From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Northern California

Our local 4-H club has a new youth project. The Giant Pumpkins group now has 16 kids and they are really excited. Does anyone have any good ideas for experiments? We have planted our seeds for this year, and will be meeting monthly through July.

Thanks for your input.

4/1/2003 12:25:02 AM

Walton N.y.

are you awarding prizes for the largest and maybe the prettiest or ugliest or even most unusual shaped but for you to do much in the way of experiments it'll be difficult not all the growers will have simular soil even weather conditions can change over the span of a few miles but on the indivdual basis maybe they could see the difference between organic ferts and pest control vs: chemical products

4/1/2003 9:45:56 AM

Usa

You could also give prices for the most clever carved after your weigh offs. That would give them time to think of ideas to create and carve. No kits allowed.
You could see what would happen if someone culled pumpkins and grew one or two on each plant or if someone left all pumpkins.
Or they could control pollination or open pollinatation.

4/1/2003 11:24:36 AM

Mineral Virginia

I don't know if your schedule allows it, but my daughter took great interest in preparing the flowers for hand pollination. Banding the males and females the afternoon before, opening them the next morning to see just how much pollen the bees where stealing, etc. I did a photo piece on it that you can view here: http://www.lsitek.com/pumpkins Other points would be plant maintenance, pulling dead leaves, inspecting for diseases and parasites, the list goes on.

4/1/2003 1:04:44 PM

Northern California

Wow! Three good responses. Thanks. We are studying the Giant Pumpkin books, with the next meeting scheduled in three weeks. We should have good plants going by then, and I will keep you informed. The young people involved with this have been told to come to BigPumpkins.com for answers to questions, and I am as excited as they are for this venture. Thanks for the responses.

4/1/2003 11:46:47 PM

Sloughhouse, CA

Don't forget that the CA State Fair in Aug. has a Giant Pumpkin contest. They have a classroom/school group and youth entries-
4-H, FFA and adult entries. It is also publicity foor the Elk Grove Contest in Oct.

4/3/2003 2:43:41 AM

Montoursville, PA

While shade tents may be mundane to adults the building of a shade devise could be a big deal for kids. There is a long time during growing that kids changing interests need to be rekindled. Photography and booklet diarys would perhaps enhance the creative urges. How about a mid season picnic softball game. The ball should be orange of course. What should the desert be? :)

4/3/2003 8:35:53 AM

Usa

That is a good idea for the 4 H club to have a get together to make pumpkin tents. Each could come up with their own idea on how to build them. Take a vote on which one to build and then everyone could help build one for each 4H'er.

4/3/2003 2:49:49 PM

Sloughhouse, CA

Since Drip Works is in your area maybe they could help with setting up a watering system, drip vs. soaker hoses and misiting systems.

4/4/2003 3:28:33 AM