8 • October 2006 • Farmer & Rancher
Beautiful Giants Celebrate
the Fall Season by Steven Knudsen
C
an a giant be beautiful? Paul
Rys, local pumpkin guru,
thinks so. Rys began his
giant-pumpkin project in 2001, with
a five-year mission to develop a new
variety of visually pleasing giant
pumpkins. According to Rys, giant
pumpkins grown today have been
genetically selected for size only,
without regard for beauty.
He sees this as an opportunity. “I
have genetically selected my plants to
maximize the bright orange color and
smooth skin that is common with
standard-size pumpkins. My project
has been to make these pumpkins
beautiful again, the traditional way
people think pumpkins should look.”
Giant pumpkins get their size
from their genetic make up. Not all
pumpkins can be giants, though. “If
you start off with an average pumpkin seed and give it the best care you
can, instead of a 15-pound pumpkin
you may grow a 25-pound pumpkin,”
Rys says. “But if you start with seed
that will grow giant pumpkins of 400
pounds or more, then you’ll do well.”
Out of all the varieties, Atlantic
Giant pumpkin is most commonly
used by giant-pumpkin growers.
Growers then cross pollinate with
giant squash in hopes of growing a
whopper of a pumpkin. Pumpkin
size can vary between 100 and 1,400
pounds. The current world record for
giant pumpkins is 1,446 pounds.
These goliath hybrids you see winning the weigh-offs often do not fair
well in the beauty contest. “Over the
last 30 to 40 years,” Rys says, “competitive growers have been developing
giants for weight only, without caring
about overall quality. Too much of this
type of selection has produced giant
pumpkins with pale white and green
color far from the beautiful orange that
pumpkins should have.” He’d like to
see this change.
Not everyone has the patience to
grow giant pumpkins. But for many
growers around the world, raising
one of these monsters is more than
a hobby, it’s a serious competitive
sport. Giant pumpkins take a lot of
TLC, Rys says. “I spend around two
hours a day on each plant.” Planted
in stages in May and June, it takes
around 150 days to grow a giant
pumpkin from planting to harvesting. Rys, like most growers, starts his
plants in a greenhouse before transplanting into the field.
Rys’ project, however, is different
than most giant-pumpkin growers.
He isolates and breeds each pumpkin
to enhance its
beauty. This
I planted 74 plants
takes time and
which was probabl
patience. Each
year, he har–
vests his crop
and selects the
most beautiful pumpkins. He then
harvests seeds from a select few and
preserves them for the next growing
season. So far, his project has produced seeds that yield a pumpkin,
at harvest, that is a beautiful giant 75
percent of the time. Rys anticipates
his 2006 crop will produce beautiful
giant pumpkins 95 percent of the
time. “I am excited to have reached
my five-year goal of reintroducing
beauty back into giant pumpkins,”
he says.
Rys exhibits his 2006 beauties
at the San Luis Obispo Downtown
Association’s Thursday Night Market
on October 19 and 26, at the annual
“Pumpkins on Parade” display.
This year, “Pumpkins on Parade”
has a new neighbor. The San Luis
Obispo County Farm Bureau, in partnership with Coast National Bank,
Farm Supply and other sponsors,
has created the First Annual Great
Pumpkin Contest.
During May and June, Farm
Bureau and Farm Supply seeded the
contest by donating enough seeds
and sprouts to grow about 7,000
pumpkin plants. More than 2,000
“
Farmer & Rancher • October 2006 • 9
packets of
seeds and flys my first year,
ers, donated by
bly 70 too many
many.
Farm Supply,
were distributPaul Ryes
ed to K-6 grade
students in San
Luis Obispo. Rys also donated 1,500
seeds from his personal collection
that were then sprouted in the Talley
”
Vegetables’ seed chamber in Arroyo
Grande and distributed at local events.
Even if you weren’t able to
grow a giant pumpkin this year, we
encourage you to come see the giants
entered in the Farm Bureau contest
and Rys’ Pumpkins on Parade.
So far Rys’ project is a huge success; he has produced pumpkins that
won the most beautiful pumpkin
award at the World Championship
Pumpkin Weigh-off in Half Moon
Bay two of the last three years. He
also has achieved his goal of sponsoring a local pumpkin contest.
When asked what he would do
next he says, “I could get a patent on
my pumpkin seeds, but I’m not in it
for the money. My attitude all along
has been that if I’m going to be making millions, I’ll be making millions of
friends across the nation who will be
really happy to see these pumpkins.”
San Luis Obispo County Great Pumpkin Contest
When – 6:30–8 p.m. Thursday, October 19
Pumpkins accepted at FB starting at noon
Where – Chorro Street at San Luis Obispo
Downtown Farmers Market
Registration Deadline – Friday, October 13
Prizes – AAwarded in several categories:
• most beautiful • most unusual
• heaviest (grower receives $500
from Coast National Bank)
• heaviest – junior division under age 12
($50 gift certificate from Whiz Kidz)
Information – www.SLOFarmBureau.org
Entry Forms
Form – Available at SLO Farm
or (805) 543-3654
Bureau and www.SLOFarmBureau.org
Judges – Officials from SLO County Dept. of Agriculture/Weights and Measures certify the
results of the weigh-off, and local celebrity judges award most beautiful and unusual prizes.
Other Pumpkin Contests
Safeway World Championship Pumpkin
Weigh-Off – Half Moon Bay
When – Monday, October 9
Weighing begins at 7:30 a.m. and concludes
around 10:30 a.m.
Where – I.D.E.S. Grounds, 735 Main Street, Half
Moon Bay, CA
Prizes – For the Biggest Pumpkin from:
State of California – $1,000
Coastside – $500
San Mateo County Farm Bureau – $500
Most Beautiful Pumpkin – $500
Information – (650) 726-9652
Pumpkin Weigh-Off – Paso Robles
When – Saturday, October 21
Weigh-off starts at 1 p.m. Pumpkins accepted
starting 10 a.m.
Where – Golden Oak Festival and Golden State
Classic Car Show held at the Paso Robles
downtown park. Festival 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
Prizes – Cash prizes are awarded to the top-10
heaviest pumpkins, the most beautiful pumpkin
and the ugliest pumpkin.
Information – Paso Robles Main Street Assoc.,
(805) 238-4103; Contest Chair Steve Peterson,
Peterson & Company Mortgage, (805) 238-2019.
Photos
Top left – The Bishop’s Peak 4-H group
was excited to receive giant pumpkin
sprouts and have the chance to raise
contest-winning giants.
Left – Paul Rys’ 2005 giant pumpkin harvest produced some real beauties. The
top center pumpkin weighs 500 pounds!
Photo by Joe Sabol.
Above – San Luis Obispo County Farm
Bureau planted several giant pumpkin
sprouts, shown in two stages of growth.
Photos by Steven Knudsen.
P