Irish pumpkin growers may be small in number, but they are producing some very big pumpkins this year.
Virginia Pumpkin Festival, which begins on Friday, runs the national giant pumpkin competition. Festival spokeswoman Margaret McKeon-Boyle said many pumpkin growers liked to keep their pumpkins under wraps until the last moment in case they split, or some other crisis befell them. But she said organisers had heard that some very big pumpkins were Cavan-bound this week.
Ms McKeon-Boyle said Waterford growers John McDonough and Walter Hartrey were hoping to scoop the first prize for their pumpkin, expected to weigh in at more than 50 stone (317kg). Last year's winner produced a pumpkin weighing more than 48½ stone (309kg).
Five-year-old Daragh Cullen from Cornafein, Co Cavan, thought to be Ireland's youngest pumpkin grower, has entered his pumpkin which weighed just over 28.5 stone (181kg) a few weeks ago and has been growing since.
Fruit family
Commercial pumpkin growing is a niche activity in Ireland. Just under 60 acres (24 hectares) are planted by the State’s 11 pumpkin growers, according to the latest figures from Bord Bia. While it is thought of as a vegetable, the pumpkin is a fruit, and belongs to the
Cucurbitaceae
family which includes cucumbers and melons.
Declan Canning started his Meath Pumpkins enterprise in Summerhill, Co Meath, three years ago, which allows people to pick their own pumpkins. He said there had been a lot of interest in the pumpkin patch, particularly from US expats here.
Mr Canning grew just over one acre of pumpkins this year and said he got a good crop.
“It’s been a good year generally for fruit and vegetable production. There were loads of hazelnuts, blackberries and apples. Pumpkins need the good weather. They don’t like the cold so the weather suited them. They need rain at growing time, but pumpkins sit on the ground so if the ground is very wet it leaves marks on them.”
But Lusk pumpkin grower Gerry Arnold said he heard mixed reports. "My crop was good but other people around here were unfortunate for different reasons," he said.
One grower told him the crop was disappointing, while another found that his pumpkins had been attacked by rats. “Rats like the seeds and, of course, once they nibble at them at all they are unsaleable.”
He supplies local garden centres and small shops in the area. He used to grow about 20 acres of pumpkins but scaled back to a couple of acres this year.
“The problem now is that supermarkets tend to use them as a loss leader. You’ll see pumpkins advertised now for 99 cent.”
SuperValu is charging €3 for the biggest pumpkins and it expects sales to increase by 30 per cent to 115,000 pumpkins this Halloween because of the growing interest in the fruit. Oisín O’Grádaigh from Castlebellingham, Co Louth, is supplying the supermarket chain with his crop, grown on more than 11 acres (4.5 hectares) for Keelings distributors.
“It was another good season, with an excellent skin finish on our crop,” he said.
Size, not skin finish, will be all that matters when the giant pumpkin weigh-off is held in Virginia on Sunday.
But whoever wins, they are unlikely to threaten the current world record holder. A Swiss grower has produced a pumpkin that weighs 165 stone (1,053kg), according to the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth, chief arbiter on all pumpkin-related questions.
