Hey Geekella - I'm in Louisiana too!! Covington, how about you? This is my second year growing pumpkins my first year was semi-successful. I'll share some of what I learned, I hope it's helpful.

First, I'd get your pumpkins started ASAP. Pumpkins store well, you can harvest when they're ready and keep them around until Halloween. It also doesn't hurt to leave them on the vine unless you have rot or something. I waited to sow my Winter Luxury last year until beg of July because I didn't want them until November and I never got a single pumpkin off it. The heat and humidity of peak summer may have been too much for a young plant but I also lost entire patch to PM near the end. Stopping PM in our climate is extremely difficult. You might be better off starting earlier to give your plants a longer time in case PM gets them and kills patch.

Do you have a plan for preventing Powdery Mildew? It's one of those things you can't get rid of once you have it and it will kill every single plant. Prevention is the only way, especially in our climate!!

While I'm at it, do you have a plan to keep away Squash Vine Borers? Down here in LA they are multi-generational, they are laying eggs and killing pumpkins from May to October. Infuriating bugs, your first clue you have them is when your plants die :/

That being said, growing pumpkins is so much fun! I grow pumpkins with my kids for jackolanterns as well as pie pumpkins. The plants really take off and the pumpkins themselves get bigger over night. Hope that helps!