Largest Pumpkin In Illinois Grown In Wheaton

WHEATON, IL — Part of the Halloween season is the annual tradition of picking out the perfect pumpkin: that one that stands out above all the rest in the endless rows of gourds in the orchard. For one Wheaton man, the quest to cultivate a legendary pumpkin resulted in a 1,500-plus pound gourd of epic proportions that ended up being the largest in Illinois in 2018, WFMZ reports.

Pumpkin seeds are generally pretty easy to come by, but Joe Adkins wasn't looking for any old pumpkin seed when he sought to grow the biggest gourd in the state. Adkins reportedly paid around $500 for the winning seed and used special soil heating methods to get the pumpkin to blossom into its award-winning weight.

For the record, the prize-winning pumpkin tips the scales at 1,510.

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