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I think the statements made by some are proving very true. The day of the backyard grower having the world record is over.

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/MsgBoard/ViewThread.asp?b=3&p=526329

7/24/2022 6:38:09 AM

Torrance, Ca.

That was a great find spudder!


My beliefs still stay the same.;) I want to see the biggest pumpkin that can possibly be grown. I don't care how its grown.
The greenhouse has become the new weapon and if that's what has to be done, then get to it anyone trying for the world record.
I'm just trying to beat my pb each year so having a competition against myself keep things fun!:)

5 kids, a family, life, work,,, just growing against myself is a happy place for me. Once it becomes about the money or shooting for the world record, it becomes work again in my eyes.

Again, great find on this older post!;)

7/24/2022 11:19:44 AM

Bethlehem CT

I agree I just want to see the biggest pumpkin grown. (I don't care how it's done) I have seen what happens when we start to split into categories etc. This brought a lot of division with the giant watermelon growers when people started grafting about ten years ago.
That being said Spudder may be right, about the backyard grower. But I wouldn't count them out just yet. Look at what Steve Geddes grew in his backyard, WHat Andy Wolf, Karl Haist,Moby Mike grew in their backyards. It could still happen.

7/24/2022 3:23:21 PM

Have two separate catagories for growing pumpkins! Backyard grower & commercial grower. I hear this conversation alot amoungst growers in the Northeast. I guess us backyard growers will stay in the minor leagues! Just like So.Cal.Grower said go for your personnel best and let your family & friends enjoy your accomplishment for the pumpkin you grew!

7/24/2022 3:35:18 PM

Syracuse, NY

Sorry, but, no - we're not gonna have separate Winner's Circles for where I/you grew the pumpkin nor for what you/I do for a living.
If I grow the WR but I don't have a greenhouse nor a business website, what then? 'Oh, man, you shoulda signed up as a Commercial Grower, Dude!' (which means that one grower grows a LOT (get it?) of pumpkins and sells them at a fruit stand) - yes, that IS commerce; ...'and show everybody pictures of ANY greenhouse, even if it's not yours! Who's gonna know, Dude? That pumpkin was so big, it wrecked the GH and you had to tear it down!' (I'd be out there making holes where a GH frame should have been - (Imagine, if you can, that Comstock or Libby's grew more-flavorful AGs or 81 Wolfs as their main servings, lol) I agreed with Bubba Presley, I suppose, as I was not reading all the text - pretty funny back in November o' '15---eg

7/24/2022 4:48:37 PM

Grittyville, WA

Add Leiber's Massachusetts state record to bigmoons list. There was a nice writeup in the SNGPG about it...
Steve Daletas and Joel Holland were outdoors too (Joel did cover his plant in both the spring and the fall though).
And I bet Mr. Gienger would like a mention.
But, yes, the outdoors does appear to lag about 10% behind the top greenhouses...

7/24/2022 5:43:08 PM

I guess it's your decision "DUDE" pumpkinpal2 Typical end of democracy in this country!!

7/24/2022 6:01:31 PM

Grittyville, WA

Booth and Bayuk. Too many to mention really. I think the one advantage the greenhouse growers have is some are professional agriculture/horticulturalists. It might be their education and experience giving them that 10% boost, not the greenhouse? Its hard for us hobby farmers to appreciate the level of smarts and education to be highly successful in professional agriculture or horticulture. I believe Willemijns actually worked for a fertilizer company, and these days it isnt just "dump on some ammonium nitrate" so from the get go he probably knew a lot more than the rest of us will ever understand. Beni Meier was in professional horticulture, too I believe. I dont really envy the greenhouses as much as the level of education. Building a functional greenhouse wouldnt be that hard for me thats actually within my abilities, but attaining that level of education and experience is what feels impossible.

7/24/2022 6:02:46 PM

Okay here is some food for thought what about this? I'm not worried about the greenhouse in this subject. But I know of a grower that has a advantage that most of us don't and that is he has a Agriculture licence he does not have any more smarts than the next person but he has a farm. He can purchase products we can only wish we could get as a back yard grower!

7/24/2022 6:20:20 PM

Grittyville, WA

Sorry for yet another post but its amazing when the sport gets pushed forward by growers for whom it really was just a hobby, like Steve Daletas, Joe Jutras, Steve Conolly, Ron Wallace, to name a few prominent hobbyists. Although I'm not sure if Ron did turfgrass management which is actually professional level horticulture.
Theres lots to admire and work towards.

7/24/2022 6:21:12 PM

Lodi, California

Different categories? How do you define commercial? I could argue a lot of growers are "commercial growers", the Wallaces come to mind. I don't think they should be put in a different box.

7/24/2022 6:31:03 PM

Syracuse, NY

T2G - I didn't mean to make you think I was arguing with you, per se' - I wasn't meaning that I was calling you 'Dude' - It was a mock conversation such as between Wayne and Garth or Bill and Ted, etc., of what could be said if I grew the WR but was signed-into another category; I should have placed a few more lols, perhaps, lol, lol, lol---eg

7/24/2022 6:42:41 PM

In sports your not allowed steroids or you have a advantage. Now if you were a grower that could use other products that the common grower is not entitled to use because of the lack of a agriculture licence wouldn't you call it a advantage over the playing field!? Nothing against the greenhouse & intelligence of a individual but they have noting to do with being allowed that licence.

7/24/2022 8:00:48 PM

Syracuse, NY

Grown in a greenhouse---GIAG
Grown outside---GO
so,
Atlantic GIAGantic Series*
and
Atlantic GOGantic Series*

Wow - we've been spelling it incorrectly for half a century!
*Couldn't figure out the 'Giant' weigh to do it. Yet.
JUST my textual observation of it - eg

I accidentally discovered something about my drums earlier today that
was brought about by something completely unrelated to the original task;
There is something to be gleaned from ALL of our discussions, so, rock on! eg

7/24/2022 8:40:28 PM

Bethlehem CT

Time to grow it's true in most states you have to be licensed to have full access to all the available pesticides out there. It is possible for anyone to obtain a license, although it will cost you several hundred bucks and some study time.
Some states are stricter than others like my state for example requires you to have a license to buy imidacloprid. However talk to the growers up in Canada, they would kill to be able to buy the stuff that people in the US can without a license

7/25/2022 6:22:58 AM

Alot of states require a certain amount of acreage & you must also show a certain amount of revenue that has been made from your product. It isn't just pesticides either some states require a licence to have access to even certain type seed. This would be the beginning of the deffinition asked earlier as for defining commercial grower. As mentioned with the acreage some are 10 and better acres and some require $2000/yr or better product income to be able to have and maintain a license. So that would define the backyard grower because they don't meet those guide lines. So it isn't possible for everyone to obtain a licence!

7/25/2022 7:24:12 AM

British Columbia, Canada

In my opinion a pumpkin is a pumpkin no matter how it was grown. Do what you gotta do to win!

Dividing the sport into different categories will ruin it. I've seen it happen in other competitive hobby / sport communities that I've been a part of.

7/25/2022 2:53:56 PM

President - GPC

Interesting thread, however the GPC is fine with the categories as they are and we dont foresee them changing anytime soon. GROW BIG

7/25/2022 3:41:40 PM

"Do what you gotta do to win" that excuse doesn't work in any sports that I know of! Why didn't Canadian Ben Johnson try to use that excuse when he was disqualified from the 1988 olympics? Because he had the idea he could do what he wanted to do to win but that opinion and or idea proved to be wrong!

7/25/2022 3:57:34 PM

British Columbia, Canada

I'm talking doing what you gotta do to win within the rules of the sport.

Johnson's 100m run was disqualified because of doping, that's like the equivalent of filling a pumpkin up with cement and bringing it to a weigh-off.

7/25/2022 4:15:33 PM

Kutztown, PA

So what, I don't care to have a greenhouse cause I got a better tan :). More seriously, there's not much difference between having a category for 150 sf and free style than categories for grown in green house and grown outside. If the playing field isn't level to the point where all participants can dream of a win and can only hope for a PB then you're already divided into two groups. Another hobby of mine is doing triathlons. Though an old guy like me can only hope for a PB at this point I at least know everyone participating including the elite category of athletes are all swimming, biking, and running the same distance on the same course. As far as I know, no one has fins, an air conditioned bike, or a PF Fliers that really fly. It's a level playing field. Physical and mental capability are the only factors, says the Newbie.

7/25/2022 4:28:48 PM

Any time anyone can have an edge in a sport or competition of any sort while the others sit on the sidelines unable to do so makes those with the edge have better chances of winning! That would include the individuals who make the rules!

7/25/2022 4:59:15 PM

Alaska

It's a matter of priorities. If your goal is to grow monster pumpkins possibly a WR then you will spend whatever it takes. What next telling growers what products they can and can't use. A greenhouse is just another tool in the tool box. There's no guarantee a greenhouse is that silver bullet everyone's looking for. I've seen many posts on this site that proves that point. If anything it created other problems.

7/25/2022 5:44:36 PM

If your priorities make you feel good about using chemicals products that only agricultural licence holders can have than have at it that only undermines the character of any competition. Again the conversation is on the benefits of chemicals for the very few and the majority of those that do not! I was told by many people you won't get far with the argument because it is a group that are set in their ways and their rules that benefit them! Which I can clearly see here!!!!

7/25/2022 6:17:24 PM

I think the definition of a backyard grower is somebody who brings in some compost, plants the seed, waters, prunes and fertilizes. Someone might be able to post if the old timers did more than that. Once you get into soil balancing to the Nth., leaf tests etc. I think the backyard grower tag goes out the window. Type greenhouse growing into the search and you will find the discussions on growing in greenhouse goes back a long way. It took a lot of years and hard work for people to figure out how to do it. So kudos to them! Do not forget that not many years ago the growers who were growing in the sweet spot were considered to have an unfair advantage.

Johnson was not the only person doing it, he was just the one that got caught. Ever see articles about retesting samples years later and a fair jag of the clean ones were not so clean after all. Just lucky the proper tests were not available when they competed.

7/25/2022 6:37:26 PM

Colorado

To get 50lbs plus a day growth on Ags you have to be doing a lot of things right and leave very little to chance.Not a "backyard pursuit"by definition. Greenhouse is one more step in the giant pumpkin madness.

7/25/2022 8:02:45 PM

Bethlehem CT

Time2grow what specific pesticide(s) would you like to be able to buy that you can't without a license in PA? Often times there are very equivalent types that can be purchased with out a license. I have been able to help people out in the past in finding a similar pesticide that contains the same active ingredient as the restricted use pesticide they want.

7/25/2022 9:12:40 PM

Grittyville, WA

My nine year old daughter is going to be a commercial grower this year, just sent in a leaf sample lol. I posted a periodic table of the elements on their bedroom wall. My poor kids! What kind of parent am I.

7/26/2022 1:05:58 AM

Kutztown, PA

Grid, I sent in some soil and tissue this season, and just sent a water sample in yesterday. Do you have to be 9 years old to get the license? :)

7/26/2022 8:18:07 AM

Kutztown, PA

The point of my triathlon analogy is that I know there's elite athletes out there I could never hope to beat however it doesn't mean I cant compete to the best of my abilities. If a person wants to dump a lot of cash into pumpkin growing that's fine with me. When that person fails their probably questioning their sanity and poor judgement a lot more than I am. It's one thing to be disappointed. It's another thing to be disappointed and out of a lot of cash. :)

7/26/2022 8:33:36 AM

New Castle, Indiana

Gridiot - only the best one ever!

7/26/2022 8:38:20 AM

Yes Garwolf we missed the cut-off age to apply for a license! I also hear the air is thinner out there!

7/26/2022 8:46:36 AM

I read the diaries and rants on the other board. Nuff said!!!

But thanks for the tremendous belly laugh!!

7/26/2022 3:12:28 PM

Mission Viejo, CA

Is it wintertime? This thread has off-season written all over it.

7/26/2022 3:46:54 PM

Grittyville, WA

Cuz its too hot to be out in the garden!

7/26/2022 3:59:10 PM

Grittyville, WA

All is fair in love, war, and the internet :)

7/26/2022 4:20:07 PM

You mean the fun is over? Well at least I can study for my agriculture license now:) Good luck to everyone this year with your pumpkins!!

7/26/2022 4:44:33 PM

Gritty just left his gloves too far apart and I could not resist the opening. The devil made me do it. All fun!

7/26/2022 6:34:43 PM

Grittyville, WA

...as long as it was not Jada Pinkett.

7/27/2022 12:45:48 AM