Behold the colossal pumpkin!
A man from Montana has shattered the state record for the heaviest pumpkin with a massive gourd that outweighed the typical American bison.
Joe Nigro, an insurance agent who also appears to be a pumpkin-growing aficionado, dedicated five years to cultivating his impressive squash.
At an agricultural competition held in a neighboring state on Saturday, Nigro’s gourd tipped the scales at a staggering 1,591 pounds, earning him the title of Montana’s heaviest pumpkin, as reported by KRTV.
Nigro’s giant pumpkin easily surpassed the previous record of 1,348 pounds, which was set just last year. He noted that his pumpkin grew at an astonishing rate of nearly “10 pounds a day.” Last year, his pumpkin came within just four pounds of the record.
His adventure in pumpkin cultivation began when friends from the East Coast gifted him a seed pack. Since then, Nigro has been creating pumpkin patches annually and competing in contests across nearby states.
“In 2021, my first year, I cultivated a 950-pound pumpkin, and ever since, I’ve been on a quest for something even bigger,” Nigro shared with KRTV.
According to Nigro’s girlfriend, Sidney Sipe, this new hobby soon became a significant part of their lives, necessitating daily upkeep alongside months of thorough preparation for the plants.
“We produced this immense pumpkin, and we thought, ‘If we can achieve this with minimal prep, imagine what we could do with more effort?’ It truly becomes like his pet, our pets, and when they’re gone, it’s bittersweet but also exciting,” Sipe explained.
They also managed to grow a second pumpkin, which weighed 1,247 pounds in a competition held in South Dakota.
Nigro received a neat prize of $600 along with the honor of the largest pumpkin in the state, indicating that his winning gourd would be retired after months of hard work.
“I’m going to carve a hole in it, extract the seeds to study, and then likely crush it afterward,” Nigro remarked.
The current world record for the largest pumpkin belongs to a Californian renowned for producing enormous squashes every year. Last season, he came within 300 pounds of breaking his own record of 2,749 pounds, set in 2023.
