There are no dumb questions in gourd growing! :)

I've never had any of my gourds rot while on the ground. I usually leave them out in the garden all winter and they seem to do just fine. I think the only thing you might worry about is bugs. A lot of little critters tend to accumulate underneath gourds. I've read that some people put plastic under their gourds and I have read that some put straw under them too. The only thing I put under them is a flat piece of wood so they develope a nice flat bottom.

Good luck this year!

Hello Telecaster,
Haven't seen you on here for a while.
Chiggie covered all the things we do for our gourds. Just make sure you get the plastic under it before it gets too big to handle. And, I recently read that you should use white plastic, not black.
We've started a gourd club in the area and would welcome new members or visitors from your area. Email me for more details. We just had our third meeting tonight, so still growing and gathering new members.

Jan

You can actually grow them trellised, by supporting them with womens nylons as they grow. I've done this many times with my larger varieties. The nylons also protect the gourd surface from bug bites.

Yes,one of mine last grow right on the fence and one on the ground.I put a board under it as mentioned and just watched for bugs.It was a nice big one.:)