From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Minnesota([email protected])

I use a piece of polypropylene twine(the orange colored twine). I do my measurments around the pumpkin this way. I put tape around the end I start with(just so I know which end is which), then keep my fingers on the spot(you could mark it with a pen) where the measurement ends up at. I then measure this lenght on a meter stick. Once the measurements get too large, I mark the meter mark on the twine, and then measure on the meter stick starting there. I find the twine to be easy to work with. I tried a measuring tape, but it was clumsy to work with(maybe some measuring tape is better than others). Maybe this will be useful to someone.

7/19/2005 5:22:22 PM

Cologne / Germany

I´m not sure what kind of polypropylene stuff you´re talking about but a usual tape (fibre) is difficult to handle sometimes and might even scratch the pumpkin surface.
I´ve yet to find a good measuring device but maybe wife´s grandma can do some crochet work here...

7/19/2005 7:14:05 PM

Minnesota([email protected])

floh,
It's a non-stretch baling twine. I use it to support tomatoes as well. Any heavy duty string should work. What I like about it is I can get a good tight measurement with it, and being so narrow, it's easy to work with.

7/19/2005 8:01:36 PM

Ohio

I use a soft cloths hanger rope.

7/19/2005 9:33:29 PM

White Bear Lake, Minnesota

I use my wife's fabric sewing tape. You can get one from the fabric store. When the pumpkins out-grow this tape, I have a 100 foot tape on a reel that is made with fabric. It is sort of clumsey to use, so I have used a very light rope to go around the pumpkin and then measured the rope.

P.S. don't tell my wife that I lost her tape last year.

7/20/2005 12:55:34 AM

Owensboro, Ky.

I use the sewing tape also. Hoping to have a 'kin outgrow the tape this year!!!! Peace Wayne

7/20/2005 6:03:19 AM

Billerica,Massachusetts

i use a surveyors tape.
Glenn

7/20/2005 8:05:39 AM

Rexburg, Idaho

This is the tape you should be using. It works great is is soft enough. Long enough for even the biggest pumpkin. There are several places to get them but the is the first link I could find.
http://www.pandpseed.com/cgi-bin/miva?Merchant2/merchant.mv+Screen=PROD&Store_Code=pandpseed&Product_Code=01+TM&Category_Code=supplies

7/20/2005 8:19:18 AM

Cologne / Germany

Brian, do you know the material of the tape? If it´s fibre (what it looks like), I would not suggest to use it.
I guess the ideal stuff is something like a non-stretching cotton wool material that perfectly fits for whatever shape your pumpkin has without sticking or screwing up on the surface.
Since probably no tape manufacturer was ever asked what stuff would be good to measure a giant pumpkin, the best is yet to come... LOL

7/20/2005 10:18:35 AM

Anamosa, IA [email protected]

I found a 24' plastic-coated cloth sewing tape real cheap at WalMart. If I get one that outgrows that tape, you will be sure to hear about it.

7/20/2005 1:33:54 PM

C N Y

HOLY COW!!!!
don't you know that Don Langevin's website,
or annedawn publishing, has measuring tapes
specifically MADE for measuring giant pumpkins?

well, anyway, there must be a link or something to his site on the front page of BP.com, or if not just type-in
annedawn publishing and let the search engine do the rest.

i think they are 16 feet long, have the measurements
(for the weight by the circumference only) right on the tape!
and, you may have to order two of them because there is a ten-dollar minimum for credit card orders as i recall....

but you will NEED a couple of them. once you use it you will never go back to the other weigh you may have been using.

once you get one of these, or you can even do this 'pal2 trick no matter what:
take a piece of very thick electrical wire, INSULATED,
about 8 or 9 inches long. put an end on it such that the
end is VERY rounded-off, just like a tendril on the end of
a pumpkin vine before it has unfurled. curl the heck out of it, so the metal tip of the wire is prevented from touching anything, in other words. then, make the whole thing into a
?
yeah, just like a question mark,
so you can attach one end of it to the measuring tape and the rest of it goes temporarily around the stem of the pumpkin.
now, here's the great part:
attach it to your measuring tape or whatever,
with a rubber band. the tension from the rubber band will keep your measuring tape held against the pumpkin, and you can go all the weigh around the fruit and match the tape up
with its "s-hook" end without the tape or string slipping down on you because it didn't get constant tension on it.

i will hopefully show a pic of this device in my diary
(pumpkinpal2) after a while, but in the meantime, yes, the Don Langevin measuring tape is the BEST weigh to go! eric

7/20/2005 6:50:09 PM

C N Y

man, did i ever hijack!
hey, whatever works for you is fine.
didn't mean to sound so condescending. eric

7/20/2005 6:52:06 PM

Whidbey Island

Duct Tape! Folded lengthwise and marked with indelible ink every 5 inches makes a cheap tape to use. I keep one at each pumpkin. Cost is about 12 cents.

7/21/2005 1:09:54 PM