The Pumpkin King: Polson farmer sets Montana record with 893-pound pumpkin
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Polson farmer Emmett May not only saw the great pumpkin, as his shirt states, but he grew it. When May weighed his largest pumpkin during the Ronan Harvest Festival, he smashed the previous state record of 782 pounds set by Kyle Koschmeder of Shelby one year ago.
As May began his fourth year of pumpkin growing last fall, May asked his wife for an unusual Christmas present, a high tunnel, or a less expensive version of a greenhouse to protect his pumpkins. With temperatures fluctuating between warm daytime temperatures and frigid nights, the high tunnel made a big impact on how large he could go. In the end, it proved to be the best Christmas present ever, he said.
“Until I built the high tunnel, 613 pounds was my biggest,” May said. “So you can see the difference it makes.”
May grew two pumpkins in his new high tunnel. His most promising seed, that from the current world record holder at 1,161 pounds, turned out to be sterile. Pumpkin seeds are sold and traded online, with the top seed from the 1810 pumpkin, which produced only a few viable seeds, sold for $2,600 per seed.
“We follow genetic lines back to ancestors,” he said. “We see what the father and mother produced, just like with horses and cattle.”
The new Montana record pumpkin seed cost $40, and was purchased in a package of seeds at a local hardware store. May said he knew there was a possibility his prized seed wouldn’t germinate.
“It was because of the genetic traits of that line,” he said. “We knew some of the seeds were sterile.”
The rest of May’s giant pumpkin patch was grown outdoors and grew significantly smaller due to getting hammered with a cold, wet spring.
“They got knocked back a bit,” he said. “If it exceeds 90 degrees, the pumpkin will shut down growth; if it gets below 47, it will stop growing.”
May also helped a pair of Ronan brothers, ages 7 and 11, grow pumpkins under a few conditions.
“I told them, ‘You’re gonna come out and fertilize and prune the pumpkins once a week,’” he said. “And if they didn’t, they couldn’t claim ‘em. But they did a great job taking care of them.”
According to May, 11-year-old Jarrett Richey’s pumpkin grew to a scale-tipping 597 pounds, while his 7-year-old brother Jessie’s pumpkin grew to 494 pounds.
May is currently hard at work getting prepared for the upcoming year of growing. His passion for growing has inspired around 15 people in the valley to begin growing giant pumpkins, and it’s become a friendly competition.
“I’m getting a lot of people interested in it,” May said. “There were a lot of discouraged people this spring because it was so cold and wet.”
The 893-pound pumpkin developed a fungal soft spot near the bottom, worrying May of a possible split or open hole, which would disqualify the pumpkin from competition. The dedicated farmer nursed the wound with Clorox and water, applied fungicides, and dug the rotten material with a spoon to keep the lunker in the competition.
“If I hadn’t treated it, it probably would have split on me,” May said. “It’s a big job.”
May’s other secret lies within the soil, as he only uses llama manure trucked from Jerry Abbott’s farm in Moise, as this manure doesn’t burn up the plants as much as other animals,’ he explained.
May also heated water in a tank before giving it to his prized pumpkins.
“People don’t like to take a bath in cold water; well, pumpkins are the same way,” May said with a smile. “If you give cold water to it and it’s already cold outside, the pumpkin is freezing to death.”
May’s new goal for next year is to break 1,000 pounds, stating his hobby continues to grow as much as his pumpkins.
In the next few days, May will open his giants, remove the seeds and dry them to sell. His prized pumpkin seeds will be called 890 May, and have already been requested by many of May’s fellow growers.
