I am growing an early crop of pumpkins to use for cooking. I have sugar pie pumpkin, casper, and a styrian pumpkin. So far, I've harvested six sugar pies and a casper, which are curing in my kitchen. My problem is, after keeping on top of the squash bugs for the last three months, I'm beginning to lose ground to an invasion of SVB's and the beginnings of powdery mildew. The squash bugs are still putting on the pressure as well.

I'm beginning to think I should start closing down production, which is heartbreaking because now I've got pollinators galore and the vines are pumping out flowers and tendrils everywhere. I have one good-sized styrian pumpkin on the vine, a few smaller ones, a casper which is still not ready (fingernail test) and three sugar pies that are still green.

So here are my questions:

If it's necessary to harvest the pumpkins before fully mature, will they still be edible? Have any of you cooked slightly unripe or downright green pumpkins? Should I just keep them on the vine until everything dies around them? Also, do the squash vine borers get into the pumpkins as well, or does the stem keep them out?

Thanks for any help you can give me with this!