West Seattle Halloween: How to carve a 400-pound pumpkin

That giant pumpkin has become what must be one of West Seattle’s biggest jack o’lanterns. When Dawson mentioned his 300- and 400-pound pumpkins here, we couldn’t help asking for photos. He obliged with a sequence of eight – starting with the biggest pumpkin, pre-carving. Read on to see the other photos, including the finished creation!

Our fearless carver provided narration, too: “I started with the 400-pound pumpkin first. You’ll notice the pumpkin is a little yellow. This usually means that the ‘meat’ is quite thick as opposed to an orange pumpkin which tend to be thinner. Here are the tools for the job: a 10 inch carving knife and a 12 inch sawzall— hopefully I won’t need the power tool.”

“I rolled it up onto its side to cut out the bottom in order to clean it out as the area around the stem tends to be the thickest and where the flower was located is somewhat thinner. Luckily it turned out only the carving knife was needed for this job.”

“The seeds are even supersized and the pumpkin is quite thick.”

“One of my helpers in cleaning the pumpkin out.”

“And here is the finished carving. The ‘Pumpking’ seemed only suiting for a gourd of this stature.”

“The ‘smaller’ pumpkin is trying to consume a hapless jack-o-lantern.”

“Happy Halloween.”

You too! P.S. In the original comment that yielded these photos, Dawson offered, ” I’ll have seeds available afterward. Post up here if you’re interested. The plants do get very large, as a warning to small gardens.” Just in case you’re brave enough!

9 Replies to "West Seattle Halloween: How to carve a 400-pound pumpkin"

  • Jasperblu October 30, 2011 (2:34 pm)

    Very cool!

  • WSLifer October 30, 2011 (2:40 pm)

    I’d love some seeds!Please let me know best way to reach you, thanks!

  • SN October 30, 2011 (3:17 pm)

    Would love some seeds too! Let me know. Thanks!

  • Zoey October 30, 2011 (3:36 pm)

    We’d like some seeds, if there are still some available! :)

  • nighthawk October 30, 2011 (4:00 pm)

    Other than the warning on size are there any other hints to growing a giant pumpkin? I would love to do this next year.

  • slc October 30, 2011 (4:56 pm)

    Awesome photos!

  • Argiles October 30, 2011 (5:32 pm)

    I would love some seeds as well.

  • Jen Peterson October 30, 2011 (6:59 pm)

    Hi Dawson,
    We live on an acre and the kids are jumping up and down with excitement at the prospect of growing these next year :o) Let me know if there are any seeds left. Jen Normandy Park, WA

  • Dawson October 30, 2011 (8:23 pm)

    Seeds are drying for storage right now. Should hopefully be ready in a couple weeks. Best is to catch me by e-mail: nwkayakers(at)comcast(dot)net.
    Those that have asked for seeds I’ll set them aside for you.

    @Nighthawk, not really anything special for growing. Full sun, good soil, water. Some folks go with burying parts of the vine and rooting hormones, special fertilizing teas, etc to get as much nutrient to the pumpkin as possible. Those are the folks going for records though.

Sorry, comment time is over.