Crop type: Pumpkins
Cucurbita pepo ‘Hundredweight’
Common name: Pumpkin ‘Hundredweight’
Crop slug: pumpkins
This Allotment Pro editorial draft summarises the cited RHS cultivar profile and its linked crop guidance. Check the sources and adjust cultivation decisions for local conditions.RHS cultivar profile
1 - Overview
‘Hundredweight’ is a large, scrambling pumpkin that needs ample room. It produces thick-skinned, bright-orange fruits ready to harvest in autumn. The plant can carry an ordinary crop of large pumpkins, but its defining use is giant-fruit growing: retain one well-positioned fruit and pinch out every later fruit so the vine directs its resources into a single specimen.
The cultivar is a tender annual with trailing growth and golden-yellow summer flowers that provide nectar and pollen for insects. Give it the warmest available open site, exceptionally fertile soil and a steady supply of water. It is unsuitable for a cramped bed despite the RHS profile also listing patio and container planting among possible garden uses.
2 - Size
- Ultimate height
- 0.1–0.5 metre
- Ultimate spread
- 1.5–2.5 metres
- Time to maturity
- one year
- Habit
- large, scrambling and trailing
- Fruit
- very large, thick-skinned and bright orange
Allow at least the profile's full spread and expect vigorous vines to travel beyond their original planting pocket. If exceptional fruit size is the goal, reserve much more surrounding ground so leaves remain in full light and the chosen pumpkin can lie safely on a broad dry support.
3 - Growing conditions
- Suitable soils
- Loam or sand
- Moisture
- Moist but well drained, or well drained
- Preferred pH
- Acid or neutral
Prepare a deep, fertile planting pocket enriched with generous garden compost or well-rotted manure. The soil should retain enough moisture to support rapid leaf and fruit growth without remaining saturated. Mulch after the ground warms, leaving a dry gap around the stem, and water deeply during dry weather.
Once the first fruit starts to swell, feed regularly with a high-potassium fertiliser. Consistent care is particularly important when only one fruit is being grown, because interrupted watering or nutrition limits its development.
4 - Position and hardiness
- Light
- Full sun
- Aspect
- South- or west-facing
- Exposure
- Sheltered
- Hardiness
- H2
‘Hundredweight’ tolerates low temperatures only while remaining above freezing. Sow and raise it under protection, then plant outside after the final frost in a sunny position protected from cold winds. Delay planting rather than exposing a checked or damaged young plant to cold soil.
5 - Colour and seasonal interest
Green, palmately lobed foliage forms a substantial summer vine, accompanied by solitary golden-yellow flowers. In autumn the crop becomes the focus: enormous, broadly rounded pumpkins with strongly ribbed, thick bright-orange skin and a stout attached stalk. The illustration should communicate heavy scale while keeping the fruit botanically plausible, without carving, lettering or competition props.
6 - Botanical details
- Family
- Cucurbitaceae
- Native to Great Britain and Ireland
- No
- Foliage
- Deciduous
- Habit
- Trailing
- Name status
- Unresolved
Genus
Cucurbita is a small genus of climbing or trailing annual plants native to Central and South America. Cultivated species bear large, often prickly, palmately lobed leaves, separate golden-yellow flowers and fleshy fruits grown for food and other uses.
Safety
Do not eat or feed to pets any fruit that tastes bitter. Unusual bitterness can indicate harmful cucurbitacins. Discard the fruit and remove the affected plant, and wear gloves or other protection when handling rough, prickly growth if needed.
7 - How to grow
Cultivation
Sow indoors from March to May in good-quality seed compost. Place each seed on its side about 1cm deep and maintain a constant 18–21°C. Give seedlings bright light and warmth, harden them off gradually and plant out only after frost risk has passed.
Choose a full-sun site with fertile, moisture-retentive but freely drained acid-to-neutral soil. Water deeply at the roots, mulch to conserve moisture and begin regular high-potassium feeding as the first fruits swell. Slide a strong board or tile beneath the selected fruit before it becomes difficult to move.
For a very large pumpkin, choose the healthiest early fruit with room to develop and remove all competitors as they form. Keep plenty of healthy foliage to feed it and avoid damaging the vine. Harvest before frost once the skin is fully coloured and hard, cutting with a long stalk attached.
Propagation
Propagate by seed, raising one strong plant per final growing position.
Suggested locations
- Large allotment or vegetable plot
- Wildlife-friendly productive garden
- Giant-pumpkin bed
- Very large patio container where growth can trail freely
Pruning
No routine pruning is required. Pinch out unwanted developing fruits only when concentrating growth into one exceptional pumpkin, and remove damaged or diseased foliage cleanly.
Pests
The profile records the cultivar as generally pest-free. Protect seedlings from slugs and snails and inspect the underside of sprawling growth as part of normal pumpkin care.
Diseases
May be susceptible to grey mould and powdery mildew. Avoid wetting foliage, water consistently, remove decaying material and maintain air movement around the broad vine.