Can you freeze gourds

The exterior rind should look dull and dry. Hasty harvest, scratches and other surface injuries cause fruit to rot prematurely. Cut pumpkins and gourds with 3 to 4-inch stems. Cut a 1-inch stem on squash. Wash rind with a diluted bleach solution to kill surface bacteria and mold. Bleach disinfectant wipes are perfect for this task. The ideal post-harvest curing environment is a warm room with good air circulation.

Damp or humid weather promotes rot. A drying period of 10 days is sufficient to cure pumpkins and squash. Small gourds require two to three weeks curing. Large gourds such as birdhouse or apple take several months to dry completely. Large gourds may develop exterior mold as they cure. Mold does not damage gourds. Buff exteriors to remove mold once gourds have dried completely. Now your pumpkins, squash and gourds are ready to display or decorate.

Carving or painting pumpkins is a fun fall tradition. For the first couple of days after you punch holes in them, there is going to be a very large amount of this fluid that will drain out of them. It can create quite a mess if they are hung inside. It will stop after the initial water has drained out. The only place I have to dry my gourds is in the basement of my home.

Will it hurt to put them down there? If you only have a few, say 5 or 10, you might be able to hang them from the joists, and they may do just fine. But, if you have a large amount, I would be wary of putting them in the basement.

One, the ventilation in a basement is not very good, and in order for gourds to dry properly, they need good ventilation. If you feel they have to be dried inside, then I would find a friend with an open barn somewhere.

Something else you could do. If you have the space somewhere outside, place a shipping pallet out in the open. Now place your gourds on this pallet. This way, they will get full sunlight and plenty of air circulation. If it rains, and you feel you must, you can simply cover them with a plastic sheet or tarpaulin of some sort. When the rain is gone, uncover them.

In fact, the rain often helps wash off a lot of the mud and debris from the garden. Drying gourds need ventilation to dry properly. Temperature is not a factor in the drying process of mature gourds.

Moving air is. My wife is trying to dry gourds in our garage in Wisconsin and several have started to rot. Is there any way to prevent this? One , No matter how hard you try and prevent it, some gourds will always rot. These should be discarded immediately before they infect any of the others. If that number seems about right, them leave them alone where they are.

If available and you feel it necessary, put them under an overhanging roof somewhere out in the open where wind can get to them. If this is not available, put them on an old shipping pallet as shown above out in the open.

They really need a lot of moving air. This is probably the one major factor for drying gourds. Three , Although not always, some gourds will obtain a mold on the outsides. It is a natural part of the curing process. Push on the gourd. If it is solid, then the gourd is only molding. The gourd is beyond any help and you need to discard it. The materials and membranes inside shrink drastically during the drying process and become the outer wall of the gourd.

This is known as hardening off. The outer skin solidifies and becomes very hard. Yes, gourds cut early will dry, but the final product is going to be a little lower quality than if left to their own accord.

Call us 24x7 [email protected]. Before we start, remember that we have a wide variety of dried gourds available for purchase here on the Amish Gourds website. Skip all the hassle, work, expenses, and uncertainty that comes with growing gourds on your own. Our expert Amish farmers have generations of experience and grow absolutely gorgeous gourds. Click here to view the gourds we have for sale on our website.

There are a number of different methods to dry gourds and the particular method anyone uses will be up to them. If you want to pick your gourds early and place them on pallets, then fine, they will dry. However; there is more chance of your gourds rotting when you do this. If the gourds are picked before maturing, then they are much more susceptible to rot.

A good indicator that a gourd is ready to pick is when the stem is dry and turning brown. The stem will aid in wicking the moisture from the gourds. Wipe the gourds dry and spray lightly with a household disinfectant or mist with rubbing alcohol.

Space the prepared gourds on a few layers of newspaper in a dark, warm, dry area such as an attic with good ventilation. Replace the damp newspaper every few days, turning the gourds when you do.

You can also place the gourds under a fan to speed up the drying process. Repeat these steps for the next several weeks until the gourds are noticeably lighter and you are able to hear the seeds rattling inside them when you pick them up.

Create a gourd birdhouse. Follow the drying instructions above. Puncture a hole in the dry gourd and use a pumpkin cutter to saw out an opening about the size of a golf ball. Twist the wire around the stem to hang. A wooden dowel may also be inserted under the hole as a perch. Simply puncture a hole directly underneath the cut opening and work the dowel in gently.