You'll need pumpkins to craft your Spooky DIY recipes in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Here's how to get pumpkin starters and grow them.

Animal Crossing New Horizons Pumpkins Guide: How to Grow Them

You'll need pumpkins to craft your Spooky DIY recipes in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Here's how to get pumpkin starters and grow them.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons‘ October Halloween update brings with it pumpkins galore, among other things. Whether you want the squash to craft Spooky furniture or just to get into the spirit of Halloween, the first step is figuring out how to grow pumpkins on your island.

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Before you grow pumpkins in New Horizons, though, you’ll need to actually get them. There are two ways to do so, and one is easier than the other. But they will both cost you Bells, so it’s worth saving up. 

How to Get Pumpkin Starters 

Visit the Nooklings’ store

The sure-fire way to get pumpkins in Animal Crossing is just going to the Nooklings’ store every day. The brothers stock Pumpkin Starters in the cabinet where tools and flower seeds are.

Unlike Candy, there’s no limit on how many Pumpkin Starter you can buy each day, and you can buy them in singles or packs of five.

How much do Starters cost?

The Nook brothers’ Pumpkin Starters cost 280 Bells a piece. It probably won’t break your bank, but there is a cheaper way this Halloween squash in New Horizons.

If you’re lucky enough to have Leif stop by your island plaza in New Horizons, he’ll be hawking Pumpkin Starters for half the price 140 Bells. Stock up while you can.

How to Grow Pumpkins 

It doesn’t matter where you plant your seeds, but you’ll plant them like you do shrubs and flowers. Unlike shrubs, pumpkins won’t impede your path.

Increase pumpkin yield by watering them

Make sure to water your starters every day. Watering them increases the number of pumpkins you’ll get from each, which is handy if you want to craft the Spooky DIY set or put some aside for later.

There are four different kinds of pumpkins
  • Orange
  • Green
  • White
  • Yellow

You’ll only use orange pumpkins for Spooky DIY. The others act like customization kits and let you change the color of a Spooky item.

Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee what kind of pumpkin you’ll end up with, though some players are saying orange is the most common.

That’s all you need to know about how to get and grow pumpkins in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Now you’re well on your way to crafting those Spooky DIY items. If you found these tips helpful, consider checking out our other New Horizons guides for more help!


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Author
Josh Broadwell
Josh Broadwell started gaming in the early '90s. But it wasn't until 2017 he started writing about them, after finishing two history degrees and deciding a career in academia just wasn't the best way forward. You'll usually find him playing RPGs, strategy games, or platformers, but he's up for almost anything that seems interesting.