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Northern Ontario man wins competition for province’s largest pumpkin
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Northern Ontario man wins competition for province’s largest pumpkin

Jeff Warner has been growing giant pumpkins for years, and he can now say he has the largest pumpkin in Ontario this season.

Warner, from Englehart in northern Ontario, won the giant pumpkin competition at Pumpkinfest in Port Elgin with an 892 kilogram, or 1,966 pound, gourd.

“It’s about six feet wide and tips most tractors,” he said.

Warner credits a warm, sunny summer and the right seed for his giant pumpkin.

He said he purchased several giant pumpkin seeds at online auctions throughout the winter. He planted them all and waited to see which one had the most potential to become a prize-winning giant.

“I just got out a little more this year,” he said. “Maybe I got the right seed and it was finally my turn.”

Although he won the crown for Ontario’s largest pumpkin this year, Warner says he’s still looking to grow a rare pumpkin that tops 2,000 pounds, or about 907 kilograms.

Don Crews of Lloydminster, Alberta, holds the record for the largest pumpkin ever grown in Canada. His giant pumpkin measured 2,537 pounds, or 1,150 kilograms.