With less than two weeks to go before Halloween, you might already have a carved Jack-o-Lantern on your front porch. But once you cut into a gourd, you have violated its natural defense against the bacteria, insects, and mold that cause rot. Time is not a friend to carved fruit; just ask your neighborhood fruit fly. Still, fruit flies are the least of your problems, since no one is going to eat a jack-o-lantern anyway. Except maybe deer or squirrels or raccoons or terrapins, depending on your location.
It's mold spores and bacteria that cause a pumpkin to go from a glowing menace to a wrinkled grump. And there are ways to fight against them. Top of the list is to not carve a pumpkin at all. Just paint your design on them, and illuminate them from the front. Barring that, you'll need to follow some tips from Matt Kasson, Associate Professor of Mycology and Plant Pathology at West Virginia University. If anyone knows about moldy Jack-o-lanterns, it's him. -via Atlas Obscura
(Image credit: Matt Kasson, CC BY-SA)
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