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Girard man’s sunflower reaches nearly 21 feet
By Kalea Hall
CANFIELD
Vince Cappitte is no stranger to growing.
Some consider him a master, and from the looks of it, he knows what he’s doing.
This is the third year he has entered the sunflower contest at the Canfield Fair.
But there is one difference.
His first-place sunflower didn’t make it into the Hay and Grain building. And neither did Sandra Cappitte’s, who would be Vince’s mother. His came in at 20 feet 9 inches and his mother’s was 20 feet 3 inches, which took second. His previous record was 17 inches.
“I might retire on the sunflowers,” Cappitte said.
Why would the current champion retire after achieving that height?
Because transporting the sunflowers was not an easy task at all.
He built a box to go on top of his pickup truck to place the sunflowers in.
It took four guys to lift the sunflowers out of the ground. Then once they got to the fair they had to fasten each sunflower to wood onto the outside of the barn.
It is hard to believe that about four months ago this sunflower, that some in the crowd called the giant beanstalk, was just a seed.
Cappitte planted the seed in the backyard of his Girard home in May and in about 40 days he started to see some serious growth.
“I kind of knew early on,” Cappitte said of when he knew the sunflower would be large.
He used a special support beam of PVC pipe and concrete in the ground to hold up the leggy flower. He stayed on course with it and made sure to do soil tests and tissue tests. His growing is sponsored by Kelp For Less organic fertilizer, which he says made an impact on the growth of his sunflower.
He used string to go up to the top of the sunflower and tie it down so it wouldn’t fall. He also used 5 gallons of water each day on the sunflowers. The flower on the plant didn’t come in until the last week, which tells him it was still growing. Before he planned to take it to the fair this year, Cappitte called the director to tell him how tall his sunflower and his mother’s sunflower were. He knew they wouldn’t fit inside the barn.
“It’s not a lucky seed; it is what you do to get it to grow,” said Norm Cappitte Sr., Vince’s father.
Vince, who is also a giant- pumpkin grower, comes from a family of growers. His father is known as the “pepper king” and has received best of show for four years in a row for his plate of five sweet Italian peppers. He also won first place for his pepper plant with some peppers on it measuring 12 inches. His son also got first for his pepper plant. Sandra Cappitte also received first place for her 4-pound tomato.
“I go around the neighborhood and collect rotted leaves,” Norm said. “I like to grow organic.”