I planted “Sugar Pie” pumpkins in early May and they grew well throughout the long (for us anyway) summer. I now have 8 good-sized, but very green pumpkins in my garden. I live in Northwest Montana and the fall weather is getting cooler and wetter, with most nights now at or below freezing. Snow is in the forecast for sometime within the next few weeks.
The pumpkin plants are dying, and most of the green leaves have now turned brown.
I have never grown pumpkins in this area before, so do I leave them on the vine to turn orange on their own, or do I pick them and bring them inside to ripen like I did with my green tomatoes?
Pick them before they start to rot. They should stay outside, but not freeze or stay wet for a long time. Keep them cool and dry. Since you’ve already had frost, chances are they won’t turn orange. Even if they’re green they’re ripe if the skins are hard.
Ours (in Michigan) will rot on the vine if they’re not picked before now, because it gets damp in the fall. Your environment may be drier.
freezing will ruin them, though it can take much more than other plants to freeze them. depending on their ripeness they can ripen some off the vine.
Way north Idaho here. We put our pumpkins on the dining room table which has a southern exposure. The green ones did turn orange and look just fine. Once the vines are dead there is no point in not picking them.
I have one that is mostly green, but just a bit of orange underneath, this is my very first pumpkin, and it has been exposed to very damp conditions and just barely freezing temps a couple of nights. I checked for rot, none yet, but should I just pick the thing, or leave it on the vine?
to prevent rot people do get the pumpkin up off the dirt. covering can prevent freezing, though unless you cover the whole vine then the vine will start dying.