"A miracle of nature": Föchinger farmer harvests 200-kilo pumpkin

Created: 2022-10-30Updated: 2022-10-30 08:32

Siegfried Schneider from Föching hopes that a Halloween party, a kindergarten or fire brigade festival could be the reason for slaughtering the 200-kilo pumpkin.

Until a buyer is found, the colossus can be admired.

© STS

Siegfried Schneider from Föching has harvested a giant – he should go to the slaughterhouse for Halloween.

For this, the farmer is looking for a customer who is very hungry for pumpkins.

Föching – respect, what a berry!

Botanically, the pumpkin is not a vegetable, but a fruit.

Hard to believe when you see the huge specimen that is located at Siegfried Schneider's in Föchinger Eichenweg 4.

The colossus, which is spreading so dramatically next to its more delicate relatives, weighs around 200 kilos.

In April, the 81-year-old sowed the pumpkin of the Gigant variety.

"I'm always fascinated by the fact that a seed the size of a fingernail can produce such fruit over the summer," says Schneider.

"It's a miracle of nature."

Föching: 200-kilo pumpkin harvested - a garden of paradise

What did he do for it?

"Not much," says Schneider, "everyone can do that." You have to know that Schneider is a farmer and likes to cook - despite the work that his large garden with parsley, celery, tomatoes, kiwis, quince and espalier fruit means.

The Föchinger has profound knowledge and decades of experience in field management.

He knows exactly which spot in his garden has the microclimate he needs for his wonderful peaches.

What he takes for granted, others consider great.

Good soil is important, says Schneider.

Rotted manure works best, but that's not always available.

During the hot spell, Schneider watered his pumpkin every day.

No fertilizer.

"There are pumpkins that have underfloor heating and their own greenhouse around it." Pampered in this way, giant pumpkins could also reach 700 kilos.

"But mine has grown quite naturally," says Schneider, who is meanwhile practicing philosophical composure: "I thought to myself: either it will or it won't." Of course, the weather, which was fine last season, contributed to this have.

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Giant pumpkin from Föchting: slaughter was planned at the Gotzinger apple festival

Schneider loves looking at his pumpkin: "I'm happy about him." However, the farmer who grows fruit and vegetables for self-sufficiency is pragmatic enough to want to put his giant berry to a practical use.

The plan was actually to slaughter it at the Gotzinger Apple Festival and then sell it in portions to guests for a good cause.

But because the organizer of the charitable slaughter fell ill, nothing came of it.

Now Schneider hopes that another use will be found during Halloween on Monday, All Saints' Day on Tuesday or as part of Saint Martin.

A church festival, a kindergarten festival, a club or fire department party.

Mainly a lot of people who like pumpkin soup.

It is simply too big for Schneider's two-person household.

Because once it's cut,

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There's just one catch: You can't transport the giant easily.

Schneider himself rolled it into a jute sack and then brought it to its current location with the front loader.

What if there is no one who will take on the transport?

Then the pumpkin is nice to look at for quite a while - and eventually rots.

The giant is not the only pumpkin in Schneider's garden.

He is particularly proud of his calabash – a bottle gourd that is not suitable for consumption: it serves as a vessel or sound box for musical instruments.

Autumn time is pumpkin time: interesting facts about the pumpkin

The Countess of Paris at the Föchinger pear tree

Schneider is also proud of his pear tree.

His grandfather planted it around 1900. Schneider grafted it onto five different varieties – early ones like Williams and late ones like “the Countess of Paris”.

He also grows chicory – a rarity in the Oberland.

"In the meantime there are really big cultures in Franconian," he says.

He grew the chicory turnips outdoors over the summer, and they will soon be in the dark boiler room, where they will sprout the slightly tart-tasting leaves at 16 to 18 degrees.

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