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Giant pumpkins go coast to coast
"My seed didn't germinate," says Don Young, a pumpkin grower from Iowa, to Ron Wallace, a grower from Rhode Island. "You need to send me another one, quick, or I'll miss the pollination date!" "I can do you one better," said Wallace. "I'll mail you a plant!" That conversation in early May was the unlikely beginning for a pumpkin that has won more money and gained greater notoriety than either grower could have imagined. Giant pumpkin growers are more collaborative than competitive but the desire to balloon these orbs to unheard of weights is truly a passion with an increasing number of hobbyists. It is also a fascination for the public that is entertained and inspired by the size that steadily climbs each year. The media attention pumpkin growers are receiving this year is the greatest ever. This month, the largest pumpkin ever grown (1,725 pounds) was featured on NBC's Today Show; and Young's fourth largest (1,658) will be the victim of Conan O'Brien on NBC's Tonight Show on Friday, October 30. As proper and polite as the morning hosts have been, it is assured that O' Brien and his crew will be equally incorrect with Young and his giant gourd. Still, it seems to be worth it, as the pumpkin has been his ticket for three trips to the West Coast in October. Growing giant pumpkins is coordinated by the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth (GPC), the governing body of the sport. The GPC mission cultivates the hobby of growing giant pumpkins by establishing standards and regulations that ensure quality of fruit, fairness of competition, recognition of achievement, fellowship and education for all participating growers, and weigh-off sites. Growers of giant pumpkins are no different than farmers or gardeners who like to push the envelope on yield or size of fruit. In 2007, and again this year, a world record was set and the trend is sloped steeply upward. Growers use science, genetics and meticulous cultural practices to push the pumpkins to weights that were unheard of just a few years ago. Growers have spread as fast as the vines. The GPC weigh-offs take place in 60 locations across the country today; and some offer large prize purses to the winner. Although most growers do it for the fun and satisfaction, bragging rights and prize money are motivating factors. This year's new world record, at 1,725 pounds, was grown by Christy Harp from Massillon, Ohio. Harp is young and a newcomer to the elite group of growers but she is welcomed at the GPC. Her pumpkin was from a 1,385 pound pumpkin and was self-pollinated. It measured 434 inches. Don Young's quarter-acre garden spot is in a residential area of Des Moines, Iowa. It has so much organic matter incorporated into the already rich soil that it takes on the shape of a shallow dome. Composted manure, by the ton, is the first step in producing outlandishly large pumpkins. He and wife, Julie, spread and incorporate two dump truck loads of composted horse manure each fall. Young grew three pumpkins this year. The effort and miles he drove to achieve fame and fortune could be called extreme. His first pumpkin was weighed in at a GPC event in Anamosa, Iowa on October 4th and was the largest, at 1,622 pounds (420 inches). He won $2,500 and a lot of praise from his friends. With two left in the patch that were still growing, he decided to haul them to California for weigh off's on the following weekend. As the first freeze approached, Young cut the vines away and put one giant pumpkin in his pickup and one on a trailer. He headed out with limited money available for the trip. He slept in the truck on the salt flats in Utah and drove into Morgan Hill, California on the second day. The pumpkin he put forth at the Usegi Farms contest weighed 1,333 pounds and finished third, winning him $1,000. "It was a real strategy game as the growers from Washington and Oregon sized up my pumpkins and put in their biggest to try to win the prize of $5.00 per pound, "said a smiling Don Young. That positioning made the weigh-in at the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival on Columbus Day even more exciting and important. Half Moon Bay is the premiere GPC event in the country because the community just south of San Francisco has a large number of pumpkin farms selling small pumpkins, food and recreation to city dwellers who come out for the Columbus Day celebration. It also has the largest purse for the giant pumpkin contest, at $6.00 per pound, thanks to Safeway Stores. Young knew there would be large pumpkins that were grown specifically for this event but he'd already stripped the northern competitors of their biggest on Saturday. When the weigh-in came down to the last four pumpkins, it looked close, with all the four having different shapes but measuring about the same size. Young's pumpkin beat the others by almost 200 pounds as it set a new Half Moon Bay record at 1,658 pounds. He received a check for $9,948.00 and an invitation to fly back, with his wife, the following weekend for the parade and two nights lodging in the Ritz Carlton Hotel. Growing Season Using the full growing season is critical. Young's germination method includes filing down the edges of the seeds and soaking them in warm water before planting in small pots. Emergence takes about five days and two cotyledons are followed by a single true leaf. At this time, the plant needs to go into the garden and will usually grow in the opposite direction of the first leaf. There is an explosion of vines in the months before the first female flower emerges. Growers cover the vines with soil, causing them to root down while keeping insects away, and add water with just the right amount of soluble fertilizer. The flower is often cross-pollinated with another plant growing nearby to combine the best characteristics of size, survivability and color. Pumpkin genetics are closely watched by the serious hobbyists. The seeds are labeled with the name of the grower, weight and year. The seeds from this year's pumpkin that won Half Moon Bay will be: Young-1658-2009. Its parentage is documented and whether it is self-pollinated or crossed. The goal is to incorporate traits that have the greatest chance of producing a giant that makes it to a weigh-off intact. Young's dilemma was that his desired female cross (1385 Jutras x 1207 Young) grown by Wallace from Rhode Island had failed to germinate. The eastern half of this transcontinental odyssey emerged as he received a small pumpkin plant wedged into two beer cups and taped closed. "He didn't even send it overnight. It arrived Priority Mail four days later!" Julie Young opened the package and called Don. He was sure the plant was dead but they set it out immediately and began watering it. "The sun came out a few hours later and the new leaf began to perk up and I knew it was going to grow," he stated, beaming. How They Do It Part of the science of pumpkin growing is enriching the soil enough to support a plant that is 40 feet in diameter with a single fruit that can increase its weight by more than 50 pounds each day. Young and other growers utilize soil testing to measure the organic matter plus the levels of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and trace elements. Young has levels of P and K that spike almost off the A and L Labs soil test. He puts nitrogen in the water as he irrigates the plant all during the season. His most effective technique is to extract nutrients from worm castings by agitating in rain water and then sprinkling under the leaves with "warm worm tea" that makes the nitrogen highly available to the roots. A systemic insecticide is used and Young is sold on using Neptune's Harvest organic fish fertilizer and seaweed. He also uses Merit insecticide and a commercially available mycorrhizal inoculant to establish fungal colonies in the roots to add efficiency to nutrient and water absorption. During the season, tissue samples are analyzed to keep the nutrient level high enough to spur rapid and uniform growth. "We don't use milk. That story comes from a Laura Ingalls Wilder book and we hear it all the time," he says. New Ideas for Cross-Pollination The challenge of cross breeding pumpkin plants may be overcome by a labor intensive process that is going on this winter. Young and another grower were encouraged to remove a cutting from each of their vines and grow them over the winter in a greenhouse in Michigan. To do so, the growers laid down a three foot strip of rain gutter and allowed the pumpkin vine to grow down its length. Soil was used to cover the base of the vine and rooting was established so that the vine could be cut loose from the mother plant. In the next six months, these clones will be allowed to grow and maintain themselves before being returned to a garden next spring when, it is hoped, they both flower at the same time and a cross can be made. Young does not expect that pumpkin to reach a large size but the seed will contain desirable genetics and may produce a world record the following year. The final act for Don Young's pumpkin growing this year will be taking his wife and teen age daughter with him to Los Angeles and appearing on the Tonight Show on October 30. "I just want to get the seeds out of the 1,658 and then Conan and his crew can do anything to it they want!"
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