[LivvyW]

My pumpkin plants had given up the ghost (sorry for halloween pun) and i have put my two baby specimens in the greenhouse.

They are going orange only very slowly and i need to speed up the process or else my halloween decorations will look like i have carved into round courgettes!

Should i keep them in the unheated greenhouse for maximum light or into the house on a windowsill for a bit of warmth too?

[8doubles]

If it was me I`d buy one to carve the jack o`lantern and eat the home grown ones when they ripen.

[gillie]

I would put them on the windowsill.  One that I brought in has ripened very quickly.

Cheers,

Gillie

[scabs]

My solitary pumpkin is only as big as a tennis ball... 

[Trillium]

Here's a good article about storing pumpkins. Always seemed to me that both heat and light ripens pumpkins (and squashes), but this tells why unripe pumpkins won't turn colour.

http://www.weekendgardener.net/2007/08/how-to-harvest-pumpkins-properly.htm

[Jay Dubya]

Hi, sounds to me with all these small pumps. theres a bit of underfeeding going on. Pumps. need a lot of feeding and need to be planted into a lot of muck. They are a good example of the more you feed the biger they get.

[Salmo]

Bring them into the central heating for a week or so and they will soon colour up. This will also harden the skins. After that store them cool and frost free.

[pushrod]

They are going orange only very slowly and i need to speed up the process or else my halloween decorations will look like i have carved into round courgettes!

Should i keep them in the unheated greenhouse for maximum light or into the house on a windowsill for a bit of warmth too?

Fruit ripening is controlled by a plant hormone (ethene). Ripe bananas are pretty good at giving this off - so putting your pumpkin in a bag or cupboard with some bananas should speed it up.

[LittleRedHen]

In the United States, where pumpkins are extremely important this time of year for Halloween and Thanksgiving, pumpkins are planted in pure muck/manure and watered fairly heavily.  Once several good pumpkins have set, the rest of the blooms are taken off clear through harvest.  This insures that the plant puts all of its energy into those few pumpkins.  Sounds like you have eating pumpkins and not field pumpkins.  Hope this may help. 

[Trillium]

lDid anyone hear that this year's biggest pumpkin weighed in at over 1700 lbs?  Try and squeeze that monster into your cold cellar 

[Yorkie]

 

You might just have fun trying to get it home from the lotty on the bike 

[Trillium]

I'd like to see someone find a carrier bag big enough to fit it first    The pumpkin was grown on a skid, it was so big. Something like 1732 lbs or so. That took some big time feeding, just like my oldest son  There's a thought, maybe I should stick him on the front porch for Halloween 

[aelf]

lDid anyone hear that this year's biggest pumpkin weighed in at over 1700 lbs?  Try and squeeze that monster into your cold cellar 

you could live in a pumpkin that big! Maybe that's a way to solve the housing crisis!!

[alibean]

A high potash feed (organic if possible) should help with ripening.

[pushrod]

A high potash feed (organic if possible) should help with ripening.

Think OP meant her plants were dead