Harvesting a Hokkaido Pumpkin.

The ideal time to harvest your pumpkins is when they’ve turned the expected color of the variety you’re growing. In most cases, that color will be a bright orange. Ripe pumpkins have hard, shiny skins that you can’t easily poke a hole in with your fingernail; but just try tapping, so you don’t accidentally cut the skin and leave an entryway for bacteria and disease.

The ideal way to harvest pumpkins is to let them ripen completely on the vine and then harden off, or cure, in the field. You’ll notice the vines start to dry and wither as harvest time approaches. This isn’t a sign of disease, but rather an indication that your pumpkins are ripe and ready.

Once the vines have started dying back, you can cut the pumpkins from the vine. Leave 3 to 4 inches of the stem on the pumpkin. Don’t ever try to pick up or carry a pumpkin by the stem; it could easily break off and damage your pumpkin in the process.

Ideally, you should cure your pumpkins in the field for a week or two in dry, sunny weather. This will dry and toughen the pumpkin’s skin for storage. If the weather takes a turn for the worse, you can cure them indoors. Choose a warm, well-ventilated space. Pumpkins that ripen on the vine can store for up to a year. Unripe pumpkins picked early will continue to ripen off the vine, but they don’t store well. So pick your pumpkins accordingly.

If you use pumpkins as seasonal decorations, you can still eat them after they’ve served their decorative purpose—as long as they aren’t showing any signs of rot. Don’t eat pumpkins that have been decorated with paint unless you know the paint is non-toxic.

A light frost will not hurt your pumpkin harvest, but a hard frost will. If you get a light frost that kills the vine, that’s the time to free your pumpkin. If your pumpkins get caught in a hard freeze, that’s the time to implement your pumpkin preservation plan: freeze, dry, or can.