Pumpkin Harvesting and Storage

Providing Proper Pumpkin Harvesting and Storage

Congratulations, You’ve Got Pumpkins!. You are the first grower in your neighborhood to have a large, ripe pumpkin! And, its shape is so nice and round. Now, your only problem is, that it is now mid-August. Yet Halloween is over two months away. If you leave it on the vine, you fear it will surely rot, or the bugs will get to it. If you have deer in the area, then it’s important to harvest them before deer make a meal out of them. It’s time to learn the proper techniques for pumpkin harvesting and storing pumpkins.

Don’t worry or fret. Properly stored, pumpkins are “long keepers”. Here are some guidelines and tips for picking and storing pumpkins so they last until Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Gardening Tip: Sometimes pumpkins are not orange and ripe as the season comes to an end. Learn how to Ripen Green Pumpkins

How to Harvest Pumpkins

There’s a little more detail to properly harvesting pumpkins than yanking them off of the vine.

Leave the fruit on the vine as long as you can.
Measure it every few days to see if it is still growing
Do not pick it until the skin has reached full color and has hardened.
Use a sharp knife to cut off the stem at the vine. Be careful not to damage the vine, if there are more pumpkins still on it.
A good pumpkin has a good stem. Do not carry the pumpkin by the stem. Carry the pumpkin out of the field by holding it in the palms of your hands. If you plan on selling them, a pumpkin with a broken or missing stem loses much of it’s price on the market.
Wash the pumpkin off completely.

Tip: Putting a board under your ripening pumpkin is a common practice to deter bugs, moles and rotting from underneath.

For more information, see: Pumpkin Picking Tips

Techniques for Properly Storing Pumpkins

Pumpkins are called “Long-keepers”. After harvesting pumpkins, using proper storage techniques keeps them in great shape for several months.

As a rule of thumb, pumpkins can normally be stored for 30 – 90 days.
For long term storage, wash the pumpkins in a very mild chlorine solution. Use one cup (8 ounces) of chlorine to one gallon of water. This will destroy bacterias which may cause the fruit to rot.
Allow the pumpkin to dry completely.
Store the pumpkin in a cool, dry and dark place(if possible)
Avoid hot and humid places, even if storing for only a couple of weeks.
Pumpkins are best stored on a board or piece of cardboard.
Do not store the fruit on a cement floor, as they tend to rot.
Do not store the fruit on a good rug in case it was to rot, as it would ruin the rug.

Note: The above process can be used for most fruits and vegetables. Although storage time will vary.