Polk County Living
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • June 7, 2017 11A
Pump up your pumpkins to giant size
One small seed is all it
takes to produce the gigan-
tic pumpkins entered in
fierce competitions around
the world, including the
record set in 2016 with a
2,624.6-pounder that
weighed almost as much as
a Volkswagen bug.
Maybe you won’t achieve
quite that size but plant
“Dill’s Atlantic Giant” and
you’ll grow a whopping
pumpkin, said Jim Myers, a
vegetable breeder for Ore-
gon State University.
“I’ve had these types
growing in fields and with-
out doing anything special
to them I’ve gotten 400-
pounders,” he said. “They
certainly need plenty of
water and lots of space to
grow. People who grow
them competitively have
their own secret formulas
that they don’t talk about
and use different strategies.
It’s a very small group that
does it competitively and
they’re very fanatical about
it.”
Modern monster pump-
kin genetics go back to
grower Howard Dill, a Nova
Scotia farmer who spent 30
years selectively breeding
giant pumpkins. He came
up with “Dill’s Atlantic
Giant” — and every world
champion since has come
Eagle Scout
K YM
P OKORNY
John Danielson, 17,
of Independence, will
receive his Eagle Scout
at an Eagle Court of
Honor on July 8.
John started Cub
Scouts when he was 7.
Through dedication,
hard work and persever-
ance, he reached his
goal of Eagle.
For more than 10
years, John participated
in various scouting ac-
tivities and contributed
many hours to the local
community. He volun-
teered gathering canned food for the food bank, planting
trees on Arbor Day, guarding the park for the vendors dur-
ing Fourth of July, and putting flags out during special
holidays. Under John’s leadership and teamwork spirit, he
completed his Eagle project by reconstructing the 200-
foot brick pathway at the Historic Gentle House in Mon-
mouth.
John and his parents would like to thank Pack 38 and
Troop 38 Scout leaders, John’s fellow Boy Scouts, friends,
family and teachers who supported him along the way.
Your
Garden
from offspring of those
seeds.
Dill reinvigorated giant-
pumpkin competitions in
1978 by breaking a 75-year-
old record set in 1903 by
William Warnock, whose
403-pound oddity was then
displayed at the 1904 World’s
Fair in St. Louis. Dill’s cham-
pion 438.5-pound pumpkin
sounds wimpy next to those
grown today, but it was out-
landish enough to gain a
spot in “Ripley’s Believe It or
Not.” Dill held the world
record four years straight
and landed in the Guinness
World Records book in 1981
with a 493.5-pounder.
To grow a monster pump-
kin, see the advice below.
After you’ve entered your
pumpkin in weigh-off com-
petitions, you might be able
to sell it to businesses. Casi-
nos or restaurants will
sometimes purchase a
champion and contract with
a professional pumpkin
carver to create a short-lived
sculpture, Myers said. Or
you can roast the seeds. Be
FLIC.KR/P/UVTPRJ
If you’ve got the space and inclination, try growing your
own monster pumpkin – for competition or just for fun.
forewarned, though, the
flesh is not very palatable.
“It’s something that’s in-
teresting to do. There’s not a
lot of practicality. There
might be a little prize money
and it’s good for notoriety,”
Myers said.
To grow a monster pumpkin, it takes a monster amount of land, water and fertilizer. A single pumpkin can cover
1,200-square feet and the big boys need up to 500 gallons a week. If you’d like to try, Myers offers the following advice:
• Use “Dill’s Atlantic Giant” seeds. Competitive growers
seek out offspring of the champions, but be aware seeds
are expensive — a single seed of a champion has been
auctioned for as much as $1,600. For beginners, find seed
online from local mail-order nurseries Territorial Seed Co.
and Nichols Garden Seed for significantly cheaper.
• Germinate monster pumpkin seeds at air temperatures
of 65 to 75 degrees and soil temperatures of 70 to 90 de-
grees.
• Grow pumpkins indoors from seed and move the starts
to your garden about five to seven weeks later. Plant in
late May after the last frost.
• Full sun is important — avoid sites with full or partial
shade.
• Avoid soil compaction in the field. Some growers use
stepping stones or boards to minimize impact during the
season.
• Place plastic around the base of the pumpkin about two
weeks before planting to bring the soil temperature to
about 60 degrees. A high tunnel or hoop house can also
be used, especially during the early part of the season to
create a warmer environment for the plant.
• Provide your pumpkin with plenty of room to spread —
a single plant may use as much as 1,200-square feet, or
roughly a 40-foot diameter circle.
• Remove enough flowers and fruit — pumpkins are actu-
ally fruits — to force the plant to put all its energy into
producing one behemoth fruit instead of lots of smaller
fruits.
• Hand-pollinate pumpkins to increase the number of
seeds that develop and the likelihood for bigger fruits. Pull
ANNOUNCEMENT
off the petals of male flowers, which look like straight
stalks, and dab these on the female flowers, which have
little round ball-shaped ovaries at their base.
• Give pumpkins 130 days or more to mature. Because of
this, they are best suited to Western Oregon.
• Check soil daily. The ground needs to be evenly moist —
but not soggy — at all times. Keep water off foliage to dis-
courage disease.
• Apply aged manure in fall or in spring put down com-
post, up to 5 cubic yards per plant. Then use a fertilizer pe-
riodically through the season. Apply lime in fall to bring
soil to a more neutral pH if a test determines it is on the
acid side. Fertilize every two weeks or so with decom-
posed manure, compost or fertilizer.
• Maintain a weed-free area around plants.
• Stake down or bury leaf nodes along the vine. These will
root and help prevent wind from rolling the vines.
• You can place the growing pumpkin on a large piece of
cardboard or piece of wood to repel soil-dwelling insects.
• As the fruit gains size, shade it to prevent scalding and
reduce overheating. The skin will also remain more flexi-
ble and the fruit will be less likely to split.
• Harvest your pumpkin at the end of the season just be-
fore the first frost. It won’t color to the bright orange of a
jack-o-lantern type, but it will appear pale yellow to or-
ange-ish red when it is ready.
• To qualify as a pumpkin and not a squash, the surface
area must be shaded red, pink or yellow, rather than blue,
gray or green.
• At harvest time, be careful that the pumpkin does not
develop cracks, which will disqualify you in competitions.
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
Continued from page 10A
—
TUESDAY, JUNE 13
• Free Blood Pressure Checks — Salem Health West Valley,
525 SE Washington St., Dallas. Second Tuesday of the month.
Free. 503-831-5593.
• James2 Community Kitchen Meal — 4:30 to 6 p.m., St.
Philip Catholic Church, 825 SW Mill St., Dallas. Free; everyone
welcome. 503-623-8429.
• James2 Community Kitchen Meal — 4:45 to 6:30 p.m.,
Falls City Methodist Church, 242 North Main St., Falls City. Free.
503-787-3371.
• Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS) Club — 6 to 7 p.m.
weigh-in, 7 to 8 p.m. meeting, First Christian Church basement,
1079 SE Jefferson St., Dallas. Meetings offer programs and activ-
ities aimed at losing weight. Open to anyone. First meeting is
free.
• Overeaters Anonymous — Noon to 1 p.m., Salem Health
West Valley, 525 SE Washington St., Dallas. Support group
meets in the quiet room/chapel immediately inside the emer-
gency entrance on Clay Street. Dee Ann White, 971-718-6444.
—
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14
• Respite care — 1 to 3 p.m., 182 SW Academy St., Suite 216,
Dallas. Free child care for parents who need time to run er-
rands, pay bills, etc. Free. Open for children ages 6 weeks to 5
years. 503-877-8473 to reserve space. Diapers are provided.
• Willamette Valley Food Assistance Program Food Bank
— 1:30 to 6:30 p.m., 888 Monmouth Cutoff Road, Building E,
Dallas. Weekly distribution for eligible community members.
503-831-5634.
• Free Blood Pressure Check Clinic — 2 to 3 p.m., Salem
Health West Valley (surgery admitting area), 525 SE Washington
St., Dallas. 503-623-7323.
• Monmouth Senior Center Music Jam — 6:30 p.m., Mon-
mouth Senior Center, 180 S. Warren St., Monmouth. Open to
the public; musicians of all types welcome. 503-838-5678.
• Dallas American Legion Post No. 20 — 7 p.m., Academy
Building, Room 108, 182 SW Academy St., Dallas. 503-831-3971.
MI TOWN
It’s June — the month of
graduations and weddings,
of warm sunny days and
evenings of endless twi-
light, of trips to the beach
and the river and the lakes.
After our long and far too
wet winter and spring, it’s a
joy to turn the calendar to a
brand-new page and a
month that promises good
things.
—
June is not a traditional
month for resolutions —
that’s something we usually
do at the beginning of every
new year, when we are all
optimistic about plans to
lose 20 pounds, be kind to
animals, save more money
and do all kinds of altruistic
endeavors. Those resolu-
tions are mostly kicked to
the curb by late January or
mid-February, and we keep
P ATTY
T AYLOR
D UTCHER
Columnist
plodding through the dark
days of winter.
—
Now that winter is past
and the brighter days are
here, it’s time to make some
mid-year resolutions. I’ve en-
countered so many people
the last several weeks who
have spoken of the lack of
manners, civil discourse and
just plain mean and hateful
comments they have wit-
nessed over the last year or
so. The horrible murders of
two men and the serious in-
juries to another on the MAX
light-rail line in Portland
have brought hatred and
racism and intolerance front
and center to all of us in Ore-
gon, and the entire USA.
There have been nooses
hung in the Smithsonian —
at the Black History Museum.
Graffiti has appeared on
houses, cars and wherever
the messengers with to
spread their hatred. It is be-
yond understanding that in a
country with so many good
things going for all of us that
people are treating one an-
other so poorly.
—
I have a friend with a
“Don’t Tread on Me” tattoo
on his arm. His belief is
strong enough that he wants
to make more than a simple
statement, and this is the
path he has chosen. He also
doesn’t say bad things about
others with whom he dis-
agrees, because it would be a
rude and thoughtless thing to
do. I also have a friend whose
Gay Pride bumper sticker is
on the back of her little sports
car. She doesn’t tell her het-
erosexual friends that her
way is the right way and they
are wrong. She goes to work
every morning and enjoys
weekends and holidays as
much as the rest of us. The
list could go on and on, to in-
clude all races and religions
and political beliefs as well.
—
Many years ago, former
President George H.W. Bush
once asked for a “kinder, gen-
tler nation.” No matter what
our political and social be-
liefs may be, whether we are
old or young, liberal or con-
servative, it’s time to be civil
to each other.
Music from the Redgate Winery & Fieldhouse
Friday, June 9
6-9 PM
Ivie Meziere
Foss Trio
$5.00 cover
____________________
Saturday, June 10
6-9 PM
G-3
Tasting fees $10
& glass of wine $5
8175 Buena Vista Road
Independence • 503-428-7115 • www.redgatevineyard.com
Must be 21. Food Available.
