When do I plant a Seminole Pumpkin seed in Florida zone 10a?

[dmgonzalez]

Hello.   I'm a new gardener that lives just SouthWest of the boundary for Central/South Florida.   They have recently changed my zone from 9b to 10a, but we get a hard frost every 2-4 years.

I am impressed by what I've read about the Seminole Pumpkin and would like to try it.

But... I'm really confused about the best time to plant the seeds because the source material I've read varies widely.

Does anyone in this group know the best time for zone 10a to plant Seminole seeds?

THANK YOU!

[heavyhitterokra]

dmgonzalaz,

Here in Northeastern Oklahoma, anytime in the month of May is a good time to plant Seminole squash. All we look for here is the first safe date after the last Spring frost. It's always good to get an early start here because our summers can be brutal with triple-digit heat sometimes setting in as early as June.

[chrysanthemum]

I can’t speak specifically to your zone, but I used to grow Seminole Pumpkin in South Central Texas, and I can say that it bore the heat quite well down there. We had frost and cold till April, so I always planted after that, and I could plant even in late summer and get a crop in the fall before our first frost. I think the general guidance is that Seminole needs three to four months to mature a crop. It can be planted once all danger of frost is past and can continue to be planted till about four months before the first frost date in the fall/winter. Do you have records of when during the year you get those sporadic hard frosts?

I’m not sure this forum has members in Florida, but those of us in other places can try to guide you based on our own experiences and general principles. I would say that if you haven’t gotten your seeds in the ground yet, go ahead and plant a few now, then save some for planting in July or so. Please tell us more about your garden plans. We love to hear about what folks are growing or attempting.

Edited to add:  Here’s a link that may have some good information for you.  Or maybe not.  I can’t seem to paste it in.  

The main website is gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu , and the article is simply Seminole Pumpkin if you want to search it up.