Skorheim: Giant world-record pumpkin seeds sell for how much?

Nelson Mandela once said, “it always seems impossible until it’s done.” A guest I had on Monday exemplifies what’s possible when you put your mind to something, no matter how impossible it may seem. I got a chance to talk with Travis Gienger who is a three-time winner of the World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off.

And after his entry this year, a gourd he named, “Michael Jordan,” he is now the world-record holder for growing the largest pumpkin ever recorded at 2,749 pounds. That’s about the dry weight of a Toyota Prius. Crazy!

If you want to know how long it takes a pumpkin the size of a car to grow, you might be surprised.

“So, I planted the seed on April 10th and 184 days later, we have a pumpkin,” Travis explained.

And most of the pumpkin’s weight is gained near the end of that time.

“Actually, they’ll do most of their growing in 60 days and up to 70 pounds a day,” he said. “Really, the process goes pretty quick.”

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I was also curious about something else. A world champion horse like Seabiscuit, Secretariat or Seattle Slew. (All “S” names I’m noticing. That’s weird.) After they retire as winners, they get to live of life of leisure, raking in a fortune in stud fees? (Can you imagine if they did that with human athletes? I guess in a way they… never mind …) Do they have something similar with pumpkin seeds?

Travis laughed. But, to my amazement, he said they did.

“That’s exactly what we want to do,” he said. “Some we give away, some will go to auctions worldwide, it really all depends. Then some, we will sell too.”

On average, they can get anywhere between 0 and 1,000 seeds per pumpkin. They won’t know until after they cut it open.

But if there are seeds inside to be harvested, how much does a world record pumpkin seed sell for?

Travis said, of course, he’ll donate a lot of the seeds to growing clubs and high schools. But when they do sell some of the seeds, he said, “I would say minimum price people will be paying for these is $200 … per seed.” That’s pretty good money considering he already won a $30,000 bonus for producing the world-record pumpkin. That’s in addition to other prize money.

More pumpkin content from Skorheim: Sorry, these pumpkins cost how much?

The pumpkin itself will now be carved by Guinness World Record pumpkin carver, Eric Jones. He will carve it up and eventually, it’ll be put on display as part of a veterans’ memorial.

Check out the full interview below:

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