Sep 24, 2012

That’s a Lot of Pie By Tim Hodson

While the weather has been very challenging for most growers and gardeners this year, one grower in Rhode Island is having a year that could be one for the record books.

He could possibly be growing the first-ever one ton pumpkin!

According to an article in the Boston Globe, the grower, Ron Wallace, is growing a pumpkin that reportedly could weigh two thousand pounds – that would be a new world record! The current record for the largest pumpkin is 1,815.5 pounds.

Many of the pumpkin growers in the region are very competitive with their orange orbs and I don’t think any of them have ever used any kind of a plant growth regulator in their pumpkin patches. They are always trying to outgrow each other.

The Globe article says that Wallace has been growing competitively for more than 20 years and was the first grower to produce a 1,500-pound pumpkin. But he currently has a pumpkin the size of a small car growing in his patch, and the pumpkin prognosticators are estimating it will hit the one ton mark.

All eyes will be on Wallace’s Great Pumpkin in the coming days when he harvests it and sends it to the fair to be weighed.

What is the biggest plant that you have produced? How tall or wide was it? How much did it weigh? Did you sell it or keep it for yourself? Drop me a line at thodson@greatamericanpublish.com and let me know what your personal plant record is.

Less Than a Month

Don’t forget, GPN and Nexus are looking for applicants for our 2013 Intern of the Year.

The deadline for applications is Oct. 22, 2012.

Click here to learn more about the program.

– Tim