Have you fallen in love with flower and pumpkin centrepieces? They’re so unique for a Thanksgiving Centrepiece or a fall wedding. But for as cute as they are, there’s only one problem–how do you get the pumpkin to last?!
I’ve typically found that the pumpkins hold up for 4-7 days before they get really gross. Now the difference between 4 days and 7 days doesn’t seem like a lot. But when you’re trying to sell pumpkins to paying customers, you want your product to last as long as possible.
My Thanksgiving pumpkin centrepieces were a huge hit this year, and I wanted as many happy customers as possible. So as I started to sell the pumpkin bouquets, I experimented with different ways the pumpkin vase could store water and last the longest.
I started by simply just pouring water into the pumpkins with nothing else inside. But then I had the idea to put small containers within the larger pumpkins to store the water and hold some of the flowers up. I had also heard that some other flower farmers use soil within the pumpkin bouquets, while others mix oil and water within the pumpkin.
With all these ideas, it sparked the idea to simply try all 6 ideas to see which pumpkin filler would make the arrangement last the longest! With this, I tried 6 different pumpkins:
P.S. If you’re looking for info on HOW to make pumpkin centrepieces, check out this Youtube Video where I do it in real time. You can also see my first pumpkin centrepiece sale, and my Thanksgiving Pumpkin Centrepiece sale.
Pumpkin #1: Water Only
The first pumpkin was a water only pumpkin. I carved out the pumpkin, gave it a quick rinse with water, and filled it 3/4 of the way with water.
Pumpkin #2: Water & Container
The second pumpkin was cut open and cleaned out, then inserted a small plastic container and filled the container with water
Pumpkin #3: Soil Only
Why not try the simply solution of putting dirt into the pumpkin? I remembered doing this with succulents with one year, and the pumpkin lasted for 2 weeks. This pumpkin was cut open, then I went straight to my backyard, dug some dirt, and threw it into the pumpkin.
Pumpkin #4: Bleach Rinse & Container
Like the other, this pumpkin was carve out, but instead of rinsing and cleaning it out with water, I use a bleach and water solution to rinse out the pumpkin. Once it was rinsed, another small plastic container was inserted and fill with water.
Some people leave the pumpkin soak in the bleach solution for up to an hour, but mine just got a rinse.
Pumpkin #5: Oil & Container
Pumpkin 5 was carved and cleaned out, just like the others. But once it was rinsed out, I took some oil and put in on the inside of the pumpkin. Once the entire pumpkin was rimmed on the inside with oil, I put in another small container and filled it with water.
I used canola oil, but I don’t think the type of oil would really make a difference. If you decide to go this route, use what you have.
Pumpkin #6: Container Only
After trying so many different things, I realized that I needed a “control pumpkin.” What would happen if you just didn’t do anything? So the last pumpkin was simply carved out and inserted a container with water.
What next?
Once all the pumpkins were done, I put them on the mantle on my fireplace and let them sit for a week. It’s a north-facing room with two west facing windows, and none of the pumpkins were in direct sunlight.
I did not add any water or flowers or special treatment to any of them, and checked in 7 days later!
The Best Way to Get A Long Lasting Pumpkin Centrepiece
1. Pumpkin #1: Water Only
The simplest way ended up being the best in the experiment! The water only pumpkin did the best overall after 1 week. It retained it’s colour the whole week, the water stayed reasonably clear, the pumpkin plump, and there was no odour coming from the pumpkin! There was only a little bit of mould, that would not be recognizable when filled with flowers.
2. Pumpkin #5: Oil & Container
I was quite impressed with the oil rinse pumpkin. Out of all the pumpkins, pumpkin #5 remained the most sturdy and remained a hard exterior. This pumpkin got second place though due to the discolouration that the oil did to the pumpkin’s exterior. Even after continuing on this experiment for week #2, this pumpkin still had no mould!
3. Pumpkin #2: Water Rinse & Container
In third place is the water rinse and container combination on pumpkin #4. Compared to the remaining pumpkins, there was not much squish and not much visible mould. When the container was removed, the bottom on the pumpkin and surrounding the container was quite mouldy – but still did better than the others!
Details on the Remaining Pumpkins
The remaining pumpkins overall were not something I would want on my table after a week.
The soil pumpkin (Pumpkin #3) did not do well at all, it is extremely squishy and the pumpkin is completely discoloured. I would say this pumpkin performed the worst overall, but it didn’t have any mould.
I also thought the bleach rinse (Pumpkin #4) would do better – but it did not! It was extremely squishy, the mould was visible from the top outside of the pumpkin, and it attracted fruit flies like a bear to honey.
The container only (Pumpkin #6) also performed quite badly. There was the most amount of mould out of all the pumpkins on this one, and it also attracted many fruit flies. The squish test of this pumpkin was also very poor.
Troubleshooting
With every experiment, there is always flaws and things that I realized I should have done AFTER the fact. First of all, I did not put flowers into all of the experimental pumpkins! This might have changed the discolouration in some of the pumpkins or help reduce the mould as well.
If you leave you pumpkin arrangement outside in a colder environment with water only, it can honestly last up to 3 weeks! Be sure to use weather hardy flowers, or flowers that dry well, and they’ll last beautifully! I did up a pumpkin bouquet and put it outside on my doorstep, and 3 weeks later, it is standing tall and colourful!
Even if you’re not planning on making any pumpkin centrepieces, I feel like you could apply this experiment to your Halloween Jack-o-lantern. Just maybe don’t do the oil one unless you’re using a battery operated candle.
Do you have any special treatment to make pumpkins last longer? Tell me about it in the comments!
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