Autumn is in the air. Leaves are falling all around us and there's a crispness in the night air. Soon there will be frost on the pumpkin, and it will take a lot of frost to cover Dwight Slone's award winning pumpkins. The most loved icon of fall is a big ole pumpkin to use as a decoration for your old Kentucky home but just how big can a pumpkin get anyway? Ten pounds, 25 pounds? A visit with local pumpkin guru Dwight Slone revealed to me that he grows pumpkins in the 1400 pound range!
This year, Dwight has entered two giant pumpkins into state competitions. His entry into the Kentucky State Pumpkin contest earned him second place with a astounding weight of 1456.6 pounds. Last weekend he took a second pumpkin to the Allardt Pumpkin Festival where he earned another second place award with that pumpkin weighing in at 1421.5 pounds. So ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, gather 'round as we learn the art of giant pumpkin growing.
Pumpkins naturally start with a pumpkin seed. "The variety of these pumpkins are Dill's Atlantic Giant Pumpkins and I got the seed for the one on the trailer from a gentleman from Rhode Island, Ron Wallace, and it came out of a 1790 pound pumpkin. I got the seed for the one in the truck from a gentleman from Michigan from a 1916 pound pumpkin." Dwight explained to me the process for planting and sustaining such a large pumpkin crop. " The seeds were started in a germination box the last week of April and were put in the ground the first week in May. After they go in the ground I've got these little solar powered huts to cover the tiny plants that stay closed in the cool mornings. They even have little heaters on them. Then as the sun burns through the fog and the day heats up, they open and let the heat out. The temperature can change 40 degrees from when I go to work in the morning until I get home in the evening."
Through the long hot summer Dwight is out in the pumpkin patch before and after his job at Prestonsburg City Utilities, making sure everything is perfect for his pumpkin crop. This year Dwight planted 5 large pumpkins and he explained to me the method for spacing those huge pumpkins. "Each plant had about 850 square feet of space at the beginning and at the end of the growing season, there was only about 2 feet of space to walk. Each area was about 28 feet wide. During the growing season each pumpkin can add 35 pounds of weight each day. You can almost watch them grow daily! As they mature, I cover them with a tent to keep the water off of them and under each growing pumpkin I put some sand for a cushion and you always have to watch for mice. They like to burrow under the pumpkins to live. I was lucky this year; two little black cats came to live in my patch and they do an excellent job!"
Growing giant pumpkins is a task though that is not without peril. This year one of his giants looked to be outstanding. The color was a beautiful light orange and he was keen on that one to be an award winner. But a few weeks ago he noticed a split on the vine. "You have to check them many times a day. It's the first thing I do in the morning, the first thing I do when I come home and the last thing I do before going to bed. I noticed a little split in the vine, so I cleaned it with a little Clorox and water and a fungicide. And I put a fan on the split to keep it dry. Because the color was so pretty, I decided to save the orange one to take to Jenny Wiley to show to everyone but when we got back from the State Fair it had rained too much." Even with all the care Dwight gave the pumpkin, the split did not heal and the pumpkin started to wither down.
Dwight's next task with his two giants is to carve them into jack o'lanterns. He told me, "The wall thickness is close to 10 inches thick, they should make two nice jacks!" I can't even imagine how you would clean a pumpkin out that large.
I asked Dwight a crucial question, "Have you ever seen The Great Pumpkin?" With a chuckle Dwight said, "Not yet, but my wife Karen says she sees a crazy guy running around at night with a head lamp on checking pumpkins before bedtime!"
I think Dwight is wrong, because this is the most sincere pumpkin patch I've ever been in. I imagine the Great Pumpkin does live in his pumpkin patch, several of them in fact. Dwight and Karen are passionate about their giant hobby and they are so proud to represent Prestonsburg at the State Fairs and at Jenny Wiley Festival. If you know someone who has a unique hobby or talent, find me on Facebook and tell me about them.
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