When do you harvest them?

From what I've read, at the end of the growing season when the vines dry up........then they have to dry out inside a building for a year before you cut the hole.

I do what Gary says. Some may take longer to really dry well from the inside out. They will dry much faster in a heated environment.

A buddy of mine gave me 4 nice size gourds several weeks back. Long after our nesting season was in full swing and some even over already for the year.

I drilled a 1" hole and put a screw in below the hole for a landing perch and attached a stainless wire to hang them.

I cleaned them out the best I could and hung them around our property perimeter in what I deemed good positions for wrens. Within a few days I had lookers and nest debris was evident within a week.

Rege had the gourds in his basement for 3-4 years and didn't use them. He lives in town and doesn't have much property. I guess he knew I would use them.

I had birds nest and fledge young from everyone pretty quickly. Always good to see that.

I had a pair of bluebirds actually clean a gourd out of a wrens preffered nesting material and begin making it more suitable for their likes.

Nature doesn't lie. You can see some interesting things if you know what to look for and pay attention..

If you have some that look dry now you can take them and set them on a pallet outside and let them finis drying. But the rest I would wait until after the first frost and then set them on a pallet. I have always just set them outside on a pallet to dry. a good rule of thumb if it looks dry and you can shake it and here the seeds inside rattle it is ready to use.

As mentioned, once the stem is dry you can pick them and drill a few 1/8" holes in the bottom speeds up dry time and allows birdhouse draining and more ventilation. I like to grow mine on a trellis with other gourds because the necks are straighter rather than goose necked, I grow some on the ground also and do other goofy stuff.

I generally put the seeds in the ground, keep the weeds off of them until they begin to run then forget about them until just before frost. But I plant them along fences or other out of the way spots to let them sprawl.

But as said once the vine is spent they are done, they ain't getting any bigger. If you want bigger go through after fruit set and thin down to one or two per vine.

Also save your seed with shell thickness being primary, shape and size second if going for birdhouse or martin gourds. Thicker shells last longer.

But never mix gourd types in the same year as they are as bad as squash at cross pollinating. If you must, separate the two types by at least a half mile.

That's a great point on cross pollinating- if you're limited on space planting at different intervals helps to eliminate cross-pollination

Interesting

Appreciate the feedback. I’ll get a couple pics on later today.

We call them martin gourds because purple martins like to nest in them. Clean them out every fall.

There's a birdhouse gourd and a martin gourd, two different types. The birdhouse is smaller with a bulbous neck over a larger bulb. They are about the right size for bluebirds or similar.

Martin gourds are large pear shaped ranging from flat to elongate. JMO, but flatter is better as it's more likely to be broad enough for the room martins need.

Weeds are taking over.




Looks like maybe some nutrient shortage?