yes you can use a mild bleach but we grow hundreds of gourds every year and we let ours dry outside in the weather they will go thru a mold that is normal and in the spring you can clean them up

Gourdo - Which kind of gourds are you raising? The small ornamental or the large hard shell? Gene

i think i will try bleach and try leaving some out and see which lasts longer. thanks for the tip. i am raising both small and large gourds, but the ones i'm trying to preserve now are Turk's Turban, cobra, and birdhouse gourds.

thanks

gourdo

Gourdo - You do not want to harvest any hard shell gourds now. They will most likely rot. They shoud stay on the vine until the vine dies or the stem into the gourd dries up for at least a couple of feet back from the stem. Gene

Can someone refresh my memory on how to dry gourd seeds? And do i need to nick the end of them before i plant them next season. Also I planted some I saved from last year and not one of them came up.......Any answers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to all. cinjo

I bought several decorative small gourds at the grocery store at the beginning of Fall. Now I'm in the process of decorating for Christmas and the gourds are still in the same great shape they were when I bought them - hard and colorful. Can I save these for use next year? And, if so - how? Can I store them in the garage until next fall? My garage stays cool in the winter (not freezing) and I can move them inside during the summer. Will they keep? I hate to throw them away and would love to reuse them next year. What say you??

Lyn Borders