Good gourd: Nova Scotia pumpkin just misses national record

In the "addictive" game of giant pumpkins, there are highs and lows.

Saturday brought a mix of emotions for Carl Graham of Donkin, N.S., as his massive pumpkin officially weighed in at 1,956 pounds (887 kilograms) — just three pounds below the Canadian record.

"It was disappointing when it hit the scale and I was rather shocked, actually, but it's just part of the game," Graham said after the weigh-off in Millville, Cape Breton.

The pumpkin had been raised in a greenhouse for 98 days, fed by a watering system and a main root of at least seven metres.

In order to weigh it, the greenhouse had to be taken apart. A crane was brought in to pick up the pumpkin and load it on a trailer, bound for Millville.

Graham had high hopes for the pumpkin, which he'd dubbed Howard in honour of pumpkin-growing legend Howard Dill. The pumpkin had been estimated to weigh over 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms) and is the largest he's ever grown by far.

"It is what it is. You just don't know what's inside them at times and this one fell short," Graham said.