Record-Breaking Pumpkin

SHUTTERSTOCK.COM (BACKGROUND); UPI/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (MAVERICK)

GO BIG OR GO HOME: It took seven months for Travis Gienger’s pumpkin to reach its massive size. At one point, the gourd was growing about 59 pounds per day!

Last year, a giant gourd nicknamed Maverick broke the record for largest pumpkin ever grown in North America. In October 2022, Maverick placed first in the World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off, at a whopping 1,161 kilograms (2,560 pounds). That’s as much as a small car!

The pumpkin was grown by Travis Gienger, who teaches horticulture—the science of growing edible and ornamental plants—at Anoka Technical College in Minnesota. Maverick was grown from the seeds of another massive pumpkin. Gienger regularly added fertilizer to the soil. It contained nutrients the plant needed to grow. He also watered the pumpkin 14 times a day!

SHUTTERSTOCK.COM (BACKGROUND); TRAVIS GIENGER (EAGLE)

GLOWING GOURD: The pumpkin was carved into a giant jack-o’-lantern!

A few weeks after Maverick’s BIG win, the pumpkin broke another record. This time for the world’s largest jack-o’-lantern!

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