What Is the Best Way to Preserve Your Halloween Pumpkin?

There are several ways to preserve your Halloween pumpkin to last longer once you have carved it and put it on display.

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Halloween Pumpkin

It has long been a tradition for those who like to celebrate Halloween to carve pumpkins to put on display at their home.

Carving pumpkins dates back to the 18th century in Ireland because of a myth about Stingy Jack who was a blacksmith. The myth states that Jack made a deal with the devil and tricked him into not taking his soul when he died. Jack was then doomed to wander the earth as an undead spirit. Jack carried a hollowed-out turnip with burning coal inside to guide his way through eternity. The Irish began to carve potatoes and turnips during a celebration called All Souls Day that happened around October 31. The vegetables that people carved were known as Jack O'lanterns and were used to scare away evil spirits. The tradition moved to America from Irish settlers who over time eventually began to carve pumpkins instead of potatoes and turnips.

Ways to Preserve a Pumpkin

Nobody wants their pumpkin to rot, especially before Halloween.

Nobody wants their pumpkin to get all moldy either. So what is a person to do to preserve their pumpkin?

Expert pumpkin carvers have a few secrets to making their prized carved pumpkins last long and many use WD-40. The trick is to lightly spray the outside of your pumpkin with WD-40 and it will give your Jack O'lantern an extra shine and make it last longer. It is better to use a spray to preserve your pumpkin, things like K-Y, West Platinum Silicone, and Vaseline Petroleum Jelly because they are almost impossible to apply. Most of it will stick you your hands and it's pretty gross to apply it plus they do not work as well as WD-40 and other methods.

Clorox Cleanup with Bleach is the number one choice for those who want to preserve their pumpkin and make it last longer. You will need to dilute this down to 5% by mixing in water then spray your pumpkin wearing protective gloves.

Can Wildlife Eat a Treated Pumpkin?

If you don't treat your pumpkins and you want them off your porch. You can pile them up out back and just about all wildlife will eat them. If you treat your pumpkin with WD-40 or Bleach you will need to throw those pumpkins in the trash because they are harmful to wildlife. The same goes for if you paint your pumpkins.