Halloween is a long way off, but for giant-pumpkin growers, it pays to start early.
Mini homemade hothouses on a Saanich lot are providing ideal growing conditions for giant pumpkins being nurtured by grower Bryan Sloat.
The plants were started indoors and went into Sloat’s prepared plot of land in May. The two largest — each about two metres long — are protected in their greenhouses.
“I’ve already started to bury the vines,” he said.
As a plant grows, he puts the main vine underground to suck up every bit of nourishment possible.
The Times Colonist is checking in periodically with Sloat to follow his pumpkins’ progress. We are hoping readers are growing giant pumpkins (or any big squash, too) and will share photos and weights at harvest time.
Sloat counts two decades of experience growing giant pumpkins. He saves seeds from his biggest for the following year. Then he enlists friends and family to push and pull the big orange monster onto the front porch of his house.
He figures that 2018’s giant weighed about 680 kilograms. It was carved into the face of Chucky, the creepy character from the movie Child’s Play.
Sloat hand-waters the plants every day.
Every three days, plants get an additional boost with a combination of fish emulsion, kelp extract and a favourite fertilizer, which is poured along the main vine.
The plants are growing quickly. Sloat expects vines will more than double in length by next month. “In the next couple of weeks, it will probably grow 10 feet,” he says.
The hothouses protect the young plants from wind, which can uproot them. And they are barriers to deer and a growing population of hungry rabbits in the area near Swan Lake.
“I’ve seen them all over the place this year and I never saw one last year,” Sloat says.
If you are growing big squash and are a competitive type, look to local fall fairs for contests.
Sloat cautions that pumpkins can lose water weight in transport, and recommends keeping them attached to the main vine and placing that vine in water.
Giant pumpkin growers also take to the water. Several communities in North America stage races with carved-out pumpkins, powered by competitors using paddles.
Tualatin, Oregon, holds annual pumpkin races in its lake, and Windsor, N.S., is home to an annual pumpkin regatta in Lake Pisiquid.
On the web:
giantpumpkinsbc.com/
tualatinoregon.gov/pumpkinregatta
worldsbiggestpumpkins.com
