The Pumpkin Placement Mistake That Is Damaging Your Porch
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You've done everything you could think of to keep your pumpkins from rotting on the porch (and leaving behind that unsightly pumpkin "accident"). You started with firm pumpkins. You kept your hands off of them. You've even stashed them under the porch to keep them away from the sun and rain. But still they rot and subsequently attract bugs — and not the sweet ladybug kind. If that has been your experience, maybe it's time to take your fall pumpkins off the ground and give them a taller place to sit for the holidays. Among the more obvious pumpkin seats are straw bales — a cute and traditional option – plant stands, leftover wood pallets, or even an old rickety chair.
If you've ever hollowed out a pumpkin, you'll know they contain plenty of juicy flesh. This moisture seeps out over time, whether the pumpkin has been carved or not. When pumpkins are stored on a wooden or concrete surface with no drainage — like porch steps — this moisture cannot escape, creating the ideal environment for mold and mildew to thrive. Under these circumstances, you can expect your pumpkin to rot quickly.
It's not uncommon to see fall displays that feature pumpkins sitting on a straw bale on someone's front porch, because both gourds and straw are harvested at the same time of year. Granted, there's a cuteness factor that these traditional fall arrangements bring to your front porch display. However, on a practical note, the act of putting the pumpkins on top of a fully dried-out straw bale means the moisture from the pumpkins won't get trapped beneath it. As a result, no mold or mildew has a chance to develop under the pumpkins' underbellies.
Use a plant stand to display pumpkins for better air flow
One of the reasons green thumbs love plant stands, like Amaoot Store's Five-Pack Metal Plant Stand Kit, is that they feature slat-bottom designs that promote air flow and breathability. Aside from making the plant arrangement more beautiful, such an item puts the kibosh on the conditions that allow pest infestations and fungus, mold, and mildew to proliferate in and under plants. It stands to reason, then, that such items will also provide similar benefits to your fall pumpkin display.
Multi-tiered stands (or a cluster of stands of varying heights) make for a more interesting visual display, too. That's likely one of the reasons why you like putting pumpkins on the steps. The contrasting heights and the differently textured (and sometimes, decorated) pumpkins are more fun to look at. Plant stands with different tiers replicate this look without forcing you to store your soon-to-be-withering pumpkins on the front steps.
You can also MacGyver items like an old chair, an unused footstool, and even a repurposed cinder block to achieve the same end. If the chair and the stool are missing the seat portion of their construction, even better, as airflow under the pumpkins won't be restricted. If you're afraid of the pumpkins falling through the broken chair or footstool, place branches or narrow strips of wood in a criss-cross fashion across the broken spots in the furniture. This mimics the open design of the plant stands and comes with a lot more character to boot. And cinder blocks by design usually feature two holes. Just stash a pumpkin on top of each of the openings and call it good.
Use leftover wood pallets to make a pumpkin display stand
The United States produces an incredible 500 million wood pallets each year. No wonder you can find them in abundance on sites like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. (Incidentally, those online marketplaces are also where you'll find a good supply of hay bales, too, though that's not the only place you'll find them.) Combining pumpkins and wood pallets is already a thing. Just go to a pumpkin patch, and you're bound to see a bunch of pumpkins sitting on top of discarded wood pallets. Because they're so easy to find locally and often won't cost anything, other than the price of pick-up, you should consider reusing old wooden pallets to create a display riser for your pumpkins at home, too. Like the plant stands, the construction of the pallets boasts a design that encourages airflow under the pumpkins and thus, helps to prevent premature rot.
The simplest of these risers features a single pallet onto which you'll hoist your pumpkins. If you go with this design, you should pick pumpkins of different sizes and place the tallest ones in the back of the arrangement. This gives all of your Jack-o-lanterns a way to peek out at passersby on the sidewalk. If you're feeling more creative, cut apart one of the pallets and then stack the smaller pallet pieces on top of a fully intact pallet. Upcycled wooden fruit crates would work in place of the cut-apart pallet. Regardless of the design you go with, you're still preventing the dreaded pumpkin stain and making a fall display that's more pleasing to the eye in the process.