A pumpkin grown by a Rhode Island farmer appears to have set a new world record for the heaviest pumpkin, weighing nearly 300 pounds (136 kilograms) more than the current record holder.
Ron Wallace of Greene, Rhode Island, weighed his giant pumpkin at a competition in New England on Saturday and is now awaiting confirmation from Guinness World Records. The existing record was set by an English grower about a week earlier.
Wallace said he had been in contact with Guinness officials, who indicated that the record was on track for verification.
“It’s truly massive, it was a pleasure to grow,” Wallace said by phone on Monday.
Guinness World Records currently lists a 2,857-pound (1,296-kilogram) squash grown by Ian Paton of Lymington, England, as the world’s heaviest. Paton set the record on October 3.
Guinness officials did not respond to a request for comment.
The potential record comes as pumpkin growers worldwide take part in competitions this month, hoping to produce the heaviest pumpkin. In Northern California on Monday, a Minnesota grower won a major annual competition for the fifth consecutive time.
Potential record-breaking pumpkin
Wallace received $3,500 for winning his local competition. He said other contests had tried to attract him with larger prize money, with some offering as much as $70,000, but he wanted to celebrate the potential record-breaking achievement in his hometown.
“I was just ecstatic, the place just exploded,” Wallace said, describing the crowd’s reaction when his pumpkin was weighed.
He credited the pumpkin-growing community for freely sharing tips and techniques to help growers produce larger pumpkins. This year, Wallace grew his pumpkins in a greenhouse for the first time, which he said made a significant difference.
“The only way you create a 3,000-pound pumpkin is a community working together,” he said.
Wallace took up the hobby after starting an online business selling gardening supplies. He said he was proud to be part of the pumpkin-growing community and believed competitions helped establish the credibility of growers.
According to Wallace, the agriculture industry has increasingly been seeking advice from pumpkin growers on soil management and other cultivation techniques.
California contest in its sixth decade
In Northern California, a pumpkin named Rocky won a major annual weighing contest on Monday, tipping the scales at 2,389 pounds (1,083 kilograms), although it fell well short of a potential new world record.
Horticulture teacher Travis Gienger transported the pumpkin from Minnesota to win the competition for the fifth consecutive year. He received $21,501 in prize money after beating dozens of other giant-pumpkin growers at the event in Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco.
Gienger missed last year’s competition after his pumpkin broke while growing. Hoping to make a comeback, he named this year’s entry “Rocky” after the iconic boxer portrayed by Sylvester Stallone.
“Five-time champion, that’s what we came here to do,” Gienger said after the victory.
Gienger and his family drove for 35 hours to California, transporting a pumpkin roughly the size of a small car.
According to competition organiser Ronan Fowler, Gienger grows his pumpkins in a backyard patch in Anoka, a city on the banks of the Mississippi River north of Minneapolis.
This year, Gienger faced temperatures that dropped below freezing. He said he would likely need to start growing pumpkins in a climate-controlled environment, similar to Wallace’s greenhouse, to compete more seriously.
“The fact that Travis can weather the elements, like 30-degree weather, and still grow this massive pumpkin is pretty unbelievable,” Fowler said.
Hundreds of people attended the 53rd World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off, enjoying food trucks, music and pumpkin-related jokes. Earlier in the day, the crowd cheered as a particularly symmetrical pumpkin named Tinkerbell won the contest for the prettiest pumpkin.
The prize money was calculated at $9 per pound, and Gienger’s winning pumpkin will be displayed in a parade through Half Moon Bay this weekend.
He missed out on an additional $30,000 prize for breaking the world record.
However, these giant pumpkins are cultivated for their size rather than their taste, meaning the festival ended without any giant pumpkin pies.