Pumpkin smashes the record

Giant pumpkin of New Zealand

 A giant pumpkin grown at Parua Bay, in the Far North, by Eve Barton along with her sons Alan and Jason has broken the New Zealand giant pumpkin record.

The pumpkin weighed in at 721kg.

Having held the record two years ago, Eve decided to enter the inaugural RD1 giant pumpkin competition to see if she could do it again.

"We're quite competitive" she says. "Had to see if we could beat 500kg!"

The Barton family planted their pumpkin at the end of October 2011.

Feeding it horse manure plus a combination of DAP and potash they watched the pumpkin grow steadily, gaining about 7kg a day until suddenly it put on a growth spurt, gaining 20kg a day from about day 40.

"It was really exciting to see," Eve says. "There's a special way of measuring the pumpkin with a tape measure; from three different measurements you get a pretty good idea of what it weighs.

"Once it started putting on 20kg a day, we knew we were in for a chance at breaking the New Zealand record again."

At the weigh-in on March 17 the pumpkin was 95 days old. Eve loaded the huge vegetable on to the back of her ute, assisted by her neighbour and a tractor.

She took it into RD1 Whangarei where it was officially weighed on electronic scales so it would be recognised by world pumpkin officials. It was a clear winner.

Eve won a $200 RD1 gift card and the national grand prize of a $1000 Prezzy Card.

The runners-up in the RD1 competition were the Harris family from Morrinsville, with a pumpkin weighing in at 290kg.

News by Stuff

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