[fluffstermum]

Hello 

I've been browsing this forum for a while but not actually joined in.

*wave*

We have quite a few pumpkins growing on the plot, plus a couple of butternut squash.
For a few days now we've woken to what looks suspiciously like frost on the windscreen. Not quite frost, but very nearly cold enough (if that makes any sense!).

So we were thinking of harvesting the pumpkins this evening. We don't especially need them to grow any bigger, as we're not in any competitions or anything. The size would be for our ego alone 

I know the pumpkins will ripen further at home. Most of them look ripe enough already to be honest. But what about the butternut squash? There are two and they're still a little on the green side for my liking. Not quite ready.
Will they ripen once cut off the plant? if not, how do I speed that process up before the frost beats me to harvesting them?

[mumofstig]

Welcome to the Forum!

You could cover the butternuts with fleece to keep them a bit warmer....let them get as ripe as you can before you pick them 

The ones that have already changed colour will be fine to pick now

[fluffstermum]

Thank you 

I'll wrap the butternuts in straw and leave them a bit longer then. I think we might have some fleece in the shed, I'll check later.

I'll post pics of the pumpkins this evening.
My favourite time of year at the allotment, pumpkin harvest. I'm such a big kid 

[Yorkie]

Welcome to the site.

Please could you edit your forum profile (click your username) to show whereabouts you are - it's really useful to know it for questions about growing things. 

[fluffstermum]

We've just harvested most of the pumpkins.

Our biggest one weighs in at 17kg (37 1/2 lbs roughly) 

We've put lots of straw round the butternut squashes as they're not quite ready, but doing well.

[sunshineband]

Welcome to the forum


Nice colour pumpkins there 

[fluffstermum]

Thank you 

I didn't really think through how to store them.
We don't have a garage. The shed at the allotment tends to get mice nibbling any food in there.

We usually keep potatoes, pumkpins etc in the downstairs loo (coldest room in our house) but as you can imagine, our downstairs loo isn't large enough for this lot!
Will see how many we can stack in there until halloween...

 

[sunshineband]

Attic?

[fluffstermum]

Ooh I didn't think of that! Yes it's flippin cold up there!

[sunshineband]

On eof my plot neighbours keeps his in the attic, and they last well into March with no trouble, especially butternuts 

[gavinjconway]

Great crop there Fluffymum...

[fluffstermum]

Thank you 

Next year we'll limit each plant to one pumpkin, and cut the leaves back, try to get them even bigger.
This time we just left it to nature really, so I'm surprised they did so well!

[webby139]

Hi there,

I'm growing squash as well, but results don't seem to be that great.
About 3 6-7 squash from 5 plants.

BUT,

Your pics makes me wonder if i'm doing something wrong.
On mine the GREEN has just taken over - there like triffids
I have to actually hunt through the growth to find the squash and quite a few have grown to a large sixe then died off - i think because they didn't get pollinated.

Do you / are you meant to cut the green leaves off so the sun can get to them ??

Cheers,
Web

[fluffstermum]

Web,

I've read that you should limit the vines to X number of leaves and then cut off any further growth, to make the sure the energy goes into making the squash bigger rather than growing more leaves.

We didn't bother this time, we just left it to do its thing. We just cut a few leaves back once in a while when the vines started trailing onto next door's plot!

The pumpkins did well, the butternut we only managed 3 (2 of those are still growing), but we had a fair few of each just drop off after reaching grapefruit size. They looked like ants or something had been at the skin, and they just rotted.

[JayG]

Relying on insects to pollinate squashes can be a bit of a lottery, with relatively few flowers which only open during the day, and male and female flowers not necessarily open at the same time; the odds against lengthen the fewer plants you have.

The fruits usually appear to set and grow to a recognisable baby "whatever" and then rot off, although properly fertilised fruits can also succumb to slugs or excessively wet ground conditions, especially when small.

Plants which rampage off in all directions should be tamed by restricting them to just a few properly set fruits, the vines being "stopped" when this has happened. I wouldn't remove any other leaves unless they are covering ripening fruits (the leaves are the food factory of the plant, after all.)

Having said all that, this has been a particularly bad year for my winter squashes, almost entirely due to very squash-unfriendly weather!