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Indiana

http://www.vegiforms.com/default.asp?Mode=home

we need these in ag size

12/2/2004 3:38:18 PM

Garden

I wa planning to try a just a square wooden box next year. I imagine thats how the Japanese get those stackable watermelons.

12/2/2004 4:03:34 PM

ENGLAND

Maybe, Just Maybe, if one of the Vegiforms were put on a very young AG then removed when mould was full and the fruit allowed to grow to it's full potential some of the features would remain. Worth a try i guess.

12/2/2004 4:46:44 PM

Wichita, KS

Pumpkin Mike, I wonder if it would work to put a Spherical mold on a young AG to encourage roundness? Then take it off once it filled the mold, like you suggest.

12/2/2004 4:59:00 PM

Wichita, KS

How about this? take an old basketball, cut a hole in it big enough for a blossom and set it over a pumpkin you plan to cull. score the sides of the basketball with a razor so it will break off easily enough. after about 10-15 days, it should break the "mold" and be very round. That might encourage it to be rounder than it would otherwise. Worth a try?

12/2/2004 5:02:25 PM

[email protected]

I haven't checked the link yet, but Pepo pumkins are routinely molded into faces & such. This sounds like fun to me. But AG's grow too large for molding to be manageable I should think.

12/2/2004 7:04:27 PM

Halifax, Nova Scotia

There's a whole bunch of Aeronautical Engineers considering this same question, pondering the possibility of a canoe shaped pumpkin. How could I lose the Pumpkin Regatta in a canoe?

12/2/2004 7:42:50 PM

Follansbee, Wv

A while back, I read a post in a thread about pumpkins growing to what ever shape they were allowed. This explained why many large pumpkins would sometimes grow through the slat openings on a pallet. (That is the posts explanation not mine) That got me to thinking about building a wooden frame, and building a semi-sunken earthen mold inside the frame. Inside the mold would be a sheet of heavy plastic, with drainage holes, then a layer of styrofoam packing peanuts, then another layer of plastic (with drainage holes). Using the earthen mold and packing peanuts, the mold could be expanded to suit the growing pumpkin. I was going to try it to see if it worked before I posted about it, to avoid embarrassing myself, but since the subject has been breached, I'll open myself to redicule now. :)

12/3/2004 9:30:19 AM

Oz

My neighbor worked in florida where they experimented with
square tomatoes for better shipping.
They didnt sell.

12/3/2004 10:17:20 AM

[email protected]

Pepo's or field pumpkins seem to be the best candiates in theory to me. Their skins & shell seem more durable.

For AG's I think that deep orange fruit (801, 810, etc genetics) would be the least desirable candidates. They don't seem to fair as well in poor air-circulation conditions & seem to bruise easier.

Rather maybe an 898 Knauss-like genetic would be a better candidate for molding. Something brawnier & more durable I guess.

Either way, burying a fruit in a soil mold might prove to be too dank & humid. I'm sure that combatting fruit rots would be more challenging regardless of the method used to mold a fruit.

Maybe fans would help.

12/3/2004 10:18:19 AM

Garden

Digging under the fruit is something I did this year. I was trying to avoid that flat bottom. Scooped out a bowl shape in the soil maybe a week after pollination, and although I didnt make the "bowl" large enough, the fruit did take the more round shape, before spilling over the edges.

12/3/2004 12:49:41 PM

Garden

Oh, and I didnt have to elevate the stem/vine nearly as high as I did on the other fruit. Only had to cut 3 tap roots.

12/3/2004 12:51:51 PM

Western NY

We saw this effect at Cooperstown this year. There was one in the 4-600 pound range (sorry, i can't remember which one it was) that appeared to have the most unusual dill ring i had ever seen. turns out, when the fruit was the shape of a baseball or so, there was a string over the fruit that eventually pressed into it. the string was removed, but the damage had been done, and it continued to grow as if it was avoiding that string. at least that's the story as i remember it. i'll have to see if i can dig up a pic somewhere. i may try to experiment with square ones next year. i don't think it will be too hard, if all you have to do is make it conform early, then remove the mold.

12/3/2004 1:00:03 PM

Oz

alantic giant bonzi(bondage)! lolololo

12/4/2004 2:00:04 AM