Thread: Giant Pumpkin Carving

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For the first time ever, I am the proud owner of not 1, but 3 giant pumpkins. As I have never owned one before, I was wondering, how long before Halloween can they be carved? (I am in Western New York).

ps. I will post pictures when I do.

Unfortunately it looks like you have got a one legged pumpkin, I only see one shoe. Or maybe it's just sitting on the other foot.
Can't wait to see the finished results.

I'm in FL so they get moldy and rot nearly overnight but I still wouldn't do it more than a week before at the most. Several threads have mentioned dunking it into a mild bleach solution to kill off mold spores. I'm actually planning on testing out doing this daily. The water will rehydrate the pumpkin and shouldn't hurt it if the bleach concentration isn't too high. I'll probably carve one on the 10th or so and dunk it daily and see what happens! This year I'm doing a lot of fake pumpkins. I've resisted doing it due to storage issues but I'll probably keep 2 medium and 2 small of the (supposedly) Gemmy pumpkins at Michaels. I wish they had larger round ones. For some strange reason I don't like elongated pumpkins (which is what their biggest one is).

Unfortunately it looks like you have got a one legged pumpkin, I only see one shoe.

lol. I put the shoe there to show scale.

Originally Posted by Xane

This year I'm doing a lot of fake pumpkins. I've resisted doing it due to storage issues but I'll probably keep 2 medium and 2 small of the (supposedly) Gemmy pumpkins at Michaels. I wish they had larger round ones. For some strange reason I don't like elongated pumpkins (which is what their biggest one is).

I have more carved faux pumpkins than I I can count. I mix them in with the real ones. There are more varieties and shapes if you order direct online, just be prepared to pay a bit more.

I am with Xane with the Florida weather just tearing up a pumpkin, but it could be a lot different up there in Upstate, maybe someone closer to you has tried it before. Bleach thing sounds like a good idea no matter where.

These guys did a really good test on different ways to make a pumpkin last longer after being carved.

http://www.myscienceproject.org/pumpkin.html

I do wonder about the bleach thing. Like they said in the results, they let the water settle at the bottom of it after spraying instead of draining it. I'd want to dunk the whole thing in a bucket of bleach water for about 5 minutes then take it out and leave it upside-down for half an hour. Maybe a little extra work, but I think in the end the bleach would have won if they hadn't let the water stand in the pumpkin.

That is huge!!!
congrats!

Well, I'm in MA and carved pumpkins only last about 3-5 days around here. And that's with a thin layer of vasoline on the cut parts. Haven't tried the bleach thing yet though!