Giant pumpkin engineer finds the secret to size

Not only does the Great Pumpkin exist, but scientists have figured out how he manages to get so big. In a sort of self-perpetuating cycle, the bigger a gourd gets, the more physical stress it experiences — thus triggering giant pumpkins to grow even more.

"Their weight generates tension, which pulls cells apart and accelerates growth," says David Hu, a mechanical engineer at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, whose team has submitted a paper to a peer-reviewed journal.

Such research doesn't just illuminate the story behind record-setting pumpkins, like the nearly 1,811-pound behemoth recognized this month by Guinness World Records. The work also addresses larger questions of plant development, such as how tissues cope under stress, Hu says.

All giant pumpkins are grown from a single strain, the Atlantic Giant seed, which has a longer growing season than normal pumpkins. The fruits start out round, but once they get to about 220 pounds, they begin to flatten under their own weight, eventually resembling a giant deflated sack.

The New York Botanical Garden, where the world's biggest pumpkin will be carved this weekend, says that a 2,000-pound pumpkin could be grown within the next few years.

Read the full story at Wired