SANTEE, Calif. — Among the leaves and vines in the Fredricks' pumpkin patch, nine-year-old Joshua poses with his absolute unit of a pumpkin.
“For 900 pounds, I really like this pump,” he said.
Funny thing is, even for a 900-pound pumpkin, it’s the small one of the patch.
“For every 24 hours, it grows 30 pounds a day if you can believe that,” said Joshua’s father, Jim.
The elder Fredricks is the pumpkin prince of San Diego. Last year he broke the San Diego County record at a whopping 1,531 pounds, just a few shy of the Southern California record.
“If you can believe it, this is close to 17-feet around in circumference, it’s huge," he said.
This year, he thinks he could shatter the record.
“Currently the Southern California record is 1,533 pounds. It’s held by a friend of mine in Los Angeles,” said Fredricks. “This one is estimated at over 1,630 pounds, but we don’t know until we weigh it.”
In order to get the massive squash to the Giant Pumpkin Confederation Southern California weigh-in in Irvine Saturday, a massive crane needs to lift them onto a flat bed truck, then it's driven up the coast.
“There’s prize money. There’s bragging rights. It’s just a fun time with friends," said Fredricks.
The weigh-in will happen Saturday and News 8 will report if Fredricks broke the record in Southern California.
Santee family hoping to grow heaviest pumpkin in Southern California
This pumpkin grows a few dozen pounds per day!