Oregon farmer goes home with local prize

The runners-up included second place Joel Holland's 891 pounder from Puyallup, California, and third place Jack LaRue's 837 pounder from Tenono, Washington.

Last year, the winner, John Hunt from Elk Grove, topped even these with his 991 pound monstrosity.

At the San Mateo County division, Paul Ormonde from Half Moon Bay won $500 for his first place 515 pound pumpkin.

All had high hopes of making a new world record, and beating out the competition in Circleville, Ohio, which has challenged Half Moon Bay as the pumpkin capital of the world. The west coast pumpkin competitors did not win this year - a Circleville pumpkin bumped the scales to 1140 pounds on Saturday, setting off a new world record.

"I knew it was going to be close," Mombert said about the competition.

A firefighter by profession, Mombert has been growing pumpkins on the side for 20 years, and has placed in the Half Moon Bay contest a number of times too.

He won first place in 1996 with a 808 pounder, and second place prizes the last few years.

His secret? "I have an old nuclear waste dump at home," he said with a smile. "No, really. Good soil, manure, and a lot of hard work."

Mombert said that about 65 percent of a pumpkin's success is in the seed. "The genetics have to be there," Mombert said. But on top of that, he said he works about 6 hours a day from the mid April when the seed is planted, until harvesting right before the competition. He brings in dumploads of manure, adds seaweed for micronutrients, and pinches the side-vines off so that he can shape the plant. When it is pollination time, he has to keep the plant covered so that bees don't cross-pollinate the plant with a pumpkin variety other than Atlantic Giant.

Mild temperatures, ranging from 90 degrees in the daytime to 60 degrees at night are also a key.

Giant pumpkins can gain 25 to 30 pounds a day when the conditions are right.

Mombert said he does it for the competition -pumpkins are the largest edible vegetable, and he wants to grow the biggest of the big.

And then there's the whole attraction to Halloween. "The thing about pumpkins is Halloween," he said. "Even when you get old, you remember Halloween.

There were 70 contestants total this year from California, Washington, and Oregon. The pumpkins have to be at least 75 percent yellow or orange in color, otherwise they count as a squash. They also have to be healthy and undamaged.

George Grinilo, the official weigh person who has been at the contests for 24 years, said this year's contest was unique in one way. "It's the first time we've had fall," he said referring to the rainy weather. The rainy weather didn't stop families from coming out. Mike and Elizabeth Minigan brought their four children out to the event."We've never seen pumpkins bigger than people," Minigan said.