HARVESTING SQUASH

[snewman]

When should I pick butternut and acorn squash and pumpkins? They appear to be the appropriate color now, but I thought I remembered something about leaving them on the vine into the crisp fall days. Does it matter? Should I pick them now, or leave them?

 

[me&thegals]

They're ready when they're too tough to poke a fingernail into and when their vines have died off. Once the vine is dead, leaving them out there only leaves them exposed to bugs and other little critters that would enjoy them, too...

 

[blurose]

I accidentally grew some acorn squash one year (compost pile volunteer) and got 3 nice sized squashes on the vine. I waited until the first frost, which succeeded in killing off the vines good, and then picked them.