Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Crouching Tiger, Exploding Watermelons

Exploding watermelons?

Newest Chinese "stealth" weapon?  

Brilliantly ingenious.

Watch out for the seeds whizzing by!!


Fields of watermelon burst in China farm fiasco
By ALEXA OLESEN, Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — Watermelons have been bursting by the score in eastern China after farmers gave them overdoses of growth chemicals during wet weather, creating what state media called fields of "land mines."

About 20 farmers around Danyang city in Jiangsu province were affected, losing up to 115 acres (45 hectares) of melon, China Central Television said in an investigative report.

Prices over the past year prompted many farmers to jump into the watermelon market. All of those with exploding melons apparently were first-time users of the growth accelerator forchlorfenuron, though it has been widely available for some time, CCTV said in the report broadcast Monday night.