Foley Hosts Giant Delight: World’s Largest Pumpkin and its Proud Grower Take Center Stage

(KNSI) — The world’s largest pumpkin and the man who grew it visited Foley Wednesday.

Travis Gienger is a horticulture teacher at Anoka Hennepin Technical College and a Guinness World Record holder for the pumpkin he calls Michael Jordan.

The name comes from the basketball great who wore the number 23, and the pumpkin was grown in 2023.

Gienger spoke with KNSI News and said he started the seed on April 10th and let it grow for 184 days. He knew he had something special going, but had no idea it would be the biggest one ever. “When we got it on the scale, and once the scale read 2,749, that’s when I knew.”

Other record holders have been grown in climate controlled greenhouses, but Gienger’s grew outside in Minnesota. “It’s kind of an anomaly. It’s unheard of, so that was pretty neat.”

So, how did he do it?

“We take the plant, and bury all the vines, water it, and fertlize it. Then once it gets to the size, then we pollinate the pumpkin 15 to 16 feet out on the main vine. This was actually grown on a third vine. Not even a secondary, but a third, and no one thought that could be done either, so that was different.”

Rebekah Bratsch of St. Cloud came with her four kids, who are “very enthusiastic about pumpkins,” so they made the drive to come check it out. The kids were “very impressed” and added, “We have large pumpkins at jome that they like to sit on but not anything comparable to this!”

The variety is an Atlantic Giant and is specifically a jack-o-lantern. After today, it’s headed to Clarence, New York, to go on display.

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