Suring man grows 1,628.5 pound squash, setting WI record to date

SURING, Wis. (WBAY) - Most of us have heard about the Great Pumpkin, but how about the massive squash?

A Suring man now holds the Wisconsin state record for heaviest squash to date, weighing in at 1,628.5 pounds.

John Sikorski also won ‘heaviest pumpkin’ at the latest Great Pumpkin Commonweath’s weigh-in last week, coming in at 1,613.5 pounds.

Sikorski said it takes a lot of time, effort and water to get the pumpkin and squash to grow this big in a matter of months.

“This pumpkin itself put on 623 pounds in the month of August because I charted it. That’s 20 some pounds a day,” said Sikorski. “I will water each one of them 100 gallons of water a day.”

Sikorski said he does it as a hobby, but sometimes it feels like a full-time job, especially to keep the critters away.

“We got to deal with cucumber beetles, squash vine borers and deer,” said Sikorski.

When his pumpkin was quite small, a deer took a bite out of it, but he was able to seal it up and keep it going.

“You could put your coffee cup in here (the divot made by the deer) when going out to garden and come back and get it without falling off,” said Sikorski.

“If you have a certain weight, you get a patch on the sleeve,” said Sikorski. “This year, these three fruits grew 4,769 pounds so I achieved that for this season.”

Sikorski is hoping to add a few more patches in the future. He said he would like to grow a 2,000 pound pumpkin.

“My competition is myself,” said Sikorski. “I only strive to do better for me.”"

Now that his competitions are over for the year, Sikorski is looking for an expert carver to carve a caricature into the record-setting squash. If you or someone you know would like to do that, send an email to news@wbay.com and we will pass along your information to Sikorski.

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