Giant pumpkin facts for kids

A giant pumpkin being grown in Japan

A giant pumpkin is a very large, orange fruit from a special type of squash called Cucurbita maxima. These amazing pumpkins often weigh from about 68 kilograms (150 pounds) to over 910 kilograms (2,000 pounds)! They are much bigger than the pumpkins you might use for jack-o'-lanterns or pumpkin pies.

History of Giant Pumpkins

Growing giant pumpkins started in North America. The idea of growing huge pumpkins can be traced back to Henry David Thoreau. In 1857, he grew a pumpkin that weighed 123 pounds (56 kg). He wrote about it in his book Wild Fruits.

The first giant pumpkins grown for competition were by William Warnock from Ontario, Canada. His first record-breaking pumpkin weighed 365 pounds (166 kg). It was shown at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. In 1900, Warnock's 400-pound (181 kg) pumpkin won a bronze medal at the Paris World's Fair. He broke his own record a few years later. He also started giving tips to other growers on how to grow huge pumpkins.

Warnock's record stood for about 70 years. Then, growing giant pumpkins became popular again, and new records were quickly set. Most giant pumpkin growers are in North America, especially in the Northeastern United States. However, some recent record holders have come from Europe.

Growing giant pumpkins has also led to fun activities. These include giant pumpkin boat races and pumpkin chucking. Giant pumpkins are often shown off at local county fairs and other events.

How Giant Pumpkins Grow

Giant pumpkins are a specific type of squash called Cucurbita maxima. This is different from the pumpkins used for carving or eating, which are usually Cucurbita pepo. C. maxima likely first grew in the wild in South America, near Buenos Aires. Their huge size might have been helped by very large, now-extinct animals. These animals, like gomphotheres and giant ground sloths, ate the fruits and helped spread their seeds.

Giant pumpkins growing in Howard Dill's patch in Nova Scotia, 2004

Farmers have been selling seeds for unusually large pumpkins since at least 1834. The 'Mammoth' variety was one of the first. Most of the progress in growing giant pumpkins has come from regular growers, not from big science projects. Many of the record-breaking pumpkins today come from the 'Dill's Atlantic Giant' type. This type was chosen by Howard Dill and probably came from the 'Mammoth' variety.

Seeds from prize-winning giant pumpkins are very valuable. A single seed can sell for hundreds of dollars! Growers even use pedigrees (like family trees) for pumpkins. This helps them track which seeds come from the biggest and best pumpkins. Even though they are huge, these pumpkins are usually not eaten. They don't taste very good and can even be hard to eat.

Amazing Growth

Giant pumpkins can grow incredibly fast, sometimes adding up to 50 pounds (23 kg) in just one day! This amazing growth is possible because of special things in their genes. Giant pumpkin cells grow much larger than regular pumpkin cells. They also hold a lot more water, up to 94% of their weight! Plus, they don't have genes that tell the fruit to stop growing. This means they can keep getting bigger and bigger.

Once pumpkins get very large, they often stop being perfectly round. They might flatten out under their own heavy weight. They can even form an arch shape on the bottom for extra support as they spread out. Sometimes, a pumpkin might even crack or collapse because it's so heavy. Moving them is also a big challenge because they can be very fragile. Top growers often plant many pumpkins. This is because pumpkins that crack will not be allowed in competitions.

Growing Techniques

Genetics are only part of why growers can achieve such enormous sizes. Good farming methods are also very important. These include:

• Pruning: Growers often cut off extra fruits so that only one pumpkin grows on each vine. This makes sure all the plant's energy goes into that single pumpkin.
• Soil: Making sure the soil is perfect, with the right nutrients and texture, is key.
• Pest Control: Protecting the pumpkins from bugs and diseases is also very important.

Some serious competitors even use a special tube, like an IV, to deliver nutrient-rich liquids directly to the stem. This feeds the growing pumpkin. Pumpkins grown in places far north tend to be larger. This is because they have longer daylight hours in summer and cooler, but shorter, growing seasons. Growers can make the season longer in northern areas by using special covers called cloches.

Giant pumpkins usually take 130 to 140 days to grow from seed to harvest. Regular pumpkins only take 90 to 120 days. In the early 1900s, some people thought feeding milk to pumpkins would help them grow. But this probably doesn't make them bigger. Today, modern growers often send their soil to a lab to make sure it has all the right nutrients. Giant pumpkins need a lot of food. Some farmers use over 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of chicken manure to fertilize their pumpkins. This idea came from William Warnock, whose first champion pumpkins were fertilized with chicken manure. In recent years, growers have also started using special fungi (like mycorrhizal) and bacteria (like Azospirillum) in the soil.

World Record Giant Pumpkins

A giant pumpkin at the Auburn Community Festival

Since the 1970s, pumpkin records have been broken regularly. The pumpkins keep getting bigger and bigger, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down! This means there are still new ways to grow even larger pumpkins.

Scientists have even calculated how big a perfect pumpkin could get without breaking. One expert, David Hu, thinks a pumpkin could grow up to 20,000 pounds (9,072 kg) before its structure would fail. However, pumpkins can still crack for other reasons. For example, if they get too much water too quickly, their skin can't stretch fast enough, like a balloon bursting.

The true limit for how big a pumpkin can grow is probably set by other things. For example, the tiny tubes in the stem that carry sugar to the fruit can only move so many resources. The weather, diseases, pests, and how long the growing season lasts also play a big role. Every year, about 10,000 growers try to grow champion pumpkins. Several thousand of these pumpkins make it to official weigh-offs.