Here’s How to Preserve Your New York Pumpkins through Thanksgiving

Who knew such a simple trick can protect your pumpkins from rot and rodents?

Last year, I stumbled upon Pumpkin Head Farms in Rome and was given fantastic advice on how to keep your pumpkins looking fresh all season long. And their advice worked wonderfully!

When chatting with the owner in 2023, I expressed how I always have bad luck with getting gourds to last past Halloween.

That's when he asked what I do to treat them beforehand.

The thought of prepping your pumpkins before laying them out for display never occurred to me before, as I am sure is the same for many people.

Year after year, my family would buy those festive decorations and line them up around the front of the house, thus letting fate decide if they'd last through October.

Read More: These 3 Pumpkin Patches Are New York's Favorites

We have tried some rodent-deterring hacks after they began munching on our pumpkins, but no amount of cayenne pepper or repellent could keep them at bay.

Pumpkin Head Farms' then instructed me on how to stop hungry critters and decay from ruining my pumpkins.

I followed his rules exactly and it worked! My pumpkins lasted through Thanksgiving.  It was incredible!

Easy Pumpkin Preserving "Hack"

Keeping your pumpkins shiny, clean, and damage-free all season long takes an easy 5-minute process.

Step 1: Wash your pumpkins after bringing them home using a mixture of 3 parts water and 1 part bleach. Use a vegetable scrub brush to clean the entire pumpkin, including the bottom, and then let it dry.

Step 2: Once the pumpkin is completely dry, coat it entirely with lemon scented Pledge. Apparently, this seals the pumpkin and helps prevent any decay from spreading. It also appears hungry critters hate the taste of Pledge, so they won't even bother.

Step 3: Re-apply the Pledge whenever the pumpkins lose their shine, which will restore the protective barrier.

That's it. Three simple steps will do the trick.

I was given an extra piece of advice after revealing I have a concrete patio because, as it turns out, the surface you display your pumpkins on will also influence how long they last.

I was also advised not to let my pumpkins rest directly on concrete or other rough surfaces, because that can tear the rinds and make them more susceptible to mold.

To bypass that, I was given little wooden "pucks" to place underneath the pumpkins like a little booster seat.

The "pucks" are also easy to make: just find a branch on the ground that's about 2 to 4 inches wide and cut it into pieces that are no wider than half an inch thick.

I opted to buy a few "pre-made" pucks from Pumpkin Head Farms for $1 each.

If you don't have the materials to make your own pucks, small wooden boards will do just fine.

I was told the pucks won't just protect your pumpkins from being damaged on hard surfaces, they also allow air to flow beneath the gourds and prevent moisture from being trapped beneath them after a rainy day.

Just following these easy steps let my pumpkins, and everyone else who followed the directions, last well past Thanksgiving.

This year, I washed all my pumpkins with that bleach and water mixture before hitting them with Pledge.

Pumpkin Head Farms also offered new advice to me this year, which is to avoid pumpkins with deep vertical lines. The deeper the lines, or "ribs", the more likely water can get trapped between and lead to mold spots.

The owner said always opt for pumpkins with shallow lines because they always last longer.

That being said, I look forward to again having fresh looking pumpkins through Turkey Day. Now that you know this easy trick, I hope that your pumpkins get to last just as long, too!

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