From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Westmoreland, KS

I was looking through Ron's diary and I'm not seeing any raised walking boards in your patch. How do you prune old leaves and pull weeds late in the season?

5/22/2017 4:46:20 PM

Ontario

Helicopter

5/22/2017 9:09:41 PM

west central IN/East central IL

Drone

5/22/2017 9:35:31 PM

Torrance, Ca.

lol guys,,,,,,,,,,,, they use a small crane and straps. Pap or Ron hook themselves with a body sling and grab weeds from above.
Pretty simple actually.

5/22/2017 9:40:43 PM

Westmoreland, KS

lol I want to see a picture of pap strapped to a helicopter!

5/22/2017 11:20:44 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

Jake, & So. Cal., & Orv, you just blew Pap's chances of winning the Mystery Grower contest!!! LOL Peace, Wayne I would have included Mega, but ain't no drone big enough!!!

5/23/2017 12:18:31 AM

Bavaria, Eurafrasia

'm not a friend of Wallaces and their practices, but I use croggs in snowshoes.

5/23/2017 5:53:19 AM

JACKSON, WISCONSIN. ; )

Come on we all know Ron uses a hover board

5/23/2017 9:35:21 AM

Mn

Jake - I apologize for everyone's ridiculous response to your question. The real way that Ron and Pap trim leaves and pull weeds late in the season is by training Spider Monkeys to walk under the canopy and take care of weeding. The monkeys are light weight and don't compact the soil. Pap feeds them little treats for every ice cream bucket full of weeds they bring back to him. Plus the added fertilizer from their bathroom breaks is an additional bonus. I am not sure where they get their monkeys but i heard they use up to 2 monkeys per plant at peak grow time.

5/23/2017 9:45:39 AM

Torrance, Ca.

lol

5/23/2017 10:06:35 AM

Upa Creek, MO

Exactly Qtip, can't get real responses on here anymore. But they use Lemurs not Spider Monkeys. For years now Pap has been travelling to the remote island of Madagascar working with locals in a selective breeding program to breed for lightweight and extremely long arms. The Wallace lemurs are also known to be aggressive to outsiders. Word up in Rhode Island is Pap has twin, 1 pound lemurs with 12 foot arms working the patch this year.

5/23/2017 10:10:45 AM

Westmoreland, KS

Q Tip thank you for your kind and very thorough response. I have 2 plants so I have ordered 4 spider monkeys from Amazon Prime. Unfortunately I received an email from Amazon stating that the South American Spider Monkeys are on back order. I'm assuming Ron was giving talks at local clubs on the use of Spider Monkey's so it seems like most Giant Pumpkin growers got their orders in early! Crap :(

5/23/2017 10:14:48 AM

Mn

You were right Smallmouth, it's most definitely Lemurs.
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=273496

5/23/2017 10:37:15 AM

Upa Creek, MO

lol

5/23/2017 10:46:49 AM

Massachusetts

My spider monkey sits right on the walking boards. Nice monkey. Now if I stop all the orange peels in the greenhouse.
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=273497

5/23/2017 11:27:56 AM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

I heard they use Weeder Geese, which fly south after pumpkin season and come back in the spring.

5/23/2017 12:59:24 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=12&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi027HIv4bUAhVo8IMKHTYnBxQQFghZMAs&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mcmurrayhatchery.com%2Fweeder_geese.html&usg=AFQjCNGEceWyICVr7vp7YTfVpr34AcCBig&sig2=BLH3Y2VhYnlFbnS5bHwJSw

5/23/2017 1:00:03 PM

Westmoreland, KS

Okay weeder geese are just freaking cool this is the first time that I've heard of these!

5/23/2017 1:27:52 PM

Hamilton - New Zealand

Love these responses, I think the Lemurs are the way to go with their little fingers, they can work fast and efficiently. We tried using Kiwis here, but they were too hard to train.

5/23/2017 3:35:27 PM

Topsfield, MA

Drone

5/23/2017 5:20:09 PM

Mission Viejo, CA

I think I will get one of those trunk monkeys to guard my patch. Maybe I could train it to pull weeds, bury vines and spray foliar applications. THAT would be cool.

Don't tell Chris Dunn though. I want him to be surprised when he visits the patch next.

5/23/2017 6:04:15 PM

I heard monks that can levitate were spotted in the area.

5/23/2017 7:59:57 PM

50 Acres

Di vine intervention. (<:

5/23/2017 8:44:31 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

This has become a very interesting thread!!! Can't wait till Ron & Pap respond! So much better than the off-topic chat line thing!!! Never knew how much creative genius was here on bp.com!!! Peace, Wayne LOL on the floor!!!

5/24/2017 12:22:32 AM

Central Illinois

H-2A Temporary Agricultural Workers

The H-2A program allows U.S. employers or U.S. agents who meet specific regulatory requirements to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary agricultural jobs. A U.S. employer,a U.S. agent as described in the regulations,or an association of U.S. agricultural producers named as a joint employer must file Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker, on a prospective worker’s behalf.

5/24/2017 9:53:04 AM

Westford, MA

All WRONG.

They Don't allow weeds!!

5/24/2017 10:04:11 AM

Coventry RI USA

I have not been on line in a few weeks missed this one.. I did have a good LOL at the responses. Yes we use boards everywhere and apply roundup under plants for weeding.

5/24/2017 7:08:27 PM

Upa Creek, MO

See, me and Qtip were right... boards!

5/24/2017 9:17:24 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

Ron, might be a stupid question...but how do you spray roundup under the plants w/out harming the plants? Peace, Wayne

5/25/2017 12:43:28 AM

Owensboro, Ky.

& Smallmouth (Lemur) Luke, you crack me up!!! Peace, Wayne

5/25/2017 12:45:12 AM

Central Illinois

Roundup doesn't harm stems and vines but I still try to prevent spraying them, you do not want a fine spray that can drift with the wind instead use low pressure so you're getting it to dribble or "rain" out of the wand.Weeds do not have to be completely covered to die

5/25/2017 7:56:06 AM

Westmoreland, KS

Yep smallmouth and qtip nailed it right on the head!

5/25/2017 8:20:09 AM

Westford, MA

I've attach a funnel to the tip of the sprayer, to contain the spray. Seems to work.

5/25/2017 2:03:22 PM

Rhode Island

i used to crawl between the vine rows and pull all weeds by hand. my big fat ass caused more problems then the weeds ever could. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

ron kicked me out and started (GENTLY AND WITH PRECISION AIM) SNAKED around on his belly with a small spray bottle filled with (ROUND UP)

PS---PLEASE DO THIS ON A CALM WINDLESS DAY-GET NONE ON THE LEAVES.

PAP

5/26/2017 6:55:27 AM