LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Pumpkins: Giant Pumpkins
built 236 days ago
Pumpkins can range in size from less than one pound to more than 1,000 pounds. Miniature-sized pumpkins weigh less than one pound and typically are used for decorative purposes. Pie pumpkins range in many sizes. The 5- to 10-pound pie pumpkin varieties are most often grown. Pumpkins in the 10- to 25-pound range are primarily used for jack-o-lanterns and can ... be used for processing. Pumpkins above 25 pounds are called giant.
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[T]here's one big catch: Pumpkins rot. One pumpkin carver, noting that a spoiled pumpkin smelled "like a rotting beaver on the highway," has developed his own embalming process made of antibacterial soap, bleach and Tilex bathroom cleaner. "Most people have no idea what goes into carving a giant pumpkin," he said.
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Can a person grow giant pumpkins just anywhere? Students can examine this list of the top 1000 giant pumpkins grown in North America over the last several years. Which states or Canadian provinces are on the list? If states are not on the list, does this indicate that giant pumpkins cannot be grown there? Is it possible that Southern states are not represented because no one has tried growing giant pumpkins in the South? What growing conditions do giant pumpkins need that may not be present in different parts of the country?
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The Wall Street Journal reports that cross-breeding and better growing techniques have created a new variety of "monster pumpkins." They're called Atlantic Giants and are rapidly approaching a ton in weight. This year, the plumpest winner of the backyard pumpkin growing contests came in at 1,689 pounds.
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The largest pumpkins are Cucurbita maxima. They were culminated from the hubbard squash genotype, crossed with kabocha-pumpkin types by enthusiast farmers through intermittent effort since the early 1800s. As such germplasm is commercially provocative, a U.S. legal right was granted for the rounder phenotypes, levying them as constituting a variety, with the appellation "Atlantic Giant." Processually this phenotype graduated back into the public domain, except now it had the name Atlantic Giant on its record (see USDA PVP # 8500204).
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Great pumpkins get bigger every year partly because pumpkin enthusiasts constantly devise improved ways of providing the pumpkin plant with perfect growing conditions. But the pumpkins are ... giants due to selective breeding. Science students can explore the concepts behind improving seed lines in the Logal Middle School Science Gateways activities, Principles of Heredity and What is a Trait?
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Giant Pumpkins