WINDSOR (AP) – In his first year growing giant pumpkins, Tom Lishness has nothing to be ashamed of.

He won $1,400 a week ago at the Cumberland Fair after becoming the first to break Maine’s half-ton barrier with a 1,114-pound pumpkin. The old state and fair record was 978 pounds.

Lishness can expect the competition to be even tougher at the New England Giant Pumpkin Weigh-off in Topsfield, Mass., regarded as the Super Bowl for gourd growers.

There were rumors that a Pennsylvania grower was bringing a 1,700-pound entry to Topsfield, said Bill Clark of Bristol, a founder of the Maine Pumpkin Growers Organization, who was helping hoist Lishness’s pumpkin from the patch to a trailer Friday.

Straps made from a specially designed seat belt material were slipped under the pumpkin and secured with a clamp at the top. Once the vines were cut away, Lishness’ neighbor, Mike Richardson, brought over his tractor.

“Hold it right there,” Lishness said as he grabbed the top of the webbing and hooked it to a chain dangling from the tractor. As the pumpkin was slowly lifted into the air, Lishness’s wife, Laura, held her breath.

“He’s been so patient growing these pumpkins,” she said. “Some days I wondered if I would see him at all, but it’s been really fun to watch them grow. And he just loves them,” she said.

Lishness got hooked on growing giant pumpkins when he saw the entries at last year’s Windsor Fair.

“I saw them and said, Gee, I’d like to try that,”‘ he said.

“They’ll get pretty big if you take good care of em,” said Ron Bechard of Chelsea, who has grown giant pumpkins since 1989 and was helping Lishness load his pumpkin.

Lishness definitely takes care of his “girls.”

He kept them covered with blankets to help maintain their skin’s elasticity as they can grow up to 20 pounds in one day. He watered them constantly and planted them in a spot that had been composting for three years.

“The trick is to feed them as much as you can without having them explode,” Lishness said.

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Information from: Kennebec Journal, http://www.kjonline.com/

AP-ES-10-01-05 1328EDT