Some of my pumpkins are turning orange already. Is this normal? When should
I harvest them, and should I just leave them alone until frost kills the
plants?

another question. my pumpkins are all flowers and no fruit, i don't know
what is wrong.
"Matthew Reed" nospam at zootal dot com nospam wrote in message
...
Some of my pumpkins are turning orange already. Is this normal? When
should I harvest them, and should I just leave them alone until frost
kills the plants?

How big are they? How old are they? Mine produced tons of male flowers and
got real big before finally producing female flowers.


"Barb" wrote in message
news:dj5Bg.1828$hj4.1479@trnddc03...
another question. my pumpkins are all flowers and no fruit, i don't know
what is wrong.
"Matthew Reed" nospam at zootal dot com nospam wrote in message
...
Some of my pumpkins are turning orange already. Is this normal? When
should I harvest them, and should I just leave them alone until frost
kills the plants?

they are big plants with big flowers all of them male

"Matthew Reed" nospam at zootal dot com nospam wrote in message
...
How big are they? How old are they? Mine produced tons of male flowers and
got real big before finally producing female flowers.


"Barb" wrote in message
news:dj5Bg.1828$hj4.1479@trnddc03...
another question. my pumpkins are all flowers and no fruit, i don't
know what is wrong.
"Matthew Reed" nospam at zootal dot com nospam wrote in message
...
Some of my pumpkins are turning orange already. Is this normal? When
should I harvest them, and should I just leave them alone until frost
kills the plants?

"Barb" wrote in news:_TaBg.79$f8.25@trndny09:

they are big plants with big flowers all of them male

And you don't know why the ~*~*~*male*~*~*~ flowers aren't producing off-
spring? What a perfect place for a birds and bees and pumpkin flower
chat...


But, hey, I learned something here, too -- I didn't know there were two
types of flowers on the vine.

Matthew Reed said:

Some of my pumpkins are turning orange already. Is this normal?

Depends on the variety. Some turn orange before they are actually
ripe. (This is a great trait for jack-o'lantern pumpkins, which just
need to look good enough to carve.)

When should
I harvest them, and should I just leave them alone until frost kills the
plants?

The pumpkins will store best if they are left on the plant to get fully
ripe. The stems will be as hard as wood and the rinds will be too
tough to pierce with a thumbnail. Generally, for best eating quality
you want to let the pumpkins stay on the vine as long as possible.
Cover the fruit with paper bags or old towels if light frost threatens and
harvest when the vines die back or before a hard freeze.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

(Pat Kiewicz) wrote in
:

Matthew Reed said:

Some of my pumpkins are turning orange already. Is this normal?

Depends on the variety. Some turn orange before they are actually
ripe. (This is a great trait for jack-o'lantern pumpkins, which just
need to look good enough to carve.)

When should
I harvest them, and should I just leave them alone until frost kills
the plants?

The pumpkins will store best if they are left on the plant to get
fully ripe. The stems will be as hard as wood and the rinds will be
too tough to pierce with a thumbnail. Generally, for best eating
quality you want to let the pumpkins stay on the vine as long as
possible. Cover the fruit with paper bags or old towels if light frost
threatens and harvest when the vines die back or before a hard freeze.


My ripe (or at least ORANGE) pumpkins seem to be getting mushy stems
right at the vine and then that's that. The first one that turned orange
turned out to be completely hollow inside due to rot although the outside
looked picture perfect. These are not large ones, either, although there
are a few larger ones still on the vine and still okay, stem-wise.

Any idea why they are going mushy at the stem/vine connection?

My ripe (or at least ORANGE) pumpkins seem to be getting mushy stems
right at the vine and then that's that. The first one that turned orange
turned out to be completely hollow inside due to rot although the outside
looked picture perfect. These are not large ones, either, although there
are a few larger ones still on the vine and still okay, stem-wise.

Any idea why they are going mushy at the stem/vine connection?

I've noticed that small pumpkins will sometimes drop off of the vine. I'm
guessing the vine can only support so many pumpkins, and any excess are
dropped. I wonder if that applies to big ones also?

FragileWarrior said:

My ripe (or at least ORANGE) pumpkins seem to be getting mushy stems
right at the vine and then that's that. The first one that turned orange
turned out to be completely hollow inside due to rot although the outside
looked picture perfect. These are not large ones, either, although there
are a few larger ones still on the vine and still okay, stem-wise.

Any idea why they are going mushy at the stem/vine connection?

Could be a late flight of vine borer moths. The larvae will burrow
into the stem and can enter the fruit. Doesn't happen often (where I live)
but farther south there are two generations a year.
--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)