A pumpkin grown by Ron Wallace of Coventry, Rhode Island, weighed in at 3,156 pounds on Saturday, nearly 300 pounds more than the current world record, WJAR and WPRI reported. The weight was announced by John Russo, the official scale weigher at the Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Growers Weigh-Off at Frerichs Farm in Warren.

The record is not official yet, since the weight "has yet to be formally certified by Guinness," WPRI reported, but if it is confirmed, it would be the first pumpkin on record to top 3,000 pounds.

The pumpkin was the winner at the annual weigh-off, an all-day event that also featured food trucks and live entertainment, WJAR reported. Wallace lives in Greene, a village within the town of Coventry.

For a sense of scale, the record Wallace's pumpkin would beat was set only recently. Ian Paton of Lymington, England, grew a pumpkin nicknamed "Bagheera" that weighed 2,856.8 pounds at a weigh-off near Reading, the BBC reported on Oct. 6. A Guinness World Records judge confirmed the weight, the BBC said.

Wallace is no stranger to giant pumpkins. He grew the first one-ton pumpkin in 2012, WPRI reported. In 2015, at the same Warren weigh-off, his 2,230.5-pound pumpkin set a North American record, WJAR reported at the time.

Growers spend months coaxing these giants to size. Paton told the BBC he spent up to six hours a day tending his pumpkin and gave it about 130 gallons of water daily.

What we know: Ron Wallace's pumpkin weighed 3,156 pounds on Saturday at the Warren weigh-off, according to the event's official weigher, nearly 300 pounds above the current record.
What we don't: When or whether Guinness World Records will certify the weight, and what will happen to the pumpkin next.