saving seeds from quard and squash?

from birdhouse gourd and like acron squash. Do you simply cut open, clean and dry them or do you wait till the gourd dries-squash-?

Try this link icebud http://www.sover.net/~subzero/veg.html#cucu Hope it helps -

Thank you :)

Poppysue's link is great! Be sure to read about cross pollination.If you are going to trade these seeds that you save,you need to be aware that precautions have to be taken to prevent it. Squashes especially. Even your neighbor's squash will cross pollinate with yours. You won't see any difference in the squashes that you harvest this year,they will all look identical to what you planted.That is why people don't realize that crosses happen. It's the NEXT year that starts all the trouble.You'll get squash that look like each of the parents,but each one still carries the genes of the other parent.When the seeds are planted the third year,even if you only save seeds from squash that have the traits that you desire,you can still get a harvest of more than one kind of squash.And if one of your parent pollinators happen to be a hybrid,you get the whole family from the seeds of one fruit. I was involved in a project where we were going to try and stabilize what we thought was a two squash cross. The second season we had no less than 5 and possibly 7 different squashes from the seeds of just one fruit.If you are wanting to trade with heirloom folks,you need to make sure you take measures to prevent crosses.