Magazine website - Aartsen - 2023

AMBITION
GIANT PUMPKIN
Love,
ambition
and a bit of luck
Gerjan Puttenstein founded
GiantPumpkins.nl to,
as the name suggests,
grow giant pumpkins!
From an early age,
Gerjan has been interested
in growing plants and
studied Plant Sciences
in Wageningen.
"A few years ago, I started growing
pumpkins in my vegetable garden.
In addition to different types and shapes
that can be developed, there are also
many differences in size. After seeing the
Atlantic Giant on the packaging of one of the
pumpkin seeds, I wanted to try this too."
How does one grow a pumpkin this large?
In mid-April, the seed for the pumpkin goes into the ground. In early
July, the flower is pollinated. Then the pumpkin has a few months to
grow into what it is now. With no less than 17 kilos per day, you can
almost see a pumpkin grow. If you don’t pay attention, the pumpkin
will have succeeded in an hour. Part of the success is the size of the
plant. To grow a record size pumpkin, you need at least 100 square
meters to give the leaves as much sunlight as possible. The more
leaves, the more energy goes to the pumpkin. But it starts with the
seed; for that, I use the strain that every competition breeder uses,
Atlantic Giant. These are larger seeds than usual, germinating faster
and yielding more giant pumpkins.
A secret recipe
The first year was a success, and I grew some big whoppers.
From that moment on, the pumpkins had to get bigger because
they hadn’t reached the size of the photo on the seed packet;
they could still be lifted by hand. With the pumpkin seed of a Dutch
champion, I grew a pumpkin of more than 100 kg for the first time.
I now grow pumpkins of more than 500 kg, such as the giant pumpkin
in the Netherlands in 2018, which was 510 kg. Pumpkins are pretty
easy plants; harvesting a pumpkin of 1000 kg is possible with love,
attention, and a bit of luck with the weather and circumstances.
It’s a real showpiece of organic cultivation.
Next years ambitions
It is my ambition to grow an enormous pumpkin every year. I used
to have a Ford Ka and wanted to produce a pumpkin heavier than
my car. But now I have a bigger car, so I have a new goal. Next year
I’m thinking about growing a 700 kg pumpkin; I’ll need an enormous
greenhouse and a little luck. In addition to the competition pumpkins,
I also have a few hectares of pumpkins for sale. There I grow about
50 different species for decoration and consumption. Did you know
that you can eat giant pumpkins? When you cut it open, it smells
like vanilla.
Gerjan Puttenstein
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