimed by the seller; not independently verified | Not independently verified | Sold pan-India through seed dealers | Growers wanting an early, uniform hybrid crop and willing to pay more for seed |
- Seed rate
- About 3–4 kg/ha (roughly 1.2–1.6 kg/acre) for open-pollinated varieties dibbled 2–3 seeds per pit; F1 hybrid seed is sown at a much lower rate, often under 1 kg/acre, and costs far more per kilogram.
- Certified seed
- Buy fresh certified seed each season from a state seed corporation, an ICAR institute or a reputed company. Soak seed for a few hours before sowing to speed germination, and treat it with a fungicide against damping-off.
- Spacing
- 2.5–3 m between rows and 1–1.5 m within the row for a sprawling vine — far wider than bottle or bitter gourd, since the crop is not trellised.
- Seed treatment
- Treat seed with thiram or captan against damping-off and seedling rots before sowing; soaking 4–6 hours in water speeds and evens germination.
Sowing guide
Do not sow the summer crop into cold soil below about 18°C — germination is slow and patchy, and a thin early stand is hard to make up later.
- Best time
- Summer crop: February–March under irrigation. Rainy-season crop: June–July with the monsoon. In the far south and Kerala, sowing is more flexible outside the hottest and wettest extremes.
- Row spacing
- 2.5–3 m
- Plant spacing
- 1–1.5 m after thinning
- Sowing depth
- 3–4 cm
- Method
- Dibble 2–3 seeds per pit into manured pits, thinning to the best 2 plants once true leaves appear. Leave the vine to sprawl on the ground rather than staking or trellising it.
Fertilizer schedule
A split dose beats one large dose applied at sowing — nitrogen especially is lost to the air and to leaching if it all goes in on day one.
- 1
Basal (at sowing)
Day 0
Well-rotted FYM dug into each pit, plus the full phosphorus and potash dose and about a third of the nitrogen.
- 2
Vegetative top-dressing
Day 25–30
A second split of nitrogen as the vine runs, to carry it through to flowering.
- 3
Flowering / fruit-set top-dressing
Day 45–55
The final nitrogen split as flowering begins, to support fruit set and early fruit growth without overdoing leafy growth at the expense of flowers.
Irrigation schedule
1. Sowing to establishment
Day 0–20
Light, frequent irrigation in the summer crop to establish the seedlings; the rainy-season crop usually needs none at this stage.
2. Vegetative growth
Day 20–45
Water every 6–8 days in the summer crop as the vine runs; keep the rainy-season crop free of standing water instead.
3. Flowering to fruit fill
Day 45–100
The most water-sensitive period — irrigate every 6–8 days so flowering and fruit fill are not checked, then ease off as fruit approaches full maturity.
Critical stages
- Flowering and fruit set
- Fruit development and fill
Water-saving tips
- A straw or dry-leaf mulch under the sprawling vine conserves moisture, keeps fruit off wet soil, and cuts weeding.
- Because the crop is often intercropped or grown on residual monsoon moisture, many rainy-season plantings need little to no supplementary irrigation at all.
- Ease off water in the last two to three weeks before harvest — this concentrates sugar and helps the rind harden for storage.
Weed management
Organic control
- One or two hand-weedings in the first month, before the sprawling vine covers the ground and shades out most weeds itself.
- A straw mulch under and around young vines suppresses weeds and later keeps developing fruit off bare, wet soil.
Chemical control
- A pre-emergence herbicide cleared for cucurbits applied right after sowing, followed by one or two hand-weedings, is the practice on larger plots.
- Confirm the current product, dose and pre-harvest interval with your local KVK before spraying a crop whose fruit is eaten fresh.
Nutrient deficiency identification
What a shortage of each nutrient actually looks like on the plant, so you can tell a deficiency apart from a disease before you spray the wrong thing.
Nitrogen
Visible symptom
Pale, small leaves and a slow-running vine; but too much nitrogen also pushes leafy growth at the expense of flowers and fruit set, so keep the top-dressing moderate.
Potassium
Visible symptom
Scorched older leaf margins and small, thin-rinded fruit that does not colour deeply or store well — pumpkin needs good potash for rind hardening and sweetness.
Boron
Visible symptom
Poor fruit set and small, misshapen or hollow-cored fruit even where flowering looks normal — worst on light, sandy soils.
Diseases to watch for
Symptoms, likely cause and what actually treats it — not just a spray name.
Downy mildew
- Symptoms
- Pale yellow angular patches on the upper leaf surface with a fine grey-purple mould underneath in humid weather; leaves yellow and dry from the older leaves upward.
- Cause
- The oomycete Peronosporales, favoured by high humidity, dew and long leaf wetness.
- Treatment
- A protective or systemic downy-mildew fungicide from the first spots, repeated at 8–10 day intervals in wet weather.
- Prevention
- Wider spacing for airflow (helped by the crop's own wide layout), crop rotation, and avoiding overhead irrigation late in the day.
Powdery mildew
- Symptoms
- White, powdery fungal patches on both leaf surfaces and stems, spreading to cover whole leaves; affected leaves yellow, dry and drop early, weakening the vine and shrinking fruit.
- Cause
- Various Erysiphales fungi, favoured by warm days, cool nights and dry weather with some humidity — unlike downy mildew, it does not need free water on the leaf.
- Treatment
- Sulphur or a recommended systemic fungicide at the first white patches, repeated at 10–14 day intervals.
- Prevention
- Avoid excess nitrogen (which grows dense, susceptible foliage), keep the vine open, and remove badly affected leaves.
Pests to watch for
What to look for before the damage is visible, and organic options before you reach for a chemical.
Red pumpkin beetle
- Identification
- Bright orange-red beetles about 6–8 mm long, feeding in groups on the seedling's cotyledons and first true leaves, chewing round holes; the yellow, soil-dwelling grubs also feed on roots.
- Damage
- The single biggest threat to a young pumpkin stand — a swarm can strip and kill seedlings within days, and root-feeding grubs stunt the survivors.
- Organic control
- Cover seedlings with a net or basket until 4–5 true leaves, hand-collect the beetles in the cool early morning when they are sluggish, and deep-plough after harvest to expose overwintering adults and grubs.
- Chemical control
- A recommended seed or soil insecticide dressing at sowing, followed by a foliar spray at the first sign of beetles on young seedlings, following the label.
Fruit fly
- Identification
- Flies around flowering and fruiting vines; sting marks and oozing spots on the fruit surface, with maggots and rot developing inside when the fruit is cut open.
- Damage
- A stung fruit rots from inside and is unsellable, and heavy pressure can ruin a large share of the crop in a humid season.
- Organic control
- Hang cue-lure or methyl-eugenol traps from first flowering, put out a protein-bait spray on the foliage, and pick and deep-bury every stung and fallen fruit daily.
- Chemical control
- A recommended insecticide timed to first flowering where trapping alone is not enough, observing the pre-harvest interval.
Common mistakes to avoid
The mistakes that cost growers the most, ranked by how often they show up in the field — not in the order you might expect.
- 1
Harvesting before the rind is fully hard.
Why it hurts
A pumpkin cut too early never develops full colour, sweetness or a rind hard enough to protect it — it will not store and often rots within days instead of the months a properly matured fruit can keep.
- 2
Ignoring pollination in the first two weeks of flowering.
Why it hurts
Pumpkin flowers open for a single morning; where bee activity is poor, many female flowers drop unset. Hand-pollinating a few flowers each morning early in the season noticeably lifts fruit number.
- 3
Spacing the vine as tightly as bottle gourd or bitter gourd.
Why it hurts
Pumpkin sprawls on the ground rather than climbing a bower and needs far more room — crowded vines shade each other, tangle, and set fewer, smaller fruit.
- 4
Under-manuring the individual planting pit.
Why it hurts
Because the plant is fed mainly through its own pit rather than a broadcast field dose, a poorly manured pit leaves the vine short of reserves for its entire multi-metre spread.
- 5
Letting fruit sit directly on wet, bare soil.
Why it hurts
Fruit lying in contact with damp ground is prone to rot and discolouration on the underside; a straw mulch under developing fruit avoids this cheaply.
Harvesting
Cut mature fruit when the rind has hardened enough that a thumbnail no longer dents it, the colour has deepened to the variety's full shade, and the vine tendril nearest the fruit has dried. Cut with 5–8 cm of stem left attached — a fruit without its stem stub rots far faster in storage.
Signs it is ready
- Rind hard enough to resist a thumbnail
- Full, deep skin colour for the variety
- The nearby tendril dried and brown
- A dull, hollow sound when the fruit is tapped
Tools
- A sharp knife or secateurs for a clean cut leaving a stem stub
- Padded crates or straw bedding — a cracked rind spoils fast
- A dry, airy space for curing
Expected yield
Roughly 250–400 q/ha depending on variety and management — the higher end for well-manured, well-pollinated open-pollinated varieties like Pusa Vishwas.
Post-harvest & storage
Storage
Cure freshly cut fruit in a dry, sunny spot for about a week to harden the rind and seal the stem-end cut, then store in a cool, dry, well-ventilated place away from direct ground contact. A properly cured, undamaged fruit keeps for two to three months — far longer than any other gourd grown on this site.
Packaging
Handle whole fruit gently to avoid cracking the rind; a cracked or bruised pumpkin rots quickly regardless of curing. Pack in single layers with padding for transport, never in tightly stacked sacks.
Transportation
Move cured fruit in the cool part of the day, protected from impact rather than from heat — the hard rind tolerates warmth well but not knocks and drops.
Shelf life
Two to three months for a well-cured, undamaged mature fruit at ordinary room storage; an uncured or immature fruit spoils within one to two weeks.
Market prices
Today's mandi price near you, pulled live from the government's own Agmarknet data.
Live daily mandi prices from the government Agmarknet dataset.
Synced from data.gov.in (Agmarknet). Rates are ₹ per quintal.
Weather
Current conditions and a 5-day outlook for your selected location, with one line of stage-aware advice.
Pick your state for current conditions and a 5-day outlook.
Live data from Open-Meteo
Profit calculator
Your own cost sheet, expected yield and selling price — not ours.
Where the money goes
Share of the total cost per acre, using the calculator’s own default cost sheet below — adjust the numbers there to match your field and this picture will no longer apply to you exactly, but the ranking rarely changes.
- Labour33% (₹12,000)
- Land rent22% (₹8,000)
- Pesticide & weedicide11% (₹4,000)
- Fertiliser10% (₹3,500)
- Irrigation8% (₹3,000)
- Machinery7% (₹2,500)
- Seed5% (₹1,800)
- Interest4% (₹1,500)
Official downloads
Government and ICAR documents only — everything below is hosted on an official server.
ICAR-IARI, New Delhi — Division of Vegetable Science
Pusa Vishwas and general pumpkin package of practices
ICAR-IIVR, Varanasi
Kashi Harit and eastern-plains pumpkin advisories
ICAR-IIHR, Bengaluru
Arka Suryamukhi, Arka Chandan and southern pumpkin advisories
Kisan Call Centre — 1800-180-1551
Free crop advice in your language
Frequently asked questions
Why did so few of my pumpkin flowers turn into fruit?
Pumpkin flowers open for only one morning each, and if bees are scarce, many female flowers are never pollinated and simply drop. Check the field in the early morning during the first two weeks of flowering, and hand-pollinate a few female flowers by dabbing pollen from a freshly opened male flower onto them if bee activity looks thin.
How do I know when a pumpkin is ready to harvest?
Press the rind with a thumbnail — it should be hard enough that it does not dent. The skin colour should be fully deep for the variety, and the tendril nearest the fruit should have dried and browned. Cut it with 5–8 cm of stem left attached; a fruit without its stem stub rots much faster.
Can I really store pumpkin for months, or is that just for other vegetables?
Yes, genuinely — but only if it is harvested fully mature with the stem intact and cured in the sun for about a week first. Done properly, a pumpkin keeps for two to three months in ordinary dry storage, which sets it apart from bottle gourd, bitter gourd and most other vegetables that must be sold within days.
How much space does a pumpkin vine actually need?
More than most cucurbits — plant at 2.5–3 m between rows and 1–1.5 m within the row. Unlike bottle or bitter gourd, pumpkin is not trained onto a bower; the vine sprawls on the open ground, so crowding it the way you would a trellised gourd leaves the vines tangled and shading each other, with fewer and smaller fruit.
My young pumpkin plants were stripped almost overnight. What happened?
Almost certainly red pumpkin beetle — bright orange-red beetles that feed in groups on the cotyledons and first leaves and can strip a young stand within days. Cover seedlings with a net or basket until 4–5 true leaves have formed, and hand-collect the beetles in the cool early morning when they are sluggish.
Does pumpkin have an MSP or a mandi price?
There is no MSP for pumpkin. It is traded on Agmarknet as "Pumpkin", with regular records especially from Tamil Nadu's Uzhavar Sandhai markets and other vegetable mandis across the country. Prices vary widely by season and region.
Still have questions?
The FAQs above cover the common ones. For anything specific to your field and soil, your nearest Krishi Vigyan Kendra is the authoritative answer.