Almost as a small car weighing a huge pumpkin, finished third in a prestigious annual weight-off, thanks to the careful care of Tony Scott. For months, Mr. Scott, a semiconductor engineer from New York, nurtured Gargantuan gourd in his backyard.
He regularly fertilized it and covered it at night to maintain a stable temperature, using a measuring tape to estimate its rapid growth. “I have never seen anything developed at this fast,” Mr. Scott commented.
His efforts concluded in a notable 1,931-pound (876-3rd) sample, putting him one of the top contenders in a competition, where producers regularly cultivated fruits of more than 2,000 pounds (900 kg).
Pumpkin is not just a crop that can be giant. Other members of the gourd family such as squash, cucumbers and watermelons are capable of uniform achievement. But orange beamoths are particularly largely in a big scale and have earned a place of respect in Fall Festival and Halloween fairs.
How to develop a huge pumpkin
A giant pumpkin begins as the right seed. Producers select seeds that receive large pumpkin in the past or test the new. Scott and many other producers tried and rely on true Atlantic giant pumpkin seeds.
After that, it comes down to the correct combination of water, Nutrients and care.
Giant pumpkin can find hundreds of gallons of water a day and can make your food with sunlight like regular size plants. Their internal plumbing system is stronger, allowing them to drink sugar water and nutrients rapidly.
As the leafy patches begin to expand, the producers removed the small pumpkin so that all the water and nutrient funnel are in the same fruit.
“It helps to make an extra large in a way that you cannot see in the wild,” Aleka Borsuk said, a plant scientist New york Botanical Garden.
Due to gravity, giant pumpkin is wide but not long. They often resemble loped, lumpy pancakes. Scott’s pumpkin is also lighter in color because it covers it with tarp during the day, protects it from sunlight that can catch and harden the skin. He gives it water using an overhead sprinkler system.
Can giant pumpkin grow forever?
“No answer,” Borsuk said. No matter how big a pumpkin becomes, it will eventually mature and its natural aging cycle will kick it.
Scott has nurtured giant pumpkin for eight years. It is still watching his brain swollen, putting about 40 pounds (18 kg to 23 kg) in a day. He sets a reflective panel and even a fake wolf cutout in search of hungry deer and other intruders in search of orange snacks. Woodchuks have set the pumpkin vines in the past years.
After all important weight competition, Scott shows giant pumpkin in various themed events and drives it around on a trailer. Eventually, he donates it to display or carve it.
On the way of events, he often stops by those who ask what he has got in his back.
“The first question that they ask, ‘Is it real?” Scott said. “Where will you buy this big fake pumpkin?”