Giant Pumpkin Records in the World, Country, State, & Province

In 2024, the Southern Hemisphere has broken two pumpkin records this year: one in Queensland, Australia, and another in South Africa. In the Northern Hemisphere, seed auctions have started, and some growers are germinating their seeds. We wish you luck in the 2024 pumpkin growing season.

On October 9, 2023, Travis Gienger from Anoka, Minnesota, set the world record for the heaviest pumpkin, weighing 2749 pounds.

Gienger surpassed the previous world record by 47 pounds. He told the news outlet that he gave his plants extra care this year, applying additional fertilizer and watering them as many as a dozen times a day.

Growing these huge pumpkins takes a lot of time and effort. The majority of pumpkin growers fail in the process. Some key factors in growing a giant gourd are the seed, watering, burying the vine node, and removing additional pumpkins from the plant. When selecting a seed, it is important to understand the genetics passed on to the seed. Knowing the parents of a pumpkin seed can help you select which seed to grow.

Scroll to the bottom of the page to see each pumpkin record by country, state, or province in the region. Twenty new giant pumpkin records worldwide have been identified in 2023.

My webpage has been scraped if you are reading this page, and the domain isn’t Backyardgardener.com.

Top 10 Largest Pumpkins in the World

10. 2537.5 pounds by Don Crews (1151 kg)

In 2022, Don Crews of Lloydminster broke the Canadian record with an enormous pumpkin weighing 2537.5 pounds.

Tipping the scale at a hefty 2537 pounds, it beat the old record by 500-plus pounds for a gourd produced in a single growing season

Parents of this pumpkin were Mother 2365 Wolf, Father 300 Crews

9. 2551.9 pounds by Ruben Mendi (1157.5 kg)

On September 12, 2020, the XII edition of the International Giant Pumpkin Fair was held at the Oasis de Bardenas Hotel in Valtierra. Once again, Valtierrano Rubén Mendi prevailed, and in addition to achieving the Spanish record, he placed his pumpkin as the second heaviest in the world in 2020.

Mendi revalidated his triumphs of 2017, 2018, and 2019 at the weigh-off. He won with a pumpkin that weighed 1157.50 kg (2551.9 lbs) on the scale. In 2019, Mendi won with a 990.5 kg pumpkin. The second heaviest pumpkin was that of the British Paton brothers from the English town of Lymington, which weighed 934.5 kg. Due to the pandemic, the Paton brothers did not attend the contest in person.

He enjoys growing large pumpkins and has impressed Spain by winning a contest with a giant specimen weighing 1157.9 kilos.

Parents of this pumpkin, Mother 2183.7 Mendi, Father self

8. 2554 pounds by Scott Andrusz  (1158.5 kg)

In 2022, the Andrusz family in Lancaster was impressed with their 2254-pound pumpkin.  Retired commercial farmer Scott Andrusz spent sleepless nights tending to a giant gourd in his field and finally came up with a new US record that only lasted a week—a plump pumpkin weighing in at 2,554 pounds. It’s not the first time they tried going after the record, and it’s not an easy task to achieve.  For growing giant gourds, you have to consider the soil, raise a structure to keep it out of the sun, protect the pumpkin from critters, and never let another pumpkin grow on the same vine.

Have you ever tried to float a pumpkin and paddle it across a lake? It’s regatta time at the West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta.

The parents of this pumpkin are Mother 2365 Wolf, Father 1885.5 Werner

7. 2560 pounds by Travis Gienger – (1161 kg)

Travis Gienger, from Anoka, Minnesota, beat his old pumpkin state record of 2350 pounds in 2022 with a mammoth 2560-pound pumpkin. He is the current record holder for the heaviest pumpkin grown in the USA. Travis drove this pumpkin all the way from Minnesota to enter and win the $9 per pound prize money in the 49th Half Moon Bay Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off. His pumpkin won the event in 2022; if my calculations are correct, he netted $23,040. If he had beaten the World Record, an extra $30,000 would have been added to his prize winnings.

Organizers often award medals to the winners, which is a great way to motivate contestants to participate.

Parents of this pumpkin, Mother 1885.5 Werner, Father SIB

6. 2593.7 pounds by Ian & Stuart Paton – 185 Stones (1176.5 kg)

Well, the Paton brothers did it again.  In 2020, they grew 1176.5 KG – 185 Stone, pumpkin in the UK.  This is a new UK pumpkin record.

The twins have grown the UK’s biggest pumpkin and weighed in at a whopping 2,593.7 lb, heavier than two polar bears.

Ian and Stuart Paton, 59, from Lymington in Hampshire’s New Forest National Park, have beaten the previous UK best of 2,433lb and narrowly missed out on the world record by just 31lb.

One unique issue is it was grown in a greenhouse rather than outdoors.

Parents of this pumpkin, Mother 1875 Mendi B, Father 2005 Haist

5. 2610.3 pounds by Team Petrelli (1184 kg)

In 2023, the Petrelli team grew a pumpkin that weighed 1184 kg (2610.3 lbs) weighing more than a ton. It was grown by Guglielmo, Francesco and Lorenzo Petrelli, three generations of the same family. They call themselves “Team Petrelli” and they come from Sirtori, in the province of Lecco, Italy. They grew several other prize-winning pumpkins this year, and one of them weighed 844 kgs.

4. 2624.6 pounds by Mathias Willemijns (1190.5 kg)

The fourth largest pumpkin position to date goes to Mathias Willemijns from Deurle, Belgium. This is the largest pumpkin from Belgium.  The gourd was weighed at the European Pumpkin Weigh-Off in 2016.

Parent of this pumpkin, Mother 2145 McMullen, Father 1872 Willemijns

3. 2656.1 pounds by Ian & Stuart Paton (1204.8 kg)

Ian & Stuart hail from Lymington, UK. This is the 2022 largest pumpkin to date grown in the United Kingdom.

This massive pumpkin would make one gigantic jack-o’-lantern. English twin brothers Ian and Stuart Paton grew the enormous pumpkin, which weighed 2656.1 pounds.

The parents of this pumpkin are Mother 1940 Urena, Father (pollinator) 2356.7 Mendi

2. 2702.8 pounds by Stefano Cutrupi (1226 kg)

The second largest pumpkin slot to date goes to Stefano Cutrupi from Italy, a native of Bordighera but who has lived for many years in Radda in Chianti.   The pumpkin was weighed at the Big Pumpkin Festival in Peccioli, Italy 2021.

This pumpkin was taken to the European Championship held in Stuttgart, Germany, for display and to participate in the local championship weigh-off.

This pumpkin measured over the top (OTT) 1300 cm or 511 inches, but if you look at the photo, it truly doesn’t represent how huge the pumpkin is. The Peccioli competition was very appealing, with amazing prizes for the top giant pumpkins. The prizes ranged from eighth place to first, with awards ranging from 50 euros to 3 thousand for first place with a world record. It was a nice cash award for Stefano Cutrupi when he was paid 2 euros per kg for the new Italian record.

The parents of this pumpkin are Mother 1885.5 Werner, Father Self

1. 2749 pounds by Travis Gienger (1247 kg)

In 2023, Travis Gienger’s latest achievement was remarkable, as his gigantic pumpkin tipped the scales at an astonishing 2,749 pounds.

The weigh-off event in Half Moon Bay proudly holds the distinction of being an officially sanctioned site by the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth.

Travis Gienger, who transported his winning pumpkin from his farm in Anoka, Minnesota, to California, presented a gourd of epic proportions, measuring over 7.5 feet in width. Its sheer size made it a tight fit on the event’s scale.

The parents of this pumpkin are Mother 2365 Wolf, Father Sib

DQ – 2907.85 Pounds by Ian & Stuart Paton – Damaged Disqualified

Great pumpkin, but you can’t receive an official World record if the pumpkin is damaged.  Usually, a damaged pumpkin has a crack at the stem where you may slide a small round object into the center core, or the bottom of the pumpkin may be cracked due to rot or extreme stress.  This isn’t the end for Ian and Stuart, and I’m sure they will get the World Record in due time.  This pumpkin was grown in 2022.

Country, State, Province Giant Pumpkin Records

If you have a giant pumpkin record and want your country listed, please send me an email.

Of course, your pumpkin must be weighed on a certified scale. I won’t accept a photo of five-bathroom scales or another funky method.

Old Pumpkin record: . Picture of the 2003 World Record pumpkin and the history of world record pumpkins.

Records apply to the location where the gourd was grown. Hopefully, the growers live in the same place as they grow their pumpkins. If you live in one state and grow the pumpkin in another, your record will be listed with a footnote describing your record. Email me with your stats, mcalpin1 @ yahoo.com

If viewing on a mobile device, please scroll from the right to the left to see all the data.

[1] Pumpkin was grown in Virginia, but the grower lives in North Carolina

Additional Pumpkin Pages

How To Grow – Records – Clipart – World Record Pumpkins by Year – Poems – Phantom – Carving – FAQ’s – How Big is it?