Butternuts and the cold weather

mrmhf · October 2020

Our butternuts flowered really late, and the butternuts are about halfway to full size. Will they be affected by falling temperatures and potentially frost?

mollis · October 2020

Mine were late too and the foliage started to yellow so I pulled them up. There were 3 very small fruits, but I really don't think they would have come to anything. I'm in the S/E and our night temps have really dropped, no frosts yet though.

Dovefromabove · October 2020

Winter Squash need to be harvested before any chance of frost.

They are ripe when the skin resists a thumbnail and the vine stem starts to turn brownish. If they have to be taken in before that happens you can use them ... but to keep them you must cook and freeze or make preserves ... they will not store.

mrmhf · October 2020

Thank you. Would a fleece work to give them more time.

On a related note, our pumpkins look amazing and they’re ready to harvest. Once harvested, what’s the best way to store them? Will they a last a few months?

Dovefromabove · October 2020

Butternuts and other squashes need soil temperatures in the mid to high teens to grow ... if you don’t have those temps their growth is over.

Have they changed colour? If so this also indicates they've stopped growing.

As for the pumpkins, harvest them with their stem intact and a piece of the vine stem (making a ‘T’ shape). If the weather is
too wet to ‘cure’ them outside keep them for a few days in a bright airy room for the skins to ‘cure’ and harden. Then store in a frostfree dry place ... I find it helpful to store them on those egg trays made of cardboard stuff to prevent rot at the base.

pinut · October 2020

Harvest the pumpkin by cutting the vine so that it leaves a letter T stalk connected to the pumpkin.

Then wash the surface of the pumpkin with water and wipe over with a cloth dampened in mild bleach solution. The concentration of bleach should be the same as that used for counter tops.

This kills off any bacteria on the surface which might spoil the pumpkin. The T stalk will dry out and seal the fruit - if the stalk was cut too close then you might get bacteria ingress and rot before it could dry out.

Store in a cool, dark and dry place. It will store up to 5 months but check it every now and then just in case.

Digging-it · October 2020

My butternut squashes are half size and still green so I know they won’t ripen now. It’s worth checking online and there are various suggestions for cooking them (I hate throwing out food!) which I’m going to try, sadly I’m sure they won’t have that lovely sweet flavour of a fully ripe fruit.

Helen P3 · October 2020

Several years ago, my sister in law convinced me that cooked green "pumpkins" of all types are absolutely delicious, "much like courgettes, only much better!"

Ever since, we've been cooking them green in any way we'd cook courgettes and now we end up with very few ripe ones for the winter!

Perhaps worth giving them a try, Digging-it ?

mrmhf · October 2020

Thanks for all the great advice. We’re going to harvest the pumpkins tomorrow. Looks like a celebratory pumpkin and kale (also from the veg garden) will be on the menu this week.

mrmhf · October 2020

One more semi-related question. I guess the same principle as above relating to frost and cold will apply to courgettes?

Dovefromabove · October 2020

Oh yes ... mine stopped producing a couple of weeks ago and are on the compost heap now.

Butternuts and the cold weather

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