POTTSVILLE, SCHUYLKILL COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — It’s nearly that time of year to stroll through a pumpkin patch in NEPA, but we’re about to show you a pumpkin that you wouldn’t be able to take home unless you were really strong.
A family in Schuylkill County grew the “Great Pumpkin of Pottsville” and 28/22 News Reporter Emily Allegrucci had the chance to see it and share what goes into growing such a large plant.
The close family shares their home with eight-month-old twins, two golden retrievers, and one ginormous pumpkin.
Allegrucci had the chance to speak with them about their nearly 1,000-pound pumpkin and how it got so big.
A nearly 1,000-pound plant in Pottsville is giving northeastern Pennsylvania something to talk about.
“Holy smokes he’s gonna grow this big pumpkin. We have twins, newborn. What’s this gonna look like?” said Miranda Close.
Jim Close began his new hobby of growing pumpkins about four years ago with seeds from the hardware store.
Fast forward to 2023, Jim and his family are planting special, genetically modified seeds that are producing giant results.
“To get a weight I actually have a hanging scale that goes to 2,000 and I got a net weight of 900 on the nose is what it came out to,” Jim explained.
But planting a seed in the dirt is just the first step in growing a gourd this big.
Jim begins the growing process in February, planting the seeds inside with growing lights.
Between April and May they move to what is called a “Hoop house”, a small, outdoor sanctuary with heaters.
“I’d be out in the yard every day checking it and seeing, because sometimes they’ll grow between 20 and 50 pounds a day. So you’ll see a big difference in how big they’ll grow every day,” Jim stated.
This year, the home-grown pumpkin surprised the close family day after day.
“Each day the plant would get bigger and bigger and bigger and take up my whole yard. Just to see the size of the pumpkin going from this big, to this big, to this big, it was like a shock,” Miranda explained.
You can really tell the close family took “Go big, or gourd home” to the next level by the size of this giant pumpkin, but they say they’re not satisfied just yet.
“We didn’t have luck in the past, we got like 400 before but then when this started to outdo that one, I’m like ‘oh my gosh keep on going, keep on going, keep on going!’” Miranda said.
Jim and his helpers don’t plan on setting down their gardening gloves until their pumpkins break ground and record.
“Next year we’re planning 1500 and above, that’s next year’s goal,” Jim continued.
“I’d like to see two 1500 pounds because then I would have one too,” Miranda added.
The goal of the close family is to get their Giant Pumpkin to compete in the Bloomsburg Fair and are hoping to get there next year.
