10/05/2026
👩🌾 If you're bringing in pumpkins and winter squash from the garden, resist the urge to move straight from harvest to storage. A short curing period first makes the difference between squash that lasts a couple of months and squash that lasts well into winter.
💛 Harvest when the rind is hard enough to resist a fingernail scratch, and cut, don't snap, the stem, leaving 2 to 4 inches attached. Squash without a stem spoils fast, so handle every fruit carefully and avoid dropping or stacking them, since even minor bruising shortens storage life.
🧡 To cure, keep squash and pumpkins somewhere warm and dry (80 to 85°F) with good air circulation for several days. This heals small cuts and scratches from harvest and hardens the rind further. Once cured, move them to cooler storage: 50 to 55°F with moderate humidity is ideal. Don't let temperatures drop below 50, and keep squash away from apples and pears, which give off ethylene gas that speeds up spoilage.
💚 Done right, hard-shelled types like butternut and hubbard can last three to six months in storage.
⌨️ Search "OSU Extension storing pumpkin winter squash" for storage life by variety or link here to bulletin SP 50-767.
☎️ For garden questions, visit extension.oregonstate.edu/mg/hoodriver or call 541-386-3343. The Central Gorge Master Gardener program is a service of OSU Hood River County Extension.
