Minnesota home to rising star in competitive pumpkin-growing world

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Aggressive pumpkin grower is simply one of many titles for Travis Gienger.

Hailing from the Halloween capital of the world — Anoka, Minnesota — Gienger has been rising large pumpkins for 28 years, after beginning in his “common suburban” yard as a child.

“After I was 14, I grew a 447-pound pumpkin and have been doing it ever since,” stated Gienger on the morning of Aug. 30.

Two years in the past he grew the heaviest pumpkin weighed in North America that yr.

“And I am nonetheless again at it this yr,” he stated referring to the gourd he has rising now, to enter into competitors this fall.

One other title for Gienger is educator. He began his profession instructing highschool college students and presently is a panorama and horticulture teacher at Anoka Technical School.

He’s additionally a enterprise proprietor, founder and president of

Waterstone Fireplace Tables and Customized Rock Creations

, which stuffed the area of an Undertake-A-Backyard on the Minnesota State Honest this yr outdoors the sheep and poultry barn, the place Gienger may very well be noticed for many hours of every day by a large pumpkin.

He ranks in essentially the most elite class of aggressive pumpkin growers on the earth, along with his apex mountain as a grower coming at 2020’s Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon, California, for his 2,350-pound pumpkin that took dwelling first prize.

He hit media darling standing after his pumpkin — named Tiger King after the hit Netflix sequence on the time — was named heaviest pumpkin weighed in North America that yr and third heaviest on the earth.

Gienger and Tiger King (the pumpkin) appeared on the The Drew Barrymore Present, and months after his first prize win, Jeff Lowe, a high position within the Tiger King solid, reached out to him to say thanks for the publicity.

There are competitions for pumpkins in each state, stated Gienger, however the one degree he’s inquisitive about taking part in is the most effective.

“You’ll be able to go to Stillwater, right here in Minnesota, or you may exit west like me, for the massive one, in California,” he stated.

That makes transportation of the pumpkin an incredible feat in itself. The journey to northern California, which he makes along with his spouse and different members of the family, is a 2,500-mile journey. With a 2,350-pound pumpkin.

“It’s extremely scary,” he stated of the cross nation driving stretch, the place fuel stations are sparse at occasions. “Then San Francisco’s roads — once we obtained all the way in which on the market, the place it was like bump, bump, bump. And should you get a pinhole and or a crack, you are finished.”

“It takes lots,” stated Gienger of his pumpkin rising course of.

A pumpkin he grew this yr which weighs round 1,000 kilos was displayed by Waterstone’s exhibit, and on a weekday morning it attracted a stream of astonished fairgoers who stopped to admire and take footage.

However that pumpkin was a throwaway for Gienger, who stated it spurred from weeds unexpectedly. Its primary vine cracked when he left it unattended for 2 days in a row. There is not any secret to sustaining an ideal, large pumpkin, stated Gienger. Simply fixed monitoring and a spotlight for its whole rising course of.

“Each morning and night, I spray and fertilize,” he stated. “And all all through the day, I log in by my cellphone to water 14 occasions a day, fertilize 14 occasions a day if I need.”

That’s all through the 200-something hours he put in on the state truthful this yr and for the final 12 years. Regardless of seeing a lot pumpkin in his life, he hadn’t thought of bringing one with him to the state truthful till a pair years in the past.

“Individuals simply go nuts,” he stated of the displayed pumpkin. “I may enter it (in a state truthful competitors) simply down the street and get a number of hundred bucks for it, but it surely’s price extra to simply have it sit in my sales space.”

The inspection course of at high pumpkin-growing competitions are intense, stated Gienger, and judges probe pumpkins from each angle. The pumpkin he had the state truthful would have been eradicated for its crack.

“If there’s one rotten spot, it is disqualified,” he stated.

Like skilled athletes risking use of efficiency enhancing medication to get an edge on the sphere, dishonest at pumpkin-growing will certainly be caught.

“One man manner again within the day put water in his pumpkin, and it was simply astronomically heavy,” stated Gienger. “In order that’s why you may’t have a pinhole, or something. They examine them fairly good, particularly should you’re anyplace close to the world report.”

A powerful element of his elite standing as a pumpkin grower is that he is doing it in Minnesota.

“The craziest half about what I do is it is all outdoors, in Minnesota, which shouldn’t occur ever,” he stated. “We go from 96 levels to 52.”

This yr, Gienger has a promising gourd rising into its closing phases earlier than October competitors time. Sticking with the theme of present fashionable leisure, the pumpkin’s identify is Maverick.

He stated he cannot decide to an occasion till he is aware of what the situation of his pumpkin might be in a pair weeks. He’s heard that organizers behind a Stillwater competitors are working to gather a world report payout (he took dwelling $16,450 in prize cash in 2020, receiving $7 per pound in a “pay-by-the-pound” system), however all he can say now’s “we’ll see.”

“I’ve obtained about two extra weeks, and we’ll be setting actually fairly. It is actually, actually massive proper now. Larger than my different one,” he stated.

He is optimistic about his pumpkin, however is not prepared to begin spreading the information that he is obtained one other winner.

“I imply, it is nonetheless rising,” he stated.

At 41, Gienger stated he’s loved the enjoyable that’s come along with his success, however that he’s able to stroll away from aggressive pumpkin rising quickly.

“I stated I used to be finished rising after this yr,” he stated. “However my spouse does not need me to be.”

If he bagged one other high prize two years after his final one, his retirement would shock the pumpkin-growing world like Michael Jordan did to the NBA in 1993.