Ottawa Comments

Fellow Growers--the Ottawa site was under new management this year,with some
capable "hands on" help from experienced volunteers,and the whole operation
unfolded quite well.Since there is no longer an Ottawa newsletter,I thought
it would be in order to make a brief report with some comments and
impressions.

The weather was close to perfect,the crowd the largest I can recall and the
AGs more impressive that ever.In general we growers agreed that there was a
lot more "color" to the pumpkins,with the various shades of orange/red than
ever before.Whereas in the mid-1990s here tan/tawny/pale/light colors were
predominate,the change we are seeing in the evolution of the AG species is
quite remarkable.That is another whole story by itself.

Also we speculated that our top 10 average would reach 1000 pounds,but it
turned out to be 977 for our "team"Some other team results are:

1.Topsfield,MA--------------1026------------last year #2
2.Canby,OR--------------------986-------------------------#1
3.Ottawa,ON-------------------977-------------------------#3
4.Canfield,OH------------------946-------------------------#4
5.Windsor,NS------------------925-------------------------#8

This listing may change before the season is over,meanwhile if there are any
errors or omissions in the above list please tell me.

There were pumpkins weighing 791,1018,1070 and 1236 that were either DQs or
EXHs and of course they don't qualify for the official list.

As for my own pride and joy,at least it was until an expected "pin hole" was
discovered by the judges,the line in my notes will show as
follows:------1236 Eaton 02(DQ)----723 Bobier 99(UOW)  x  846 Calai 99. It
was 174 + 103 + 103 = 380" ,1095 estimated.It was disqualified,and rightly
so.Oh well,that's part of the game.We all get to try again next year.

I didn't do anything special with this plant,it was just average
looking,fruit pollinated late on July 16.My notes show IRONITE was used and
I did not add any manure,only my own leaf compost.I used the "Xmas Tree"
layout and measured my total leaf area as 500 square feet.The seed did the
work-----------thanks Bill Bobier,and all the earlier genes,for that little
gem.

 Lara Dubois,the "Special Events Coordinator" for the Byward Market deserves
a compliment for the successful unfolding of everything on Oct 5.It may have
all been a bit new to you,but you did a great job and it can only get easier
each year.

Lara has placed the Ottawa results on www.byward-market.com

Click on----------------what's on----------------then----------------Great
Pumpkin Weigh-Off

Sorry to be so long winded,but this seems to be as short as I could make the
message.

I'll try to keep quiet for awile now-----------Al Eaton







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