indoor pumpkins?

Dear fellow growers. I have just planted a variety of pumpkins in my dorm room. I have always loved growing things and thought it would be cool to grow pumpkins indoors... my setup is as follows. I have 6 6' pots each with one seed. (I will repot obviously as they grow)I have one ballast over them right now. It is a shop light with flouro's I have on a 16/8 timer. I have increased the temperature in my room to 80 degrees since I have read that they love warm weather. It sucks to sleep in that hot of a room but I have gotten used to it. I used regular potting soil I will fertilize after they have sprouted and taken firm root. I intend to use the flouro until they are ready to go into the bloom phase after that Ive got a 1000 watt HPS so that they get plenty of good light. My question is: Can I sustain these plants in pots. I have done some reading and most sources say to allow about 150 feet around each mound. I obviously don't have this but I can put them in some giant pots. My plan is to let 6 go until flowering so I can discern the males from the females then pollinate with a fine paint brush. then kill all of them but the most promising female plant. What I need to know is: Is this whole thing even feasible? or am I going to need more space in order to do this indoors. Any comments will be greatly appreciated I have no problem if it will be challenging I just need to know if its possible. Thanks,
Bond

Dear pumpkin bond, unless this is a new type of pumpkin, there won't be separate male and female plants, but separate male and female flowers on the same plant, so you don't have to wait till flowering to thin them out. I would suggest that you reduce the numbers early and just keep two or three of the strongest plants. You can pollinate with a paint brush or just pick off a male flower and place it over the female flower. I don't know if it's possible to get them to bear in your dorm room, but nothing beats trying. Good luck.

are you prepared to have a ten foot vine going across the room? or several. I had plants in my dorm room, but not that! I hope you'll consider a plant degree, if they are such an interest of yours, you can see from this site how many people are dedicated to growing plants.

We grew a couple of pumpkins this year. They were the Jack O' Lantern variety as I remember. The vines were 20-25 feet long.

Good luck!


Karen

My goodness, good luck! The vines will be long, mine are always over 15" feet. What variety did you plant? I love curcubits..all of them. At east you won't have deer eating them up.

Yes, the deer loved ours -- funniest thing is to see the vines with just 1" stubs where the leaves used to be.

Karen

been there, with groundhogs.