Have you ever cleaned out your Halloween pumpkin and wondered what to do with the seeds?
If you ever considered planting them to have a pumpkin next year, there’s good news: you can plant seeds from store-bought pumpkins! All you have to do is remove the seeds from the pumpkin, rinse them off and plant them in the soil.
The pumpkin will grow into a great big vine with even more pumpkins on it.
How to Harvest Pumpkin Seeds
The first thing to do is cut your pumpkin open and scoop the guts out. You can use a spoon or your hand, just be careful you don’t cut yourself.
Once you have scraped out all the stringy innards, you will be left with a pile of seeds. To separate the seeds from the pulp of the pumpkin, simply rinse them in a colander. You can dry the seeds before planting them, or you can plant them straight away.
To dry the seeds – spread them out on a paper towel and let them sit for 24 hours. This will help them germinate faster once you plant them!
How to Plant Pumpkin Seeds
Based on my knowledge, I can personally say that pumpkins are not picky about where they are planted. In fact, I would bet that you don’t even have to plant the seeds and just leave an old, decaying pumpkin on the ground, and it will still grow pumpkins in your backyard.
However, if you do not want to grow pumpkins by accident, and want to do it intentionally, you can actually plant them in the ground, or in a large pot (that weighs at least 15-25 pounds). When planting pumpkins, you need to give them room to grow since they grow on a vine that produce multiple pumpkins;
- If you plant the seeds directly into the ground, you can plant 3 seeds each hole, but the holes should be at least 4 feet apart.
- If you plant them in pots, make sure that the pot is a minimum of 12 inches wide.
Next fill the pot with potting soil, and then create a small hole in the center of the soil. Place two to three pumpkin seeds in the hole and then cover them with potting soil. Gently pat down the soil so that the seeds are secure.
If you live in a region in which the ground freezes in the winter months, then I recommend starting your pumpkin plants in pots to be transferred outdoors after the last freeze.
One last thing! Don’t plant the outdoor pumpkins until the earth temperature consistently stays at or above 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
How to Care for Pumpkin Plants
Now that your seeds are sown, you will have a lot of work and time to do before you have a pumpkin to pick for Halloween.
Water
The water needs of pumpkins are serious so make sure to commit to watering regularly, especially during dry weather.
Water the soil until it is wet, and then move the pot to a sunny area.
Pumpkin seeds will take 10 days to germinate. After germination, thin the seedlings to one plant.
Thinning
Thinning plants allows for just the strong plants to uptake the nutrients and water in the soil, and will ensure that the plants are not competing for the light.
To Thin – Just pluck the undesired plants from the soil, or cut off the weak plants at the ground.
Do not worry – the remaining plant will do fine.
Fertilizer
Pumpkins also need lots of fertilizer.
They like a 10:10:10 rate of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. These nutrients are vital to developing the root system and ultimately the large fruit.
3 pounds of fertilizer should be incorporated into the soil at least 3 inches in a 100 square foot area, prior to planting seeds. You should be able to add fertilizer weekly or biweekly.
How Long Does It Take Pumpkins to Grow
The burning question is whether or not you will have pumpkin available before Halloween.
This will be determined as follows:
It will take your pumpkin seed about 10 days to germinate, after this it will take around 80-110 days for the pumpkin to be ready for harvesting.
Your plant is not fully developed yet, so you may only have a few small pumpkins this year, but it is still exciting when you think that it all started with a seed.
If you don’t mind waiting a little longer to pick your pumpkin (an extra 20 days), you will have a substantially more pumpkin to carve.
How to Tell When a Pumpkin is Ready for Harvest
When pumpkins are solid and vibrant in color (typically orange but sometimes yellow or white) they are ready to harvest.
You also want the pumpkin to have a hard enough outer skin that you can’t crack it with your fingernail.
Make sure the stem is at least 2-3″ long. If the stem is too short, the pumpkin is not yet ripe enough, and it will rot before maturity.
To harvest, simply cut the pumpkin from the vine using a sharp knife (and leave the longer stem, please!). The stem is like a handle, and it allows you to carry the pumpkin without dropping it!
If you want the pumpkin for food, bring it inside and wash it well with mild soap.
Make sure to wash it absolutely well, because you wouldn’t want to eat a pumpkin covered in dirt and bacteria.
After it is clean: you can store the pumpkin in a cool, dark area, until you are ready to eat it. In good conditions, a pumpkin will last for many weeks.
Final Thoughts
So yes, you can plant pumpkin seeds from a pumpkin you get from the store! It’s a fun way to include your family again, and grow your own for your next carving day or pumpkin pie day.
Once you know how to plant pumpkin seeds, care for the plants, and then harvest pumpkins when ready – go ahead and get started with your own patch.