Pumpkin

Pumpkins are a kind of vegetable crop. They have very different growth behaviours from other crops.

Obtaining

Pumpkins are not found as wild crops, instead seeds are rarely found inside loot vessels.

After successfully planting and harvesting pumpkins, seeds can be crafted from the full pumpkin fruits by simply putting them into the crafting grid. One full pumpkin will only turn into one seed, so planning is necessary to ensure there are enough pumpkins grown to replant the crop.

On multiplayer servers, it might be easier to trade established players for seeds rather than trying to find your own.

Growing

Pumpkins go through 8 growth stages over 7 days. They use up 30% P nutrients from their farm block. Unlike other crops, which grow only on the block they are planted, pumpkins spread out as vines from a central mother plant. Mature pumpkins grow on the vines generated by the mother plant.

Pumpkin Mother Plant

Pumpkins consist of three main components: The mother plant, vines and the fruit. The mother plant follows the growth behavior defined in the crop properties and behaves the way other crops do. However, once the plant reaches stage 3 or above it has a 50% chance to spawn a stage 1 vine on any of the 4 adjacent sides as long as the the position is occupied by air or a block with replaceable >= 6000 and that the supporting block (underneath) is solid. After 6 in game days it will no longer spawn vines.

Vine behavior

A vine will advance 1 stage every 12 in-game hours. During stage 2 it has a 50% change to spawn another stage 1 vine. The vine has a 75% chance to spawn in the opposite direction of the parent and a 25% to spawn to the left or right. Six in-game hours after reaching stage 3, this new vine has a 50% chance of becoming a flowering stage 3 vine.

• At the beginning and end of each time interval, a flowering stage 3 vine has:
  • A 50% chance to spawn a pumpkin on any of the 4 adjacent sides (if free)
  • A 50% chance to revert to a normal stage 3 vine
  • After 3 time intervals it will turn back into a normal stage 3 vine

Planting guidelines

The vines rarely spread beyond 4 away from the mother plant. The longer vines grow straight out from the pumpkin therefore if planting seeds in a straight line, leave at least 8 blocks between mother plants. Plants will yield roughly 2.6 pumpkins on average.

On occasions, a maximum range of 6 has been encountered for the vines, with pumpkins growing at a distance of 7 to the mother plant. These are, however, rarely seen.

Uses

Pumpkins can be eaten whole, to provide 480 vegetable satiety. Whole pumpkins cannot be used for cooking.

Pumpkins can also be crafted with a knife in the crafting grid to produce pumpkin slices. Pumpkin slices can be used in cooking, where it qualifies as a vegetable and therefore as a primary ingredient in vegetable stew, or as a secondary ingredient in meat stews, soups and porridges.

Pumpkins, whole or sliced, benefit from storage in a cellar. Pumpkin slices can be pickled to further extend their lifespan.