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South Hill, Virginia

When you run into a person who finds out you grow big pumpkins what percentage of them asks you the "milk" question? I would say it's close to 100% with me. What's up with that? Are there really that many people out there feeding their poor plants milk or is just one guy (who happens to know EVERYONE) feeding his plant milk or is it just another urban legend? Some people do more than ask, they will INSIST that this is what I need to do in the future. How do these things get started?

P.S. Did you here about the guy who grew an absolutely huge pumpkin by starting the seed in a human cadaver and feeding it nothing but pigs blood and goat cheese?

10/8/2001 9:14:32 PM

Herndon, VA

I could buy the cadaver & pigs blood, but not he goat cheese since it is made from milk & we all know about milk & pumpkins..LOL!!

It is interesting how all these people INSIST that milk is the way to go, yet NONE of these people have grown giant pumpkins. The version I heard was to cut a leaf off & let the leaf stem soak in it.

Now I just take the easy way out, "...Yep, that's the secret. Plenty of milk, but it has to be Vitamin D, thats the KEY...." By the way, did you notice the free chocolate milk at the Virginia Fair was right next to the Giant Pumpkin exhibit? Hmmmm... --Bruiser

10/8/2001 9:30:27 PM

Connecticut, USA

Or how about this question: "Were you a big Charlie Brown fan when you were a kid?"

Like that's relevent. Besides, everyone knows that it was Linus that was into the Great Pumpkin. Geesh!

10/8/2001 9:48:42 PM

CT

It is true..
I played Linus in "Your a Good Man Charlie Brown"in high school.

I am 100% serious..but it is funny.

10/8/2001 10:52:18 PM

Farmington, Utah

Had a lady ask how much milk i injected. I responded none, but I told her my wife got mad at me because she sent me to town to sell our cow and I came with a hand full of worthless seeds.

10/9/2001 12:02:21 AM

santa barbara, Ca.

I had a giant pumpkin stolen, a few years back. Charles Schultz heard about it and sent me an autographed trading card of Linus in the pumpkin patch awaiting the arrival of the Great Pumpkin. I also get the milk questions, and the Charlie Brown too. I give away "magic" seeds and have never gotten a cow in return. The most frequently asked question, however, has to be, "is it real? "

10/9/2001 1:12:18 AM

Ga.

My schwans dealer that delievers says he used to grow pumpkins with milk..says to make a slit into the main vine and use a wick to soak it up..He swears by it....

10/9/2001 6:35:56 AM

Western Pa.

In addition to the constant repitition of the "milk" and "is it real" questions, I would like to add a few. Who's heard these?

How many years did it take to grow that?

You must have used steroids!

That would make a LOT of pies!

How do you get them that big?

What do you do with them?

How do you get them on the truck?

Come on spectators, come up with a few new ones,PLEEEEAASE!

p.s. I think the milk question should be banned from this site!
kilr

10/9/2001 10:23:56 AM

South Hill, Virginia

kilr,

I think I heard the pie comment almost as many times as the milk comment. Another popular one was "What do feed that thing...Miracle Gro?". What makes the milk comment interesting to me is that the story is almost always told the same way and never by someone who actually did it. They always "know" someone or "heard" about someone who did it and they almost always use the word "wick" or refer to part of the plant being stuck down in a bottle or container of milk. Sometimes its sour milk, sometimes its buttermilk, sometimes its sour buttermilk....

10/9/2001 11:22:43 AM

Ga.

svrichb,,watch it,,hehe,,you must be speaking of me,,lol,,you just named everything I said,,lol,,,never tried myself,,kinda hestiant to try the milk thing with powerdy mildew too,,,I am guilty of saying I got a 200 lb'er,,wonder how mny pies it would make,,but I never said it in here,,but I do wonder seriously how many pies if it were edible...

10/9/2001 11:59:53 AM

canal winchester ohio

Kilr,
I've heard the steriod comment so much I'm tired of it. I'm a ex- bodybuilder & everytime someone seen one of my pumpkins they would all say the same thing. " you shooting that thing with what you take"
Now 2 things (1) we all know that you don't shoot up a pumpkin.
(2) I competed drug free my whole life
so you can see this statement always made me double mad. ......Paul

10/9/2001 12:15:37 PM

canal winchester ohio

And by the way my comments back to them can't be printed on this site.Paul

10/9/2001 12:16:59 PM

South Hill, Virginia

Jeff,

I didn't mean to direct that at you. When you pointed out what someone told you it reminded me of how it was worded to me several times. Unlike the milk question I guess the pie question could be considered legitimate. While its possible to eat an AG I have heard from people in the know on this site that it may not be a good idea to eat your pumpkin (or seeds) if you used pesticides/insecticides/etc. that were not specifically approved for pumpkins. Tell you what, grow one organically next year and then start making pies....that way you let us know what to tell all the people who ask:)

10/9/2001 12:20:22 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

I think some people just think these pumpkins are flukes that happen in our gardens. Little do they know we work year around, and study genetics to make them this big. I get a lot of "Miracle Grow" questions. The big question is how do you get them in your truck. I think it would be funny to have like a "Subaru Brat" and plop an AG in the back.

10/9/2001 12:29:34 PM

Pulaski Tn [email protected]

the worst one i've had is: where did you BUY those big pumpkins....like i couldn't grow them myself...

10/9/2001 12:46:39 PM

Chester Co., PA

The first thing ever person that sees one of my pumpkins asks is, 'what do you do with it'. The point of this hobby is totally beyond their comprehension. The only sane people in the world are at bigpumpkins.com, it can't be the other way around.

On the milk thing, tell them we give the milk back to the cow and feed the pumpkin what comes out the other end !

10/9/2001 1:01:45 PM

Lake Stevens, WA, USA

At halloween we always have some at our door way, and the number one question we get asked is: "Is that real?", followed by "where did you buy it?".

And this is the reaction I get will smaller AG's (200 lb range).

David

10/9/2001 1:03:51 PM

nashville,tennessee,us

When I was a child I read a book (think one of the Laura Ingles Wilder books) that included a milk fed pumpkin, I think this is where all this might have started.

10/9/2001 1:18:46 PM

Herndon, VA

"Is it real?" and "Where did you buy" were my top two last year on Halloween. However I won't easily forget the day I plopped my little 186# pumpkin on the front step. When a dozen kids got off the school bus later that afternoon I heard one of them SCREAMING, "Look at that BIG F****** PUMPKIN!!" over & over. LOL! It was at that point I was hooked growing AG's.

10/9/2001 1:20:01 PM

western Kentucky

i would have to say my most common response, to saying "i grow giant pumpkins" would have to be.

"Are you CRAZY"
or "Exactly how crazy are you"

justin

10/9/2001 1:40:17 PM

western Kentucky

We don't get the milk question much in my part of kentucky, everyone one is farmers and knows the real secret is in the s--t

10/9/2001 1:41:56 PM

South Western Pa

Here's a quote from an Email I got taday,

"What are you fertilizing the pumpkins with, plutonium chloride?"

10/9/2001 3:03:07 PM

Connecticut, USA

That's my new answer. Depleted Uranium!

10/9/2001 4:46:33 PM

Pulaski Tn [email protected]

my pumpkins like BEER and lots of it!!!!!

10/9/2001 4:59:13 PM

santa barbara, Ca.

I guess many of us hear the famous line "Oh my god it`s huge!" Any one have a good comeback for that one? Maybe "so is the pumpkin" I haven`t been slapped yet. So I hope it is ok to mention it here.

oh yeah I also get " do you roll it to keep it round?

This is fun keep the good comments coming, especially new questions that are aske. I have a 2nd grade class coming to mvisit my pumpkin friday. I will post the best questions the kids ask. if they are good .

10/10/2001 12:21:07 AM

Deer Park WA

Hope they wern't talking about your head!

10/10/2001 1:38:28 AM

Pulaski Tn [email protected]

or your stomach...

10/10/2001 9:07:15 AM

Tipp City, Ohio

As far as history goes on the milk feeding. I believe there is a Laura Ingalls Wilder(Little House on the Prarie) book about her husband, when he was a boy, that mentions using milk with pumpkins. Tom

10/10/2001 10:13:02 AM

Pulaski Tn [email protected]

bantam, that sounds almost like what onlyme wrote a few posts before..

10/10/2001 1:23:07 PM

Charlotte, North Carolina

Has anyone ever read "Squashed" by Joan Bauer? It is about a girl named Ellie Morgan trying to grow a giant pumpkin and what happens until the weigh-off. In the book she encounters pumpkin theives, her arch enemy pumpkin grower named Cyril Pool, and more. It's a good book! You have to read it!

10/10/2001 4:33:36 PM