Pumpkins keep getting bigger thanks to time spent in cell division, specialised tissue, and selective breeding. <\/p>
Prize-winning pumpkins just keep getting bigger,\u00a0thanks to careful seed selection, plenty of growing space and gallons of water<\/a>.\u00a0The current record belongs to a gargantuan 1,226kg (2,702lb) pumpkin grown by Italy\u2019s Stefano Cutrupi.\u00a0Some varieties\u00a0of pumpkin, such as the Atlantic Giant, are genetically predisposed to grow\u00a0to spectacular sizes.\u00a0<\/p> Pumpkins grow rapidly during a cell division phase<\/a> that lasts far longer than in their gourd relatives such as cucumbers. After division, the cells expand for up to two months, giving larger cells than in other fruits.\u00a0<\/p> Pumpkins are also gifted higher levels of specialised tissue called phloem,\u00a0which transports sugars to where it\u2019s needed for growth. The one thing that prize growers haven\u2019t been able to overcome\u00a0so far\u00a0is a flat base when the pumpkin becomes too heavy to hold its shape.\u00a0<\/p> Read more:<\/strong><\/p> Asked by: Jonny Malone, Ohio<\/strong><\/p> To submit your questions email us at questions@sciencefocus.com (don’t forget to include your name and location)<\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n Pumpkins keep getting bigger thanks to time spent in cell division, specialised tissue, and selective breeding. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":35360,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"< 1"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/10\/the-worlds-largest-pumpkin-is-ridiculously-large-but-is-far-from-its-biological-limit.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/10\/the-worlds-largest-pumpkin-is-ridiculously-large-but-is-far-from-its-biological-limit-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/10\/the-worlds-largest-pumpkin-is-ridiculously-large-but-is-far-from-its-biological-limit-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/10\/the-worlds-largest-pumpkin-is-ridiculously-large-but-is-far-from-its-biological-limit-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/10\/the-worlds-largest-pumpkin-is-ridiculously-large-but-is-far-from-its-biological-limit-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/10\/the-worlds-largest-pumpkin-is-ridiculously-large-but-is-far-from-its-biological-limit.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/10\/the-worlds-largest-pumpkin-is-ridiculously-large-but-is-far-from-its-biological-limit.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Pumpkins keep getting bigger thanks to time spent in cell division, specialised tissue, and selective breeding.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/35359"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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