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Mt.Pleasant,Iowa

Just wondering how big is this hobby or sport is growing? I know of several new growers in the last 2 years. Are the clubs seeing big jumps in memberships in there areas.Would it be like 25% increase or higher a year? Like to hear from people what they think.

12/26/2005 2:35:19 PM

Mastic Beach, New York

I know here on Long Island grower rate dropped 50%... we used to get aleast 8 or 9 growers at the weight off..this year only 4...

12/26/2005 3:26:31 PM

Long Island,New York

Well, it was a horrible year weather-wise here Billy and from what Im told that wiped out a few of the growers.What I see is a widening of the gap between the serious growers and the passive growers here -- where at one time they could place with a passive fruit, now they can't.Being pasive, they don't stick it out. We are not anything near an agricultural community here anymore...

12/26/2005 3:50:16 PM

Montoursville, PA

While it was a blinger, of a hot year, North Central Pa. saw two second year growers with pumpkins just above and below eight hundred pounds. Another weighed a five hundred pound fruit. A first year grower racked up a seven hundred. A sixteen year old first year lad, working only from written, helps appeared with a five hundred pound beauty. This area group has grown from one, to eight growers, in the past three years. All but one ,of the growers, are back yard growers. All are relatively new, to the sport.
The most exciting happening is a teenage gal who took her personal best from 200lbs. to just shy, of 800lbs.

While we were making nice gains a few miles, to our South near Altoona, Larry Checkon grew the 1469 New World Record while coaching, in a newbe, with a 1000+ pumpkin.

The Altoona weigh-in site had a thirty pumpkin gain, in total numbers and a gain, in growers, bringing the pumpkins.

I do not believe this is an exciting percentage, of growth, because it includes some who changed sites as well as a few new growers. Any gain indicates a positive flow of, numbers, in my book. If history would repeat itself, in our state, it is possible, for a site, to go, while another site would grow.

12/26/2005 6:36:36 PM

[email protected]

This is an interesting subject to me. We started our club 2 years ago. This year we pushed it up with the launch of our website. www.ctpumpkin.com .

I was surpirsed to find we have several new growers this year a couple of whom have started buying seed at auction & have been seen ripping up large areas of turf & hauling manure.

I was contacted by a few civic groups to speak about Giants too.

It appears there are about 3 underground growers for every 1 that we run into here at BP.

12/26/2005 11:36:33 PM

ENGLAND

I think Steve has used a very good descriptive in the words, 'Underground Growers' Over here, every now and again, i have an Email, Phone Call and Written Letters from folk who have been growing 300 and 400 plus Lb Pumpkins but have kept their great efforts 'Local'. I know as a fact that there are many many UK Growers that visit this Website but do not want to make themselves known. I WAS having thoughts of trying to set up a National UK Weigh-Off, affiliated to the GPC, but because of all the possible 'Underground Growers' it is not possible to establish a Weigh-Off as any sponsors needed to finance such a Weigh-Off would want an almost guarantee of high attendance of Pumpkins and Growers.

I have tried all this in the past with little or no interest, just take a look at the responses to any questions that have been asked by any UK Growers on this Website. If you are a UK Grower and are reading this but never post just let us know that you are out there as it could one day result in us having a National UK Weigh-Off.

Just my 2 Penneth Worth
Regards
Mike

12/27/2005 2:26:34 AM

Netherlands

In the Netherlands we had five growers break the 200 kg mark (440 lbs) for the first time. There only were 6 in that category before which makes it almost double.

I have sent out some seeds to a few new growers this year. Not only in the Netherlands but also to Croatia. I think Europe might be experiencing a pumpkin wave thanks to this site and Internet in general.

12/27/2005 4:37:56 AM

Cameron,ontario Team Lunatic

We just formed the GVGO last March at the Niagara Seminar & now have over 95 members. We've had a great response to our club & all the great benefits we offer. There is still well over 100 growers in Ontario that still don't belong to our group. I think the sport has a great future in Ontario. We just need to promote our other weigh offs more & get the growers out to them. We have many small regional fairs that always draws 5-6 big pumpkins each year as well.

Phil

12/27/2005 8:08:46 AM

Ontario, Canada.

Expanding on Phil's Ontario story a little bit. In 2004 I began a vigorous year of ambitious pumpkin growing. Word began to leak out in the community of a guy growing big pumpkins at two locations in and around town. Soon after fruit set in mid July I received a visit from a young couple who had started growing in a neighbouring small town. They had even travelled 1,000 miles to Howard Dills Farm in N.S. for seeds. Well this couple had also just started a growing competition and weigh-off. They asked me to speak and be a judge at the Barclay, ON site. I brought with me about twenty packets of seeds. I was astonished to find a couple of hundred people had attended the weigh-off with only 5 entries that fall of 2004. The local folks many of them farmers eagerly gobbled up my seeds. This year growers sprang up all over town as it became a local frenzy. Buy Oct. 15th we had several hundred people attend and over 30 entries with a top weight of 860 pounds from mostly first year growers.

12/27/2005 9:40:08 AM

Utah

Marty,
this year we started the Utah Giant Pumpkin Growers with 9 members in Feb. - most everyone I could think of that grew in the state. I knew there were more out there but I didn't know them.
now have over 35 members. and we are still getting new ones almost monthly. I think 5-6 of us are on BP ... I am the only regular- the others are in an out- I guess they have real jobs ! lol !
but anyway my point is that here I think the "underground" or non-email, non-internet growers are more like 5 to 1 or higher. We are in a fairly good sized metro-area so I think there is a lot of room to grow.
Getting local press coverage has really helped our group. They love to do stories on pumpkins. So call the local TV, newspaper, radio gardening show or whatever... hook them up with yourself or the local champ or whomever.
Winter- is a great time to contact them- so they can do a early spring story- get out the word on seminars etc...
Having a number for someone to call or a web-site where people can go also helps. Have them put those in the story.

12/27/2005 1:23:02 PM

[email protected]

Gordon speaks the truth. I still consider myself very lucky that my first NEWBIE offer to buy AG seeds here at BP was responded to by Bart Toftness & Dave Garrell. Bart explained that we don't "buy" seeds, we "beg" for them LOL

But just being "off-line" doesn't make a grower underground. I think every State & Province has its share of insular growers who choose to not communicate or trade seeds with other growers even if they do happen to run into each other at weigh-offs. Look at Helmet Laemmle as an example.

12/27/2005 2:54:31 PM