How to understand if the pumpkin is ripe and how to properly remove it from the garden. The main signs of pumpkin ripeness! How to determine the ripeness of a pumpkin in the garden By a dry stalk

The ability to determine the maturity of the buds is one of the most important aspects of growing cannabis. What do we mean by maturity? This is such a state, upon reaching which it is already possible to start cutting off the inflorescences (cones).

We do not hesitate to determine the maturity of the fruit we eat, but how to determine that our cannabis is ripe?

Just like fruits, hemp buds have several stages of maturity. The degree of maturity is indicated by the transparency and color of the trichomes (glands that cover the surface of flowers and leaves), the color of the leaves, and the color of the hairs on the buds themselves.

Let's start with your personal tastes. Just as not everyone likes bananas with brown spots on the skin and sugary semi-liquid flesh, although this is probably their peak maturity, you may like buds that have not reached the peak of maturity. With cannabis, the best time to cut flowers is usually two weeks. At the beginning of this period, you can already harvest, at the end - you just need to.

The best rule of thumb is to follow a simple rule: if a seed or clone seller says that a given strain will mature in, say, 9 weeks, add at least a week. The fact is that the last week is very important, since it is she who provides a solid weight gain. Sometimes we are talking about an extra 20-30 percent. During this extra week, the trichome heads will increase in size and about 10% of them will turn amber. This can only truly be seen with a microscope, which should be in every grower's arsenal. The appearance of an amber color in trichomes indicates the beginning of an important stage in the maturation process. Immature trichomes are transparent, then cloudy due to the abundance of THC, and finally amber appears.

If you are interested in maximum THC levels, then cut off the buds at the beginning of the maturity period. If you want to get a bit of "divanity" along with the "uplifting" effect, then you should wait for 15-20% of the trichomes to turn amber, as this will turn part of the THC into another cannabinoid - CBN, which enhances the hypnotic effect of cannabis.

It's worth experimenting with different stages of maturity and determine the one that suits you best. Cut off a trial bud at the time specified by the seller, and cut the rest within the next two weeks. Remember to cure the buds in the most proper way - that is, in glass jars.

When growing any long-blooming sativa, you can get multiple harvests per plant. Start at the top where the buds ripen fastest, then wait for them to fill up and reach flower maturity on the next tier, and then on the lowest tier.

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Pumpkin belongs to those crops that lie on garden beds to the last. Later, only beets are harvested. However, do not delay the cleaning of the pumpkin. Despite the fact that its seedlings have good frost resistance, the fruits themselves are quite vulnerable to frost. If you keep the pumpkin in the garden until the very frost, after freezing it becomes unsuitable for storage. Therefore, it is important for gardeners not to miss the pumpkin harvest time.

How do you know if a pumpkin is ripe? The general terms of ripening depending on the variety of pumpkin, as well as external signs, will help to navigate this issue.

Classification of pumpkin varieties and their ripening dates

There are many varieties of pumpkin. By maturity, they are:

• early maturing (Freckles, Almond 35, Gymnosperms);
• mid-season (Rossiyanka, Kroshka, Smile);
• late-ripening (Muscat, Vitamin, Pearl).

They are harvested in August, as they have the shortest ripening period - 3.5 months. Such a culture must be used within a month, it is no longer stored.

A little later (in the first decade of September), mid-season varieties are harvested, which ripen within 4 months and are also used mainly for consumption in the next two months.

For storage for the winter, late-ripening varieties with a thick skin are used. They begin to remove them from the garden at the end of September. A feature of these varieties is that the pumpkin reaches full maturity during storage (on average, 30-60 days after harvest).

Depending on the climate of the region where the pumpkin is grown, some shift in harvesting dates is allowed. For example, in the southern regions, where the first frosts come later, crops can be in the beds longer.

There is one general rule when harvesting, regardless of region: the pumpkin should be transferred to storage before the onset of frost.

How to determine the maturity of a pumpkin?

You can determine that the pumpkin is already ripe and it's time to start harvesting it, according to the following signs:

1. The stalk of the pumpkin has become dry and hard.
2. Leaves and wattle have turned yellow and partially (or completely) dried up.
3. The color of the pumpkin has become brighter, and the pattern has become clearer.
4. The peel has a rigid structure, on which no trace remains after pressing with a fingernail.
5. Pumpkin rings when tapped.

During harvesting, care should be taken not to damage the integrity of the pumpkin skin, and also to prevent it from falling. From blows, the pumpkin will begin to rot from the inside during storage.

The removed pumpkin is stored in a dry and cool place (in the basement).

When to harvest a pumpkin and how to store it - video

Many do not know, but according to experts, watermelons are divided, relatively speaking, by gender.

There are boys and girls. Which one of them can be found out when you cut the watermelon.

Those that are sweeter and contain fewer seeds are "girls".

Others are also professionals in their field, they say that all this is fiction, in fact, watermelons are hermaphrodites.

We are ordinary gardeners, these disputes are of little interest, the most important thing for us to know is ripe watermelon or not.

Gardeners - amateurs who grow these large berries in their dachas, have long known how to determine ripeness. These signs are described below.

The watermelon is ripe if:

• A good ripe watermelon is usually regular in shape, that is, it has a slightly elongated ball shape.

• The fruit should not be small, preferably an average of about 8-12 kg. Small ones are usually not very sweet. If you choose a watermelon on the market, do not take large specimens, more than 12 kg, they may contain a large amount of harmful nitrates.

• Also, the maturity of the watermelon is indicated by its tail. In ripe and sweet, it is dried up. On the shelves of such, appear after mid-August. If the tail is greenish and not dried up, then it was removed when it was not ripe.

• The crust should not be damaged (dents, cracks, spots). Such a watermelon, even if ripe, loses its taste. May be sour.

• Well, the last sign is the well-known knock on a watermelon. The sound of a ripened watermelon, sonorous, as if crispy. A dull sound indicates that the fetus is sluggish and stale. In addition, storage conditions were violated.

By the way, watermelons can be stored for a long time. For this, watermelons are selected without external damage, and if possible without a yellow spot on the side, or so that it is as small as possible. By weight about 7kg.

We place it in a grid and hang it in a dark place with a temperature not higher than + 5C. The watermelon should not be in contact with the wall or anything else.

With proper storage, you can enjoy watermelon for the new year.

If anyone else is interested in the gender of a watermelon, then it is determined by the ass. In the “girls” watermelon, it is flatter and has a large spot, while in the “boys” it has a recess inward, and goes into a small point.

After choosing a ripe watermelon, it’s just the right time to prepare a cocktail for guests called “ drunk watermelon».

We cut a round hole in the watermelon, the size of a bottle neck, and about 7 cm deep. After that, turn the bottle of vodka over and insert the neck into this hole.

See that the depth is sufficient, and the contents do not spill out. We wait until everything is absorbed.

Seal the hole and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

After the time has elapsed, the watermelon cocktail is ready for use, it remains to cut into slices. The watermelon must be ripe.

Understand varieties. No two varieties of avocado are the same. They vary slightly in size, color and shape depending on the variety. The appearance of a ripe avocado will be based on the characteristics of the variety to which it belongs.

• Check the variety with the seller if the avocados are not clearly labeled.
• Remember that the firmness of a ripe avocado is the same, regardless of species diversity.
• Differences in appearance between avocado varieties, as well as the possible difference between two fruits of the same variety, make visual assessment less than a reliable method in determining the maturity of an avocado. Still, these are useful signs of how ripe an avocado is, because often they are the first thing you deal with.

To determine the ripeness of a pumpkin, first of all, you need to look at its color: the fact is that when ripe, these vegetables change their color dramatically, for example, green fruits become bright yellow, bluish hue - pink-yellow. It is important to consider that the color of mature pumpkins is exceptionally rich.

How to properly care for a pumpkin before harvesting?

Regardless of the size of the fruit and the timing of harvesting, there are rules that will help protect the fruit in the garden from decay and pests. Lying constantly on its side, in contact with the ground, in wet weather a huge berry can rot and become unusable. Those who try to process a pumpkin with a rotten side are doing it wrong. Before the fruit has received visible damage, changes have already occurred in the core, and it should not be eaten.

The pumpkin should be placed on a hillock or a specially arranged mound, put a wooden or plywood plank down, cover it with a film on top during autumn rains. In the last month, when the pumpkin is gaining sweetness, watering should be stopped. The length of the roots, which go to a depth of up to three meters, is enough to provide the right amount of water.

Indicates that the pumpkin harvest time has come, the first cold snap, since even a slight frost makes the fruit unsuitable for storage. You can still hold the fruit in the garden in dry weather, covering from cool nights.

When can you pick a pumpkin?

You can get a fully ripe pumpkin from the field only in hot regions, when the fruits naturally ripen in the field for more than 4 months. But the pumpkin is good because, in addition to a long shelf life of several months, it still continues to ripen.

Therefore, you can find out if the pumpkin is ripe and how long it can lie on the ridge, knowing the main signs of the readiness of a vegetable for harvesting:

The leaves of the bush withered, changed their color to yellow, dried up. If before that there were no signs of anthracosis disease, then the natural death of healthy foliage is a sure sign of the end of the growing season.

The peduncle becomes rigid, the top layer corks, it becomes woody at the same time as the stem supplying food. It is no longer possible to shift the pumpkin in a different way without violating the integrity of the eyeliner.

The color of the pumpkin, whatever it is, from gray to yellow becomes brighter, the pattern is more noticeable.

The crust should not leave marks from scratching it with a fingernail. The cover hardens and does not spring when pressed with fingers. A ripe pumpkin responds to cotton with a ringing sound. A ripe pumpkin is covered with a matte coating, the stalk is easily separated.

When harvesting a pumpkin, you need to treat it carefully, trying not to scratch it. If a nuisance occurs, seal the place of damage with a bactericidal plaster or do not leave the damaged vegetable for storage.

Early ripening varieties are harvested at the end of August, growing seedlings. These varieties include the common Gribovskaya bush, Freckle, Golosemyannaya. Their crust is thin, the shelf life is up to a month.

Varieties of the average ripening period of pumpkin - Smile, Medical, Rossiyanka will sing in 4 months. Harvest in September, but before the first frost. Frozen fruits are not suitable for storage. Varieties of these pumpkins are stored up to two months after the onset of ripeness.

The most valuable fruits are late-ripening varieties grown under the southern sun. These include Vitamin, Muscat, Pearl. These pumpkins have a thick, hard rind and sweet flesh that is added raw to salads. Late varieties are stored in a cool room for up to six months. They are harvested late, but even in the south, ripeness occurs in a month or two.

The ripening times indicated on the seed packet are for ideal conditions. The weather makes its own adjustments. Therefore, you need to navigate when to harvest a pumpkin according to the weather, the condition of the plant and the biological timing of the ripening of the variety.

When storing any pumpkin, it is important that the integrity of the fit of the tail to the bosom is not violated. If there is a gap in this place, an infection will get in and the fetus will rot.

Harvest Rules

Cleaning is carried out in dry weather, after the lashes dry well from the morning moisture. If bad weather charged, you will have to harvest in wet weather, such fruits need to be dried well. Separate damaged specimens at the same time. In dry, warm weather, root crops cut off from the main stem can still be held on melons, under the rays of the sun.

When determining the ripeness of pumpkins, you need to not only look at their peel, but also touch it with your hands: unripe fruits bend easily when pressed, and the peel is so tender that it is easily pierced with a fingernail. The peel of a mature pumpkin is matte and has a pattern characteristic of this variety (usually when buying seeds, the label contains a photo of ripe fruits with a characteristic pattern). Many varieties of pumpkins become covered with a bloom when ripe, which is easily erased when touched.

You can also determine the ripeness of a pumpkin by sound: ripe vegetables make a ringing sound when tapped, while unripe ones make a dull sound.

In general, most pumpkin varieties ripen in September, so it is worth considering that by the end of September, the pumpkin is ready for harvest.

If all the signs described above indicate the ripeness of the fruit, then the last thing you should pay attention to when determining the ripeness of a pumpkin is the stalk. In unripe vegetables, it is light and strong.

If you picked a pumpkin and do not know if it is ripe or not, then you can determine its maturity by seeds. To do this, cut the fruit and look at the seeds, try to separate them from the pulp: in a ripe vegetable, the seeds are dense and rounded, they are easily separated from the fibers. Remember, pumpkin has one wonderful property - to ripen.

A removed pumpkin in a dark, cool and dry place can ripen for about a month.

You can store the fruit in such conditions for a long time, allowing you to use a fresh healthy product during the winter.