Pumpkin Leaves Yellowing – Common Causes and How I Fixed Them
By Parvez Akhtar Pasha | Sep 06, 2025
When I started growing pumpkins first time, I imagined having big, green leaves and healthy pumpkins everywhere. But reality hit me faster than a pumpkin rolling down a hill. Some of my beautiful green leaves started turning yellow you can see in the picture above.
At that time, I literally panicked, googled everything, even asked my neighbors, and lost a few leaves. Then I slowly realized the main reasons why pumpkin leaves turn yellow and what I could do to fix them.
I will share everything I did to save my pumpkin leaves here. Trust me, it's not as scary as it looks. They are usually easy to fix, and your pumpkin leaves can turn green and healthy again.
From my experience, the main reasons for yellowing leaves are watering problems, nutrient deficiencies, and weather stress.
Watering Issues - Overwatering or Underwatering
I remember one season when my pumpkin leaves started turning yellow from the bottom. I was really worried at first because I thought it was a disease. Then one of my neighbors looked at the plants and said, ''You're giving them too much water.'' And she was right.
Of course, that was the first time I grew pumpkins.
What I noticed after overwatering a pumpkin plant
- The leaves started turning yellow.
- The stems felt weak and soft to touch.
- The soil was too wet and muddy.
What I did
- I stopped watering every day so the plants wouldn't get too much water.
- I made sure the soil drains well so water doesn't stay around the roots.
- Most importantly, I avoided waterlogging because standing water can harm the plants.
Pumpkins need just the right amount of water. Too much or too little can make their leaves yellow.
If your pumpkin leaves are yellowing at the edges, it is definitely due to underwatering; you are not watering your plant enough. So, water your plant regularly and add mulch around the base to keep the leaves healthy.
I always water my plants in the morning, it works best. It keeps the plant healthy and keeps the fungus away.
Nutrient Deficiency – A Most Common Reason
Pumpkins are hungry plants. They need lots of nutrients to stay green. If you don’t give them enough, their leaves will start showing signs of it.
So, when the leaves turn yellow, it can also be the lack of key nutrients like nitrogen, magnesium, or potassium. And if you can identify which nutrient is missing, it will help you a lot to fix the problem quickly.
Don't worry, I will help you identify it and get your pumpkin leaves back to healthy green. Just follow the table below.
| Nutrient Deficiency | Symptoms | How to fix It |
|---|---|---|
| Nitrogen | Older leaves yellow too quickly, plant growth slowed | Add nitrogen-rich fertilizer or compost. Leaves will recover in 1–2 weeks. |
| Magnesium | Yellow between leaf veins, green edges | Spray Epsom salt solution on leaves. |
| Potassium | Yellow edges with brown spots | I just added organic ptassium sources. Plant looked healthier after a week. |
I personally experienced potassium deficiency in my pumpkin plants. To fix it organically, I used wood ash, banana peels, and manure as natural sources of potassium.
Apart from all these, when the weather suddenly turns too hot, too cold, or keeps changing, your pumpkin plants get a real shock, and their leaves turn yellow. This is basically called weather stress. You can easily fix this problem, just add mulch, give your plants some shade in extreme heat, and cover your plants when it is too cold outside.
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