Pumpkin 702.4kg wins the Low Saxon Championship

The 26-year-old gardener was able to defend his title from last year at Bad Essen, when the winning pumpkin weighed 568kg.

He says he gives his pumpkins 400 to 500 liters of water a week and adds liquid fertilizer. He adds that pumpkins thrive as there is sun.

Global warming and a large number of sunny days suit them. Rataj thus set a new record in Lower Saxony, with a pumpkin 700kg, announced the organiser of the Wolfgang Willmann competition.

Generally, the biggest pumpkins are from southern Germany thanks to a longer sunny period, but the world record is held by a producer from Belgium, whose pumpkin weighs more than one ton.

Rataj may also win several competitions in Germany with this pumpkin, but racers are not allowed to compete with the same pumpkin in different races. Additionally, vegetables lose little weight after harvest so that their later measurements may not bear the same weight.

The Lower Saxony Championship was held in the Ippenburg Tower gardens in the Osnabrück district, which were open to visitors Saturday and Sunday, October 3rd and 4th.