Wondering what to do with pumpkins after October ? Do n’t have your jack - o’-lanterns go to waste matter . Try these recycling ideas .
When the party are over and thetrick - or - treatershave exit home , Halloween porch scapes often gettraditional fall makeovers , but when it ’s meter to modify your decor for the next holiday , what do you do with those Halloween pumpkins ? deplorably , thousand of pumpkins are tossed in the rubbish every yr .
or else of pile up your pumpkins for trash day , try our editor - approved idea for repurposing , reusing , or recycling your gourd post - October . With these eco - favorable tips for recyclingHalloween pumpkin vine , even those shrivel and sunkenjack - o’-lanternscan be useful .
Credit: Peter Frank Edwards
1. Make Pumpkin Puree
The sound way to make use of goods and services of many ( but not all ) types of uncarved pumpkin is to corrode them . Of course , crispen pumpkin seedsmake a respectable snack , and you’re able to apply fresh pumpkin puree in any recipe that calls for the canned version . Some variety like Jarrahdale , Hubbard , and Pie pumpkins are mature specifically for feeding , so they have naturally sweet , smooth flesh , give you more puree per lbf. of pumpkin . autumn pumpkin bred for carving may be too hempen for puree , but they can still be misrepresent and impart to adelicious drop stew , soup , or chili con carne .
Touse impertinent pumpkinin a recipe that calls for can , you need to employ a little math . A 6 - pound cutting pumpkin vine will give you approximately 2¾ cups of puree — a piddling more than the received 15 - ounce can of pumpkin puree . That pumpkin puree can be used in a horn of plenty ofsweet or savory fall recipes , from pumpkin bread to macaroni and cheese . We recommend only wipe out the pumpkin you expose inside your house , where they were safe from insects and other critters .
2. Pass Along Your Pumpkins
Do n’t want to deal with the pumpkins yourself ? No worries — muckle of places may take them off your hands . See if you could donate them to zoos , beast shelter , farms , or biotic community gardens . They ’ll be thankful for the compost material or animal snack . bet local ; some towns do a autumn pumpkin collection drive after Halloween , and some farms put out calls for local pumpkin donations . Organizations likeSCARCEin Illinois , Pumpkins for Pigs , andPumpkins for the Peopleoften have drop curtain - off sites where you could take your erstwhile pumpkins . They ’ll compost the pumpkins or deal the pumpkins with brute , keeping them out of landfills .
3. Feed the Birds
rick your Halloween Cucurbita pepo into a bird feeder toattract feathered friends to your yard . Just dilute the pumpkin in half horizontally , empty the pit , and fill it with birdseed . Either leave it out as is or hang it from a tree with several lengths of thick string or rope wrap up under the base .
you may also add pumpkin seed to your regular birdie seeded player . Rinse and dry the seeds before coalesce them in . Do n’t flavor or salt the seeds ; the birds will eat them as is .
4. Create Compost
autumn pumpkin make a great addition to yourcompost pile . Because they ’re mostly water , they break down quickly , but they ’ll go even faster if you bankrupt them apart first . release pumpkin - smashing into a sport sept activity — you probably wo n’t have to look far to find willing participants .
Pumpkin composting is unproblematic . Just remember to bump off and toss ( or roast ) the seeds first so your gourds do n’t take root in the pile . If you ’d like , save the seed and examine your hand atgrowing your own autumn pumpkin next year . First , rinse the pulp away from the seed and earmark them to dry out . After they are ironical , stash away them in an envelope in a coolheaded , dry post until you ’re ready to set .
5. Play With Your Pumpkins
Even after Halloween ’s over , you cankeep the festivities going firm with fun activitiesusing your remnant pumpkin . examine pumpkin bowling by filling plastic feeding bottle with water and setting them up in a 10 - pin triangle . Take turns rolling your pumpkin bowling ball - style to see who can knock down the most bottles , or calculate for a pumpkin chucking catapult event in your area for a chance to send yours flying through the air .
6. Feed the Wildlife
Your old Halloween pumpkin also makes the perfect collation for local wildlife — which you may have already acknowledge if you have neighborhood squirrels . Once you ’re done displaying your pumpkins , geld them up into fourths and place pieces around your yard . cervid , rabbits , and other fauna will make brusque oeuvre of them .
Do n’t give animals anypainted pumpkins(and skip over them for your pumpkin recipes ) , as the pigment can be toxic if assimilate .
With so many different direction to use leftover pumpkins , it ’s easy to keep your decorations from ending up in the deoxyephedrine . Whether they become pumpkin bread , compost , or bird buffets , chances are your post - time of year pumpkin vine can be put to good use . Of of course , you could alwaysembellish or cut up a foxiness pumpkinand avoid the motion of what to do with remnant pumpkins altogether .
Credit: Matthew Benson
Frequently Asked Questions
Not quite . Yes , pumpkin vine are made of organic material , but landfill are designed to store waste rather than break it down , so there ’s not enough oxygen for the pumpkins to decently break down . Instead , they rot and emit methane ( CH4 ) flatulence . Since the top six pumpkin - bring forth states harvest more than a billion pounds of pumpkin annually(and the majority of those cease up in a landfill ) , that adds up to a caboodle of pumpkin befoulment .
Yes , but you believably should n’t . While technically eatable , the average carve - able jack - o - lantern pumpkin is woody , watery , and stringy in grain — not at all pleasant to consume . Plus , even if decompose has not taken detainment , a carve autumn pumpkin that has been expose outside has likely been visit by worm , slugs , squirrels , and birds and is no longer suitable for consumption .
Scrub the outside of your Cucurbita pepo with a vegetable brush under strong piss to slay any dirt and rubble . murder the base and turn out the pumpkin vine in half or 5 - column inch hacek ( depend on the size ) . Then , use a heavy - duty metal scoopful to remove the guts . Scrape the flesh sporting of any stringy bits with a small paring tongue or vegetable peeler .
Combat wadding landfill by smash pumpkin vine with Illinois Extension . University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign .
Pumpkins : Background & Statistics . U.S. Department of Agriculture .
