Atlantic Giant Pumpkins are enormous, pumpkin-size competition pumpkins.
They can grow up to 400 pounds (180 kg) or more in the right conditions, but 50 to 100 pounds (22 ½ to 45 kg) is more common.
To get larger sizes, you prune blossoms off the plant’s vines, leaving just 1 blossom per plant.
Occasionally, these pumpkins have bright orange rind if they get a great deal of sun, but more usually the rind is pale orange or cream.
The pumpkin has thick flesh walls.
Some say Atlantic Giant are also good for pies. Others say that if by “good” people mean “edible”, it is, but that it doesn’t have much flavour at all.
Vine-type plant; 120 days from seed.
History Notes
Atlantic Giant Pumpkins were developed by Howard Dill Enterprises in Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada.
They were developed specially for pumpkin size competitions, from a cross between Goderich Giant, Genuine Mammoth Pumpkins and Mammoth Tours. Development took place from 1973 to 1979.
The pumpkin was introduced in 1978; it allowed Howard Gill to hold the world record for pumpkin size from 1979 to 1982.
Almost all world champion big pumpkins since the 1980s have been Atlantic Giant ones.
The record size for an Atlantic Giant Pumpkin as of 2005 is 1,446 pounds (656 kg), grown by an Alan Eaton of Richmond, Ontario, Canada.