It is the first of October and we already have the chance of a frost
tonight so i wanted to come out to the pumpkin
and squash patch and get everything harvested that's mature right now
so i thought i would show you guys how i pick
a ripe pumpkin or winter squash and kind of the process
of curing and storing them but first i want to give you a quick look at all of
the different variants that we have going
on in this patch we planted a lot of different varieties this year and it's
been really fun to see all the different colors and
shapes so let's take a look
now one of the very first indicators you can look for on a lot of winter squash
and pumpkins is a color change so for instance butternut squash will
turn to this typical tan color i've got one here called Autumn Frost
that will go from green to this beige and it will get this frost
on it which tells you that it's ripe and then you obviously have things like
the big orange jack-o-lantern pumpkins which will turn deep orange when they're
ripe so that color change will get you close
but to ensure that you're picking your winter squash and pumpkins at their peak
maturity which means that you're going to get a
longer term storage life out of them you want to use this trick and all this
trick takes is a thumbnail so what you want to do is
whatever squash or pumpkin you think is close to maturity
go up on the top fairly close to where the stem is coming out
and press your thumbnail into the rind now about a medium pressure you don't
have to go super super hard but what you're looking for
is that your thumbnail is not able to pierce the rind of your squash or
pumpkin so you can see on this one that rind is
hard i cannot pierce that with my thumbnail
so i know between this color change where it's starting to show this tan
color and the thumbnail test that this pumpkin
is ready to be picked so let's contrast that with this squash
these have been colored up for a long time but when i press on the rind with
my thumbnail i am able to make a indentation
and so after i've given these the thumbnail tests
i will just go through and about halfway up the stem
snip them off with a shears or scissors heavy duty scissors or something of the
like and i will take these to start the
curing process so let's get harvesting
once you get all your winter squash harvested
you can set it up to cure now not every type of winter squash
needs curing in particular acorn squash, spaghetti squash and delicata squash
which delicata look like these do not need to be cured your other
pumpkins in winter squash you'll want to cure and that's because the curing
process helps harden the rind which will allow
them to store longer and it will help the natural sugars
concentrate in the flesh which improves the taste
ideally you will cure winter squash and pumpkins
in a warm dry sunny protected area that is 80 to 85
degrees fahrenheit and about 80 to 85 percent humidity now
i realize that that's not practical for many
home and hobbyist gardeners if you happen to have
a greenhouse that makes a great place to cure winter squash
otherwise sitting in like a sun room on a sun porch
in a sunny south facing window if you don't have a sunny window
even just like a warm dry protected porch will work
just the closest you can to a warm dry fairly humid environment and
ideally most squash will cure for about 10 to 14 days
some a little bit longer butternuts you can cure up to a month but you will go
through that curing process before putting them away for long-term storage
so i'm going to put all these squash in the greenhouse and we're going to fast
forward to putting them into long-term storage
now one thing i did forget to mention if there's any dirt on them you want to
brush them off kind of clean them off a little but you
don't want to spray them off with water because you don't want to add any extra
moisture the other thing is if you have squash
with obvious cuts or nicks or animals of chewed on
them you're going to want to use those first because they will start to rot in
long-term storage once your squash have been properly
cured it's time to move them into long-term storage
now the ideal storage conditions are about 50 to 55 degrees fahrenheit and
anywhere from 50 to 70 percent humidity now don't agonize about hitting those
targets exactly i found as long as you keep the squash
coolish and dryish in an area with decent air circulation
they store just fine now the length of storage is going to depend on the
variety of winter squash or pumpkin that you're growing
so i'll throw a chart up that will show you all of the different storage times
for the different types of squash and pumpkins
but just realize that when you are growing different varieties some will
store for as little as three months some will store up to an over sometimes
a year if properly cured and stored and be sure to let me know if you have
any additional tips or tricks for curing and storing winter squash and pumpkins
and drop a line in the comments below and let me know what your
favorite pumpkin or squash variety is to grow i am always on the lookout for new
varieties to try and if you find content like this
helpful please consider subscribing to my channel
Growfully with Jenna thanks for watching and i'll see you next time