Between the drought and powdery mildew, it’s been a season of sighs and grimaces for a few of the world’s top growers, who will nonetheless strap their heaviest pumpkins to a pickup bed or trailer and motor down to California’s top weigh-offs Saturday near Morgan Hill and Monday in Half Moon Bay.
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A rippled white gourd weighing in at 1,969 pounds took the title Monday for plumpest pumpkin at an annual San Francisco Bay Area contest. That record is 2,323 pounds and set by a Swiss grower during a weigh-off in Germany a year ago. “I’ve never grown an official 1,900-pound pumpkin before”.
John Hawkley, champion of the 2014 weigh-off in Half Moon Bay, was hoping to have a strong showing this year as he defended his title.
Gary Miller, of Napa, the 2013 victor of the contest whose pumpkin this year ranked 10th, said the drought “definitely” has affected his growing abilities, “no doubt about it”, including the costs to water and nurture his pumpkins.
It took a forklift and an industrial scale to measure the pumpkins. But he acknowledged that the “numbers have been down overall” in the last few years in terms of weight.
Second place went to Ron and Karen Root of Citrus Heights, California, for their 1,806-pound entry. “It was hotter than normal”. He entered a 1,303-pound pumpkin.
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But maybe that was wishful thinking.
