Portsmouth Man Grows 1,000-Pound Pumpkin

Bob Singleton has a busy backyard: 

There's the new two-car garage construction and kitchen remodeling projects currently underway; a sturdy deck for relaxing and enjoying a meal; a quaint gazebo for catching some shade; a swimming pool for cooling off on hot days; and three small dogs running around nipping at heels.  

Oh, and then there's that 1,000-pound pumpkin off to the left.

Singleton, 45, is a relative novice to giant pumpkin growing but used to grow regular pumpkins for fun to have at Halloween. Three years ago, he decided to take it to the next level by acquiring seeds for an Atlantic Giant variety of pumpkin.

In less than five weeks, Singleton will carefully lift the gourd using a tripod and a 2,000-pound chain hoist into the back of his pick-up and drive from his home in Portsmouth over the Mt. Hope Bridge to Frerichs Farm in Warren, where his pumpkin will be pitted against a slew of other huge pumpkins in a nail-biting weigh-off.

Last year, only his second time to enter, he came in 10th place out of 45 entries, with a staggering 1,172-pound pumpkin.

"They can grow from the size of a pea to 500 pounds in a month," said Singleton.

A member of the Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Growers Association, Singleton says giant pumpkin growing is a science. 

"You want a properly balanced soil," he said.  "I have my soil tested twice a year for its nutrient content, once in the winter, after the contest and once late in the spring prior to planting.  The pumpkins take a lot of potassium and calcium out of the soil."

From adding a chlorine filter to his watering system to placing a radio on at night to scare away critters, pumpkins can be somewhat high maintenance, but for Singleton, it's a labor of love. 

"You really have to watch out for vine rot, holes, mice, and splits," said Singleton.  Ah, yes, the dreaded pumpkin split -- in 2008, one contestant in Warren, a virtual shoe-in for first place, was disqualified when judges discovered his 1,568-pound gourd had a small hole in it.

Singleton, in an experiment to try to increase his odds this year, started out by growing two giant pumpkins back in July.  One made it and the other one he had to cut away after discovering a split. 

"When we cut that one up, 20 gallons of water of poured out of it," said Singleton, attesting to the fact that much of a pumpkin's weight is water, they have a hollow cavity, and they float.

Still, the stem off of the ruptured pumpkin was bigger than a small dog (see photo).

To get an accurate weight of a giant pumpkin without asking it to step on a bathroom scale, Singleton gets two "over-the-top" lengths from ground-to-ground with a tape measure, then a length at its widest circumference.  Those three numbers are then plugged in to a weight table for an estimate of its total weight, plus or minus five percent.

At the actual weigh-in in Warren, two forklifts are used to move the giants off of pallets and onto a real scale.  Keep checking back to Portsmouth Patch for weigh-in updates.

Singleton, with the help of his wife Kelly, spends a few hours a day caring for the overgrown backyard resident by covering it with blankets at night and making sure it isn't experiencing any growing pains.  And after the contest is over, the Singletons will put their houseguest on display in the front yard for neighbors to pose for pictures  before taking a saws-all to it for Halloween. 

On Sept. 11, the 10th anniversary of Pumpkin-Palooza will be held at Frerichs Farm with events leading up to the weigh-off on Saturday, Oct. 9, Columbus Day weekend.

To see a schedule of events, click here.