How to Care for a Succulent Pumpkin

Succulent Pumpkins, or Pumpkulents as I’ll sometimes call them are one of my absolute favorite things to make each fall. I’ve been making these for ten years now and have learned which succulents do best on the pumpkins and have mastered the art!

We grow all the succulents ourselves and sell potted succulents during the growing season. Now I won’t go into too much detail on how they’re made because I will be doing workshops on them in the future but basically these are fresh succulent cuttings glued on to moss that’s attached onto a live pumpkin. They will look stunning for several weeks with absolutely zero care.

But if you’d like to get the full succulent life out of these pumpkins I’m going to tell you exactly what to do!

These are fresh cuttings so when they are made they have no roots! As you are enjoying your pumpkin those little succulents are trying to push out roots. So they don’t need a lot of water, there’s nothing to take up water just yet. But for them to form roots it is best to mist the pumpkin with some water about once a week. After about 2-4 weeks those succulents will start some roots and then prefer a little more water. You continue to mist water on the pumpkin or sometimes I’ll even put my pumpkin under the kitchen faucet to water it.

Now for light. They do not want full sun, these are tender cuttings and will scorch or rot in too much sun. So they are perfect adorning your house inside. If your intention is only to enjoy them for a few weeks in the fall they don’t need much light at all but the succulents will start growing and stretching after a couple weeks. Ideally they can enjoy a nice window with bright indirect light most of the day and they’ll thrive. And remember these are not frost hardy!!

How long will they last on the pumpkin? Well as long as the pumpkin doesn’t rot they’ll keep on living! I’ve had several people over the last decade say they still have their pumpkin the following summer!!! 🤯 I’ll even throw in red berries and some evergreens to my pumpkins to help them fit in for Christmas!

My suggestion after you’re done enjoying your pumpkin for the season: take the succulents and put them in a pot of dirt and let them enjoy a different life. Toss the pumpkin in the compost! (You might get some volunteer pumpkins next year) You can just lift the moss with all the succulents and plop them in a container and now you’ll have a beautiful mixed succulent pot! Pictured below is a pumpkin top potted up after 6 months. (June of the following year) A beautiful mixed container!!! Or you can separate the cuttings out and have a bunch in individual plants.

Also if you or you know someone with a fall wedding or event these are the funnest decoration to adorn your tables! I absolutely LOVE when I get to do special orders!!

Interested in a succulent pumpkin? I make them seasonally from September-November 🧡 the last hurrah is for Thanksgiving centerpieces 🦃