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Throughout the summer, he works with the plants daily so that
they root well, keep from blowing over and remain disease-free.
Over his nine-year pumpkin growing career, he's found the
best way to grow increasingly larger pumpkins is by working
on the soil quality rather than by feeding the pumpkins milk,
a technique some other growers swear by.
"Really, improving my soil has been the biggest key
to getting bigger pumpkins," he said. "We don't
do milk, we don't inject steroids.... There is really nothing
fancy that we use." He simply adds organic matter such
as alfalfa, manure, straw and leaves to the soil on a regular
basis. "My short-term goal is to beat my personal best,
to beat last year."
Mr. Christensen gets a lot of his information about pumpkin
growing from the giant pumpkin growers' go-to guide, How-to-Grow
World Class Giant Pumpkins, by Don Langevin. This comprehensive
resource details everything from a pumpkin's growing stages
to the latest growing techniques as well as the personal stories
of big-name record holders in the giant-pumpkin-growing world.
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| Dr. Christensen's pumpkin patch. |
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Harvesting a giant pumpkin. |
And what does he do with these giant pumpkins after the growing
season and the state-fair competition are over? He creates
several mammoth jack-o-lanterns and displays them on his front
yard, of course.
Debora
Dekok
Photos by Dr. Brian Christensen
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