Are you out of your gourd?

Jon Berndes, a telephone repairman by trade, decided that he wanted to try and grow the world’s largest pumpkin when he read a newspaper article 20 years ago about…the world’s largest pumpkin.

Last month, Berndes and his 600-pound pumpkin — now on tour — made its first stop at the Lake Murray parking lot. They will be making appearances around town before the pumpkin’s demise on October 31, when UCSD students make the annual Pumpkin Drop from the ninth-floor rooftop of the Tamarack apartment building.

Berndes grows the pumpkins on his two-acre lot in Granite Hills that borders the town of Crest. He says he uses Holland’s Giant Pumpkin seeds; $11 buys six, including shipping from the state of Washington.

“You can’t get these seeds at Home Depot,” he says. Berndes then grows two plants with one pumpkin on each plant. He says the water bill alone for the two pumpkins is $430 over a two-month period. It takes approximately four and a half months for them to grow to full size: 600 pounds each and about 11 feet in diameter.

This is the fourth year of Berndes has grown giant pumpkins. Last year, Channel 10 News spotted Berndes in his repair truck and followed him until he stopped. They wanted to get some video of him driving his pumpkin around.

Recently, Berndes was driving his truck down the freeway. Someone followed him to get the number off the side of his truck and called him. They told him that they wanted the pumpkin and would give him $400 for it, but Berndes said he wanted to spread “pumpkin joy” and get it to its final destination, UCSD.

Aside from taking the pumpkin to carnivals, schools, and parks, Berndes takes it to nursing homes. When he gives his pumpkin to UCSD, he gets $70 and a UCSD sweatshirt.

Berndes’s brother, an intramural coach at the school, connected Berndes to the Pumpkin Droppers. Students cut the top off and fill the pumpkin with about 2000 pieces of candy.

How does Berndes get the pumpkin into his truck? This year it took eight people, pizza, and beer. Last year, it took 20 people, pizza, and beer.