Pumpkins on the way to the Alaska state fair

vickeym
vickeym Posts: 2,134 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited August 2022 in Fruit

A friend was heading to the fair earlier today and saw these pumpkins heading to the fair for our giant pumpkin contest.

Here is a link to some of the yearly record for produce at our fair. 2019 was a good year for pumpkins. The winner was 2051 pounds.

https://www.alaskastatefair.org/site/giant-fruit-vegetable-records/

Comments

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    I've heard about the giant veggies grown in Alaska. But WOW! Over a ton!

  • vickeym
    vickeym Posts: 2,134 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Update on the giant pumpkins!

    They were weighed today and we have a new state record. 2147 pounds


  • Michelle D
    Michelle D Posts: 1,465 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited August 2022

    That is just mind blowing! Would a giant pumpkin like that be any good to eat?

    I'm sure that my husband would have loved to get his hands on the record winning 168lb watermelon!

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin
    edited August 2022

    @Michelle D I imagine it would be, but watery. My grandpa's at 400 lb were tasty! That took a long time to process. I can't imagine doing up that one. It sounds like it should be a community project...

    I think I've posted about watermelon that can grow huge, and seed availability. Watermelons don't seem to grow here (none this year again), but in some places in Manitoba, they will easily grow.

    Here is the link for the 220 lb watermelon. It is part way down, with a guy holding the watermelon on its end:

    https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/848532/everything-watermelon

    Maybe you guys should try growing those. I'm right there with him in loving watermelon!

  • dipat2005
    dipat2005 Posts: 1,290 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Several days ago my neighbor took out this long pumpkin vine that didn't fruit at all but put out a long green vine and huge leaves!

  • JennyT Upstate South Carolina
    JennyT Upstate South Carolina Posts: 1,273 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Those pumpkins are outrageous!😲

    I had wondered too @vickeym, whether or not they would taste good at all.😊

  • Michelle D
    Michelle D Posts: 1,465 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @LaurieLovesLearning I remember reading your post about seeds for huge watermelon. I unfortunately have never been very good at growing watermelon. I'm never going to give up! But I have yet to be successful. They always seem to spilt during a heavy rain long before they get big enough to harvest.

  • annbeck62
    annbeck62 Posts: 1,028 ✭✭✭✭

    Amazing! Can't imagine lifting them in the truck.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin

    My grandpa used a tractor bucket. I imagine these would take a huge forklift or a tractor with that capability.

  • vickeym
    vickeym Posts: 2,134 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @JennyT Upstate South Carolina I don't know of anyone who has every tried eating one of the huge ones. Can't imagine there would be much flavor to them. But would make great feed for a herd of pigs or whatever livestock might eat them.

    @annbeck62 They use tractors and / or forklifts to lift them into vehicles and onto a large set of scales at the fair. If you see the pictures from them at the fair they are on wooden platforms with hooks on the sides of the platform. Straps are attached to the hooks so they can be lifted.

    It was very bad a couple years ago. What would most likely have been a winning pumpkin was dropped and smashed when a strap broke. Another year one was disqualified when a hole which was from a nut and bolt in the platform punctured the pumpkin. They cannot have holes in them as it would be possible for someone to use the hole to inject water to make the pumpkin heavier that it really was.

  • gardneto76
    gardneto76 Posts: 528 ✭✭✭✭

    Man I want to know how they grow some of that stuff so big! I was looking at the other records for veggies and was seriously impressed. I need to work on my soil a lot before I can even attempt some of those. I grew some giant cabbage before, but they were not anywhere near what the labeling said they could get up to. Everyone was impressed because they thought it was just normal green cabbage.

  • vickeym
    vickeym Posts: 2,134 ✭✭✭✭✭

    One thing that helps here is the fact that in summer the sun barely sets. We get 16 or more hours of sunlight a day. By June 21st we basically get a little dusk and then the sun comes back up. In some areas it doesn't even get that dark. Of course winter is just the opposite.

  • JennyT Upstate South Carolina
    JennyT Upstate South Carolina Posts: 1,273 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @vickeym I can see it being an excellent food for animals for sure.

    It's still so crazy to think they can get that big. It just blows my mind.🤯

  • vickeym
    vickeym Posts: 2,134 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I know they are just amazing to see. The cabbages and other giant veggies are as well. This is one of the contestants for the cabbage weigh off this year. The banana is just for scale to give folks an idea how big it really is. I believe the weigh off for cabbage is tomorrow.



  • marjstratton
    marjstratton Posts: 1,132 ✭✭✭✭

    Wow, those are certainly fair worthy pumpkins.

  • JennyT Upstate South Carolina
    JennyT Upstate South Carolina Posts: 1,273 ✭✭✭✭✭

    😄 That is a big fat happy cabbage!

  • water2world
    water2world Posts: 1,177 ✭✭✭✭

    @vickeym Thanks for posting---Never knew pumpkins could get that large! I enjoyed others comments about huge edible items and WOW, opening a new world to me!

  • vickeym
    vickeym Posts: 2,134 ✭✭✭✭✭

    This year's cabbage was smaller than many in previous years weighing in at 26th Annual Giant Cabbage Weigh-Off with an 84.05!

    The world record for Cabbage, Green was set in 2012 138.25 pounds cabbage.

    Not sure if that record still holds or not.

  • JennyT Upstate South Carolina
    JennyT Upstate South Carolina Posts: 1,273 ✭✭✭✭✭

    A 138 pound cabbage!

    Ok @vickeym, my next question is what do they do with these ginormous veggies after the fair?

  • vickeym
    vickeym Posts: 2,134 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I would guess depending on their condition they probably feed it to the hogs, cattle or goats. I'm sure that big there is not much flavor. Though I don't know for sure.

  • Cornelius
    Cornelius Posts: 872 ✭✭✭✭

    Those veggies are gigantic! At least we know who took the growth ray (now we just have to find the shrink ray 🤔) 😂🤣

  • VermontCathy
    VermontCathy Posts: 1,987 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The giant pumpkin record for Vermont is slightly over a ton, but this year the top winners were only slightly over 1,000 pounds. They are very impressive to look at!

  • gardneto76
    gardneto76 Posts: 528 ✭✭✭✭

    My daughter just went to an Agricultural Center with a growing competition and I guess they had all kinds of stuff including bulls with giant horns. She sent me a picture on one I thought was going to fall over, his horns look heavier than he did.