Adventures in culling, don't try this at home!
Saturday I took some measurements in the patch and had some decisions to
make. Four pumpkins remained on my 723 Bobier plant and one of them had to
go. I grew it in a Christmas tree shape with the main vine running west to
east. Two pumpkins were nearly back to back on north side secondaries, one
on a south side secondary and one on the main. The NW pumpkin was growing
at the slowest rate and the NE pumpkin was a 6 lobe that was selfed. The NW
pumpkin had to go. It was 150" OTT and should have weighed less than 100
lbs. I cut it from the vine and lifted it and it felt pretty heavy. I knew
I would be trampling vines, breaking leaves and threatening the integrity of
my spine if I carried it in front of my ample belly so with a mighty heave I
hoisted onto and then over my shoulder where it dropped directly onto the NE
pumpkin. The amazing this about it was all I could do was laugh. No
cursing, no crying, just a weird giddy uncontrollable laughter. Vines were
crushed, leaves were broken, a promising pumpkin was thoroughly riddled with
deep cracks and all I could do was laugh like a loon. Once I settled down I
decided to cut these two into two pieces each and make a few trips carrying
the chunks to the compost pile. No sense in risking my back or any other
pumpkins in this endeavor. They were very solid at this size with no
discernable cavity. I would say they weighed a good deal more than the
charted weight for that size but I didn't get them onto a scale.
I should see some better weight gains on the two remaining fruit I hope.
I will be more careful if
I decide to cull another one of the three remaining on the 871 Richart
plant. I'll chunk it up in the patch and move it in pieces. I hate to do
that where the other pumpkins can witness it, but it's better than smashing
them with their siblings. Long Island iced tea's helped ease the pain when
I got home. I'm sure there's another lesson to be learned here and if
someone figures it out let me know what it is.
Chris Michalec
Covington, WA
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