How long will intact pumpkins last outside?

[aubreynoramarie]

yep, last year i kept my halloween pumpkins through halloween. its cold enough that theyll be fine

 

[goldies99]

i just got 13 pumpkins on the side of the road!!!!....people geting rid of them now that halloween is over!....
i felt like the midnight pumpkin picker!!!

 

[duckinnut]

Being in the same family as winter squash I think if your store them in a cool dry dark area they should last at least thru December and probably longer. The key is to keep them from freezing. I have some winter squash in my cellar now and its as they were just picked no signs of anything. When I was a kid I remember playing in my grandparents cellar and there was always a bunch of stuff from the garden stored in the dry cellar. Squash,apples,pears,onions and some other things that I wasnt sure of. I always remember the butternuts being that last thing left. So if your have the storage type buy away!

 

[aoxa]

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I have had my pumpkins outside since September. They are all still intact and not deflating. How would I know if it's bad?

 

[Godsgrl]

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I've heard that moldy foods can kill chickens.

 

[Beekissed]

Depends on what kind of mold. The light, speckled mold that grows on the outside of expired fruits and veggies isn't harmful...if it were, there would be millions of chicken deaths from it over thousands of years, not to mention other livestock fatalities.

Out in the country we open our gardens at the end of the season and the chickens and sheep clean up all the old veggies and fruits~moldy or not.

Feed moldy pelleted feed or grains? I wouldn't.

 

[aubreynoramarie]

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I've heard that moldy foods can kill chickens.

Seems like it would be bad but I just cannot keep my girls out of the compost bin. They manage

 

[SueBaby]

Around here pumpkins last forever if they're not cut open- Christmas at least, if you keep them cool and dry.

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I sent an email to my friends that are true Holiday Decorators this week. I asked if when they are done with any uncut decorative pumpkins, they would donate them to my girls instead of throwing them out. I am getting 4 pumpkins in response so far! Yeah for my girls!

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

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Same here. My birds get the garden at the end of the season and this includes any dropped/decompossing veggie/fruit.



My birds also work the compost for me...........and wandering 11 acres who knows what they find and the condition it may be in.


I have pumpkins in my garage right now. Been there for a month and are in great condition - stays just above freezing.


I see no problem feeding two a week - unless your birds are like mine.........they are tired of pumpkin

 

[Beekissed]

I used to keep mine in the cellar and dole them out a little at a time. One year I got a load of larger pumpkins and really didn't feel like keeping them inside my cellar due to space issues. I kept them out in my broody pen where they froze. Later on they must have thawed and then refroze, because they looked like deflated basketballs. One warm day in Jan. I decided to clean them out of there in preparation for broody season, so I removed one and placed it on the ground behind me and then went after another.

I heard a ripping noise and some angry clucking and squawking and turned around to see my sheep and chickens fighting over these sad-looking, deflated and slightly moldy pumpkins! I had never seen them respond that way to the pumpkins I had carefully stored and fed before decomposition had set in~at best they would show mild interest in some of the walls of the pumpkins but never the seeds or stringy innards. They continued to fight over and eat the pumpkins until there wasn't a shred of them left!

I learned a lesson that day and, after reading posts from Freemotion on feeding fermented foods to animals, I concluded the lesson I had learned was a good one. I now don't worry about cold storing pumpkins, as the freezing and subsequent thawing removes most of the moisture out of the gourd and when they freeze again it kind of preserves them in a dry, chewy state that the animals seem to love.

When pumpkins went bad in my cellar, they seemed to be a gooey, smelly mess and, when thrown out, something that the animals avoided.

To me, the choice was clear....the animals seem to get more enjoyment and use out of the pumpkins I left in cold storage and so I proceeded to follow suit each year. I have never had any illness in my chickens or sheep, so the mold doesn't seem to be an issue.