My pumpkins have ripened already?

[RobPro]

Our first year growing veg and my first year jumping into pumpkins, start with Atlantic Giant. Had three plants that have taken over the bed and the lawn and the footpaths... Have 3 nice pumpkins, biggest around 120cm diameter, but they have all ripened now. Hard, orange skin. (They used to be yellow and would be putting on 5-10cm a 24hr period about a month ago.

What has casued them to ripen so soon, or is this the time they normally ripen? I was hoping to use them at halloween haha!

[greenishfing]

Are they still on the plant? When you remove them keep a T of stem attached. Keep them dry. They will keep for months..

[veggiechicken]

Have you knocked them to see if they sound hollow?

[ameno]

If the stem is brown and corky, they are ripe and ready. If they stem is still green then they are not, even if they look ripe.
Either way, though, I recommend leaving them on the plant. All the while the plant is still alive, the fruit will last longer attached to the plant. Just pick it when you need it.

[Mark_Riga]

May be put something under them (a slate or tile would be good) so they don't rot or deteriorate too much where they touch the soil.

[RobPro]

Ok, thanks for the info! I shall keep them on the plant as long as the weather doesn;t get too bad for too long. They are already on pieces of wood. I am sad they have not grown much bigger, but next year I will try only one plant instead of three monsters and then spend more time nurturing it.

[weegie]

120cm diameter would be big enough for me! Do you have a fork lift truck?

[keat63]

120cm............... I wish.
This is what I was hoping for, but all mine have gone rogue.

[1Bee]

I've got a couple, not measured them, but they're about beach ball sized and still going... they were uite late to set, though. Mind you, the fork lift comment is about right... Pumpkins are amazingly heavy, even at reasonable sizes.

Do you really mean diameter? As in, measured straight across the widest point in a straight line? Or maybe circumference, where you've wrapped a tape measure all the way round the widest part in a circle?

[RobPro]

Yes I meant circumference!! No fork lift needed!
The biggest ended up at 135cm and have just removed from plant, weighs 26kg.

I think I have read since this post after seeing someone grow a prize marrow and they had used beach umbrellas to shade their fruit from the sun as apparently that could cause premature ripening. Ours were just fully exposed to sun all summer so next year, here's hoping for a bigger beauty after I pamper it!

[Chestnut]

I deliberately grew 3 per plant so that the pumpkins would be a more useable size. A few got nibbled by the local wildlife when small, but still got 2 good sized pumpkins, 15kg and 22kg. That’s a lot of spiced pumpkin soup this winter!