You can pick them when the tendril next to the stem of the gourd turns brown. The plant won't be hurt at all as long as you cut the stem of the gourd and not the vine.

ok, then, so not before the stem turns brown.

I like the little ones, I can see now, the one that I was talking about is getting TO BIG for me to use for jewelry.
But will use for something else.
thanks for the info
melinda

Here is a link that might be useful: gourds

I couldn't help myself, I cut 4 off of'em, 2 pretty big ones and med.one and then one that the flower had just died. I can see lots of lil gourds. so, i thought i would try this little experiment.

And from what you said they should rot, right? I really hope not, My thinking is you pick other veggies off a vine before the vine dies (cukes for one). Unless the gourds are not like veggies.... BUT you can pick pumpkins when they get dk green or a lil spot of orange on them.
What do you think?
Melinda

The small one will rot but the other 3 may not. I would be curious to know how many days they each last before they start drying. Also I would be curious of the color of the stem (whether it was light green or dark green) and if the tendril immediately next to the gourd was drying.

Also do you think you could tell me if I have spinner gourds. I think I do but I have always known them as pear and bi-color pear gourds. Below is a picture of the bi-color pear and the other ones are the same shape but all green (no yellow) with vertical white stripes. Sorry the picture isn't better.

{{gwi:855500}}

I am currently tagging all my gourds with the date the flower opened and I am attempting to figure out how long it takes them to mature. I am considering maturity to be when the tendril is completely brown. But maybe with your experiment I might pick some early next season and then see how many days it take for them to have seed that will germinate.

I wait until I can tell my gourds have dried on the vine usually. I'm growing spinners for the first time this year and I've cut two of them off the vine. I'm peeling the outside skin off and setting them on a table in the sun to dry, turning them each day. Hopefully they won't rot. It's hot and dry here, so that helps.

Your picture doesn't look like a spinner, it looks like one of those gourds you get in October when the pumpkins are ready. Guess you would call them soft shelled???(the experts would know more on this!)
I paint faces on these gourds along with pumpkins for Halloween.

Sowngrow- you peeled yours? Why? Is this the secret to a good looking gourd??? Then one that's been scrubed???
This would make a lot of sense!
Weirdtrev-I'll take a pic of mine to show you them.

And for some reason- i have a snake gourd growing with the spinners. and in the back yard, i have egg gourds growing and now I think i see birdhouse gourds growing w/the eggs,jeez! So something must have happened in my seeding indoors.
melinda

hope this works...forum won't let me add 2 posts in a row.
her's a pic of mine. 3 of'em are getting soft. but Look at the diffence in size and color. Definitly a differences!
Melinda

Here's a pic of what i do w/mine. I cut them in half.
Melinda

Melinda-

Lovely jewelry! I wish you lived closer.

UPDATE:
I tried peeling the gourds on, one of the bigger ones and the tiny one, both shriveled up to nothing!!!

and the other two are holding their own-so far.
Melinda ny

My spinning gourds vines have been very prolific and have hundreds of gourds. But now the leaves and vines are wilting and dying and it's just the middle of August. It has been very hot here, but I have kept them watered well. A few of the smaller gourds have begun to rot and I am wondering if there is anything I can do to save the rest of the gourds. Is this a normal part of the plant life cycle? I have never grown these little ones before - they seem very different from the hard shell variety. Has anyone ever tried a food dehydrator to dry them? Thanks!

Vicki-You may have squash vine borers. Does the vine look split, near the base of the plant?

melinda I just noticed your last post on this thread due to Vicki posting. It's over three years, but I'd say you had the shriveling issue due to the gourd not having matured properly on the vine, prior to peeling it.

Sowngrow - Thank you for the reply.
Yes the vines look split and now the same thing is happening to my squash and cukes, so you are probably spot on.(Thankfully, the hard shell gourds are unaffected so far.) Do you think the bigger spinner gourds will dry? How can I prevent the borers next year - I try very hard to stay organic?
Thanks again - Vicki (my username changed when I joined the site)

Vicki-I have no good answer as to how to protect from squash vine borers. I'm an organic gardener too and only got a few squash this year before my vines were destroyed. I think I read on the organic forum that you can keep the moths from laying eggs on the vines by covering the vines with netting. You might want to do a search on that forum. I imagine your spinner gourds will be fine if they matured enough.
Robin