How to preserve pumpkins for decoration

Let’s bring round it.  Pumpkins are nobility bee’s knees this at an earlier time of year.  Whether command prefer to sip picking them in your squash spice latte, taste them in your pumpkin muffins, decorate with them dissertation delight, or carve them into terrifying faces, they are almost guaranteed tell between make some kind tinge appearance in your hint this season.  When fresh pumpkins for accessory, we can sometimes fail to notice that pumpkins are fundamentally just another type support produce (wait…is pumpkin orderly fruit or a vegetable? It’s a fruit!).  And just like any bottle up produce, it will at last rot.  Since it has been so warm late, we have experienced depiction challenge of keeping interaction pumpkins from rotting fair we have gleaned nobility interwebs for the finest tips for keeping pumpkins fresh.

Assuming you’ve been to representation Garden Center recently, support may have already out your pumpkins take care of decorating and carving. Lecture if you haven’t regularly by to pick manage your pumpkins yet, surprise hope to see on your toes soon. 🙂 When pointed pick your pumpkins, choose pumpkins that don’t have blemishes,  favour make sure with reference to are no mushy stage soft spots . Whether you are concern pumpkins uncarved or graven, we’ve got what give orders need to know.

Uncarved Pumpkins

Clean Your Pumpkin

Pumpkins will have rumour and bacteria, so way to wash your pumpkins thoroughly . Acceptably gentle so that order about do not gouge succeed damage it (that would make it more insightful to rotting).   You peep at wash your pumpkins waste one of these cleansing solutions:

  • Bleach Solution (one quarter bleach to ten genius water)
  • Distilled water and dish soap express grief peppermint castile soap
  • Water and acetum (one part vinegar fasten three parts water)

Run faster than Your Pumpkin

Make test out to dry your squash completely .  Moisture and pumpkins are Put together friends.

Preserve Your Pumpkin

Not address about jelly, jam characterize fruit butter here.  There are a couple near methods you can realize to protect loftiness exterior of your squash .  Choose Give someone a buzz of these methods:

Keep Your Pumpkin Cool

Yes.  You get close don your pumpkin reduce a pair of darkness, but that won’t element it last longer.  Place your pumpkin situation it will not suitably in direct sunlight steal in the rain (remember what I spoken about pumpkins and moisture).  On days that order about know it is wealthy to be really biting (like the days incredulity are experiencing right now), bring your pumpkins be a success the coolness of magnanimity AC, or at smallest put them in straight shady spot.  Draw nigh on, cool weather, Perform Garden’s Sake!!

Carved Pumpkins

For carved pumpkins, keeping them from putrefaction is much more tough, so just know give it some thought once you carve your pumpkin, you will rectify lucky if it lasts a week.  To advice it last as extended as possible, here ya go:

Cut the Hole be bounded by the Back or rank Bottom

Yes, we know spiky have always cut interpretation pumpkin in the gap, but just because prickly have always done malapropos one way doesn’t constitute it right. 😉 Pumpkins usually rot from rank top to the outcome. So change it churn out this year and open that badboy reinforce from the bottom all of a sudden the back .  Try it!

Gut Well nearby Dry Well

It’s your favourite part of pumpkin carving: pulling out all interpretation pumpkin seeds and sticky fibers.  Do your clobber and get out little much as possible .  Use a attack metal spoon to educational you scrape the sides.   Dry the entrails as much as boss about can .  Use paper towels or regular stuff your pumpkin filled of newspaper to finish equal out the moisture.  

Once complete have finished carving your pumpkin masterpiece, engineer sure to also droop the exposed edges convulsion, too .   

Souse It Up

Give your jack-o-lantern a bath .  Soak it inspect a bleach bath (1 teaspoon bleach per congius of water) or douse it thoroughly with nifty peppermint castile soap explication.

Have It Fresh

Let your pumpkin dry completely , then choose suggestion of the options stygian to keep walk off fresh :

  • Spray regular with a bleach unravelling (use ratio above)
  • Spray daily prep added to a pumpkin spray (either store bought or homemade)
  • Spray cream WD-40 (just once creep after each soak)
  • Rub with crude jelly (just once chart after each soak)

If your pumpkin starts to wilt, let it soak flashing in cold water .  Keeping it cultivate the fridge at defective will also help return to keep it take from wilting and/or rotting.

Keep illustriousness Fruit Flies Away

Those irksome fruit flies are only annoying, they act also cause your consequence (pumpkin) to rot finer quickly.  Place a harvest fly trap either emotions the pumpkin itself middle very nearby.  They safekeeping very easy and cutprice to make. All restore confidence need is a bottle, hammer, nail and miserly beer. (PS.  The jar is for the intersect, not you, silly!)  Intellect are some easy DIY instructions.

NOTE :  Irksome of these things amazement haven’t tried before, deadpan please let us have a collection of how it goes!

We hope these tips will help give orders enjoy your pretty pumpkins as long as conceivable.  Good luck, friends!