Drying gourds, yet another question

[CurtWelling]

So I planted gourds for the first time this year. I thought I planted way too late but ended up with two healthy vines, one had 6 gourds, the other 18! About two thirds are big enough for martins, some of the smaller gourds I plan to use for BBs, my wife wants a couple for crafts. They are quite green and heavy right now.


I just harvested them in the last week or so and brought them in on an enclosed porch. My question is why not go ahead and drill drain holes right away? It seems that rotting from fluid collecting in the bottoms is the problem in this early drying phase. Does anyone do it that way?

I'm real excited about growing more gourds, next year I'm going to start them indoors in Late feb or early March, replant outside in April. This year I planted in mid to late April.

Curt Welling
Versailles, KY

[~Ray~Gingerich]

The best way is to leave them in your garden and on the vines as long as possible.
Someone had a post on the forum about force drying gourds like you described but don't know how it worked out.

Some of my larger gourds were heavy even after the vines completely died off, I left them outside thoughout the winter turning them over occasionally, most dried out just fine.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

My suggestion is to let them stay on the vine until the gourd turns brown, or at least until the vine is dead or frozen. That is the best way. Your goal should be to harvest mature dense gourds, and the best way is to let them stay on the vine as long as possible.

If you harvest them when they are green, then several bad things can or most likely will happen
1) they will rot because they are immature, they have water inside of the gourd
2) they will not be dense, or at least they will be too soft
3) they have a thin outer wall that is hard, but often splits in several places
4) they will not be high quality, and thus the paint peels when painting.

About drying them, yes, drill holes into them if they have water inside, and keep it drained, then maybe (but doubtful) if they will be good enough to use, don't set them on a hard surface for extended periods, they will rot on the bottom, some people have put them near a furnace in the basement where the humidity if low and the temps are high. I hang mine from from bird netting inside the garage, or you can put them on fence wire so that they get air from all sides.....good luck

In cold climates, the vine often freezes because of the short growing season, but if the gourd is past a certain maturity point, then often you can get good gourds, just plant them as early as possible.

[Ed Pace]

Curt: I force dried 6 last year from the directions that I got off of the forum. Cut out the clean out hole in the gourd and scoop out the insides then put a light bulb inside the gourd for a couple of days or till dry, it will dry well. Try to search for the thread on the forum and hopefully the author will chime in if he see it, I can't remember what size light bulb I used, maybe a 60 or 40 watt. Hope this helps. Ed

[CurtWelling]

Too late for me to leave on the vine till brown since I cut them yesterday. I thought you left em on till the VINE turned brown, which is what I did.

Somehow I thought that letting them freeze was a problem.

At any rate, I have them in an enclosed porch. I'm planning on letting them dry for a week or two then drilling drain holes.

[dhjohnson]

I received some very good advice from other gourd growers. Last year our second I had a new rack to fill so when it got to be January and they were still heavy and not ready I was motivated to try pushing mother nature a bit. I successfully pushed many gourds from advice I received. Learned a few details along the way. First, you can't push a totally green gourd. They need to be at least half dry. Use a 40 watt bulb inserted through the area you have chosen for the cleanout hole. Go ahead and drill it to 3 or 4 ". The bulb should be centered and not touching the sides. Drill 1/4" drainage holes in the bottom. Oh most important, don't remove all the pulp from inside. Especially if it is watery and juicy. Leave at least 1 1/2" to 2" of pulp. See as the gourd dries, it shrinks and the pulp becomes very hard honeycomb, sort of like natural insulation. Now, don't dry too fast or the gourd will split. If necessary dry for 2 days and turn off the bulb for a day or 2 to let the skin catch up. My pushed dryed gourds came out with incredably hard skins and the inside much like gourds dried naturally, very clean and hard. They made some very nice martin housing. There are a few more details in learning to push gourds. Do go ahead and scrub the thin outer skin so it can breath and allow the moisture to evaporate without rot or splitting. You will be amazed at how clean, hard and sturdy they turn out. I prefer 12" gourds but would not use anything smaller than 10". Use a tape measure and measure the circumfrence and multiply by 3. That gives you the size of the gourd. Good luck pushing gourds. Drying natural is best but they can be pushed. Take heart, if they are 3/8" thick or better they will make premium martin housing!
Debbie

[Glynn B - LA]

Should you not divide by 3







Glynn

[dhjohnson]

Glynn,
You are absolutely correct. Thanks for the correction! It's so much fun working with natural gourds and they offer a wealth of creativity! Not to mention that the martins tend to choose them first.
Good luck to all in 2014, may the martins have a safe return!

[CurtWelling]

I thought all my gourds were going to rot but they all came through just fine! Four of the larger ones still have a little bit of weight to them but all the others are nice and dry, none have rotted. This was sitting on an enclosed porch in KY all winter.

[dhjohnson]

Curt,
Glad that worked out for you. Did you leave them to dry naturally, or did you push them a bit? I'm sure drying natural is best but, I personally know they can be pushed successfully. The end result far exceeded my expectations!
Best of luck with this unusual start to the martin season!
Debbie

[Ladybug]

CURT:
What type of Gourds did you plant? What types are you planting 2014?
I've grown my own gourds for several years. Ornamental, birdhouse, dipper Gourds. Have done well with all. 2 years they did not do well.
No one's Gourds grew well those two years. No clue why.
The past 4 years I've only grown the Dippers.
This year I am trying the African Wine Kettles just for fun.
Yes, they get huge, should be interesting.
Thank you for any information. Happy Gourd Growing...

PMCA Member..

[CurtWelling]

I grew gourds from the seeds provided by PMCA.

Actually, my vines did great last year. I was late planting them, but they produced a LOT of gourds, just two vines.

My concern was about drying them, many people have told me the gourds rotted while drying. I thought these were going to rot, I thought they HAD rotted. I went out to look at them and they were great, it felt like Christmas.
I'm going to process several of them and use them for martins this year.

I planted about 75 seeds a couple days ago, going to try and grow about 10-12 vines this year.

[kimball911]

I think it also depends on where you live. If you live in TX they may cure a lot quicker, whereas if you live in NY. I live in KS and have grown gourds for years. In fact, I had a full size pick-up bed full of them. I took them to a grain bin and just left them for a year. They turned moldy and looked terrible, but they dried out wonderfully and the inside will turn into a ball and you just have to pull it out. If you let them cure too many years without using them, they have a tendency to become brittle.