Our Better Nature: Great Pumpkins

Linus, the precocious, blanket-toting character from the Peanuts franchise, waited faithfully for “The Great Pumpkin” each Halloween night from 1950 to 1999. If anyone else had been stood-up that many times by the same character, they’d have thrown in the towel (or blanket) for sure.

Perhaps Linus’s resolute faith that the mythical pumpkin would show up was spurred on by the fact that almost every year brings the world a bigger “great pumpkin.” Maybe not the magical sort, as these grow on vines like normal pumpkins, but based on their eye-popping weights and girths, they’re undeniably great.

In fact, pumpkins have gotten so big in recent years that people are using them as boats. By all accounts, they’re slimy and unwieldy, but folks aren’t just splashing around in the shallows where it’s safe. From Oregon to Michigan to Nova Scotia, and all the way to Belgium, pumpkin-boat races on some pretty big lakes and rivers have taken off. “Taken off” might be too generous a phrase, as the top speed in still water is said to be just upward of a half-mile per hour.  Last year, a Missouri man took advantage of flowing water when he set a world record for paddling a pumpkin 38 miles down the Missouri River.

It wouldn’t surprise me if someone puts a new twist on the “tiny house” trend and tries to live in one. Now there’s a creative way to help ease the tight housing market. If the Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe gets booted out of her rent-free digs, imagine how thrilled she’d be to set up housekeeping in a giant pumpkin. Her kids might eat her out of house and home, though.

Being a scholarly lad, Linus probably knew that great pumpkins were first developed in Canada’s Maritime provinces (this maritime connection might help explain the interest in pumpkin boats). In 1979, Nova Scotia plant breeder Howard Dill patented “Dill’s Atlantic Giant,” a pumpkin variety whose genetics serve as the basis for today’s record-breakers. Although Mr. Dill was often called the Pumpkin King, I doubt he’s related to the Great Pumpkin.

These days, giant pumpkin enthusiasts (that’s regular-size people and colossal produce) compete in dozens of countries thanks to him. Mr. Dill himself set world records in 1980 and 1981 with pumpkins weighing 459 and 493 pounds, respectively. Champion pumpkins crossed the 1, 000-pound mark in 1996, and by 2012, the winner weighed in excess of a ton.

Not only has competition become tougher, it’s gotten more regulated. In 1992, a Woodburn, Indiana-based organization called the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth or GPC was formed to oversee the myriad “pumpkin weigh-off” sites around the country. Today they manage over 70 sanctioned weigh-off sites globally, where regional and national champs are named. Since 2019, international winners are crowned at the official world champion pumpkin weigh-off in Half Moon Bay, California. This year, the event will be held on October 14.

In 2023, Minnesota resident Travis Gienger, who teaches horticulture, aptly enough, broke the world record for the biggest pumpkin. His 2,749-pound entry beat the old record, set in 2021 by an Italian farmer, by 47 pounds. Apparently, big pumpkins are now such a big deal that this was covered in Ireland and the UK, and even made headlines in Quatar. While competitors are mostly in it for bragging rights, Gienger’s leviathan earned him a $30,000 grand prize, plus a bonus of $9 per pound for a total of $54,741. That ought to buy him some fertilizer next year.

But it takes more than fertilizer to grow a great pumpkin. Genetics play the biggest role, and seeds from past champions can cost hundreds of dollars each. Growers are careful to select seeds from the biggest of the big fruits, and will only cross-pollinate their prize pumpkin flowers with pollen from known sources. They put plastic bags over female blossoms so they can’t be “contaminated” with non-champion genes, and only lift the bag briefly to hand-pollinate them.

If pollen from another squash-family member such as melon or zucchini were to get in, it wouldn’t affect the size of the current year’s giant pumpkin. However, its seeds will have genes from crops like honeydew melon or summer squash. If you plant them, they might result in some interesting cross-bred veggies, but they won’t be giant pumpkins anymore.

Serious giant-pumpkin growers base fertilizer needs on lab soil analysis, because too much nitrogen can promote vine and leaf growth while inhibiting pumpkin size. At about 90 percent water, pumpkins need a lot of it, especially as they mature and gain from 30 to 50 pounds per day. Daily scouting for pests is key. While many bugs like to feed on sap from the vines, weakening the plant slightly, cucumber beetles can transmit a fatal and incurable disease called bacterial wilt that kills pumpkin plants.

If you’d like to raise a “Great Pumpkin,” your nearest Extension office can help you with soil testing, growing tips, and seed sourcing. Linus will thank you.