Competitive pumpkin grower Jim Ford grew only three pumpkins this year. But each weighed over 1,000 pounds.
Earlier this month, he won a giant pumpkin weigh-off in Minnesota with a gourd coming in at 2,491 pounds — the size of a small car.
Still, he told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that he was a bit disappointed by the results.
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“It was a good year,” Ford said. “But it could have been a better year.”
Giant pumpkin grower Jim Ford stands atop his award-winning pumpkin at the Stillwater Harvest Fest in Stillwater, Minn. on Oct. 11, 2025. Photo courtesy of Jim Ford
Ford grows giant pumpkins in his garden in Eldorado to enter competitions. The vegetables are judged, not on size, but weight.
Ford has been growing giant pumpkins for more than 25 years. He grew up in the inner city of Chicago. Two uncles — one a suburban gardener, the other a farmer in central Illinois — brought him to the hobby.
“It’s just in my blood,” Ford said. “I’m 68 years old and I’m still a boy playing in the dirt.”
Last year, Ford set the Wisconsin record for the heaviest pumpkin with a gourd weighing in at 2,551 pounds. That’s about 60 pounds heavier than this year’s top performer. Ford said he was disappointed this year because he wanted to beat that number.
“I like saying I have pumpkin friends 11 months out of the year. During that last month, I get very competitive,” Ford said.
Giant pumpkin grower Jim Ford poses with a 1,977-pound pumpkin at a weigh off in 2024. Photo courtesy of Jim Ford
Growing giant pumpkins requires a lot of attention — and hydration. During their peak growth, Ford said a giant pumpkin can put on 50 to 60 pounds per day. On a hot day in that critical period, Ford said he may shower up to 150 gallons of water on each plant daily.
“These things grow so fast, you have to adjust them on the vine as they’re growing or else the ‘shoulders’ of the pumpkin will actually push against the vine and the stem, and they’ll grow off the vine. That’ll crack it,” Ford said.
This year, Ford said he accidentally snapped one of his three pumpkins off the vine while attending to it in August.
“The first thought is, ‘You’re an idiot.’” he said. “The second thought, ‘Now, what am I going to do with a 1,300-pound pumpkin in mid-August?’”
Ford took his prematurely harvested pumpkin to the Indiana State Fair for a weigh off that weekend. It won first place.
A hat rests on top of Jim Ford’s 2,551-pound pumpkin in his garden in Eldorado, WI. Photo courtesy of Jim Ford
Ford’s growing season is over. He picked his last pumpkin several weeks before Halloween. His garden, now absent its gargantuan gourds, is covered in a winter rye cover crop to replenish nutrients in the soil.
The world record for the heaviest pumpkin was set by a pair of brothers in England earlier in October, with a pumpkin weighing 2,819 pounds. Though Ford said he’s taking next year off from growing giant pumpkins, he said he hopes he can set a world record himself one day.
“To be honest, that’s what I’m shooting for. That’s what a lot of giant pumpkin growers are shooting for,” he said. “A measly old 2,551 (pound) Wisconsin state record isn’t good enough for me. So we’re pushing on.”
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