The people standing behind Ron Wallace’s pumpkin are the useful part of the photo. Without them, it is surprisingly easy to underestimate just how much pumpkin is sitting there.
The scale settled at 3,156 pounds. Guinness World Records confirmed it as the heaviest pumpkin ever recorded and the first to cross the 3,000-pound mark.
Wallace’s pumpkin was weighed on October 10, 2026, at Frerichs Farm in Rhode Island. The previous world record, set by British grower Ian Paton, had lasted exactly one week. Wallace beat it by roughly 299 pounds.
There is a wonderfully awkward detail behind that handover: the two growers are friends. Smithsonian, citing Wallace’s interview with the Providence Journal, reports that Paton was the one who suggested he try growing in a greenhouse. Wallace took the advice.
Helping your friend improve his pumpkin game apparently comes with occupational hazards.
This was Wallace’s first greenhouse season, but he has been moving the goalposts for years. He was also the first grower to clear 1,500 pounds in 2006 and 2,000 pounds in 2012, according to Guinness.
And the pumpkin has a future beyond being enormous. Smithsonian reports that Wallace plans to save seeds for growing clubs to auction as fundraisers. Eventually, the rest is destined for compost.
Even a world champion still has to return to the garden.
