Pumpkin named after Michael Jordan breaks world record

A British horticulture and landscaping teacher has set a new Guinness World Record for growing the world’s heaviest pumpkin. Travis Gienger from Minnesota, USA, broke the previous squash world record of 1,226 kg at the 50th World Pumpkin Weigh-In Championship in Half Moon Bay, California. Want to know how much this giant pumpkin weighs? Let us tell you that this giant pumpkin weighs 2,749 pounds (1,246.9 kilograms).

Ginger defeated her closest opponent by a huge margin at 250 pounds to capture the title. The 43-year-old teacher reportedly started growing pumpkins in his backyard in April. Throughout pumpkin season, Travis faces multiple challenges, such as unusually low temperatures at night and hail. However, despite all these challenges, he decided to give his plants extra care. Watering them up to 12 times a day and feeding and fertilizing them a little more than usual, Gienger did his best.

Finally, after several months of hard work, he and his friends loaded the giant pumpkin onto a track loader on October 7 and transported it to California to participate in the 50th World Pumpkin Weighing Championships scheduled to be held on October 9 .

The pumpkin is named after American sports legend Michael Jordan. According to KSTP News, Ginger decided to use the name because he considered himself “the greatest basketball player of all time.” In an interview with Guinness World Records, Ginger explained the pumpkin’s shape, saying: “What people don’t know is that it started out as a basketball pumpkin, and I said it was going to be a perfectly round basketball-shaped pumpkin.”

Travis Gienger didn’t just win the coveted title of the world’s largest pumpkin. He also won the 50th World Pumpkin Weighing Championship by a landslide, with a prize of $30,000 (approximately Rs. 25 lakh).

The Los Angeles Times reports that the champion pumpkin will be on display in Half Moon Bay and ride on a float in the parade as part of the city’s famous two-day Art & Pumpkin Festival.

In recent years, he has won several competitions involving giant pumpkins. Last year, his pumpkin weighed 1,161 kilograms, making it the largest pumpkin in the United States.

Before Travis Gienger, this record was broken by Stefano Cutrupi of Tuscany, Italy at the 10th Campionato della Zuccone Pumpkin Festival. Stefano broke the record in 2021 by producing a pumpkin weighing 1,226 kilograms (2,702 pounds). Remarkably, this is the first giant pumpkin ever to surpass the 2,700-pound mark in competition.