How to preserve some pumpkins for a month until Halloween

We have 5 nice Halloween-sized carving pumpkins in our garden, but the associated vines are just about dried up and I don't want the pumpkins to rot on the ground or in our garage, at least not until after Halloween. What is the best way to preserve them for a month until we carve them up. Chicago area, so no frost yet.

Reply to
hrhofmann
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We have a bumper crop of 6 garden pumpkins this year. The vines have just about died out, and we need to keep the pumpkins until Halloween when we will carve them up. What is the best/easiest way to preserve them for another month?

Reply to
hrhofmann

You could refrigerate them. It depends on the cultivar but if they are not damaged they ought to last a month in a cool dry place not refrigerated. I have some that were cut last May stored that way, a few have rotted but many lasted.

David

Reply to
David Hare-Scott

Don't refrigerate them. Don't leave them out where they will be subject to temperatures under 40 degree F (and unheated garage).

Wash them in a mild bleach solution, dry them off and set them in the coolest part of your house. Keep them separated so air can circulate around them. They should last several months even at room temperature, more than long enough to get to Halloween.

Reply to
Pat Kiewicz

As others have mentioned they don't need refrigeration but they do need to be cool without being a overly cold. What no-one has mentioned so far is the importance of retaining a stub of stem from the vine. Most pumpkins will begin to rot sooner rather than later at the point where stem joins the pumpkin on the vine if the stemis removed.

Reply to
FarmI

Cut from the vine with a sharp knife leaving 3-4 inches of stem, do not lift by stem... breaking off the stem will prevent moisture from escaping and the pumpkin will rot. So long as there is no hard frost storing in a *dark* garage is good but not on the floor, place on a board... or store in a dry basement, again not directly on the floor. The biggest risk to storing pumpkins is their being eaten by critters; squirrels, mice, birds, and others. I place the nicest pumpkins on my front steps for holiday decor but I also place a few sacrificial pumpkins out on the sides of the house up against a tree trunk.

Reply to
Brooklyn1

The point about stem removal was indeed mentioned, in the recent thread on gourds.

Reply to
Brooklyn1

Yeah, critters have alreeady eaten one that ripened about a month ago. Did leave a few seeds on the ground, otherwise no traces left. Did know to leave a hunk of umbilical cord on each pumpkin, storage will be in our garage for the next few weeks.

Thanx for the reply.

Reply to
hrhofmann

Thanx for the reply, I did know about leaving some of the stem on. Learned many years ago not to lift by the stem.

Reply to
hrhofmann

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