How do people grow giant (>2000lbs) pumpkins?
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There are a few varieties of pumpkin that grow especially large (Atlantic Giant and Big Max are two popular varieties). It’s pretty easy to get these varieties to grow 100 to 200 lb pumpkins. These varieties still have variance in the size of the resulting pumpkin that depends on the individual seed’s genetics, and the growing conditions.
After the normal maximums are reached it takes good care to keep the pumpkin’s weight causing it to collapse.
My son actually wanted to do this in elementary school and we tried it! He bought a book about it but basically it came down to: 1. Buy seeds specifically to grow huge pumpkins and 2. Bury every blossom but one so that all of the plant’s energy goes into that one pumpkin. We did grow pumpkins that were unusually large but nothing close to 1000lbs.
Fun fact for old people: Jim Martin of Faith No More went on to be a champion pumpkin grower after he stopped being a rock star.
Plenty of info online.
Here’s one from [The Ohio State University.](https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/hyg-1646) Ohio is a big pumpkin-growing state (and also a big-pumpkin growing state). Home to the [Circleville Pumpkin Show.](https://www.pumpkinshow.com/)
Giant pumpkin seeds of course! As others have mentioned the giant varieties have been bread over years for giant pumpkins. You can buy some pretty big varieties online at Burpee or other seed suppliers.
You also need to provide that plant with its preferred growing conditions such as soil type, nutrients, sun light hours, proper amounts of water, etc.
Basically you start a normal pumpkin plant of your chosen variety with plenty of space around it. As it grows, you separate the different branches of the plant so they grow outward from the center. One branch is selected. The other branches are buried so they become root system instead. The single branch is pruned after a strong flower which will become the fruit.
The result is one branch growing one fruit, with all other branches turned into additional root system. You’ll need all the roots you can get for the next step, which is water. Every day, multiple times per day, a LOT of water is given to the plant across the entire area now covered by root system. At peak this can mean more than 1000 gallons per day for one fruit.
Not sure if it’s true or not, but I thought I remembered hearing once that pumpkins/watermelons can be given IVs in the vine to help them get huge
The gardeners who win giant vegetable shows guard their secrets but it’s something to do with plant food containing nitrogen and how frequently they water and they also they dig ash and seaweed into the soil.
The seeds of the champion pumpkins are harvested and sold to be grown for next year’s competition. Real champions are not made from the packaged Burpee’s seeds AFAIK. At least this was the practice at the Circleville Pumpkin Festival which has had record setting pumpkins for many years. Also, there’s nothing else in the garden but the pumpkin, and it’s the only pumpkin on the entire vine. I did a community garden for a few years and one guy only grew his 1 giant pumpkin in his whole plot, and the plant completely covered the 10X40ft plot.
I have a friend that grows competition vegetables. Some of the things he does:
1) start the seeds extremely early. For example he starts his onion seeds in December for onions to be judged for sizing in September/October
2) grow in a custom soil mix. Extra fluffy for root veggies, high in Potassium for fruiting veggies
3) ensure zero competition with other plants/weeds. This usually means dedicating a whole garden area to the one plant
4) manipulate the temperature as necessary. Certain veggies do better in cold. If it’s too warm out, some people will tent the plants and pump air from a portable A/C into the tent, some with a heater if it’s too cold
Those giant things are literally not pumpkin, they are a variety of squash, ok I suppose pumpkin is too but a different branch.
Growers get seeds from previous winners. Grow in very rich soil, start with several plants as they are male female, get a promising fruit going, eliminate the rest. The garden bed is usually a whole acre. The fruit us grown on a hammock.
There are articles you can Google for a more comprehensive explanation.
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