British grower Ian Paton sets Guinness record with 1,295.8 kg pumpkin Bagheera
The 65-year-old grower from Lymington, Hampshire, had Bagheera weighed on 3 October at a competition in Berkshire. Guinness World Records confirmed the result, which beats the 2025 record set by Ian and his twin brother Stuart by 17 kg.
The record weigh-in
Ian Paton, 65, from Lymington in Hampshire, had his pumpkin Bagheera weighed at the Wargrave Weigh-Off in Berkshire, where it came in at 1,295.8 kg. Guinness World Records confirmed the result, with the record certified by its judge Sebastian Suski. Reports put the circumference of the fruit at over 6 metres. Gerald Short, judge of the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth, assessed the achievement in strong terms.
In the 100 million years that fruiting plants have existed on Earth, no heavier specimen has grown. This is definitely the heaviest and most massive specimen that has ever existed.
- Ian and Stuart Paton set the record with Muggle, 1,278.8 kg
- Bagheera weighed at the Wargrave Weigh-Off in Berkshire, 1,295.8 kg
A record built alone
Paton has grown giant pumpkins for more than 50 years alongside his twin brother Stuart. The brothers set the previous world record in 2025 with a pumpkin called Muggle, which weighed 1,278.8 kg. Bagheera exceeded that figure by 17 kg. Stuart has since stepped back from competition, and this season Ian entered on his own for the first time. Paton described the workload in comments to Guinness World Records.
- 2025 record (Muggle)
- 1278.8 kg
- 2026 record (Bagheera)
- 1295.8 kg
It was much more work because I was on my own. Up to six hours a day in the garden for two months, but I managed...
Care through a heatwave
Paton spent up to six hours a day tending the plant. Sources differ on its daily water supply: most give about 590 litres a day, while ProTV reported 490 litres. A summer heatwave in Britain pushed temperatures in the greenhouse to 40 degrees Celsius. Paton said a pumpkin can grow from the size of a golf ball to this weight in 120 days, adding up to 32 kg a day at its fastest. He joked that he had not seen much of his wife during the season.
Display, seeds and next goal
Bagheera is on show at the Sunnyfields farm near Southampton, where visitors can see it until the end of October. The farm also built a mosaic of more than 10,000 pumpkins depicting David Attenborough. The name comes from the black panther in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, and was suggested by Paton's son. More than 2,600 seeds were harvested from Bagheera. After the display the pumpkin will be fed to cows, which Paton described as the natural life cycle of any pumpkin, even a record one.
I want to continue. I really want to grow a 1361 kg pumpkin. That is what I have set my mind on.
Paton has already set his next target, a pumpkin of 1,361 kg, and he plans to keep growing.
