Kitchen Garden Forum

We've had a LOT of rain this week which has been good for most things but not one of my pumpkins that was ready to start ripening. It's about 18" diameter in old money and has split rather badly at the bottom; I can see the seeds in the centre.
Should I leave it on the plant to see if it will ripen? My concern with this is that it will rot beford it ripens.
The other choice is to take it off the plant and put it somewhere warm and dry in the hope that it will turn orange.
Of course, there is a third choice, which is to take it off the plant and consign it to the compost heap if there is no chance of it ripening.
What do the team think?

I think your worst risk is mice trying to eat the seeds ,if it was me I would put it in storage but I don’t know much about pumpkins

Hmm. Good point, Robo. We have a large vole population here and this would certainly be a tasty treat for them.

Easy to tell when they rot, the stench is vile.
I'd bin it myself, but I planted ninety different squash plants.

Peter 90?? You must love pumpkin! I do too but not enough to grow 90 with the space they take.

Viv, I would give it a chance as it might heal itself but protect it in a solo cage/fleece/clotch from the critters to form it's own scar. Worth a shot but saying that based on seeing scars on some of mine over the years which are a big pain to cut into as tougher than the skin which even on some varieties you need a chain saw to get into! But same flesh behind the scar as the rest.

Well, it got the chop and it's sitting in the greenhouse! I felt that the split was too deep for a prospect of recovery but I couldn't bring myself to chuck it in the compost heap just yet. I will give it a week in the greenhouse and see if it shows any sign of turning orange. I have about 9 or 10 others so I'm not deprived in any way!
Peter - what on earth do you do with 90 pumpkins?! Mine are destined for a neighbourhood halloween party (outdoors, weather permitting) but it's the butternuts that I'm most looking forward to eating.

vivienz wrote:.....
Peter - what on earth do you do with 90 pumpkins?! .......

That's plants and they're different varieties of squashes, plus four courgette plants.
Crown Prince is my best one, couple of butternut variants and some I've not grown before.The
The vegetable spaghetti seem to have done better than before or maybe I planted more of them than intended.
Patty Pan summer squash haven't done well, nor have the green courgettes, I think I even lost a couple of them after planting out, yellow courgette plants, just two, are doing well.
I love growing them, they're all, bar courgettes and Patty Pan, fruits that store well.
We eat smaller ones with roast dinner and as boats for stuffing with something and topping with cheese, larger ones like 6kg Crown Prince form the base of a week's supply of vegetable, veg n bacon, or veg chicken n bacon soups over winter - cutting all the ingredients up can take between one and two bours.

Plus I share them with friends, neighbours and work colleagues.

This year's squashes....

Area 1, area two photo I thought I took wasn't on phone about half the size


Vegetable Spaghetti


Baby Bear?


Butternut


Crown Prince


Festival type


Autumn Crown


Not sure what this one is

Vivien - You're like me. I too wouldn't have been able to throw your damaged pumpkin away at this stage and I would have been all for giving it a last chance at ripening.

However, the danger of rot is obviously increasing now and even though its under cover and protected from the rain, that process could still proceed. I wonder if it's worth putting some clingfilm tightly over the damaged area to try and protect little flies etc creating havoc. You'll need to check the damaged area regularly still though as you might just be sealing the problem in rather than providing a protectivecovering. Keep us updated as a learning experience.

Well, the split pumpkin was put on the compost heap this morning.
It didn't show any signs of ripening and was starting to rot from where it first split at the base - you can see this on the photo. I cut out a chunk of the flesh, too, just in case it was worth eating but it wasn't. It was less tasty than a marrow. I know that's a bit like saying that something is more zero than zero, but you get the idea.
Not to worry though, as the plants have produced well and the others are ripening.

Thanks for the photo Vivien. It's obvious, now its been split open that the rot had already started and no prevention or protection measures would have worked. However at least it won,t be wasted on the compost heap although they can be tough creatures and may take a while to rot down althiugh the skin probably might not be rock hard yet. . Still if you bury it hopefully the warmth inside the heap will help it decompose more quickly and it will still keep the worms fed !