With a blog named Midnight Pumpkin, of course the ads for black Midnight Pumpkins from Salinas Nursey caught my attention! I had to give these a try and see if I could really grow black pumpkins.
See the ad below, which says they are easy to grow and perfect for beginners and experts.
*This is currently an ongoing blog post documenting how it’s going growing these black pumpkins.
Ordering Midnight Black Pumpkins from Salinas Nursery
Ordering them was easy. The website looked legit, and not like the ones that sell fake plants. There’s a lot of scams on Facebook selling fake seeds!
I verified Salinas Nursery is a real place and a real business. I placed my order and managed to find a discount code. You can see it in the order below. It may still work!
Their website is: https://salinasnursery.co/
I went with five plants, because I figured I’d have a better chance of one of them surviving.
My total for five plants, with the discount, plus shipping was $36.99.
My Black Pumpkin Order Arrives
It took a little bit for my order to arrive, but when it did, they were very securely shipped.
They were all in tiny planters wrapped in tinfoil, and the soil was still moist, so they were in pretty good shape. They were also a decent size.
They came with good instructions of what to do next to perk them up a bit before planting.
I gave the some more water and set them in the light of my hydroponic garden, until I was ready to plants them.
I cut off the very yellow and dead leaves, and left the healthy ones.
How to Plant Midnight Pumpkins
Midnight pumpkins like plenty of sunshine, so I chose four different but very sunny spots to see where they grow best.
The instructions recommend at least 6 to 8 hours of direct sun each day. And to plant them in fertile, well-draining soil and give each plant about two feet of space so the vines have room to spread and there is good airflow around the leaves.
When transplanting, keep the top of the root ball about level with the surrounding soil rather than burying the stem deeply. Water thoroughly after planting and continue to provide consistent moisture, preferably watering at the base instead of soaking the leaves.
Where I planted them:
I put one in a pot, in my back porch garden. This spot gets the least amount of sun. Florida full sun can be really intense!
The next three I planted in my yard, where they get a lot of direct full sun all day long. These ones perked up pretty quickly, and the one with the most sun got a big flower in just a few days.
The last one I put in my hydroponic garden, just to see how it would do in there. I’m not sure what I’ll do when it starts getting bigger because I don’t think it can support a full pumpkin, so I may end up moving that one outside.
Pollinating Pumpkins
You do not need two Midnight pumpkin plants to produce pumpkins. Each plant produces both male and female flowers, and bees and other pollinators transfer pollen between them.
Having multiple plants nearby can increase the chances of successful pollination because more flowers will be available at the same time, but a single plant can produce pumpkins on its own.
Don’t worry if the first flowers appear without producing any pumpkins. Pumpkin plants often produce male flowers first. Female flowers are easy to spot because they have what looks like a tiny pumpkin directly behind the blossom. Once those begin appearing, successful pollination should result in pumpkins starting to grow.
Midnight pumpkins typically take around 70 to 75 days from transplanting to harvest, so these plants put in the ground in September could potentially produce pumpkins around late November.
So, I shouldn’t be expecting any black pumpkins for Halloween, but maybe they’ll be ready by Thanksgiving!
The Midnight Pumpkin Update at 3 Weeks
All of the pumpkins did well and started to grow. Some faster than others. Here’s how everything looks three week later.
Out of all the pumpkins plants, the one I put in my Lettuce Grow hydroponic garden is the one that’s growing the best!
It has the biggest, greenest leaves and looks healthiest.
The one I put in the pot upstairs, where it gets the least amount of sun, is doing OK. It hasn’t grown much or made any flowers.
The one with the most sun, that was doing great with the big flower, seems to be struggling. I think something may have gotten to it and eaten most of it.
And the two I put in the garden bed that gets full sun didn’t do well at first, but they appear to be bouncing back and look pretty healthy.
Their leaves are smaller and a lighter green than the ones in the hydro garden though.
Not a lot of excitement after three weeks, but at least there’s a little bit of progress. So far, it seems these do enjoy a good amount of sun and to be regularly watered.
I will do another update when they start flowering.
So come back if you want to see if I managed to get any black pumpkins!
Update 10/9
I’ ‘m excited to say I finally have a little pumpkin growing! Unfortunately, all my other pumpkin sprouts have either died, or look very small and sad.
But my hydroponic one is doing great!
I’m not sure what I will do when it starts getting bigger, but right now it’s doing great so I’m just letting it grow where it is.
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