Howard Dill is a giant among giant pumpkin  growers. He grew world champion pumpkins for four years running,from 1979 to 1982, and missed winning the fifth year by only 5 pounds. Today, his Dill Atlantic Giant seeds are sold worldwide to more than 50 seed companies. The pumpkins grown from his Dill Atlantic Giant seeds commonly weigh in at over 1,000 pounds. "I don't have any training in genetics ; it was all trial and error," Dill says. He got his love of pumpkins from his father and has enjoyed growing them for years. Dill still grows giant pumpkins, but not for competition. In the fall, visitors come to enjoy the pumpkins on his 90-acre farm in Nova Scotia, Canada. He plants ten acres of pumpkins for Halloween and two acres of giant pumpkins. One of giant pumpkins was recently baked into 442 pumpkin pies and sold at $5 each for charity. It you want to try growing a giant pumpkin, Dill recommends starting with a soil test and then adding fertilizer  as needed. Plant the giant pumpkin seed. A giant pumpkin can gain 15 to 20 pounds a day, so careful watering--every day or two--is necessary. You should wait about 130 days until the pumpkin matures and then you can harvest it. Dill's favorite pumpkin set the Guinness Book record in 1981. It weighted 493.5 pounds. "I've grown them larger since, but that one meant a lot," he remembers. "I never would have imagined ten years ago that there would be a 1,000-pounder, but there are many of them now," says Dill. The 2006 world record holder is Larry Checkon of Pennsylvania. He grew a 1,469 pounder. Dill says, "These world champions are grown from my seeds, so I feel like a winner right along with them." What can we learn about the world champion pumpkin of 1983?
It weighed over 1,000 pounds. It was missing after the competition. It was 5 pounds heavier than that of 1982. It was 5 pounds heavier than Dill's biggest one that year.