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Ontario, Canada.

Pumpkin growing can be hazardous! I've got three fingers with band aids on them from all the pinching I do. They are hard to clean and nearly raw from the daily chores. I did have a back issues when after a whole day of rototilling I could hardly move the next day. Thankfully that only lasted enough time for sore arms I got moving the compost piles. Now it is the early morning wake ups for pollination's that have me so tired I need an afternoon nap. Health concerns in the patch are something we never really discuss a lot here at BP.

Russ

7/2/2008 6:20:07 AM

Pocatello ([email protected])

That's why you need an off season training regimen. Workout all winter, to give you the energy to do this all summer. lol

7/2/2008 11:06:24 AM

Simi valley, ca

Hey Russ do not forget to get the sand in place (SOON!) for under the pumpkins, You will need aprox 700 lbs for each one !!!

7/2/2008 11:16:02 AM

Boise City, Oklahoma, USA

Russ,

Neosporin and sports/flexible fabric bandages help. So does bandaging before you go out EVERY time, starting at the start of the season. As soon as you get off the patch clean and rebandage.

Go to using a 'surgical implement' to assist with the pinching. I go to our thrift store and pick up very nice used paring knives for 10-25c each, and use those for trimming ANYTHING on the plants. I get enough I can use a fresh one per plant, and clean/sterilize them after. And have a few extra for the 'ohgods' I find after I think I'm done.

I regularly have to take antihistamines as I am slightly allergic to the vines and leaves, they make me itch on arms and legs if it's not cool enough to allow me to cover up. (at 95-105F and sun blazing, you're wishing you had no neighbors so you didn't have to be garbed to go sweat off the pounds in the patch!)

The scale of patching is what makes it so bad. I *pay* someone else to till for me, then I don't have to keep and maintain the equipment and I'm not sore and beat up for a week afterwards. WELL worth the $ at times to pay some younger dude to come sweat the hard stuff for you. Or having the guy with the backhoe come in and dig or stir for you...

Just trying to work smarter as I have to admit compression stockings are horrid to wear when playing in mud and weeds up to your heinie, getting hornets up your shorts, and all that FUN stuff...

Oh and I won't even start about the precautions and equipment to mix and spray SVBdeathCocktail ...

Deb (since when did they make the date on pennies so tiny and blurry?) aka OkieGal

7/2/2008 11:48:02 AM

Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Don't need all that fancy stuff Russ, just some good old Molson Canadian.

7/2/2008 12:07:43 PM

Westford, MA

How do you apply the Molson???
On the plant part to be pinched?
Directly to the Fingers??
Or do you have to filter it prior to application??

Does it work on PM???
Sorry about all the questions.
Only my 2nd year and the site search turned up nothing.
klancy

7/2/2008 2:52:01 PM

Ontario, Canada.

Klancy, Applying Molson Canadian is a very tricky process in deed. That is a terrific question. Cold is the most important and critical factor whenever you apply any Molson product. Only those well schooled in brown bottle induction should ever attempt to use this brew. Mine works best at 40*F or lower and it always works for me. I usually wait until noon before applying, although I don't know why? I think it was a rule my Father always lived by.

7/2/2008 3:08:31 PM

Westford, MA

I like your dad's rule.
So after noon huh??
Heat of the day won't hurt the plants???
What's the application rate I wouldn't want to over do it?
Would a LITE applicaion work??(Watching my girlish figure)
Can I prune or walk the planks after application??

With a few days off for the holiday I think I'll give it a try.
Boy you can learn a lot on this site.
Happy US Independence Day Everyone!!
thanks russ
kevin

7/2/2008 3:24:23 PM

Boise City, Oklahoma, USA

I used to live next to the border... so I'm familiar with this particular product.

You can do as early as 9 am as long as the outdoor temp is over 85F already and the sun is peeled boiling bright. It's going to come out your pores fast enough to be relatively safe as long as you're outside encouraging the filtration through the pores. Before noon it's considered lowclass to have more than about three or four even if you're tossing bales.

Lite isn't worth scarfing, trust me. Just go pull some more weeds. If you have the pore and other filtration process working adequately, one or two and you should still be able to walk a plank or pull a weed. Leave the higher math and rocket science stuff (like picking up sharp objects to prune) until after you have finished filtering and your body's done the post work necessary.

More than about a twelve pack between sunup and sundown is excessive unless you're 6'10", 425# of muscle, and been outside working (weeding and sweating or more strenuous) and day's temp exceeded 105!

Happy Fourth, everyone
(enjoying the silence from drought disaster declaration and red flag burnban and county AND city banned fireworks)
Deb

7/2/2008 4:05:37 PM

Long Island,New York

C'mon Russ....you know what the answer is....at least a big part of the answer.(I can say that cause I qualify too). The other answer is a blonde manicurist and a bobcat 830.

7/2/2008 5:30:50 PM

Ontario, Canada.

Walking the plank is usually done only when you over apply Molsons. In fact some people over apply it regularly. I have been lucky though my applications rarely use more than a few bottles. My filtration process is pretty pore these days as a few goes along way now-a-days.

At one time I used it on my lawn as foliar fert about 10 years ago, until I came across molasses.

7/2/2008 7:28:14 PM

Windsor, Ontario, Canada

If you are fishing, the noon rule does not apply either.

7/2/2008 7:40:28 PM

[email protected]

The Noon Rule is a must, But remember it's always noon somewhere

7/2/2008 7:46:11 PM

Joliet, IL

besides the back..besides the fingers...besides the wrists and elbows...comes the mosquito bites. i find the early morning staking of vines and late night spraying the most hazardous of them all...big ass welts on my temples, my neck, my legs, and ankle bites to the max. the mosquitos are terrible here and i should wear repellant..but i don't. "you got to suffer if you want to sing the blues"..david brombek

7/2/2008 10:31:04 PM

Minnesota([email protected])

Mosquitoes are lousy here this year. Now the horseflies are picking up as well.
One summer I was working in the garden, and a horsefly was pestering me. I heard a buzz go by my head....it was a dragon fly that flew by and caught that horsefly, landed on a nearby post, and had a snack. I think horseflies might be my favorite insects.

7/2/2008 10:48:36 PM

Minnesota([email protected])

Oops....I mean "I think DRAGONFLIES might be my favorite insects" LOL.

7/2/2008 10:50:08 PM

Ontario, Canada.

A recent study found the average Canadian walks about 900 miles a year.

Another study found Canadians drink, on average, 22 gallons of beer a year.

That means, on average, Canadians get about 41 miles to the gallon.

7/2/2008 10:53:25 PM