Twin brothers break European record with largest ever pumpkin

New York, Oct 13 : Two British farmers have set a new European record by growing a largest ever pumpkin, weighing more than 104 stone.

It took 129 days for the twin brothers, Ian and Stuart Paton, to grow Europe's largest ever pumpkin, which has to be lifted by a forklift truck.

The Patons used a trailer pulled by a Volvo estate car to transport the giant vegetable to the show at Netley's Royal Victoria Country Park, where it was weighed in front of witnesses with the help of a special winch device.

Planted in a greenhouse in April, the vegetable needed one and a half tonnes of manure to reach its current size.

The Patons run Pinetops nursery in Lymington, New Forest, and already made a British record one year ago with a pumpkin weighing 1,188lb.

Ian said that they were delighted to reclaim their title.

"It's nice to have the record back because we had it a couple of years ago with a pumpkin weighing 1,124lb and then last year with one at 1188lb," the New York Daily News quoted Ian as saying.

"This is the biggest and best so far. No one else will beat it this year.

"Stuart and I are always looking ahead and we are now going to try to grow another pumpkin to beat the world record this time next year.

Talking about how they managed to grow such a large size pumpkin, he said, "It's all about having a bit of luck and the right seeds - and we've definitely got the right seeds so it's just a matter of time now.

"We grow our best ones in a greenhouse to keep the wind off and plant them in one and a half tonnes of manure.

"At it's fastest stage this one was growing at 30lb a day - that's more than two stone.

"Pumpkins do most of their growing at night and it may even have managed up to 50lb in 24 hours if it was as warm as 25 degrees celsius overnight," he added.

ANI