Giant Pumpkin and Watermelon Festival returns to Kyogle, NSW

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A regional town in NSW is making a name for itself as the home of an unusual fruit and vegetable competition.

Transcript

00:00 There is a good dozen giant pumpkins and half a dozen giant watermelons here in Kyogle this

00:08 year.

00:09 They've now been weighed and we're about to find out who grew the heaviest pumpkin here

00:16 this year.

00:17 And it takes a good two to four months to grow a pumpkin this size.

00:20 And a lot goes into it, as Ruchenvale grower John Ledbeter explains.

00:25 I get it sort of ready over through the winter period, start doing that and put in what I've

00:33 got to need for the ground and when it's growing I do foliage liquid sprays.

00:37 As the side runners are growing I bury each runner under each leaf to make a second root

00:45 come out so I have two roots on each leaf and more roots in the ground to help grow

00:50 bigger.

00:51 And it has been a tough pumpkin growing season.

00:54 The weather conditions have not been ideal.

00:57 It's been raining since Christmas, some growers haven't seen sunshine at all.

01:01 Some have experienced hot and very humid days.

01:05 Lillian Cox's pumpkin weighed in at 300 kilos on harvest but here at the pumpkin festival

01:11 today it lost a kilo.

01:13 She weighed in at 299 kilos for her pumpkin.

01:18 After Christmas it just poured every day and we had no sun so it's just the worst conditions

01:23 really.

01:24 I don't know if I've actually made it.

01:25 It was going to take a miracle and it happened.

01:31 You feel like a winner just getting it here.

01:35 Anyone that gets a pumpkin here is really a winner because it's so challenging.

01:39 And it's a family affair for the Cox family.

01:42 Lillian's granddaughter Matilda who's just three years old is also now growing pumpkins.

01:47 Her pumpkin weighed in at 62 kilos today but that is far short of the Australasian record

01:54 which was set here three years ago by Dale Olivaerts.

01:59 867 kilograms.

02:01 Again, far short of the world record which was set in California last October at 1,245

02:09 kilos.

02:11 That is heavier than the weight of some small cars.

02:16 But the winner for this year comes from Queensland.

02:19 Tony Frohloch drove three hours this morning to bring his giant pumpkin to Cuyahoga.

02:25 Today it weighed in at 358.5 kilos which is 10 kilos less than what I had it previously

02:32 weighed at.

02:33 Preparation, so it takes about four and a half months.

02:37 Most of the time our plants up in Queensland, some of the ones down here in New South Wales

02:42 actually get them to grow longer than that.

02:44 A bit cooler climate, definitely plays a part.

02:47 So, yeah, about four and a half months it took from the planting of the seed to the

02:53 winner here today.

02:54 Tony will now collect the seeds from his 358.5 kilo giant pumpkin to grow at a later date

03:03 and then he'll give the rest to his cattle.

03:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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