How to Tell When Your Winter Squash is Ready for Harvest

Published 5:00 pm Sunday, September 9, 2007

Home gardeners should harvest winter squash when the “ground spot” changes from white to a cream or gold color. Then, if cured the right way and stored at the proper temperature and humidity, winter squash will last through the holiday season well into winter.

The Oregon State University Extension Service recommends the following steps for proper handling and storage of winter squash and pumpkins:

Check before harvesting to see that all winter squashes and pumpkins to be stored have hard rinds.

Leave the stems on acorn, butternut, turban and buttercup squash or pumpkins that have woody, angular stems.

Cut, don’t break, the stems off Hubbards, banana and other fleshy-stemmed squash, leaving about 1-2 inches of stem. These should last six months if properly stored, especially if the stem is cut off and the stem area is well healed.

Leave a three- to four-inch stem on a pumpkin to help it last longer. Avoid scratching or bruising them. Most types of pumpkins don’t last as long in storage as winter squash.

Be gentle with your produce. Try not to drop or pile your squashes on top of one another. Injured produce spoils quickly.

Bring winter squashes and pumpkins in well before the first cold snap. Since most squashes and pumpkins are warm season crops, they are susceptible to low temperature injury at less than 50 degrees. Squashes and pumpkins left out in the garden may become cold-injured and will decay prematurely in storage. Once the temperature gets below about 50 degrees for more than a week, or there is an extended period of rain, pumpkins and squash should be brought in for storage.

Cure squashes and pumpkins after harvesting them by holding them at warm, dry temperatures for a few days until any abrasions or cuts from harvesting heal up.

You should store most winter squashes and pumpkins in areas as close to 50 degrees as possible, and between 70 and 80 percent humidity, for best results. Good air circulation in the storage area is also helpful. Do not store pumpkins and squash in layers. Avoid storing them near the ground or floor where the humidity is highest. A layer of straw helps keep them dry.

Avoid storing them on paper or in paper or plastic bags, as bags tend to hold in too much moisture. An attic or high garage shelf, if kept above 50 degrees, may work well.

Under proper storage conditions, acorn squashes will last from five to eight weeks, butternut squashes from two to three months and Turban and Buttercup should keep at least three months.

Monitor your stored pumpkins and squash and remove any that are turning soft.