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Now this is a great pumpkin
But steroid use is forbidden.
Presto, of Eighty Four, gave up golf this year to grow pumpkins; well, ultimately just one pumpkin. A very large pumpkin.
Presto's pumpkin tipped the scales at the Oct. 3 Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers weigh-off at 1,444.5 pounds, making it the largest pumpkin ever grown in Washington County and the ninth-largest pumpkin grown in Pennsylvania. When all the results are tallied, it will probably turn out to be the 53rd-largest pumpkin of all time.
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This was Presto's second attempt at growing a large pumpkin. Last year his weighed in at 629 pounds.
"My goal was just to get one over 1,000 pounds this year," he said from the Springhouse on Route 136, where the pumpkin is on display until Tuesday.
Presto got involved in growing pumpkins two years ago when he helped a coach at Trinity High School win a dinner bet from a teacher. They had a bet on who could grow the largest pumpkin that summer.
While his friend was happy with the dinner, Presto wanted more. He studied up on growing pumpkins and spoke to Howard Dill, the man who patented the Atlantic Giant seed.
Presto paid $250 for his pumpkin seeds, which he planted May 9 and pollinated June 29. Rapid growth usually occurs in August and in one two-day period his pumpkin gained 88 pounds. It was harvested Oct. 2.
While driving to Ohio pulling the pumpkin on a special trailer, Presto received a great deal of attention from people driving past, many of them giving him a thumbs up. But his greatest pleasure has been seeing the smiles and delighted faces of small children who see his pumpkin. On Wednesday he will transport it to Trinity High School for the district's Pumpkinpalooza.
The winner of this year's OVGPG contest was Christy Harp of Massillon, Ohio, who achieved a new record with her 1,725-pound pumpkin. Awards will be made in March at the International Giant Vegetable Growers Convention in Niagara, which Presto plans to attend.
Last year, while on display in downtown Washington, his 600-pound plus pumpkin was vandalized. But Presto is unconcerned this year. It took two men 41/2 hours with a special pumpkin lifter to get the large melon out of the growing patch. And, because its outer skin is between nine and 12 inches thick, he had a simple message to anyone who might want to hurt it: "Good luck."
Congrats!!! : 10/17/2009
good job erik. That is one huge pumpkin
