How Can Milk Help Pumpkins Grow Bigger?

Milk is said to help pumpkins grow bigger.

When attempting to grow a larger than life pumpkin, you may run into tales of farmers using milk to help their growth efforts. While milk can make a beneficial impact on the growth process, it does not have any properties that directly increase pumpkin size. However, milk does have the potential to keep your pumpkins healthy and free of disease that results in smaller growth.

Milk-Free Essentials

Using milk on your pumpkins is worth a try, suggests Linda Chalker-Scott, extension urban horticulturist and associate professor of the Washington State University. Home gardeners can experiment with milk for bigger pumpkin growth, though they should keep in mind that milk can smell bad while decomposing and dried skim milk may lead to rot problems. For a more surefire method of growing big pumpkins that weigh over 100 lbs., growers should select a jumbo variety when planting. One to two pumpkin plants should occupy every 150 square feet of space, according to the University of Illinois Extension. For even bigger pumpkins, growers should select one female blossom, allow that blossom to develop into a pumpkin and remove all other female blossoms.

Anecdotal Uses of Milk in the Garden

Some farmers inject milk into their pumpkins, while others are said to have created mixtures of milk and other ingredients like honey as plant food, according to North Dakota State University Extension horticulturalist Ron Smith. In addition, Washington State University Puyallup Research and Extension Center cites a 2005 Brazilian field test of the effects of raw or pasteurized milk sprayed on pumpkins, as a means of preventing powdery mildew with positive results.

Scientific Research

Milk has been a reliable treatment against tobacco mosaic virus, a disease that affects a wide variety of plants including pumpkins. In addition to a mottled appearance on plant surfaces and curling leaves, tobacco mosaic virus can stunt the growth of plants particularly when infection takes hold early in development. Infected pumpkins may not display all symptoms, but as infection remains, disease may be to blame for a pumpkin that stops growing. As there are no effective chemical treatments for viruses on plants like there are for many fungal and bacterial diseases, milk may help your pumpkin grow bigger by preventing potential stunting due to disease.

Considerations

Though milk is not a proven fungicide for powdery mildew, it has the potential to protect pumpkins against the reduced quality and yield associated with powdery mildew disease that often inhibits a pumpkin from reaching full size potential. Additionally, spraying pumpkins with milk decreases virus transmission. Milk may prove to act as an integral part of growing bigger, healthy pumpkins, particularly if viral pathogens are present in your gardening space. Consider growing one set of pumpkins through traditional methods while growing a test set of pumpkins with the use of milk to determine whether or not you notice any benefits in your own home garden.

References

• Washington State University Puyallup Research and Extension Center: The Myth of Milk and Roses; Linda Chalker-Scott, Ph.D.
• North Dakota State University Extension Service: Questions on Pumpkins; Hortiscope; Ron Smith
• Purdue University Extension: Powdery Mildew of Pumpkin
• University of Illinois Extension: Growing Pumpkins
• University of Delaware College of Agriculture & Natural Resources: Pumpkins and Winter Squash

Resources

• Alabama Cooperative Extension Service: Tobacco Mosaic Disease; Edward Silkorn
• "Columbia Daily Tribune": Farmers Turn to Milk for Fields; T.J. Greaney; July 2010