Lotz wins giant pumpkin contest
A RIVERSDALE farmer was crowned the 2018 champion at the 8th annual Giant Pumpkin Festival in Heidelberg at the weekend with a pumpkin weighing in at 532.4kg.
Piet Lotz’s monster pumpkin was a little short of the current South African record of 556kg set by Hugo le Roux last March.
Lotz said he was ecstatic that his pumpkin beat the rest.
“It’s fourth time lucky for me. I entered the competition on three previous occasions, but my pumpkins never passed the 300kg mark. This year’s conditions weren’t ideal for breeding giant pumpkins and I was afraid that my pumpkin was once again going to weigh too little,” he said.
The festival held in Heidelberg, about 280km outside of Cape Town, celebrates the largest pumpkins in the country.
The winning pumpkin was grown from special handselected pumpkin seeds, Dill’s Atlantic Giant, supplied by Shoprite and Checkers to all competition entrants.
Imported from Canada and especially bred for size, the seeds aren’t treated or genetically modified in any way, and is the variety of choice for those wishing to produce pumpkins in excess of 300kg.
Second place this year went to Elizna Lotz with her 438kg pumpkin followed by Pinkie Swart’s pumpkin at 365.8kg.
Lotz received R14 000 in cash while second and third place received R7 000 and R3 500 respectively.
Additional prizes were also awarded for the prettiest and ugliest pumpkins.
All proceeds from the twoday festival will be ploughed back into the town.