Long Island Cheese Pumpkin: Growing the Best Heirloom Pie Pumpkin in Kansas
By Autumn Prairie Pumpkins
Long Island Cheese is one of the oldest named pumpkin varieties still in cultivation, documented since at least the early 1800s on Long Island, New York, where it was a market staple for decades. It gets its name from its shape: flat, ribbed, and buff-tan, it looks remarkably like a wheel of cheese sitting in the garden. And when it comes to flavor? This is the pie pumpkin that serious bakers quietly swear by.
Like all our pumpkin varieties at Autumn Prairie, Long Island Cheese is Cucurbita moschata, which means it carries natural resistance to squash vine borers, the number one reason pumpkins fail in Kansas gardens. It's also one of the most beautiful pumpkins you'll ever grow. That cheese-wheel shape and warm tan skin look right at home on a fall porch.
Why Long Island Cheese Thrives in Kansas
This variety has been adapted to warm, humid East Coast summers for over two centuries. Kansas throws similar heat (with less humidity), and Long Island Cheese handles it well. The moschata genetics provide vine borer resistance through thick, solid stems that larvae struggle to penetrate. While your neighbor's pepo pumpkins are wilting in July, Long Island Cheese is setting fruit.
Days to maturity run 95–110 days, which fits neatly into a Kansas growing season with a mid-May planting. The vines are vigorous but not as rampant as some moschata types, they're manageable in a medium-sized garden plot.
For Kansas-specific pumpkin growing guidance, K-State's squash vine borer guide (MF3309) covers soil prep, fertility, and pest management that works well for this variety.
How to Grow Long Island Cheese in Kansas (Zone 6b)
When to Plant
Direct sow after last frost when soil is consistently 65°F or warmer. In the Newton/Wichita corridor, that's mid-May. Sow seeds 1 inch deep, 2–3 seeds per hill, and thin to the strongest seedling. Indoor starts work too, plant in 4-inch pots 3 weeks before transplant, and move them outside once nights are reliably above 55°F.
Spacing and Trellising
Give plants 5–6 feet in each direction. Long Island Cheese produces medium-sized fruits (6–10 lbs), so the vines don't need quite as much room as the giant moschata types. That said, don't crowd them, good airflow reduces disease pressure. These aren't ideal for trellising due to the wide, flat fruit shape, but they do well sprawled on straw mulch.
Soil and Fertility
Rich, well-drained soil with plenty of compost worked in. pH 6.0–6.8. Side-dress with a balanced fertilizer when vines begin to run. Long Island Cheese is a moderate feeder, it doesn't need as much nitrogen as some of the larger moschata varieties, but don't starve it either.
Watering
1–2 inches per week through fruit development. Drip irrigation is ideal. As fruits near maturity in September, reduce watering to help concentrate sugars and begin the curing process naturally on the vine.
Pest and Disease Management
Vine borer resistance is strong thanks to its moschata lineage. Squash bugs are the more likely pest, check the undersides of leaves for copper-colored egg clusters and destroy them early. Powdery mildew can appear in late summer; good spacing, drip irrigation, and morning watering all help minimize it.
Harvest and Storage
Harvest when the skin is uniformly buff-tan and feels hard to the touch. The stem will begin to dry. Cut with 3–4 inches of stem. Cure in a warm, dry area for 10–14 days before moving to cool storage. Long Island Cheese stores well, expect 3–5 months under good conditions (50–60°F, low humidity).
Long Island Cheese in the Kitchen
This is a pie baker's pumpkin. The flesh is deep orange, dense, smooth, and naturally sweet, it purees beautifully with almost no stringiness. Many bakers consider it superior to canned pumpkin for homemade pies.
Beyond pie, Long Island Cheese makes outstanding pumpkin soup, pumpkin ravioli filling, roasted pumpkin wedges, and pumpkin butter. The flavor is rich and complex, sweet with a slight nuttiness that intensifies after curing.
Saving Seeds
Long Island Cheese is open-pollinated, so saved seeds grow true. Let one fruit mature fully on the vine, harvest seeds, rinse clean, and dry for 2–3 weeks. Store in paper envelopes in a cool, dry place. Remember: it will cross with other Cucurbita moschata varieties, so isolate if seed purity matters.
Add Long Island Cheese to Your Kansas Garden
Long Island Cheese Pumpkin Seeds ship from Newton, Kansas. See all of our heirloom pumpkin and squash seeds, every one is vine borer resistant Cucurbita moschata.
More growing guides: Dickinson Pumpkin Growing Guide · Musquée de Provence Growing Guide · Magdalena Big Cheese Growing Guide