What does it take to grow a giant pumpkin like this?
The Weather Network's Nathan Coleman joined the Annapolis Valley pumpkin weigh-off to discover how the weather is an important ingredient in growing these massive gourds.
The Annapolis Valley Giant Vegetable Growers Weigh Off at Glad Gardens in Waterville, N.S. is a place where farmers and hobbyists gather to unveil the fruits of the labour. There’s everything from giant watermelons to giant squash, and there's even a prize for the longest gourd.
What really draws the big crowds are the giant pumpkins.
“It’s a lot of bragging rights, mostly," long-time giant pumpkin grower Fred Ansems tells The Weather Network.
Weighing pumpkins in Waterville, Nova Scotia, on September 28, 2024. (Nathan Coleman/The Weather Network)
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The pumpkins are so big they need big tractors to hoist them up onto the scale for the weigh-off. Ansems says they can weigh anywhere from over 500 pounds all the way up to over 2000 pounds.
As for ideal growing weather for getting them big, he hopes for 12 to 25 millimetres of rain, once a week, mostly at night. That's with temperatures at night hovering around 20 degrees Celcius.
“Our rain this year was hit or miss; some places, you get 6 or 7 inches [152 or 179 mm] of rain within a couple days; that’s not good; it drowns everything,” says Ansems.
Humidity at night causes fungus to grow on leaves like a powdery mildew.
“We really don’t want the high 30’s. We want somewhere in the mid-20’s,” he says.
Despite weather setbacks, Grower Robert Budde was still able to grow the biggest pumpkin he’s ever grown in Waterville this year. He attributes it to a lot of tender love and care.
“We took good care of them, watered them regularly, and fed them, but it was a good season for us, and we had good soil where I planted them,.” says Budde.
The weigh-off is an annual tradition, held every fall at Glad Gardens, and this year’s winner was the farm’s own grower, whose pumpkin weighed in at 1394 pounds. That’s a lot of pumpkin pie!
