How to Preserve a Pumpkin

Pumpkin carving and decorating is a favorite pastime during this time of year. After you've carved an amazing design or face into a pumpkin or two, you want to show it off through your window or set it out on your porch for the neighbors to see. Without knowing the tricks to save your holiday pumpkins, they can turn slimy, moldy, and mushy in as little as three days. 

This is your jack-o'-lantern ... right before it starts to grow mold. Image by Robert Xyster/WonderHowTo 

Don't let that happen — let everyone see your original masterpiece, not a mushy, sunken, sad version. Learn these tricks now and have the best looking jack-o'-lanterns in your 'hood for Halloween and beyond! Just keep in mind that if you live in an area with high humidity and/or lots of rain, your carved pumpkins won't last as long as those in dryer environments.

These jack-o'-lanterns definitely deserve to be preserved! Image by Shawn Campbell/Flickr 

Method 1: Soak It in a Bleach Solution (The Winner!)

This is an easy and effective way to keep your carved pumpkins from molding for up to seven days. The sodium hypochlorite kills microorganisms that make pumpkins rot and dries out the pumpkin. The steps for making the solution are super simple:

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1. After your pumpkin has been carved, rinse it out with water to get rid of excess strings and gunk.
2. Take a large bucket or tub and fill it with three gallons of water.
3. Stir three teaspoons of bleach into the water.
4. Dunk in the pumpkin. Be sure to hold it down as it will try to float. The entire pumpkin should sit in the solution for two minutes. You might want to wear gloves, too.
5. Remove from the solution and let the pumpkin air dry.

Image by Wikivisual/WikiHow

More information can be found at Clorox's website. It's also interesting to note that over at My Science Project, a bleach-treated jack-o'-lantern lasted for up to ten days with only minimal decay. Some people also spray their carved pumpkins with a bleach solution daily. This will also work, but

your pumpkin will decay quicker this way. It won't rot as fast as an untreated pumpkin, but it won't last as long as one soaked in the bleach solution.

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Method 2: Add an Opened Silica Packet (2nd Place)

While it may seem odd with so much airflow in a carved pumpkin, an opened packet of silica gel can really keep the rot away from your jack-o'-lantern. Mental Floss did a comparison of a few of the tricks off this list, and found that the bleach solution above and an opened silica packet were the best at prolonging the life of a carved pumpkin.

Since silica packets are a desiccant, it's no surprise they work well. They absorb moisture and keep things fairly dry if it's humid out, and a non-moist carved pumpkin means less mold growth and less drooping.