It’s always fun visiting other grower’s patches, especially those who are more experienced and are willing to share advice.  I have had the opportunity and pleasure to meet Ron Hoffman and visit his patch a couple of times, but this adventure took place in Fort Collins.  I know Pete Mohr is known for growing them big and he set the Colorado State Record with a pumpkin that weighed over 1300 pounds.  Since I missed my club’s weigh off, I had the honor to visit Pete’s patch one evening.

Just to set the record straight, the photo above is from my patch.  I have named this pumpkin The Rock.  I always try and grow orange and end up with at least one white one.  I am hoping this one goes heavy and makes it to a weigh off.

Back to my visit with Pete.  He was very willing to share information and his patch is kept in a meticulous fashion.  I know Ron’s patch is this way as well so I’m thinking I better spend a few more hours out in my patch next summer.  I figured that since this was a new patch and since he had to bring in compost, that he would not have anything growing that’s too big.  Boy was I wrong!  He has a real beauty going and after some discussion, I was finally able to get some numbers from him.  He is well on his way setting another Colorado record if it holds together.  It is really hard to know what growers will end up with since the weigh off is not until the end of September or even October.  I did forget to ask him which weigh-off he was planning to attend, but wish him the best of luck.

I do like to share tips from other growers and one thing I noticed and liked is how he controlled soil compaction.  He used vinyl fencing to step on and slowly moved the fencing around.  My soil is still mostly clay, even after putting tons of sand on.  I also have noticed that it’s like walking on pavement as I navigate my patch.  This is one tip I plan to try next year.

There are still many patches that I would like to visit and I’m always learning as much as I can about this hobby.