It turns out that pumpkins can be intimidating even before they are turned into jack-o’-lanterns. Especially when they grow to be more than 2,000 pounds.

At this year’s Pittsburgh Monster Pumpkins Festival, there will be 10 such one-ton pumpkins, according to festival manager Michael Dongilli.

The fifth annual festival is free and set for 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 15 and 16 at the Stacks at 3 Crossings, 2875 Railroad St. in Pittsburgh’s Strip District.

This year’s collection includes a Pennsylvania state record 2,405-pounder grown by Eric Gunstrom of Harrison City.

“The biggest question we get is, ‘Are these real?’ ” Dongilli said.

He said people need to touch them to believe they’re real pumpkins.

“Families can come down and really enjoy what we’re doing, and kids just fall in love with it.”

The festival will include a team of four carvers cutting up pumpkins to create a large dinosaur scene to go along with the festival’s theme of prehistoric Pittsburgh.

So how does someone grow a 2,000-pound pumpkin? It all starts with a seed called the Atlantic Giant, according to Dongilli.

“It looks just like an ordinary pumpkin seed, about half an inch wide. That seed started this whole industry of giant pumpkin growing,” he said. “You get it going and the vine starts coming up and then it’s a combination of experience, cross-pollination of bigger seeds taken from these pumpkins and the science of what to feed it and how to make it grow.

“That’s just something that has been evolving over time. Of course, you have to have a little bit of luck, too. It can’t be too dry or too wet.”

In the early days of giant pumpkin growing, growers were lucky to have a pumpkin grow to 400 pounds, Dongilli said.

Now, the largest pumpkin grown is a little over 2,700 pounds.

“It probably won’t be too long before we push one over 3,000 pounds,” Dongilli said.

There’s growing the pumpkin and then there’s the matter of transporting the pumpkins to weigh-off locations safely. Most are lifted with forklifts and carefully set on trailers or flatbed trucks, blanketed and strapped down.

While someone might naturally wonder how many pumpkin pies could be made from a 3,000-pound pumpkin, Dongilli said monster pumpkins really aren’t good for cooking.

“A field pumpkin is different than one you would use for a pumpkin pie,” he said.

Dave Stelts is a champion pumpkin grower from the Pittsburgh area who previously had to travel to pumpkin festivals outside Pittsburgh to show off his pumpkin-growing prowess. Stelts, who plans on having at least four pumpkins over 2,000 pounds at next weekend’s festival, said he is happy to be able to show off his wares at home. Stelts said the secret to his success is good soil, good seed and a lot of hard work.

“You need 1,200 square feet of space (for each pumpkin) to grow them that size. There’s a lot of watering, fertilizing, spraying. It’s just taking care of any little thing that might slow the growth,” Stelts said.

The Enon Valley native has been growing giant pumpkins for close to 30 years.

“It’s just something my dad and I used to do. I picked it up, and I’ve been doing it for 30 years on a real competitive level,” he said. “There’s no food use for them. The only food use is for goats and cattle. The zoos like them because they can feed them to the elephants. The elephants love them, not only to play with, but to eat them.”

Stelts calls the Monster Pumpkins Festival a celebration of the fall harvest.

“It’s really a feel-good thing. It’s a celebration of the big fruits of our labor,” he said, reminding us that pumpkins are actually classified as a fruit.

Part of the celebration is what Dongilli calls the most impressive thing that happens at the Monster Pumpkins Festival: the “pumpkin drops.”

“That’s where we take one of those 2,000-pound pumpkins and lift it 200 feet up in the air with a crane and drop them in a pool, three feet high and 12 feet in diameter,” Dongilli said. “When that thing comes crashing to the ground, the splash is like Niagara Falls. It thunders like you wouldn’t believe, and I don’t care how many times you see it, each time is a thrill like you’ve never experienced, particularly for kids.”

For more information about the Pittsburgh Monster Pumpkins Festival, visit monsterpumpkins.com.

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