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With a daily dose of water and regular spritzes of fertilizer, 80-year-old Otto Pleis's pumpkin has grown to nearly 400 pounds.

Pleis' pumpkin percolates

By Steve Enders

According to pumpkin-growing experts, all that's needed to grow a grand gourd is good seed, good soil and good luck.

It seems Otto Pleis, an 80-year-old amateur gardener, had all three.

Pleis is the proud papa of a pumpkin estimated at 400 pounds, which rests in the back yard of his home near Lynbrook High School.

"I don't know much about this stuff," Pleis said. But since May, he's watched and studied what he calls a "human being" develop in a 20-foot-by-6-foot plot of land.

The pumpkin lies in the middle of the yard and is surrounded by an intricate system of leaves and vines.

"Each leaf is like a little factory," he said, adding that the hollow vines that lead to the pumpkin allow the water and light to be synthesized as energy the pumpkin uses to grow.

Pleis said from what he's read the pumpkin could grow another 50 pounds before it's ready for harvest.

Then he might haul it to Half Moon Bay for that town's annual pumpkin festival. He's also heard that Disneyland has an annual parade centered around huge pumpkins, so he might send his away to Anaheim.

"That's a lot of pumpkin pies there," he said, considering the sweet possibilities.

It's already the size of a doghouse, and is virtually impossible for one person to move.

Pleis said that over the last week it's begun to turn orange, signaling the end of the pumpkin's growth.

According to expert pumpkin grower Don Langevin's Homepage, Pleis' pumpkin could have broken the world record just 16 years ago. Then, the largest pumpkin weighed in at 403 pounds. Now, world-class pumpkins push 800 to 900.

He planted the pumpkin seed in May after turning the soil. He cares for the plant by watering it regularly, adding a dose of fertilizer every three or four days. "It's just regular liquid fertilizer," he said.

Although he's grown some vegetables, including tomatoes, corn and squash in his yard, this "monster," as he calls it, was completely unexpected.

In an effort to keep the pumpkin plant from becoming a pumpkin patch, Pleis cut down its vines and leaves by nearly half. This has also kept the "juices" flowing into the single pumpkin, he said.

Each day he's had to remove a tiny pumpkin or two from the vines.

He said that neighborhood kids peek over the fence to see the pumpkin.

"These kids are amazed at how this thing grows. They're amazed at the way it works," Pleis said. "Give each room a plot of ground, and let them go out there and work and teach them gardening. It'd do a lot more than computers."

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, October 7, 1998.
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