My search for the perfect pumpkin-growing gadget is finally over – for $17 shoppers say it stops crops from rotting, reduces pest damage, and even helps to keep them round

Fall is not only the season to decorate your home with pumpkins-galore, it's also prime time for harvesting pumpkins, squashes, and gourds. After months of nurturing your plants, the last thing you want is to find your precious crop rotting from sitting on the ground. That's where one revolutionary product comes in: the pumpkin cradle.

It's an essential I'm adding to my toolkit for growing pumpkins, especially after reading the reviews of this top-rated pumpkin cradle from Amazon. It's $17 for a pack of 10 cradles, which shoppers say keep 'fruits safe throughout the growing season.'

It's design ultra is simple. You just insert the spike into the ground and the round dish elevates the pumpkins off the ground. It maximizes air circulation for healthy growth and stops pumpkins from rotting. There's no wonder it's a best seller, with 300+ reviewers raving about its ability to support healthy growth, even saving harvests from pest damage.

Why use a pumpkin cradle?

Whether you're growing pumpkins, growing squash, or growing other gourds, this pumpkin cradle can help ensure your crops stay healthy.

As pumpkins grow, they will sit on the ground where they're exposed to fungal diseases, excess moisture, and even pests that destroy plants, like beetles.

Simply elevating them above the ground reduces the risk of rotting and other damage.

Not only this, but the trellis design of the round dish provides added air circulation, once again reducing the risk of fungal diseases.

An added bonus is the round dish helps to shape your pumpkins, keeping them nicely rounded, rather than flattened from sitting on the ground.

To get the best results from a pumpkin cradle, put it in place as soon as the fruits start to grow.

Why shoppers love it

This Amazon pumpkin cradle is great value for money as a pack of 10 for $17, supporting a larger amount of vegetables. But, it isn't just the price shoppers are pleased with:

'We have a ground cover and then about 4-5 inches of mulch and the spike has no issue going through those layers,' one reviewer writes.

As well as being easy to install, this pumpkin cradle has proven to be sturdy and supports the weight of a wide range of fruits:

'It’s sturdy enough to support an 8lb honeydew we had and then would rotate every day so it would get nice and round,' the same reviewer continues.

'I like that they have built in stakes and slits for airflow,' another shopper notes. 'It keeps [fruit] dry and prevents [them] from rotting,' someone else adds.

It's this trellis feature that has helped keep white mold on plants, powdery mildew, and rotting at bay.

The one downside reviewers note is needing to adjust the pumpkin cradle as the fruits grow and get heavier.

'[The cradles] only needed to be shifted for balance as the cantaloupes got enormous and the weight tipped them a bit,' one shopper writes.

It's also not the best choice for much larger varieties:

'I have several watermelon species out there that these things were no match for. Including a couple of 'Black Diamond' melons that appear to be an excess of 40 lbs,' a reviewer says. 'The cradles are still under them but the melons are resting firmly on the ground,' they explain.

Nevertheless, shoppers highly recommend this pumpkin cradle to keep 'your fruits and vegetables safe and above the soil' right up until its time to pick pumpkins off the vine.

Other tools to keep pumpkins and melons off the ground

I'm certainly convinced by the reviews that this pumpkin cradle is an essential to keep your pumpkins healthy right up until harvest. But, it isn't the only way to support pumpkin growth. You should also consider pumpkin companion planting and learn to cure pumpkins correctly.