A grower from Suffolk, England, has produced a 368kg pumpkin after accepting a challenge from her son. Frances Crickmore, from Fen Farm Dairy in Bungay, grew the vegetable after her son, Jonny Crickmore, gave her what he described as “the worst” of three plants raised from specialist seeds.

Jonny Crickmore said he had sourced the seeds from a professional grower in the United States who specializes in large pumpkin varieties. The seedlings were started in his mother’s greenhouse before he selected two of the stronger plants for himself, leaving her with the third. “You know I’ll win this competition,” Ms Crickmore reportedly told her son.

Ms Crickmore named her pumpkin “Sirius,” after the brightest star in the sky, and attributed her success to careful management and consistent care. She applied large amounts of manure, watered regularly, and covered the plant in fluctuating weather conditions to maintain stable growth.

She also admitted to early morning visits to her son’s pumpkin patch to collect pollen for cross-pollination. “It’s because I had the female pumpkin, but I didn’t have any male flowers, and I thought, ‘ahh, I know where there is a male flower’, I ripped the petals off and it worked,” she said.

Pumpkins require pollination to set fruit, and Ms Crickmore’s method produced a much larger specimen than her son’s. Jonny Crickmore’s pumpkin weighed 19kg. “I knew quite early on I was beaten,” he said.

The competition between mother and son is expected to continue next year. “I know what mother’s tactics are now – or maybe I’ll give her one of the not-so-good seeds,” Mr Crickmore said.

Source: BBC