I had way too much fun with a sledge hammer!

I think I'll stand on top of the tool shed and let gravity take over from there.

I put two through my electric chipper/shredder yesterday. BAD IDEA!!! Talk about clogging a machine. Bill

A very little bit of time should take care of this problem for you. Let 'em sit on the pile for a week or so, and then turn the pile. They should be nice and squishy by then.

Do you have any large bricks or cement blocks? My garden/compost bin is built up with cinder blocks. I just stood out there and smashed the pumpkins repeatedly against the blocks. Three large pumpkins took about half an hour.... and it's cheaper than therapy! :-)

ReginaCW

AAWWWW BUT THAT'S NO FUN!

You can get violent, but those things turn into mush real quick on their own. Besides, that punkin didn't do nuttin to deserve yer anger !

If you leave them whole the squirrels will give you a show of getting the seeds.
Their tails are sometimes the only thing sticking out of the pumpkin and it's charming! Then they turn into mush quickly as Abbey's Dad says. If you put them where you are planting next season you don't have to move them or anything.
Marianne

A guy on the Vermi forum says he stuffs them with worms and lays them out on his beds. Theyll go away (sometimes there is just the papery husk from squash.)

Mine ( Ive had 8 donated to my front yard!) are already molding. Im probably going to stomp on the smaller 2 and put them in the pile. ive got about 20 more lbs of used grounds to mix in too

I sat each of mine on a stump and loaded up my 50 round banana clip on my sks assualt rifle and got midevil on some pumkin azz. Just kiddin', it would be fun though. I've taken them up target shooting and shot them with a 12 gauge that's fun.

My brother likes to shoot his out of a homemade catapult.

You need a nice big field to do this.

I find the pumpkins break down fairly quickly and I dont smash them at all. However for someone who has anger management issues and needs to vent - Smash away -

you can drive over them with your car.

I found two along side the road on the way home today; already busted up and starting to get mushy on the inside.

A chain saw zips thru them like butter. I usually collect way too many and like to reduce their bulkiness right away.

Whoo Boy those pumpkins sure do the trick..I put the finishing touches on my pile this morning and my pile is already heating up...Its 52 degrees outside but like 70ish in the pile...Hopefully itll get 100+

Just this morning I smashed 2 jack-o-lanterns by throwing on the concrete patio. Broke into pieces and I threw into my bin, then covered with shredded leaves. Now I just have to stop adding to it or it'll never be done by spring. I just let it sit and rot all winter, cold.

An axe. Put them on the chopping block, and voila!!

I use a variation on Gallagher's "Sledge-A-Matic" which is a large metal sledge hammer smashing over a concrete patio. The best part is that the clean up is for a good cause and your children are more than happy to pitch in!!

I collect about 200/day for the 10 days after Hallowe'en. I break them up in a couple minutes with an ax. Also, just take a shovel and whack them with the blade edge. You need some 'leverage' that a knife doesn't give. I mix the pumpkin bits with leaves and it's the very best compost come Spring.

I don't think I have anger issues, but used jack-o-lanterns are the perfect excuse to get out the machete and have some fun.

I put mine in plastic garbage bags and throw them off my second-story deck. The bags keep the cement from smelling like pumpkin for a week. This also works great for rotten watermelons.

If you have anger manegement issues, tie them in a large trashbag and swing tham at the ground repeatedly!

Suddenly, I have the urge to go out and get many pumpkins .....

For those of us in northern climates all it takes is a few hard freezes and they get soft. That is the time to move them whole to the compost and let nature do the rest.

Regina

A guy about 1 mile away from me won this years trebuche pumpkin toss contest at over 1700 ft ( I think was 1702.46 ft to be more exacting)
~~( homemade catapult)

The field where is does this is nice and green with grass. He does does demos every weekend like about mid Sept to mid Oct

someone gave me an idea....why didnt i just chopp the pumpkin moderately and freeze it...then it would thaw mushy..and right into the bin..

In our household we just try to save the pumpkin as much as possible. We make terrific muffins with them. But whatever is leftover, is either chopped up in large chunks and I turn my pile over them completely. Next week I go turn the pile over... and there is little of the pumpkin that can be recognized.

Why not eat the pumpkins? This might sound strange to some of you but pumpkins are food.

i know....my mom makes bomb diggity pumpkin empanada's....however shes been busy and my pumpkins are starting to go south. and if she doesnt clear her schedule there gonna be compost..lol

Oh I'm so glad to find this thread because today my uncle just gave me his fall holiday display!!!

I have many very large pumpkins and a variety of cool gourds plus two huge wonderful bales of hay. I tried cutting up one large pumpkin with a carving knife (did you ever see such a sight in your life) and it was difficult.

But great ideas here. I'm going to leave them outside for a few days and we're supposed to get freeze/sleet/snow on Thursday. Hoping they'll freeze, then thaw and be mushy and I can stomp on them.

The hay bales I'm using around the compost bin as insulation and then they'll cure and be fantastic mulch next spring for my veg. garden.

It was three big carloads of hay and pumpkins. They like to decorate and thought I was a bit nutty I wanted all their stuff when they were done, but they think my composting/organic gardening is "cute." haha.

I'm giving my uncle a big container of that new organic slug killer for Christmas. He uses the poison stuff, but he'll use this to humor me, and I hope he ends up liking it.

He has big groundhog problems and used to poison them, blow them up and all kinds of bad things. Then I got upset (they're very cute) and now he hires a wildlife guy who traps them and takes them to the country for a happier home.
All to keep me from being upset about the dead groundhogs.

He's a good uncle and I have many pumpkins today.

And my pile STINKS. First time ever. It was hot and smelly so I might actually have too MUCH NITROGEN. Wow! All the cat clumps and my own urine may have been too much.

Bush axe.

I really enjoyed reading this thread. I was given about 20 pumpkins and the first 6 my daughter used a hoe on and I buried them in chunks. The others my husband used a hoe on then ran them over with the lawn mower. That was nice because he mowed them with leaves so I just mixed it in the pile and heat heat heat.
This was my first year with the pumpkin thing and man I had fun. But I did try to use a knife on one and FORGET THAT. My advice is use a hoe.

I asked our local bank if we could have some of their holiday display and they allowed us to collect all the displays from four branches. I was excited, but my husband wasn't. It took us three trips with the long trailer and the van to collect it all. Plus four hours with the help of our boys and a friend. I have over 20 bales of straw, more than 80 pumpkins and goards, 20 or so mums and a scarecrow.
My boys have been enjoying using the pumpkins for bb shooting practice and chopping the pumpkins and goards with their machettes. I used the shovel today and it chopped them nicely too.
We have watched the squirrels every morning eating the seeds that have been scattered from the boys chopping methods. Our dog also likes the taste of pumpkin and ate one of the mini pumpkins completely.
Next year I don't think I will be allowed to collect as much(says hubby), but I feel blessed this year with an abundance. :-)

Sagopo, you know I was just thinking the same thing about Gallagher when I smashed two pumpkins in my compost pile.
I put 'em into bags to prevent what he takes pleasure in seeing those watermelons do to the audience. He is a funny man.

I'm glad to see no mention of having to remove the seeds. That is just time wasting. No germination will result.

Ok trust me in if you don't remove the seeds there will be germination. You will be growing pumpkins everywhere. I love pumpkin seeds so I do harvest most of them for me to enjoy and I harvest some to plant for pumpkins next year. One of my dads neighbors gave me a white pumpkin today, I will save the seeds from that to plant. Will compost the rest.
I chop with a quick chop with a sharp shovel. You really don't need to do much to the pumpkin to get it to compost. It will go quickly after being cut.
Sandy

Place on top compost and axe, place on ground beside compost and shovelchop, pick up or pitchfork in, and place on compost and halve with an oyster knife. Or just place on compost and let the microbes work their way up. I picked a gourd up off the compost pile and found worms underneath. Got so many punkins in there you cant see the leaves and grass anymore.

Julianna, sounds like you need more carbon, load in some leaves or maybe even fine wood chips.

Brd.....oh trust me....THERE WONT BE GERMINATION.

Do you honestly think you remove ALL the seeds from such a composting of a pumpkin that one....two...three...
wont hide somewhere and germinate.
Read what others in this thread have said about their composting of pumpkins. No one has tesitfied that they grew pumpkins in their compost pile.

Trust me....the seeds wont germinate.

Whether the seeds will germinate or not depends mostly on how hot the compost gets. I've had pumpkins germinate in compost that didn't get very hot. One year, a plant sprouted in the pile. I transplanted it in the garden and that was the source of our Halloween pumpkins.

I left my pumpkins whole and put them in my compost bin. I'll cover them up with more leaves or other compostables soon but right now they're just sitting there on top of the pile.

I get tons of seedlings every spring but I just turn them into the pile.

ant

Here is a link that might be useful: Compost Bin Picture

It looks the lost nest of the Great Pumpkin!

Claire

Yes indeed. We've grown a pumpkin from a seed that sprouted in the compost pile. The plant sprawled over the pile to the ground and produced one very nice pumpkin.

Seeds sprouting - what's the matter with that? If you don't want it, think of it as greens - green manure - compost or garden fodder.

We always whack our pumpkins with a machete on a stump but y'all have me thinking the axe would be fun, or burying whole in the pile.

Claire that's too funny, lost nest of the Great Pumpkin. LOL! Well I hope Great Pumpkin comes by and lays some more eggs in my yard.

ant