GardenTrack
Join the beta

Annual Vegetable · 44 varieties

Pumpkin

Cucurbita pepo

Cucurbitaceae — the same plant family as winter squash, cucumber, summer squash, melon and 7 more here. Relatives share pests and diseases, which is why rotation plans group by family.

Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) is an annual vegetable. It wants full sun and pH 6–6.5 soil, with about 1 in of water weekly. It matures in about 70–120 days from sowing. Watch for squash bugs and powdery mildew. Below: its full sourced profile from 8 extension sources, plus a planting calendar timed to your frost dates.

Sun Full sun
Water Moderate
Matures 70–120 days — from seed from seed
Mature size 1–3 ft
Spacing 36–48 in
Soil pH 6–6.5
Frost Tender
When to plant pumpkintypical · zone 6b
Your zone
…or your ZIP, for your real frost dates

Germinating
Seedlings
Growing
Flowering
Fruit set
Ripening
Harvest
Curing

Typical dates for zone 6b — set your zone or ZIP for yours. This calendar assumes the crop is direct sown. Timing is a guide from the crop's sourced growth stages; confirm with your local frost dates and extension before you sow.

Growing pumpkinevery fact says where it came from

What we will not put a number on

We do not give a feeding rate for this crop, and that is deliberate rather than a gap. The figures published by extension services are pounds of nitrogen per acre for a production field — they do not convert safely to a raised bed or a pot without knowing your soil test and your fertilizer's analysis, and guessing errs toward burning roots. It is also why every chart you find online disagrees with the next one.

We give watering as a depth per week rather than gallons per plant, because that is how it is actually measured and how the published figures are written. A gallons-per-plant number depends on your spacing, your soil and whether the plant is in a pot — so it would look more precise than it is.

Site & soil

Sun
Full sun
Soil pH
6–6.5
Soil texture
Loam, Well drained
Frost tolerance
Tender
Suffers in days above
90 °F
Suffers in nights above
70 °F

No published figure for the temperature that would kill it. We looked — where a number is missing here it is missing from the research, not skipped. The crop’s frost and heat tolerance above still applies.

The plant

Mature height
1–3 ft
Mature spread
2–25 ft
Growth rate
Fastest
Spacing in row
36–48 in
Between rows
72–96 in
Planting depth
0.5–1.5 in
Container size
8–10 gal — low end is the minimum, high end is betterest
Support
Self-supporting
Grown from
Direct sow, Transplant

Water & feeding

Water needs
Moderate
Water per week
1 in/wk
Critical water
Fruit set
Feeding
Heavy

Timing & fruiting

Days to maturity
70–120 days from seed
Start indoors before planting out
4 wk
Harvest cues
Skin set, Fruit coloring
Damaged in the ground at
28 °F

There is no line here for how many weeks early to start it indoors, because we have no figure to put there. We went looking and wrote down what we read — it is missing on purpose, not because nobody checked.

Planted again for autumn

Sow by
mid Aug typical · zone 6b

70 days to maturity from sowing, counted back from the first frost above. Not published for anywhere in particular: it is your own frost date and this crop's own figure, which is why it works wherever you are. A days-to-maturity figure is a catalog number for a good season rather than a promise, and a cold month moves it.

Edible parts per source: fruit, seed.

What tends to go wrongmost-cited first
PestsSquash bugsSquash vine borerStriped cucumber beetleSpotted cucumber beetleAphidsPicklewormSquash beetleSeed corn maggot
DiseasesPowdery mildewDowny mildewBacterial wiltFruit rotAnthracnoseCucurbit virus

Compiled from the extensions cited below. Which ones actually show up depends on your region — your extension's local list is the last word.

Featured varieties44 with their own page
Aladdin Jack O Lantern · 115d Atlantic Giant Giant · 120d Autumn Gold Jack O Lantern · 70–75d Baby Bear Mini · 105d Baby Boo Mini · 100d Baby Pam Pie Sugar · 99d Big Max Giant · 100d Blue Doll Specialty · 100d Casper White · 90d Champion Jack O Lantern · 95d Cinderella Pie Sugar · 110d Cinderella's Carriage Specialty · 110d Connecticut Field Jack O Lantern · 100–110d Cotton Candy White · 110d Fairytale Pie Sugar · 110d Full Moon White · 115–125d Galeux d'Eysines Specialty · 95d Gladiator Jack O Lantern · 100d Hijinks Jack O Lantern · 100d Howden Jack O Lantern · 105d Jack Be Little Mini · 90d Jack O'Lantern Jack O Lantern · 100d Jarrahdale Specialty · 100d Kakai Hulless Naked Seed · 100d Knuckle Head Ornamental · 105d Lady Godiva Naked Seed · 100–110d Long Island Cheese Pie Sugar · 108d Lumina White · 90d Magic Lantern Jack O Lantern · 115d Marina di Chioggia Specialty · 100d Munchkin Mini · 95–100d New England Pie Pie Sugar · 102d One Too Many Ornamental · 110d Orange Smoothie Specialty · 95d Porcelain Doll Specialty · 110d Prizewinner Giant · 120d Racer Jack O Lantern · 85d Rouge Vif d'Etampes Pie Sugar · 115d Small Sugar Pie Sugar · 95–100d Snowball White · 100d Sugar Pie Pie Sugar · 90–115d Warty Goblin Ornamental · 105d Wee-B-Little Mini · 120d Winter Luxury Pie Sugar · 105d

Open one and add it to your garden — it lights up here. The rest of the 44 are in the full list below.

All 44 varietiesthe ones with their own page are linked
Variety TypeHabit DaysColorDiseaseWhat it is known for
Aladdin F1 Jack O Lantern 115 Orange
Atlantic Giant F1 Giant 120 Orange
Autumn Gold F1 Jack O Lantern 70–75 Orange
Baby Bear Mini 105 Orange
Baby Boo Mini 100 White
Baby Pam Pie Sugar 99 Orange
Big Max Heirloom Giant 100 Orange
Blue Doll F1 Specialty 100 Blue
Casper Heirloom White 90 White
Champion F1 Jack O Lantern 95 Orange
Cinderella Heirloom Pie Sugar 110 Orange
Cinderella's Carriage Heirloom Specialty 110 Red
Connecticut Field Heirloom Jack O Lantern 100–110 Orange
Cotton Candy F1 White 110 White
Fairytale Heirloom Pie Sugar 110 Orange
Full Moon White 115–125 White
Galeux d'Eysines Heirloom Specialty 95 Orange
Gladiator F1 Jack O Lantern 100 Orange
Hijinks F1 Jack O Lantern 100 Orange
Howden Jack O Lantern 105 Orange
Jack Be Little Heirloom Mini 90 Orange Urban Farmer Seeds describes this askeeps a long time after picking
Jack O'Lantern Jack O Lantern 100 Orange
Jarrahdale Heirloom Specialty 100 Blue Johnny's Selected Seeds describes this askeeps a long time after picking
Kakai Hulless Naked Seed 100 Orange, Green
Knuckle Head F1 Ornamental 105 Orange
Lady Godiva Heirloom Naked Seed 100–110 Orange
Long Island Cheese Heirloom Pie Sugar 108 Brown
Lumina White 90 White
Magic Lantern F1 Jack O Lantern 115 Orange POWDERY_MILDEW
Marina di Chioggia Heirloom Specialty 100 Green
Munchkin Mini 95–100 Orange
New England Pie Heirloom Pie Sugar 102 Orange
One Too Many F1 Ornamental 110 White
Orange Smoothie F1 Specialty Bush 95 Orange
Porcelain Doll F1 Specialty 110 Pink
Prizewinner F1 Giant 120 Orange
Racer F1 Jack O Lantern 85 Orange
Rouge Vif d'Etampes Heirloom Pie Sugar 115 Red
Small Sugar Heirloom Pie Sugar 95–100 Orange
Snowball F1 White 100 White
Sugar Pie Heirloom Pie Sugar 90–115 Orange
Warty Goblin F1 Ornamental 105 Orange
Wee-B-Little Mini Bush 120 Orange John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds describes this ashappy in a pot
Winter Luxury Heirloom Pie Sugar 105 Orange
Sources8 cited · 7 organizations
  • Clemson Cooperative Extension HGIC
  • NC State Extension
  • UMass Extension (Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment)
  • University of Illinois Extension
  • University of Maryland Extension
  • University of Minnesota Extension
  • Utah State University Extension

We compile bare facts from these university-extension and horticultural sources, never copied prose. 21 of the 23 values on this page carry a citation. The rest are marked est; hover one and it says why — either nobody publishes a figure we could point at, or a person set it and attached no source. Figures vary with climate and seed source; confirm with your local extension before you buy.

Growing more than pumpkin? Browse all crops, or grab the spacing calculator and frost date lookup. The GardenTrack app (now in beta) remembers what you planted and where, then tells you what to do and when. Join the beta →