Garner watermelon 9 pounds shy of world record

GARNER -- All summer long, Todd Dawson pampered his baby, building it a bed of sand, crafting a shade tent made of foam insulation, placing rat traps around it to ward off rodent invaders.

But his work bore spectacular fruit in the form of a hog-sized watermelon - 282-pounds, a new state record.

Just lifting this fruit torpedo requires four men, but Dawson hopes his masterpiece will stay fresh long enough to tote to the State Fair and get ogled alongside the other giants.

"Pumpkins, they get all the glory," said Dawson, 39. "But I've only got two hobbies: I grow watermelons and I deer hunt."

An ice sculptor by trade, Dawson grew his melon in his Garner garden, tending a vine that covered 420 square feet, snipping off every competing piece of fruit.

He credits exceptional weather but also the fortune of just dodging both a hurricane and a tropical storm. Hail stones pounded his neighbors just down the road but spared his precious fruit.

Hard work

Dawson has this message for any budding giant-growers: It's work.

He planted the 282-pounder in May and spent probably two hours a day keeping it healthy. It started life in an egg incubator, moved upstairs under a grow light and then to a greenhouse before first touching soil.

Dawson's record-breaker is about 90 percent organic, but it took chemical help to ward off pests.

"Squash bugs are terrible," he said, adding that they'll even eat bug killer. "Sevin Dust? They eat that stuff. It don't bother them. My chickens won't eat squash bugs. That'll tell you something."

North Carolina is prime territory for monster melons, said Sam Lovelace, president of N.C. Giant Vegetable Growers, who has seen numerous state and world-record holders pass through the Yadkin Valley Pumpkin Festival in Elkin, including Dawson's.

"It's pretty awesome," Lovelace said. "He only missed the world record by nine pounds."

Too big for eating

Expect some recognition at the fair for Dawson's melon, said Andrea Ashby, spokeswoman for state Agriculture Department. Only the giant pumpkins and decorative cakes can claim to be rivals.

"People get their pictures made with them," she said.

But don't plan on getting a slice. A melon this size is too mealy for good eating. And cutting one requires a chain saw.

"If I want to eat a watermelon," he said, "I'll go to a Walmart and eat one."