The big seed: How to grow a giant pumpkin

It's pumpkin smashing season, but no vigilante has ever launched one of Eddy Zaychkowsky's gourds off the ground.

Especially not the 513-kilogram whopper (1,132pounds) he grew this yearin Airdrie, Alta.

"It's more than just care, it's an obsession. It started as a hobby now it's kind of taken over," Zaychkowsky told the Calgary Eyeopener.

He's actually the man who donated the 474-kilogram pumpkin that was dropped on a car over Thanksgiving to raise money for the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation.

Pumpkin drop

8 years ago

Duration 0:51

A 1,046 pound pumpkin was dropped from 40 metres onto a car in support of the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation.

And that's not even super-duper big. The fattest pumpkin in the world to date was grown in Belgium and weighed 2,624.60 kilograms.

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Weather, weather, weather

In and around Calgary,you can grow 'em big but not worldrecord-settingbig, saysZaychkowsky.

It's just not warm enough.

"A big thing is weather. Weather, weather, weather."

Giant pumpkins stop growing when the mercury drops below 13 C.

"In an ideal scenario, like Napa Valley, southern Ontario they'regrown outside. We have to growinside ... in greenhouses. They like warmth."

Also, you're not going to grow a giant from the spawn ofyour grocery store jack-o'-lantern.Genetics play a big role and the big ones come from the Atlantic Giant seeds.

Zaychkowsky has been at it for 15 years and says he's used"every fertilizer out there," but recently discovered that "organic is the way to go."

These dayshe's focused on providing good soil for the root system to plump his pumpkins up.

"I've had forty pound per night weight gains and there are people out there that gain 60 to 70 pounds."

With files from the Calgary Eyeopener