- For other uses, see Pumpkin (disambiguation).
Pumpkin is a plant that appears in both main series Plants vs. Zombies games. He is the 31st plant unlocked in the first game, unlocked after beating 4-7. In the second game, Pumpkin is a seed packet unlockable premium vine, associated with Pumpkin's Safety Season of Arena.
In both games, Pumpkin is a defensive plant with the same health as a Wall-nut. Unlike other defensive plants however, Pumpkin does not occupy a garden space for himself, allowing other plants to be planted inside of him, or for him to be planted on top of other plants, effectively giving another layer of protection. In the first game, Pumpkin is unable to be planted on Sea-shroom, Tangle Kelp, Grave Buster, Cob Cannon, and other Pumpkins. In the second game, he is unable to be planted on Blastberry Vine, Pyre Vine, Tangle Kelp, Grave Buster, Hot Potato, and other Pumpkins. In both games, Pumpkin can be repaired with Wall-nut First Aid if it's unlocked.
Origins

He is a carved pumpkin, a fruit belonging to the squash genus. They are usually carved for events like Halloween.
History
Plants vs. Zombies
Pumpkin is unlocked upon beating Level 4-7 for the first time. He is planted around other plants, and any zombies attacking a space with a Pumpkin on it will attack the Pumpkin first. However, it is unable to protect other plants from basketballs, as Pumpkin only protects the sides of the plant that's planted in it, not the area above it. Pumpkin absorbs 3600 damage per shot and his appearance changes at 1200 damage per shot and 2400 damage per shot before being swallowed at 3600 damage per shot.
Plants vs. Zombies 2
Pumpkin is acquired after collecting 100 Pumpkin seed packets. Pumpkin functions almost identically to the first game, however due to the mechanics change between games, Pumpkin has some slightly different functions. Like other vine plants in this game, Pumpkin's Plant Food effect will trigger regardless of if it's planted on another plant or not, meaning Pumpkin has the potential to duplicate Plant Food. Another byproduct of being a vine plant is that it is now impossible to dig up a plant planted inside Pumpkin without first removing the Pumpkin itself. Aside from those and some minor stat changes however, Pumpkin is pretty much the same. Pumpkin absorbs 4000 damage per shot and his appearance changes at 1000 damage per shot, 2000 damage per shot, and 3000 damage per shot before being swallowed at 4000 damage per shot.
Almanac entry
Plants vs. Zombies

Almanac entry of Pumpkin
Pumpkin
Pumpkins protect plants that are within their shells.
Toughness: high
Special: can be planted over another plant
Pumpkin hasn't heard from his cousin Renfield lately. Apparently Renfield's a big star, some kind of... what was it... sports hero? Peggle Master? Pumpkin doesn't really get it. He just does his job.
Cost: 125
Recharge: slow
Plants vs. Zombies 2
Note: The stats shown below only apply to Level 1.
Pumpkin
|
| ||||
| |||||
Pumpkin
SUN COST: 150
RECHARGE: 12
TOUGHNESS: 4000
PLANT FOOD POWER: Armor
FAMILY: Reinforce-mint
Pumpkins can be planted on top of other plants to provide a tough additional layer of armor.
Pumpkin may be a hollowed-out shell, but he still has a rich inner life filled with feelings, fantasies and surprisingly disappointing opinions.
Upgrades
Plants vs. Zombies 2
Plant Food effect
When given Plant Food, Pumpkin will gain a protective shell of metal capable of absorbing 8000 DPS or one Gargantuar smash. Additionally, when a plant is planted on top of him when you activate his Plant Food effect, the plant on top will also activate its Plant Food effect.
Reinforce-mint effect
When boosted by Reinforce-mint, Pumpkin will be able to take an additional 8000 DPS, and his Plant Food effect will activate.
Level upgrade
Level | Seed Packets | Coins | Upgrades | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sun Cost | Recharge (Sluggish) | Toughness (High) | Plant Food Power (Armor)* | |||
1 | 0 | 0 | 150 | 12 seconds | 4000 dps | 8000 dps |
2 | 50 | 4800 dps | ||||
3 | 100 | 125 | 11 seconds | 5200 dps | ||
4 | 200 | 5600 dps | 12000 dps | |||
5 | 300 | 100 | 10 seconds | 6000 dps | ||
6 | 400 | 9 seconds | 6400 dps | |||
7 | 500 | 75 | 6800 dps | |||
8 | 600 | 8 seconds | 7200 dps | 16000 dps | ||
9 | 800 | 50 | 7600 dps | |||
10 | 1,000 | 7 seconds | 8000 dps |
*Column shows armor's hitpoints separately.
Strategies
Plants vs. Zombies

A Survival: Endless build utilizing Pumpkins as protection
Pumpkins are excellent on later levels, where the player needs to conserve as much space as possible. Catapult Zombies and Bungee Zombies always target the plant inside the Pumpkin first, so they are useless as protection against them. They can be used to buy time so that your plants have more time to take out Digger Zombies. The best plant to put inside a Pumpkin (for defensive purposes) is the Tall-nut, so Pole Vaulting Zombies or Dolphin Rider Zombies cannot jump over them, and the zombies will have to eat the Pumpkin and Tall-nut. Note, however, that he is not as efficient, sun-wise, as a Tall-nut alone; a Tall-nut and Pumpkin combo costs as much as two Tall-nuts, yet has only as much health as one-and-a-half. They are also useful for plants that the Imitater duplicates, because he protects them as they transform.
Do not put plants that are supposed to be eaten into Pumpkin, such as Garlic or Hypno-shrooms. The zombies will have to eat the outside Pumpkin before eating the plant, so doing so will result in a waste of sun and seed slot recharge. Pumpkins are usually good along with Potato Mines, as they give Potato Mine time to arm, and once the zombies break through the Pumpkin, they will have come together onto one spot and will all be hit by the Potato Mine. The only problem with this is that because of their larger horizontal hit-box, Football Zombies will trigger the Potato Mine while he is inside the Pumpkin, only killing some of the zombies, as they will not all count as in range. As a result, it may make more sense to use a Wall-nut or Tall-nut to protect the Potato Mine instead, as they are cheaper or costs the same and will allow time for all of the zombies to get in range. This can also be a bad idea, however, as the Potato Mine may rise before the zombie even gets to the Pumpkin. To remedy this, if you want them to all get blown up, put him in the second or first column from the zombies.
Try to plant them on every plant except for Kernel-pults that you will upgrade into Cob Cannons, Spikeweed, Spikerock, Garlic, and Hypno-shroom.
When facing Gargantuars, put a Pumpkin around the plants in the third and second row so they are protected from the Imps they throw.
Survival Mode
Almost all setups on Survival Mode use these. Because Pumpkins can surround other plants, when player use Pumpkins in conjunction with Wall-nut or Tall-nut, it is more convenient to extend their defenses. For example, if you use Tall-nut on column five in all rows and the defense needs to be expanded to six columns, the sun that is used for planting these Tall-nuts will be wasted, as they should be dug up, or there will not be enough spaces for placing new plants. If you use Pumpkins, just simply replace the plants without digging up the Pumpkins. Pumpkins are usually used to protect plants at sensitive positions.
These are also very useful in Survival: Endless because they are excellent space savers, and can be used to protect your more valuable plants (Winter Melon, Gloom-shroom, Twin Sunflower) from zombies. If a zombie makes it through your defenses and you are vulnerable, Pumpkins might be the only thing saving you from the zombies successfully eating your brain.
Pumpkin can also be used effectively for the Ladder Zombie strategy, which is pretty straight forward, get Ladder Zombies to put ladders on your main offensive plants especially Gloom-shrooms on the second column. Since the ladders are on all Pumpkins, Imps thrown by Gargantuars cannot eat your plants which results in saving considerable amount of sun. Note that the ladders will disappear if they are hit by explosive plants, and Magnet-shrooms can remove them.
Related achievements
![]() |
---|
![]() |
---|
![]() |
---|
Gallery
Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Pumpkin.
| |||
|
Trivia
Specific to Plants vs. Zombies
- He has a second degrade that can only be seen in the "reanim" folder, where the game stores his images.

Pumpkin's cousin Renfield, seen in Peggle
- His Suburban Almanac description references Renfield as Pumpkin's cousin. Renfield is a pumpkin in the 2007 game Peggle, another game made by PopCap Games.
- For some reason, the player can place Pumpkins on top of a Spikeweed or a Spikerock. If they place a Pumpkin on top of a Spikeweed when there is a zombie on it, the zombie will eat the Pumpkin and at the same time be attacked by the Spikeweed.
- Puff-shroom is too small for a Pumpkin, but when he shoots a spore, the spore somehow passes through the Pumpkin's shell and still damages the zombies, which is unusual, though it could be going out through the Pumpkin's holes.
- When a Pumpkin with a plant inside is squashed, he will have a flattened animation of the plant above a flattened Pumpkin instead of a flattened version of the plant in the Pumpkin.
- Starfruit lies on his back, but if a Pumpkin is added, he will stand up (as he would otherwise be completely concealed within him).
- Bungee Zombies cannot take Pumpkins if they are surrounding another plant, except Lily Pad and Flower Pot. However, if a Bungee Zombie attempts to take a Cattail from a Pumpkin, it will cause the Cattail to downgrade to a Lily Pad. The same thing happens if the player tries to dig a Cattail from inside a Pumpkin. This is to avoid the Pumpkin from falling into the water.
- This also makes Cattail the only plant able to downgrade.
- He cannot be planted on Sea-shroom and Tangle Kelp, as they are aquatic plants.
- They can still be planted on Cattails however, because she is the upgrade for the Lily Pad.
- He also cannot protect Cob Cannon and Grave Buster, because Cob Cannon is too big to fit and Grave Buster cannot be protected because he is on a grave, and graves cannot be planted on.
- There is a way to dig him up without digging up the plant inside him. Try using a shovel on the bottom of the square he is on.
- If Chomper is in Pumpkin, when the Chomper sways to the right, his lower lip seems to go through Pumpkin.
- In the DS version, he does not move; however, he moves in the Suburban Almanac.
- In the iPad version, the holes on his top edge are missing. Also, he looks rounder.
- He prevents plants such as Gloom-shroom and Squash that are behind him from hitting zombies in front of him, as the Pumpkin has a slightly larger hitbox.
- Putting himself on plants is almost always advantageous, except when Zombonis, Catapult Zombies, Gargantuars, or Giga-gargantuars appear; putting a Pumpkin on the front plant actually increases the chance of them being squashed. This is because Pumpkin has a larger hitbox than normal plants.
- His flattened sprite can still be removed by a shovel (only applies if the sprite is there and before it disappears).
Specific to Plants vs. Zombies 2
- He's the only plant who doesn't have any animations. However, on the Plants vs. Zombies subreddit, an EA developer has said that he will receive them in a future update.
- The plants on him can survive Surfer Zombie's surfboard.
See also
V · T · E | |
---|
Plants vs. Zombies | |
---|---|
Day | Peashooter · Sunflower · Cherry Bomb · Wall-nut · Potato Mine · Snow Pea · Chomper · Repeater |
Night | Puff-shroom · Sun-shroom · Fume-shroom · Grave Buster · Hypno-shroom · Scaredy-shroom · Ice-shroom · Doom-shroom |
Pool | Lily Pad · Squash · Threepeater · Tangle Kelp · Jalapeno · Spikeweed · Torchwood · Tall-nut |
Fog | Sea-shroom · Plantern · Cactus · Blover · Split Pea · Starfruit · Pumpkin · Magnet-shroom |
Roof | Cabbage-pult · Flower Pot · Kernel-pult · Coffee Bean · Garlic · Umbrella Leaf · Marigold · Melon-pult |
Upgrades | Gatling Pea · Twin Sunflower · Gloom-shroom · Cattail · Winter Melon · Gold Magnet · Spikerock · Cob Cannon |
Others | Imitater · Explode-o-nut · Giant Wall-nut · Giant Sunflower · Giant Marigold · Sprout |
Plants vs. Zombies Social Edition | |
---|---|
Normal | Peashooter · Sunflower · Cherry Bomb · Wall-nut · Potato Mine · Chomper · Repeater · Puff-shroom · Scaredy-shroom · Snow Pea · Sun-shroom · Fume-shroom · Grave Buster · Lily Pad · Squash · Spikeweed · Tangle Kelp · Torchwood · Sea-shroom · Jalapeno · Coffee Bean · Tall-nut · Pumpkin · Magnet-shroom · Blover · Melon-pult · Cactus |
Premium | Pickled Pepper · Icy Fume-shroom · Fire-shroom · Flamewood · Vine-nut · Gatling Pea · Twin Sunflower · Gloom-shroom · Winter Melon · Super Chomper · Last Star · Calm Chuck |
Plants vs. Zombies Adventures | |
---|---|
Normal | Peashooter · Sunflower · Aspearagus · Wall-nut · Cherry Bomb · Popcorn · Beet · Snow Pea · Jalapeño · Magnet Plant · Flaming Pea · Shamrock · Bamboo Shoot · Repeater · Chilly Pepper · Twin Sunflower |
VIPs | Sweet Pea · Beeshooter · Hard-nut · Acespearagus · Power Flower · Beetboxer · Ice Queen Pea · Shamrockstar · Bamboom |
Others | Trees |
Plants vs. Zombies 2 (Chinese version) | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ancient Egypt | Cabbage-pult · Bloomerang · Iceberg Lettuce · Grave Buster · Bonk Choy · Repeater · Twin Sunflower · Snow Pea · Torchwood · Peashooter · Sunflower · Wall-nut · Potato Mine | ||||||||
Pirate Seas | Kernel-pult · Snapdragon · Power Lily · Spikeweed · Spring Bean · Coconut Cannon · Spikerock · Lightning Reed · Tall-nut | ||||||||
Wild West | Threepeater · Squash · Split Pea · Chili Bean · Jalapeno · Pea Pod · Melon-pult · Winter Melon · Imitater | ||||||||
Kongfu World | Radish · Fire Gourd · Heavenly Peach · Bamboo-shoot | ||||||||
Far Future | Laser Bean · Blover · Citron · E.M.Peach · Infi-nut · Magnifying Grass · Tile Turnip · Starfruit | ||||||||
Dark Ages | Hypno-shroom · Sun-shroom · Puff-shroom · Fume-shroom · Sun Bean · Pea-nut · Magnet-shroom · Oak Archer · Coffee Bean · Plantern | ||||||||
Big Wave Beach | Acidic Citrus · Lotuspot · Lily Pad · Bowling Bulb · Banana Launcher · Guacodile · Tangle Kelp · Homing Thistle | ||||||||
Frostbite Caves | Hurrikale · Fire Peashooter · Hot Potato · Pepper-pult · Chard Guard · Stunion · Rafflesia · Tornacorn | ||||||||
Sky City | Rotobaga · Cycloque · Aspiragus · Saucer Squash · Board Beans · Lantern Cherry · Ampthurium · Spinnapple | ||||||||
Lost City | Lava Guava · Red Stinger · A.K.E.E. · Stallia · Gold Leaf · Toadstool · Jackfruit | ||||||||
Neon Mixtape Tour | MC Glory · Phat Beet · Thyme Warp · Celery Stalker · Spore-shroom · Garlic · Intensive Carrot · Cactus | ||||||||
Jurassic Marsh | Primal Peashooter · Primal Wall-nut · Perfume-shroom · Primal Sunflower · Primal Potato Mine · Primal Rafflesia · Dinonip · Thorns · Mastercane | ||||||||
Modern Day | Shadow-shroom · Caulipower · Moonflower · Grimrose · Nightshade · Dusk Lobber · Blooming Heart | ||||||||
Steam Ages | Gold Bloom · Flat-shroom · Passionflower · Lotus Root · Fanilla · Lily of Alchemy · Berry Blaster | ||||||||
Renaissance Age | Zorrose · Hot Date · Aloe · Kinnikannon · Wax Gourd | ||||||||
Premium & Event |
| ||||||||
Removed plants | Rotten Red |
Plants vs. Zombies Online | |
---|---|
Player's House | Sunflower · Peashooter · Wall-nut · Potato Mine |
Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum | Bruce Bamboo · Carrot Rocket · Pomegranate-pult · Dandelion · Venus Flytrap · Wax Gourd · Sod |
Ancient Egypt | Bloomerang · Bonk Choy · Grave Buster · Iceberg Lettuce · Cabbage-pult |
Pirate Seas | Snapdragon · Spikeweed · Spring Bean · Kernel-pult · Coconut Cannon · Narcissus · Durian · Spikerock · Pineapple Cannon · Threepeater |
Far Future | Laser Bean · Blover · Citron · E.M.Peach · Tile Turnip · Ganoderma · Banana Tree · Nitration Mushroom · Infi-nut · Magnifying Grass |
East Sea Dragon Palace | Oxygen Algae · Garlic · Bubble Flower · Electric Anemone |
Upgrades | Twin Sunflower · Repeater |
VIPs | Winter Melon |
Power Ups | Cherry Bomb · Jalapeno |
Premium | Squash · Snow Pea · Tall-nut |
Adventure Mode only | Magic Vine · Split Pea · Chili Bean · Lightning Reed · Pea Pod · Melon-pult · Starfruit · Chomper · Fire Peashooter · Cattail · Zorrose · Clivia · Sap-fling · Acidic Citrus · Magic-shroom · Ghost Pepper · Guacodile · Hurrikale · Plantern · Oak Archer · Homing Thistle · Pepper-pult · Radish · Toadstool · Blooming Heart · Red Stinger · Electric Blueberry · A.K.E.E. · Moonflower · Guerrequila · Aspiragus · Pumpkin Witch · Mine Fruit · Sea Anemone · Litchi · Sea Starfruit |