It's pumpkin weigh-off season!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Our toll free number eight hundred eight two three eight
two five five. Good morning. I am Ron Wilson, your
personal yard boy. We are talking about yarding. We are
excited because we are a week away from the beginning
of the fall season. Meteorological fall starts the first of September,
and cannot wait for that to happen. And of course

(00:21):
now you should start putting your getting your plans together.
Before we went into the break talking about lawn renovation
and you know, getting that lawn back together again. You know,
for the most part, our lawns we've had, if you've
had timely rainfalls, looking pretty good. But I think if
you look close where they thinned out a little bit
last fall in summer where it was hot and dry,

(00:41):
a lot of what you see in there isn't necessarily
the grass that you had anticipated having in your lawns.
So you know it may be time to get in there,
start clearing things out, the old things that you don't
want and receding and getting that new lawn established again.
I think in cool season grasses, the turf type all
fescue is still a great option. There are a lot

(01:02):
of folks that still love the Kentucky blues, and you'll
find Kentucky blues typically used when you buy them in
a mix, and you'll find it, you know, mostly Kentucky blue.
But then you'll find a little bit of a creeping fescue.
A lot of times find fescue, maybe a little bit
of a perennial rye. And the reason they do that

(01:24):
is the perennial rye comes up quickly. It helps to
get things going. The fescu comes up right behind that.
It's a finer blade kind of helps to fill in,
and then the bluegrass eventually comes up. It's a it
takes a while for bluegrass seats to start the Germany,
so it takes a little bit longer that comes up
and finally starts to fill in and kind of come to,

(01:46):
you know, take in with that mix together and become
predominantly bluegrass. And bluegrass can be a little bit higher
in nutrient requirements, a little bit higher feeder. They are all.
Although there are newer varieties out there today, newer selections
that do a better job as far as leaf disease,
they are still probably more subject to leaf diseases that

(02:09):
you've got to deal with. If the weather is wrong
or right, meaning how you look at it. Yeah, and
you know otherwise you know, it's it's a little higher mate.
It's what I'm trying to say. So if you if
you like the bluegrass look and you like that that
that color and the finer blade, uh, you know, you
can go with it and you'll, like I said, you'll
find it in a mix. I personally like the turf

(02:32):
type tall fescues. And if you're not familiar with this,
this turf type tall fescue, you if you drive on Expressway,
you see that thick bladed grass out there that never dies.
They bush hog it twice a year and it just
does a great job. That's Kentucky thirty one. For the
most part. Fescue and the turf type tall rescues are

(02:52):
kind of like second and third cousins, if you want
to put it that way. To Kentucky thirty one deeply
rooted a little bit why blade. But they call it
turf type tall rescue because it's a more turf desirable,
landscape desirable blade and type of grass doesn't go get
quite you know, just us course. So uh, it's I

(03:14):
like that, and it's a it's a it's tough, it's durable,
it's it holds up to the drought really well, takes
foot traffic really well, you know the whole nine yards.
And again you sew that typically by itself in a
blend of two or three. And there used to be
I forget the name of it. One it had five
different turf type tall fescues blended together. I like that. Again,

(03:36):
no best one choice, but for lower maintenance, good solid
eye traffic, you can pretty much count on it. Turf
type tall fescue lower maintenance is probably the choice that
you want to take a look at in a cool
season grass to Centerville, Ohio.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
We go.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Nate, good morning, Good morning.

Speaker 3 (03:56):
How you doing today.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
I'm doing good, Nate, yourself doing fabulous. Thank you good.

Speaker 3 (04:01):
I have a question regarding a spice bush. From what
I could see, it looks like it's suffering from Lindura
emmera virus. Excuse me, emma virus. Yes, what it's called. Yes,
And I'm not sure. Doesn't seem to be a lot
of information out there. Everything I seem to find is
not in Layman's terms. So just kind of wondering should

(04:24):
I be concerned with this and should I remove infected
shrubs or move infected branches off these spice bushes, and
how does this virus spread and all that good stuff.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
Well, what's interesting is you are right, you don't find
much about that if you try to read up on it.
There's not a lot out there available for this plan.
Of course, it's become so popular because of the native
plant and what you know, the benefits of growing spice
bush and that particular virus. I have not I have
no personal experience with it other than the fact of

(04:58):
what I've read so far. What O issue is posted
the big on your rights mostly you know what they're
seeing out there, and I'm not sure everybody's totally on
top of what you know how to deal with this thing,
because it is a native plant, you know, will it
wipe it out? It doesn't seem to be, but it
does take out branches here and there. I think from

(05:19):
what I had read, I believe that maybe vectored by
a plant hopper, if I'm not mistaken, and they were
trying to figure out if that was true, if it
was a plant hopper or insect vectored virus that are
on those But from what I know right now, it
was you know, could you could tear them out and
get rid of them like we do, like with you

(05:41):
get the rose rosette on roses. Once that virus is
in there, you can't correct it. Once it's in the
spice bush, you can't correct it. So clip you can
clip out branches, you could tear out the plants. But
it doesn't seem to you know, you get the modeling
on the leaves. Is that what you're getting, like a
modeling in the leaves? Yeah, yeah, you get that on
the leaves, but you know it as a matter of fact,

(06:03):
I don't think we see a lot of die back
on it, uh right, So I think at this stage
in the game, we're all kind of waiting to see
if somebody's going to come up with and the answer here,
what you know, what, what do we do? Do we
need to worry about it? Is there anything we should
do about it? To spray for the the plant hopper
or I'm pretty sure was a plan hopper from what

(06:23):
I read that that vectors that it's almost impossible to do. So,
you know, at this stage in the game, the only
thing I know, Nate, is exactly what you're saying is
that basically you leave it alone. If you want to
take it out, you can get rid of it and
replant it. But chances are if those got it the
news that your plant would would do the same thing.

(06:44):
So I think I think what they're seeing now is
obviously it's it's something we haven't had a lot of
so there's not a lot of research done on it.
It is a native plant, it is still here, it
hasn't wiped it out, so you know, I think it's
kind of a uh, here's the facts that we know
right now. But is there a solution to it? I

(07:05):
don't think there is. And like I say, it doesn't
really from what I understand, doesn't really cause any die back.
I just looks funny. Yeah, And once the Senate you
can't do anything about it. So I would say I
would hold on to them if they were mine, I
wouldn't take them out yet. I'd wait to see what
new research would would come up. And I'll throw this
at Joe Boggs when he comes up at the in
the next hour to see if he has heard any

(07:27):
more about what to do. But otherwise I don't think,
you know, like I said, not causing the die back,
you haven't experience it's got that makes it leaves.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
Look funny, right, and also still produces the barriers.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
And my other only other question is will affect the
spice bush caterpillar around them?

Speaker 1 (07:44):
I don't, I would say, I would say no, Okay,
I mean I I don't think so. And again, I
don't know that they even taking it that far as
far as affecting the the caterpillars that are attracted to
the Yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
Yeah, because I'm not sure if they, you know, as
far as this color in the leads with the you know,
not lay their eggs on that type of bush or
you know what.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
That's a good quest. I doubt. I my my gut
gut feeling would say, I doubt that they they know.
They know through their senses, through the smell and all,
they know that that's a spice bush, you know, someday
probably and all that type stuff. I'm guessing they're still
going to do their thing. But I would imagine we

(08:26):
haven't gone that far as trying to find out whether
or not, you know, that's affecting the larvae and laying
the eggs and et cetera, et cetera. So if I
get more information, Nate, I will make sure that I
let you know about it. But that's that's about all
I know at this stage.

Speaker 3 (08:41):
Okay, great, thank you, all right.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
Nate, good talking with you. And uh, before we go
into the break, we're gonna talk to our true plantsman
and maybe he's dealt with this. Kevin O'Dell, Mister Kevin O'Dell,
Good morning.

Speaker 4 (08:51):
Sir, Good morning, mister Wilson.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
How are you, sir?

Speaker 4 (08:57):
I am absolutely wonderful. I'm gonna go out and kick
some button on some invasives today.

Speaker 1 (09:03):
Are you well? Good for you take out some aggression?

Speaker 4 (09:06):
You take it out, I'm want to take out my
I don't hardly have aggression, but I just love getting
rid of a.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
Basis I was gonna say, I don't think I've ever
seen you mad at anything.

Speaker 4 (09:17):
It doesn't happen round. I just figure, you know, have
a good day if somebody else's have a bad day.
So what again? Do anything? Hey if you don't, because
whenever I see you, I'm in a good moved.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
Also, is that? What is that? What it is? You
always make me smile? So there we go. We make
each other happy. Hey, talking with a good thing? Talking
there about that the virus that we're starting to see
on the spice bush. Have you dealt with that at all?

Speaker 4 (09:41):
Ron, I don't see it, but I'm going to look
at it. I have some in our nursery and B
and B and fool Son, by the way, have been
for years, and also some containers, and I'm going to
a native stand of it today, so I will be
looking for that. I that's the first I've heard of
it right there.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
Yeah there's not elm and it called in Yeah, there's not.
I have read about it. I've seen some pictures of it,
but I don't think there's been a whole lot of
research done on it yet. Throll throw it at Buggy
Joe too, but obviously it doesn't kill the plant, so
I don't know. We'll have to see, but not a
lot of research I don't think done up to this point.

Speaker 4 (10:17):
Kind of thinking the native is a native, you know,
might have some control out there nature's burning process or
thinning the you know.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (10:26):
I just really don't know about that. But you're all
talking today about what you should be doing. This should
be doing this time of the year, getting ready for
the seating of the sea. That thinks I want to
bring up point is, you know, this is really the
start of deer rubbing buck deer rubbing on trees. We
always try to have everything at the nursery wrapped, the

(10:49):
trunks wrapped in that by September fifteenth. Last year we
missed a little bit. Last year we got some tree
damage from the bucks, and it's just it's just time
year to start rubbing the buzz off their antlers and
be breeding season here soon, so it's time to do it.

Speaker 1 (11:07):
You know what's funny, Kevin, I have a I have
a notebook paper in front of me that I have
them with notes of things I want to talk about
and circled and read. And I'm oldest up so Danny
can see it in the camera. It says deer guards
and it has an asterisk. It says Kevin O'Dell mid August.
Honest to gosh, that's what it says. Because last year

(11:28):
you said, Yeah, you said to me, because I usually
say about first of September that you started to see
deer rub a little bit earlier than usual, And it
wouldn't be a bad idea to start by mid to
late August to start putting the deer guards on here.
So my note today, says deer Guards. Kevin O'Dell mid August,

(11:49):
you read Michael Well.

Speaker 4 (11:50):
I forgot to call you. I guess I can forgot
that I didn't call you.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
You did, and and I think it's great because that's
that's what I tell everybody now. I said, you know
we're seeing it, and I give you the credit. I said,
he's been seeing it earlier and earlier all the time.
So don't hesitate. And I'm telling you, Kevin, I can't
stress that enough to people. And I'm glad you said
brought that up because if you're planting trees or you
have those smaller trees in your yard, I tell folks
right now, if you know you have deer within fifty

(12:15):
miles of your house, and who doesn't, don't walk away
from planting that new tree. Don't take your hand off
of the trunk. You can be watering it in while
you're doing this until you put a tree trunk protector
on it.

Speaker 4 (12:30):
Absolutely, And you know one thing about here is they
are attracted in the newly planeted trees for some reasons,
smaller and newly planet Yeah, don't.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
Don't don't leave them. Don't walk away because you get
up the next morning, saying I'm going to plant them
Saturday and deer guard them on Sunday. And Sunday morning
you go to get up and it's already taken care of.

Speaker 4 (12:48):
For you, and we've had plants to put it in
the ground. The next day they're gone. Yeah, I mean
they just pull them out of the ground sometime.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
You know.

Speaker 4 (12:56):
Again, it's kind of nature out there, the same as
the spice bush.

Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yep, we just have to protect him.

Speaker 4 (13:02):
A little bit.

Speaker 1 (13:02):
Exactly. Great, great tip. I'm glad. I'm glad you called
it because I said, I'm sidered going. I can't believe this.
I got Kevin's name right here on my paper about
doing this early. I appreciate it. Man, have a good
time tearing out those weeds today. And invasive plants.

Speaker 4 (13:15):
Oh I will. It's an autumn ale of day.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
Oh have fun with that one.

Speaker 4 (13:22):
Uh back hope.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
Oh yeah, that that works. That's that's the easy way,
all right, take care Kevin O'Dell true plants. But in
our area, that's just a great guy, and autumn all
cheez taking over it. It's invasive like crazy, almost as
bad as the honeysuckle, and you see it everywhere at
this stage. But remember you can always pick the berries
and make all all of autumn olive jam like Rita

(13:47):
Hikinfeld does, and then they can't recede. So you're helping
things out by doing that quick break. We come back,
we can jump into the back to the guardian phone.
I don't forget bottom of the hour. Jerry Rose, our
giant pumpkin girl is going to be with us, give
us an update. You know where these giant pumpkins are
size wise right now? What can we expect when we
get into October for the way off season. The excitement

(14:08):
starting to build here in the garden with Ron Wilson.
Kevin said earlier, those deer guards very important. I get
on it right away, and you've got even if you
have already planted trees, buck deer loved it. You know,
about four inch or smaller. They'll rub on even larger ones,
but they love those smaller trees, and if they're newly planted,
they like them even better. Those tree trunk protectors really

(14:31):
can't help. And I'm not kidding when I say I've
had folks come to the garden center buy two trees
or whatever, maybe take them home, plan them that day
watermen get them all ready to go get up the
next morning, and a buck came through that night and
rubbed the bark off the trunks of those trees. They'll
do that. I don't know how or why, but they

(14:53):
do it. And those trees are now could be depending
on how severe the rub is ruined, and you may
lose use them. And you just invested a couple of
hundred bucks in these trees. So don't walk away when
you're buying your trees without a tree trunk protector that
put around it as soon as you are done planting,
put that around that and get it, get it in place.

(15:15):
And you want your tree trunk protector to go from
the soil should be resting on the soil. And the
reason I say that is that also becomes a protector
from critters like mice and voles and rabbits from chewing
around the base of the tree. And they'll do that
as well. And of course you're gonna have your mulch
away from it like a doughnut, so it's an open area, right,

(15:36):
so they can't hide in the mulch. And then you
want that tree trunk to protector. If you can go
up to the first branch that sticks out, so as
high as you can go. You'll find them sold at
your local garden centers where you're planting getting your trees
from your local nurseries. You can also go and buy
a four inch perforated the plastic drain pipe. Cut at

(15:58):
whatever link that you need from the round to the
bottom branch, slice it lengthwise and then open it up
like a sleeve and put it right around the outside.
And in the springtime, about the first of April, you're
gonna go back out there, take those off and get
them off of the tree. Through the summer season, come
back and put it back on the tree come about
mid to late August. All right, No, not worth waiting around.

(16:22):
Do it early so you make sure you know you
don't catch in those early bucks that are out there
starting to rub, and trust me, they can do a
number if they do. I've got a great tip sheet
on how to correct it and what to do about it,
so email me and I'll get that back to you
as well, even shows you some ideas of how to
protect the tree trunks for you too. All right, quick break,
we come back. Jerry Rose, our giant pumpkin grower, will

(16:44):
find out how big the pumpkins are at this stage
and what the future looks like for this way Offs
in the fall, Here in the Garden with Ron Wilson.
Welcome back here in the Garden with Ron Wilson. And
it's getting tens time right now if you're a giant
pumpkin grower, because right now your pumpkins growing like crazy.
The weather's all over the board. You're not sure what's
going to happen. You know, you got a month and

(17:05):
a half going coming up before you start doing the
way Offs. You're getting nervous. You're practically well. This guy
actually lives with his pumpkins, sleeps with him at nighttime,
gets all the blankets, and hangs out with him because
he is that protective of his giant pumpkins. He is
our giant pumpkin expert, Ladies and gentlemen, Mister Jerry Rose,
good morning, Hey Ron.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
How are you doing?

Speaker 1 (17:27):
I am great. First of all, I want to thank
you for this picture that you sent me, because I'm
sitting here looking at it and my mouth is watering
so much I can barely talk.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
I figured I had to tease you a little bit
with that. Nice to nice kellogg Breakfast tomato.

Speaker 1 (17:42):
There is that a Kellogg's.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yeah, that was a Kelloggs. I got them both out there,
the man orange and the Kelloggs. That was the Kelloggs,
and been getting quite a few. And the rife the
wife's actually gotten into. Now I grow the celebrities too.
And fel mixed about a fifty to fifty mixture for
her spaghetti sauce with the orange Callogg's Breakfast and celebrities,
and that's her a spaghetti sauce mixture.

Speaker 1 (18:03):
I'll tell you what. I looked at this second and said, okay,
would I just salt that a little bit and throw
out my mouth? Would I slice that off, put it
on a b l T throw a Friday egg on
top of that. I don't know, but seriously, my mouth
is watering right now. Just looking at that thing is beautiful. Now,
you you grow, you, you you grow quite a few tomatoes, right.

Speaker 2 (18:23):
I got eighteen plants out there. This is one of
the first. A lot of times, a lot of times
I just let them grow, you know, Bisuer, I've been
suckering the I'm pretty good, so I'm getting some pretty
nice size ones and everything too.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
So you haven't been a pruner or sucker person in
the past. Now you are, and you think, yeah, you
think that's how.

Speaker 2 (18:42):
I think I'm getting a few less, but I'm getting better.

Speaker 1 (18:44):
Okay, all right, so production may not increase, but you
think you're getting better overall. Tomatoes, Yeah, better fruit.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
The wife's that's what the wife said. But and I'll
tell you. I know, I get out of the pumpkins here,
but I'm trying to teach the wife how to sucker
and telling her that the tomatoes like the trunk of
the tree, and the suckers are the branches. And I
let her go out and the sucker as the tomato,
and I came out and they were all topped. I'm like,

(19:14):
I'm like, I'm like, what did you do? I don't understand.
I don't undert I'm like, it's a tree in neither
of the branches. Come on, that's pretty simple.

Speaker 1 (19:23):
Don't take the you don't take the leader out of
the top of the tree.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
No, don't take So then I have to turn the
next sucker into the leader. You know, it works itself out.
But yeah, it's that's funny.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
Remember it's all a series of trials and airs.

Speaker 2 (19:38):
Exactly exactly she was a city girl. She was a
city girl that came to the country. So I'm still
trying to teach her.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
I guess you took to the country.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
Yeah, yeah, she came out here all right.

Speaker 1 (19:49):
So you know crucial time right now, which I have
to first ask you a question. Last week you were
camping out with it's such a crucial time for pumpkins.
How can you afford to take the time to go
to the campground here about?

Speaker 2 (20:02):
Well, I think we've been doing it every year. We
go over to Cook's Forest over in Pennsylvania, which is
about three hours beautiful country over there absolutely no phone reception,
and luckily i'd either getting my names. There's there's a
point now where it's just basically kind of babysit them
a little bit and water them, right, And the boy Jr. Three,
as Dave Stelt would call him, Jerry Rose the third,
stayed home for the weekend. So I had my main

(20:23):
man out there keeping an eye on him because I
do have a couple of little issues. You get some
little sauce spots in the vines this time of the
year just because of the humidity and this and that,
and you gotta we use a zero tall oxidate, which
I'm sure you use in the greenhouse industry. Uh mix
it up at like a quarter cup to a gallon
of water and a little pump up spray and you
go out there and kind of scrape them soft spots

(20:44):
out and spray them with that, and if it gets
bad enough, you even put little uh little fans on
them to keep the air circulating. Luckily, uh, luckily in
the greenhouse. Surprisingly, since I've been growing in the high tunnel,
I have less issues. And I think that's because no,
no rain's getting on them. You know, I'm putting my
own water onto the drip irrigation.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
And of course you're collecting rainfall. You got all your
your tanks that you've been caught yep. And so do
you use that exclusively.

Speaker 2 (21:09):
Or right as long as I can. And luckily, since
probably geez probably been the last month or so, it
seems like we'd been just enough rain to be able
to collect. I got a lot of buildings here and everything,
and like the other, a couple of nights ago we
got zero point sixth of a tenth of an inch
of rain and they gave me almost three hundred gallons
of water. So you can imagine we get, you know,

(21:31):
a good hard rain or something, I sell all my
tanks up. In fact, we did the other night. It
was like I woke up at ten thirty to terrain
and I wanted to make sure everything was working good.
And we got one of them day lose rains where
we got like an inch of rain and forty five
minutes or something. I'll tell you what everything was. Everything
was full by that into that rain.

Speaker 1 (21:48):
I love it. Talking with Jerry Rose. He is our
giant pumpkin grower, holds many records when it comes to
giant pumpkins and always keeps us updated every year where
we stand not only in his pumpkin patch, but looking
around the country as well well. As we start to
look ahead to our way off time of the year,
and that typically starts what late September and into October.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
Yeah, actually, you know we've been talking. There's a Canfield
Fair which is kind of the the local event that
got us saw a lot of us going, and everything
is next weekend. We usually bring some some of our
smaller pumpkins or maybe pumpkins we are giving us issues
down there, and then about three weeks after that there
will be some in West Virginia and Kentucky and southern

(22:29):
Ohio and the season just kind of goes on then.
So I think oak Oakland is our last kind of
local way off. I mean, you can still find some
other ones down in the Carolinas up until maybe even
the next weekend. But yeah, it's yeah, we're getting into
the getting into the heat of things here now.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
And the one out in California is the usually the
last one right now?

Speaker 2 (22:51):
What half Moon Bay is? Yeah, you're right, Yeah, that's
that's usually actually half Moon Bay is Uh. I think
it's the Monday after the Oakland and then actually Circleville
will be well, yeah, three days after Oakland. Yeah, there's
still a few of them, but Circleville is not. They're
kind of like you got to live within so many

(23:12):
miles of Circleville to enter down there and everything, and
they're they're their own they're their own deal down there.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
Got it all right? So the world record holder right
now is two thousand, seven hundred and forty nine pounds.
And I remember Jerry Rose when I first met you
and at Oakland and doing their way off there. I
mean we were looking at breaking that thousand pound pumpkin
at that time. I mean, and I look at this
today and it's just phenomenal. And I look at last year,

(23:38):
I mean the Steltz Carol Steltz. Yeah, and Dave kind
of helped out, but Carol Steltz, I mean had a
fantastic year. You kind of had an off year. You
had throwaways of what sixteen hundred, eighteen hundred.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
No, nineteen eighty and a half and eighteen eighty five throwaways? Yeah, yeah,
I guess they should have been bigger than by estaments,
they should have been bigger. Yes, I was a little
bit disappointed.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
You know what's funny is when you were at Oakland,
you could just you can always tell you're just kind
of a little more low key, you know this kind
of you know, well that was okay years all right,
and then you start talking about nineteen hundred pounds pumpkins.
It's like, give me a break, you giant pumpkin grows.
All right, we're gonna take a quick break, we come back.

(24:25):
You're gonna give us an update on where you're standing
right now, what's going on, because this is a really
key time for pumpkins as they're growing like crazy right now.
More with Jerry Rose our giant pumpkin grower here in
the garden with Ron Wilson. Welcome back. You're in the
garden with Ron Wilson Special guests this morning. Our giant
pumpkin grower, mister Jerry Rose is with us this morning.

(24:45):
Kind of give us an update on where we stand
with giant pumpkins because way offs are going to start
here very shortly. And of course the goal the world
record twenty seven forty nine, two thousand, seven hundred and
forty nine pounds. That is a huge pumpkin. So weather
wise and all, has it been a trickier for you
this year or not? Not necessarily?

Speaker 2 (25:07):
Well, it's been You've been hot, you know in the
High Tunnel. I mean, just I ain't got to worry
about the rain. You know, started out very wet and
then we kind of went dry and now now we've
been just kind of average, you know, rain wise, I
would say, uh, it was you know, all the ninety
degree days. They don't like to. I always say, if
you could have the perfect day, be eighty two, eighty
three at the daytime and sixty two or sixty three
at night, you know, which is actually what today is

(25:29):
supposed to be. So it'll be the perfect day.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
But yeah, you get in the whole week of that
coming up.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
I think I don't know their show. I have a
feeling I wouldn't and then if I get it, I'll
send you a picture. I wouldn't be a bit surprised
because I'm in a valley at the bottom of a hill.
I might be in the low forties or upper thirties here,
I wouldn't be surprised by the middle of the week.

Speaker 1 (25:47):
Yeah, you send me pictures.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
Were in Cleveland being in the forties.

Speaker 1 (25:51):
Oh really yeah, yeah, Jerry says me. Pictures. Just by
the way, this snow just happened yesterday, and it's like,
may the whatever. I'm like, you got to be kidding you.
So all right, so you're looking at at your giant
pumpkins right now, you've been doing this forever, and you're
looking out there right now. How many you got? That
air potential.

Speaker 2 (26:14):
One that I would say is a real, real good contender.
It's matching. You know, it's estimating about two thousand right now.
Now for me, that means it probably weighs eighteen hundred
because I never go with the chart says, but it's
estimating two thousand. I got a couple others that are
doing you know, they're fifteen hundred or so, and then

(26:35):
one that's a little behind because I had a hard
time setting it on a plant and it's only about
a thousand or eleven hundred, and I lost too. I
think I sent you. I don't know if I sent
you the second picture. But the groundhog bit one of
mine when it was only about football size, and I
left it on the plant, and I probably shouldn't have
been about two weeks ago where that scar was from
the groundhog right and I knew better than to do this.

(26:56):
It's split open right there. And then last weekend while
I was going on, Jerry sent me a picture it
had another probably my second best one, split open into blossom.
And there's lots and lots and lots of people around
the country having blossom and splits this year. It seems
like more than normal. And if we could figure out
how to do that, you know, how to fix that,
there would be a lot more big pumpkins. But just

(27:17):
just the.

Speaker 1 (27:17):
Way it is, what any idea what causes that?

Speaker 2 (27:21):
No, if you can tell me, I'll put all my
prize money with you.

Speaker 1 (27:24):
There you go. I love it so so you're looking
out there right now. So right now, isn't August like
a key month for the growth of these things?

Speaker 2 (27:34):
It is, you know, we've hit their peak. It used
to be we set these pumpkins closer to July fourth,
so August they put on, you know, their most weight.
Now most of us are trying to get them set
on the plants by the middle of June. So I
hit my peak probably three or four weeks ago by estimate. Estimate.
Last Monday, ME and Jerry measure every seven days, and

(27:54):
I was down to twenty three pounds a day. I
think I put on about one hundred and sixty pounds
Monday to Monday. We'll see what this Monday till this
coming Monday does, but it is twenty three pounds. Hopefully
this week I'll get you know, fifteen sixteen pounds and
they'll just keep going down. I'm hoping for another three
to four hundred threally three hundred pounds on top of
what I got this coming Monday, right.

Speaker 1 (28:14):
And that's per day. When he's talking about twenty pounds,
we're talking per day. And you told me at one time,
I mean, you can be as much as what forty
five to fifty pounds a day.

Speaker 2 (28:23):
Yeah, my biggest one out here as at it's peaked.
Did I think it was, by estimate fifty one pounds
a day for seven days. But you can figure that's
little what three hundred and sixty about three hundred and
sixty pounds for a week, but you can figure the
mount And like I said, it came on the plan
on June fifteenth. I think this one was in order
to get over two thousand pounds, you know, don't you
have to have still almost like a twenty pound average
to its entire lifespan.

Speaker 1 (28:45):
Unreal? Now that the twenty seven hundred pound or was
that is that a greenhouse grown? Or was that the
guy up.

Speaker 2 (28:50):
In Minnesota and he was outside? Okay, yeah, he's outside
and he's lost. He only grows two plants and he
I'm friends with him on Facebook and he's lost both
of his So he's out of competition for this year.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
Really wow? Yeah, that's that's just the way that you've
always been there though. I mean, you've always had enough
to be somewhere in the wayoffs right, I'm you've never
been totally out. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
Yeah, And then I got a couple three extra. I
got so much stuff growing out here. I said, if
I wasn't retired now, in no way I could do it.
We're growing bushel gores. I got giant watermelons this year.
I got giant jack O Lantern's. I got the giant tomatoes.
I'm like, man, I'm I'm like, I don't know if
I'm just getting slower because I'm getting older. But it

(29:35):
seems like I'm out there all day long, which I
guess is good. And you know, you see too many
retired people just sit around and do nothing. I said,
I'm not that type of person. At least I'm doing
something right.

Speaker 1 (29:43):
So yeah, so you're involved with all this. And by
the way, if folks want to follow all the wayoffs
for all of the vegetables he just mentioned, go to
big Pumpkins dot com. That's Big at Pumpkins dot com
and you'll see where to twenty twenty five all the
way offs. You can click onto that. I'll show you
all the different ones. You go to the past and
go to last year. You can find Jerry Rose on

(30:03):
there on the on the giant pumpkins. You'll see where
he placed and everybody placed on there. So check it out.
I have fun watching it. As a matter of fact,
I was on there this morning. I was I was amazed.
The guy that did the longest goreg that thing was
like two stories high.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
Yep, yes, said right now. And I don't know the
fella personally, but I think because I do the giant stuff,
it must just high out of them algorithms.

Speaker 4 (30:27):
Go.

Speaker 2 (30:27):
It pops up on my Facebook, but they're the fella.
I think it's over Iowa. He's he's got a sunflower
that he's waiting for it to head out, and it's
gonna if it unless something happens, it's gonna break the
world record. Right right now, is like four foot taller
than the tallest sunflo It's like thirty two or thirty
three foot tall. You should see the trollis he's got
holding that thing up in there.

Speaker 1 (30:47):
They co a telephone pole to hold that up.

Speaker 2 (30:50):
I mean, yeah, you're talking thirty some foot that that's
almost a tall telephone pole.

Speaker 1 (30:54):
Oh my gosh, that's unbelievable. Well, again, it's a lot
of fun, So check it out. It's big Pumpkins dot
com and of course you'll find Jerry on there. You
can learn more about it. If you want to give
it a try, go to these way offs. As a
matter of fact, Jerry, I get to see Jerry. I
think it's October the twelfth at Oakland Nursery in Dublin, Ohio,
and they have a big time way off there and

(31:15):
that's where I met Jerry for the first time and
got involved with these and you learn more about it.
It's amazing. I mean people come there for the first
time growing giant pumpkins and show up with six, seven,
eight hundred pound pumpkins.

Speaker 2 (31:28):
Yeah. Especially so the little kids, I'll tell you what,
they're getting pretty good. They're getting competitive.

Speaker 1 (31:32):
That was a brother and sister group there and they're
they're liking the third or fourth grade something like that.
And every year the pumpkins just get a little bit
bigger and a little bit bigger. They do a great job.
It's a lot of fun. Giant tomatoes. You grow what
was your biggest one? Six six pounder?

Speaker 2 (31:49):
Yeah, I almost had a seven pounder last year. They're
doing okay out here. I mean they're just starting to
come on.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
You know.

Speaker 2 (31:55):
I didn't even start my seats for the giants till
the middle of June because if you start them too early.
They turned red and then they rock, so I I
they're just starting to come on. So then for way
off time, which is still seven weeks, I think I
was cigarettes forty forty nine days from today or something
like that. They're just starting to come on, so they'll
be getting right for me. And I've done it before
where you put them on them, you know, stick them

(32:16):
in refrigerator or something like that. So I'm throwing the
white stuff out of the frigerator and you know, putting
the tomatoes in the refrigerator, you know, got her blankets
off the bed, the stuff out of the refrigerator. I
don't know what else. How did she stand with You're
gonna have to take you stuck.

Speaker 1 (32:28):
Her out in the country, take her blankets away, clean
out the refrigerator, you make her work outside and prune
the tomatoes. Then you yell at her because she doesn't
do it right.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
Oh May, yesterday I picked that we did twelve courts
of corn. We froze twelve courts of corn. So that
time of the year is coming on too. She's a
good wife.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
To put up with you, Jerry Rose. She is a
saint and she will go down with Saint Hood as well.
By the way, I was up in Port Clinton this
week and that's an interesting area up there.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
Oh yeah, along the lake.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
We did Geneva on the Lake last year on your
side of the lake, and then we were up at
Port Clinton this week doing the other side of the
lake in the pretty interesting area up there as well. Hey, Jerry,
always a pleasure having you on the show. Good luck
with everything. I hope that big one comes along for
you and just as a miracle worker and you never know,
maybe it'll start kicking back into gear again. But I
look forward to seeing how well you do and all

(33:22):
the guys out there, and again if you want to
stay in touch with what's happening Big Pumpkins dot com
uh and and just follow along as they go through
all the way offs. Always a pleasure. I appreciate you
spending time with us this morning.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
Thanks Royan. I'll have some seeds for you since you're
retired now you can grow Big punkin next year and
be competitive.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
Well, you know what, our volunteer Pumpkin is doing a
pretty darn good job right now. That's why I sent
you a picture of it.

Speaker 2 (33:48):
You have to keep them squirrel away, right It's just a.

Speaker 1 (33:50):
Squirrels got into any Oh then darned squirrels just like
your ground hog.

Speaker 2 (33:55):
All right, Ron, all right, Jerry, take care, have a
good day.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
Thank you, Jerry, Giant pumpkin grower. And again, I think
it's fun to follow this. I mean, these these folks
who really get into this and then you know it's there,
it's there. It's their passion and a big hobby. And uh,
you know they spend a lot of time with these
to do and it gets serious. Jerry retired and build
a high tone. We hear him talking about his high tunnel.

(34:19):
It's a it's a hoop house, a greenhouse that the
side of the sides are high on the side, so
they keep it open, but it's covered on the top,
so he protects it from frosts, from rainfall because they've
got to be careful how much rainfall gets et cetera,
et cetera. Uh. And they're using high tunnels a lot
more for growing produce, for growing fruits and berries. They're

(34:40):
growing apple trees now in high tunnels because they can
control the environment a little bit more and have a
extended period of time that you're growing, like strawberries can
have longer seasons and things like that. So he's experimenting
now doing his in a high tunnel, kind of a
compromise between like in Europe doing them and greenhouses and

(35:00):
just growing them right outside. But anyway, always a fun thing,
good talking with Jerry. These folks really get into it.
But check it out Big Pumpkins dot com. And if
you have a way off in your particular area on
a Saturday or Sunday coming up late summer and fall,
go and participate. I think you will enjoy. It's always
a lot of fun to see what these folks bring

(35:21):
to the table, so to speak. All right, we'll take
a quick break. We come back, lots of tips to
share with you, and of course we got phone lines
open for you eight hundred eight two three eight two
five five. Don't forget our website, it's Ron Wilson online
dot com. Plan of the week, sweet Autumn Climatis, got
Magnolia scale on there, which is we talk about that
after the break. Lots of tips sheets for you from

(35:43):
Buggy Joe Bogs as well, and Rita's recipe what to
do with all those tomatoes? You'll love that one as well.