[monstermash]

I had a dream last night that all my pumpkins had rotted so i thought id check them today. I was HORRIFIED to find that my biggest kin is rotting on the bottom. I really wanted to keep that one for my party on the 31st. I also noticed that all the other kins have mold on their stalks. Is there any way at all of salvaging it??? I actually want to cry!

[Raven]

The bottom probably cant be saved. Once the flesh is rotting it's pretty much going to keep going. Someone might have a solution, but I'm not sure you can save it till Halloween. As for the stalks I have read where people simply wipe away the mold and they are fine. I had to cut one stalk off one year to keep it from spreading to the rest of the pumpkin. Makes it a bit harder to carve and remove the lid, but not impossible. Sorry to hear about this, losing pumpkins is a sad thing.

[GUS]

are they in a heated room? / bright light? ..cool & dark.
make it an early carve & use some bleach having cut through the bad bottom rather than allow it to go to waste.

[Crystal]

one thing to remember is to wash your pumpkins.. a little bleach in the water will kill all the micro-organisms that are going to rot your pumpkin.


That may help around the stem..
where are you keeping your pumpkins? I have found If I leave mine on concrete they do not rot as fast. On the lawn or soil they get rotted really fast.

[monstermash]

They are in a room of a house no one lives in. Its dry and there is no heating on. They were sat on a blanket but ive now put them on newspaper. I have wiped the mold off the stalks and the rest of the kins seem nice and hard. I will do the bleach thing though on the rest. As for the rotting one it looks like he will be an early carve. Im peed off because its an hour and a half drive to the farm i got them from so i can't keep going up there to get more. I cant believe i actually feel sad about it but a genuinely do.

[Artex76]

Another thing to look for when you buy pumpkins is always lok at the bottom. I have seen many that have sat around a bit and start to get just the smallest soft spot in a few days it can turn the whole thing to mush.

[cuvers]

alot of the farms in my area have them all sitting in gravel, you have to really inspect them their weight resting on the gravel sometimes lets just a little tiny piece pierce the bottom just a very little bit but once the shell is comprimised your'e DONE! it'll rot for sure, unles you get it really close to halloween then it doesn't matter but I always tend to go buy mine the first week in october.

[badgers]

I've had two start to rot at the top around the stem. One because my neice broke the stem off by trying to pick it up by the stem and it broke off ---- 3 days later the whole top of the pumpkin was going soft.

The other one I noticed a small hole near the top that wasn't there before and the top of that one was soft too ---- thinking maybe a squirrel may have tried to get to it.

[monstermash]

Thanks everyone for your advice. Ive now moved them into my shed which has a concrete floor, knowing my luck it will be too cold or something and they will all rot! Ive carved Deadite Cheryl into the big one and i think i will do someone else in it tomorrow as there is tons of room left. I will take pics.
I had a good feel of the bottoms and sides AND tops of all the kins before i bought them. I think the farmer thought i had a bit of a fetish for that sort of thing.

[SaneInsideInsanity]

I think the farmer thought i had a bit of a fetish for that sort of thing.

Don;t we all?

[minion_of_the_pumpkin]

its not a fetish its an obsesion

[SaneInsideInsanity]

Mine is a fetish. You're just not there yet.

[Dr. Frybrain]

That area of rot is FULL of decay bacteria. They thrive in an acid environment, and unfortunately, their waste is acidic. That means the more it rots, the faster it rots.

Treat it like any parasite or cancer, and cut it out now. Then treat it with Pumpkin Fresh or my Anti-aging Spray.

[minion_of_the_pumpkin]

Mine is a fetish. You're just not there yet.

im not a fetish type of person

[Ajax]

If it's a fetish then does that mean Ryan is your pimp?