{"id":373496,"date":"2026-10-15T01:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T01:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/373496\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T01:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T01:50:15","slug":"theres-a-new-great-pumpkin-to-rule-them-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/373496\/","title":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a New Great Pumpkin to Rule Them All"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ron Wallace<\/a>, a farmer from Greene, R.I., planted a small seed almost exactly six months ago, on April 15. And from small seeds grow mighty pumpkins.<\/p>\n

And now Mr. Wallace\u2019s small seed has transformed into a record-breaking gourd, clocking in at 3,156 pounds at a pumpkin weigh-off at Frerichs Farm in Warren, R.I.<\/p>\n

Mr. Wallace\u2019s pumpkin has been hailed by Guinness<\/a> as the largest ever, smashing the current record of 2,856 pounds set just a week before in Britain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plant was spectacular from the beginning,\u201d he said, \u201cand that\u2019s a good sign. I pollinated the pumpkin on June 8. And 30 days later, it was 600 pounds, which is incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, that was no guarantee of a record-breaker. \u201cThere\u2019s so many variables, things that can go on throughout the season,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This month, it was ready for transport to the weigh-off, not a small task for the Brobdingnagian vegetable. \u201cWe have a large harness that goes on the top of the pumpkin with seatbelt straps down the side, and we cinch a heavy-duty rope around the bottom,\u201d Mr. Wallace said. \u201cWhen you start to lift the pumpkin, the harness tightens around the sides and the bottom of the pumpkin. It\u2019s a very, very careful process.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pumpkin was covered with damp sheets and a comforter before being shrink-wrapped and put on a specially made palette on the back of a flatbed truck for transportation to the weighing site.<\/p>\n

There were about 20 entrants at the competition. While Mr. Wallace\u2019s historically large pumpkin was clearly the biggest, its exact weight remained a mystery, even to him. \u201cI don\u2019t weigh them,\u201d he said. \u201cIt would be like opening up your gifts before Christmas.\u201d But he knew he \u201chad a shot at 3,000 pounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guinness is expected to certify the 3,156-pound record. (There are a few finicky rules. \u201cFor the purpose of this record, a pumpkin will not include any squash classified as 100 percent of the following colors or color combinations: green, blue and gray,\u201d Guinness points out sternly.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

And what next for the massive vegetable? \u201cThese pumpkins live a celebrity lifestyle,\u201d Mr. Wallace said. \u201cThey are put on parade, and they\u2019re the emcee basically at events.\u201d Trips to Pittsburgh and Massachusetts are already planned for Mr. Wallace\u2019s pumpkin.<\/p>\n

Yet the glamour is fleeting. \u201cLet\u2019s face it, after Halloween, other than us pumpkin growers, not many people care about a giant pumpkin,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As it completes the circle of life, the ginormous gourd will reach its final fate: becoming compost.<\/p>\n

Around 1900, The Chronica Horticulturae<\/a> reported, 400-pound pumpkins were getting prizes. But starting in the 1980s, the record weights began shooting upward because of improvements in soil, pruning and pest control. There has also been genetic change, as farmers seek out the seeds of other large pumpkins in hopes of growing a massive one of their own.<\/p>\n

Mr. Wallace noted that the very large pumpkins are babied and pampered throughout their lives. His grew at an average of slightly more than 60 pounds per day at its peak, he said. \u201cBut the key thing is you have to have top of the line genetics. These pumpkins are a science, and the growers are very scientific in their approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also credits exchange of information on the internet for the sudden increase in size over the last 40 years. \u201cThe only way we\u2019ve gotten to 3,000 pounds is by a whole community working together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Wallace sells his seeds on the internet to those who might wish to grow a gigantic pumpkin of their own. But the seeds of this big one will not be generally available right away.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn a pumpkin like this, I will donate them to the hobby,\u201d he said, meaning that clubs around the world will get the seeds to auction as a fund-raiser. \u201cA true champion like this, it\u2019s got to get in the hands of the right people,\u201d Mr. Wallace said.<\/p>\n

As for his theory on why there is an annual fascination with the great pumpkins? \u201cYou ever see anybody say a bad word about a pumpkin?\u201d Mr. Wallace said. \u201cWhen you see one of these giants, everybody is just in awe, they want to touch it, they want to sit on it. They want to get photos with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cA giant pumpkin brings a smile to everybody\u2019s face, and it doesn\u2019t matter where you\u2019re from, what nationality you are,\u201d he said. \u201cGiant pumpkins don\u2019t care about any of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Susan Beachy contributed research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ron Wallace, a farmer from Greene, R.I., planted a small seed almost exactly six months ago, on April…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,15108],"class_list":["post-373496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-pumpkins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}