Weighing more than 1,400 pounds and still growing, an Ontario farmer hopes his giant pumpkin will earn him international fame.
Russ Landry says his pumpkin is gaining about 10 pounds a day, thanks to good weather. And its leaves already resemble “large elephant’s ears.”
If a 1,400-pound pumpkin sounds large, just imagine what it looks like underneath the soil.
“The roots are monsters,” Landry told CTV Barrie. “The roots here are spread out all over the place. This is a 1,000-square-foot pumpkin plant. The leaves are the size of a large elephant’s ears.”
The heaviest pumpkin ever recorded was more than 2,000 pounds.
If his luck holds out, Landry’s pumpkin could pack on another 300 pounds before October’s “Giant Pumpkin” weigh-in at the Woodbridge Fair.
And that’s when he’ll be faced with a tricky challenge: moving his monster pumpkin.
“We have a lifting harness that lifts it up,” he said. “The whole process takes about 20 minutes and it’s kind of nerve-wracking because you don’t want to drop it.”
With a report from CTV Barrie
