July 2008

Port Elgin
Pumpkinfest
Oct. 4th & 5th 2008
www.pumpkinfest.org
info@pumpkinfest.org
1-800-387-3456
SUMMER 2008
GROWERS VINE
Brought to you by Port Elgin Pumpkinfest and the GVGO
Don’t
forget to update your
address books with the
new GVGO email address
gvgo@i-zoom.net
News F r o m t h e
GV G O
by Phil hunt pres. gvgo
Finally the warmer winds of
summer are starting to appear in
many of Ontario gardens. After a
long winter with record snow
levels in many areas & a cooler
than normal May & parts of June,
we are finally starting to see some
real growth in the plants. Cool &
wet have been the normal in most
regions while some have seen
floods & freezes. Mother nature is
sure showing her power & abusing
it in some regions. The mid-west
US have seen more than its share
of rain & tornadoes. Lets hope
July, August & September’s
weather is more favorable to our
members.
Remembering The Pumpkin King
As most of you know by now, The
Pumpkin King, Howard Dill past
away this May. He was a true
gentleman that always had time
to talk to whomever he met. His
life was filled with many
accomplishments, including the
creation of the Atlantic Giant
pumpkin seed. He will be fondly
remembered & sadly missed by
thousands of people through out
the World. Here is an insert from
the CTV News Story about his
passing.
“Nova Scotia’s legendary pumpkin
grower Howard Dill, whose massive
gourds were used as row boats in an
annual event, has passes away at the
age of 73.
Howard studied genetics to unlock
the secrets of growing monster
pumpkins, and created an
internationally recognized seed
called the Atlantic Giant.
“He learned genetics himself,
crossing different plants, “ his son,
Danny Dill, told CTV Atlantic. “That’s
when he created the world record at
the time -- 400 pounds -- in the early
eighties.”
As the news of his death spread,
letters began appearing at a
wooden statue of Dill in downtown
Windsor, N.S., the city he made
famous.
“He brought so much to the town,”
says Mayor Anna Allen, “ He was the
biggest tourist draw in our town. He
was loved by many, many people.”
Dill, known as the “Pumpkin King,”
won four straight world titles with his
GVGO
4376 Hwy 35 N
Cameron, ON
K0M 1G0
www.gvgo.ca
gvgo@i-zoom.net
705-887-4835
e
n
i
V
s
i
h
t
Inside
Pg 1-4 News from the GVGO
Pg 4-Pumpkinfest Update
Pg 5-6 Western News
Pg 6 Southern News
Pg 6-7 Western Canada News
Pg 7 Eastern News
Pg 8 Northwestern News
Pg 8 News from Quebec
Pg 9 News from the East Coast
Pg 9-10 News from Overseas
Pg 10-11 My walk amongst the
giants
Pg 11 Top 10
Pg 12-14 Compost Tea & Powdery
Mildew
Pg 15 How I grew my 1524.5
Pg 16-19 Pesticides 101
Pg 20 Raffle Information
Pg 21-22 GVGO Clothing
Pg 23 Frost the deadly Encounter
Pg 24-25 Grower Profile
Pg 26-27 Why use Sugary
Supplements
Pg 28-29 Plant Size & Pumpkin
Lobes
Pg 30 Howard’s Dirt
Pg 30-32 Tissue Testing
Pg 32-33 Humic Acid Discount
Pg 33-34 93 Pumpkin Sayings
Pg 34 Patch Tour
Pg 35 Final Word
Also included as attachments:
Weigh Off Information
SNGPG Howard Dill Article
&
1
spellbound when Joe started
sharing his ideas & techniques. A
pumpkins -- a feat that has never
been duplicated.
He also inspired an annual event
in Nova Scotia, called the
Pumpkin Regatta, in which
participants carve out giant
pumpkins and use them as
boats to row across Lake
Pesaquid.
Danny Dill said his family
panned to carry on his
father’s pumpkin business,
promising that this year’s
crop would be extra
special.
“He was bound and
determined to start another
bunch of plants this year,
which he did a few weeks
ago,” he said.
Cabbage Winners for 2007 (L-R)
Dennis Hartung, John Butler,
Art Johnson & George Lloyd
Missing: Deanna Lloyd
“We got some in the ground just the
other day for him and we told him
they were in, so he was happy.”
Aside from pumpkins, Dill had a
passion for hockey. Long Pond,
considered by some sports
historians to be the birthplace of
hockey, is located on his land.
When doctors first diagnosed his
illness, many of his childhood hockey
heroes sent him letters of
encouragement. And before his
death, he had received a letter from
a present-day hockey star and fellow
Nova Scotian.
“Just the other day an envelope
came from Pittsburgh and we
opened it up, and it was an
autographed photo of Sidney
Crosby,” said Danny Dill. “He was
dad’s favourite player.”
Joe Jutras speaks at the
GVGO’s Growers Seminar in
Thornton
The GVGO’s annual grower’s
seminar & award ceremony was a
great success. There were @ 70
people in attendance to hear WR
holder Joe Jutras (1689#) tell us
how he grew his massive fruit.
Russ & Shannon Landry hosted a
welcoming BBQ for Joe & his lovely
wife Sue on the Saturday night
before the seminar. About 30
growers & spouses attended this
wonderful evening & all were
special
thanks go out to Russ & Shannon
Landry for hosting this wonderful
evening.
out as much as possible. it’s
because of Lisa & her team that we
are able to put out the quality of
newsletter that you’ve become
accustom to receiving. We look
forward to continually working
with them to help bring you one
of the best newsletters in the
pumpkin community. Sally Hunt
was present to accept the plaque
on behalf of the Pumpkinfest
team.
This year the GVGO presented
over 50 awards to our members
for their outstanding
achievements in 2007. We’d like
to thank Joe & his wonderful wife
Sue for coming up & sharing the
weekend with us. Your
presentation was awesome & we
really enjoyed spending time with
you both again.
The Seminar was also a place for
us to recognize & honor some of
GVGO gets New Email Address
our fellow GVGO Members who
The GVGO has a new email
have excelled in this fascinating
address. As of June 6th, the
hobby. This year we honored 5
GVGO’s new email address is:
growers for all their hard work &
gvgo@i-zoom.net
great accomplishments
The old email address will be
throughout their growing careers.
terminated as of June 30th. We
The 1st inductees to the new
look forward to hearing great
GVGO Hall of FAme are Alan
Eaton, Bill Greer, John Lyons,
George Lloyd & Dave
McCallum. All 5 of these
growers are very deserving of
this award. They are also
awarded a lifetime
membership with the GVGO.
We appreciate all they’ve done
in the past to bring this hobby
to the level we see today.
Congratulations to all of you.
Watermelon Winners for 2007 (L-R)
We also recognized the Port
Elgin Pumpkinfest ladies for
all their help & support since
the inception of the GVGO. Lisa
Irwin & her team have been there
from the beginning, helping us
Darrell Leonard, Tyler Leonard, Bob
mackenzie, Eric Sundin
Missing: Laurie Laforge
things form our members this
summer. The reason for the
change is that we have finally
2
been able to get high-speed
service in our area.
will be posted later in the
newsletter. We look forward to
seeing you all there. Please
contact John Vincent at:
jvincent@madoccoop.com for
more details & to register. We
need to know how many
people will be in attendance
for planning the lunch.
Thanks.
Cancer Society
Fundraising Raffle &
Donation
Dill himself this past January. All
proceeds will go to the Cancer
Society in honor of Howard Dill &
all AG growers & their families
who have suered with this
terrible disease. We hope that
you’ll help support our eorts.
Tickets will be $2 each or 6 for
$10 or 12 for $20. Details will be
posted inside the newsletter.
1000# Club & Master Growers
Award
Long Gourd Winners for 2007 (L-R)
Al Eaton, Glenn Cheam, Chris Lyons,
Phil Joynson
Missing: John Lyons
The GVGO held 2
raes during the
Annual Niagara
Convention & the
Membership Dues for 2009
GVGO’s Grower’s Seminar
The GVGO will be raising its
& raised $400 for the
annual dues from $20 per year to
Cancer Society. The
$25 per year. Family
GVGO added another
memberships will remain the
$100 to this total in
same at $35. This increase was
memory of Howard Dill (in
discussed at the GVGO Seminar &
lieu of flowers-as per
Hall of FAme (L-R Top-Bottom)
-Al Eaton
all in attendance were in favor of
families request) for a
-Phil Hunt (Pres) & Russ Landry
the increase for the 2009 growing
present Dave McCallum
total donation of $500. On
-Phil H. Presents George Lloyd
season.
Friday May 25th, Jane
-Phil H. Present to Chris Lyons
(accepting on behalf of John Lyons)
Hunt (GVGO Tres)
presented Heather
Heavy Hitter Panel
To further reward our local
Richardson (Cancer
growers & to encourage them to
society rep.) with the
excell, the GVGO will award
check. We look forward
Ontario growers with a patch to
to working more with CS
every grower who joins the 1000#
to help raise funds to
club. They
find a cure for this
will also be
horrible disease.
rewarded
The GVGO will be
for each
hosting a rae
new level
this summer with
they reach
Patch Tour
the proceeds going to the
after that.
Cancer Society. The top 3
The 4th Annual GVGO Patch Tour
(1100#
prizes are signed,
will feature the Eastern region of
club, 1200#
numbered (by the artist),
Ontario. We will visit the gardens
club, 1300#
limited
edition
prints
of
the
of John Vincent, Dave Pitura,
club etc.)
Jane Hunt (GVGO Tres.)
painting “Great beginnings”
presents
Arnold Vader, John Lyons, and Jim
Only
Heather Richardson (Cancer
by Elly Wilson. these prints
Ives. As usual the Tour is free to
Ontario
Society)
with a $500 donation in
are one of only 15 signed by
all GVGO members. There will be
Growers
memory of Howard Dill on
the Pumpkin King, Howard
a small charge for lunch. Details
behalf of the GVGO
qualify for
3
this award, as most other clubs &
regions already do this for their
local membership. Patches will be
sent out with your 2009
membership seed packages. You
must have been a GVGO Ontario
member the year you grew the
pumpkin to qualify for the patch.
They would look real good on
your new GVGO spring jacket. To
get more details about the jacket,
please contact me at our new
email address.
The Master Growers Award is the
brainchild of our VP Phil Joynson.
He wanted to promote the growth
of the other giant veggies we see
at the weigh os, while
challenging our Ontario growers
to grow bigger pumpkins. His
idea would see a GVGO Ontario
grower be awarded a Master
Growers Jacket by growing three
(3) dierent veggies to World
Class size. Only the fruit or
veggies we already recognize for
awards would qualify for this
award. You must grow a fruit or
veggie bigger than these World
Class levels listed below to
qualify. Only giant vegetables
grown since the GVGO’s inception
(2005) would be recognized for
this award. Remember, you don’t
have to grow them all in one year,
but they must have been grown
after the spring of 2005 to qualify
& you must have been a member
the year the fruit was grown.
Pumpkins - 1400# or heavier
True Green Squash - 1150# or
heavier
Long Gourds- 120” or longer
Watermelons - 200# or heavier
Tomatoes - 4.5# or heavier
Cabbage- 60# or heavier
Tall Corn - 275” or taller
Tall Sunflower - 250” or
taller
Please contact us if you have any
questions about this or any other
GVGO award or event.
In closing I’d like to wish all GVGO
members all the best this season.
Remember to do all the little
things this summer & it’ll reward
you with a big monster this fall.
Don’t forget to visit our website
at : www.gvgo.ca and register to
use the message board. It’s a
great way to get quick answers to
any questions you might have.
We hope to see as many of you as
possible at our Summer Patch
tour in August. See you at the
weigh os. Take care, good luck &
grow them big!
P u mp k i n f e s t
Update
by Lisa Irwin
Coordinator
WOW, it is hard to believe that it is
already July. It seems like just
yesterday we were in Niagara
during a great snowstorm!
Speaking of Niagara, what a time
that was! This
year we
approached the
GPC for their help
with the
convention. A
great partnership
has been formed and I am truly
grateful for everything they did
through out the process. You
deserve a round of applause for
your eorts and you have become
a great asset to the Niagara
Convention! The 2009
convention is going to be even
better!! I’d also like to thank Eddy
Z for everything that he does to
support not only the convention
but pumpkin growing in general.
You are truly one of a kind Eddy
and we are all lucky to know you!
As some of you may have heard,
Pumpkinfest 2008 will be my last
here in Port Elgin. I have decided
to return to school in September
2009, so I will work here until
August 2009 and then hand over
the reins to our new sta member
Kristyn Kline. Kristyn has been
hired this July so that she will
have a full year to learn all there is
to know before I go. For those of
you who have been at Port Elgin
Pumpkinfest you may know
Kristyns dad Jim, who is one of
our weigh o volunteers.
Welcome to the Team Kristyn!!
One of the other big changes here
at Pumpkinfest is our decision to
go to two days of GPC weigh os.
Previously our Sunday weigh o
was limited to growers from the
Bruce, Grey & Huron Counties.
Starting October 2008, the
Sunday weigh o will be open to
all growers. I have included
further along in the Grower’s Vine
a copy of the new prize
structure. The rules can
be found on
www.pumpkinfest.org,
or if you don’t have
internet by calling
1-800-387-3456 and
we will mail them to
you.
We were quite honoured to be
recognized at the GVGO spring
seminar. Thank you to all of you
for that. Our plaque hangs
proudly at Pumpkinfest
Headquarters! Congratulations to
all of you who won awards during
that ceremony.
Good luck to you all this summer
and see you in October!!!
4
Western Region
News
BY RUSS LANDRY,
GPC Canada East
The possibility of late-summer
GVGO intrigue seems closer than
ever. All that needs to happen
now is to pile a few more
interesting months upon the
most successful growers
convention (IGVGC)
and the best ever
GVGO seminar.
Incredible and
mounting
attention seen in
this years spring
gatherings is
remarkable.
Nearly 250 people
attended the
Niagara Falls
convention in what
was easily the
mostly instructive and
informative event ever. The
convention was jointly run by the
Port Elgin gang of Lisa Irwin and
her dedicated crew and Dave
Stelts and the GPC executive
committee. Quickly on the heels
of Niagara was the GVGO seminar
and 1st annual party. Seventy five
members attended this year’s
addition clamoring to see Joe
Jutras and recognize the first
inductees into the GVGO Hall of
Fame. The party was a wonderful
good time attended by thirty of
the best growers including
husband and wife teams from
across the province and held to
welcome Joe and Sue Jutras to
GVGO land.
The GVGO nation is showing a
growing penchant and
determination to reenter the
realm of regional worldwide
leader in pumpkin weights. When
it comes to clubs and regions the
Ontario collection of growers
from all over the planet is
beginning to shine. A slow and
steady hand has guided the club
in finally reaching the dreams of
President Phil Hunt and Vice
President Phil Joynson. Already
boasting the pumpkin
community’s
best
newsletter
and rae, the
GVGO brain
trust is
steadily
focused now
on improving
performance.
The club is on
the edge of
prominence
as several
members could reach new
weights this year. Many growers
now enter as seasoned veterans
after years of heartache and
apprenticeship.
Education has been stressed all
winter and spring in what has
become a recurring GVGO theme.
Sharing and focusing on new
techniques while coming together
as a group has been continually
stressed. Web site trac in the
message boards is also up and so
is the quality of the ongoing
discussions. Several of last years
heavy hitters frequent the site
and often contribute while lurking
about. Lurking is an honor we
could well be come accustomed
to for it is the desire to not miss
any small tidbit of information
which compels the growers to
seek out the secrets of growing
giants in the message boards.
The new GVGO Growers Pool will
promote the eort while fostering
good competitive spirit while
each of us cheer for another club
member. Hall of Fame awards
recognizing grower life time
achievement are the pinnacle of
success and determination. Hats
o and hearty atta boy goes to
inductees Dave McCallum, John
Lyons, Alan Eaton, Bill Greer,
George Lloyd. Growers continue
to emerge from around the
province coming from all corners
trying to tip the scales. The
grower’s co-operative has seen a
boost in sales too. The sheer
numbers of bags and jugged
supplies brought to the seminar
was enough to fill a couple of
trucks this year. Growers who are
sharing in the cost and
distribution of materials area
major benefactor of such an
eort. A huge collective thanks
goes from my hand to those who
contribute to this annual
exchange.
In the weigh o department there
is a couple of new western
regional to review. Firstly the big
news is Port Elgin will now run
two full wide open GPC weigh-os
on Saturday and Sunday. the
Sunday event is now open for all
due to prior year’s declining
attendance and the Port Elgin
sta have thrust open a new day
for all of us.
The much talked abut merger of
the Cornerstone and Woodbridge
Fair GPC events is now ocially
o. After several discussions
both groups have decided to host
their own full GPC wiegh-os this
5
coming fall.
The
Woodbridge
Fair, October
11th looks to
build prize
structure and
attendance
this year
while
Cornerstone
prizes will
focus on
pumpkins or
squash in a
later time
AUGUST 24, 2008
East Central Ontario
GVGO Pumpkin Patch Tour
2008
Visit the patches of
Dave Pitura
Frank Penner
John Vincent & Brian McGill
Arnold Vader
Jim Ives
John & Chris Lyons
Long held as the world
leader in pumpkins,
squash and genetic
production thanks to
Bill Greer, Todd Kline,
George Lloyd, Al
Eaton, Bob Mackenzie,
Brant Timm and Brad
Wursten the GVGO is
poised to jump
another notch on the
grower’s belt. Moving
now into the summer
it is certainly possible
Full details further on in
that here in this club
Grower’s Vine
lies the ability to
crown the next world
slot of October
champion in pumpkins.
25th in order to build the event
and support Jack-O-Lantern sales.
As the bar is raised so too will the
eorts put forth by each grower.
The desire to compete with the
best of the world is the driving
force behind the GVGO. The
eort of time spent is often
directly proportional to size
therefore it is important to
remember to not stretch
resources too thinly. Staying in
touch with each other and
Good Luck & Good Growing!
S out he r n Ne w s
by George Lloyd
Growers here seem to be o to a
good start. If Mother nature cooperates and with some goodluck, there should be a few good
ones grown in this area. The
Norfolk County Fair in Simcoe
Ontario is oering the same cash
prize money as last
year. fist prize
pumpkin money will
be $200 and Squash
will be $500. The
weigh-o is Sunday
Oct. 5th. You must
register one week in
advance! For more
The Orange Jacket Crew (L-R)
information call (519)
todd Kline, Joe Jutras, Ron Wallace, Larry
Checkon, Steve Daletas
426-7280 or visit
Missing: Al Eaton, Gary Burke, Bill Greer
their web-site
communicate your experiences
by what ever means you can, will
help the collective eort of the
GVGO.
www.norfokcountyfair.com.
In April, Ron Wray and I attended
the GVGO seminar in Thorton
Ontario. It was a most enjoyable
day for all. Those involved with
putting it on did a great job and
are to be congratulated for their
eorts. Congratulations also go
out to all the award winners.
Many beautiful trophies and
plaques were handed out for each
ones individual eort. All well
earned. One person who I think
really stands out and deserves all
the praise and thanks we can give
him is Dave McCallum for without
his eorts over the years, growing
pumpkins or other vegetables in
Canada would not mean much.
He has been the glue that has
held it all together over the years.
For all of us...Thank you Dave.
Western Canada
News
by Craig Sandvik
Hello from the wet land again.
This has to be the worst spring I
can remember in many years. A
number of growers on the island
have been having problems with
their plants this spring and I’m
sure the weather has something
to do with it. Both Jake Van
Kooten and Dave Pley have pulled
a plant this year already. My 1231
Pukos has double vined and my
1041 wants to go straight up, not
horizontal :o) A few growers on
the island are heating their plants
at night with ceramic heaters and
this really seams to be helping the
plants. Apparently Glenn Dixon
has a 1420 LaRue that’s 8 ft long
already. that’s the best plant I’ve
heard of so far. My best is only 6
ft and that’s the 1407 Hemphill.
April was so wet, it was hard to
get patch prep done and then at
the end of April we had 3 or 4
days of 30 degree weather and
everybody worked like crazy to
6
get the hootchs up and plants
out. That and the odd couple of
days here and there are all the
good weather we have had.
Normal morning temp is 47/48
degrees F. The good news is the
weather seems to be improving
and maybe by the start of
summer we’ll get a spring.
That’s all for now!
Editor Note: This is Craig’s last article
for the “Grower’s Vine”. We would like
thank Craig for his efforts writing his
aritlces for the newsletter. If you’re
intrested in taking over the “Western
Canada News” column, please drop me a
line at bseen@netrover.com.
EASTERN ONTARIO
NEWS
BY JOHN VINCENT
Like a good Canadian should, I
always start out talking about the
weather! Overall, we have had
worse springs, if I can say that.
yes, it has been colder and wetter
than normal. Last spring I think I
only had heat on in my hoop
houses a total of three nights,
over the month or so they were
up. While this spring on the other
hand, there were only about three
nights they were turned o! By
early June, it was clear that the
plants were all a couple weeks
behind normal, however in the
last week or so, the plants have
done a remarkable amount of
growing and have basically
“caught up” to last year.
I know a few growers to the north
of me that invested in soil heat
cables this year and initially their
plants were ahead of mine,
however in recent comparisons, it
looks like mine have caught up. I
know I am down in the banana
belt here in Prince Edward
The Prince Edward County
County, and our nights can be
Pumpkin Growers are pleased to
much warmer than even 20 miles
be
hosting the 2008 GVGO patch
north of here. I’m still not
tour this summer on August 24th.
convinced that I need heating
Please check out the related
cables.
information through out the
The buzz this season seems to be
newsletter. Be sure to order your
on compost tea. I finally broke
commemorative T-shirt.
down this year and decided to try
Proceeds will go to the Wellington
this voodoo snake oil potion. I
weigh o.
know it’s fun to make and the
equipment looks cool. the
The Community of Keene, near
elaborate set up with the fancy air
Peterborough will hold a new
pump took a little explaining to
weigh o this year for the first
my wife: what’s that for? What did time on October 25th. This will
you pay for that...and so on. The
not be a GPC sanctioned event
brewing
this year;
part is an
however they
OK
will allow
process,
reweighs so we
but the
expect to see
applying
some decent
and the
pumpkins.
clean up
Brian Hugli will
are a pain
again host the
in the
Brant Timm presents Green Jacket
weight o at
butt. Oh
& Trophy to Jos Ghaye (accepting on
behalf of Brad Wursten)
Pembroke on
well, I need
September
27th
more things
at Hugli’s Blueberry Ranch. This
to keep me busy in the patch
is a GPC sanctioned event. Check
anyway.
out Brian’s web site at:
The Prince Edward County
www.blueberryranch.ca
Pumpkin Growers are ramping up
The Prince Edward County 4-H
for another great weigh o at
Giant Pumpkin and Vegetable
Wellington, again this year. This
club is o to another great year.
year’s event will be held on
Again, our achievement day
Saturday, October 18th. Check
(Weigh-o) will be held at Picton
out the website for more
fair, on Friday September 5th.
information: www.pec.on.ca/
Thank you to the GVGO and to the
pumpkinfest/index.html. This
PEC Pumpkin Growers for their
year we are enhancing the weigh
continued support.
o by joining the GPC at the
premium level. In addition we will
increase and expand the prize
package. Be sure to come early
for the parade. This is definitely a
family event.
Have you got a great story or pictures
you would like to see featured in an
upcoming growers vine??
Stories and Pictures can be
submitted to
Editor Phil Joynson at
bseen@netrover.com
7
Northwestern
Ontario News
By Ben Johnson
As we begin our growing season,
for every grower young and old
this is a time of excitement and
sometimes disappointment. We
in Northwestern Ontario are
experiencing a very slow start to
the season. The weather has not
been co-operating for us. It has
been very cool with lack of
sunshine and lots of rain and high
winds! Which puts us quite
behind form last year. We are all
hoping for a hot July, August and
September. For all those growers
that have plants that are doing
great I wish you all the best, and
for those who are some what
behind, I would like to say don’t
worry, there’s still time to grow a
giant pumpkin for the weigh o.
A good friend once told
me.....remember, there’s always
next year!
Good Luck and all the best.
News From Quebec
By Claude Colbert
The Potirothon of Gentilly
Like may major competitions,
Potirothon took birth through a
bragging. Indeed, our Dean
Gilbert Provencher wanted one
day to launch a challenge to its
neighbour C.H. Cormier who
boasted of growing a pumpkin
weighing over 80 pounds. Our
friend Gilbert was “coached” that
year by his son Renald who had
bought AG seeds in Monteral.
Also, a few of these seeds were
distributed to some friends for
that contest. Gilbert won the first
prize with a giant pumpkin
weighing 114 pounds and this
became the first recipient of the
Golden Pumpkin trophy. This
happened in 1991.
Year after year, more and more
people have joined
this friendly
competition. The
Potirothon of
Gentilly is certainly
become that
largest
competition of
giant pumpkins in the province of
Quebec. More than 70 teams of
growers are registered to the
18th edition in 2008.
Our season starts with a seed give
away meeting in the spring. All
registered members receive a
packet of seeds from the
pumpkins of our top growers as
well as seeds swapped with other
clubs in Canada and the USA.
Each year we count on the
generosity of many growers of
Ontario to get great pumpkin
seeds. Special thanks to Phil
Hunt, president of GVGO, for the
large packet of club seeds
exchanged with the Potirothon.
Also, a special thanks to
individual growers who share
their seeds with us for our
members.
In August, we have a great patch
tour. The tour begins in the
morning. Participants are
transported by school bus to visit
the many patches around Gentilly.
Participants can visit the patch of
the best growers as well as those
of first time growers. The day
ends with a picnic in the evening.
The culminating event of the
season is the ocial weigh o of
pumpkins. The weigh o is
always scheduled on the last
Saturday of September in the
village of Gentilly. The weigh o
site is located halfway between
Montreal and Quebec City on the
south shore of the St.
Lawrence River near
Trois-Rivieres. This
year, the weigh o is
planned on Saturday,
September 27th.
10 AM
Unloading of pumpkins and
registration
1 PM
Weigh off start and activities
(on site animation, lunch bar,
information desk, and so on)
4 PM
Awards and ceremony
(Golden Pumpkin Trophy for
heaviest pumpkin; P’tit Gilbert
trophy for the prettiest
pumpkin)
Two weeks later, we have a
pumpkins regatta on the
Becancour River. The pumpkins
are transformed into boats for
this last event of the season.
Hundreds of people watch from
the shore to see our competitors
in action.
What do we win at Potirothon?
Glory and Honour for the next 12
months! Let us remember that
the Potirothon is born of a simple
challenge. the perpetual trophy
“Golden Pumpkin” is given to
anyone who grows the heaviest
pumpkin. We don’t have any
prize money at the weigh o and
the regatta. Our members are
invited in the early season, to
make bets with each other for the
honour of being awarded the
“Golden Pumpkin”. Each
contestant will fulfill their
commitments with great honours
to his fellow grower.
8
News From the East
Coast
By Dawn Northrup
The East coast is mourning the
loss of Howard Dill, along with
the rest of the Atlantic Giant
Growers from around the world.
As I made the
four hour trip to
Nova Scotia to
give my
condolences to
the Dill Family,
my mind was
flooded with
wonderful
memories of
Dawn Northrup &
Howard.
Whether it was
visiting with him on the farm,
sitting on his porch having lighthearted conversations, he always
took the time to give us a private
patch tour, which I will always
cherish. One of the highlights of
the weigh o in Windsor was
having Howard pose with me for a
photo with my pumpkin each
year. It was nice that Howard was
able to plant some pumpkin
seeds this spring and as you
probably saw on the internet,
Howard left with a special seed.
This touched my heart deeply.
Howard is a true inspiration.
Because of Howard, I have been
able to meet growers from around
the world that otherwise I would
have never met. These
acquaintances have blossomed
into some great friendships that
will be sure to last a lifetime!
Howard will always have a special
place in my heart.
After a long cold storm filled
winter, spring finally arrived,
some earlier than others.
Through a reliable source, Nova
Scotia with its less than normal
snow fall and warmer
temperatures are two weeks
ahead of last year. While on the
other hand, heavy snow fall in
New Brunswick has caused the
worst flooding along the Saint
John River in 35
years,
preventing some
growers from
growing this
year. In an
interview with
Dennis Daigle he
says his plants
are doing
Howard Dill 2007
really well
this year. His
plants are about 6 feet long and
he hasn’t seen any cucumber
beetles yet (early June). Dennis
was inspired to start growing
pumpkins by seeing an
impressive pumpkin display at
Herman Dixon’s in Albert County.
He stopped in and Herman told
him to contact Howard Dill.
Dennis has been growing for the
last 10 years and is a very
dedicated grower. He has
pumpkins at four dierent farms,
which involves traveling an hour
each day to tend his pumpkins.
One of the farms belongs to David
& Elizabeth Steeves. Elizabeth’s
plants are also doing well. Dennis
waters by hand in each location.
This year he is planning on
installing a gas water pump to
help him with his watering.
Dennis tents to grow orange
genetics because he loves
beautiful orange pumpkins. His
favorite seed of all time is the 810
Dill. He grew the 1092 out of this
in 2002, which was his personal
best. Also the 810 Dill produced
the famous 670 Daigle. His seed
line up for the year includes the:
500 Northrup, 772 Poirier, 919
Richards, 730 Dill in honour of
Howard Dill, and the 1689 Jutras.
His plan is to use the 1689 Jutras
as a pollinator.
Dennis is trying some new
techniques this year. He tried
using heating cables on two of his
plants and noticed a big
dierence so he decided to try
Joel Holland’s soluble seaweed
powder and soluble fish powder
as well.
Bill & I wish all growers the best of
luck this season!
News From Overseas
By Brad Wursten
Each region has its specific
growing diculties. The same
holds true for Europe. The Fins
and (northern) Swedes have short
growing seasons. Spain and Italy
has hot and often dry summers.
England and the Netherlands
generally get flooded and night
temperatures hardly ever get past
12 degrees C, even in the dead of
summer. This year things have
been a bit more dicult than
usual.
On June 17 it froze in the
Netherlands, a country that hardly
experiences frost even in the
winter. The same happened in
Finland, but they are used to it
there. It doesn’t make it easier
though. France and other parts of
central Europe got hit with storms
and flooding. Parts of England
and the Netherlands were so dry
growers spent the time they
usually use rowing through their
9
patches to see how things are
floating with watering.
Just like the other side of the big
pond, many Europeans spend the
whole winter season getting their
seed list put together. Every year
it is amusing to see which of
those seeds actually get grown.
I’ve heard from many European
growers why the plants in the
garden aren’t the ones from their
list. Here are a few reasons.
Some didn’t germinate. One
Finnish grower had them in the
ground for three weeks and was
still wondering when it would
come up. Some of them
germinated but were too weak to
survive. Some turned out to be
double vined or even worse,
ribbon vined. Some young plants
just cracked in two...that would be
mine. Others got their hoop
houses blown to shreds, yet
others put a little too much
fertilizer on the plants...that
would be in Finland. Some got
frozen and some got a bit too wet.
Some lost all their plants and had
to get backups from other
growers...that would be Finland
again.
Some say the European pumpkin
record will fall this year. The
people that are most expected to
break the record sandbag. I don’t
of course. I really DID lose my
best plant and it DID freeze on
June 17 and my main squash
DIDN’T produce secondary vines
on the one side of the plant. And
the weather forecast IS cold and
rain. I am currently repairing a
hole in my canoe, just to make
sure!
My Walk Amongst
the Giants
By Fred Hain
What happened to the good old
days? A time when we put a
wheelbarrow or two of cow
manure & some fertilizer in &
around the stump site, filled it in,
planted a pumpkin seed, watered
it, watch it grow & spend 15
minutes a day on maintenance.
Well, the result was a 56-pound
pumpkin, which I entered at the
London Fair. I was so proud! First
place went to a pumpkin weighing
in a at 120-pounds & boy did it
look big! I was hooked from the
start. That was about 25 years
ago & I had just retired from the
Armed Forces after serving for 25
years. Being able to strip and
assemble an assault rifle with my
eyes blind folded in not time at
all, I though, how hard can it be to
grow a big pumpkin! I started to
investigate
seeds & found
& ordered a
package of 10
Dill’s Atlantic
Giant
Pumpkin
seeds, but
only one
germinated,
while the rest went rotten. Of
course I blamed it on bad seeds.
LOL. I did manage to grow a
pumpkin over 100 pounds, but
unfortunately it rotted in the
garden (I had it sitting on a piece
of rubberized Styrofoam).
Perhaps I should have kept
stripping & assembling a rifle
instead. However, I don’t give up
so easily, so I bought a book
written by Al Kingsbury called
“The Pumpkin King”. Reading
about Howard Dill really got me
motivated & things started to
improve year after year.
I heard about the Port Elgin
Pumpkinfest & my wife Dorothy & I
decided we should drive up & have
a look. It was held at the Curling
Rink at the time & for the first
time, we had a good look at 400 &
500 pound pumpkins. Wow! I
was really hooked now. I started
attending the Port Elgin Giant
Pumpkin Seminars held every
spring. I bought an AG seed from
John Lyons, who was a member of
the panel & did an interesting
presentation. I grew my first big
pumpkin from that seed &
weighed in at just a few pounds
over 500#. I never looked back
after that. My free time also
became less & less as most of my
time became dedicated to my
pumpkin patch. Skipping ahead
to 2008. This year I missed the
IGVG Convention in Niagara Falls
for the 1st time,
due the biggest
snowstorm this
past winter. The
good old days are
definitely gone.
Today, preparing
the pumpkin
patch for planting
is a great
challenge on what or what not to
use. A soil test is a must, less &
less chemical fertilizers are now
used & organic amendments,
compost tea, tea soup and so on
are now a must.
We have come a long way since
William Warnock grew the first big
pumpkin in 1893 and set a new
World Record with a 365 pound
pumpkin. And what did he use
10
for fertilizer? Only cattle and
chicken manure. The stump site
was dug 14” deep and seven feet
in diameter. My personal best
was an
1160pound
pumpkin. I
didn’t
believe we
would reach
the 1000pound
mark and
now the
Fred with his 950.5#
sights are
set on reaching the 2000-pound
mark. Will it ever happen?
Looking back over the years I
must say that I had a lot of fun
and met so many great growers
and made many good friends,
especially John Butler and Art
Johnson. Both of them are
convinced that I attended the
Chicago World’s Fair in 1883 with
William Warnock. What is
amazing still are the questions
people ask, for example were
steroids used on the plants. I’m
sure we’ve all heard them, but
every once in awhile a new one
pops up. I remember one lady
looking at one of my 15’
sunflowers sitting in a pot of
water that was on display at the
London Western Fair and she
asked how many years it took to
grow it that tall. When I brought a
class from Fanshawe College that
I was teaching to see my pumpkin
patch, I was telling them that a
pumpkin can grow 20-30 pounds
or more a day. Of course, they
politely told me that I was full of
B. S. While walking around the
patch one of the students looked
at the tall corn and sunflowers,
and he whispered in my ear “Boy,
could you ever grow marijuana
here!” I guess if I did I would get a
better return for my money and
stay on a high all
season long. On
another occasion
a student brought
his family to look
at the garden and
while walking
around kept
repeating
“Jurassic Park,
Jurassic Park!”
from 2007
The time is here again when we
look at all our A.G. seed stock and
try to select the best one we think
and hope we will grow the biggest
A.G. ever. For me it will be
especially hard. I will only grow
three plants this year. The dry
summer was deadly on my plants
last year as they all shut down the
same time. A 950 pound
pumpkin as we all know doesn’t
cut it any more. I pumped 1000
to 2000 litres of water from the
well each day but it still was not
enough. Dorothy was always
worried I would run the well dry.
She just doesn’t get it that
watering the pumpkins is more
important than having a shower!
Well in closing, I hope all of you
growers pick the right seed, get
your patch in good shape and we
all get good weather. And luck we
can’t do without either. May we
all achieve a personal best and
one of us I am sure will come up
perhaps with a New World Record.
2000 pounds? No way.
Top 10 Ideas to Increase Club Membership
By Phil Joynson
10. Include cannabis seeds in club seed distribution program.
9. Give away free Leaf play-off tickets with every new
membership. (Like that’s ever going to cost us a dime!”)
8. Spread rumour that Joe Jutras makes his compost teas using
only old club newsletters.
7. Provide the best newsletter, seed distribution, seminar, growing
supply discounts and distribution, web-site, know-how...Oh we
already do that!
6. Rename the club newsletter to “Big Melons Quarterly”.
5. Replace stupid “Top 10” list with real easy Sudoku.
4. “Have pole dancers instead of guest speakers at club seminar.
3. Change G.V.G.O to S.T.U.D. It doesn’t actually mean anything but
would look better on a T-Shirt
2. Change club name to the Ohio Valley Pumpkin Growers.
1. Kick anyone named “Phil” out of the club. (This includes middle
name too..Sorry!)
11
decided to try and explore this
area by testing some of the
methods that are often talked
By Matt DeBacco
about. What I think must be
looked at very carefully when
Introduction about me
talking about a biological
I am 23 years old and working
process is consistency. If you are
toward my Master's degree in
trying something dierent with
Agronomy at the University of
every brew you make and you
Connecticut. This
just apply it,
year will be my 8th
The GVGO would like to
there is no way
Thank Matt for Sharing all
year growing giant
to tell which
his hard work & results
pumpkins. In the
with the Readers of the
batch worked
past, I have run into
GVGO Grower’s Vine
better.
disease pressure,
and I decided to do some
Knowing this, I decided not to
use yard trimmings as a source
research into what new methods
of compost; not because this is a
were out there for control other
bad source of compost, but
than the typical chemicals.
because it is prone to high
Research
variability. For example, in the
So I began looking into the
spring there may be more sticks,
concept of compost teas, which
and the fall may contain more
involves simply making a liquid
leaf material.
form of a typical solid material.
I spent a lot of time carefully
Making this liquid allows
selecting what my ingredients
dierent methods of application
were going to be for my tea, and
to be used for a variety of
here is what I selected:
purposes.
-Tea ingredients
Hearing what some growers
were saying, I started my search
-Dechlorinated water
for some scientific publications,
Perhaps the ingredient that is
but the data out there was slim.
taken for granted is water. But
There were a few publications
remember you are trying to
that did show an improvement in
grow microbes in this water. If
disease suppression, but the
you have city water, check to see
methods used were variable.
what your water treatment
The research presented below is
company adds to the water.
based on a one-year trial using
There is a good chance that
Dill's Atlantic Giant Pumpkin
chlorine is added, and if this is
Plants and studying compost
the case, you need to let the
tea's ability to suppress powdery
water sit at least over night to
mildew.
allow time for the chlorine to gas
o, so that you have an
Consistency
environment conducive to
Noticing that there was a
microbe proliferation.
noticeable gap in useful
information to growers, I
Compost Tea &
Powdery Mildew
Quality compost
Next is the source of microbes
or compost you add to the water.
It is important that you select a
quality source. It is dicult to
define quality compost based on
looks, so I would suggest you try
and purchase your compost
from a reliable source. Also, to
try and reduce variability, I
calculated how much compost I
needed for the entire season and
then purchased that amount
before I made my first brew. This
ensured that I was dealing with
the same batch of compost.
The two best sources that I
found were Alaskan humus and
worm castings, so I decided on
using a 50/50 mix of both. The
theory behind this is that the
Alaskan humus comes from very
old materials (about 10,000
years), and the worm castings
have more recently active
microbes, so by combining the
two I felt I could get the best of
both.
It is also important to think
about what type of tea bag you
place the compost in. If the
pores are too small then you
could strain out the organisms
you are trying to apply to your
garden. On the other hand, if the
pores are too large, your
delivery system will end up
getting clogged. So, a happy
medium must be reached. I
found that a simple nylon paint
strainer mesh bag works great,
is easy to get and inexpensive,
so buy a few.
Microbe food
Now that you have the microbes,
you must consider what you are
12
going to feed them. Like people,
microbes also have some foods
they prefer over others, so I try
to oer a wide variety to my
brew in hopes that everyone will
find something they like.
Brewer
Compost tea requires a brewer,
but which is the best? This was
the central question I tried to
answer. I selected two dierent
types of aeration: passive and
active. Both types can be made
in a relatively short period of
time, but the question was is
there a dierence between the
two types of aeration?
There are two main name brands
out there. For passively aerated,
there is SoilSoup and for actively
aerated, there is Keep-It-Simple.
Growers have used both with
success, but since competitive
growers often do not grow
control plants, it is dicult to
test any dierences.
So, I decided to compare both
brewers’ products after given
the same ingredients to see if
one would select a dierent set
of organisms that may be
helpful in controlling powdery
mildew.
Methods
Experimental layout
I was fortunate enough to get
part of a field that had many
dierent types of other
squashes growing, so that
plenty of inoculum would be
present. The soil had been
tested, and adjustments were
made to ensure fertile ground.
5 treatment groups
I also selected 5 treatment
groups and evaluated the
performance. Some you will see
are combination sprays, and this
was based on some of the data I
read that a dilution of 40% milk
could also help reduce powdery
mildew. So, I decided to do two
separate sprays on dierent
days of the week to try and
further improve powdery mildew
control.
1. Control - these plants were
just observed and allowed me to
tell what disease pressure was
like in the field
2. Actively aerated compost tea
applied early in the week and
40% milk applied later in the
week
3. Actively aerated compost tea
applied early in the week and
bacterial brew + 40% milk
applied later in the week. The
bacterial brew simply consisted
of some SoilSoup nutrient
solution (food), and some
Serenade MAX. This a bio control
that is made up of a specific
bacteria to try and propagate
more of the bacteria. I applied
this special bacteria brew with
milk.
4. Passively aerated compost
tea applied early in the week and
40% milk applied later in the
week
5. Chemical control- for this
treatment group I simply
sprayed Daconil once every 7-10
days and made observations.
Reason for 40% milk
The reason I selected 40% milk
over the more traditional 10% is
that, based on the study I read, it
showed some variable results at
10%. Also, I was doing most of
my sprays in the early morning
when dew is on the leaves, and
this water would further dilute
my milk concentration.
Recipe
The recipes I used to make the
above treatments are as follows:
Compost:
(0.8oz. / gallon) of Alaskan
Humus 6.1g / 1L
(0.8 oz. / gallon) of Worm
Castings 6.1g / 1L
Nutrients:
(1oz. / gallon) of SoilSoup
nutrient solution 8.2mL / 1L
(0.5tsp / gallon) Organic Gem
Fish 0.65mL / 1L
(0.5tsp / gallon) Joel Holland
Kelp 0.65mL / 1L
(0.5tsp / gallon) TurfPro
0.65mL / 1L
Bacterial Brew:
Serenade MAX (0.5tsp / gallon)
0.65mL / 1L
SoilSoup Nutrient Solution
(1oz. / gallon) 8.2mL / 1L
Length of brews (based on
manufactures
recommendations)
Both the actively and passively
aerated brews used the same
recipe, and only the method of
aeration and brew time diered.
The active took only 12-14hrs.
and the passive was allowed to
brew for 20-24hrs.
Each was applied using a simple
back-pack sprayer on a 7-10 day
schedule.
13
Way used to collect data
For powdery mildew, the
traditional method of data
collection is simple field
observations, and this same
protocol was used for evaluation
of this experiment.
aerated compost and milk. So,
what I concluded was that the
bacteria were not eective
against the strain of powdery
mildew that infects Dill's Atlantic
Giant pumpkin plants.
Conclusions, the take-away
message
I know that there is a lot of
information presented above, so
here is the basic summary that
you can hopefully use during
your growing season:
Leaf on left from the
controlled plot, while the
leaf on the right is from
the Compost Tea (actively
aerated) and 40% milk
treatment
Field trial results
What I noticed after collecting
and compiling all the numbers
was that there were distinct
dierences in the treatment
groups. The most surprising
results were that the bacterial
brew- treated plants became
infected with powdery mildew at
a rate higher than actively
Out of the organic treatments,
the actively aerated compost tea
and 40% milk treatment did
reduce powdery mildew the
greatest.
While all treatments did reduce
powdery mildew when compared
to the no treatment control
plants, the passively aerated
brews rate of infection most
similarly matched the control
plants, so its degree of
eectiveness was concluded as
minimal.
bacteria, and then brewing-up
more will not help increase your
tea's eectiveness against
powdery mildew.
Out of all the organic
treatments, the fungicide
control was the most
effective.
For further research I would
suggest considering adding an
adjuvant, but select one that will
not harm the organisms in your
brew. This will allow for an
increase in the plant area your
spray comes in contact with, and
will give a more eective
coverage area. One paper I read
suggested Yucca extract be
used.
-Refer to Team-Pumpkin
Special thanks to my advisor, Dr. Thomas
Morris, the University of Connecticut
research farm sta, and Phil Hunt for his
interest in my research. If you would like
to view some of the actual field trial
pictures of the direct leaf comparison,
please visit www.Team-Pumpkin.org and
look for the title "Milk". You can also find
some other helpful information on
growing giant pumpkins there.
Adding Serenade MAX to your
compost tea as a source of
Paul McIntyre
The AG grower’s fraternity lost another good friend in May 2008, when Paul passed away
from a sudden heart attack. Paul burst onto the scene in 1996 with an 897-pound
pumpkin at Ottawa, his first year of growing them. This achievement placed him #4 in
Canada and #5 in the GPC that year.
Paul had a great sense of humor and enjoyed many activities including the International
Pumpkin Seminars and the 2006 “Pumpkin Cruise” to the Caribbean. He was a great guy
who will be sadly missed & fondly remembered by all who knew him
14
How I grew my
1524.5# Pumpkin
To further help our members
reach their goals, we have asked
GVGO Out-of-Province member
Robert (Bob) Liggett how he
grew his 1524.5# monster
pumpkin. It’s now ranked as the
7th largest pumpkin ever grown.
We’d like to thank Bob for all
his help with the article & for
sharing his ideas & techniques
with our membership. Take care
Bob & good luck this season.
Can you tell us what your
spring prep was on the same
plot?
For the .1 acre added 40 lb. bag
of gypsum, 50 lb. Rich
Earth,Grubex 11/2 normal rate;
(Subdue, Clearys 3336, M Roots
at recommended rate).
Can you give us the results
of your soil test?
PH – 6.7, Organic Matter – 5.5%,
Phos – 157 ppm, K – 483 ppm,
Mag – 355 ppm, Calcium 1950
ppm, Base Saturation is: K- 8.2%,
Mag – 19.5%, Cal – 64.4%, H –
7.9%. Micro nutrients are: Sulfur
– 17 ppm, Zinc – 13.7 ppm,
Maneganese – 4.7 ppm, Iron – 34
ppm, Copper – 2.3 ppm, Boron –
1.5 ppm.
Did you use Mycorrhizal
Fungi &/or Humic Acid on
that plant? If so, How much
& how often?
What seed grew your
monster pumpkin?
The 664.5 Liggett 04
Can you describe in detail
the fall prep you did on the
plot that grew your 1524#
pumpkin?
Chisel plowed .1 acre patch,
which had been seeded with
lawn seed (blue grass, rye, etc.)
two years prior. Added 3-inch
layer of fresh shredded maple
leaves and 5 cubic yards of 2
month old cow manure.
Dissolved 11/2 gallon of
molasses in warm water and
applied by water can over patch.
Mixing rate 1-pint molasses in
10 quarts water.
Do you practice a till or notill method of preparing the
soil in your patch?
Till method
Usedabout 2 lbs. per plant of
Holland's BioEndo Mycorrhizal
Fungi, appliedin planting hole
and under each leaf node when
burying side vines. Used 10
pounds of Rich Earth humic acid
per planting area.
Associates products; ureamate,etc.
What do you use for insect &
disease control?
Garlic Gard or Bio Repel, Merit,
Warrior T
Did you use Compost Teas & if
so, how was it applied?
Did not use any teas or soups.
What was your weather like
& how much water per plant
per week did you feed it?
The dry weather permitted
prescription watering by drip
tape of an inch of water per
week delivereddailyover the an
extended time most of August
and September over the entire .1
acre patch.
Is there anything different
that you’d like to try in
2008?
Four plants only this year so I
canspend a little less time in
the patch and have more time to
care for each plant when they
need it.
Do you have any tips or
thoughts that would help
our members break through
the 1300# mark or grow a
new PB?
How far was the pumpkin
from the base of the plant?
10 feet
What vine pattern did you
use, the Christmas tree or
something different?
Starts as a Christmas tree but
ends up as a rectangle when
trimming is finished. Do not
plant back to back.
What was your fertilization
program & how were they
applied?
Used Agro K from start to finish
minus the cow manure brew.
Used soil test recommendations.
Used some of the Widmer &
I believe if you find a plantthat
does well in your soil then use it
as the mother plant and
addpollen from proven mothers
ie; Calai, Bobier, Eaton,Beachy,
Rose, Knauss, Pukos, Wallace,
etc. in your own patch and the
following year you have a good
chance togrow the new world
recordin your patch from the
seed you developed.
Thanks Bob!
15
Pesticides 101
By John Vincent
It won’t be long until we start
to see our old adversaries, the
Cucumber Beetle, the Squash
Bug (Stink Bug) and the Squash
Vine Borer (SVB). Many of us
take a vow each spring to try to
reduce the use of chemical
pesticides in an attempt to be
more environmentally
responsible. But soon, we have
an infestation of one of these
critters and we must find
control methods, or face
dismal results at the weigh o!
In this article I will discuss the
use of chemical control of
insects and fungal infection
and will touch on some of the
organic alternatives. It should
be kept in mind that just
because a thing is deemed
‘organic’ does not mean it is
any safer. In fact some modern
pesticides are very safe not
only to humans but also to the
environment. Always keep in
mind the following quote
"All things are poison and
nothing is without poison;
only the dose makes that a
thing is not poison."
(Paracelsus)
A Swiss physician, Known as
the father of toxicology.
(1493 - 1541)
Unfortunately in Canada, as
growers of a highly specialized
“crop”, we suer somewhat
from a lack of products that
will control these pests. Our US
brethren have a far wider
arsenal of compounds
available to them, many of
which are available over the
counter. In Canada, our war
chest is smaller for many
reasons. The main one is
economic. Chemical
manufacturers are about
making money. In order to
license a product for sale, they
have to spend millions of
dollars, doing testing and
studies to prove that the
product has ecacy (that it
works) and that it is safe to
public health. The price of a
pesticide in the market place
has nothing to do with what it
costs to make, but rather what
retail price will the market
bare. Many products licensed
in the US are either not
available at all in Canada or
may be available but not
registered on the same crops.
Quite often this is because the
market is just too small in
Canada for the manufacturer
to spend the necessary dollars
to register the product. They
would never be able to sell
enough products to recuperate
their investment.
Another confusing situation
are trade names. Often
products registered in the US
are available in Canada, but
under dierent trade or
common names.
Most pesticides available for
sale in Canada require a
pesticide license to purchase.
To obtain a license you must
be a “grower” as defined by the
Ministry of the Environment.
You are a grower (farmer) if you:
1.
Use land for agricultural or
forestry production, AND
2.
That land is classified as
farmlands property under
the Ontario Assessment Act.
OR that land is not classified
as farmlands property under
the Ontario Assessment Act
but you are involved in the
application of pesticides for
the purpose of agricultural
or forestry production. The
agricultural or forestry
commodity being produced
is for market and not solely
for consumption by you or
by members of your
household. The agricultural
or forestry production is not
done as a hobby or for
recreational purposes.
You may own, rent, lease or
share crop the farm land you use
or may be employed on the farm
land.
To become a licensed Grower,
you must:
1.
Attend a one day Grower
Pesticide Safety Course AND
2.
Successfully complete the
Grower Pesticide Safety
Course AND
3.
Be at least 16 years of age
AND
4.
Meet the above definition of
a grower.
Once you obtain your license
you can purchase any pesticide
licensed in Canada and
scheduled in Ontario.
The next challenge you may
encounter is package size.
Some products that work very
well on pumpkins come in
package sizes impractical for
our purposes. Case in point is
the insecticide ‘Matador’.
Matador in the US is sold under
the trade name ‘Warrior T’.
This is a very eective
16
insecticide that is registered on
pumpkins in both countries.
Unfortunately, it only comes in
a 3.785L (1 US gal) jug that
costs $651.
Chemical Families
Insecticides and fungicides are
divided into chemical families or
groups by mode of action that is
“the way they kill the specific
pest.”
Insects and fungi have the ability
to build up resistance over time
to compounds we apply to try to
control them. For this reason, it
is very important to not use the
same compounds over and over
again. Rotation between
products and especially between
chemical families is extremely
important to manage resistance.
Insect control
Growing competitive Atlantic
giant pumpkins requires
controlling the insects.
Cucumber beetle are the most
common problem in Southern
Ontario. In addition to causing
direct plant injury by adult
feeding and occasional damage
to roots by larval feeding, the
striped cucumber beetle is the
most important as a vector of
plant diseases, and in particular
bacterial wilt. Fusarium wilt and
squash mosaic virus can also be
spread by these critters. Control
is fairly easing using over the
counter insecticides like Sevin or
Ambush. Restricted products
like Matador or Admire also
work very well.
Other insects of importance are
Squash bug and Squash Vine
Borer (SVB). Squash Bugs are also
fairly easy to control with any of
the above products. SVB on the
other hand can be particularly
hard to control. The only
product available in Canada
today, over the counter that will
control these pests is Ambush. If
you live in an active SVB area,
your best course of action is to
start regular applications of
Ambush around mid June and
continue until late July.
Admire which is sold in the US as
Merit, also works very well on
SVB. Merit is available in Canada
as a granular material and is
registered only in turf for control
of white grubs. Merit, applied to
the soil at the white grub rate in
early to mid June will give you
eective control of SVB for the
season. Merit is systemic, which
means that it is taken up by the
plants root system and moves
threw all parts of the plant. What
this means is that for the insect
to get a lethal dose it must take
a bite of the plant. Admire (Merit)
also provides aective control of
the other common insects, but
you run the risk of your plant
becoming infected with a
disease, before the insect dies.
For this reason it is a good idea
if you are using a soil application
of Merit, to also use a foliar
treatment of another product at
the same time. Ambush or
Matador are the products of
choice here as they broad
spectrum and last up to up to
two weeks. I reapply alternate
insecticides on a weekly basis
starting in mid June or as soon
as I see the first cucumber
beetle.
Some growers have been able to
achieve excellent insect control
with Neem Oil. Neem oil is a
natural extract from the fruits
and seeds of the Neem tree. It is
known to control a wide range of
insects as well as suppress
several diseases including
powdery mildew.
One thing we must always be
conscious of are the beneficial,
such as lady bugs, ground
beetles and honey bees. Many
chemical pesticides also kill
beneficial insects. Neem oil is
not known to be harmful to Bees
or Lady Bugs.
Another insect worth
mentioning is the aphid. Aphids
are very small almost
microscopic insects that do not
over winter in Ontario. Rather
they hitch a ride on the jet
stream coming up from the
south. Aphids also can cause
serious damage to the plants
buy sucking the juice out of the
leaves. But more importantly,
they are the vector for the
mosaic viruses, both cucumber
and watermelon. Control can be
achieved easily with Ambush,
Matador or Neem oil; however
we still run the risk of disease
infection. In this case, an oz of
prevention is worth a pound of
cure! Some growers are having
some success using Garlic juice
as a repellent. There is a product
sold in the US called Garlic
Barrier. The same product is sold
in Canada called Mosquito
Barrier.
Fungal Controls
Cucurbits and in particular,
Cucurbita Maxima are
susceptible to a range of leaf
disease especially Powdery
Mildew (PM). There is an old
17
saying in the horticultural world,
“when it rains, it spores”!
Powdery Mildew is a fungal
disease that reproduces by
means of spores, which are
basically the seeds of the
fungus. These are spread by
wind. Conditions of high
humidity, wet, raining and warm
conditions are perfect breeding
grounds for PM. By the time you
reach mid June and the humidity
level starts to clime, you need to
pay attention to preventing
powdery mildew from getting a
foot hold on your plants. Once it
is established, it can be
extremely dicult to get rid of
and can do a lot of irreparable
damage in a short period of
time.
There are a few chemical
products available over the
counter to control PM here in
Ontario. Funginex Rose
fungicide is very eective in
controlling PM on pumpkins.
The product is systemic, which
means that you can spray the
tops of the leaves and it will
move through the plant giving
you eective control. Sulfur
powder and copper sprays will
also work well not only as
preventatives but can stop PM in
its tracks if an outbreak occurs.
Both sulfur and copper sprays
can be very harsh on the leaves.
Care must be taken not to over
apply or to spray in the heat of
the day.
The medicine cabinet is much
larger if you have a license.
Products like Cabrio (Headline)
and Quadris both provide
excellent control while boosting
the plants own immune system.
These products are both in the
strobilurin family. They work by
preventing infection. They are
not true systemic, but are
translaminar, which means they
move from the top of the leaf
down threw the leaf.
Unfortunately these products
have a high incidence of
resistance.
You may have heard US growers
refer to a product called Daconil.
This product is available in
Canada under the trade name
Bravo. This is a very old
chemistry, but is still very
eective in controlling PM
especially when used in rotation
with a Stroilurin.
Another product that works very
well on PM in Pumpkin is called
Nova. This is a totally dierent
family then the other products I
mentioned and is a true
systemic, moving completely
threw the plant. Unfortunately
this product is only registered in
Canada for use in Apples. The
active ingredient is registered in
several other countries for use in
pumpkin. It is sold in the US
under the trade name Eagle.
Organic remedies include Milk,
applied at a 10% dilution rate
along with Baking soda at 1 TBS
per gal. This mixture works by
lowering the pH on the leaf
surface eectively preventing
infection. The down side to this
is that it must be reapplied every
5 days or so and more often if it
rains o.
As mentioned in the section on
insect control, Neem Oil also
helps to control PM.
Fungicidal Effects on
Mycorrhizae
When using mycorrhizal fungi
inoculants, it is important to
consider what eect your
fungicide treatments will have. It
would make no sense to
inoculate with mycorrhizal
fungi, only to kill them with
fungicide application. As a
general rule foliar application of
non-systemic fungicides has
very little impact on mycorrhizal
fungi, which reside on the roots.
Even though some fungicide will
reach the soil, the amount
reaching the root zone is usually
too low to have a significant,
long-term eect on mycorrhizal
fungi. Foliar or soil application
of systemic fungicides can lead
to accumulation of fungicide in
the root tissue having a negative
impact on mycorrhizal fungi.
Roots of treated plants are not
susceptible to colonization by
mycorrhizal fungi for up to 3
weeks after systemic fungicide
treatment. No fungicide
eradicates mycorrhizae; they
only decrease development for a
short time after application. It is
generally accepted that if the
roots are well colonized prior to
beginning a treatment schedule,
there will be very little eect on
the mycorrhizae.
Surfactants
Most pesticides are a lot more
eective when applied using a
surfactant. Surfactants are
basically soaps. What they do is
make the water “wetter”, by
breaking down the surface
tension of the water droplets,
allowing them to lie flat on the
leaf surface, increasing there
18
absorption rate. Think of the leaf
surface like the freshly waxed
hood of your car. When you spray
water on it, the water beads up
and rolls o. This is caused by
surface tension on the water
droplets. The surface of leaves
also have a waxing coating, the
plant produces to protect itself
from elements. Some surfactants
also act as a solvent on the leaves
waxy cuticle. Many pesticides are
made already containing a
surfactant. You need to be very
careful adding additional
surfactant as you can easily burn
the leaves if the material is too
aggressive. Neem oil in particular
works much better when used
with a surfactant. Most
hydroponics stores carry
surfactants suitable for our
purposes.
Water
Both insecticides and fungicides
are susceptible to water pH and
water hardness. High pH and
hard water can breakdown the
active ingredients sometimes in a
manner of minutes. Acidifying
agents like vinegar or citric acid
can be eectively added to lower
the pH of the spray water and can
help improve the eectiveness of
the material. The exception to
this is copper or sulfur based
fungicides. You should not
acidify the water when applying
these materials. Vinegar at the
rate of 1 TBS per gal of water will
eectively lower high pH water
down into the range of pH5.
Always use soft water if possible
for spraying of pesticides. If you
don’t have a water softener, rain
water works well. It is naturally
soft and usually low pH.
Environmental Factors
Most pesticides are best applied
when going into the cool of the
day, meaning late afternoon or
evening. Not only does this
reduce the chance of injury to the
plants, but it will also minimize
injury to benificials such as bees.
If the weather is extremely hot,
spraying should be avoided all
together.
Fungicides are best applied
several hours prior to a rain
event. Exceptions to this are
contact materials like copper or
sulfur based sprays and of course
milk and baking soda.
Wind should also be considered.
Applying pesticides in the wind
will reduce the amount of
material reaching your plants and
could also send the material to
somewhere you don’t want it.
Safety
No discussion on pesticides
would be complete without a
discussion on safety. Because we
are working right out amongst
our vines we run the risk of high
exposures to these pesticides.
Always wear protective gloves
(latex or nutrile) when measuring
and mixing products. Wear long
sleeved shirts and long pants or
coveralls when spraying. Rubber
boots are best. Do not wear
leather boots or shoes when
spraying. After you are done
spraying always wash the close
you were wearing immediately in
a separate load. Wash your hands
well with soap before eating,
drinking or smoking. If possible
take a shower and wash your hair.
considered especially if using
some of the more aggressive
pesticides. If you are using a mist
blower, a good respirator is a
necessity.
Many pesticides have a minimum
reentry period. This means that
you should not go back in the
patch for several hours after
application. In most cases if you
spray in the evening, you are ok
to wait until the following
morning. Remember, always read
the label before applying any
pesticide product.
The Provincial Pesticide Ban
Eective next spring, all cosmetic
pesticides will be banned here in
Ontario. This includes the entire
over the counter products we
currently use including: Ambush,
Sevin, and funginex. I recently
discuss this with another grower
who does not use any of these
materials. His comment was that
it is our right to choose if we
want to use these products or
not. He chooses no! I agree totally
with his view. We should have a
choice. The government in their
wisdom has caved in to public
pressure and banned products
deemed safe by the Canadian
government as well as the
regulatory bodies of many other
countries. This is a free country,
but somehow I feel just a little
less free than I did!
A respirator may seem like an
extreme, but should be
19
The GVGO is proud to announce the beginning of a Special Fundraising Raffle with ALL proceeds
being donated to the Cancer Society in memory of Howard Dill & the many other AG growers who
have been affected by this terrible disease. The raffle will start July 1st & run until August 31st.
1st-3rd prizes will be signed & numbered, special limited (only 15) edition prints of the
painting “Great Beginnings” by Elly Wilson. The Pumpkin King, Howard Dill, has also signed
these prints. the print is of the Dill original homestead in Windsor, NS. Because the prints
are being raffled unframed, ticket prices will be a reasonable price at: $2 each, 6 for $10,
12 for $20.
We hope that you’ll support this very worthy cause.
Please send cheque or money order to:
GVGO
4376 Hwy 35
Cameron, Ontario, Canada
KOM 1G0
to use PayPal, contact Kirk Chenier at kchenier@nexicom.net
Great Beginnings
By Elly Wilson
For those of you who would like to purchase a signed & numbered limited edition (1 of 85)
print, please contact the GVGO at: gvgo@i-zoom.net or by phone: 705-887-4835. There is
only a limited supply left, so order early. Unframed prints are $40 + $10 shipping & handling.
These prints are signed by the artist, Elly Wilson, but not by Howard Dill
20
GVGO HATS & T-SHIRTS
The GVGO is now offering this opportunity to purchase authentic GVGO hats
& t-shirts. The price of either item is $15+ shipping. All products will be
shipped out using Canada Post Express Mail. If you have any questions
please contact: Kirk Chenier at: kchenier@cogeco.ca & he’ll help you out!
The Hats are a light beige color, with a black peak. They have the GVGO
logo embroidered on the front & the size can be adjusted. The T-Shirts
come in sizes L to XXXL. They only come in the color white & have our
logo on the front. Contact Kirk for the availability of your size.
GVGO Products
Mail To:
GVGO
4376 Hwy 35 N
Cameron, ON
Canada
K0M 1G0
#___ Hats @ $15 each=____
#___ T-Shirts @ $15 each=____
Size of T-shirt L XL XXL XXXL (circle one)
Total $_________
21
NEW GVGO CLOTHING
Grow your pumpkin in style this year!
GVGO spring/fall beige jacket. Front left chest has GVGO logo, right chest
has your full name & the back has the letters GVGO all embroidered &
sewn across it. Costs are @ $55 plus shipping to your address. Special
Order - will take 3-5 weeks to arrive.
GVGO Golf Shirts: Men-grey, Women-yellow. Front left chest has GVGO
logo, right chest has your full name. All embroidered on. Costs are @ $37,
plus shipping. Special Order - will take 3-5 weeks to arrive.
22
Frost the Deadly
Encounter
By Russ Landry
Wikipedia defines “FROST” as a
solid deposition of water vapor
from saturated air. It is formed
when solid surfaces are cooled to
below the dew point of the
adjacent air.” Ah, but the
gardener simply knows it just got
too darn cold for the plants.
Looking further into the
definition it is clear that frost is
ice and nothing more than that.
However as with all things in
nature there are ways in which
the gardener can protect tender
plants from this icy damage.
Firstly let’s take a close look at
exactly what happens to plants
when they are exposed to frost.
The types we like to grow
competitively Tomatoes,
Pumpkins, Long Gourds and
Watermelon are not frost hardy at
all. Thee plants will die if
subjected to ice forming low
temperatures upon their leaf
tissues. There are some
conditions in which these types
of plants can survive cooling air.
Plant leaf cells are damaged by
sharp ice crystals formed on the
leaves. In night conditions with
low dew points frost does not
usually form and thus in cooling
below 0*C many plants can
withstand the chilling injury. The
leaf and thus in cooling below
0*C many plants can withstand
the chilling injury. The leaf tissue
remains in sort of a super cooled
state not aected or injured as
the ice crystals have done no
damage. There are also certain
chemical concoctions that can
enhance
survivability to frost
injury but these are
not the focus of this
article.
There are some
points the gardener
can consider in
order to help his progeny survive
the nights chilling air. Beyond
and or inside the sheltering
aects of the hoop house or cold
frames frost can often occur. Is it
important to consider that
usually the coldest air is always at
ground level. Movement of this
air upward can prevent frost
injury by drawing in warming air
from aloft. Open air heating
works in much the same way. We
have all seen farmers rush about
in winter protecting citrus crops
in Florida from frost. They light
open pot fires to create
convective air movement and
keep the ground air warmer.
Fans blowing upwards do much
the same job. Water sprayed on
crops carries with it latent heat
and prevents frost from forming
on crops. I have used this tactic
several times on my flower
gardens over the years to protect
showy early planted annual
flowers.
Weather plays such an important
role and with frost the conditions
must be just right for ice crystals
to form. Windy conditions often
prevent frost formation by raising
ground temperatures as the
movement of the coolest ground
air is replaced with warmer air
aloft. Clouds on cool nights are
really the gardener’s best friend.
They prevent radiation of warm
air from surfaces and help to trap
warmer air into the
atmosphere much like a
blanket. Temperature
readings are another
very important factor.
As the thermometer
plunges nightly it is
critical that the gardener
be alerted that frost ice damage
can occur at temperatures which
often appear to be above the
freezing point. This is caused by
temperature inversions that
concentrate the coldest air near
the ground. The damaging time
occurs most often near or just
after sunrise. The suns warming
rays begin to heat the upper
atmosphere and further invert
the cold air down to the ground.
On the evening of May 29th a
wide spread Central and
Southern Ontario frost occurred
beginning at around 2am. I was
up that morning checking the
temperatures every 15 minutes
or so. To my horrors I was
startled to see the temperature at
1.5*C, need less to say I sprang
into action with hot water bottles
and covering shelters. Alas the
damage was done. The
temperatures out in the garden a
mere 200 feet away were already
in the frost forming range. My
temperature sensor is placed 3
feet above the ground and 5 feet
from the house. This as I though
for years was pretty accurate.
However when trying to
determine if frost will form I
learned the most valuable lesson
of all. It is far easier to cover and
protect at dusk then run, heat
and ventilate at dawn thus risking
your plants to the deadly
encounter of frost.
23
Grower Profile
By Phil Joynson
Editor Note:
Fred Hain was supposed to be this
month’s feature grower but we didn’t
receive his answers to our questions by
press time. Rumour has it that Fred’s
wife Dorothy knocked the ladder over
while Fred was on his sunflower/tall
corn tower. Fred is now stuck 20 feet
in the air and is living on a diet of
bananas that Dorothy tosses to him
daily. Dorothy will let him down as soon
as Fred promises to dig up the tank he
has buried in the back yard. Good-luck
Fred. A man has to do what a man has
to do. Since it’s an emergency situation,
I’m forced to interview myself for the
“grower profile”
I met myself for this following
interview in front of the computer
in my basement where I had a
short chat with myself. (This
happens more than I like to
admit)
(for this article bold text is me &
regular text is myself)
Do you have a family?
Yes. I have a wife (Kathy), two
kids (Emma 17 and Eric 15) and
also two dogs. Two of the above
individuals enjoy ear rubs and
rolling around in dead things but
I won’t say which ones so as not
to embarrass them.
What’s your Occupation?
I’m an autoworker at GM (for
now)
How many years have you
been growing giant pumpkins
and what got you started
growing?
I’ve been growing for 12 years
now but only about 9 seriously.
My wife forced me out of
suburbia and into a rural type
area with an acre of land. I
noticed the people across the
street had a small AG pumpkin
that fall and they gave me seeds
from that pumpkin. It’s been a
slow steady decline into madness
ever since.
What is your favourite seed
to grow? What is your
favourite seed to grow from
your own stock?
What is the largest pumpkin
that you’ve grown and on
which seed did you grow it on?
Do you think it’s
better to have a large plant
(over 600 sq. ft.) or a smaller
plant (under 600 sq. ft) to
grow a large pumpkin and
what is your preference?
Ah... that’s a sore spot. The
biggest pumpkin I ever got to a
weigh-o was 988 lbs, but I’ve
had a few bigger. That pumpkin
was grown o the 1370 Rose.
Does anyone else in your
family grow giant pumpkins?
No. The kids can’t mention the
word pumpkin without placing
the word “stupid” in front of it.
My wife wishes I had a less
expensive hobby like taking hard
drugs or blowing my wages at the
race track. Kathy does like the
social aspect of the hobby but
seldom gets her hands dirty until
loading time.
Do you grow any other giant
vegetables besides pumpkin
and if so what are they?
I have long gourds, watermelons,
cabbages and a marrow this year.
I hope to be a marrow (seed)
donor this year. I used to make
fun of guys who grew these sort
of things but it sure is a lot less
work than pumpkins are and fun
too.
I love the 1370 Rose. It
produces a very large
beautiful pumpkin with a
large trouble free plant. I
really haven’t had much
luck with my own seed
stock despite some
pretty good crosses. I’ll
keep trying my own until
I get something big.
I think it’s better to go larger. I
plant on going with 700+ sq. ft.
plants this year. It has a lot to do
with time lines though. I want to
terminate vines at a certain date I
have in my mind but I know that
you have to be flexible if you
have a late fruit set. I also tend to
lose a lot of leaves over the
season and it’s nice to have extra
leaves.
Do you use mostly commercial
fertilizers or you more of an
organic gardener or both?
I don’t plan on using any
commercial fertilizers on
anything but the cabbages this
year. That’s one of the things
that really seems to have
changed over the years in the
hobby. When I started the rule of
thumb was twice as much, twice
as often the recommended
amount on the box your fertilizer
came in. Now the logic seems to
be “worry about your soil and
micro cultures and the plant will
take care of itself.” it’s just going
to be home brewed organic teas.
24
Speaking of brews....would you
like a beer?
No thanks. I’m driving later.
Suit yourself. Do you mind if I
have another?
Go ahead but don’t come
crying to me if we end up with
a hangover tomorrow
morning.
Are there any tips of
suggestions that you could
provide to our members that
would help them reach their
goals?
Probably to stop rationalizing
short comings. If you know
there’s something that’s not right
in your patch, fix it. You can’t
wait for luck to strike and you
produce a big one with an
imbalanced soil or too much
shade or not enough eort being
put into the patch. I also suggest
trying out a few new ides each
year. Go on the clubs patch tours
and steal ideas and try out the
better techniques. There’s
always something you can
improve on.
water. It may have been why I
had Dill ring problems in
previous years. I also am using a
dibble stick, spraying humic acid
mixed with calcium, used heating
cables this spring and used much
larger green houses. I’m
planning on not terminating my
main vine and just pruning the
secondary vines and just turning
it to grow back towards the
stump. I’ve also turned things
around so that my plant will be
wider than it is long. The thought
there is to get the vines doing
most of the work (those next to
the fruit) longer and with more
rooting than the other way.
You’ve got to keep trying new
things.
What seeds made it into your
patch this year?
I’ve got a 1370 Rose, 947 Hunt,
1231 Pukos and a 1462 Gibson.
For watermelons I’ve got a 207
Donkers and a 207 Hunt. Long
gourds are a 125 and a 99 Urena
and two 111 Joynson.
Now that the 1600-pound
barrier has ben broken, what
do you think the limit is?
What do you see in the future
for the GVGO?
2346 pounds 4 ounces exactly.
When we started this club in the
lobby of the Sheraton Hotel about
5 years ago, I figured we’d get
maybe 50 members and it would
be prtty much be a social thing
more than anything. I nominated
my friend Phil Hunt to be
president as a bit of a joke. You
know...like voting for the girl with
the moustache to be Prom Queen.
Hee Hee. Well imagine my
surprise when he didn’t even
flinch and we really couldn’t have
picked a better guy. This club
has become one of the biggest
and best anywhere with members
all over the world. The problem
is that the club is supported by so
That’s a pretty silly answer.
It’s a pretty silly question.
Is there anything different
you’re going to try this year?
Oh boy. Where to start? I
suppose the big one is in my
methods of watering. I use
buried sprinkler hoses. I used to
just hook a barrel up to one end
but his year I put “T” joints at
every hose connection and ran it
back to a manifold so that every
section of hose has access to the
main water hose. It should make
for a more even distribution of
few legs and not much of a base.
It’s the same few 4 or 5 guys
doing 95% of the work. If we’re to
last, we need a far bigger support
base. Remember what happened
to the Ottawa valley group. If you
enjoy the club, lend a hand once
in a while.
Do you have any other
hobbies other than pumpkin
growing?
Well I’m supposed to but I don’t
have a lot of time with teenagers
and a full time job and Mr. Hunt
keeps me pretty busy. I’ve been
collecting Lionel train stu the
last 10 years or so and I was
supposed to be working on my
lay out during the winter but it
always seems to be covered in
drying pumpkin seeds or I’m
doing something pumpkin
related. I do make time for
reading and I love British
comedies on the telly.
Lisa Note:
I am still laughing at this
editions “Grower’s
Profile”. Phil did a great
job on this one!!
In each Grower’s Vine we
hand out a prize to one of
our writers. This Grower’s
Vine we are going to give
out two.
The first will go to Matt
DeBacco for his very
informative article.
The second is going out to
our Editor Phil for making
us laugh!
both will receive a gift
from Port Elgin
Pumkinfest!
25
Why Use Sugary
Supplements
By matt LeBannister, Maximum
Yield
USA Edition Nov/Dec 2007
PEOPLE FEED THEIR PLANTS
SUGARS all the time without
knowing it and not always
understanding why. You give
your sweetheart a bouquet of
roses for Valentine’s Day and
before they are put into the
vase, sugar is added to the
water to extend their bloom.
Some “old school” gardeners
will add molasses to their
nutrient solution during the
flowering period. Actually,
just by adding fulvic acid,
and humic acid, to your
nutrient mix you are giving
your plants the building
blocks for sugars.
Most growers do not even know
that there is a meter, called a Brix
meter, that is used to measure
the level of sugars in the leaves
of plants. It is generally
understood that the higher the
level of sugars within a plant’s
tissue, the healthier the plant is
and the better the yield will be.
Knowing this, the question
should not be, “Why add a
carbohydrate supplement to my
nutrient solution?” but simply,
“Why haven’t I added one
already?”
To understand why you should
give your plants one of the
sugary supplements on the
market, you should become a
little more familiar with the way
plants produce and use sugars.
Almost all plants use sugars as
their main source of fuel. They
transport these sugars along with
water and other elements
throughout their systems, either
for food or to create amino acids
for biosynthesis to fuel cellular
respiration. Maple trees are a
great example of how plants use
sugars. Their sugary sap is
famous at breakfast tables
worldwide, but that sap is really
the food the maple tree has
begun to store to survive the
winter to come.
Most plants are photoautotrophs,
which means that they synthesize
their own food directly from
inorganic compounds using
photons, the energy from light.
They do this using a process
called photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis comes from the
Greek word “photo,” meaning
light, and “synthesis,” meaning to
put together. The inorganic
compounds are carbon dioxide
(CO2) and water (H2O), and the
energy source is sunlight. The
end products include glucose, a
simple sugar, and oxygen (O2).
Then, through a process called
carbon fixation, ATP (adenosine
triphosphate), AND? A highenergy molecule CO2 (carbon
dioxide) are used to create
sugars. Some sugars produced,
such as glucose, are simple
sugars or monosaccharides. They
are easily broken down by the
plant and are generally used for
energy. Other sugars produced,
such as cellulose, are complex
sugars or polysaccharides.
Polysaccharides consist of a
chain of two or more sugars and
are usually used for lipid and
amino acid biosynthesis.
Polysaccharides are also used as
a fuel in cellular respiration.
Cellulose specifically is used as
the building material for all green
plants. It is the main component
of all green plant cell walls.
Through the examination of the
process of photosynthesis, we
learn just how important the
sugars produced through this
process are. The sugars and
starches are vital to the plant.
They are essential for cellular
preparation, to maintain the
plants metabolism and vigor. The
sugars are even the building
blocks that keep the very cells of
the plant together. Now it is
understood that plants have a
great big “sweet tooth” and are
specialists at making the sugars
they need.
So why then should we be
feeding them more on top of all
this? Simply put, flowering plants
are burning these carbs trying to
make large fruit or vegetables, or
big beautiful blooms, faster than
a marathon runner trying to win a
race. Not to mention that the
process of photosynthesis, which
produces the sugars, itself takes
a lot of energy. By adding one of
the organic carbohydrate
supplements to your nutrient
solution the carbohydrates that
have been allocated to the
flowering process will be
replenished more easily. This will
save your plant the energy it
would need to create those
sugars itself, and your plant can
focus more of its energy on the
flowering process.
Also, many beneficial bacteria
and fungi (aka carbon-fixing
bacterial fungi) will live on the
sugars and will break down the
sugars for the plant. This, again,
allows the plant to use energy
usually spent breaking down
sugars for other processes. The
more beneficial bacteria and
fungi, the easier nutrients are
26
absorbed by the roots. All this
leads to improved flowering and
overall health of the plants.
When choosing the supplement
for your plants remember the old
saying, “You are what you eat.”
The same goes for your plants.
Look for something organic
because organic sugars will
improve flavor and smell better
than anything that inorganic.
There are also some sugars that
are more important to your
plants than others. Xylose and
arabinose are two of those
sugars. Both are sugars naturally
produced by plants. They are also
monosac-charides, which means
they are simple sugars and,
therefore, used more easily by
the plant.
Glucose should be the main
ingredient of the product
because it is the main product of
photosynthesis. Glucose is a
monosaccharide that is used for
energy and for starting cellular
respiration in the plant. The name
“glucose” comes from the Greek
word “glykys,” which means
sweet, with the su x “ose,”
which denotes that it is a
carbohydrate. Glucose is critical
in the production of proteins and
in lipid metabolism. Glucose is
also used as a precursor for the
synthesis of several important
substances, such as starch and
cellulose. Starch is a way in which
plants store energy and cellulose
makes up most of the structural
parts of plants.
Fructose is also a
monosaccharide and is a main
component of most tree fruit,
berries, and melons. It is the
sweetest naturally occurring
sugar and is twice as sweet as the
disaccharide sucrose, which
consists of glucose and fructose
bonded together. The
disaccharide maltose is also an
important sugar because
enzymes break it down into two
glucose molecules.
All of the above sugars are
produced naturally by plants. By
adding a supplement containing
these simple and complex sugars
to a well-balanced nutrient, a
plant will increase the levels of
sugars in the leaves and
throughout the plant. This will let
the plant use its energy more
eciently, allowing more energy
to be focused on producing large
fruit and bigger blooms. These
sugars will also improve the taste
of the end product while giving
fuel to beneficial bacteria and
fungi.
Using sugar supplements with
carbon-based fulvic acid and
humic acid bring great benefits
to your plants with no downside.
Knowing this and how the plants
produce and use these sugars
makes using them simply great
growing technique.
Matt LeBannister is thrilled to be
the newest writer for Maximum
Yield Magazine. He is 22 years
old and for over 2 years has
worked at Homegrown
Hydroponics. Matt manages the
retail store at Homegrown’s head
oce in Toronto and as of late
has been traveling the Trade
Show circuit as their resident
expert. “I hope to make a big
splash in the indoor gardening
industry through Homegrown
and Maximum Yield. You never
know how this business will
grow”. Matt extends his services
to you, the Maximum Yield
reader, via 1-800-INFO-GRO.
Port Elgin Pumpkinfest
needs your help!
With the help from a grant
program sponsored by Ontario
Tourism, we have secured the
funds necessary to put together
an interactive educational display
on how to grow these monsters.
The new area “Patches Pumpkin
Patch” will be unveiled at
Pumpkinfest 2008 and will be
available for traveling
appearances after that time.
Members of the GVGO will be
welcome to utilize the new
portable display in their own
communities through out the year.
We are looking for some help in
getting this designed. We are in
need of some one to make a
fiberglass pumpkin (after the
weigh off season as we will use a
real one for the festival), as well
as some ideas on where to get the
other components produced (seeds,
plants, etc.). We want the area to
show each stage of the growing
process, as well as be very
portable so it can travel easily.
We have funds available to make
this entire area, and hope that
upon completion it will become a
great asset to our pumpkin
community.
Anyone with ideas or questions
can contact me (Lisa Ir win) by
email info@pumpkinfest.org or by
phone 1-800-387-3456.
27
A Pseudo
Statistical Analysis
of Plant Sizes and #
of Pumpkin Lobes
By Greg Hospon
Each year there is a lot of
discussion regarding two key
issues that we all face as giant
pumpkin growers:
1st – How big should my
pumpkin plant be?
2nd – Should I set a 4 lobe or
5 lobe pumpkin
4-lobe female
With the vast wealth of
information that the AGGC site
provides I set out to gather data
and conduct a statistical analysis
of these two questions and
maybe provide us pumpkin
growers some much needed
answers.
As a starting point, I made the
assumption that as giant
pumpkin growers, our goal is to
produce the biggest pumpkin
possible and become a member
of the “Heavy Hitters” club. An
ad-hoc search of posts on
bigpumpkins.com shows a
general agreement that the
current standard to be
considered a heavy hitter is 1200
pounds. And it is from this base
number of 1200 pounds or
greater that I focused my
research around.
Question 1: HOW BIG SHOULD
MY PUMPKIN PLANT BE?
To answer this question I
searched the AGGC database and
complied a list of all pumpkins
grown 1200 pounds or greater
and for which there was also data
on the square footage of the
plant that the pumpkin was
grown on.
169 such pumpkins were found
meeting this criterion. Adding all
their square footage together and
dividing by 169 gives us an
average square footage of 690
sq/ft per plant.
Thus we can say with certainty,
that for all pumpkins ever grown
over 1200 pounds, the average
size of the pumpkin plant they
were grown on, was 690 square
feet. As a general growing
practice, this would be a good
number to strive for when
growing our pumpkin plant. BUT,
as they say, there is more to the
story then that. And we find that
by answering question number 2.
Question 2: WHICH IS BETTER,
A 4 LOBE OR 5 LOBE PUMPKIN?
There is never any lack of debate
when it comes to this question,
which is also extended to 3 lobe
and 6 lobe pumpkins. However,
data for 6 lobes and 3 lobes is
skimpy and therefore not
considered in this analysis.
As a starting point, we need to
determine the average weight of
all pumpkins grown 1200 pounds
or greater and who had 4 lobes.
Then we need to turn around and
do the very same thing for 5 lobe
pumpkins.
There are 52, 4-lobed pumpkins
which account for 31% of all
pumpkins grown 1200 pounds or
greater. These 52, 4-lobed
pumpkins have and average
weight of 1446 lbs.
There are 103, 5-lobed pumpkins
which account for 60% of all
pumpkins grown 1200 lbs or
greater. These 103, 5-lobed
pumpkins have and average
weight of 1425 pounds.
The remaining 9% of pumpkins
had no data listed for them or
were six lobed pumpkins.
So, intuitively we can look at
these results and determine that
4 lobe pumpkins as a general rule
appear to have an average weight
that is 21 pounds (2%) higher
then a 5-lobe pumpkin. That
dierence is not great, but it
could be enough to win you the
weigh o. However, this is a
good example of how sometimes
statistics can mislead our
conclusions. There is a hidden
factor at play here.
When we look at a third
calculation, that takes into
account the average square
footage of a 4-lobed pumpkin
plant and the average square
footage of a 5-lobed pumpkin
plant, we find something
revealing:
Of the 52 4-lobed pumpkins
plants grown 1200 pounds or
greater, the average square feet
of plant that they were grown on
is 725 sq/ft.
Of the 103 5-lobed pumpkins
plants grown 1220 pounds or
greater, the average square feet
of plant that they were grown on
is 648 sq/ft.
There is a dierence between
28
a 4-lobed plant and a 5-lobed
plant of 11%. Thus, we can say
that a 4-lobed pumpkin needs to
be grown on a plant that is 11%
larger in square footage to reach
the same weight of a
corresponding 5-lobed plant.
A fourth calculation also sheds
some light. If we take the
average square feet of a 5-lobed
plant (648) and a 4-lobed plant
(725) respectively, and dived
each by their respective average
weights of 1446 and 1425
pounds it give us a yield rate.
4-lobed pumpkins on average
yield 1.99 pounds of pumpkin for
every square foot of plant space.
5-lobed pumpkins on average
yield 2.20 pounds of pumpkins
for every square foot of plant
space.
This means that 5-lobed
pumpkins are more “ecient”, in
that they yield on average 10%
more pounds per square feet of
plant then an equally situated 4lobed plant.
CONCLUSIONS:
From this research we can make
the following generalizations. To
grow a “heavy hitter” pumpkin of
1200 pounds or greater we
should keep these principles in
mind:
First, The size of the pumpkin
plant that is needed will depend
on whether you set a 4-lobed
pumpkin or a 5-lobed pumpkin,
with a smaller plant being needed
for a 5-lobed pumpkin (648 sq/ft)
and a larger plant being needed
for a 4-lobed pumpkin (725 sq/
ft).
Second, a 5-lobed pumpkin is
more “ecient” then their 4lobed counterparts in that 5lobed pumpkins yield 10% more
pounds per square feet, or 2.20
lbs/ per sq/ft, versus 4-lobed
pumpkins who yield on average
1.99 lbs/ per sq/ft.
Be very careful in how you read
this. It DOES NOT mean that 5lobed pumpkins are better at
producing bigger pumpkins. In
fact 5 of 9 pumpkins over 1500
pounds are 4-lobed pumpkins.
But it DOES mean that you need a
bigger plant size to grow the 4lobed pumpkin to “heavy hitter”
status versus the 5-lobed
pumpkin. In fact 11% square feet
more plant size.
I will leave the practical
application of this research up to
others way smarter then me. But
as a starter I would say that if lack
of space is a consideration, get as
close to 650 square feet of plant
as you can and grow a 5-lobed
pumpkin if at all possible. Also,
keep in mind that a smaller plant
is easier to maintain, less
susceptible to weather factors,
less susceptible to disease and
cheaper to grow.
If you have any doubts about this
consider the case of Bob Liggett.
He has done something, which I
think may be a testament to the
greatest growing feats this sport
has ever seen. Out of 169
pumpkins, 1200 pounds or
greater, only 16 have been grown
in square footage of 480 square
feet or less. Bob Liggett has 4 of
these pumpkins. That’s an
amazing 25%. His 1353.5
pumpkin had a yield of 4.51
pounds per square foot of plant,
and absolutely incredible feat!
He also has a 5th pumpkin that is
at 1172, just barely o the heavy
hitter mark. In a quick exchange
of ideas with Bob Liggett, I
discovered that he has been
forced to use such small plants
due to environmental disease and
insect factors that ravage any
attempts at a bigger plant. This
is exactly where this research
shows a 5-lobed plant would be
of advantage over a 4-lobed
plant. And in fact, 4 of the 5
pumpkins grown by Bob Ligget
where 5-lobed pumpkins.
I hope this will help other
growers. It was just a fun
research project for myself to kill
some time until spring gets here.
If anyone has any further
questions, please feel free to
email me at
ghopson427@yahoo.com and I
will do my best to answer them.
Or post a comment here and I will
respond as well. Keep in mind, I
am just a hack. I have no formal
training in math and statistics. I
am always mindful of my favorite
quote regarding statistics. It was
accredited to Buddy Ryan, head
coach of the Philadelphia Eagles
when a reporter presented him
with a bunch of statistics about
why the Eagles could not win he
replied “Statistics remind me of
the guy who drowned in a river
with and average depth of just
two and a half feet.” Numbers
don’t always tell the whole story.
29
Howard’s Dirt
By Russ Landry
What can you say about a man
who grows the largest pumpkins
in the world? If perhaps you
happened to have no knowledge
of growing vegetables and
genetic plant biology the answer
for most would be fairly simple.
However for those more inclined
to understand the intricacies of
the Dills, Atlantic Giant Pumpkins
(AGP) the answer swells to a topic
that reaches beyond
comprehension of folks who trod
about their daily chores.
You see it’s
obvious to
me that the
father of The
AGP, Howard
Dill spawned
a new
revolution
when for
years he
toiled with a
few seeds in his backyard. The
revolution I’m talking about is
now a throng of growers that
includes the best of gardeners
right on down to the happy
youngsters that form 4H clubs
across the continent who fling
the Dill seeds earthward. From,
hobbyist and expeierenced and
to those just wishing to grow a
sizable porch decoration on
October 31st, Howard Dill has
decorated us all. He has for more
than a generation helped us to
adorn our gardens with the
largest vegetable mankind can
produce.
So large is this throng that today
from a mere humble beginning
near the birthplace of Canada’s
most famous “Golden Pond” and
the beginnings of our beloved
sport of hockey did this man
create another. The sport of
growing Giant Pumpkins was
born right from his hands and
transferred down to each of us.
Pondering this it is easy to
wander a pathway down to a time
past all of the web sites, the
clubs, the governing bodies, the
fund raisers, the conventions, the
gatherings at patch tours and all
of the competitions and regattas
to an era when it was just Howard
and his dirt. If you could close
your eyes and consume the
pumpkin
world in a
flash back
you would
find Mr.
Howard Dill
peering over
the patch in
wonderment
at what he
had created.
It is truly an amazing story of
how such a simple seed produced
such a long time ago in Windsor,
Nova Scotia, became such a
success for a man of such
humble quality. The never ending
story begins each year at this
time for most of us as we begin
to dream the dream that Howard
spawned so many years ago. This
remarkable Canadian leaves us
now with tremendous memories
and seed banks full of wonderful
Orange shimmering fruit. To the
father of my favorite pastime, I
say thanks and goodbye not with
sorrow but with glee and hope of
the big one to come.
Tissue Testing
How to, when and why
By Ron Wallace
re-printed from SNGPG spring
Newsletter
As the evolution of our hobby
continues, much is now known
about soil nutrient levels and
what we should strive for when
building a soil. On the contrary
we have very little information on
“in season” tissue testing. In the
beginning there was not enough
soil test results for our specific
crop (Giant Pumpkins).
Remember a soil lab bases it’s
averages and recommendations
on what the lab usually sees for
results. The University of
Massachusetts is the local lab of
choice here in New England. Over
time they have seen enough
results from our patches that
they are now better suited to give
recommendations based on our
crop needs. If we are going to
continue with taking our hobby
to the next level, it is in my
opinion that we nee to obtain a
larger database on tissue tests
and educate ourselves on what to
do with the results.
Why Tissue Test?
One of the questions I often hear
when looking at a soil test versus
a tissue test is: “I have plenty of
that nutrient in my soil, so why
does the tissue test indicate I
have a problem?” A soil test
analysis indicates the relative
availability of nutrients in the soil
for a corp to use. Plant tissue
analysis will let us know what
nutrients have been or are being
absorbed by the plant. Later in
this article I will show an example
of the Tissue Test results from
30
our patch last year. Another
question I her regarding tissue
testing is “My plants look great
and are right on schedule, it
looks like they need nothing”.
Growing vines to support your
pumpkin is one thing, but that
can all change when the pumpkin
starts the “sink” eect on the
plant. Growing 20-40 pounds a
day will put undo stress on your
pumpkin plant. Combine that
with environmental eects and
you have a good recipe for
disaster. As we are well aware a
weak plant can lead, to not only a
smaller pumpkin, but invite
disease problems as well. Ever
notice that most of the problems
associated with our plants/
pumpkins happen during peak
growth. You can also encounter
“Hidden Hunger”. This is when
your plant will show no visual
symptoms of a deficiency, but
will have a direct outcome on the
weight of your final results.
After cutting, rinse the leaves
thoroughly with cool tap water to
remove any chemicals, fertilizers
and soil particles. Then place
then on clean paper, to air dry.
Once dried carefully place leaves
in a paper bag and send next day
mail to your plant tissue-testing
lab. Be careful when packaging
not to contaminate the leaves
with any foreign material.
How and when to Sample
As shown below, when
comparing our 2006 and 2007
tissue test results, the glaring
dierence on the results is our
uptake of calcium; and to a lesser
extent Magnesium (Mg) and
Maganese (Mn).
Samples need to be taken prior to
fruit set (late June till the end of
the first week in July). If there are
no noticeable problems, I will
take 10-20 leaves from our
patch. The leaves sampled need
to be the ones near the end of the
growing tip of the plant (main
vine). Leaf size at this stage is
usually twice the size of my hand.
If I noticed a plant that is lagging
and showing signs of weakness, I
will test that plant separately
from the rest. When removing
the leaves make sure you have a
sharp sanitized knife. I use
rubbing alcohol to sanitize
between cuts.
Suciency Range & results
The University of Massachusetts
suciency range for pumpkins is
as follows:
Macronutrients
%
M ic r onut r ie nt s
ppm
N 4.00-6.00
Fe 50-200
P 0.60-0.70
Mn 50-250
K 3.00-5.00
B 25-75
Ca 1.20-2.50
Cu 7-25
Mg 0.30-2.50
Zn 20-200
2006 Wallace Patch
Tissue Test Results
N 4.30
Fe 192
P 0.71
Mn 139
K 4.54
B 35
Ca 5.86
Cu 13
Mg 1.28
Zn 58
2007 Wallace Patch
Tissue Test Results
N 4.84
Fe 192
P 0.76
Mn 28
K 4.85
B 27
Ca 0.46
Cu 8
Mg 0.34
Zn 48
Knowing our soil contains about
2800 ppm on Calcium, there was
a problem as to why the plant
was not taking it up at a sucient
level. I first thought of all the
lime we had to use in 06 to
correct our new soil. Could this
be the reason for the 06
increased amounts of calcium
and magnesium? We also have a
problem in New England with low
levels of manganese, so this was
nothing new to me. So why such
a change from 2006? In our
SNGPG December newsletter I
explained how we sub soiled a bit
deeper in the spring of 07 than
we did in 06. That extra 8-inches
or so brought up some clay. Our
soil base s mostly sandy loam.
When you mix clay and sand
together, you get cement!
By the time we had noticed our
soil was a bit compacted (Late
May) I started the ardous task of
breaking up the compacted clods
using a pitch fork and inserting it
into the soil at approximately 8inches and pulling backwards,
breaking up any compaction.
The clods were big, weighing
more than 5 pounds or so. You
could actually see the layer of
sand and clay. The soil texture
was also sticky. Not a very
31
good soil structure for nutrient
recycling. I had to do this several
times, to aerate the soil. After a
few weeks, you could start to see
the results. The breaking of the
“crust” allowed the soil to aerate
and break down to resemble its
look and texture of 06. this
compaction led to our poor
calcium and nutrient movement
within the vascular system of our
plant. It no doubt had a big eect
on our 07 results, as I feel we left
some “weight on the table”.
In conclusion: are the suciency
ranges listed for pumpkins
sucient enough for our usage?
I would tend to think no. As I
mentioned earlier, we are at the
infancy stage of tissue testing
and we simply need more results
to draw a conclusion as to what is
“enough”. It would have been
very interesting to see results
from Jutras, Young and McKie
plants last year. If you decide to
tissue test in 08, please feel free
to send me the results at years
end, at 860 Plainfield Pike,
Greene, RI, 02827.
Collecting this data along with
the weight of your pumpkin, may
reveal one more “cog in the
wheel” towards 2, 000 pounds!
In Canada, Stratford Agi Analysis
will do a complete tissue test for $24,
A & L Labs will do a complete tissue
test for $32-10% GVGO discount.
Stratford Agri Analysis
Box 760, 1131 Erie St.
Stratford, ON, N5A 6S6
519-273-4411
A&L Canada Labs
2136 JestStream Rd
London, ON, N5V 3P5
519-457-2575
GVGO Member offers a 10%
discount for Humic Acid in
Small Consumer Quantities
to all other GVGO Members
A friend in Thunder Bay told me
about his pumpkins. He passed
on a few articles from this
Newsletter and introduced me to
the Giant Vegetable Growers of
Ontario. I became a member this
spring and I am now trying my
luck with some of the seeds that
came with the membership. I am
a complete novice but I am
looking forward to the season.
can increase fertilizer eciency
and research has indicated that
there is an increased up-take of
magnesium and calcium when
plants have been irrigated with a
liquid suspension of Humic
substances.
Here are some of the benefits of
Humics.
• Chelates soil nutrients
• Reduces need for nitrogen
fertilizers
• Aids in removal of toxins from
soil
• Improves soil structure
• Improves water holding
capacity
• Improves nutrient up-take
• Stimulates biological activity
• Solubolizes minerals
• Stores major nutrients
I am interested in Humic Acid and
found the articles about Humic
and Fulvic Acid and the
references to their use very
helpful and informative. I had
been using Humic Acid as an aid
in organic waste odour reduction
and decomposition at my cabin
and I became interested in
Humics as a soil amendment. I
found Humics were dicult to
obtain in small consumer
quantities so I started packaging
and distributing Humics in
amounts for the small grower.
I am able to provide a dry soluble
Humic in 100 gram, 250 gram,
and 500 gram packages. I can
also provide ORMI listed 6 and
12% liquid Humic concentrate in
litre, 1 litre and 4 litre bottles.
Liquid Fulvic is also available in
the same amounts.
Humic Acid is a carbon based soil
amendment that can be applied
with many other fertilizers. The
Humic material that I am able to
provide is extracted from
oxidized sub-bituminous
Canadian coal deposits. The subbituminous deposits have been
shown to contain lower levels of
ash and heavy metals and have a
higher CEC than humic extracted
from other Leonardite and Lignite
deposits. Humic substances
encourage an increased up-take
of major nutrients of N.P.K. by the
plants. An application of dry or
liquid humic substance to the soil
To produce a 6% Humic solution
mix .64 lbs of dry soluble with 1
gallon of water. To produce a 12%
solution mix 1.28 lbs with 1
gallon of water. Application rates
vary with use and conditions but
the manufacturer suggests the
following:
Trees Shrubs and Bedding Plants:
Mix teaspoon of a 12% solution
with 1 gallon of water and apply
solution to plant material.
Landscape and Turf: Broadcast 1
to 3 tablespoons of a 12%
solution per 1000 square feet in
4 to 6 equal applications
throughout the growing season
32
Established Ornamentals: Use 1
part 12% humic solution to 100
parts water every 45 to 60 days
during the growing season.
Apply as normal irrigation. As
part of a fertilization program
apply gallon of liquid humic
solution to 22 lbs of fertilizer.
For more information about any
of these products, chemical
analysis or prices please contact
me at mknr@mts.net or
1-204-880-0884. GVGO
members will receive a 10%
discount on any product that I am
able to supply.
6.
Good luck this year and I hope
everyone has a successful
season.
14.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
15.
Rick Milliken – GVGO Member 2008
16.
93 OF THE BEST AND
WORST GIANT PUMPKIN
BUMPER STICKERS, T-SHIRT
SLOGANS, CLASSIFIED ADS,
PICK-UP LINES, JOKES AND/
OR UGPG SLOGANS
17.
18.
19.
20.
Here’s a Bunch of Funnies
that have been passed around
on the Internet by the
Pumpkin community. Thanks
goes out to John Vincent for
bringing them to our
attention and we’d like to
thank the anonymous poster
that collected them all.
Since I wrote at least four of
them I don’t mind stealing and
printing the email. ;0) Your
friendly Editor
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
In no particular order:
26.
27.
28.
1.
2.
29.
3.
4.
5.
My soil is better than your soil
I spend all my spare time in the
patch
Dear get sprayer 3 ready, I just saw
a squash bug outside, I’m going to
suit up.
I just got back the results of my soil
test and I am too nervous to open it
Will teach you how to grow giant
pumpkin in exchange for organic
matter or trailer
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
Psychiatrist: What do you see in
this picture? Grower: My neighbors
back lawn that could be converted
into a growing space for 9 plants
with 450 sq. ft. each
To the Weigh Off or bust!
What do you mean you are having
contractions, tomorrow’s the
weigh off!
SMGPG (single male giant pumpkin
grower) sees SF, must be able to
pinch and prune, pollinate, water,
fertilize, drive forklift and do
other patch work as needed.
Giant pumpkin grower seeks good
lifting tarp with strong straps.
Old Growers never die, they just go
to the big weigh-off in the sky
My patch is full of crap and I like it
that way
I used to have a lawn- now I grow
Giant Pumpkins
My wife colored her hair orange so
I’d pay more attention to her.
I’d trade my first born for a 1068
Wallace
My only hobbies are growing Giant
Pumpkins and ...hmm I thought
there was another one.
Wow honey, how long have we had
3 children, I thought we just had 2
Giant Pumpkins: this ain’t no
beauty contest missy
So how many plants are you going
to be growing this year?
How could you grow anything but
giant pumpkins in your garden?
Wow that would be a nice crossback
Got Big, Round and Orange yet?
Well what are you waiting for?
If you’re not growing Giant
Pumpkins then why bother
Forget your fairy godmother, I’ve
got a giant pumpkin in my patch
right here for you
Howard Dill the man who started it
all
Shade Cloth .... shhh it’s a secret
I once had a 723 Bobier
Ron Wallace 1502 lbs New World
Record
Powdery Mildew: do you know how
to prevent it?
Jack-be little’s are for wimps. Real
men grow Atlantic Giant Pumpkins
I’m a giant pumpkin grower....I
forget what my real job is
Please take your bagged leaves to
my patch
Twenty lbs a day...that’s nothing
bub
Just try to steal my pumpkin this
year you rotten kids!
35. Follow me to the Utah Giant
Pumpkin Weigh Off
36. I feed my babies manure because
that’s what they like best
37. OM, don’t get caught in the patch
with out it
38. UGPG the biggest bunch of gourds
you’ll ever see in one place
39. One AG safely on the scale is worth
t wo in the patch
40. Beauty & the Beast; Do you have to
put my big, pretty, tall, round,
orange pumpkin next to that small,
ugly short, flat, white one?
41. My N, P, & K are all off the charts
in the dangerously high range, how
are yours?
42. What do you do with them? I grow
them for fun. No really what do
you do with them?
43. Psychiatrist: What so you see in
this picture? Grower: A Christmas
tree plant shape
44. Go big or go home
45. My Dad won first place at the weigh
off and all I got was this lousy tshirt
46. Could you teach me how to pollinate
some day?
47. Hagrid grows giant pumpkins, how
come you don’t?
48. I’d like to let the boy scouts have it
for an activity, but...um...Cinderella
has it.
49. How would you like to come over to
my patch and help me do some
weeding?
50. Vacation, can’t we find some place to
go in the off season?
51. Do you rotate them? Yes everyday I
go in the patch and roll by 600 lb
pumpkin over
52. UGPG: toughest bunch of growers
west of the Mississippi
53. I’m looking for a 1068 Wallace or
an 1104 Blair or maybe you
54. I brake for Giant Pumpkin Growers
55. Hi what’s your favorite cross?
56. OTT... the only way to measure
57. Honk if you’d like to swap seeds
58. I am a Pumpkinologist!
59. You’ve never really lived unless
you’ve lived with a giant pumpkin
grower
60. I love Big & Orange x Big & Orange
61. My first coach was a giant
pumpkin....
62. Tomorrows expensive hotties are
free today for the SADBP
63. The B.S stops when the tail gate
drops
64. My real job is growing giant
pumpkins... I just do the other 9-5
thing to support it.
33
65. I know it’s early in the day, but I’m
just going to move this main vine a
little.
66. Wanted: Steamy date for Friday
night to help me load some steamy
manure
67. Sorry x open just isn’t acceptable
anymore pal... but honey please
take me back
68. Keep your kids off my pumpkin... it
hasn’t been weighed yet
69. Pistol & Stamen = True Love ( no
bee’s allowed)
70. Warning: Smith and Wesson
protect my patch
71. Giant Pumpkin Growing: not just a
hobby - an obsession!
72. Wanted: 12 experienced lifters
73. Squash bugs can ruin your whole
season
74. The love of my life gained 40 lbs
yesterday. Keep going baby!
75. Moving to a new house for a bigger
patch is worth it
76. I love manure. Wanted: More
manure
77. YES they are REAL pumpkins
78. Rib splitting is no laughing matter.
79. Wow look at thoses sets... who
does your pollinating?
80. Compost Tea anyone?
81. Honk if you love Howard Dill
82. I’ll show you my pumpkins if you
show me yours
83. psst hey buddy- yeah you- got any
extra pallets I can borrow?
84. Hi neighbor how’s your back and
what are you doing next Friday?
85. My wife said it’s either me or the
pumpkins...every now and then I
miss her
86. Looking to rent fork lift for month
of October, will trade Giant
Pumpkin after weigh off
87. Giant Pumpkins: Grow’em or
blow’em
88. Honey I’m going outside to check on
the seedlings...I’ll be back sometime
after the weigh-off
89. Ask me about my wife’s giant fruit
90. Giant Pumpkins are they a
vegetable or a fruit? ... the world
may never know
91. Wife: Pumpkins, that’s all he thinks
about. Psychiatrist: Look at this
light please. Grower: hmm bright
light, hey Dear...I think I’ll add grow
lights to the patch this year.
92. As me about milk injecting!
93. Happiness is spending hundreds of
dollars to win a $5 ribbon!
GVGO PUMPKIN PATCH TOUR 2008
The growers in East Central Ontario would like to invite you all
to tour our patches on Sunday August 24, 2008
1st stop, 8:30-9:00am Dave Pitura’s-Merrickville-Canada’s top grower in 2007.
Dave grew 7 fruits over 1000 lbs last year. Personal best 1378.5 lbs.
Hwy 401 to Brockville, exit 705 on Matiland Rd, north towards Merrickville on
Cty Rd 15. Travel 29 km through the villages of Algonquin and North Agusta to
Kerford Rd, turn right (East) 200m to 147 Kerford Rd, on right.
2nd stop, 11:00-11:30 am Frank Penner- Napanee- 20 year Grower, Personal Best
892 lbs
From Dave Pitura's, go back down Maitland Rd to the 401 and go east, to exit 579B,
hwy 41 south, through the town of Napanee, hwy 41 becomes Cty Rd 8, continue
aprox 4km to Cty Rd 9 (There are t wo exits to Cty Rd 9, you want the second one).
Turn right (west), travel aprox. 4km, to 9867, Cty Rd 9 on left. Watch for signs.
Total Travel time approximately 2 hrs, 172km.
3rd stop, 12:00- 1:30 pm John Vincent & Brian McGill - Northport- Up and coming
Growers. Patch Best 995.5*
From Frank Penner, go back to Cty Rd 8 and proceed north to Cty Rd #2 (Dundas St)
and turn Left. Follow through Desoronto to Hwy 49, Turn Left (South) across the
bay bridge. At the base of the bridge turn right on Cty Rd 15. Continue 9km to the
village of Northport. Address is 1538 Cty Rd 15 and is on the left (south side)
Travel time approximately 20 minutes, 35km.
Lunch will be served at the Vincent & McGill Patch
4th stop, 2:00- 2:30 pm, Arnold Vader- East Lake - Heavy Hitter and 20 year
Grower. Personal Best-1193 lbs
From John & Brian's, go back Cty Rd 15 to Hwy 49 and Turn Right and travel south
to the town of Picton. Turn Right onto Hwy 33 (Loyalist Parkway), the main St of
Picton to Lake St (Cty Rd 10) turn Left. Continue south approximately 15 km (Rd
changes to Cty Rd 18 at village of Cherry Valley) to 1260 Cty RD 18. Travel time
approximately 30 Minutes, 40Km.
5th stop, 3:00-3:30 pm, Jim Ives- 12 year grower, PB 679
From Arnold Vader's, continue on Cty Rd 18, It turns into Cty Rd 12, approximately
12km to Ridge rd. Turn Right 1km to 1221 Ridge Road on the Right. Travel time
approximately 15 Minutes, 15Km.
6th Stop, 4:30-5:00 pm, John &Chris Lyons- Baltimore - Heavy Hitters and multiple
world record holders. Patch Best 1130 lbs.
Hwy 401 West to Cobourg, exit 474. Turn left at end of ramp and go North 3 km. to
town of Baltimore. Turn Right at Community centre Rd. There is a Mr. Convenience
store at this corner.
Road makes hard right after .5 km. Follow another 2 km. to Northumberland
Heights Rd. which is just past "S" curve in road. Turn right on Northumberland
Height Rd. We are the first driveway on the right, #1154.
END OF TOUR
There will be door prizes at noon including a Howard Dill numbered print.
Lunch is $5 including a beverage. We will have commemorative patch tour
tshirts available for $15. Proceeds to the Wellington weigh off. Please pre-reregister
with who will be attending and if you would like, your t-shirt size(s) at:
jvincent@madoccoop.com
34
THE FINAL WORD
Some
dates and items to remember
from this Growers Vine
The “Howard Dill Cancer Fundraiser” prints are up
for raffle at $2 a ticket, 6 for $10. Send cheques or
money orders to...
GVGO
4376 HWY 35N, Cameron, ON
Canada, K0M 1G0
The GVGO annual patch tour will be held in Prince Edward County (for the most part) and will be held on Sunday
August 24th. Starting a 8:30 sharp. See the itinerary in this Grower’s vine issue for time table and directions.
The Pembroke Giant Pumpkin weigh-off will be held at Hugili’s Blueberry Ranch on September 27th. Unloading
starts at 9:00 with the weigh off starting at Noon. You can get a hold of GVGO member Brant Timm for more info.
The Murillo Giant Pumpinfest will be held on Saturday Sept. 27th. See the poster in this Growers Vine for details.
Port Elgin Pumpkinfest will be held October 4th & 5th and this year all growers will be able to enter in both days!
The Norfolk County Fair weigh-off will be held on Oct. 5th however you’ll need to pre-register a least a week
before to enter a pumpkin.
Woodbridge Fair will be held Saturday October 11. Weigh-off starts at 1pm. For information and rules contact
Keny Maynard @ 905-851-0690. GVGO member Frank Catapano is also on the weigh off committee and should be
able to answer your questions.
The Wellington Pumpkinfest will be held on Saturday October 18th. This is a GPC sanctioned event. See their web
site for details and directions.
The Cornerstone Weigh-Off will be held on Oct. 25th. It’s later this year and Russ is promising a fun filled family
outing for all. See the GVGO club web site for details.
The 1st annual Keene Pumpkin Festival will be held on the 25th of October. This is a non GPC event so you’re
allowed to bring previously weighed pumpkins. See Kirk Chenier’s article in this issue for details.
Don’t forget about the Royal Winter Fair held at Exhibition place in Toronto. As of press time, their web-site is
pretty stale but I gather the Giant Vegetable judging will be on Saturday Nov. 8th. Pre-registration is required.
Contact GVGO members Norm Craven, Marc Levy or matt Leach for further details and info.
35