Giant Pumpkins

Giant Pumpkins: Largest & Lumpiest Explained

Current Record Holder: Mathias Willemijns, pumpkin weighed 2,624.6 pounds, the same size as a small car!

What does it take to grow the world's largest pumpkin?

Every year, farmers all over the world compete to grow the worlds largest pumpkins. These record holding pumpkins can grow up to around 50-60lbs per day during their peak growing season. To keep up with this speed of growth, pumpkin farmers must ensure they properly care for their pumpkins. This all begins with properly preparing the soil and ensuring it is nutrient-rich long before the seeds are planted. Most of the award-winning pumpkins come from the same family of high-quality pedigree hybrid pumpkin seeds. The seeds have been specially bred to be the biggest they possibly can, however, these seeds can cost in the hundreds of dollars each. 

Once the seed sprouts, the seedling must be nurtured for months. It should be sheltered from the elements and kept warm at night so photosynthesis can begin early in the morning. Throughout growth, farmers use very special fertilizers are used to promote growth. Farmers also cover the pumpkins with blankets and create special structures to protect the pumpkin skin from the sun and the elements.

Regular pumpkins vs Giant pumpkins

How do pumpkins grow?

The basic plant has two types of tissue that work to get food and water distributed where necessary. The tissues are the xylem and phloem. The xylem transports water into the plants, and the phloem is responsible for sugar distribution. All pumpkins easily move large amounts of water, giant pumpkins develop supersized phloem that allows for their massive growth. 

Some farmers give their plants crazy compost which can consist of mixtures like molasses, seaweed, fish emulsion, and grass cuttings. Some farmers may introduce fungi to the soil that form mutually beneficial relationships with plant roots, they colonize the roots and help with the flow of water and nutrients flowing into the plant in exchange for carbohydrates. Other growers add bacterium that helps the pumpkins absorb more nitrogen, they may spray calcium and carbon dioxide directly onto the leaves too. Many pumpkin farmers have been known to work with microbiologists to test the latest experimental growth hormones and NASA products on their pumpkins before they reach consumers. 

time lapse of giant pumpkin growing

Why do massive pumpkins droop while regular pumpkins are plump? 

The perfect pumpkin to make a jack-o-lantern from is usually very round and tall, but usually never weighing more than 25lbs. Massive pumpkins are usually known to be more pancake like in their shape. The giant pumpkins are known to flatten up to 50% in height-to-width aspect ratio. This is because of physics. The parts of the pumpkin that experience the most stress of gravity actually grow faster and better than areas of lesser gravity. This creates the nonuniform, pancake-like, pumpkin shape after a certain size because the pumpkins grow at different rates in different parts, which does not allow for a spherical pumpkin to grow. The parts of the pumpkin that undergo more stress actually grow faster because the stress physically pulls the cells apart so they can divide faster. The sides of the pumpkin feel the most force which can causes cells in the side areas to divide faster and causes the pumpkin to grow outwards. The farmers also have to ensure that pumpkin does not grow too fast which can cause bulges and cracks due to an uneven distribution of weight. 

A pumpkin weigh-off in 2016

Works Cited

Flatow, Ira. "Physics Of Giant Pumpkins." NPR. NPR, 22 Oct. 2015. Web. 

Hu, David L., Paul Richards, and Alexander Alexeev. "The Growth of Giant Pumpkins: How Extreme Weight Influences Shape." International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics. Pergamon, 06 Jan. 2011. Web. 

Twilley, Nicola. "Growing the Great Pumpkin." The New Yorker. The New Yorker, 20 June 2017. Web. 

Wei-Haas, Maya. "The Secret to Growing the World’s Largest Pumpkin." Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution, 30 Oct. 2015. Web.