My pumpkins won't turn color!!

[mickee311]

Okay. My pumpkins are not turning orange. They have been sitting there at the same size for the longest time, at least since the beginning of last month. WTH? Why won't they turn orange? I don't know what kind they are, it's the plant that came from the seed I filched from the hamster food. It's the only plant that survived this summer, bearing any fruit, the rest pooped out on me, I guess. They grewe as plants, but put out nothing as far as female flowers and the male flowers haven't even opened yet.

But how come my boys won't turn orange?

[Pharmer Phil]

_{YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT WE'RE GONNA SAY MICKEE!!}
Where's da PIC'S...

[mickee311]

HA! Yeah, I don't know why I didn't do it in the first place....lol Here they are!

[Compost Pharmer]

Looks to me like dey still growing. If you can't wait for the orange, buy you some orange paint and have a good time. (just jokin)

[mickee311]

LOL I might just do that....Their stems are very thick, but they haven't grown at all in quite some time. I know the vines were hit by SVBs recently, but will that stunt their growth like that? All the leaves have pretty much died and disappeared, it looks like the pumpkins just come up out of nowhere since I mudded up the vines....Which will be totally gone soon, everything on that plant is shriveling up and turning yellow. Pumpkins won't turn if you pick them early, will they? I May have no choice....I'm not an impatient person, but my land it's taking forever for some pumpkins that won't grow anymore!

[Laura]

Im no expert on Pumpkins...but your Pumpkins look more like some sort of Mellon. Cut one open & see what is inside..I have never seen a pumpkin with the light shades of Green & Greener on them..We have several out in the patch & they are all Orange. Possibly it/they are a gourd or a Squash..

[douglas]

Hmmm, just wondering if they could be some kind of squash er something

[DougfromMN]

I also think it looks like a type of winter squash. I haven't seen a pumpkin with mottled skin like that. I'm not sure, but judging from the looks of the stem, it may be a maxima species squash. Do you have melons growing close by Mickey? The second pic looks to have melon leaves near the fruit.

[douglas]

All ya can do is check and see at pickin time

[mickee311]

The one in the 2nd pic is turning orange but it's a dirty looking orange, not bright in any way. There are watermelons growing next to that one, MNDoug, but the other ones that aren't anywhere near the melons are the same way.

Now, when do I know to pick 'em? It'll be hard, not knowing what it is......

[douglas]

Well if it is a squash the bottom of it should turn a orange color color indicating it's ready

[mickee311]

its turning orange on the top. its just kinda yellow where it touches the ground

[mickee311]

Well, I was wrong about it turning orange. The bottoms are just normal yellow/cream color where they wer eon the ground. I had to pull them, the SVBs got the vine so dang bad that the stems just fell off the vine when touched. I still wish I could figure out what these suckers are. I looked up a search on those maximas and none of them look anything like that. I dunno....Now I have these things that I don't know what to do with! You can't cook them if you don't know what they are.....Sucks, I was looking forward to a pumpkin pie or three this year....Non-store bought.

[douglas]

Cut one open and do a smell test to see what happens

[mickee311]

lol a smell test? what is what supposed to smell like? lol This is my first year gardening, I have like, no experience with these....

[crazy1]

If a know what a pumpkin smells like then you'll know if it's a pumpkin.

[mickee311]

Crap. Well, that just counts me out. I think pumpkin and squash smell about the same...But if it's green, it's not a pumpkin, right?

[douglas]

If the flesh is green on the outside and the inside is orange then it's a kind of squash, looks closely related to a Hubert

[DougfromMN]

Mickee,
Was it from a seed pack or a volunteer? Maybe it's a cross of two squash. I think there are some countries where they call squash pumpkins. I hope it tastes good.

[mickee311]

it was a seed from the hamster food and the bag says pumpkin....So, I dunno. This was purely experimental.

[mickee311]

Okay. The outside is green and the inside is orange. The cavity is large, not much meat to it. The seeds are big like a pumpkin, but it smells like a cantaloupe! I'm not sure what to think.I can't place what it tastes like, I've never had raw pumpkin or squash before. Thoughts?

[douglas]

Well cook it up with salt and pepper and see what happens make dem in halves and fill dem with butter and a tad of brown sugar and a dash of pumpkin spice and bake upright until soft, bet it will taste great

[mickee311]

It probably will.....But you don't think these can be made into a pie, do ya? That was my goal for them....I've got tons of acorn squash I grew for baking with butter and stuff.

[douglas]

I don't see why you couldn't, I'm thinking about using some of my small pumpkins to make a pie or bread