When do I cut pumpkins from plant?

[steveadlem]

So I went up the allotment today and saw that one or two plots had taken their pumpkins of the plant and left them sat alone. I'm in my first year and never grown pumpkins before, so i don't know when to harvest them.

I've only grown them for the kids to have for Halloween so not that precious about them but don't want to cut them now for them to go bad?

So do I leave them attached or cut them?

[Zelenina]

I would say leave them on if the plants they are attached to are still alive and green and supplying them with nourishment. If the plants are dead or dying you might as well cut them off.

[kathyd]

I'm never sure either, but I've read on here several times to leave them on until the last possible minute, otherwise to pull up the whole plant if poss and let them finish drying under cover. I've noticed that my butternuts are now forming quite hard, dry stalks where they attach to the plants, so I'm also guessing that if this stalk is hard enough it means the squash is ready to pick anyway? Logically they must sever themselves naturally from mummy at some point, surely??

[noviceveggrower]

I have a pumpkin growing at the moment and its my first year too. It doesn't seem to be getting any bigger but when I dig my nail in to it a little the outer skin still feels very soft. So I am going to leave it a little longer I think. The plant looks really quite healthy to with loads of green leaves on it.
Just wondering how long it will take for it to ripen up.

[Seagull]

I'm going to leave mine until the last possible moment.

I read somewhere recently that if you leave them out in a very light frost, it improves the flavour dramatically. But a heavy frost will damage their storage potential. I'm not sure I have the nerve to go quite that far!

[daviddevantnhisspiritwife]

Give them a gentle tap/knock (like you are knocking on a door) if the sound is hollow that is a good sign. If the stem attaching to the plant is woody this is also a good sign. If the colour is right this is another good sign and if the leaves are dying back this is another sign.

I wait until those criteria are met and then cut with a good 'T' of stem, unless a damaging frost is imminent and they get cut sooner.

All of my pumpkins and squashes are under cover now, my pumpkins were small and early this year (cut end of August).

[VolesAteMyPeas]

Mine came off two or three weeks ago as some of the smaller ones were starting to rot despite being raised on bricks! The foliage had pretty much gone too. I'm trying to continue ripening the later ones on the windowsill in our attic bedroom. Only trouble is, as an aside, we ate one today and I was planning to save the seed. However, the seeds INSIDE the pumpkin had already started sprouting. What have I done wrong? The pumpkin wasn't even fully ripe?!

[Chris172]

Hi

My pumpkins died off about three weeks ago so cut them from the plant with a good stem and currently maturing full in the utility room looking good.

Not sure why they just died it was really quick but glad I caught them as 8 pumpkins looking fine for the future good food recipes

Happy gardening


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