A Montana resident has made headlines by smashing the state record for the heaviest pumpkin. His giant gourd weighs more than the average American bison, which is pretty impressive.
Joe Negro, who sells insurance by moonlight, has spent five years cultivating his green thumb to grow this monstrous squash.
His pumpkin tipped the scales at 1,591 pounds, clinching the title of Montana’s heaviest pumpkin during a recent agricultural competition. It’s quite a feat.
The previous record stood at 1,348 pounds, and Negro’s pumpkin grew at an astonishing rate—about 10 pounds a day, he claims. Interestingly, just last year, his entry was only a few pounds shy of the title.
After receiving a pack of seeds from a friend on the East Coast, Negro was inspired to start growing pumpkins. Since then, he has been growing patches each year, drawing competition from those in nearby states.
“In my first year, 2021, I managed to grow a 950-pound pumpkin, and I’ve just been chasing that ever since,” he reflected.
His girlfriend, Sidney Sipe, noted that this hobby has taken on a life of its own. “We raised this giant pumpkin, and you start thinking about what you can do with it. It becomes like a baby to us, and when it’s gone, it’s a bit sad,” she mentioned.
For safety, they also grew a backup pumpkin that weighed in at 1,247 pounds during a competition in South Dakota.
Negro received $600 as part of his prize for winning the state title and plans to send his winning pumpkin off to the meadow after all the effort put into it.
“I’m going to cut a hole in it, take the seeds, analyze it, and probably break it,” he shared, hinting at the next steps.
As for the world record? That title belongs to a man in California, who is known for producing enormous pumpkins each year. Last year, he was just 300 pounds away from breaking his own record of 2,749 pounds set in 2023.
