Giant pumpkin farmer celebrates rare triple crown as a growing success story

California has a new record for biggest pumpkin. And there’s a pretty happy pumpkin grower in the Napa Valley as well.

On October 14, a forklift hoisted 2,175 pounds of squash onto a certified platform scale in Half Moon Bay. The occasion was the 46th annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off. Leonardo Ureña was hoping his entry would be a heavy-hitter.

“The Half Moon Bay competition is like the Kentucky Derby,” said Ureña. “They call it the derby of the giant pumpkins.”

First prize this year was $7 per pound, netting Ureña $15,225 for his one-ton monster. He also won a $1,000 bonus for “biggest pumpkin from California.”

There are several pumpkin contests in California, and you need a different pumpkin to enter each one. Ureña also won $8,000 at the Elk Grove Giant Pumpkin Festival Weigh-Off (1,938 pounds) and $2,500 at the National Heirloom Exposition (1,542 pounds).

It was a clean sweep.

“But that doesn’t happen frequently,” he said. “You have a lot of fun, but it’s hard to make money out of it. ... If I got minimum wage on the hours I put into the pumpkins, I would take a really good vacation every year.”

This year’s winnings have already been earmarked.

“I’ve got my family,” said Ureña, who is married with three kids, ages 13, 22, and 25. “They need money for school, for university. ... I kind of help them with books, or whatever they need for school. ... And of course, we’re taking a vacation.”

A big start in gourd life

Ureña grew his first giant in 2000.

Back then, his pumpkin aspirations were simple. He liked the challenge, and he wanted something to show off on the front porch or at the winery where he worked.

But then he sprouted a 634-pounder on his first try and won a ribbon at a weigh-off in Salinas.

Ureña was hooked.

“All of a sudden, I started to meet people who were already growing giant pumpkins,” he said. “They started inviting me to go to the different competitions in California. And I said, ‘Well, lets give it a try.’”

It was a hobby he could share with the family.

“My wife and kids help me in the garden, because we grow all kinds of produce...corn, lettuce, beets, carrots,”

“My wife always supports me,” said Ureña. And last year, she had one request. “She said, ‘It’s time to grow 2,000-pounders.’”

Ureña had been saving some special pumpkin seeds for the past three or four years, waiting for the right time to plant them.

Growers trade seeds among themselves in an effort to create the biggest gourd. And the giants don’t just happen; even the pollination is controlled.

”We always try to select whatever crosses we like the most,” Ureña said. “We control-pollinate every single pumpkin. … We write down notes and make sure we’re doing the right thing with our hobby.”

A year-round hobby

Giant pumpkins grow between April and October, but the work is year-round.

“In the winter time, we plant fava beans, vetch, oats, and bell beans as a cover crop,” said Ureña. “That’s going to provide a lot of nutrition to our roots by the time we plant pumpkins.”

In the spring, after the rain stops, he cuts up the cover crops and mixes them in with the soil.

“That’s the time when you add calcium, and then sometimes micro-organisms,” he said.

According to Ureña, a single giant pumpkin plant needs 1,000 to 1,200 square feet to stretch its vines.

Ureña pollinates three pumpkins per plant. When the pumpkins are little, they need protection from wind, frost, water, sun.

Ureña covers each pumpkin with a sort of canopy made from PVC pipe, rebar, and a tarp. These are called hoop houses, and they shield the pumpkins from sun and water.

“We have to kind of babysit since the day they are born,” explained Ureña.

Once the three pumpkins grow to a decent size, it’s time to choose. Giant pumpkins are nutrient-hogs, and there’s only room for one. When the pumpkins get to be about the size of basketballs, Ureña chooses a keeper.

At this stage, it’s something of a beauty contest. He inspects each pumpkin for defects or deformations.

“If the three of them are good-looking with no deformations, then they’re all candidates,” said Ureña. In this case, the tie-breaker goes to the fastest-growing pumpkin, as measured by circumference.

The keeper is placed on a bed of sand. The remaining gourds are cut from the vine, destined for the compost pile.

Conversations with pumpkins

Ureña had a hard time quantifying the amount of water needed for a giant pumpkin. “That’s a question I cannot figure out,” he said. “But it uses lots of water.”

And though overwatering can be a problem – the plants need microorganisms from the soil to thrive – Ureña said he has a not-so-secret to his plants’ success.

“I do talk to them – Why lie?” he said. “I come to the pumpkin patch every once in awhile – when nobody’s listening – and I say, ‘Hey, Good morning. ... How are you doing?’“

Ureña often rents out his pumpkins when the competitions are over. Wineries and restaurants display the giants during the fall season, sometimes paying $1 a pound.

Eventually, Ureña harvests the pumpkin seeds and the cycle begins anew.

“We [the growers] donate seeds to anybody that wants to join the sport,” said Ureña. “We don’t sell them. We don’t make a single penny with our seeds. We just trade them with other growers or give them away to new growers.”

This story was originally published October 30, 2019 at 11:38 AM.