Twins from Hampshire are on course to break their own record for Britain’s heaviest ever pumpkin.
Stuart and Ian Paton, 56, already hold the title of growing the UK’s biggest pumpkin, producing a squash that weighed in at 160.9 stone (1,021kg) at last year’s Autumn Pumpkin Festival in Netley near Southampton.
But the pair believe their entry at the 2017 edition of the festival on 14 October will be at least 300lbs (21.4 stone) heavier than last year’s, the Southern Daily Echo reported.
“This pumpkin should absolutely smash our previous record from last year, which was actually this pumpkin’s mother,” Ian Paton told the local newspaper. 'From planting the seeds to this point, the squash is 110 days old and it will probably be 300lbs bigger than last year’s.
“My brother Stuart and I probably spend around three hours a day tending to pumpkins, using 100 gallons of water each day.
'We have six plants growing at the moment and have taken pumpkins to shows in Holland and France.'
The Guinness world record for the largest pumpkin is 187 stone (1,190kg), grown by Belgian grower Mathias Willemijns and authenticated by the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth in Ludwigsburg, Germany, on 9 October 2016.
