There is a long tradition
of growing fruits and vegetables to be shown at country fairs. The
history of the growing giant pumpkins
can be traced back to 1857 when Henry David Thoreau, American poet, philosopher, and naturalist
harvested a pumpkin weighing almost 124
pounds. The first official record was set on 1900 in Paris World's Fair. Four
years later in 1904 William Warnock of Goderich, Ontario, using
seeds from the same strain, produced a 400-pounder, a pumpkin so
mind-bogglingly enormous that he was invited to display it at the Paris World’s
Fair. Warnock’s pumpkin remained the undisputed champion of squash for nearly a
century—until Howard Dill, of Windsor, Nova Scotia, developed the pumpkin breed
now known as Atlantic Giant.
By 1996 the world record passed the 1,000 pound
mark, and in 2012 Ron Wallace from Rhode
Island broke 2,000 pound barrier. Seeds
from Wallace’s 2,009-pound pumpkin have sold for more than $1,000 in a charity auction. (….)
According to scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology,
there’s no reason to think the pumpkin is going to stop at a mere two tons. The
vines can grow 1 foot or more daily, and pumpkins can put on 45 pounds per day,
mostly from water. Based on force
measurements—in which hapless pumpkins are crushed in vices—the researchers
concluded that pumpkins should be able to attain weights of up to 20,000
pounds. (….)
This year Steve
Geddes from New Hampshire , won $6,000 in
prize money at the Deerfield Fair for his first place
pumpkin. The Great Pumpkin Commonwealth,
the global body that sets the standards for giant pumpkin growing, stated that the pumpkin by Geddes, weighing in at an
astounding 2,528 pounds, is the biggest
pumpkin ever grown in North America and falls less than 100 pounds short of the
heaviest pumpkin ever grown. 
This year New York Botanical Garden in collaboration with
the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth organized
the Giant Pumpkin Exhibition. Monstrous
pumpkins from around the country—some weighing in at more than a ton are on display through October 31. Kids can
explore in the garden more than 100 friendly,
larger-than-life scarecrows set among nearly 1,000 rare and unusual pumpkins
and gourds.
On Wednesday New York
botanical Garden is free!
