Have you met the pumpkin man?

COLE CAMP — Everything on Phil Wellington’s farm grows gigantic.

Wellington’s garden produced this fall a 377-pound pumpkin, a nearly 13-foot tall corn stalk, 125-pound gourd and more than 8-feet long gourds. Growing giant vegetables has become a sport for Wellington, who competes in a statewide weigh-off at the start of October in Republic.

“My purpose in growing them is the same reason someone might climb Mount Everest or go out and try and catch a large fish — it’s man against nature, and nature sends you so many disappointments (too much rain and diseases),” Wellington said. “... So we have all these obstacles to overcome, and what we are trying to do is beat nature at her own game so that we can grow a giant pumkin or a giant squash or a giant whatever.”                                                                                        

Wellington, 60, used to publish atlases for 44 out of 66 counties in South Dakota. He moved to Missouri about 10 years ago, and began growing giant pumpkins two years ago after seeing the large ones exhibited at the Missouri State Fair.

“I said, ‘Oh, I can do that.’ I came back and decided I would grow giant punkins,” he said.

Wellington soon learned that a person can’t just buy seeds from a garden shop, plant them and grow pumpkins that weigh hundreds of pounds.

“A giant pumpkin is not something you enter into lightly,” he said.

One of the keys to growing super-sized pumpkins is starting with the right seeds.

“The key to growing them is having the right genetics ,” Wellington said. “You have got to start with good, genetic seeds.”

Other giant pumpkin growers have given or sold their seeds to Wellington. He too will give away seeds from his giant pumpkins. Each seed is about the size of a thumb nail. The seeds are named by the last name of the grower and the weight of the pumpkin from which it was taken. A seed from a 279-pound pumpkin Wellington grew this fall is called a 279 Wellington.

“That’s how you keep track of the genetics,” he said. “This punkin has excellent genetics and could possibly grow the largest punkin in Missouri or the largest punkin in the world. ... You have to find out what grows well for you.Then you want to keep reusing that seed and mixing it with other genetics.”

Large pumpkins also need a lot of space and water. A pumpkin weighing several hundred pounds needs 750 to 900 square feet to grow and about 60 to 90 gallons of water a day. Soil structure and minerals are other important components. Wellington enriches the soil in his pumpkin patch by planting winter rye or wheat as a cover crop and using cow manure as a fertilizer.

Other pumpkins will grow on the vine used to produce the giant pumpkin, but Wellington culls all other pumpkins from the vine.

“That way you’re feeding the punkin with the most vine,” he said.

Within seven days of pollination, a giant pumpkin will be the size of a volleyball and then basketball-sized after 10 days.

“If you were to wait 30 days, the punkin will gain 15 to 20 pounds a day,” Wellington said.