Fit for Cinderella: SD farmer grows 1,674-pound pumpkin, just 51 pounds short of world record

1,674-pound SD pumpkin just shy of world record

PARKER, S.D. — This pumpkin weighs nearly enough to be Cinderella’s coach.

South Dakota farmer Kevin Marsh of Parker knows his 1,674-pound pumpkin isn’t pretty — it’s won an ugliest pumpkin award at a Colorado event. But it’s also only 51 pounds shy of the world record listed by the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth.

It’s not the first big pumpkin Marsh has grown. One he grew earlier this year was 1,536 pounds, and he had one at 1,488 pounds last year.

Marsh says he doesn’t have any big secrets for growing behemoth squash. He says he buries vines as they grow so they get double the amount of roots, and uses a lot of organic fertilizers.