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Giant Pumpkins, Where Size Matters

Contributed by: Buffalo.com/YourHub Robyn Busch on 10/7/2008

For months, Donald Laupo spent at least an hour a day caring for his giant pumpkin.

"I play it music while I'm out there, it tends to like heavy metal," said Laupo, a chef and part-time pumpkin grower.

Saturday's 26th Annual World Pumpkin Weigh-Off at the Great Pumpkin Farm in Clarence saw about 25 giant squash for competition, with top prize going to a pumpkin of 1075 pounds. Growers like Laupo brought their huge produce to compete for the $1000 first prize and exchange pumpkin tips.

"A lot of people collect coins, but these people grow pumpkins," said Kelly Schultz, emcee for the weigh-off and owner of the Great Pumpkin Farm.

Ray Waterman, founder of the World Pumpkin Confederation and host for the annual Weigh-Off said most growers take their pumpkins seriously. "This is exactly like the Olympics, they're young and they're hungry," Waterman said. "We have the best competitive growers in the world."

Laupo, whose pumpkin tipped the scales at 546 pounds, said great care is necessary to grow giant pumpkins. He estimated growers spend between one to three hours a day watering, weeding, fertilizing and caring for the massive squash. From seed to greenhouse, backyard to forklift, pumpkin growers often dote on their oversized produce for more than six months.

"You worry about (the pumpkin) a lot throughout the year and you wonder if you're going to make it," first-time grower Dennis Hohensee said. "Once you've got one growing, it's like waiting for Christmas when you were a kid."

Hohensee said his two sons and wife were involved in raising their organic pumpkins. When asked what type of fertilizer he used on Otto, the family's 515-pounder, Hohensee joked, "quarter inch hail," in reference to the East Amherst weather. "A lot of (growers) use hard core chemicals," Hohensee said. "Here, mother nature does the work."

At Saturday's event, a forklift slowly hoisted pumpkins from their pallets to the official scale, attracting a crowd of spectators. "It's great family fun," Waterman said. "What's more fun than a big pumpkin?"

For these growers, the only thing more fun than a big pumpkin itself might be what to do with a big pumpkin after the competition.

"I want to see the kids crawl inside to get the seeds out and then we'll carve it," Hohensee said.

But Laupo says he's going to "recycle" his pumpkin, eventually saving the seeds for next year, but not before one more public showing. "I'm giving this one to my friend to put outside his house, he goes nuts for Halloween."




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CONTRIBUTOR INFO

Buffalo.com/YourHub Robyn Busch has posted 5 stories and 0 comments since joining on 9/24/2008. Buffalo.com/YourHub Robyn Busch 's average story rating is 5.
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