To determine the ripeness of a pumpkin, first of all you need to look at its color: the fact is that when ripened, these vegetables sharply change their color, for example, green fruits become bright yellow, bluish fruits become pink-yellow. It is important to note that the color of mature pumpkins is exceptionally rich.
How to properly care for a pumpkin before harvesting?
Regardless of the size of the fruit and the timing of harvesting, there are rules that will help protect the fruit in the garden from rotting and pests. Lying constantly on its side, in contact with the ground, in wet weather a huge berry can rot and become unusable. Those who try to process a pumpkin with a rotten side are doing it wrong. Before the fruit receives visible damage, changes have already occurred in the core, and it should not be eaten.
The pumpkin should be placed on a hillock or a specially constructed mound, a wooden or plywood board should be placed down, and covered with film on top during autumn rains. IN last month When the pumpkin gains sweetness, watering should be stopped. The length of the roots, which go down to a depth of three meters, is enough to provide the required amount of water.
Indicates that the pumpkin harvest time has arrived, the first cold snap, since even a slight frost makes the fruit unsuitable for storage. You can also keep the fruit in the garden in dry weather, protecting it from cool nights.
When can you pick a pumpkin?
You can only get a fully ripened pumpkin from the field in hot regions, when the fruits naturally ripen in the field for more than 4 months. But the good thing about pumpkin is that in addition to its long shelf life of several months, it still continues to ripen.
Therefore, you can find out whether the pumpkin is ripe and how long it can lie on the ridge by knowing main signs that a vegetable is ready for harvesting:
The leaves of the bush withered, changed their color to yellow, and dried out. If before this there were no signs of anthracosis disease, then the natural death of healthy foliage serves as a sure sign of the end of the growing season.
The stalk becomes rigid, the top layer becomes corked, and it becomes woody simultaneously with the stem supplying food. It is no longer possible to rearrange the pumpkin in any other way without compromising the integrity of the liner.
The color of the pumpkin, whatever it is, from gray to yellow, becomes brighter, the pattern is more noticeable.
There should be no traces left on the crust from scratching it with a fingernail. The cover hardens and does not spring back when pressed with fingers. A ripe pumpkin responds to cotton with a ringing sound. A ripe pumpkin becomes covered with a matte coating, the stalk is easily separated.
When harvesting a pumpkin, you need to treat it with care, trying not to scratch it. If trouble occurs, seal the damaged area with a bactericidal plaster or do not leave the damaged vegetable for storage.
Early ripening varieties are harvested at the end of August and grown as seedlings. These varieties include the common Gribovskaya bush, Vesnushka, Golosemyannaya. They have a thin crust and can be stored for up to a month.
Medium-ripening pumpkin varieties - Ulybka, Lechebnaya, Rossiyanka - will ripen in 4 months. Harvest in September, but before the first frost. Frozen fruits are not suitable for storage. Varieties of these pumpkins last up to two months after ripeness.
The most valuable fruits are late-ripening varieties grown under the southern sun. These include Vitamin, Muscat, Pearl. These pumpkins have a thick, hard rind and sweet flesh that is added raw to salads. Late varieties can be stored in a cool room for up to six months. They are harvested late, but even in the south ripeness occurs in a month or two.
The ripening times indicated on the seed packet are based on ideal conditions. The weather makes its own adjustments. Therefore, you need to navigate when to harvest a pumpkin based on the weather, the condition of the plant and the biological maturation of the variety.
When storing any pumpkin, it is important that the integrity of the fit of the tail to the womb is not compromised. If there is a gap in this place, an infection will set in and the fruit will rot.
Harvesting rules
Harvesting is carried out in dry weather, after the lashes have dried well from the morning moisture. If bad weather strikes, you will have to harvest the crop in wet weather; such fruits need to be dried well. At the same time, separate damaged specimens. In dry, warm weather, root crops cut off from the main stem can still be kept in a melon patch, under the rays of the sun.
When determining the ripeness of pumpkins, you need not only to look at their peel, but also to touch it with your hands: unripe fruits bend easily when pressed, and the peel is so tender that it can easily be pierced with a fingernail. The skin of a ripe pumpkin is matte and has a pattern characteristic of this variety (usually when purchasing seeds, the label contains a photo of ripe fruits with a characteristic pattern). Many varieties of pumpkins become covered with a coating when ripe, which is easily erased when touched.
You can also determine the ripeness of a pumpkin by its sound: ripe vegetables make a ringing sound when tapped, while unripe vegetables make a dull sound.
In general, most varieties of pumpkin ripen in September, so it is worth considering that by the end of September the pumpkin is ready for harvest.
If all the signs described above indicate the ripeness of the fruit, then the last thing you should pay attention to when determining the ripeness of a pumpkin is the stalk. In unripe vegetables it is light and strong.
If you pick a pumpkin and don’t know whether it is ripe or not, then you can determine its ripeness by the seeds. To do this, cut the fruit and look at the seeds, try to separate them from the pulp: in a ripe vegetable, the seeds are dense and round, they are easily separated from the fibers. Remember, pumpkin has one wonderful property - to ripen.
Picked pumpkin can ripen for about a month in a dark, cool, dry place.
You can store the fruit in such conditions for a long time, allowing you to use a fresh, healthy product during the winter.
Knowing how to determine the ripeness of your buds is one of the most important aspects of growing cannabis. What do we mean by maturity? This is a state at which you can begin to cut off the inflorescences (cones).
We don't think twice about determining the ripeness of the fruits we eat, but how can we tell if our cannabis is ripe?
Just like fruits, hemp buds have several stages of maturity. The degree of maturity is indicated by the transparency and color of the trichomes (glands that cover the surface of flowers and leaves), the color of the leaves and the color of the hairs on the buds themselves.
Let's start with your personal tastes. Just as not everyone likes bananas with brown spots on the skin and cloying semi-liquid flesh, although this is probably their peak ripeness, you may also like the buds that have not yet reached peak ripeness. In hemp, the period when it is best to cut inflorescences is usually extended over two weeks. At the beginning of this period it is already possible to harvest, at the end - it is simply necessary.
Best to follow simple rule: If a seed or clone seller says that a given variety matures in, for example, 9 weeks, you need to add at least a week. The fact is that the last week is very important, since it is this week that ensures significant weight gain. Sometimes we are talking about an extra 20-30 percent. During this extra week, the trichome heads will increase in size and approximately 10% of them will turn amber. This can only be truly seen with the help of a microscope, which should be in every grower's arsenal. The appearance of an amber color in the trichomes indicates the beginning of an important stage in the maturation process. Immature trichomes are clear, then due to the abundance of THC they become cloudy, and finally amber appears.
If you are looking for maximum THC levels, cut your buds early in the ripeness period. If you want to get a bit of the “sofa” along with the “uplifting” effect, then you should wait for 15-20% of the trichomes to turn amber, since this will turn part of the THC into another cannabinoid - CBN, which enhances the hypnotic effect of cannabis.
It's worth experimenting with different stages of maturity and finding the one you like best. Cut off the bud for testing within the time specified by the seller, and the rest within the next two weeks. Don't forget to treat the bumps yourself the right way- that is, in glass jars.
When growing any long-blooming sativa, you can get multiple harvests from the plant. Start at the top, where the buds ripen fastest, then wait for the buds on the next tier to fill and reach maturity, and then the ones at the bottom.
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Useful tips
Finding ripe cherries, pineapples, strawberries or other sweet fruits can turn into an adventure.
For example, you liked a large red strawberry, but after trying it, you discovered that it only looks beautiful, but has no taste as such.
Usually, when choosing sweet apples or bananas, we can by appearance immediately determine their ripeness. But there are fruits whose ripeness not so easy to determine. This is especially true for fruits, which we don't buy very often.
So that you don't have to trial and error When choosing fruits, there are several ways to help you find the most delicious fruits.
How to know if the fruit is ripe
Ripe pineapple
1. Don't judge the ripeness of a pineapple by its appearance. Even if the pineapple is greenish on the outside, it may be quite ripe on the inside.
2. You can determine the ripeness of a pineapple by its appearance by looking at its leaves, which should be thick and green. You can try pulling a little on one of the upper leaves - if it comes off, it means the fruit is definitely ripe.
3. In addition, a ripe pineapple should be firm and free of cracks.
If the fruit is soft, it means that it was picked while still green, after which it was stored in a warehouse for a long time, which is why it became soft. The taste of such a fruit will be sour. A ripe fruit, when pressed, will spring back and sag, but will still remain elastic.
4. Also pay attention to the smell, which should be sweet, and, naturally, similar to the smell of pineapple, and not something else. If you don't smell anything, the fruit is not yet ripe, and if it smells like vinegar, the fruit is overripe.
5. You can click the pineapple with your fingers - if it is ripe, it will sound loud.
6. The base of a ripe pineapple is usually a little moist. If it turns out to be dry, it is likely that after the fruit was picked, it was stored somewhere for a long time.
* After purchasing, it is better to eat the pineapple immediately, as it does not ripen after it is picked.
* It is worth noting that ripe pineapple contains magnesium, zinc, manganese, potassium, iodine, copper and iron.
How to choose ripe strawberries
1. Everything is simple here: if the strawberries are not red, most likely they are not sweet and not tasty. But color sometimes does not always indicate the ripeness of strawberries.
2. The best thing to do is smell the strawberries. Try to catch the smell of a handful of strawberries, and you will immediately understand whether it is worth spending your money on them.
Melon and watermelon
Cantaloupe, cantaloupe or watermelon - their thick rind makes it difficult to determine ripeness.
1. It is advisable that there are no extra spots on the melon.
2. Softer varieties, such as honeydew melon, should have a matte rind rather than a glossy rind (which often suggests the fruit is overripe).
The cantaloupe should have an orange-gold hue underneath the mesh pattern.
3. As with all fruits, the ripeness of melon and watermelon can be determined by their smell.
4. The weight of ripe fruits is heavy for their size. You can compare the weight of fruits of the same size - the heavier one is riper.
Ripe cherries
First we need to figure out what type of cherry we are dealing with.
1. The Rainier cherry - also known as Rainer or Reiner - has a red-yellow color, which means you should not be alarmed by the presence of yellow.
2. Sweet red cherries should be dark red in color. The tail of such a cherry should be bright green.
3. You should not take cherries with wrinkles around the place where the tail connects to the fruit.
Ripe peaches
1. The color of the peel depends, for the most part, on which part of the fruit received more sunlight. You shouldn't expect yellow peaches to turn red when ripe.
2. Peaches with white and greenish spots near the stem will take a few days to ripen.
3. You can press the peach a little to check its ripeness.
Choosing mango
* To begin with, don't worry about the color of the fruit. Different varieties mangoes have different colors that have nothing to do with their ripeness:
Variety Ataulfo- golden
Variety Francis- green-gold
Variety Hayden- turns from green to yellow and sometimes red
Variety Kate- green
Variety Kent- dark green, sometimes with yellow tints or spots
Variety Tommy Atkins- difficult to determine, because the peel may be yellow-green, golden, or even dark red
Variety Gigolo- peel color can vary from purple to yellow
Variety Edward- pink, yellow, or both
Varieties Kesar- green, sometimes take on a yellow tint
Variety Manila- orange-yellow, sometimes pink
Varieties Palmer- The peel can come in a variety of colors, including purple, red, yellow, or all three.
1. Lightly press it with your palm, not your fingers - if it is soft, it means ripe. If the flesh is hard and/or does not spring back, the fruit is not yet ripe. But the fruit should not be too soft, because... in this case the fruit is overripe.
2. It is worth looking carefully at the place near the stalk - in a ripe fruit this place is round and plump. When the mango ripens, the stalk rises slightly.
3. Smell the mango near the stem - the ripe fruit has a strong sweet aroma, reminiscent of the taste of mango.
* Mangoes ripen at room temperature. It is advisable to check the fruits every day to know if they are ripe. As a rule, mangoes ripen from 2 to 7 days.
How to choose an avocado
* As with mangoes, the color of an avocado won't tell you anything about the ripeness of the fruit.
* Ripe fruit slightly shiny in appearance. It must not be damaged and must not have dark spots and dents.
1. You can touch the fruit - if it is too soft, it is overripe and should not be eaten.
2. Shake the fruit a little - if you hear the sound of seeds, it means it is ripe.
* You can choose a slightly unripe fruit - it will ripen in a couple of days. The main thing is to check it regularly.
It is worth noting that avocado is rich in vitamins A, C, E, B, P, as well as iron, magnesium, phosphorus, copper and potassium. It contains a large amount of antioxidants that are beneficial for the cardiovascular system.
How to choose a ripe pomegranate
1. Look at the color of the peel - a bright red color without a yellow tint indicates the ripeness of the fruit.
2. Also, the peel should not contain visible cracks and should not be rough to the touch.
3. You should not take fruits with dry skin - such fruits were stored for a long time after picking, and they began to lose their moisture.
4. If you look at the place where the pomegranate flower used to be, there should be dry petals there. If they have a greenish tint, it means that the fruit was picked unripe and its taste will not be as sweet.
5. Press the pomegranate a little - if you hear the crunch of the grains, then the fruit is ripe. When pressing on an unripe fruit, the grains simply crush without making a sound.
6. Unlike many other fruits, a ripe pomegranate should not smell, and if it does, it means it is overripe or the fruit was not stored correctly.
* It is worth noting that pomegranates are rich in vitamins A, C, B1, B2, B6, B12, E, P, as well as iodine, iron, potassium, silicon, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, copper, aluminum, etc. In addition , pomegranate contains 15 amino acids that you will not find in any other fruit.
Coconut
1. Pay attention to the appearance of the coconut - it should not have cracks, dents or various dark spots.
2. Look carefully at the places where the fruit was held by the palm tree - they should not be soft and certainly should not be pressed through.
3. Compare coconuts of the same size - the heavier one will be riper.
* If you need coconut for pulp, then it is better to take ripe fruits, and if you are buying coconut for its milk, then it is better to choose not very large young fruits - a greener fruit will contain more milk than a less green one.
4. Over time, the liquid in the coconut becomes pulp. If you shake a coconut, you can find out how ripe it is - if you hear the splashing of liquid, then the fruit is still green.
* IN coconut milk contains a large dose of vitamin E, which prevents the development of heart disease and atherosclerosis.
Pomelo
1. Smell the pomelo - the ripe fruit has a pleasant smell that can be smelled even from a distance.
2. A ripe fruit has a peel of uniform and uniform color.
3. There should be no visible damage or green spots on the peel. But it is worth noting that there are certain varieties that have a peel that is evenly colored green.
4. The presence of color stains and inclusions indicates that the plant that produced this fruit was sick, which could not but affect the taste of the fruit.
5. You should not buy a fruit whose peel has noticeable seals, because... these defects indicate improper storage of the fruit. This fruit will taste bland.
6. Upper part The fruit should be firm.
7. Choose fruits that weigh about 1 kg - as a rule, fruits of this weight are ripe.
* Pomelo is a fruit that contains vitamins C, B1, B2, B6, PP, A, as well as antioxidants and pectin.
If the potato beds are vacated in the summer, then the pumpkin turns yellow with bright spots in the garden until the fall. But so that it does not last until frost, it is important to know when to remove the pumpkin. It is impossible not to rush or delay the harvest of healthy and tasty fruits. Let's hurry, and the pumpkin won't have time to accumulate sugar and fully ripen. Stale fruits run the risk of freezing from early frosts. And this will significantly reduce the shelf life of the crop and its quality.
There is no single date when you can start cleaning. Firstly, it depends on the variety, because there are pumpkins with short, medium and late maturation. Secondly, the growing climate also plays an important role. Pumpkin is a sun-loving vegetable, and the more sun it gets and the warmer the summer, the sooner the harvest will ripen. Accordingly, in the south, center and northern regions, harvesting times will differ significantly. How not to be late, prevent freezing, but at the same time remove the pumpkin on time and ripe? This is not difficult if you know the varietal characteristics of the vegetable and observe the weather conditions.
When to harvest pumpkin: harvesting time depending on the crop variety
There are many varieties of pumpkins, including decorative ones, but today we are not talking about that. In general, all types of this garden crops can be divided into 3 groups. The guideline is how many days they need to reach full ripeness. Based on this, universal harvest dates are established.
So, according to the ripening period, pumpkin is:
- Precocious, aka early. The growing season is 3.5 months. You can shoot at the end of summer, starting from the second ten days of August. But early pumpkin is grown only for food consumption, as well as for seeds. Such vegetables cannot be stored for a long time, a maximum of one month. However, for the northern regions early varieties- just a find. They almost always have time to ripen before frost. And if they freeze, the short shelf life will not leave them a chance to deteriorate. Early ripening pumpkins include Almond, Golosemyannaya, Mozoleevskaya, Biryuchekutskaya, Vesnushka.
- Mid-season. The fruits ripen a little longer, up to 4.5 months, and they need to be picked in the first ten days of September. Medicinal, Kroshka, Ulybka, and Kroshka pumpkins are grown from mid-season varieties.
- Late ripening. On average, the ripening time for late varieties is 200 days. Their characteristic feature- thick peel. It protects the pulp from spoilage and allows the fruit to be stored for a very long time, up to 6 months. Pumpkin harvesting begins later than everyone else, towards the end of September. The following late varieties are especially popular: Vitaminnaya, Muscatnaya, Zhemchuzhina.
While early varieties are grown in the north, late varieties are grown only in warm southern climates. IN open ground in cold summer conditions they do not have time to ripen.
Although some gardeners plant pumpkins in greenhouse beds and get a harvest. You can do it differently by picking the fruits at the semi-ripe stage, and they will “arrive” in a month. They just can’t be stored for long.
How to tell if a pumpkin is ripe
Regardless of the variety, there are several common signs that indicate that it is time to harvest.
These are visual changes appearance plants:
- the lashes and leaves turn yellow and then dry out because they give all their juices to the fruits;
- the stalk also dries out and becomes very hard;
- the peel hardens;
- In almost all varieties, the skin acquires a pleasant yellow or orange color.
Pumpkin with gray and white color does not change the color of its skin. In bush varieties, lighter stripes appear on the peel. Large-fruited species are covered with a dark network of veins, and nutmeg ones turn brown. In green pumpkins, the pattern does not appear.
When to Harvest Pumpkins in Different Regions
When purchasing seeds in a store, each package indicates both the sowing date and the harvest date. But how accurate it will be depends on the climate. Usually the coincidence occurs only in southern regions with warm and sunny summers. The further north the growing region is, the earlier the day comes when the pumpkin is picked from the garden. And, conversely, in the south, harvesting is delayed until mid-autumn. So, in Krasnodar region the pumpkin may well ripen in the sun until the first ten days of October.
When to pick a pumpkin from the garden in the Leningrad region
Winter in Leningrad region not very cold. But this region is characterized by unstable temperature conditions during the rest of the year. Spring here is long, while summer is not hot and is “boring” with frequent and heavy rainfall. For a pumpkin, which does not like excess moisture and requires a lot of sun, such conditions are not the most comfortable. In addition, the weather is often “pleasant” with both late spring, May, and early September frosts.
What time to remove a pumpkin from the garden depends on its variety. In the Leningrad region, they mainly grow early pumpkin, which is removed from the garden in August. It is small and is used only for food consumption. Can be stored for no more than a month.
They do not reach full maturity in open ground. But if you pick the fruits half-green in early September, they will reach the shelf life.
When to harvest pumpkins in the Urals
The Ural spring comes late, but the main feature of this region is the sharp change in temperature. Even at the beginning of summer, night frosts are possible there, while the temperature remains above zero during the day. This delays the planting time, and accordingly, the harvest is carried out later.
Provided that the beginning of autumn is warm, the fruits can remain on the vines until the first half of September. This applies to mid- and late-ripening varieties. Early views can be photographed at the end of summer.
The main thing is not to leave the vegetable in the beds until frost, because then it will not be stored. It’s better to let it ripen in the pantry.
When is pumpkin harvested from a garden in Siberia?
The harshest and most difficult conditions for gardeners are those in Siberia. Cold winter, late spring, quickly turning into a short and cool summer, leaves no choice. Only early varieties have a chance to ripen on the vines. But often they have to be removed 2 weeks before full ripeness, starting in the second half of August. The territory of Siberia is huge, and most of it is not particularly suitable for growing heat-loving crops in open ground.
How to harvest a pumpkin
It's best if you wait for the moment and give useful fruits ripen in the beds under the sun. These vegetables are the most delicious and sweet. When the lashes dry, you can start harvesting. Separate them with a sharp knife or pruning shears. Although the stalk dries out, it is quite difficult to tear it off with your hands, because it holds firmly. In addition, there is a risk of damaging the pulp near the cuttings, and then the fruits will quickly begin to deteriorate. For the same reason, do not carry pumpkins by holding them by the stems. They can come off at the most inopportune moment, and the fruit can fall to the ground. Any damage to the bark (cracks, scratches, bruises) will lead to the fact that the pumpkin can no longer be stored.
To the question at what temperature to harvest pumpkin from the garden, there is only one answer - definitely at positive temperatures.
If you leave the fruits in the garden until frost, this will not change their taste much. But it will shorten the shelf life, and the pulp will become cottony. Frozen pumpkin can and should be eaten, since it will not be stored for long.
After harvesting, do not forget to clean the fruits from soil and remaining vegetation and dry them. It is better to do this outdoors, leaving the vegetables under a canopy. If necessary, if the pumpkin had to be collected half-ripe, send it for ripening. But not on the street, but in the warmth, moving it to a dry room.
Just before storing, sort your pumpkins. Set aside damaged and small vegetables separately and use them as food first. Select healthy and large fruits for storage.
How to properly store harvested pumpkin
It is rare when fruits are stored in apartment conditions, especially in large quantities. These are not onions or potatoes, and finding enough space for large pumpkins is a challenge. In addition, it is difficult to comply with optimal temperature necessary for long-term storage. Pumpkin lasts the longest at a maximum temperature of 13 °C, although it can be stored for some time at 20 °C. However, in most cases, during the heating season the house is much warmer.
It is best to store the harvest in a pantry, basement or cellar. The premises should be unheated, well ventilated and dark. At the same time, the temperature in them in winter should not drop below 3 °C. Do not dump the fruits in a heap; it is better to arrange them in one layer on shelves or in boxes. It is advisable that the vegetables do not touch. If one goes bad, the rot cannot spread to the others.
Thus, the timing when you can pick a pumpkin from the garden is determined by its variety and growing climate. The shorter the growing season of the plant and the warmer the summer, the sooner it will ripen. The use of early species makes it possible to plant and harvest even in the vast expanses of Siberia.
It's time to pick a pumpkin - video