Cure your winter squash, then keep it cool and dry

If your butternut has been sitting in the fruit bowl since September and is going soft, the bowl is the problem. Squash keeps for months in a cool, dry place.

Pick it right

A squash is ready when the skin is hard enough that your thumbnail will not puncture it and the surface looks dull, per Iowa State Extension. Pumpkins should be uniformly orange. Leave an inch of stem on, because fruit without a stem will not store well.

Handle it like eggs. UMass Extension says once the rind is bruised or punctured, decay organisms get in and break the fruit down fast.

Cure it warm

Then cure: 80 to 85 F and 80 to 85 percent humidity, which hardens the skin and heals small cuts. UMass puts the window at 5 to 10 days. Alabama Extension says butternut and hubbard show no added benefit from curing, and UMass Extension says curing is not always necessary for unwounded fruit stored a few months.

Acorn squash is the exception: skip the cure, because the heat and humidity cut its quality and storage life.

Pick squash with a hard rind and dull skin, and leave an inch of stem on.

Store it cool, dry and apart

After curing, move squash somewhere cool, dry and ventilated, at 50 to 55 F according to Iowa State. UMass allows up to 60 F, but warns that below 50 F squash can suffer chilling injury and will not store well, so use any chilled fruit first. Big temperature swings favor condensation on the fruit, which encourages disease, per UMass.

Keep it away from apples, pears and other ripening fruit. Their ethylene gas shortens squash storage life. Pumpkins go in single layers.

Even an imperfect shady, dry spot with the fruit off the ground beats leaving it out in the field, per UMass.

Expect different lifespans. Iowa State lists about 5 to 8 weeks for acorn, 2 to 3 months for butternut, and 5 to 6 months for hubbard.

Bottom line

• Pick hard-skinned, dull squash with an inch of stem, per Iowa State Extension, and handle it gently, per UMass Extension.
• Cure pumpkins warm and humid for a few days, but skip curing acorn, per Iowa State Extension.
• Store at 50 to 55 F, dry, away from ripening fruit, and eat acorn first.

Your zone

• Zone 3-4: Chilling injury is possible below 50 F, and chilled fruit will not store well and should be used first, per UMass Extension.
• Zone 5-6: Field curing needs nights at or above 60 F; otherwise cure indoors somewhere warm and ventilated, per UMass Extension.
• Zone 7-8: In Alabama, Alabama Extension says curing at 80 to 85 F helps pumpkins, but butternut and hubbard show no added benefit and acorn is harmed.
• Zone 9-10: Where nights stay above 60 F you can cure outdoors, but long storage above 60 F costs weight, per UMass Extension.
• Zone 11+: UF/IFAS says calabaza, the tropical pumpkin popular in Latin south Florida, can be sun-cured 1-2 weeks under 95 F; bring it in before rain or a heat wave.

Sources

• Iowa State University Extension, "Harvesting and storing vine crops" - https://yardandgarden.extension.iastate.edu/how-to/harvesting-and-storing-vine-crops
• UMass Extension, "Pumpkin and winter squash harvest, curing, and storage" - https://ag.umass.edu/vegetable/fact-sheets/pumpkin-winter-squash-harvest-storage
• Alabama Cooperative Extension System, "Harvesting, Curing, and Post Harvest Care of Pumpkins and Winter Squash" - https://www.aces.edu/blog/topics/crop-production/horticulture-notes-pumpkins-and-winter-squash/
• University of Florida IFAS Extension, "Harvest and Handling of Calabaza (Tropical Pumpkin)" - https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/HS1495 Photo: Cucurbita maxima (Rouge vif d'Etampes)Cl J Weber04 (23651248566) by INRA DIST from France, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cucurbita_maxima_(Rouge_vif_d%27Etampes)Cl_J_Weber04_(23651248566).jpg Photo: Cucurbita moschata Butternut 2012 G1 by George Chernilevsky, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cucurbita_moschata_Butternut_2012_G1.jpg