Milk Fed Pumpkin

[Deborah]

Does anyone remember Laura Ingalls Wilder writing about a milk fed pumpkin? I wonder if it's true-that a split vine stuck in milk produces a huge pumpkin?

[greentiger87]

Agricultural myth. You can use milk as a very expensive nitrogen fertilizer if you wanted though, if you dilute it a lot.

[PaulF]

I think the giant pumpkin growers use milk or cream to rub on the exterior of the pumpkins to keep them soft so there is no splitting of the skin. Is that true?

[Lorri D]

I always heard to water them with milk to make them sweet. And, I always thought it was a myth. But, I have been reading about the micorobes in the soil and mycorhizal fungi that help plants grow. I read of people who "fertilize" with molasses and sugar water to "feed" the good microbs. Maybe that is the theory behind the milk, it has lots of sugar in it.

[Barbee]

No milk used here except by the grower to drink
I use a lot of things on my giant pumpkins but milk is not one of them.

[Deborah]

Thanks for all the replies. I thought it sounded a bit weird.

[c4ck4]

I know you can't believe everything you hear online, but I've found a couple of people that say it can be done if you follow the procedure just right. I can't claim to have tried this, but their claim was success. Personally I like to try things for myself before declaring a myth.

"Yes but it's a little more complicated than just feeding the pumpkin plant milk What you need to do is have a healthy pumpkin vine and trim away everything except for one fruit and the vine it's attached to. Let the pumpkin recover for a few days. The take a glass jar with a lid and some cotton candle wicking. Punch a hole in the lid and pull some of the wick through the top of the jar. In the jar mix up some powdered milk at half strength. Fill the jar, screw the lid on. Now the tricky part. Make a slice in the pumpkin vine right where it comes out of the ground. Make the slice about an inch long and about 2/3 the way through the stem. Take the end of the wick in the jar and carefully put it in the slice you made in the stem. Be careful not to pull apart or damage the stem. After you have the wick inside the stem tape the opening in the stalk closed. Then tip the jar upside down and let the milk solution run into the stem. Keep watering the plant as usual and never let the milk run dry. Your pumpkin will grow 3 or 4 times the normal size. It will be lighter in color than a pumpkin grown the regular way."

"I first got interested in this idea when I was pretty young and was reading the 'Little House' books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The actual event I got stuck on was in 'Farmer Boy', where Almanzo grows a milk-fed pumpkin for the county fair and wins first prize. It took me ten years to figure out how it was done, even with my Dad and Grandpa's help.
The idea is to directly, continuously feed a pumpkin vine which makes the pumpkin double, even quadruple the normal size for the variety. My biggest was a 60 pound pumpkin from a variety that was supposed to make 10 lb. fruit! It also shows the kids a bit of science, since osmosis is the method.
You start off with a normal, healthy pumpkin vine, that is mature enough to have one fruit forming. Prune the growing tips to make the plant focus its energy into the one fruit. Let it recover from your pruning for a couple of days.
You will need a small, sharp knife, cotton (unwaxed) candle wicking, or some other natural fiber cording that is soft. A mason jar with a small hole punched in the top. And some kind of wound dressing: pine gum and duct tape are my favourite, but commercial wax pruning paste and a strip of cotton, old panty hose, etc. will do fine.
In the mason jar, we usually make up skim milk powder for the feed, but half-strength organic fertilizer works, even compost tea or a blend of all three have worked for us. The mason jar must never be allowed to go empty, and the wick must always stay wet with the feed.
Select a point on the pumpkin vine right where the stem comes out of the ground. Next best location is right before the fruit.
Put the wicking into the jar and pull out a bit once it is wet, through the whole in the lid.
Carefully slice a diagonal cut 1/3 the way through the vine stem. It is better to make a too shallow of a cut than too deep: cut the vine all the way through, and you'll have to wait until the vine puts out another pumpkin!
Wheedle the end of the cord into the slice so that the exposed plant tissue is in contact with the wet cord. Don't spread the slice open - that will crush the stem cells.
Once the cord it tucked in, close the wound with dressing of your choice- mine is pine tree gum and duct tape, but sealing wax and a clean band aid were once my tools.
A successful graft has the plant tissue closing the wound with the wicking still inside.
My kids slice open drinking straws and wrap around the cord to reduce evaporation, and the two older kids have the responsibility of keeping the jar filled. Shading the jar also reduces evaporation.
Continue to treat the pumpkin as you usually do for water and pest defence. Milk-fed pumpkins grow much bigger, of course, but also tend to have a lighter colour in the rind and in the flesh.
I haven't done a milk-fed pumpkin for two years myself; we moved, then I broke my heel last year. I am commited to doing it again this year, and will take photos of the technique. Right now, the vines are too young to attempt it (zone 5 Central Ontario) Besides, I was careless this spring and didn't label all my seed starts, so I'll have to wait until fruit sets. I have no idea what a milk-fed watermelon would do!"

sources:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...3145513AAelSYR
http://forums.organicgardening.com/e...1/m/3391086501

[greentiger87]

Huh. You can actually feed a plant sucrose or glucose through an I.V., though it requires some kind of constant pressure to force the sugar solution into the plant. I've always wondered why this wasn't a viable way of growing really expensive fruits.. I guess no fruit is expensive enough.

[Deborah]

Yes, it was the book "Farmer Boy" by Laura Ingalls Wilder where I first read of milk fed pumpkins.
In recent years it has been proved that the books were mostly fiction loosely based on fact. Interesting though that a milk fed pumpkin is possible.

[Worth1]

I have been to her home in Missouri.

Worth

[Deborah]

Neat ! I used to correspond with the curator who has since passed away.
I lost interest once I learned that the books were highly fictionalized and mostly ghost written by Rose Wilder Lane.

[Barbee]

Giant pumpkin growers do not feed milk to their pumpkins. That is a myth. It is the most frequently asked question in growing giant pumpkins and the answer is always the same. No. It is illegal to inject anything into the pumpkin.

We fine tune our soil down to the last micro nutrient and we use fertigation and foliar means to apply ferts. We use enormous amounts of water and we bury each node on the plant to encourage more root growth. We are faithful with our disease and bug prevention programs and we baby our plants all season long.

Most giant pumpkin growers use anywhere from 500-1000+ sq ft per plant with only one pumpkin grown on each plant. We swap and trade seeds with other growers and pumpkin clubs have auctions to raise money for their payouts. It is the toughest thing I have ever tried to grow and I'm totally addicted to it.

[Tormato]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I have been to her home in Missouri.

Worth

Is that why you have LIW monogrammed towels?

[tlintx]

Originally Posted by Barbee

Most giant pumpkin growers use anywhere from 500-1000+ sq ft per plant with only one pumpkin grown on each plant. We swap and trade seeds with other growers and pumpkin clubs have auctions to raise money for their payouts. It is the toughest thing I have ever tried to grow and I'm totally addicted to it.

My MIL wants to grow a giant pumpkin. She's not interested in competition, or bragging rights, she just really, really wants to grow a larger than usual pumpkin so she can take pictures of her grandbaby with it. I think her idea of giant is a lot smaller than yours. Can any of these techniques be adapted to produce, say, a really large standard Halloween pumpkin? If so, which would you recommend for a home grower?

I was going to sow some behind the garage in my compost pile to make a "pumpkin patch" for Halloween, but those are just regular old pumpkin seeds.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Tormato

Is that why you have LIW monogrammed towels?

I hardly even have matching towels.

I'm a drinking glass colector.
Not from places or products just glass sets.

I need some nice goblets next.

The trip to her place was when I was in the 2nd grade.
We rode a train there.
I got a little porcelain bulldog in the gift shop.

Worth