March 2019 - 44

FARM MARKET & AGRITOURISM
BRINGING A
MONSTER
TO MARKET
Atlantic giant pumpkins
can pull in foot traffic
Prized seeds are removed from a giant pumpkin at the New York Botanical Garden event in
October 2018. Photo: Gary Grande
By Stephen Kloosterman
Associate Editor
Rearing Atlantic giant pumpkins is an
outsize challenge, but growers with ready
land, equipment and green thumbs are
better equipped than most, say enthusiasts.
And they do carry some weight as a
display item. What says, " farm market "
better than a big pumpkin?
Gary Grande is the president of The
Great Pumpkin Commonwealth, an
international group for folks who, for
fun, regularly grow pumpkins in excess
of 800 pounds. The hobbyists come from
a variety of walks of life. Grande, an IT
professional from Colorado, said it's
generally thought to be an unprofitable
proposition in and of itself (he knows
only one person who grows a number of
them for sale) but the giants are generally
thought to be a draw for foot traffic, and
are sometimes sought by bars, casinos or
public fall festivals for harvest displays or
other promotions - such as contests to
guess the pumpkin's weight.
Which, in the case of last year's
champion, a pumpkin pictured above, is
2,075 pounds.
Grande said that growers gunning for
a champion cucurbit use quite a variety
of tricks, but the first consideration is
space. A single pumpkin - the grower
will pinch off and prune all but one of
the fruit from the vine - will need about
500-1,000 square feet (Mikkal G. Hodge,
president of the Indiana Pumpkin Growers
Association, said that of course, a grower
can grow 20 perfectly good jack-o-lanterns
O
on the same 1,000 square feet).
Genetics also is a consideration.
" You have to have a good seed pedigree, "
Grande said. Big pumpkin growers typically
harvest and save seeds from champion-level
pumpkins. Sometimes they are auctioned
off by grower associations to help cover
association expenses and prize funds, but
the growers themselves also exchange seeds
personally. " These seeds are sought after, "
he said.
Hodge said that Atlantic Giant
Pumpkin seed is available through
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March 2019

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