World's Heaviest Pumpkin: Rhode Island Grower Hits 3,156 lbs

Ian Paton’s 2,857-pound pumpkin held the world record for exactly one week. On Oct. 10, 2026, a Rhode Island grower named Ron Wallace put a 3,156-pound pumpkin on the scale, beating the British record by roughly 300 pounds and becoming the first person to grow a pumpkin heavier than 3,000 pounds.

Guinness World Records confirmed the new mark at 1,431.5 kilograms, or 3,156 pounds. It is the third time Wallace, 60, has held the title for the heaviest pumpkin.

From a British record on Oct. 3 to a new one on Oct. 10

The record changed hands twice in eight days. On Oct. 3, Great Pumpkin Commonwealth officials at the Wargrave Weigh-Off in Berkshire, England, weighed a pumpkin grown by Ian Paton, a plant nursery owner from Hampshire. Guinness reported that the pumpkin, which his son named Bagheera after the panther in The Jungle Book, weighed 1,295.8 kilograms, or 2,856 pounds 12.8 ounces. It measured 235 inches around.

That broke a record Paton already shared. In October 2025, he and his twin brother, Stuart, set the previous mark with a 2,819-pound pumpkin called Muggle. The Patons had taken the title from Minnesota grower Travis Gienger, whose 2,749-pound pumpkin held the record in 2023. Weeks before Bagheera, another Paton pumpkin, Baloo, won the Malvern Autumn Show at 2,773 pounds, which Guinness listed as the second-heaviest pumpkin on record before Wallace’s weigh-in.

Paton told Guinness after his win that he planned to carry on, with the goal of growing a 3,000-pound pumpkin.

Seven days later, someone did. Wallace’s pumpkin was weighed at the Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off at Frerichs Farm near Warren, Rhode Island, where Great Pumpkin Commonwealth officials assessed it. The head judge, Matthew DeBacco, told Guinness, “It is astonishing to see what nature can produce under the helping hands of an expert horticulturist.”

Wallace told the Associated Press he was “just ecstatic” when the number appeared and that “the place just exploded,” according to the AP report published by Boston.com. He took home $3,500 at the local contest. The AP noted that other competitions offered bigger prizes, some totaling $70,000, but Wallace wanted the win to happen close to home.

Ron Wallace’s third record in about 35 years of growing

Wallace is not new to firsts. According to Guinness, he grew the first pumpkin to officially top 1,500 pounds, a 1,502-pound fruit in 2006, and the first to pass 2,000 pounds, a 2,009-pound pumpkin in 2012. He has grown giant pumpkins for about 35 years and was inspired by his father, whom Guinness describes as one of the first giant growers in New England. He also runs an online business selling gardening supplies.

The 2026 season brought one big change. Wallace told Guinness it was his first year growing in a greenhouse and that the weather was “near perfect for most of the season.” He called it “a long season” and said he was “beyond happy” when he saw the weight.

He also told the AP that a greenhouse makes a big difference, and gave credit to other growers. A pumpkin that size, he said, comes from “a community working together,” in a hobby where competitors freely trade tips. He also told the AP that competitions help legitimize growers and that people in agriculture increasingly ask giant-pumpkin growers for advice on soil and growing techniques. He told the AP the pumpkin was “truly massive” and “a pleasure to grow.”

Paton’s record season also ran through a greenhouse. Guinness reported that the British grower shaded his greenhouse windows to protect the leaves from harsh sun, that temperatures inside reached 104 degrees Fahrenheit during heat waves, and that his plants drank up to 130 gallons of water a day. Paton said a pumpkin takes about 120 days to grow from the size of a golf ball to competition size and can gain up to 70 pounds a day.

What it takes to grow a giant pumpkin at home

Record pumpkins come from the same basic steps that university extension services teach home gardeners, carried to an extreme. Oregon State University Extension recommends seed of the Dill’s Atlantic Giant variety, which vegetable breeder Jim Myers says has reached 400 pounds in ordinary fields without special treatment. Myers says a single plant can cover up to 1,200 square feet and may need as much as 500 gallons of water a week. The extension service advises keeping the soil evenly moist without wetting the leaves, and allowing 130 days or more for a pumpkin to mature, a timeline it says fits the growing season in western Oregon best.

Pollination and pruning matter as much as space. Oregon State recommends hand pollinating, moving pollen from male flowers to female flowers, then removing extra flowers and fruit so the plant can put its energy into one pumpkin.

Land-grant universities also back competitive growers. NC State Extension says it supports giant-pumpkin growers across North Carolina, and that thousands of visitors crowd the giant pumpkin exhibit at the N.C. State Fair each fall. Jonathan Schultheis, an NC State Extension horticulture specialist, has walked through what it takes to grow a pumpkin that “tips the scales.”

Few backyard growers will approach 3,000 pounds. But the Wallace and Paton seasons show how far the same plan of plenty of space, steady water, careful pollination and one fruit per vine can go when a long, warm season and a greenhouse are added to it.

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Nick Ares – CC BY-SA 2.0/Wikimedia Commons