Two brothers from the Allgäu grow the heaviest pumpkin in Germany - "It takes a lot of time"
Created: 06/10/2022 09:07
By: Carina Zimniok
Just in time for Thanksgiving: Two brothers from the Allgäu grew the heaviest pumpkin in Germany.
The drum weighs almost 800 kilos.
Jacob and David had to invest a lot of time for this.
How does such a giant pumpkin succeed?
Munich
– They had to get their treasure out of the greenhouse with a telescopic loader and hoist it onto a car trailer before it went on its long journey.
So heavy, so huge is the pumpkin that Jakob and David Frommelt, brothers from the Lower Allgäu, have been accompanying for months.
From the little core to the trump it is now.
The Frommelt brothers' pumpkin has been a star since Sunday.
He is German Champion and of course his breeders are too.
German champions: Jakob and David (right) Frommelt from Unterallgäu with their giant pumpkin.
It weighs 796 kilograms, a bit below the German record weight of 2018. That is 916 kilograms, the pumpkin was also bred from Bavaria.
© dpa
The Frommelt brothers' giant pumpkin is now a star: they have put a lot of work into it
David Frommelt is 15 years old, his brother Jakob is 17. At home in Dankelsried near Erkheim, their father taught them early on what is important when growing pumpkins.
And so David Frommelt not only sounds like a professional when he reveals his breeding secrets on the phone - he simply is one.
The most important thing, says David, is plenty of space.
100 square meters per plant is at least necessary.
Plus a greenhouse.
Much water.
A good organic fertilizer.
The weather has to be right, not too hot, not too cold.
"And you need a lot of time," says the student, who would like to become a carpenter like his brother.
The brothers put in two to three hours of work every day.
(By the way: Our Bayern newsletter informs you about all the important stories from Bavaria. Register here.)
The tender little plant came out of the potty in the house and into the greenhouse on April 30th
"We sowed on April 2nd," says David, of course he knows the date by heart.
The tender little plant came out of the potty in the house and into the greenhouse on April 30th.
The pumpkin blossomed in mid-June – now the brothers had to pollinate it.
"Once a bee flies into the flower, the seed is no longer purebred," says David.
Pumpkin breeding also has a lot to do with genetics.
Ten days after pollination it was as big as a soccer ball, 20 days later it weighed 50 to 70 kilos.
"You can estimate that," explains the professional - you measure the pumpkin with a tape measure and read the rough weight in a table.
Now it was all about keeping the soil moist and digging in the side tendrils.
On day 42 it was about halftime, when the pumpkin weighed 400 kilos – the variety is called “Atlantic Giant”, by the way.
And when they recently drove their giant with the car trailer for three hours to the world's largest pumpkin exhibition in Ludwigsburg in Baden-Württemberg, it weighed exactly 796 kilograms.
That secured the brothers the title.
German champions!
And that, although all other breeders were adults.
David says: "We've been working towards it and expected that we'd be among the front runners." Nevertheless, the victory was a surprise for the Allgäu team.
Jakob and David also compete with their pumpkin at the European Championships
Your success story may continue.
Because Germany's heaviest pumpkin didn't go back to the Allgäu, but stayed in Ludwigsburg.
The European Championships will take place there at the weekend, and of course Jakob and David will be competing again.
“The great slaughter” takes place at the end of November, says Jakob.
The pumpkin is cut open in front of an audience.
The seeds come out, they might be sold as seeds.
The edible pulp is distributed to the spectators.
Then the pumpkin brothers have a winter break - in the spring they start again.
The title wants to be defended.
By the way: Our Bayern newsletter informs you about all the important stories from Bavaria.
Sign up here.