VietNamNet Bridge – We paid a visit to the glasshouse of Mr. Le Huu Phan, 50, in Ward 9, Da Lat city, Lam Dong province, when he had just harvested 28 pumpkins weighing from 30 to 50 kilos.

Previously, Phan harvested pumpkins of more than 100 kilos. Phan is not only famous in Da Lat, but also in the country as the first farmer who grew super-big pumpkins.

Coming to Xuan Huong vegetable cooperative, we saw giant pumpkins which we had not seen before in a glasshouse.

Seeing our surprise, Phan explained: "This is the pumpkin variety originated from the U.S. Once I surfed the Internet, I found out that in the U.S. they grow huge pumpkins weighing 200-300 kg. I asked my friends in the U.S. to send to me 100 seeds by air. In 2011, I planted the seeds in 150m2 of land in a greenhouse. I learned from the web how to take care of the seeds. All eight beds of pumpkins sprouted. Each bed was about 20 meters long."

In the first two weeks, the plants developed quickly and crawled along the bed. When the trees blossomed, Phan conducted pollination by hand. In the third month, the trees began yielding fruit. Phan retained the biggest pumpkin to collect seeds.

"This pumpkin variety adapted well to the climate and soil here. After six months, I harvested 11 pumpkins, weighing 30-60 kg each. These were the pumpkins on the creepers so they developed moderately,” Phan said.

When we came, there were 19 giant pumpkins remaining in the glasshouse, weighing from 30kg to over 100kg. Phan said the Dam Sen Park in HCM City just bought eight pumpkins for VND2 million ($100) each. This kind of pumpkin is very sweet and delicious so many restaurants also wanted to buy but Phan did not sell. He wanted to keep the fruits to collect seed.

He said the most important thing is the pollination technique. It is also important to keep pumpkins from being rotten. According to Phan, it is quite complicated to grown this variety of pumpkin.

Phan said if the trees are well cared, the fruit may reach around 200-300 kg in weight.

Dan Tri