I experimented this year and grew some pumpkin seed I saved last year. I grow pumpkins and gourds in the same area and I wondered if they would ever cross to make something different. I was suprised when I went to wash up these homely warty pumpkins. As you can see the skin scrubs off and under is a very hard shell, a lot like a gourd's shell. What is this thing?

Guess it is a cross: a gourpump or a pumpogourd
Strange, it kind of looks like it has a skin disease;psoriasis-like
Curious, what does the inside look like?

It's a goulish pumpkin! Strange looking things. Was the gourd parent, edible? If so, maybe the ghoulkin is edible? I dunno, might make a good carving item, complete with warts.

It's a witch!!! Perfect!
BTW, sounds like it's edible, but its aesthetic value for pre-Halloween (it'll never make it all the way to mischief night, alas)

These are so weird! I haven't cut them open so I don't know what they look like inside. The gourds they were growing with were hardshell gourds and not edible. I'm trying to dry them and so far so good, the shells has no soft spots and one is getting pretty light. If they dry I can scrub the orange skin off and have that brown shell to work with. A witch would be perfect! I can just see a witches face painted on, oh! then I could make a body out of some of these hundred or so gourds I have around here LOL. What fun.

I see my picture has stopped working... been replaced with the evil little red x

Do a google search on "gourds for sale". You may be surprised by the prices.

Do you think they are marketable? If you have a hundred or so, I'd think about taking some down to the local farmer's market or fall festival (along with finished decorated demo models). You could either sell them plain, or ready-to-display already decorated (with extra cost for your time and artistic endeavors, of course).

Especially if that orange skin rubs off. Two pages that mention preparation and working hints:
http://www.twincreek.com/gourds/crafting.htm
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1216/is_n4_v201/ai_21248596

You could make witches, a Frankenstein monster, a zombie, something out of a nightmare; I'd make several different types, use colors where needed for accent (shoe polish, leather dye, inks, metallic dyes, oil pencil), or patterns can be burned with a woodburner - gourd pyrography. (DD#1 has dabbled in pyrography.)

I'd also be sure to save some seeds to see what you get out of them next year. I know hybrids rarely breed true, but it's worth a shot.

Hi d, great ideas! You sound like a gourd crafter

I only have a few of these pumpkin-gourds, the other 99 or so are other varieties of gourds I've grown in the last couple years, and those that I couldn't resist buying. I burn designs and then use leather dyes, inks, metallic pastes and oil and colored pencils for color.

So I've been crafting my gourds for a while so I'm very interested in these ugly bumpy things that look like pumpkins. One is drying nicely and if it drys completely I'll scrape the rest of the skin off. I don't want to mess with them too much now for fear of encouraging rot. Then I'll open them and take the seeds out. I've found that seeds that overwinter outside here in North Dakota will not sprout, so I'll have to bring them in when it gets too cold. Like you point out, they may not sprout anyway but it's all a big experiment anyway.

Thanks for the input.

I didn't realize that you are a gourd crafter, or I would have drastically shortened the post to: "Do you think they are marketable?" and "Be sure to save some seeds." Boy, egg on my face. I'm sorry.

I am intrigued by the gourd crafting, but I have waaaaay too many irons in the fire right now. Perhaps some day.

DD#1 is my driven, obsessed crafter/artist; she would be the main gourd crafter. (Also sketch artist, pyrographer, beader, potter/handbuilder, dog trainer, computer artist, digital photog, wire worker, dremmel fanatic, and most recently vivarium designer, plus whatever other hobbies I've forgotten.) She is not, however, a gardener, so I have a laundry list of types of gourds she'd like me to grow for her.
I would be the gourd grower.

And DD#2 (the MP soaper, cookie baker, candy maker, cake decorator, & all around neat freak) wants me to grow more loofahs for her next year.

So big fun for me trying to figure out how to time things to keep cross-polination to a minimum. The only thing that should be easy should be pumpkins, since they don't even go in the ground here until July. The gourds/loofahs go in as soon as the ground is good and warm in spring.

Since you are a gourd pro, any advise on staggering planting dates, minimum distances between different varieties, especially good varieties, or any cultural tricks?

Oh good! Gourds are one of my passions. They are so fun to grow.

You really can't keep gourds from cross pollinating unless you grow them in different towns . Since they generally need a very long growing season, I plant everything as early as possible. The longer they grow, the harder and thicker the shell will get. They produce flowers until frost so keeping the cross pollination potential down would be difficult.

They are very easy to hand pollinate though, and I enjoy my evening ritual of looking for the girls (flowers). I pollinate some and let some be what they will and the result makes the growing that much more interesting. The females have a baby gourd at the base, they easy to tell. I just pick a male from the same vine and pull back the petals.... The males precede and outnumber the females by a lot.

Ok, but some cultural tips before pollination is an issue: The seed needs warm soil (80F), and you can loose a lot of seed if you plant directly. I need the extra time so I start indoors early. I germinate the seed first before planting by putting them in a moist, folded paper towel inside a ziplock baggie that I keep on top of something warm. As they germinate I plant them in pots and keep those on a heat source. You can transplant in hills or rows. I plant in hills, 4 plants per about 8 feet apart. They take a LOT of room so the more you have for them the better. Mine are crowded but doable at this spacing. Next year I'll add more space. They grow like crazy so I prepare the hills with lots of compost. When they start their run the vines can grow a foot a day so I fertilize them well in this early period. Later when the gourds are setting I don't fertilize and even later I cut the water so they start hardening well before frost.

As the gourds develop I stand them upright, and usually put a scrap of wood under them so they develop a nice shape and flat bottom. When the vines get to be 10 feet long you can clip the end to produce more laterals. This is where most gourds are made.

As far as varieties, there are so many it depends what you want. Bottle gourds are always good for crafting. Here is a picture of my gourds last year: [img=http://thumb1.webshots.net/t/36/36/7/84/68/2716784680027016561GEVUYP_th.jpg]
I planted one variety of bottle and you can see the variation in shapes. There are also a few dipper gourds in there. The long ones in the back are snake gourds. Small gourds like miniture bottle or egg gourds are good for crafting ornaments. You want to get your seed from a reputable gourd grower. Since you can't keep gourds from cross pollinating unless you hand pollinate you will most likely get some variation in your seeds.

Drying gourds is another message, hehe. I think I've maxed this one out.

Here are some of the gourds I've finished: [img=http://thumb1.webshots.net/t/36/37/3/52/14/2174352140027016561prODHn_th.jpg]

I have way more ideas than time and my dried gourds mostly sit neglected and calling to me.

Nice harvest! And who are the cuties in the pumpkin pile? I also like your gourd work - nice dye work, and pyrography. What sort of burner do you use?

I plan to reference your post come next spring and summer. Although we have a pretty long growing season (last frost in spring is mid-March, and first fall frost is mid-November at the earliest), really thick and healthy gourds would be nice for crafting and the farmer's market.

Thanks!

I'm glad to see all this information on Gourds.

I personally thought your pumpkins looked like they had been biten by deer (those long white spots.) Let us know what the seeds look like.

Hey d - Those pumpkin patch cuties are my boys, they're 12 and 10, and the hairy one is our girl . They're all a big help sometimes. And even when they aren't they're good company.

My DH has an Optima burner which I used up until this year. This spring I bought a Razortip. They are both very good burners. I like the Razortip more because it's new, and mine , really because it has finer control in low temp burning, but they are both excellent burners.

You should definitly grow gourds next year. You have the perfect season for it.

They are pretty nasty looking aren't they wasrabbity? That one looks just like a deer bite, got teeth marks and everything.