How To Make Your Halloween Pumpkin Last Longer

You put a lot of effort into that pumpkin. The last thing you want is for it to shrivel up into a pile before Halloween. How can you make it last longer?

Every year, you wait until the perfect time to pick a pumpkin. You plan out what you're going to carve into it. You take your time and do it right. Then, two days before the big night it looks nothing like what you painstakingly carved because it wilted up and all but melted into your landscaping.

How can you make pumpkins last longer?

According to Steve Reiners, professor of horticulture at Cornell University, there are some ways to get a pumpkin to last longer.

1. Pick a fresh pumpkin - Obviously if you pick a pumpkin that has already begun to deteriorate, it's going to rot quicker. Instead, make sure there aren't any soft spots on the outside and that the stem is hard and connected solidly to the pumpkin.

2. Time your carve correctly - As soon as you cut the pumpkin open, it will begin to break down. A fresh pumpkin can last well past Thanksgiving if it isn't cut. However, if you cut it open, you can expect it to keep its shape for only about 7-10 days. So if you're carving it two weeks before Halloween, that's why it will break down days before the actual holiday.

3. Try the bleach trick - What breaks pumpkins down is bacteria and fungi. You can add a teaspoon of bleach to a quart of water and spray the pumpkin down. Include all the cut surfaces and don't forget to spray the inside of the pumpkin too.

Those three tips should be exactly what you need to have a perfect jack-o-lantern when the ghosts and ghouls come knocking on your door on Halloween night.