The Orange Pages
Fall/ Winter 2012
Words from the Prez
In retrospect, 2012 was quite a year for the MAGPG.
We initiated the “Howard Dill Club” diary pages on
bigpumpkins.com, and the MAGPG seed of the year,
the 811 Gerhardt, produced two Howard Dill awards its
first year out. Several members including Paul and
Cheryl Fulk, Jerry Leonard, Andy Box and others had
breakthrough years. But growers on the east coast
know that 2012 was not without its ups and downs.
Many of us felt as if we were standing on top of the
world one week, only to come tumbling down the next.
In order to learn from each other and keep up with the
pulse of the season, several of the Pennsylvania
growers kept in touch via group emails. I thought the
following excerpts from our discussions demonstrated
the good and the bad quite well, and I hope you enjoy
reading it…
4-18-12 Jim Gerhardt: Seems
like everyone is full steam ahead
already this year. I’m just tilling
my cover crop in today. Am I
behind this year? Where are you
at?
4-18-12 Kevin Snyder: I'm
slightly ahead of normal, but I
think you're right many, if not
most, other growers got a very
early start this year. I'm just
starting to germinate seeds
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today. I should have started
some earlier.
6-6-12 Kevin Snyder: Not bad
so far. The cool down this week
has slowed the pumpkins down,
I'm getting about half the growth
this week, with the nights down in
the 40's, that I was getting last
week. I should end up with some
late June and early July
pollinations. There have been
numerous storms up here the
last two weeks that have put
down hail, micro bursts and even
a couple small tornados, I've been
lucky enough to avoid all that.
6-6-12 Alex McCracken:
Somehow I had some aphids
already on the 1080 Hunt and
1142 Van Kooten (almost
definitely from the greenhouse at
work where I started my seeds)
but they have been taken care of.
Most of my plants were 5 to 7 feet
long on Sunday when I last
checked, definitely ahead of
where I normally am right now.
With all the rain, and heat moving
in this weekend, I might start
pollinating around the solstice.
6-8-12 John Rauch: All of the
primary plants looked great at that
point so all of the secondary
plants were cut with the exception
of the 1507 Justras. The large
leaves on most of the plants do
look a little rough from the strong
storms we had, but overall very
healthy and extremely fast
growing vines. I did observe more
cucumber beetles than I would
have liked to see.
7-12-12 Jim Gerhardt: I can tell
already that this is going to be a
spectacular pumpkin. It’s
definitely going to be orange and
has a great smooth shape. Going
to be longer than the 811 was.
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7-12-12 Kevin Snyder: There
have been a ton of growers in PA
with yellow plants this year,
myself included, can they all be
coincidence?
7-16-12 John Rauch: Again a
mystery as to why the perfectly
positioned pumpkin does not
grow. I believe due to the
pollination and heat??
8-6-12 Tim Rosa: Not that
anyone is going to be too
disappointed, but if you can send
out an e-mail to our members and
let them know that the patch tour
will be limited to Alex’s and your
patch, I would appreciated it. I
currently have two pumpkins that
are in the 300-350 range and they
aren’t doing any better than 10
pounds per day. To be honest,
there really isn’t anything to see in
my patch. Let’s focus on the
heavy hitters.
8-10-12 Jim Gerhardt: Man if this
sudden dose of rain splits my
pumpkins the night before the
patch tour I am going to be very
upset. Getting real nervous.
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8-23-12 Alex McCracken: the
one that I thought was going to be
my biggest could end up being my
smallest when it's all said and
done.
9-4-12 John Rauch: I was away
for a few days on a mini vacation,
so this was the first time I was
checking on it in three days. It
took my breath away when I saw
that the bottom of the pumpkin
was wrinkled and beginning to
soften. I never saw this one
coming…
9-20-12 Alex McCracken: As I
was removing the blanket and
checking all around the base of it,
something didn't look right at the
blossom end. It was a darker
color than it should have been, so
I pushed on it a bit and my finger
went right through it. Looks like
there will be no pumpkin for me at
Doylestown.
9-28-12 Paul Fulk: All loaded for Allentown. [with pic below attached]
Jim Gerhardt
President, MAGPG
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2012 Roba Farms Weighoff Recap
Roba Family Farms held their 2nd annual giant pumpkin
weigh-off on Saturday, September 15th on their beautiful
farm in Dalton, PA. It definitely felt like early fall in the
Poconos as there was a chill in the air and changing skies
most of the day. Roba's has a wide variety of animal
attractions, pumpkin cannons, a corn maze, campfire sites
and a lot more to keep you busy while waiting for the big
competition. Last year's winner and MAGPG member John
Rauch was not in attendance, assuring that there would be
no repeat winner this year. A lot of fine growers showed up
though, and it was great to see all the familiar faces from
last year as well as some new ones.
When the weighing finally commenced, several impressive
non-AG specimens hit the scales first. Tim Bailey weighed in
a 150.5 pound watermelon and Alan Nesbitt wowed the
audience with a 155 pound field pumpkin, falling just 7
pounds short of the world record at the time. The tape
measure was stretched out for Tim Bailey's 101 inch long
gourd, another winner in the minor categories taken home
by New York State growers.
The Pennsylvania growers started to show their stuff when
the AGs and giant squash began to hit the scales. Andy Box
took the top giant green squash honors with a 910.5
pounder, beating Jim Gerhardt only because of the density
of his fruit (their OTTs were exactly equal). This hobby of
ours is one of the rare instances when it pays to be dense.
In the giant pumpkin category, PA growers outnumbered
New Yorkers in the top 10 by a 6 to 4 margin, and there
were 5 fewer 4-digit fruit at Roba's than in 2011. Several
large pumpkins went over 10% light, opening the door for
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MAGPG members Andy Box and Alex McCracken to take 4th
and 7th places respectively with 9% and 10% heavy fruit.
Another club member, Jerry Leonard, took 5th with a 1,149
pounder while Kathy and Gary Adams took 2nd and 3rd with
their pair of fruit over 1,200 pounds. The eventual winner
was Quinn Werner with a 1,245.5 pounder, a decidedly
average fruit by his size standards but good enough on this
day to take home a $2,000 check and the first place plaque.
If you are within a several hour drive of this relatively early
weigh-off, you should consider making the trip next year.
It's a relaxing place to kick off the fall season with a bunch
of fun growers excercising their senses of humor, happy to
have made it to the finish line once again."
Alex McCracken
MAGPG
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Odds and Ends
2012
Doylestown
Howard Dill
Winner
611 Miller
(811 Gerhardt x Self)
Leadership
Team
President-Jim Gerhardt
VP-Alex McCracken
Treasurer-Tim Rosa
Presidential
Advisor-Kevin
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Snyder
Seed of the year
for 2013 is the
1524 Fulk
(included in each
of the first 50
member seed
packs! We will
award $250.00 to
the grower of the
heaviest officially
weighed pumpkin
from this seed.
Renew your
membership
today, still only
$15.00 per year!
2012 Seed
of the year
winner: Jim
Gerhardt
with a
827.5 lb
Howard Dill
winner
grown from
the 811
Gerhardt
Have something
for the
newsletter? Let
us know and we
will make sure it
makes it in !the
next issue!
2012 Monster Pumpkin Madness!!
The highlight to the end of the MAGPG season is our weigh-off held at The
Market in Doylestown PA. Pumpkin grower or not, you have to come out an
experience this event. Bring the family!! There is more than enough to do here to
keep young and old entertained all day. If you are lucky enough to have a
pumpkin to enter, even better!
Of course, the highlight to the day is the pumpkin weigh-off. This year we
celebrated our 3rd year at The Market. It was a good turnout considering the
tough growing conditions in the Northeast. We had a nice range of large
pumpkins and a great line-up of orange pumpkins. In fact, there was a three way
tie for the Howard Dill Award!! But Shane Miller’s beautiful 611.5 pulled in the top
honors and a great prize of $500.00!!
There was plenty of excitement throughout the day. First and foremost, our top
contender, Kevin Snyder, was finally knocked off his thrown by an amazing
pumpkin grown by Paul and Cheryl Fulk. Kevin had won the event the past two
years running but Kevin’s 1,155.5 lb. pumpkin was no competition for Paul and
Cheryl’s 1,524 lb. pumpkin. The 1,524 Fulk was the 40th largest pumpkin grown
in the world in 2012. In fact, Paul and Cheryl had another Giant (not weighed at
Monster Pumpkin Madness, DANG!) that topped the scales at 1,643 lbs. and was
the 21st largest pumpkin grown in the world in 2012. Well done to both Paul and
Cheryl on their accomplishment. And if I am not mistaken, these two pumpkins
were the first pumpkins that Paul and Cheryl ever weighed in competition. Very
impressive!!
Paul and Cheryl’s 1524 at Doylestown
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All in all, it was another great weigh-off. The weather made for a great fall day
and you can never go wrong with seeing old friends and making new friends as
well during this event. And of course seeing the anticipation on the faces of the
growers as their pumpkin is being weighed is priceless.
Even as I write this, I can’t believe that the 2012 growing season is over. Can’t
wait until 2013!! Just about 145 days away!!
Wishing everyone a happy and healthy Holiday Season and a very prosperous
and successful New Year!
Tim Rosa
MAGPG
How to build a Tripod
If you’re still loading your pumpkins with sheer manpower chances
are you’ll need to figure out a better method as your growing skills
progress. The following tutorial explains how to construct a tripod
for lifting your massive pumpkins safely. The thought of it can be
intimidating however after just a few applications you will be right
at home with the process. Allow yourself plenty of lead time for
the first lift of the year and of course for the first time you build and
attempt to load a pumpkin using this method. You never know
when a piece of equipment needs to be replaced or adjustments
made. If you only have a few hours after work the last thing you
want is a major issue the day before the weighoff. After your first
lift of the season you will probably be ready to rock and roll for
the rest of your weighoff season. We can load a pumpkin safely
using the following instructions in as little as 20 minutes, but we
never assume everything will go as planned especially on the first
lift of the year.
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In order to lift a pumpkin with a tripod you will need three 16 foot 4x4 treated
beams and a lifting ring or strap lifter in addition to the items shown here.
From left to right, a 2-ton chain hoist (we endorse Ross). At least 8 feet of
heavy chain, a small sledge or hammer, a clevis pin, a piece of 15/16” all
thread steel, and a few pieces of rebar (if you are working alone).
When you get ready to build your tripod, lay out the 4x4s in a Y formation as
you see here. In this shot there is a pumpkin, and this is also the way you will
start out the assembly process once the tripod is already built and you are
preparing for a lift. Imagine a pumpkin in the center of the Y as shown, and
estimate how much room you will need to back your truck up in between the
two beams.
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After you have assembled your Y formation, one by one overlap the side
beams over the center beam. In this pic, my timbers have already been cut
however the red area represents how the original beam would look. Just
overlap them and draw a line at the intersect where you will cut the board –
repeat this process for both side beams. Cut the red chunk off. We cut the
beams with a chainsaw- there is no need to have everything exactly perfect.
After cutting, the edges are placed flush with the center beam.
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Now that your beams are cut, you want to drill a hole thru the 4x4s so that
you can slide the all-thread steel rod thru them. Once again, you don’t need
to be exactly perfect just get it close. Make sure to use a 1 inch drill bit or
larger since your steel rod is 15/16” thick.
Position your 4x4s back into the Y formation with both side beams bordering
the drilled but uncut center beam. Run the 15/16” all-thread thru the beams
using the sledge if needed. Now you are ready to raise the tripod for the first
time.
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Grab the all-thread by each side and lift off the ground as high as you can by
hand. Once you get it about 5 feet high the legs will usually bite into the
ground and you can let go leaving the tripod in this position. In this pic the
tripod is raised more than 5 feet. A step ladder comes in handy.
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If working alone or just for added safety you can pound some rebar against
the side beams so that they don’t slip. I have never lifted a pumpkin all by
myself but I am quite confident that I could in this manner if I had to.
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Wrap the heavy chain around the steel. Avoid wrapping it too tight as it will
restrict your ability to raise the tripod to its ideal height once you start moving
it. The clevis pin is placed at the bottom of the chain, which we allow to hang
down about 18 inches.
The chain hoist is affixed to the clevis pin.
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Raise the tripod by walking the center beam up towards the pumpkin. The
more vertical you get the beams, the stronger your structure will be. Affix your
lifting ring to the chain hoist and lift away. Back the truck up and set down on
a pallet in the bed of the truck.
We are always here to help- if you need any questions answered email us at
[email protected] and we’ll take care of you. Good luck!
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This issue’s featured club growers are Paul and Cheryl Fulk, who smashed
into the pumpkin world with 1500 and 1600+ pound pumpkins at their first
official weighoffs!
1. How many years have you been growing giant pumpkins, and
do you grow anything else in your gardens?
Been growing giant pumpkins for 4 years. Grew giant tomatoes this
year for the first time at 3.06 lbs.
2. How many pumpkin plants do you grow each year?
We grow six pumpkins each year.
3. This year was a major breakthrough for you. Is there anything in
particular that you can attribute your increased success to?
From the beginning of this year, we called it "less is more." Been saying
that since the beginning of this season. We used a new vine pattern that
turned out to be the same as the vine pattern used on the first 2000 lb.
pumpkin ever grown by Ron Wallace.
4. What type of soil do you have in your patch?
It had been a former corn field. Every year we have been sending soil
samples for analysis to A&L Labs and following their suggestions.
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5. I recall that you had some serious insect and disease issues in the
past. How were you able to overcome them this season and get your first
official pumpkins to the scale?
Stopped overuse of compost tea and more closely followed Ohio
Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers disease and pest program.
6. What is your fungicide and insecticide program (types of chemicals,
rate and frequency of application, and method of application)?
We followed the spray and drench program from Ohio Valley Giant
Pumpkin Growers almost to the "T."
7. What types of fertilizer do you use during the beginning, middle and
end of the growing season?
Major fertilizer this year was pelletized chicken manure. Other than
that, all we used was seaweed and phosphite, which was also a fungicide.
8. What do you believe the ideal plant size is, and how much water do
you typically use on a full sized plant?
Beteween 800 and 850 square feet is a good plant size. During the
hottest part of the summer, we watered 2 minutes every 20 minutes
from 11 AM to 6PM.
9. The age-old question: What is most important, orange or big???
BIG!!!!!
10. When do you typically start your seeds? When are they put out into
the patch? Do you use any early season protection from wind and cold?
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First, we started our seeds around the 25th of April. We planted them
outside in the patch May 14th. We put cold frames over the plants and
ceramic thermastat=controlled heaters inside the cold frames.
11. What do you think the hottest proven seed available is right
now? Which 2012 seed do you think looks best to try in 2013?
1725 Harp.
The best seed to try in 2013 would probably be the 1725 Harp, 1789
Wallace, 1634 Warner. As for 2012 seeds I choose the 2009 Wallace.
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