Milk Fed Pumpkin

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

The "Death" of "Non"

Sad news for milk-fed pumpkin fans: last week, when we went to measure, we discovered that "Non" had rolled off the cardboard box it was propped on to keep it from getting moldy on the bottom, and, smashed by its own (as yet unmeasured) weight, developed a very nasty area of white mold and slime on its underside. Needless to say, "Non" is not growing anymore, and we have one less jack-o-lantern for Halloween.

But that's okay, because we really only need two. And the experiment seems to have found its natural end: the growth of "A" and "L" has also leveled off, as a quick look at the charts reveals:






Given that by far "Non" had the fastest rate of growth up until its untimely demise, I think we can say pretty conclusively that milk-feeding (sugar-water feeding, for you sticklers) a pumpkin through a slit in the vine doesn't help, and might even hurt. In fact, we saw no evidence that any of the liquid in the containers made its way out of the containers and into the pumpkin--even the "real" candlewicks stayed bone dry, and the containers are as full as they ever were.

My theory? Almanzo had a very happy cat that year, who found a nice bowl of milk out at the pumpkin patch every morning.

So far, "A" and "L" remain undamaged, and have even begun to turn orange. No pictures yet, for the usual reason (yes, we'll be getting a digital camera soon!!).

At some point in November, I hope to be posting photos of pie...

(Scroll down through the earlier posts to see pictures of the pumpkins at earlier stages of the experiment).

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