In the fall, you can buy huge pumpkins in bright orange or any other shade in stores and from private traders. Juicy yellow pulp with a unique aroma is a favorite dish of many. Pies are baked from it, porridge is cooked, dietary soups and even jam are prepared.
Pumpkin, in addition to being incredibly tasty, is also healthy. It is rich in vitamins C, T, K, E, PP, B1, B2, B5, B6, and many minerals. It contains a lot of potassium, so it improves heart function and strengthens blood vessels. If you constantly eat pumpkin dishes, you gain strength, improve sleep, it is useful for dysbacteriosis, diabetes, and gastritis.
The advantage of this vegetable is that it reaches enormous sizes. It is enough to plant a few seeds in the garden to provide yourself and everyone you know with a harvest for the whole year.
Depending on the variety and conditions, it can weigh from 1 to 10 kg, but the largest pumpkin in the world is amazing in its size. Growing such a miracle-yudo is not easy, but the farmers coped with the tasks perfectly.
Interestingly, giant pumpkins can also be eaten; they taste the same as smaller pumpkins. The same dishes are prepared from them.
Want to know how much the largest pumpkin in the world weighs? We present to you a rating of 10 large and heavy specimens that set amazing records.
William Warnock pumpkin, 181 kg
This was one of the very first large fruits. The first record holder was William Warnock , who lived in the USA. This record was recorded in 1900.
A year later, the man was able to grow a more massive pumpkin, weighing 182.5 kg. Then for many years no one could beat his record. Interestingly, this Canadian was a locomotive driver by profession, and pumpkins became his hobby.
Pumpkin "Titan"
Pumpkin "Titan" is large-fruited, with very large fruits. Without special care, their weight can range from 20 to 90-150 kilograms. And if you pay special attention to the pumpkin, provide regular fertilizing and watering, then manufacturers promise to obtain fruits weighing up to 200 kilograms or more.
The pulp is sweetish, pleasant taste, the thickness of the pulp is significant - 12-15 centimeters, has a high carotene content, and is rich in vitamins and minerals. The Titan variety has found its application in the food industry; juices, purees and other products for baby and dietary nutrition are made from it.
Due to its high yield, this variety is also valuable for use in livestock farming. Large fruits store well and can thrive throughout the winter if stored in a dark place. The ripening period is late - 120 days from emergence.
Pumpkin "Titan". © Attuale
Howard Dill Pumpkin, 208 kg
Howard Dill is a farmer from distant Canada. He, like many other residents of his country, became interested in growing pumpkins of significant size, but unlike others, he devoted not just his free time to this hobby, but his whole life, and was able to achieve significant results.
His success cannot be called luck, rather it is the fruit of constant work. For several years he grew an ancient variety of pumpkin, common in America - the True Mammoth. He selected the seeds of the largest pumpkins, planted them, and crossed the best samples with another giant variety - Giant Goderich.
Each season his vegetables grew by 2-3 dozen pounds in weight until a new variety appeared.
With his vegetables, Howard Dill decided to take part in the competition. He first appeared there in 1979, in 1980 his pumpkin reached a significant size of 208 kg, and already in 1981 he broke his own record with a vegetable that was 15 kg heavier.
In 1986, Howard received a patent as the person who developed a new variety of pumpkin. He named it the Atlantic Giant Dilla. Thanks to his efforts, he was the world record holder for growing pumpkins for a long time.
When asked how he was able to achieve such amazing results, the farmer replied that he worked hard, devoted many years to searching, and of course, he had great luck. He believes that this is the key to the success of passionate, even obsessed people.
When and how to plant a giant pumpkin
Start pumpkin seeds indoors a month before the last frost. Soak the seeds overnight to speed up the germination process, then plant them in peat pots in a sunny window. Wait for warm weather and let the pumpkin seedlings grow indoors. Pumpkin seedlings require an outdoor soil temperature of about 15 degrees.
Plant seedlings when the threat of frost has passed. Large-fruited pumpkins have one of the longest growing seasons, so plant them as soon as possible after the last spring frost. To ensure your plants get as much sun as possible without frost, you may need to extend the growing season by first placing the seedlings in a greenhouse or greenhouse.
Plant pumpkins in a spacious, sunny location. Make sure your pumpkin vines have room to grow; plan about two acres per pumpkin and think in advance (!!!!) how you will remove it from the garden.
The soil should retain heat and promote good drainage. For giant pumpkins, there should be no more than two seedlings per bed, but you can plant four or five to start, and then thin them out to the two strongest ones once they are established and showing potential.
Be sure to mulch your plantings! This will protect the soil from drying out.
Thanks to the Internet, you can choose any gardener and farmer as your guide; I found Ron Wallace, who has been victoriously and successfully growing giant pumpkins for 30 years, useful and interesting: https://www.instagram.com/wowwallace/?utm_medium =copy_link. He promotes organic farming, selling seeds, fertilizers and even vermicompost-based mycorrhizae for pumpkins.
Ron Wallace Pumpkin, 911 kg
Ron Wallace became famous throughout the world . His pumpkin weighed 911 kg. He exhibited it at the fair. This is not his first such achievement. In 2006, he already set his first records, but then his vegetable was slightly smaller in size - 680 kg.
We can say that farming is not only Ron’s hobby, but also a way to feed his family. For winning this competition, he received 5.5 thousand dollars, and also won an additional prize, which amounted to 9 thousand dollars.
He is also remembered for being the first to overcome an important milestone - his pumpkin weighed more than a ton. But in this case, what was meant was not an ordinary ton, but an “American” one, which is almost 100 kg less.
Botanists also became interested in this record, because... Before this, it was believed that it was impossible to grow such a heavy vegetable, because... it won't support its own weight.
When to start preparing to grow a giant pumpkin
Assess your strengths. A huge pumpkin will require care, and much more.
If you want a giant pumpkin next fall, don't wait until spring, you need to start preparing the soil now - this fall. And first of all, choose a fairly large area for planting. The race is on to have the longest growing season possible and channel as much nutrients and water into one pumpkin as possible, all while maintaining an excellent agricultural background: no pests, diseases, children running around or stray animals trampling the plants. Pumpkins require good soil—lots of compost or fertilizer, such as well-rotted manure, mixed into the turf soil. Plant a nitrogen-fixing cover crop in the fall and dig up green manure in the spring. By the way, you should not grow a carriage pumpkin for Cinderella on a high bed - there is a high risk of the vine breaking.
Tim Matheson pumpkin, 921 kg
Tim Matheson is not only a timber merchant, but also a farmer living in the United States. In 2013, he participated in the annual competition, which was held in California. There he presented his pumpkin weighing 921 kg.
Tim said that this huge vegetable grew in 105 days. Matheson did not attribute this success solely to his efforts. He was sure that his pumpkin had reached such a gigantic size thanks to the moderate temperatures that year.
The 56-year-old farmer was rewarded for his efforts; he was given $14,000 for his victory. And, of course, success inspired him, he continues to do it.
In 2015, the man again won the competition in Northern California, but the harvest was slightly smaller - 819 kg. In his homeland, his vegetables are called “flying saucers”, because... in shape they really resemble a UFO.
Benny Meyer pumpkin, 1054 kg
Americans usually win such pumpkin competitions, but there are exceptions. Benny Mayer can be called the pumpkin champion of Switzerland . Year after year he walked towards his goal, intending to create a giant vegetable, and gradually achieved his goal.
In 2009, his pumpkin weighed 640 kg, and he became the first Swiss to achieve this result. His work was rewarded with 500 francs. In 2011, the harvest weighed 702 kg, also a kind of record. In 2012, he could boast of an unprecedented vegetable size - 768.5 kg, for which he received a prize of 1,500 francs. And finally, in 2014, Benny Mayer surpassed all records; his pumpkin weighed 1054 kg. Before that, he became famous in Brandenburg with a 951 kg pumpkin.
Mayer is a farmer. He says that the main secret of his victories is daily watering of future record holders and careful constant care. He could have made history back in 2013 when he brought a significant size pumpkin to the competition, but the jury did not accept it for the competition due to the fact that there was a hole in its surface.
Summing up
Today, the man who grew the largest pumpkin in the World is Matthias Willemain; the record weight of the vegetable is 1190 kilograms.
In Russia, similar competitions are held for growing giant vegetables, however, due to climatic and weather conditions, it is much more difficult to obtain huge fruits.
Despite this, our country has its own champion - Alexander Chusov, his pumpkin weighs 432 kilograms.
It is worth noting that such competitions are held annually. And almost every time new winners appear, setting the bar higher and higher.
Pumpkin Matthias Willemains, 1190 kg
Benny Meyer's record was broken in 2016. The difference was not that big, but these few tens of kilograms made Matthias Willemains a champion.
This time the record holder grew up in Belgium. The farmer and his giant went to the European Championships, which were held in Ludwigsburg, Germany. Matthias decided to try his luck, although he did not expect that he would become a winner.
The delighted Belgian farmer admitted that he felt great. He himself did not expect that his pumpkin would be so heavy, and, naturally, he was very happy that he became the person who grew the largest vegetable in the whole world.
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Hundred Pound Pumpkin
Pumpkin “Stofuntovaya” is one of the most popular large-fruited varieties of pumpkin of Russian selection. The fact that the variety is large-fruited can be understood even from the name: one hundred pounds equals 45 kilograms. And this pumpkin really has great potential. As stated by the manufacturers, the maximum fruit weight is 50 kilograms. However, on average they weigh between 10 and 20 kilograms.
The fruits are round, oval or flattened. The peel is smooth, slightly segmented, and the color is most often orange, but there are also pumpkins of this variety in yellow, gray and pinkish colors. Suitable for culinary use, however, the pulp is slightly sweet with a large seed chamber; the pulp contains 5-6% dry matter.
This is a late-ripening variety, and 110-115 days pass from germination to readiness for harvesting. The plants are powerful and form vines of more than 5 meters. Productivity is 3-6 kg per square meter.
Hundred Pound Pumpkin. © Ecwid
