When do you pick gourds?
Do you let them 'cure' on the vine? or do you pick them when they look ready and then bring them in to harden?? I've never grown gourds before. These are just little ones.
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barrelslime
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applestar
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I think you want to let them grow on the vine at least until they start coloring up. All green gourds will become paler in color.
If the vines die off for any reason -- mildew, bugs -- then you can clip the gourds off and keep them in warm well ventilated area. If they are picked immature/green, they are more liable to rot. One year a remnant of a hurricane came through and ripped off almost all of my birdhouse gourds. Someof them rotted and made a stinky mess, but I was able to cure most of them by "let them get moldy and then dry through winter" method. In other words, don't go throwing them out just because they develop mold. It's part of the curing process. Just put them in warm well ventilated place away from the living area. I couldn't do that one year when I was curing bushel gourds (only volleyball and basketball sized in my case) -- they had to be picked a little greener than they should have been due to imminent freeze and tended to mold easily that left on their own, developed rot -- and resorted to periodically wiping them down with rubbing alcohol, and that worked too.
If you re growing C. Pepo gourds, they are also susceptible to SVB. I've left the upper vines with fruits on them on the trellis even after getting rid of the infested basal area and the tiny gourds sucked all the nutrients from the vines as they died off, and turned color.
I've also found undiscovered whole, undamaged and cured gourds during winter and even at spring cleanup. They are pretty tough.
If the vines die off for any reason -- mildew, bugs -- then you can clip the gourds off and keep them in warm well ventilated area. If they are picked immature/green, they are more liable to rot. One year a remnant of a hurricane came through and ripped off almost all of my birdhouse gourds. Someof them rotted and made a stinky mess, but I was able to cure most of them by "let them get moldy and then dry through winter" method. In other words, don't go throwing them out just because they develop mold. It's part of the curing process. Just put them in warm well ventilated place away from the living area. I couldn't do that one year when I was curing bushel gourds (only volleyball and basketball sized in my case) -- they had to be picked a little greener than they should have been due to imminent freeze and tended to mold easily that left on their own, developed rot -- and resorted to periodically wiping them down with rubbing alcohol, and that worked too.
If you re growing C. Pepo gourds, they are also susceptible to SVB. I've left the upper vines with fruits on them on the trellis even after getting rid of the infested basal area and the tiny gourds sucked all the nutrients from the vines as they died off, and turned color.
I've also found undiscovered whole, undamaged and cured gourds during winter and even at spring cleanup. They are pretty tough.
The ones that are growing are little ones, a bit smaller than a baseball. they're yellow on top and green on the bottom, they're a part of this mix https://www.superseeds.com/details.php?id=160
They're already yellow on top. And yes, they already had SVB, which I keep digging them out. So far, so good!!!
So, leave them for as long as I can probably? They're just for decoration, my daughter wanted to grow them for fun
They're already yellow on top. And yes, they already had SVB, which I keep digging them out. So far, so good!!!
So, leave them for as long as I can probably? They're just for decoration, my daughter wanted to grow them for fun
