00:00It is not green monster goo in these test tubes although the liquid is thought to have
00:04resulted in a monster of a pumpkin. Labs at the University of Kent which are exploring
00:10the potential of microalgae as a natural fertiliser may have resulted in a gigantic pumpkin being
00:17grown at Quecks Park in Birchington over the summer. I'm here at the Ingram building at
00:22the University of Kent to speak to some researchers who believe their research may have contributed
00:28to a monstrous 420 kilogram pumpkin grown over this Halloween period. The pumpkin which was
00:35nicknamed Madame Queckszilla Plumpkin was grown at Quecks Park with a company director Liam Cowdery
00:42alongside PhD student Abby Ruffell trying to find ways to make agriculture more cost-effective and
00:48efficient. One avenue that the team has been exploring is the use of microalgae as a natural
00:54agricultural fertiliser. The idea to use the algae is interesting because potentially we can look at
01:00using biostimulants so stimulants that are of natural origin to create monstrous vegetables as opposed to
01:10relying on chemicals. Some of the algae used for the project was grown in a polytunnel at Quecks Park.
01:17As a result of his off-the-cuff approach to gardening, Quecks Park manager Liam Cowdery
01:22regularly tipped excess algae into a neighbouring pumpkin patch.
01:26A lot of what my gardening practice is, is chuck it in, leave it and see what happens.
01:32And obviously being right next to the tunnel when we were sort of in between batches and
01:36lots of waste had to come out and I've got a bit of bias with it and I wanted to
01:41work,
01:41I was just loading it on from the tunnel and all the excess. Much to the team's surprise,
01:46one of Liam's algae-enrich pumpkins of Atlantic giant variety really lived up to its species'
01:52name, growing to a size 10 times of that of a standard pumpkin. The team is hoping for a pumpkin
01:58over double the size next year. I want to go to a ton. I want to hit 1,000 kilos
02:03and actually try it
02:04this time. And don't worry, Madame Quecksilla did not go to waste. After its seeds were harvested,
02:10although it wasn't turned into pumpkin pie, provided a large and tasty feast for some local pigs.
02:15Thanks. Grace Brooks for KMTV in Canterbury.
