He recently won the National Pumpkin Weigh Off in California by growing a nearly 2,500-pound pumpkin. Gourd grower Gary Kristensen has competed in the regatta since 2013.

Leaders in the field: Inside the world of competitive giant pumpkin growing. For most people, pumpkins are a once-a-year, seasonal decoration. Mike Bedigan talks to those for whom growing them is ...

Growing a giant pumpkin, after all, is not easy, Armstrong said. It requires the right seeds (he grows the Atlantic Giant variety), plenty of water and strategies such as his practice of wiping ...

The giant pumpkin growers of Newfoundland are harder to find. The soil's rockier, the wind more intense, but Leslee Lake of Clarenville says growing giant pumpkins on the Rock is not as hard as ...

Growing a giant pumpkin starts with specific seeds. Howard Dill, a Canadian pumpkin grower known as “the father of giant pumpkin growing,” patented the modern Atlantic Giant variety in 1979.

The pumpkin was growing all summer long and needed about 75 gallons of water a day, growing at a rate of 50 pounds a day, he said. "I only had one," said Kogut, whose initial goal was to grow an ...

you know there’s a community of giant pumpkin growers, particularly here in the northeast. they grow these big giant pumpkins. and then at the end of the season, there will be 700 seeds in there.

Volunteers inspect Lancaster resident Charlie Bernstrom’s prize pumpkin as it is lifted to the scale for weighing at the St. Croix Growers Association Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off at Stillwater’s ...

But, since giant pumpkin growing is a sport, he said, they might hold back their deepest growing secrets. As Ford puts it, "I like to say I have 'pumpkin friends' 11 months out of the year, then ...

Giant pumpkin growing isn’t just a zany hobby. Giant pumpkin growing isn’t just a zany hobby — top finishers can earn more than $4,000 at weigh-off events in Colorado and even more out of state.

The winning pumpkin was around 300 pounds, which seemed “miraculous” at the time, Brinkman said.“With a $7,000 grand prize, the giant pumpkin weigh-off is now super competitive,” Brinkman ...

That dedication paid off last year when Kennedy and his growing partner Ron Root set a California record with a 2,497-pound behemoth at the Half Moon Bay World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off ...