Pruning and lifting

I'm growing giant pumpkins this year purely for fun. Last year I had one come up from my compost pile, it topped about 165 pounds so I saved the seeds and tried something bigger scale.

I have a 25 by 75 foot patch with 28 plants and a 25 by 25 foot patch with 7 plants, I know it's too many but this is for fun and you don't want to know about my Connecticut field patch as it's a nightmare through and through :) So far I have 15 giants in my largest patch and 4 in the smaller, I may have more that is hidden by the leaves and vines, case in point: yesterday I discovered a 98 pound specimen with a 77 inch circumference but it is extremely flat. Now none of my giants are over 100 pounds but I thought I should prune things out a bit after finding the last giant. Can I still prune, or is it too late?

I'm not doing this for competition this year, I'll carve them and make pie's, two things I love to do every year but can I prune them still?

Also what can one do about lifting them?

I lifted the giant last by throwing out my back getting it up on a low wagon <grin>, but I would like to do something different this year. Is it safe to place them on pallets or is it better to use a tarp?

Thanks in advance for any input.

Peter Kaulback

--
I haven't failed, I've found 10,000 ways that don't work.

Thomas Edison (1847-1931)

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