Charlie Brown looks every year for the Great Pumpkin. But hundreds of pumpkin lovers every year seek the GIANT pumpkin — the one that weighs more than any other in the world, at least for that year.
These people are serious. They try all kinds of things to make their pumpkins really, really big. Some have special concoctions of fertilizer; others have special water; some position their pumpkins just so; many save and trade seeds taken from the winners or near-winners; others have secrets that they’ll just never tell. This is serious competition!
A mere 480 lb pumpkin
Growing a gigantic pumpkin and transporting it to the weigh-in is fraught with dangers. If the weather is just right, or just wrong, the pumpkin can split unexpectedly right there in the field. Split pumpkins don’t count. The pumpkin may break as it’s being moved. Broken pumpkins don’t count.
So, how big IS the biggest pumpkin? On October 3, 2009, Christy Harp set the new world record with her 1725-pound pumpkin, which was weighed at the Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers GPC weigh-off in Canfield, Ohio.
How heavy is 1,725 pounds? It’s equal to approximately:
– 100 “normal” pumpkins
– 6 football linebackers
– 2/3rds of a Honda Civic
– 25 Golden Retrievers
– 312,978 pennies
– 5,520 baseballs
A 1,725 pound pumpkin would make about 1,500 pies!
Photos of that immense vegetable are here. An article about Christy and her pumpkin based on her Today Show appearance is here. A great website for more information on growing giant pumpkins is here.
Interested in how your State measures up in the giant pumpkin world? State records are here. Now, there’s something to plan for over the winter months!
Tags: autumn
