Pumpkin seminar draws from far and wide

Pumpkin growing is considered serious business in this part of the country.
By AMANDA C. DAVIS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
CANFIELD -- Valerie Vanaman took the red eye from Los Angeles on Friday to learn more about growing giant pumpkins.
And where better to do that than Canfield, considered by some to be the "mecca for giant pumpkin growers & quot;?
Without sleep, the attorney, who grew up in Alliance, joined about 100 people Saturday for a beginners seminar given by the Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers at Mill Creek MetroParks/Mahoning County Education Farm.
Vanaman, who joked she's & quot;always had this thing about pumpkins & quot; returns to the area frequently to visit relatives at her & quot;vacation home & quot; in Beloit, a family farm dating to the 1800s called Rachel's Place.
Canfield was called the mecca for pumpkin growing in the book, & quot;How to Grow World Class Giant Pumpkins, & quot; published in 2003 by Annedawn Publishing of Norton, Ma.
Among their & quot;Heavy Hitters & quot; -- considered to be the best of the best in pumpkin growing -- are Tim Parks of Canfield and Alan Gibson of Salem.
Parks, who owns Parks Garden Center on state Route 62 in Green Township, headed up the seminar for the group.
He's been growing pumpkins for competition for 14 years and came in second in last year's local competition with a pumpkin weighing 1,327 pounds. In North America, that pumpkin earned seventh place in competition.
Gibson's personal best was last year with a 1,208-pound pumpkin.
Profitable?
When asked if there's any money to be made in giant pumpkins, Parks laughed. & quot;There's a lot of money to be spent, and there's a lot of money to be earned & quot; in competition, he said.
Local prize money totaling 10,000 will be handed out in October for this year's contest, he said.
Quinn Werner of Saegertown, Pa., grew the fourth-largest pumpkin ever recorded last year. It weighed 1,446 pounds.
A foreman for Leech Carbide in Meadville, Pa., Werner drove more than an hour Saturday to learn more about the hobby that began nine years ago as a bet with a buddy over who could grow the largest pumpkin.
& quot;I had no idea you could grow [pumpkins] this big, & quot; he said, explaining he did research on his own before he started. & quot;Back then I was trying for like 100 pounds. & quot;
During pumpkin-growing season, Werner gets home from work around 3 p.m. and works on his pumpkins until sundown.
Being able to see immediate results is rewarding, he said, adding that pumpkins can grow between 30 to 40 pounds in a day.
The season begins May 1 and lasts through mid to late September.
The lecture
During his three-hour lecture, Parks explained that it takes 120 days to grow a giant pumpkin and that growers must take into account site selection, sun and wind exposure, soil content, elevation and drainage, insects, disease and pollination.
David Goerig, county extension educator, called giant pumpkin growing & quot;over-the-top horticulture & quot; and said the great thing about the organization is that members are willing to share their ideas to help other growers.
& quot;That's the spirit of agriculture, & quot; he said.
Rich Novicky of Vienna spent his 66th birthday attending the seminar. He grows plants in a solarium on his property and said he decided to attend because & quot;I never want to stop learning. & quot;
Vanaman received her law degree from Ohio State University and moved to downtown Los Angeles to practice children's disability law.
She began growing large pumpkins three years ago and says she's very new to the process. Her largest pumpkin weighed in at 464 pounds.
& quot;We're a competitive family, so if we do this we want to do it well, & quot; Vanaman said.
She and Seth Sharp of Beloit, her cousin's son, said the local growers association is considered tops for sharing ideas and information about pumpkin growing.
& quot;These folks really are well regarded in the country, & quot; she added.
The group will meet again from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. March 17 at McMahon Hall at the education farm. Guest speaker will be Ron Wallace of Coventry, R.I., who holds the world record with a 1,502-pound pumpkin. For more information, visit www.ovgpg.com.