RIVERSDALE NEWS - Piet Lotz, a farmer from Riversdale, was crowned the 2018 champion at the 8th annual Giant Pumpkin Festival in Heidelberg last weekend with a pumpkin weighing in at an astounding 532,4kg.
Lotz's monster pumpkin was a little short of the current South African record of 556kg set by Hugo le Roux in March 2017.
"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," said an elated Lotz after being revealed as the 2018 winner.
Dit is die vierde keer wat Lotz ingeskryf het, maar vorige jare het sy pampoene beswaarlik die 300 kg-merk gehaal.
The winning pumpkin was grown from special hand-selected pumpkin seeds - Dill's Atlantic Giant - supplied by Shoprite and Checkers to all competition entrants.
Imported from Canada and especially bred for size, the seed isn't treated or genetically modified in any way and is the variety of choice for those wishing to produce pumpkins in excess of 300kg.
Read more and watch a video on our sister newspaper, Suid-Kaap Forum
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