Does anyone have some good suggestions for drying gourds. I have read about placing them on screens but I have so many. Do I wait until a certain time to take them from the garden? I would appreciate any help. Thank you in advance. Jo
I just leave them hanging on the vines from the fence. ;-) They dry just fine.
As far as I know, no matter what you do to them, they will still end up with some black markings from mold but it does not do any damage to the shells or seeds.
One other way I did birdhouse gourd drying once that worked well was to take several that were ripe and full sized and lay them on top of the insulation up in my attic.
Worked fine and the resulting seeds were viable.
House wrens in my yard LOVE the gourd birdhouses. Just be sure to drill large drain holes in the bottom of the gourds. I drill 3 of them at about 1/3" across.
I recently stumbled across an article by P. Allen Smith on this topic:
Wait until after the killing frost. Let the weeds and other vegetation die back so you can see how many you grew. Leave them in the field, or harvest if the squirrels take a liking to them -- this proves the little bastards can't taste bitter, no matter how intense.
Cut the umbilical cords a few inches out. This helps them dry faster for some mysterious reason. Maybe the gourds scab over if you cut the stems flush.
Don't worry if they get moldy. They're supposed to. It adds character after you wash off the gourds prior to making them into something. You'll see mold spots on gourd resonators on Indian sitars. Stain or (even better) a tinted finish brings out the pattern nicely. Try equal parts varnish, linseed oil, and paint thinner, with a dash of artist's oil paint for color, rubbed in and buffed out, several coats until you build a nice sheen.
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