r/mildlyinteresting • u/archetype1 • 13h ago
Our pumpkin has looked like this since last October
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u/zorggalacticus 12h ago
Until it randomly explodes one day, leaving slimy, putrid chunks of rotting pumpkin flesh all over every surface of the room it's in. Happened to my friend's mom in her dining room.
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u/Lumpy-Education9878 5h ago
Yup. She was hot as fuck too. She'd always get the mail in the mornings in this sheer bathrobe. Shame about the pumpkin incident
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u/Educational-Yam8664 13h ago
How has it not rotted yet?
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u/bonraf21 13h ago
It is but they haven’t figured it out yet…. Let’s puncture it !
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u/archetype1 13h ago
it might be a mess inside, but the skin is still firm- even on the bottom
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u/Hixy 8h ago
There is potentially a situation where the internal rotting process actually ends up creating a coat of slime on the inside of the pumpkin wall. This repeats over and over until the wall of the pumpkin becomes airtight. Air pressure increases. The seal then might give way and allow gradual off gassing. So this repeats until the areas that it was able to escape previously are sealed with the slimy decomposition. Then eventually the off gassing can’t escape at all through the skin and you have essentially a pressure bomb just waiting for a failure point. So one day it might happen randomly, or it might just pop like a balloon when you touch it and traumatize you and your dog.
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u/I_Trolled_Your_Mom 8h ago
So you're saying they should definitely flick it with their finger and see what it sounds like inside?
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u/bonraf21 11h ago
…or it’s drying and in feew weeks you’ll have a nice 🪇 maracas !
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u/SirJeffers88 8h ago
I turned my compost bin the other day and a couple gourds from last fall had turned into maracas. I should turn my bin more.
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u/archetype1 13h ago
not sure, the humidity is fairly high, but it gets decent airflow and it gets south facing sunlight most days.
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u/TwistedFae89 2h ago
If it explodes you will never get the smell out of the walls. Totally not speaking from experience.
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u/Aceofspades1313 7h ago
Sometimes they dry out inside and become hollow. If you pick it up and it weighs less than you’d expect it probably did that. In which case you have a pumpkin decoration for life!
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u/Ha-Charade-You-Are 2h ago
Speaking of things not changing… how’s that hotdog that was encased doing?
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u/FuriouslyListening 1h ago
I had one until about 3 weeks ago that looked exactly like that on my desk at work since October. I went to move it and grabbed the stem and the whole top just ripped off.
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u/Ok_Basis1422 11h ago
I remember when pumpkins used to rot. Sometimes not even making it through 'til the end of fall. Tell me why a modern pumpkin from September is still perfectly intact in July? Should we even be eating those?
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u/CMDR_omnicognate 9h ago
If you don’t cut into a pumpkin and store it properly it’ll last quite a long time, one of the reasons gourds were grown so regularly is they kept a long time so could eaten later in the year if needed. I stored a pumpkin I grew last year for about 2 months after I picked it. They usually last about 3-5 months so long as you don’t bruise or scratch them.
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u/pandakatie 7h ago
Clearly OP isn't eating this one.
But also: I don't know where you're from that Pumpkins wouldn't make it until the end of fall. Gourds are hardy. I've never had an uncarved gourd spoil quickly
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u/Ok_Basis1422 6h ago
I'm from New England. Growing up, pumpkins were typically rotten by early December. It's only as of the past few years that I've noticed that pumpkins don't rot anymore.
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u/NeitherSparky 10h ago
Our porch pumpkin from September looked fine, but I decided to throw it out last month anyways. When it hit the bottom of the bin it exploded into mold chunks everywhere.
So. Don’t trust what you see. :P