#pumpkin-patch

[pumpkin-patch]

7:30am in the pumpkin patch after last night’s thunderstorm

[halloweentreat]

is there a difference between Jack Be Little and Munchkin pumpkins?

Good question, let’s check it out! I haven’t grown either, but it would seem that Jack Be Little and Munchkin pumpkins are pretty much indistinguishable in appearance, and I hear both are fairly good to eat. So if you’re asking exclusively about the pumpkins themselves: not really.

Jack Be Little:

Munchkin:

In cases of needlessly similar looking pumpkin varieties, the difference likely lies in characteristics of the plants rather than the fruit. Sometimes it’s that, although two plants will give you an identical end product, one or the other has a growth habit, disease resistance, speed/earliness, etc. that better suits your growing conditions.

Looking up seed pages for both right now, the only difference I see is the advertised yield. Although it varies from company to company, on average it looks like Munchkin tends to be claimed to yield more pumpkins per plant. (Getting honest figures on yield is another matter though. Rule of thumb: the companies with lower figures are prob being more honest.) Interestingly, the seed companies seem to consider them similar enough to be redundant - I can’t find anybody who sells both kinds. 

So if you’re growing them: yes, there are likely some differences (but possibly so minor that you’d have to be a serious commercial farmer / giant nerd to notice). If it were me, the decision would basically boil down to which I could get cheapest!

[pumpkin-patch]

[pumpkin-patch]

[pumpkin-patch]

Hooligan mini pumpkins I grew last fall.

[pumpkin-patch]

One of last year’s Connecticut Field Pumpkins ripening on the vine.

[pumpkin-patch]

2016′s jack o’lanterns and connecticut field pumpkins

[pumpkin-patch]

a Jack O’Lantern pumpkin ripening on the vine