By: Sydney G.
Halloween has just passed, along with the pumpkin carving season. Although carving a pumpkin can be a fun experience, it’s equally tiring and requires a lot of patience. Thanks to Tony Dighera, an experienced pumpkin farmer, there’s a new way to have a creepy and cool pumpkin for Halloween. Dighera has been working for the last four years to accomplish the grandest pumpkin of all- Pumpkinstein! These pumpkins resemble the character Frankenstein and are grown by using a mold. Dighera was inspired to start this project after seeing square shaped watermelons (which he has successfully recreated at his farm as well) in Japan. To make the pumpkin or watermelon grow in the desired shape, the plant is grown in a special mold. When they are fully grown, Dighera drills off the molds and the pumpkins or watermelons are ready to sell. Currently Pumpkinsteins are being sold for about $100. Late summer/fall of 2014 has been the first successful harvest, although the success rate was only 60%. In upcoming years Dighera hopes to create Pumpkinsteins at a 90% success rate and a sibling to the Pumpkinsteins, white pumpkin grown in the shape of a skeleton face. Maybe next fall a few Pumpkinsteins will be watching over your neighborhood.
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Sources:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/29/us/pumpkinstein-scary-pumpkins/index.html?hpt=us_mid
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