From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Team Munson

We need to start looking to see who will be the first GPC MASTER GARDNER. It will take an entry in the following pumpkin or squash, field pumpkin, watermelon, long gourd,& tomato.

The grower does not need to enter all at 1 site but the grower needs to inform the GPC which sites have what entries for their Master Gardner entries.

10/6/2009 8:53:39 AM

Lexington, Ky

Jamie Wexler: Bear Wallow Farm Nancy, KY

Pumpkin: 984 pounds
Watermelon: 149 pounds
Long Gourd: 98 inches
Field Pumpkin: 61 pounds
Tomatoe: 3.25 pounds

10/6/2009 9:33:20 AM

Jackson Twp, Ohio

Dave,

Can you provide a link to the "points system" on the GPC website? I have been unable to find it.

Nick

10/6/2009 12:34:49 PM

Team Munson

The points will come from only the growers who qualify. If we have 10 growers qualify then 10 points will be the most you can get from each category. Each grower will be placed in order of weight and length in each category.

10/6/2009 2:31:07 PM

Western NY

http://www.greatpumpkincommonwealth.com/prize.php

description of it in there.

10/6/2009 2:50:48 PM

Alaska

What, no root crops or leafy vegetables? Later Scott.

10/6/2009 2:52:18 PM

Team Munson

Right now all we can tell is Jamie Wexler is the only grower who is qualified for the Master Gardener award. We need to have your help on this so please post growers qualifying efforts and the site(s) they exhibited them at. I know there has to be more so please get us up to date.

10/12/2009 9:39:46 AM

Long Island,New York

Thats a whole lot of vining crops there...80%....they take up alot of room.....would be nice to see some additionals like maybe sunflower hieght, tall corn, giant beet, heavy onion, etc....maybe choose best 6 or so from a bunch of options....

10/12/2009 3:52:15 PM

Boulder County Colorado USA planet Earth

Joe Scherber has all but the tomato.
HEck he may have that.

10/12/2009 4:51:23 PM

Sparta, NC

Sam Lovelace Yadkin Valley Pumpkin Festival
Long Gourd 107.625"
Field Pumpkin 86.9 lbs
Tomato 2.77 lbs
Watermelon 44.6 lbs

10/12/2009 6:02:21 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

I'm going to motion the GPC board consider Glenn's idea this winter. It's a great idea that will foster greater inclusion especially in crowded metro areas.

10/12/2009 9:25:40 PM

Mt.Pleasant,Iowa

I have all but tomato and still have it but not that big maybe 2 pounds.Not every place has all entries.

pumpkin 1099
watermelon 179.7
field pumpkin 49.9
long gourd 114.5
onion 3,38
long bean 31.25
Muskmelon 23.15
cabbage head only was 21.66
tomato not weighed but here

so here are some more events that can be listed.They also have biggest potato. So a grower as Glenn put it could grow like many of them and enter 6 of 10 category's.

10/13/2009 7:37:43 AM

Team Munson

Sam did you have a giant pumpkin or squash?

Marty you need to get that tomato weighed and entered asap use this link for the preregistration form.

http://greatpumpkincommonwealth.com/PDF/GPC%20Tomato%20Entry%20Form.pdf

Joe get that tomato entered!!!!

I know there are some more growers who have qualified like Nick, Christy, The Big Raggu, so please get those entries posted!!!

10/13/2009 8:34:42 AM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

I am not certain what qualifies and what does not but Larry Checkon had some success this year in several categories:
giant pumpkin 1208.5
field pumpkin 96.5
water mellon 98
tomato 3.8

10/13/2009 12:06:03 PM

Team Munson

Marv all Larry needs is a long gourd and he qualifies, by the looks of those numbers he would be very competitive for the tittle.

10/13/2009 1:52:30 PM

Sparta, NC

No giant pumpkin or squash this year, lost everything. I thought you just needed to have 4 of the 5 catagories to qualify. I know that leaves me out of contention but thats the way I understood the rules.

10/13/2009 6:33:36 PM

Boulder County Colorado USA planet Earth

Field pumpkin over 50 pounds
Tomato 3 dads was 3.5
Onion over 2 pounds
red long bean 25.5in
Red cabbage 13.3 pounds
Sunflower head 26 inches

10/14/2009 9:51:10 AM

Flowery Branch, Georgia

Dave:

This is a great contest.
I do not qualify in any category but I love this contest.

10/16/2009 3:24:19 PM

Mt.Pleasant,Iowa

Dave please e-mail me at mnmschnicker@farmtel.net please on entries. Thanks Marty

10/16/2009 5:57:33 PM

Mt.Pleasant,Iowa

Dave the tomato only weighed 1.5 pounds. I printed off the form and filled it out but if the field pumpkin was weighed at the Iowa State fair does it count? Did not know there was a master gardener award, pretty cool!

10/21/2009 7:35:39 AM

Team Munson

Marty,
you do not need to enter all qualifying fruit at 1 site and you can preenter tomato's. The field pumpkin counts as the Iowa State fair is a GPC site.

The biggest thing here is the BP spread sheet that all GPC entries are entered on at the site, it must have your entry on their results so we can verify the entries. If you do not see your results on the results page for the GPC on BP then contact your site and find out why it wasn't entered.

10/21/2009 8:44:18 AM

Massillon, Ohio

following the rules the way dave stelts outlined them to me, larry checkon does not have a field pumpkin.

(trust me no one is as frustrated about that rule than i am).

10/21/2009 12:09:14 PM

Massillon, Ohio

5.41 lb tomato (longwood gardens)
95.5 lb field pumpkin (canfield)
94 lb watermellon (canfield)
1725 lb pumpkin (canfield)
105.13 inch long gourd (canfield)

10/28/2009 7:09:33 PM

Team Munson

Right now we have 2 growers that qualify for the first ever Master Gardner award - Jamie Wexler & Christy Harp.

I am having a hard time believing there are only 2 qualifying growers. Please take another look at the growers you know who have - 1 giant pumpkin or giant squash, 1 long gourd, 1 field pumpkin, 1 watermelon, 1 tomato. These must be official entries at GPC sites only plus they do not need to be shown at 1 GPC site.

Thanks for the help,
Dave

10/30/2009 9:04:35 AM

Lexington, Ky

Ditto Dave, I'm having a hard time as well. My goal in regard to this competition was to place in the top 50!

Is it possible to arrange the GPC results alphabetically or perhaps combine all of the categories and search the data that way?

I did a "manual" search of the Tomatoes, Watermelons and Field Pumpkins and found many names that repeat. I then went to the Long Gourd results and compared those results to the previous search and again, several repeats. I lack the time to compare those results to the Pumpkin/Squash categories, just too many entries for a manual look since the entries are listed in order of weight.

Jamie

11/2/2009 9:40:25 AM

Western NY

It took a while, but I was able to boil the results down using an excel file. There were more finalists than I thought there would be - we had 17 growers qualifying, and it was a close finish with less than 10 points separating 2nd-6th place, but I think we have a clear winner.

I still need to go back through and check my work to make sure I (or the computer) didn't make any stupid mistakes, but I can post the full results soon.

Andy

11/2/2009 11:33:01 AM

Team Munson

Jamie I did see the preliminary results and will say I was wrong about the number of qualifying entries a grower needed. A grower only needed to enter 4 of the 5 categories to become eligible. I will say the growers who entered all 5 did do better as the growers who only entered 4 got 0 points for the category they did not have a fruit.

As Andy pointed out the competition was very close but the winner was clear cut and he will have the results soon.

11/2/2009 3:08:59 PM

Western NY

Update from crunching numbers - here are the unofficial* results:

http://greatpumpkincommonwealth.com/PDF/Master Grower.xls

* Marv - There is a 96.5# Field Pumpkin listed in the Altoona results for Gerry, not Larry. If that was a mixup and it was indeed Larry's, let me know. Larry would need that for his 4th category.

Anyone else who has corrections, please post here or email me.

11/6/2009 8:17:15 PM

Lexington, Ky

Wow, the Harp's took this honor by a huge margin! Way to go guys and congratulations.

Jamie

11/10/2009 9:31:31 AM

Owensboro, Ky.

Kudo's to Jamie...for being such a gentleman!!! And congrats on such a plan, and making it work!!! YOU took the master grower award to a new level...to even be in the running...growing in Kentucky...is something special!!! Congrats!!! Peace, Wayne

11/11/2009 1:09:51 AM

Lexington, Ky

Thank you Wayne and you are right, it does take a plan! I for one was absolutely surprised that a small Kentucky garden would fair so well but that's the beauty of the points system with this award, it really levels the field. I am anxious to make another run at it next year and hope more growers will participate. After all, we need some kind of bragging rights down here in the South!

Jamie

11/11/2009 3:52:02 PM