Pumpkins are one of the most versatile crops that you can grow in Minecraft. They appear naturally in the game and grow on grassy areas. You can “mine” them using any standard tool, but an axe will work slightly faster than others.
You can do several things with your pumpkin, including:
- Carve it
- Plant and farm new pumpkins with seeds
- Create a jack o’lantern
- Summon iron and snow golems
- Craft pumpkin pie.
Where to find pumpkins
You can find pumpkins in most grassy biomes. They grow on any standard grass block, even blocks that are covered with snow.
You can also find pumpkins in woodland mansions, pillager outposts, taiga, and snowy taiga villages.
Pumpkins also appear in shipwreck supply chests, usually in stacks of 1-3. They have a 15.6% drop rate. (17.7% in Bedrock Edition).
When you play Minecraft on Halloween (October 31) in the Java Edition, some mobs have a small chance of wearing a carved pumpkin on their heads. These mobs include Zombies, Zombie Villagers, Skeletons, Wither Skeletons, Drowned, Husks, Strays, and Zombie Pigmen. When you kill these mobs with a tool that is enchanted with the Looting power, there is a small chance (3% or less) that the carved pumpkin will drop. Because the drop chance is so low, this is more of a novelty. There are much easier (and safer) ways to get carved pumpkins!
Finally, you can sometimes purchase pumpkins from Wandering traders. They cost a very hefty fee of 1 emerald each, so you’ll only want to purchase them in very rare and extreme circumstances.
Note that you can sell pumpkins to some apprentice farmer villagers in stacks of 6 for one emerald each. Once you have a successful pumpkin farm going (see below), this can be a very lucrative option.
How to grow pumpkins
Want to know how to plant pumpkins? It’s easy once you understand the basics of growing pumpkins in Minecraft. Note that there are some important tips about placement, as pumpkins grow differently than other seed crops.
First, pumpkins are grown from pumpkin seeds. You’ll need to either get pumpkin seeds from an existing pumpkin that you find in the world (you carve it to get the seeds), or you can find the seeds in chests in a variety of locations in the game.
Plant the seeds in a plot of farmland. The seeds will turn into a central stem, which takes between 10-30 minutes to completely grow. Once the stem is fully grown, pumpkins will randomly appear on adjacent blocks, as long as those blocks are free of obstructions (such as other seedlings, plants, etc.) For this reason, it’s best to plant pumpkins alone, with several blocks left empty around them.
If you harvest just the pumpkin and leave the stem untouched, it will continue to grow new pumpkins.
You can place bone meal on pumpkin stems to make them fully grown, but it will not speed up the appearance of the pumpkins themselves.
How to carve pumpkins
Carving pumpkins in Minecraft is very easy to do. Just carve the pumpkin by using iron shears. The pumpkin will appear with a face on it and it will also drop 4 pumpkin seeds.
How to make a jack o’lantern
If you really want to get into the Halloween spirit, you can turn a carved pumpkin into a jack o’lantern. To do this, use a crafting table and combine a Carved Pumpkin with a Torch. The resulting jack o’lantern can be used as a light source, and it looks great on a doorstep or in a window.
Crafting with Minecraft Pumpkins
- In addition to a jack o’lantern, you can make Pumpkin Pie and Pumpkin seeds.
- You make Pumpkin Pie with a pumpkin, sugar, and an egg.
- Pumpkin seeds drop when you carve a pumpkin. Each time you carve a pumpkin, it drops 4 seeds.
Building Golems with Minecraft Pumpkins
Want to summon a big buddy to fight by your side against some of the tougher mobs in the game? Once you have a carved pumpkin and a few other required blocks, you can construct either an iron golem or a snow golem to fight alongside you. These are the same golems you’ll find protecting villages.
Iron Golem
To construct an iron golem, you’ll need four iron blocks and one carved pumpkin. You can assemble Iron blocks from nine iron ingots. So you’ll need 36 iron ingots in total if you don’t already have the blocks.
Once you have the required materials, assemble the iron blocks in a t-shape. There should be three across and one at the bottom (see picture). You can build the iron golem standing up, lying down, or even upside down, but the key is to place the carved pumpkin last.
Snow Golem
To construct a snow golem, you must have two snow blocks and a carved pumpkin. Essentially, you’re building a snowman.
Stack the two snow blocks on top of each other and then place the carved pumpkin last and on top of the two snow blocks to construct your snow golem. As with the iron golem, you can construct him standing up, lying down, or upside down, as long as the carved pumpkin is the final block that you place.
Decorating with pumpkins
Pumpkins are great for decorating your Minecraft houses. They’re perfect in the Fall, around Halloween, but they look great any time of year. Take a look at some of these creative ways that pumpkins, carved pumpkins, and jack o’lanterns can add a fun or spooky touch to your Minecraft houses and buildings.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Minecraft Pumpkins
Where do you find pumpkins?
You can find pumpkins growing in grass biomes. They can also sometimes be found in woodland mansions, pillager outposts, taiga villages, and snowy taiga villages.
How do you grow pumpkins?
Pumpkins are grown from pumpkin seeds, which are planted in cultivated farmland. They grow into stems, which then sprout pumpkins at random intervals as long as there is an adjacent, empty block of dirt, grass, or farmland.
Why won’t my pumpkins grow?
Pumpkins grow from a pumpkin stem, which must be planted on farmland. It takes 10-30 minutes for the stem to grow. Pumpkins appear at random times as long as there is an adjacent empty block. Make sure your planted pumpkin seeds have clear dirt/grass/farmland blocks on all sides and make sure that they don’t have anything else growing on them, including stalks of grass.
