Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Pumpkin Perch: Matthew Skinner, 5, sits atop the Rogerses' giant pumpkin in Campbell.
Local family continues tradition of growing Atlantic Giant pumpkins
The Rogerses' pumpkins weigh in at more than 600 hundred pounds
By Erin Mayes
The pumpkin sitting on Judd and Julie Rogers' front step this Halloween will out-size every pumpkin on the block once again. It may, in fact, be larger than any pumpkin in Campbell.
Weighing between 600 and 700 pounds, the Rogerses' giant orange gourd reaches almost competitive proportions--this year, a new record for the largest pumpkin in California was set at the 2001 Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay: 1,016 pounds.
The pumpkin weigh-off was part of the 31st annual Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival.
The Rogerses, however, haven't been growing Atlantic Giant pumpkins competitively. After receiving some pumpkin seeds from Julie's mother in 1998, Judd planted them out of fascination and curiosity. Atlantic Giant seeds are about twice the size of regular pumpkin seeds, and they produce pumpkins that are much more than twice the size of normal pumpkins.
Since then, the Rogerses have held the tradition of planting the seeds in the spring and watching the squash grow to huge proportions. Julie says the secret to growing them so large is plenty of fertilizer and something to cover the pumpkins so they don't fade or crack.
Although they don't enter the pumpkins into competitions, the Rogerses like to share the captivating fruits with the public. Last year, they loaned their largest pumpkin to a local store, which in turn put it on display for all of its customers to admire.
This year, they invited their daughter Madeline's junior kindergarten class from St. Timothy's Lutheran School to take a field trip to their back yard. Each child got his or her chance to climb on top of the orange monster.
As Halloween approaches, the Rogerses carve their enormous pumpkins, and Julie's mother even makes them into pumpkin pies. Julie says Atlantic Giants don't make the best pumpkin pies--the smaller variety are better--but that doesn't prevent the family from eating the desserts.
The Rogerses might want to consider entering their pumpkins into contests in the coming years. Because, as some frustrated farmers have proven, growing huge pumpkins can be a profitable hobby.
Steve Daletas, a Pleasant Hill, Ore., resident, was the winner at Half Moon Bay's annual pumpkin weigh-off and received a prize of $5,080. His pumpkin, weighing more than 1,000 pounds, set a new California record Oct. 8. He bested more than 65 contenders from California, Oregon, Washington and Arizona, including several former winners.
Although he was reluctant to share the secret of how he got his pumpkin to grow to such a tremendous size, he did offer a few words of wisdom.
"The Atlantic Giant isn't necessarily going to grow a giant pumpkin anymore," Daletas says, explaining that new seeds are being developed. "It's really getting to be a kind of science."
A commercial pilot by day, Daletas says weather is an extremely important factor in having a successful season and adds that Oregon experienced phenomenal weather this year.
He says it's also important to make sure the pumpkins are shaded during the day, so Daletas built something to keep the sun off the squash.
"I call it a shade structure," he says. "It's kind of like a tent that's put over the pumpkin. We actually have bed comforters that we cover them with to keep them warm. They get tucked in at night just like the kids."
Daletas has been growing the pumpkins since he was just a little kid and says he starts out each year by planting 12 pumpkin seeds.
"There's always a few that don't perform," he says. "We always lose a few, sometimes more than a few. They crack, too. My goal is to end up with at least two pumpkins at the end."
This was Daletas' fourth year of serious competition at the Half Moon Bay festival. To get the gourd to California, he borrowed a friend's truck because the trailer he built to pull the pumpkins behind him was too small.
Other winners from the Half Moon Bay festival included a second-place winner from Napa, who won $2,000 for his 984-pound pumpkin, and a Sumner, Wash., resident carted his pumpkin to California to receive the third-place prize of $1,500 for his 966-pound masterpiece.
The Napa resident's pumpkin was the biggest from California, a distinction that earned him an additional $1,000.
Giant pumpkin seeds should be planted in mid-April. If growing is successful, pumpkins will have reached the bulk of their size by late August.
Campbell, California
