A 721kg pumpkin from Whangarei has broken New Zealand’s record for the biggest giant pumpkin ever grown here.
The RDI Giant Pumpkin competition was won by Parua Bay’s Eve Barton and her sons Alan and Jason, who held the NZ record two years ago.
She says the “quite competitive” trio were keen to regain the title, and “had to see if we could beat 500kg”.
Planted at the end of October last year, the pumpkin gained around 7kg a day until a massive growth spurt around day 40.
“It was really exciting to see… once it started putting on 20kg a day, we knew we were in for a chance at breaking the [record],” Ms Barton says.
When the pumpkin was 95 days old it was loaded onto the back of Ms Barton’s ute – with the help of a neighbour and a tractor – and taken to the weigh-in, where it was a clear winner.
The runner-up pumpkin was grown by the Harris family from Morrinsville, and weighed in at 290kg.
3 News