A pumpkin weighing 1,431.5 kg (3,156 pounds) is the new Guinness World Record holder and the first to top 3,000 pounds. Ron Wallace, 60, of Rhode Island grew it, and it was weighed on 10 October 2026 at Frerichs Farm near Warren. Guinness says it weighs more than twice as much as a Holstein cow.
The previous record of 1,295.8 kg (2,856 pounds 12.8 ounces) was set by Britain's Ian Paton at a contest in Berkshire on 3 October 2026. Wallace's pumpkin is about 136 kg, or nearly 300 pounds, heavier.
Two records in a week
Guinness says the record fell twice in one week. It has happened before. On 2 October 1999 the record was broken twice in a single day, first in Britain and then in the US. The longest-standing record belonged to Belgium's Mathias Willemijns, from October 2016 to September 2021.
The first reports said the record had not yet been confirmed. Wallace said people at Guinness told him it was close to being confirmed. Guinness did not reply to a request for comment. A statement from the same days said the pumpkin was "not officially certified". A few days later, Guinness listed the record on its website and in its own article.
The figures also differ between sources. Rounded up, Paton's record is also given as 2,857 pounds. Wallace's birthplace is listed as Coventry, Greene or just Rhode Island, and Guinness does not name a town.
Growing up to 50 pounds a day
Record pumpkins grow only from the Atlantic Giant variety. Growers leave one pumpkin on the plant and remove the rest, so all the sugar and water goes into it. They pollinate by hand. Seeds from proven pumpkins that have already reached 1,500–2,000 pounds sell for hundreds of dollars.
Guinness says the pumpkin grew from a "2731 Stelts 2024" seed, but its own article does not name the seed variety.
At peak growth, a pumpkin adds 30–50 pounds a day, and growers measure its girth every morning. It is about 90% water and, at the height of the season, takes in 80–130 gallons (about 300–500 litres) a day. It takes 120–160 days to ripen, so an early frost can ruin a season. Above 85–90°F (about 30°C), pollen can become sterile or the fruit can drop off the vine, and heat can crack the skin.
This year Wallace used a greenhouse for the first time. "This was my first year with a greenhouse and the weather was almost perfect for most of the season," he told Guinness. In Rhode Island, June was the third warmest on record, and on 2 July the temperature in Providence hit 99°F (about 37°C). Summer in Britain was the hottest ever recorded, with drought across almost three quarters of England.
Wallace has grown giant pumpkins for about 35 years, inspired by his father, one of the first growers in New England. He owns an online garden supplies shop.
It is his third record. He set the others with a 681.3 kg (1,502 pounds) pumpkin in 2006 and a 911.3 kg (2,009 pounds) one in 2012, which was the first over 2,000 pounds.
The weigh-off at Frerichs Farm
Officials from the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth inspected the pumpkin before the weigh-off, and it passed the quality checks. Head judge Matthew DeBacco ran the contest. John Russo was the official weigher.
The pumpkin measures 640 cm around, just under the girth record of 649.8 cm held by Ian and Stuart Paton.
Wallace says that when the pumpkin was lifted onto the scale, "the place just exploded". He says a 3,000-pound pumpkin can only come from a community working together. He turned down bigger prizes at other contests so he could compete at home.
On 12 October, two days after the record, Travis Gienger of Minnesota won the world championship at Half Moon Bay in California with a 2,389-pound pumpkin, which was not a record. Wallace is thinking about taking next year off to work on projects at the farm, but has not decided.