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Pumpkin guru teaches art of growing giants

By Mike Hodgson/Associate Editor

The Central Coast really isn’t the ideal place to grow monster pumpkins like the world-record 1,689-pounder born in a Rhode Island pumpkin patch, according to Nipomo giant-pumpkin grower Rick Tibben.

“You really can’t grow them that big on the Central Coast because we don’t have warm nights,” Tibben explained. “They really love warm nights.

“Rhode Island has warm, humid days and nights,” he said of the conditions that led to the record holder. “I mean, that’s the weight of a small car.”

Still, Tibben is something of a pumpkin guru when it comes to growing big ones in the area’s Mediterranean climate — so much so that he recently taught a “pumpkin class” for third-graders at Sanchez Elementary School in Santa Maria.

“I put together a lesson plan for one particular class, but it turned out four classes showed up,” Tibben said, which meant altering his plans to accommodate about 100 kids.

“I gave them an overview of growing giant pumpkins, brought examples of male and female flowers and photos of the flowers, and I told them a little bit about fertilizers,” he said.

“I didn’t get into that too deep because, after all, they are third-graders,” he added, referring to his meticulous process of planting and fertilizing monster gourds (see related story).

Students also got to see a photo of one of their teachers crouched down next to Jabba — the estimated 800-pound pumpkin Tibben hopes will win him the top prize at the Oct. 16 Great Pumpkin Contest — just to give them an idea of its size.

Tibben said he also brought the students seeds from the 582-pounder he grew last year. But not expecting four classes, he didn’t have enough to go around.

“So they raffled them off,” he said. “That created quite a brouhaha because they all wanted seeds. So I told them I would bring them some more (from this year’s crop) around mid-November.”

Tibben also told the students that once his giants are loaded onto his pickup for the trip to this year’s contest, he’ll drive them to the school so they can see the pumpkins up close.

Despite the seed shortage, Tibben said his presentation was a hit. In fact, he said, he’s been asked to come back and do a pumpkin program for fourth-graders.

mhodgson@theadobepress.com