New World Record Pumpkin

This is the new world record pumpkin grown by Tim Mathison of California.  An amazing 2,032 pounds!   Congrats to Tim.  This pumpkin was grown from a seed that came from last year's 2009 pound world record.

1,220 Pounds!

The pumpkin went very light on me (meaning the pumpkin's weight didn't match its size, but I'm still very pleased with the final outcome.  It is always kind of hard when you expect more but 1,200+ pounds was one of the goals I had at the beginning of the season so I am proud of what I got.  This pumpkin is officially now the 1220 Johnson (1421 Stelts x 220 Debacco).

My son's pumpkin was a superstar today taking 1st place in the Junior division.  His pumpkin went 11% heavy (I'm going to have to ask him how he did that) and ended up an amazing 429 pounds!  Congrats to Bode.

Is Your Pumpkin Big Enough for a Pumpkin Weigh-off?

I'm often asked at this time of year if a pumpkin is big enough to take to a weigh-off.  The answer is always YES.  You may not win but any pumpkin is worthy of being entered into a weigh-off.  

I remember Pap telling the story of his first weigh-off.  He proudly brought his pumpkin to the weigh-off and saw a group of pumpkins that were smaller than his when he arrived and he thought "maybe I have a chance at winning."  As he sat his pumpkin down next to the others someone asked what he was doing.  It was then explained to him that those pumpkins were the pumpkins that were set out for the kids to play on and then he was pointed to where the competition pumpkins were being unloaded.  The big ones.  Pap wanted to hide his pumpkin.  I think he said he left his pumpkin at the weigh-off rather than to be seen carrying it.  Last year pap grew a 1,623 pound pumpkin and his son grew the world-record 2,009 pounder in the same pumpkin patch.

The reason you want to take your pumpkin to the weigh-off is because you will get the chance to talk with some of the best growers in your community.  Most all of them don't mind you asking them questions about how they grow as long as your are considerate of their time and half of them will talk your ear off about pumpkins if you give them half a chance.  If you see a pumpkin that you would like a seed from to grow next year ask the grower if you can get their address and send them a self-addressed bubble envelope in November requesting that seed.  That is typically how it is done and most growers will fulfill that request if they have seeds available.  There are no real secrets in pumpkin growing.  Just lots to learn.

My first year was kind of like Pap's but I got lucky.  My first season kind of happened by accident and I didn't have any intent of going to a competition pumpkin.  At the end of summer I thought my prize winner pumpkin was pretty big so I entered it in a community weigh-off.  I entered it in the competition and won with a 141 pound pumpkin.  I thought that was kind of fun but I wondered how those growers grew the 1,000 pound pumpkins.  That winter I researched a ton only, joined the RMGVG and got myself some Atlantic Giant seeds.  The next year I grew a 755 pounder and I've been hooked ever since.

Heavy to the Charts and it Has Clone Genetics in the Pumpkin

My son and I took a small pumpkin from the 868 pumpkin plant that popped up sometime after my main pumpkin ("Jerry") went down to rot to the weigh-off at Nick's Nursery yesterday. The pumpkin was probably about 30 days old and pretty good sized for it's age. I always wondered if Jerry was going to go heavy to the charts and I figured this was the best way to find out since it never made it to the scale. Jerry thumped like he was heavy so I took this little pumpkin to give me a ball park idea of what this 868 plant could produce.

To my surprise the little pumpkin went 15% heavy (aka abnormally heavy) to the charts! Now I really wish that Jerry would have had a chance to go to the scales to see what that pumpkin could have done. From the start it was the fastest growing pumpkin I ever had but for some reason it slowed down at the beginning of August and by the third week it rotted out. I wonder now if there wasn't something more than the one spot of rot that I found because that pumpkin completely rotted out very quickly.

About a month ago I pollinated the 868 plant with a clone plant that came from the same plant that produced a 1,725 pound pumpkin. On paper that is a very interesting cross. The genealogy of this pumpkin that I cut off the vine yesterday is that it has three generations of 1161 Rodonis in it. The first Rodonis weighed 1,579 pounds. The second Rodonis weighed 868 pounds. The third Rodonis weighed 1,725 pounds. Genetics wise it is 87% 1161 Rodonis which in my book isn't a bad thing. Since the last pumpkin went 15% heavy who knows what this pumpkin's seeds might produce.

Pumpkin Weigh-off Video

The following is a little video from yesterday's giant pumpkin weigh-off in Denver Colorado.

A New Personal Best Pumpkin at 924.5 Pounds

Last night we cut the pumpkin from the vine and much to my surprise and relief the bottom of the pumpkin hadn't rotted out. This morning I hauled my pumpkin and the kids pumpkin to the weigh-off at Jared's Nursery. Hauling a giant pumpkin is a real hoot. People wave, honk their horns and take pictures the entire way to the weigh-off. 364 days a year you can get teased some for being a giant pumpkin grower. Let's face it, the cool crowd on South Beach don't spend a lot of time growing giant pumpkins. But on the 365th day Heidi Klum could be standing next to a nice, orange giant pumpkin and people might not even notice her.

Pumpkin weights this year were way down in Colorado because many growers lost pumpkins due to rot and splits this year but there was still a good number of pumpkins at the weigh-off. My children took first place with a 146.5 pound pumpkin in the children's division. They did a very good job of taking care of their pumpkin this year. Later my pumpkin was weighed and came in at 924.5 pounds. A new personal best! Not as big as I thought it would be this year (after the pumpkin split the pounds went from 20 down to about 7 per day) but it is still the biggest and best looking pumpkin I've ever grown (let Jerry Seinfeld know that giants don't have to be ugly). Overall my pumpkin would have been in 2nd place for weight and won the Howard Dill award for the prettiest pumpkin but it was disqualified because of the splits. It looks like my pumpkin may end up being the heaviest Colorado grown pumpkin this year (Joe Scherber lost his 1,475 pound pumpkin last week due to rot) that goes to the scale.

Top honors for the day went to Ron Hoffman of Wyoming with a nice 1,012 pound pumpkin. I was very happy for Ron. He is a great grower and deserves the win. A well deserved second prize went to Gary Grande who beat out his brother by nine pounds.

Got the seeds out of my pumpkin tonight. Not a ton of them because of some rot that had started inside but I was happy to see some at all. These seeds are now officially the 924.5 Johnson (1204 Scherber x 1810 Stevens).

Come to the Biggest Pumpkin Weigh-off in Colorado

The much anticipated 6th Annual Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable Growers Pumpkin Weigh-off will be held on Saturday, September 24th. Last year, more than 3,000 people attended this event that featured 1,500+ pound pumpkins measuring more than 14 feet in circumference.

“We saw some amazing pumpkins last year and look to see some giants again this year.” said Gary 'The Wiz' Grande, President and CEO of the Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable Growers (RMGVG). “It is always fun to see the children’s faces the first time they see the pumpkins. They are something straight out of a fairy tale and we might see a new state record this year." The current Colorado record was set by Barry Todd of Littleton last year at a whopping 1,308 pounds.

“The weigh-off is a celebration of our growers’ hard work and is a fun way to kick-off the fall season,” said Jamie Johnson, Vice President of the RMGVG who was featured on NBC’s The Marriage Ref this summer with his pumpkin. “It is a great event with food, straw mazes for the kids, music, face painting, haunted house, audience voting and of course, some really amazing giant pumpkins.”

The record for the world’s largest pumpkin was 460 pounds until 1981, when Howard Dill, a grower in Nova Scotia, came up with one that was close to 500 pounds. He patented the seed, and growers around the world jumped to buy Dill’s Atlantic Giant. As they crossed and re-crossed varieties, the pumpkins grew ever larger; by 1994, the symbol of Halloween had passed the 1,000-pound mark. The world record pumpkin was grown last year by Chris Stevens of Wisconsin and weighed an amazing 1,810 pounds.

The event will take place at Jared’s Nursery in Littleton, 10500 W. Bowles Avenue, starting at 10 a.m. with the junior division, followed by the giant pumpkins at 11 a.m. Admission is free to the public.

For more information about the RMGVG weigh-off or to get more information on how to grow giant pumpkins or vegetables post a comment below

To watch a short video of last year’s RMGVG pumpkin weigh-off event visit http://www.pumpkinlink.com/pumpkin-video.html

A New Hope

At 150 pounds smaller than my big pumpkin, the 868 pumpkin (aka Jerry) is where I am hoping now to get over 1,000 pounds this year. It is my last hope. There are 47 growing days left until the weigh-off at Nick's Nursery so as of right now my plan is to take it their. If I can get about 39 more inches on this pumpkin I should make the 1,000 pound mark. This pumpkin was a later pollination on July 4th so it will be 95 days old then which is young enough that it should be still growing a little by weigh-off time if the weather is good.

The picture to the right makes this pumpkin look more orange than it really is in normal light. The morning orange sky I think made the pumpkin less pale orange than how it really looks. As you can see there are no dill rings so far for this pumpkin and very light ribbing.

Want to Grow a Giant Pumpkin? Get Giant Pumpkin Seeds from The Pumpkin Man!

Have you ever wanted to grow a giant pumpkin? Does the thought of having a 300 pound jack-o-lantern sound like fun to you? Looking for a great outdoor hobby for you and the kids/grandchildren? I can help! To grow a true giant pumpkin takes the right seeds and the right techniques. Grow the same competition giant pumpkin seeds I grow by getting seeds, special soil amendments and pumpkin growing training DVDs from my pumpkin seed store. Use the same stuff that world-record holder pumpkin growers use and have a lot of fun doing it!

After starting your seeds get great advice on growing giant pumpkins from the Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable Growers.

A Shout Out to the Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable Growers

As mentioned previously, I lost 3/4 of my plants this last week. On Friday I sent out an email asking for plants and within 24 hours I had heard back from every grower I contacted offering very nice replacement.

Giant pumpkin growing is an interesting hobby because, although it is competitive, growers really help each other. You can pretty much ask any grower in Colorado how they grow and they would pretty much tell you everything that they know. Growers realized early on in this sport that you can't learn everything these is to know about pumpkin growing in three lifetimes on your own. Only by sharing and helping each other can you learn the techniques to grow a giant.

Late last fall I and my wife were invited to be on NBC's The Marriage Ref (show to air this Summer). I needed a giant pumpkin for the show and the growers really stepped it up for me, particularly Gary the club president. No questions asked, people wanted to help.

I think it has been three years in a row now that one of the Colorado giant pumpkin weigh-offs has taken 2nd place for most improve site in the world. That is a real testament to quality of the growers here.

I am grateful for the great Colorado pumpkin growers.

Order Giant Pumpkin Seeds from The Pumpkin Man!

Welcome to the redesigned denverpumpkins.com. Tell me what you think of the new design!

Would you like to take a shot at having the biggest jack-o-lantern on your street or maybe a world record pumpkin? I've got some of the best genetic seeds in the world for you. Order now to grow a giant! It is a great activity to do with your children or to show the neighbors who is the best gardener in the neighborhood. Each seed are the same type of seeds that competitive giant pumpkin growers use and have world record genetics. Shop giant pumpkin seeds

Got Seeds? And another First Place!

Congrats to Bode and Haddie on a great pumpkin season. Yesterday they got another first place finish with their pumpkin. An eating establishment in Aurora will be putting it on display this next week. I asked the kids if they wanted to sell it and told them it meant they wouldn't be able to carve it as a jack-o-lantern and my son replied, "I want toys." He is a chip off the old block.

Haddie and I got the seeds out of the pumpkin this evening. I really like this cross. Both pumpkins are a nice orange, with an almost ribless skin and the 208 Johnson was flawless inside. If you would like some of the 208 Johnson (1129 Orleck x 1161 Rodonis) and you will grow them next year please let me know and I will get you one.

Pumpkin #2 - AKA Larry

I just loaded up the 1161 Rodonis (AKA Larry) on the trailer for tomorrow's giant pumpkin weigh-off at the Flower Bin in Longmont. The 1161's measurements are only two inches OTT less than the 1236 Harp which translates to only about 24lbs. I was hoping it could catch the 1236 this week but the pumpkin is 95 days old and just didn't have enough energy this late in the season to do it. It kept growing right to the end however putting on 8 pounds over the last three days and a great 210 pounds in the month of September.

One Week From Today: Weigh-off Time!

Just one week from today and pumpkin #2 goes to the scales (first picture). We've had great weather this growing season and I feel relatively good about where I am at right now. I'm disappointed that the 1236 kind of tanked this month but the 1161 has shown some good, consistent long growing. It looks like by weigh-off day the 1236 and the 1161 will have the same measurements, but because of the small split in the 1236 and the growth that the 1161 is still putting on I'm going to take the 1161 to Longmont and hope it goes heavy to the scale.

My son Bode and the 1236 are in the Denver Post today. Great article: www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16107463

These are the last pictures until Jared's.

The RMGVG Weigh-Off at Jared's Nursery

The question was asked where the giant pumpkin weigh-off is at. The first and main weigh-off is at Jared's Nursery. The second weigh-off is at the Flower Bin in Longmont. Details can be found at http://www.coloradopumpkins.com/.

New World Record Pumpkin

It is official. A new world record pumpkin. Christy Harp of Ohio grew the heaviest pumpkin ever put to a scale. The pumpkin weighed an amazing 1,725 pounds. Congrats to Christy and Nick on such an amazing feet. The pumpkin was grown from a 1385 Jutras seed.

Congrats to My Kids on their Pumpkin

My two kids grow a pumpkin this year together. This is Bode's first year. Their plant didn't have a leaf on it after the hail storm and even though it didn't get wattered for a week it rebounded over the course of a month and on August 31st they finally got a pollination. To look at the plant the end of August you wouldn't have known there ever was a problem until you took a hard look and saw a quarter of the main vine gone in a couple of places and some remnant thrashed leaves grouped in with the new leaves. In all the kids did very well. After growing just 40 days on only 100 square feet and only a couple of weeks of descent weather they have a pumpkin that tapes about 90 pounds. We will put it on the scale tomorrow at the Arvada Festival of Scarcrows weigh-off in Olde Town Arvada. Good luck kids!

The pumpkin may be used by a professional carver at the Food Network's competition in Denver next week.

They Grow Big Pumpkins in Oregon

Thad Starr was kind enough to let me stay with him on my trip to Oregon to go to the big weigh-off. Thad had a beautiful orange pumpkin that he grew from his own 1528 seed. Also got a chance to meet and help load up the pumpkin of Dan Orleck on the trip who also had a great pumpkin grown from his own 1129 Orleck (985 Werner x 1041.5 Mckie) seed. Both of their families were super nice and I had a great time at the weigh-off meeting a lot of great growers.

Congrats to Jim "The Biz" Grande on a New Colorado State Record Pumpkin!

Jim Grande smashed the previous Colorado state record set by the Master Joe Scherber by nearly 150 pounds yesterday with a giant pumpkin weighing 1,283 pounds. The pumpkin was grown from his own 1019 Grande seed. The weigh-off at Jared's nursery yesterday was a great event. To see video highlights from the weigh-off go to www.pumpkinlink.com/rmgvg2009.html.

4th Annual RMGVG Pumpkin Weigh-off, Denver, Colorado

The Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable Growers are pleased to present the 4th annual giant pumpkin weigh-off. The biggest weigh-off in Colorado. It is fun for kids of all ages:

Saturday, September 26th 11:00AM
Jared’s Nursery & Garden CenterLocation: Jared's Nursery and Garden Center 10500 W. Bowles Ave, Littleton, CO

10:00 Junior Division Weigh-Off.
11:00 AM Adult Division Weigh-Off

Galleria of Ghouls -- Free Large straw maze -- Free Straw obstacle course -- Free Music --
Pumpkin Pie Baking Contest -- Face-painting $3-$5 --
Junior Division Pumpkin Weigh Off

Food will be available from:
Magill's Ice Cream , Papa Johns, Tommy's Subs, Woody's Hot Dogs

Directions from C-470 and Bowles: Go east on Bowles to Oak St, go south to the 2nd entrance turn left into our bulk yard, there will be parking attendants. West on Bowles from Kipling: OR Go 1/2 mile west on Bowles to Oak street, go south on Oak to the 2nd entrance.
PLEASE DO NOT PARK AT THE CHURCH LOT