A Minnesota horticulture teacher made headlines on Monday after setting a world file for rising the heaviest pumpkin, the AP reported.
Travis Gienger, 43, from Anoka, Minnesota, claimed victory on the fiftieth World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, California, with a colossal gourd, which he named “Michael Jordan,” tipping the scales at 2,749 kilos.
Gienger has been rising pumpkins for almost three a long time and set his first U.S. file for rising a mammoth gourd final yr. Nonetheless, he expressed pleasant shock at his profitable this yr.
“I used to be not anticipating that,” he advised the AP. “It was fairly the sensation.”
Travis Gienger’s big pumpkin being lifted on the Safeway fiftieth annual World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off on October 9, 2023. Liu Guanguan/China Information Service/VCG | Getty Pictures.
Gienger, a panorama and horticulture teacher at Anoka Technical School, tends to his pumpkin patch in his yard in Minnesota. Nevertheless, this yr, he determined to offer his crops with further care, together with frequent watering (as much as 12 instances a day) and extra beneficiant feeding and fertilization than in years previous, he advised the outlet.
Gienger’s laborious work paid off — he took dwelling a $30,000 prize for rising the most important (by weight) pumpkin and setting a world file. The colossal pumpkin will stay on exhibit via subsequent weekend in Half Moon Bay, alongside the three runners-up.
In second place, Ron Root and Nick Kennedy of Citrus Heights, CA got here in with a 2,497-pound pumpkin, securing a $3,000 prize, in line with the competition’s web site. Third place was claimed by Leonardo Urena of Napa, CA, whose 1,893-pound pumpkin earned him $2,500, and fourth was Ruben Frias of American Canyon, CA, with a 1,863-pound pumpkin and $2,000 prize.
Travis Gienger poses along with his profitable 2,749-pound pumpkin. Liu Guanguan/China Information Service/VCG | Getty Pictures.