Pumpkin ponderings - will they ripen? What's wrong with the leaves? (etc)

[Russel Sprout]

Hi all

Not sure what to do with my pumpkin plant... Just to clarify, I don't do Halloween so these are strictly for eating They are the "Racer" variety.

1. At the moment there are two reasonably sized fruits on there (see pics). I'm presuming at this time in the season it would be too late for any others to grow, so I'll only get these two. Is that right?

2. Are they likely to ripen and turn orange or is it getting too late for that? Are they edible/usable as they are now?

3. A few leaves have powdery mildew (I think) and I'll remove them today. I'll also treat the other leaves so that they do not get it. But a lot of the leaves also seem to have another problem whereby there are losing their greenness, mottling, and crisping up a bit. Not sure if it might be rust? Can anyone tell from the pics, and what should I do about it? The leaves at the far end of the plant look much healthier.

4. As the photos show, the plant is in a bed with a couple of a courgette plants and a butternut squash. It's all a bit tangled and overcrowded in there! (Our first year so we weren't aware how big the pumpkin would be). On the one hand, I want to persevere with the pumpkin and would loathe to pull it up. But on the other, if it is unlikely to produce anything useful on account of the dodgy leaves, and or on the ripeness of the fruit, the I guess I'll have to consider sending it to plant heaven (aka the compost bin) so that the courgette and butternut have more room to flourish.

So any thoughts on that or any other pumpkin gems of information would be most welcome.

Many thanks

Max

[Russel Sprout]

One more pic:

[bario1]

All looks absolutely fine to me, I don't know what you're worrying about! Leave it be, the foliage will die off completely by mid October, leaving you with perfectly ripe pumpkins. If it's still trying to set new fruit, I would take these off so it can concentrate it's energy on the ones that are there already.

[Small pumpkin]

As bario1 has said your pumpkins look fine. All you need is a bit of patience ( I always find that difficult to ). Give them another month before anything resembling panic should set it. Everything will be fine, you will be making pumpkin soup, chutney, pie and roasting the seeds in no time

[Jay-ell]

The same as above. The pumpkins will ripen espcially whn they get the sun. Their stems will go corky which shows they're nearly ready.

[Jungle Jane]

Your pumpkin looks perfect,if you put a bit of straw underneath it will protect it from sitting on wet soil & skin defects/rot on that spot it's on. When it's changing colour to orange,turn it slightly so the underneath gets some sun to ripen. One of my cucumber plants has similar leaves,it's overcrowded & little airflow could be a reason for the leaves.

[Russel Sprout]

Many thanks for the help, the re-assurances and the helpful tips....

Unfortunately the pumpkins aren't in the sun for much of the day at this time of year. It's quite a small garden and there's a lot of things causing shade. Fingers crossed they'll still fully ripen though.

Cheers

[happyhumph]

If any big leaves are shading the fruit you can chop those off to give them more sun.

[Jungle Jane]

The suns still up there If you think about pumpkins,they should be ripe by October 31st halloween,thats how I think of it,so there's plenty of time still. Yours is great,I just looked at the photo again even though I've seen it before,it's nice to look at.

[Russel Sprout]

Pumpkin update! They have - as you all said they would - turned to a lovely orange. Not quite there but pretty close. However, I've noticed that the stems are rotting (or is that they've gone "corky"???) and wondering whether this is normal and/or whether I should remove them from the plant because of it? Here's some pics.








Many thanks

Max

[Jay-ell]

Looks fine. That's corky - When you harvest them don't just take that bit of stem, take a few inches of the vine either side as this lets it dry out and seals the squash for storage. You can take em up now and leave them somewhere light and dry (green house, window sill) and they'll finish off ripening and will harden their skins (cure)

[hamamelis]

Congratulations, they look great! If they're brown and dry, the stems have done their work; they're not passing on any nutrients on now, so feel free to cut 'em! If they're not quite as ripe as they could be, don't worry, stick 'em in a sunny spot somewhere (indoors or outdoors, doesn't matter if it's fairly dry), and they'll turn that last bit themselves.

By the way, when you harvest, it's best to leave a good 'T' shaped bit, rather than just a little stub of stem, as it helps them last longer in storage.

[SusieG]

Here's my three beauties ~ photos taken today: to harvest them or not..?????

[SusieG]

Oh, forgot to ask - does the same apply to the butternut squash- I have 3 of them ....... (do they turn the orangey colour that you see them like in the shops, after storing???)

As you can see, they're still fairly green ......

[Jay-ell]

Do they still have any leaves on them? The stems look pretty green and healthy so will still be feeding the squash - leaving them on a bit longer might mean they get a bit bigger.

Taking them off now would be fine - as mentioned above make sure that you get a few inches of the main vine and not just the stem on the squash. As long as they get the sun they will continue to colour and harden their skins



Most of these weren't quite 100% ripe when harvested (the pumpkins still aren't) but ripened off in the greenhouse.

Not grown butternut but they will probably be the same - although I may want to give it a little longer.