The Biggest Pumpkin In North America Is A 2,560-Pound Giant Named Maverick

ANOKA, MN — The largest pumpkin in North America is a 2,560-pound gourd named Maverick that was grown in Minnesota and is the size of a rhinoceros.

Travis Gienger of Anoka confirmed Monday that his prized plant, the big pumpkin that could, had set a new North American record at the 2022 Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, California.

In addition to bragging rights, Gienger, a two-time winner, will take home $23,040 in prize money — $9 for every pound Maverick weighs.

“At 512" this will be the largest pumpkin west of the pond to ever hit a scale, the question is will it weigh it?” Gienger said Saturday in a post on Facebook, where he has chronicled Maverick’s journey from tiny to triumphant. “I never thought I'd see the day where I had to use a 27,000-pound forklift to load a vegetable.”

In July, just over a month into its journey on the vine, Maverick grew 367 pounds in one week, according to Gienger, coming in at 917 pounds on day 37. The pumpkin eventually reached a circumference of 20 feet, before traveling over 2,000 miles for the big day.

How did Maverick grow to such a stunning scale? According to the contest website, giant pumpkins need the proper seed lineage, rich soil, lots of water and sunlight, mild weather and an attentive gardener.

“Minnesota has a great midyear, but our spring in our parts is really, really tough,” Gienger, a horticulture teacher, told the Associated Press. “So to do it in Minnesota, it just shouldn’t happen.”

Maverick was the only Midwestern pumpkin to place in the top 10 at the competition — all the rest were West Coast gourds. While Gienger has the superior squash in North America, he’s not the global champ — that honor belongs to a grower in Italy whose crop included a 2,703-pound pumpkin last year.