By Olivia Ireland

 

LONDON, 11 Oct. - (ANA) - Twin brothers have grown the world’s heaviest and longest pumpkin in the world.

 

Ian and Stuart Paton, from Lymington, Hampshire, won two world records for their pumpkin, which weighs 1,279kg (2,819.8lbs) with a circumference of 21.3ft.

 

The 64-year-olds spent six hours a day tending to their crop of squashes before taking the winner to the weigh-in at the Giant Vegetable Weigh-Off at Wargrave Nursery in Reading, Berkshire.

 

The brothers said that one of the keys to growing the pumpkin was keeping inside a greenhouse at all time. Ian said: “You wouldn’t be able to grow them that size outside.”

 

The pumpkin took about 130 days to grow from the size of a golf ball to its full size.

 

Ian said: “They get so big by having very good genetics, not much food actually, but a lot of water, up to 130 gallons of water per plant per day.”

 

The twins used a trickle system, which slowly recycled and dispersed water to the plants and meant the vegetables were not affected by Southern Water’s hosepipe ban for Hampshire that was enforced in July owing to dry weather.

 

Ian said that his passion for pumpkin-growing had become a family affair with his granddaughters Etta and Martha Syrett, aged four and seven, helping. However. he admitted they were still too young to contribute with the growing process.

 

“They do get their hands dirty and they love it. They even talk to the pumpkins,” he said.

 

The event is part of the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth and the results were submitted for official recognition.

 

The Guinness World Record was previously held by Travis Gienger, whose pumpkin weighed 1,246.9kg (2,749lbs) in 2023 at the Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, California.

 

The twins already held the record for the biggest pumpkin in the UK, which they won in 2022, with a squash weighing 1,204.7kg (2,656lbs).   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/11 October 2025  - - -