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Southeast Wisconsin

It's interesting reading all the stuff that gets posted here. The story about a Jill that raised a 1,000 pounder long before anyone else but doesn't want credit. The reverence that just about everyone shows for Mr. Howard Dill and how over thirty years later he is still getting credit for people that grow these squash to nearly 1500 pounds. But what about the big green squash, where did it come from? Who gets credit for this? What are they called? I remember Show King use to show up in seed catalogs as being big and green. I also remember when Burpee Seeds back in about 1968 introduced a big green squash that could weigh over 300 lbs. if grown correctly. What if I grow a 10 lb. tomato who gets credit for developing that seed? Questions, questions, questions. Winter is long in Wisconsin.

3/21/2004 7:05:34 PM

Md/ Usa

well depends on the tomato
if it is thunder creek then Ernie Pierce.
if it is big Zac Minnie Zaccaria.
if something else other who knows.

3/21/2004 7:20:52 PM

So. Maine

Stokey , you can learn a lot about Giant Pumpkins & Squash by reading the book " The Pumpkin King " , by Al Kingsbury.
It's a great book about Howard Dill that should be read by all Giant pumpkin growers who want to learn how this great sport/hobby got started.
Oh, by the way the Show King squash , thats just another variety developed on the Dill farm. ( see page 28 of that book )
Al Berard

3/21/2004 8:54:26 PM

Southeast Wisconsin

I've been growing a while. A bit like "Jill" (haven't grow no 1000 pounder though)I've been indiscreet - I am not sure about Show King being developed by Howard Dill. I believe the credit should go to Bernard Larvey from the U.K. He was messing and selecting some strains of giant squash/pumpkins back in the 60's and 70's. He grew in plastic covered greenhouse and grew a lot of different types of fruits and vegetables that would get real big. For a while he held a lot of different records for the biggest, longest and heaviest fruits and vegetables of anyone in the world. But who really cares how big of a turnip or a leek that he grew. Growing giant pumpkins as a hobby has been around for a long, long time. After all, when Mr. Warnoch grew his 400 pounder back in the early 1900's it got noticed, so much so that he got a prize from the French government and exhibited it in the Worlds Fair. This all mind you, long before the advent of mass media and the internet. Ray Waterman and H. Dill just happen to promote the sport more than it ever has been. Consequently, they have been given a lot of credit, maybe more than what they deserve. Ed Garza and his brother were growing some big pumpkin/squash back in the 60's and 70's. Some of the biggest ever grown up til that time. Bob Ford and some others also were doing the same. H. Dill just promoted it better than others. After all, how could you ignore a seed packet showing this giant pumpkin with a little kid on type looking like the pumpkin was as big as refrigerator. I not trying to disrespect Mr. Dill, I just want to make it a point that more credit should go to the growers of today for taking sport to where it is. So many people besides Dill (i.e., Beachy, LaRue, Emmons, Daletas, Calai and numerous others)have made the sport of giant pumpkin growing what it is today.

3/21/2004 9:48:20 PM

So. Maine

I forgot to mention , Howard's Dad was growing pumpkins from the 1920s to the '50s and at the time making crosses between the Goderich Giant and Genuine Mammoth...Great Book.

3/22/2004 12:04:50 AM

Montoursville, PA

Points well made and perhaps correctly presented. There certainly is a lot more discovery just by reading here and into publications seldom promoted today.

3/22/2004 10:25:28 AM

Deer Park WA

Squash have been a food staple for thousands of years cause there so dang easy to grow and adaptable (controlled crosses). Early farmers have been crossing them for size and flavor for Centuries. It would be hard to put a patent on this Genisis.

3/22/2004 10:47:56 PM