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full screen Travis Gienger celebrates the win in California with his daughter. Photo: Jeff Chiu/AP/TT
Anyone who wants to learn how to grow pumpkins weighing more than a ton has everything to learn from Travis Gienger. On Monday, the 44-year-old from Minnesota won a pumpkin competition in California for the fourth year in a row.
The scheme is simple: The heaviest pumpkin wins, and Gienger – who is a horticulture teacher by day – had this time managed to bring home a magnificent specimen that weighed in at 1,121 kilos. Clearly heavy, then – but not in the same class as his world record from last year, where the scales showed 1,247 kilograms.
According to Gienger, the secret behind the pumped up pumpkins is good soil and well-fertilized plants. He blames the fact that there was no record this time on the rainy weather.
– We had really, really tough weather, but somehow I kept working on it, he says.
Shipping the pumpkin between Minnesota and California took 35 hours for Travis Gienger and his family. Next up is the Californian south, where sculptors will make the pumpkin Halloween-ready.