Your comments and tips

09 Feb 18, bruce (Australia - temperate climate)

Butternut pumpkins...planted mid Nov'. do they change colour & sound hollow when ripe? we are a bit dubious when to harvest.

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12 Feb 18, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

Harvesting Knowing when to harvest pumpkins is no great mystery, firstly the skin should be hard, secondly the stem leading to the vine should be hard as well, this indicates that the pumpkin is no longer taking in nutrients. And Thirdly when given a tap it should sound a little hollow. SO how long from planting to harvest 3 – 4 months. When you do harvest them make sure you leave a good amount of stem attached, this helps them last longer and prevents rot. Many growers like to leave them in the field until the first frost hits as this will knock back the vines but also toughen the pumpkin and some say make it taste sweeter and keep longer.

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07 Feb 18, Rose (New Zealand - temperate climate)

My pumpkin snapped off the vine. It is very large but the vine is still healthy. What do i do with the pumpkin to ripen it

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14 Sep 18, Mike (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate)

Support the vine next time. If the vine had started to die back etc the pumpkin would have been ripe/mature - 5-6 mths old. If the plant had only been growing 3 mths then the pumpkin would be immature.

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08 May 18, Peter (New Zealand - temperate climate)

had the same problem early in last season I put the pumpkin in a warm dry place in the garden shed and was left for 3 months decided to cut it and was surprised to see a fresh not fully ripe but very edible pumpkin, warm shed and dry seems to work

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31 Jan 18, Karen hoye (Australia - temperate climate)

When to plant gourd seeds in Newcastle NSW first attempts Cheers Karen

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02 Feb 18, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

It says it grows like pumpkin, so plant it now.

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28 Jan 18, Shelley O'Brien (Australia - arid climate)

What are the best varieties of butternuts, and pumpkins to plant in dry areas of western NSW?

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30 Jan 18, Mike (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

Go to a seed company like Boondie Seeds and read about different pumpkins. Doesn't matter what kind of pumpkin you grow it will need a fair amount of watering.

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27 Jan 18, Cat (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

I have a pumpkin vine just pop up in my compost heap (just a hole in the ground i dig the compost into away from the house & pets). It's starting to grow pretty prolific, no flowers yet though. I have no real idea of the variety as I've used probably (at least) 3 different varieties of pumpkin and all of the seeds have been mixed in the compost heap. a) can i transplant it to a garden bed in full sun? b) does the one vine/plant grow flowers of both genders or do i need two plants? How do you know what's going to grow? This is the first time I've ever heard you needed or that there were genders to the flowers. My grandpa grew pumpkins when I was a kid & never said. TIA, Cat

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