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| Sasquatch of squash: Don Young produced a pumpkin that grew by as much as 50 pounds a day. Harry Baumert/The Des Moines Register/AP |
How an Iowa man grows a 1,600-pound pumpkin
Don Young uses manure, seaweed, and a special 'compost tea' to produce a massive squash that misses the world record by 27 pounds.
from the October 31, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
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Giant pumpkin contests are becoming as prevalent as cobwebs in the attic. As more growers enter competitions in Europe and North America, the prizes are getting richer. The purse for winning the Anamosa Pumpkin Festival – Iowa's Super Bowl of gourd growing – has almost doubled in the last five years to $6,750.
The event is certified by the governing body of big-pumpkin growing, the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth. The GPC holds a special ceremony to recognize its champions, presenting the world record setter with an orange jacket. "I'm going to get that world record," says Young.
Before he makes room in his closet, though, he might want to glance across the garden. Young doesn't just face competition from his fellow growers. His wife is vying for the title, too. Julie Young started growing pumpkins after watching her husband become immersed in the intricacies of the hobby. "It would be great to have a woman get a world record in pumpkin growing," she says. In just two years, she's produced a 800-pound and an 1,102-pound pumpkin, which took second place at this year's Iowa State Fair. "I'm a quick study," she says.
Five days before Anamosa, Don Young's "big guy" outgrew the measuring system growers use to estimate a pumpkin's weight. It was off the scale. All he knew was that it should weigh more than 1,500 pounds – the world record stood at 1,689 pounds. On Oct. 5, he cut it off the vine and hoisted it onto a special pallet. The next day he drove it on a trailer to Anamosa. After he won the competition, Young found out he was 27 pounds shy of the record, an honor claimed by a Rhode Islander. His fellow growers asked why he didn't leave it on the vine for another week, even another day. Young shrugs. "I got every pound I could."
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