Great pumpkins come in all sizes

This article originally ran in 2010 when we were in Erie with family and checked out a giant pumpkin weigh off at Port Farms in Waterford. My husband, John, grew his own giant pumpkin that year, from seeds that he had snagged the previous year on the set of a Conan O’Brien show when a monster truck destroyed the No. 1 national giant pumpkin in the studio parking lot. His year of growing a giant pumpkin gave us a window into another world, a very funny one, but one that many folks take seriously. Giant pumpkins are a lot more common these days — you can see this year’s number one Grange Fair award winner in that category at Wasson Farm.

The obesity epidemic is not restricted to people. Has anyone noticed pumpkins lately? They are huge. Check out the front yard of Joanie and Tom Spencer on Route 64 in Walker Township. Though not as big as the gourd they entered in the Pennsylvania Great Pumpkin Growers Association Weigh Off in Altoona on Oct. 2, the Spencer’s 500-pound white pumpkin gets its share of stares.

“I love watching the school buses go by and seeing the faces of the kids,” said Joanie Spencer, who has been growing giant pumpkins for four years. This year her largest pumpkin weighed 806 pounds and was No. 22 in the competition. Tom Spencer’s weighed 668.5 pounds, ranking 30th. Both were smaller than the winner of the 82 entry contest, Gerry Checkon’s 1,381-pound behemoth from Northern Cambria.

Walker Township isn’t the only place where giant pumpkins have been sighted in the county. There was a colony of them in front of Happy Valley Refreshment on Route 322 in Boalsburg last month. Even the Weis Market on South Atherton Street is sporting some jumbo-sized specimens that weigh in at about 35-40 pounds.

Pumpkin, genus Cucurbita, is a tropical annual vine, thought to have originated in the Americas. There are dozens of varieties of these winter squashes, ranging from tiny to enormous, some bred for ornamental purposes and others for eating. Cucurbita maxima are the largest pumpkins, cultivated from Hubbard squash cross-bred with Kabocha since the early 19th century. Atlantic Giant is an American variety that produces the most massive fruit in the world, in the range of 50 to 1,000 pounds. This is not the type of pumpkin that you want for your pie, as this variety tends to have more fibrous and watery flesh. Most of the pumpkins that become pies are grown near Morton, Ill., where Nestle operates a huge pumpkin packing plant that accounts for 90 percent of the canned pumpkin on our grocery shelves.

Interest in raising giant pumpkins is contagious. Once you tune in to the phenomenon, you are hooked. The Great Pumpkin Commonwealth is an organization dedicated to promoting interest in the hobby, which requires commitment. The club is global in scope, with regional associations that sponsor weigh-ins during the harvest season and provide networking support year-round.

Growing a giant pumpkin is no small task. The grower must be committed to the endeavor and vigilant about removing the female flowers that might grow into other pumpkins on the vine and compete for nutrients with the big mahoff. There are proprietary recipes for fertilizer and tricks that the winners use, such as fanning the pumpkin to keep it dry. Many are elevated on palettes as they mature to ease the harvest. You better have a few friends in the heavy equipment business when it comes time to moving your giant pumpkin. Cranes, hoists and tractor trailers all prove useful.

This story was originally published October 27, 2016 at 10:28 PM with the headline "Great pumpkins come in all sizes."