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Omaha, NE (N41-15-42 )

I couldn't believe my eyes. Read these instructions at the below link everyone. And for those new growers reading this, NO! DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES DO THIS! It doesn't work and will likely harm your plant!

http://www.stokeseeds.com/isroot/StokesSeeds/webroot/ftp/detail_growing/pumpkin_giant.html

11/23/2005 7:55:01 AM

Western NY

website seems to be down

11/23/2005 8:35:14 AM

[email protected]

Maybe someone already let them know???

The page cannot be displayed
The page you are looking for is currently unavailable. The Web site might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust your browser settings.

11/23/2005 8:35:34 AM

Ohio

Dang! I wanted to read it,lol. What where they saying to do matt?

Brooks

11/23/2005 8:55:02 AM

Omaha, NE (N41-15-42 )

They couldn't have taken their whole site down for that. I will keep checking. I tried to pull it out of my brower cache, but to no avail. It suggested milk and / or beer feeding by cutting a slit in the vine and using a wick.

11/23/2005 9:05:18 AM

Omaha, NE (N41-15-42 )

The site is back up. It says...

MILK FEEDING: Some people feed their "pets" milk or beer. Make a small slit in the main stem close to the top of the pumpkin. Place a wick in the slit and soak the end of the wick in a tin can of milk or beer.

11/23/2005 9:57:59 AM

Netherlands

The idea is not from Stokes. It was already done around 1870 in Cuba, New York. Milk was used by Almanzo Wilder in a pumpkin and it won him first prize at the local fair. Not only was it the biggest, it was also the tastiest.

11/23/2005 10:29:48 AM

Omaha, NE (N41-15-42 )

I have heard that Jill grew her world record with milk.

11/23/2005 11:47:17 AM

Sioux Falls, SD [email protected]

Have any of you tried this?

. . .nah, that just CAN'T work,

doesn't make sense. . . .

11/23/2005 12:29:14 PM

Eastern Pennsylvania

I would have to imagine that the THEORY is the same as applying a foliar spray containing molassas, though in this case the sugar would be lactose. The grower applies pre-manufactured sugars. Does the plant contain an enzyme to break down the lactose bond? Once upon a time I would have been sure of my answer but as for now.. me thinks not.

11/23/2005 1:15:33 PM

Ohio

If you dump Milk inside a pumpkin the milk will spoil,stink and then start to rot,now what woulld you think this would do to the inside of your pumpkin?

11/23/2005 3:19:43 PM

Knopp, Germany

When I was about a month old milk was the best, must have had something to do where I was getting it from, cuz it damn sure ain't no good for AG's.

11/23/2005 3:48:49 PM

Central Oklahoma ( [email protected])

if milk or beer works, I bet Dr.pepper would really do the trick!!!

11/23/2005 5:38:25 PM

Rhode Island

i use to use milk all the time until i got that visit from the little guys in the ufo
after much prodding (LOL) i agreed to their methods, which called for daily injections of a green gooie substance.
the pumpkins did much better without the milk also. LOL
pap

11/23/2005 6:00:18 PM

[email protected]

I can't believe that a so-called credible seed company would prop-agate a myth like this. That is tooooo funny.

11/23/2005 7:49:24 PM

Ankeny, Iowa

I wouldn't think milk would be good for a pumpkin plant. But I can see how the myth arises because the theory may be that the sugar in the form of lactose in the milk may actually be broken down by the pumpkin plant. This is then stored as startch and used as an energy source in the form of Adenine Tri-Phosphate (ATP). Which the plant will then use to "power" it's cells and thus use those cells and energy to undergo photosynthesis. In theory the milk may provide more sugars and more energy for the plant's cell thus producing bigger pumpkins, but I still wouldn't try it on my own pumpkins.

11/23/2005 10:19:58 PM

addison Il

I saw a video by hollands land of giants and there was a cow that got into a patch and destroyed this poor guys pumpkins i guess it was a way for the cow to say milk and cows dont mix and yes when i read little house for the first time i thought milk too would work until luckily i found this great site and the myth was dispelled but then again mabye someone should give the idea to mythbusters lol

11/23/2005 10:20:20 PM

Roanoke Il

I'm not say tell growers to slit the vine and feed there pumpkins milk threw a wick. but a folar feeding of skim milk has it benifits as a fungicide and calcium spray. milk changes the ph on the leaves of the pumpkin preventing powdery mildew. I think when old timers say thay feed there pumpkins milk they may have been right..mark

11/23/2005 11:44:12 PM

Syracuse, NY

THANK YOU MARK.
i was thinking, gee, maybe
there IS a certain type and concentration
of milk in the drench water or the foliar
applications that could be beneficial,
as we HAVE all heard that milk can thwart powdery mildew.
and, BAKING SODA?
if anyone knows the theory, type and concentration on that,
(MILK), that would make for a good read.....eric
by the way, most times when you see that "page cannot be displayed", something in your computer is disagreeing with what you wanna see, like the message says, lol...

11/24/2005 3:09:29 AM

Roanoke Il

I don't think one wants to use 2% or whole milk because of the fat in the milk we all know that fat isn't good for soil. This last season I used 6 cups of dehydrated per 200 gallons of water once a week and never had better looking plants. If one is using it as a fungicide 1-8 or 1-10 ratio 1 part milk to 8 parts water. Type milk as a fungicide in google. lots of interesting reads....mark

11/24/2005 8:11:38 AM

Netherlands

I tried the wick method in 1995. The results were:
1. the milk turned sour and stank
2. the vine didn't suck any milk up
3. the cats came into the garden for the milk
4. bugs got into the hole the wick was supposed to be in

Furthermore, to make impressive increases the pumpkin would need to suck up probably a hundred gallons of the stuff during the space of about two months.

11/24/2005 9:59:07 AM

Montoursville, PA

On the farms the spring house is where milk cans got washed. The wash out went down stream. The watercress was always best close, to the spring house. The trout were always larger in that flow too. The whole aquatics family we kids saw were more plentiful and always willing to be caught as were the trout. The pink pink inner meat was unequaled further downstream. It displayed nicely on the cress. No abrasive soaps or abrasive chemicals were known let alone used at that time.

The headwater was above the barnyard runoff. Make of that what you may but it was an all the time thing if the spring house was on higher ground than the barnyard.

11/24/2005 5:04:29 PM

[email protected]

eric's Powdery Mildew statement is true. Like Baking Soda (Armicarb), whole milk does alter the leaf pH to the extent of preventing Powdery Mildew. I'm not sure of the rate off the top of my head. The nutrient exchange of the calcium to the soil is not worth considering. too little too slow at too great a cost to be worth while.

The lamp wicking trick makes for good children's books but is destructive in practice.

11/24/2005 7:49:53 PM