Thinking about planting a half acre or acre of pumpkins in central Texas. Anyone have experience doing so? Wanting to plant the traditional jack-o-lantern. Ordered 2000 seeds from a supplier called Johnnys.

I plan on tilling the ground this month, potentially putting in a drip system, planting the seeds in rows, each seed 18" apart and each row 6 feet apart. Hoping for harvest in October.

Any thoughts, insight, recommendations?

I plant several in my garden each year. My observations is that 18" would be too close. They need a lot of water, and it doesn't rain every other afternoon here like it does where lots of those planting recommendations are made. I don't have the answer for you because I just spread them all over my garden and let them spread and shade the ground. They are fun to watch grow.

What is your plan for them? 1/2 acre will give you a truckload of pumpkins.

Thanks for the help.

Maybe 2/3 feet apart instead?

Plan is to potentially open it to the public this fall and sell them to the local community. I love all things gardening and have always had an interest in doing this, so this is the year.

Am I right that we should be planting this month (June)? With a 90-120 day growing season until harvest?

My grandfather always had pumpkins in his garden, but he planted them in mounds versus rows. He would do three 6 foot diameter mounds every year, and would have tons of fruit.

barnag said:

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Thinking about planting a half acre or acre of pumpkins in central Texas. Anyone have experience doing so? Wanting to plant the traditional jack-o-lantern. Ordered 2000 seeds from a supplier called Johnnys.

I plan on tilling the ground this month, potentially putting in a drip system, planting the seeds in rows, each seed 18" apart and each row 6 feet apart. Hoping for harvest in October.

Any thoughts, insight, recommendations?

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Everyone harvests in Oct. Dude push that back to December and you could have a monopoly.

Pumpkin plants take up a lot of room. You'd want to plant rows at least 6 feet away from each other. I wouldn't put plants any closer than 4 feet From each other In a row. What I usually do in my small 3000 square-foot garden is plant two or three seeds at a time in one location and leave the strongest one.

Drip irrigation should work fine; that's what I use on mine, although I use the amateur pack you get at Lowe's, which can be supplied water with a regular water hose.

i am very interested to see how this goes.


Done this in new braunfels and they grew great until July and then became cooked pumpkins


Done this in Houston and they were eaten by wildlife before July.

2-3 ft should be good. You can play with different spacing and report back to the group and let us know what you liked.

Do yourself a favor and plant some musque de provence mixed in with your others. The very best pumpkin pie you will ever have, and makes a delicious soup as well.

evestor1 said:

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i am very interested to see how this goes.


Done this in new braunfels and they grew great until July and then became cooked pumpkins


Done this in Houston and they were eaten by wildlife before July.

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I can come back and post pics and progress

I raise a few pumpkins in East Texas. Lots of watermelons which are similar in needs. I plant 3 to 4 seeds in mounds that are three or four steps apart and have an empty row between rows with plants as laid off by my cultivator. They do need lots of water, especially if you want big ones.

I gave up on pumpkins. Mine always get INFESTED with aphids. Real bummer because we were excited to try them. I'd be willing to try them again if anyone has any tips. Any recs on varieties for carving that do well in our heat?

SharkinAg said:

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I gave up on pumpkins. Mine always get INFESTED with aphids. Real bummer because we were excited to try them. I'd be willing to try them again if anyone has any tips. Any recs on varieties for carving that do well in our heat?

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Most likely squash vine borers, but could be aphids.

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SharkinAg said:

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I gave up on pumpkins. Mine always get INFESTED with aphids. Real bummer because we were excited to try them. I'd be willing to try them again if anyone has any tips. Any recs on varieties for carving that do well in our heat?

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zooguy96 said:

Most likely squash vine borers, but could be aphids.

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No mine never got big enough to be bothered by borers. I just really struggle with aphids on all my cucurbits once I get past may unfortunately.

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SharkinAg said:

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I gave up on pumpkins. Mine always get INFESTED with aphids. Real bummer because we were excited to try them. I'd be willing to try them again if anyone has any tips. Any recs on varieties for carving that do well in our heat?

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zooguy96 said:

Most likely squash vine borers, but could be aphids.

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SharkinAg said:

No mine never got big enough to be bothered by borers. I just really struggle with aphids on all my cucurbits once I get past may unfortunately.

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Diatomaceous earth and seven

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+ 2 more quotes (click to expand)

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SharkinAg said:

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I gave up on pumpkins. Mine always get INFESTED with aphids. Real bummer because we were excited to try them. I'd be willing to try them again if anyone has any tips. Any recs on varieties for carving that do well in our heat?

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zooguy96 said:

Most likely squash vine borers, but could be aphids.

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SharkinAg said:

No mine never got big enough to be bothered by borers. I just really struggle with aphids on all my cucurbits once I get past may unfortunately.

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zooguy96 said:

Diatomaceous earth and seven

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Thanks. I may be a bit more aggressive with sevin dust this year. I think I'll give it another try.

I have had good luck with pumpkins near Brownwood, but have not tried the volume OP is going to attempt.

They make molds you can buy on Amazon to place over the fruit when it is small, and then you can have frankenstein shaped (or some other shaped ) pumpkins. I will try to do some of that when I retire.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=pumpkin+molds+for+growing&crid=FRDIC9AAV2QO&sprefix=pumpkin+molds%2Caps%2C150&ref=nb_sb_ss_p13n-pd-dpltr-ranker_3_13