Veteran grows 384-pound giant pumpkin in his backyard
By KTBS staff
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BOSSIER CITY, Louisiana (KTBS) — As the focus turns from Halloween pumpkins to Thanksgiving pumpkins, one Bossier City backyard looks straight out of a Charlie Brown special — complete with a great pumpkin that actually exists.
Air Force veteran David Weindel, once stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base, has spent months tending to a patch of soil that produced a 384-pound pumpkin. The monster gourd’s size is official — certified by Louisiana Weights & Measures.
It’s only his second attempt at growing super-sized fruit.
“I’ve always gardened,” Weindel said. “And I just thought, well, that’s kind of like the biggest thing you can grow. There’s no other fruit out there bigger than a pumpkin.”
Weindel says gardening became his therapy after the military — a way to quiet his mind and restore a sense of purpose.
“It gives me peace,” he said. “When you’re out here, you can just focus on growing something good. That’s all you have to think about.”
What started as a YouTube curiosity grew into a neighborhood attraction. Children along Williamsburg Drive stopped to snap pictures beside the pumpkin that now dwarfs a 130-pound decorative boulder in his yard.
“One day it was about 10 pounds,” Weindel recalled. “Three or four days later it was like 70 or 80.”
It takes a village — and a few strong backs — to move a pumpkin that big. Weindel’s friends — Tyler, Phil and Brandon from the “Pepper Pals” gardening group — stepped in to help load the giant for weigh-in day.
“We had to roll it onto a tarp and lift it onto a trailer,” Phil said with a laugh. “We were grunting like we were back in the gym.”
Between watering, fertilizing, and shading, the effort cost nearly $1,000 in supplies and covered about a thousand square feet of vines. His mother pitched in daily, covering the pumpkins with towels to prevent sun scalds and cracks.
When the final number came in — 384 pounds — Weindel grinned.
“We were slightly overweight from what the estimate was, which is always great,” he laughed.
But the pumpkin isn’t destined for pie, “it’s mostly water,” said Weindel.
It’s been a hit with neighbors and trick-or-treaters.
“The kids come running up after school and go, ‘Mr. David, it got bigger again,’” he said. “They touch it, knock on it like it’s a door, and take pictures. It’s just fun seeing their faces light up.”
Now that Halloween has passed, Weindel plans to harvest the seeds and sell them cheap so others can try the hobby. He’ll donate the remaining flesh to local goats and tortoises.
“It’s cool to get to share it,” Weindel said. “Before, it was just in my yard. Now it’s out there for everybody to see.”
The “shock an awe” makes Weindel focus less on the cost of growing pumpkins. He spent $100 to buy two seeds that birthed his gourd — an investment he now calls “worth every penny.”
“That one little seed gave me all this joy,” he said. “Next year I’ll sell the seeds for 5 bucks so anyone who wants to grow one can give it a shot.”
You could almost hear Linus whispering from the patch: “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Bossier.”
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