Wheaton man is the best giant-pumpkin grower in Illinois, but he wants a 2,000-pound gourd

Pumpkin grower extraordinaire Joe Adkins is having a very good year.

Renowned for the giant pumpkins he grows in his Wheaton backyard, Adkins’ 1,760-pound colossus took first place Sept. 24 at the Illinois Giant Pumpkin Growers Association annual weigh-in. His 1,188-pounder came in third in last month’s Kenosha, Wisconsin, weigh-in.

A third pumpkin, which tipped the scale at 1,580 pounds, took fourth last weekend at an Iowa weigh-in, which was followed by what Adkins described as the town’s version of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

“Everybody in town showed up. It was fantastic,” said the pumpkin enthusiast, who this year cultivated three gargantuan gourds totaling 4,528 pounds.

That earned Adkins a prize he’s coveted for years: a jacket commemorating his accomplishment, courtesy of his fellow pumpkin growers. It’ll look nice with the pumpkin growers association’s championship belt that Adkins has claimed five times.

Every season Adkins get a little closer to his goal of growing a 2,000-pounder. A standard giant pumpkin weighs about 1,500 pounds.

While Adkins consistently ranks among the state’s top pumpkin producers, he is a “little fish in a big pond” compared with overseas counterparts such as Ian and Stuart Paton.

Several years ago, the twin brothers broke their own record for the United Kingdom’s largest pumpkin, according to published reports. Their latest weighed in at 2,656 pounds, 63 pounds heavier than their record-setting 2020 entry.

“Some people, if they only get a 2,000-pounder, it’s a disappointment,” said Adkins, a lifelong enthusiast who likes everything about pumpkins except the pie, the soup and anything else that tastes of pumpkin or nutmeg.

“I have pumpkin juice running through my veins. It would be like cannibalism,” jokes Adkins, who makes an exception for toasted pumpkin seeds.

His interest in pumpkin carving sparked his pumpkin-growing hobby, which began about 20 years ago with his search for larger pumpkin canvases to carve.

“I still have so much to learn and so far to go,” said Adkins, who carves characters inspired by the pumpkin’s shape and contour. Visitors invariably comment on how they resemble famous people, but that is not Adkins’ intent.

“Trying to impose a figure on the pumpkin doesn’t work,” said Adkins, whose handiwork is on display outside his home every Halloween.

The process begins each April when Adkins plants Atlantic Giant seeds indoors. He moves the plants outside a few weeks later, where they gain an average of 50 pounds a day during the peak growing season.

Initially, Adkins and about a dozen friends and family members used an engine hoist to load the pumpkins onto his truck for transport to weigh-ins. Now Scott Wilson, owner of the landscape supply store Wheaton Mulch, uses his wheel loader for the heavy lifting.

“Everybody in the community loves it,” said Wilson, a fellow grower whose biggest pumpkin weighed 300 pounds.

“I grow his seeds, but I don’t get his results,” he said. “I don’t have the knack for it that he does.”

Adkins said his neighbors support his passion even though it means increased traffic every Halloween, when 500 or more trick-or-treaters flock to see the great pumpkins, leaving with memories, sweet treats and, of course, pumpkin seeds.

https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20221007/wheaton-man-is-the-best-giant-pumpkin-grower-in-illinois-but-he-wants-a-2000-pound-gourd