During 1999 I had 100 plants of giant pumpkins growing from 300 to 500 pound parents. I chose them mostly for good tasting fruits for cooked pumpkin. For heart reasons, I needed to lose 10% or more of my 200 pounds. I like pumpkin and hoped have some fun and lose some weigh.

The bad news is that squash vine borers killed every plant after some reached 50 pounds. The good news is that I lost the weight and keep it off eating other vegetables during 2000.

My big interest is growing every root crop because some taste very good and they are high in nutrition and important phytochemicals. In Indiana, root crops last 7 to 9 months without canning.

Potato is one of the best because potato is 3.24 times as filling as white bread and 6 times as filling as sweet cakes on a calorie basis (see URL below). Mostly we have little information on using root crops to lose weight because they are so low in calories that Holt was unable to test them by her standard method.

We had the optimum amount of rain during September - November 2003 and I grew several kinds of Chinese and Japanese radishes in the 6 to 10 pound range. Those are not records but the roots were tender, crunchy, sweet and not hollow. I like them shredded with other roots, especially turnips and fruit.

I have some of those seeds for trade. See my trade list.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mendosa reviews Holt's Satiety Index