[Tkaraoke]

I thought I saw a topic about displays but I might have been mistaken.

How do you folks usually display your pumpkins after you carve them? I'm not "gifted" enough to make my own shelves so I thought maybe I could scrounge a few cinderblocks and planks of wood together and make one.

Also, I was thinking about getting some empty gallon paint cans, spraying them black, then sitting the pumpkins on them.

The last idea sounded kind of cheesy so I thought I'd ask to see what other ideas are out there.

[Pumpkingrower]

I acquired some hay bales from a local construction site that didnt need them anymore and they provided a 2nd tier of shelving with the Autumn feel. I only did enough pumpkins last year for a layer on top of three and some more on the driveway.

[Tkaraoke]

I acquired some hay bales from a local construction site that didnt need them anymore

Now that sounds like an excellent idea but I wonder what the chances would be of them catching on fire if I use real candles. Guess I could soak them with water or spray them with some kind of fire retardant the night of display. I plan on having a fire extinguisher on hand just in case. I have some lighting experiments I want to conduct courtesy of extremepumpkins.com.

[Mister_JP]

I will be lucky this year, as we will be taking possession of our NEW house on October 30th, JUST IN TIME for Halloween! I won't have much time for decorating the yard, but the pumpkin display will be perfect on the front porch. There is a wide handrail, and below that about a foot of porch sticks out. The porch itself is a few feet abobe the level of grass (well, dirt) below it, so it makes for a perfect 2 tiered row of carved pumpkins.

In the past we have used a spare door that was elevated on trash cans turned over, also a park bench. I'm happy to have the new digs!

[Tkaraoke]

I thought if I did the "can" method, I could arrange the pumpkins into any kind of pattern I saw fit. I was thinking on going for a semicircle type look with them with a couple of smaller ones for my special projects like the PIRATES trio...Johnny, Roger, and ole Squid Face! LOL

Actually, I've been considering getting one *HUGE* pumpkin and putting them all on it.

[Patti]

Paint cans will probably be too samll. We use cat litter buckets and dry wall mud buckets painted black.

We also use the porch, picnic tables and benches, stray tree stumps, and a couple of plant hangers.

Don't know if the link will work or not.......

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c399/ ... shcopy.jpg

OK seems to be good. I forgot to mention the PM "hot head" that we carve and put on the bar-b-que grill.

[Tkaraoke]

The link worked fine and I was like, daaaaaaaamn! Whole lotta pumpkinage going on there in your front yard.

Now that I'm thinking about it, there are small steps that lead up to the door of the house so I could probably put a few there. I think if I do that I'm going to try to block off access to the steps so nobody gets too close to them. I just don't want to have someone accidentally knock them off which looking at them.

[Patti]

A lot of pumpkins, yes. There are about another 30-40 out of the frame you can't see. We put them down the sides of the yard so they were to my right and left when I took the pic.

Actually the buckets don't look bad at all. If there isn't a lot of light where you live they really can't be seen until you're right on top of them. From the road the pumpkins appear to be floatng.

We did 110 pumpkins last year. We're aiming for close to that this year but we don't bother trying to increase the number each year anymore. We've reached critical mass.

[Tkaraoke]

We've reached critical mass.

Is that anywhere near Boston?


How do you carve so many of them? How do you preserve the carved ones before Halloween? I'm shooting for about 10. I already have two Funkins carved so I'm ahead of the curve.

[Mister_JP]

Local grocery stores just got some bins of real pumpkins in. I'm going to have to plug in the spare 'fridge and carve a couple and see if I can keep them alive until Halloween. I think I kept one good enough last year for several weeks. (of course it was looking pretty ratty by the end of the night )

[Tkaraoke]

As long as that one makes it through the night then it's all good! lol

Now that I think about it, I think you can get those big plastic tubs at Walmart for a reasonable price. Those should be big enough to hold at least a couple of pumpkins. I love the hay idea but I'm not sure how much they go for. Our local ACE hardware store usually sells them but I never thought about looking into how much they cost.

[Patti]

There was a pretty long thread last year that explained how we get the pumpkins ready. I don't want to bore everyone who may have seen it already but if you go to this link you can find it.

http://www.zombiepumpkins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=317

Can't wait until Halloween. People are already asking if we're going to do pumpkins this year.

I want to see if I can "hire" my son's girlfriend to carve one day. That girl has mad carving skills. I can see her being able to carve 20 or more in a day if the patterns are on and the pumpkins are scooped for her.

[Pumpkin King]

That's an impressive display...ever thought of using a pumpkin preservative to have them last longer?

[Patti]

That's an impressive display...ever thought of using a pumpkin preservative to have them last longer?

Never really tried to preserve any. It would just be too much work. Usually it's the drying from the candle that kill ours. We do cover each pumpkin with a plastic bag during the day. That plumps them up a bit but I also think it contributes to mold.

I'm going to try a home-made preservative this year. I'm just going to dilute regualr lysol in a spray bottle and mist about half the pumpkins. Then I'll compare misted vs non-misted. Should be a big enough sample to see if it really works. Won't cost much either.

[Zombie Pumpkins!]

I'm going to try a home-made preservative this year.

That sounds like a great idea, Patti. Seems like keeping them damp, but Lysoled, should certainly help. Be sure to let us know how your experiement goes.