Hunt's Diary for 2017

Our parsnip weighed 9.8# at the Royal Winter Fair. That is a new PB for us, but no Canadian record.

Over all it was a very good season for us. Next year we are giving the garden a rest & will only grow some tomatoes & other giants veggies. No pumpkins or squash.

Congratulations to all those growers who grew a new record giant veggie, grew a new PB or attended one of Ontario's weigh offs. Hopefully 2018 will be a great season for all our members. We would also like to thank all those growers who shared their season with our membership though this site.

We look forward to seeing many of you at the GVGO spring seminar.

Cheers,

Jane & Phil

PS. Don't forget to renew for 2018. There will be a $6000 reward to the 1st Canadian GVGO member to break the 2,000# barrier & become the winner of the GVGO's 1-Ton Challenge. Contact us at gvgogrowers@gmail.com).

1511 Haist Sq lit up.

The 1937 Urena (1278#) & the Canadian flag. Canada 150 years. The watermelon was @ 135#.

The 1803 Hoelke (1514#). Happy to welcome all visitors.

2145 Mcmullen (1515.4#) My niece started carving this Owl??? & couldn't finish it. I put the left eye in, carved the maple leaf & opened up the beak to show the light through. We also added a red light to make it stand out. Amazing thing is most people who seen it, guessed it was an Owl. LOL.

Thanks. We really enjoy displaying them. We do get a lot of people stopping by for pictures. We even have some telling us how much they look forward to seeing our pumpkins each year. Some even want to give us some money for allowing them to stop & take the pictures. LOL.

We spent 4 days carving pumpkins & collecting seeds. We'll display it for a week after Halloween or until they start to rot.

What a wonderful display!

Here were the pumpkins lit up for Halloween. We had a record amount of kids this year. The grand total was 3. LOL. We went many years without a single kid stopping in even though we live on a major Hwy. Lots of adults stopped by every year for pictures though.

Here is a parsnip that we grew this year. We sent it with Chris to the Royal Winter Fair & are hoping that it will be @ 10#. Could it be a new Canadian Record? Stay tuned.

Hey Ryan

They look really impressive when they are standing up like that. We use our small Kabota tractor, with a bucket & slide the bucket under the edge of the pallet. I lift the edge of the pallet & move forward, slowly tilting the pumpkin upright. As the pumpkin is tilting forward, I adjust the bucket so that the pallet is in between the pumpkin & the tractor's bucket to better support the pumpkin. Jane & a friend also stand on both sides & help guide it up. Once upright, we use styrofoam pieces to help support the base. They are very solid standing up that way & had no issues with the high winds we had the other day. It took all the power the poor little Kabota had to get them up. It's only rated to lift 700#, so it struggled pushing up the 2 - 1500#+ pumpkins.

I'm currently carving them & will be done this afternoon. I'll post a picture of them later.

Phil & Jane

PS. I wonder how many other growers carve their giant pumpkins?

Looks really nice. How do you stand those monsters up?

Here is our pumpkins lined up & ready to carve. They are from right to left:

1. 1803 Hoelke - 1514#

2. 130#+ watermelon fron the 315 edwards

3. 1937 Urena - 1278#

4. 1511 Haist Sq - 917#

5. 2145 Mcmullen - 1515.4#

I'll have pictures of our carved pumpkins & other veggies later this week.

Thanks Ryan. We really enjoyed growing it. It never really got over 28# per day, but it was still growing when we picked it. We crossed it with our 2145 Mcmullen, so it should have some huge potential for growing big & heavy. I'm sure there will be a few more heavy 1803's out there. Thanks for donating the seeds to the GVGO. We look forward to seeing you & the family in Wellington.

Nice weight with the 1803 Phil. it looks so much like the pollinator which was my 1625 Gantner (1800.5), that i figured it had to be heavy like the Gantner. 11% on this years strict chart must have been about 15% on last years chart. Nice fruit.

Our 1803 Hoelke ended up 4th at Port Elgin at 1514#, 11% heavy over the new chart. The 1511 Haist squash went to chart & weighed in at 917# & won 3 place. The Dawson watermelon weighed 137# & came in second. We had a tomato & it weighed in at 4.52# to place second. Our carrot was 6.7#, good for 3rd & our parship weighed in at 6# & placed 3rd in the Other Veggie class.

We have been going to Port Elgin for about 20 years & this was the 1st year we seen the cars. Some very impressive rides out there. Looking forward to seeing more of them next year.

Over all a great day, great weather & the Port Elgin crew did an outstanding job throughout the event. Thanks to all the volunteers for a job well done.

This one wouldn't last until Sat either. Too bad as it could have won at Port Elgin. Grown from the same plant that grew our 5.06#er that was weighed earlier. Combined weight of the 2 maters from the 1 tomato plant is 10.42#.

This one couldn't wait until Port Elgin. Listed on the early tomato for GPC.

This watermelon is barely growing now. Weeds have taken over. Still hoping it'll make it to 150#, but it's not really looking good. Lets hope for heavy, over the chart.

1511 Haist is still plugging along. Only 5# per day. Pretty disappointed with the results, but we will get it to a scale.

1803 Hoelke This one has really slowed down. Only 5# per day now. I'm running low on water, so I'm watering less.

1937 Urena Perfectly round. This one looks like it'll go heavy. Too bad it didn't get bigger.

2145 Mcmullen This is our largest pumpkin. Not by much though. The cold temps we had a week ago really slowed them down to a crawl. Doesn't look like this warmer weather is going to help either.

I agree Ryan. It would have been tough for them, with the low turnout & the amount they paid out in prize money. It's good thing that Brian has the store & other attractions to help out.

I'm not sure if I want to put up a greenhouse, but with a risk of frost tonight, I will have to figure out some way to keep the plants frost free. Will use either remay or go out at 4 am & water the plants down.

We have 3 pumpkins, so if they all survive, we might be able to go to Wellington. The moose hunt is a week later, so that will free us up for the 1st time in many years. Maybe we'll see you there. Good luck .

No idea to be honest. I haven't really thought about it. This pumpkin that never got out of the 20 pounds a day hasn't made me think of weighoffs.

It's tough to lose Pembroke, the only close one to us up here. Can't really blame them, as I can't see how any weighoffs can even break even financially. The numbers don't add up, and it was the same 7-10 growers showing up every year.

I'll have to play it by ear and see what works for our schedule. I need about 1200 more pounds for 2k so I may build a greenhouse around the plant and take it to the Royal Winter Fair if it can grow to 140 days.

Woodbridge or Wellington would be my guess if I had to make one now.

Thanks Ryan. We worked extra hard to make sure the stem & blossom end were level. We've lost too many pumpkins to splits in the last 3 years because of the shape. Hopefully all our pumpkins will make it to a weigh off.

Now that Pembroke has cancelled it's weigh off, where are you taking your pumpkin?

Our biggest watermelon. Currently putting on 2.8# per day. Hope to break the 150# mark by Port Elgin.

Our 1511 Haist sq. It was aVLate pollenation & is currently @ 650#. The cold nights have slowed growth. We have had 3 nights that were 6 degrees or less. Hopefully we don't see an early frost. SOME COLD TEMPS ARE HEADING OUR WAY BY WEEEKS END. good luck.

Nice and level stem/blossom line on all the fruit. Looks like you've done it a few times before.