Joseph Young, of Basco, poses for a photo with his 300.5 pound watermelon on Wednesday, Sep. 19, 2018. At the Roberts Family Farm Festival in Guston, Ky., Young's watermelon held the Illinois record for biggest watermelon. | H-W Photo/Jake Shane

Joseph Young, of Basco, shows off two watermelons weighing 226 pounds and another weighing 300.5 pounds on Wednesday, Sep. 19, 2018. At the Roberts Family Farm Festival in Guston, Ky., Young's watermelon held the Illinois record for biggest watermelon. | H-W Photo/Jake Shane

Posted: Sep. 28, 2018 10:10 am

BASCO, Ill. -- The Young family won't be going without home-grown watermelon any time soon.

Joseph Young, a Basco, Ill. man whose hobby is growing monstrous fruit, pulled a 300.5 pound watermelon from his garden this year. The watermelon recently broke the record for the largest watermelon ever grown in Illinois and currently is the biggest watermelon weighed in any competition in the world this year. Young took first place at the third annual Great Pumpkin Pursuit and Watermelon Weigh-Off in Guston, Ky. on Sept. 15.

"The seeds came from a growing club out of Canada," Young said. "The original seeds these came out of started growing seven years ago. I saved them and hand-pollinated to keep track of the crosses I have."

The key to growing such a large piece of fruit, Young said, is tracking genetics. Young said there is the same level of genetic breeding in giant pumpkins and watermelons that there are in elite race horses. The mother that grew the 350.5-pound world-record holder is in the same lineage as Young's watermelon.

Young got into growing giant crops nine years ago. After reading about a giant pumpkin grower, he began researching the hobby extensively on bigpumpkins.com. Young said it has taken him nine years to adapt the soil in which he grows watermelons to have the right nutrient levels to support such a behemoth.

"Pumpkins are so susceptible to disease and storms," Young said. "I got into watermelons because they're much easier to deal with."

Young has gardened since he was a kid, but that is about the extent of his agricultural background. His daughter, Paytyn, 16, who grew her own 250-pound watermelon this year, spent the season helping her father weed the watermelon patch and remove smaller melons.

"All season you're fighting all the other little melons that want to develop," he said.

Growing giant fruit requires consistent water, proper fertilization and regular culling. Young said one watermelon needs a minimum of a 300-square-foot patch. It took a group of four helpers working together to lift the melon out of the patch when it came time to attend the Great Pumpkin Pursuit.

His record-breaker survived a July storm that tore through Basco and caused $30,000 worth of damage to the family home. Repairs on the home were completed earlier this month.

"I had a gorgeous pumpkin plant, and other melon plants, and it was like they were wiped off the face of the earth. I thought the season was over," Young said. "These two melons were inside a high-tunnel screen house, which was destroyed too, but it held in there until the large hail was over."

Young said the melon will eventually hit the compost pile. Many of the seeds -- there could be up to 900 in such a large melon -- will be given to other giant-growing clubs or sold.

"There has to be a certain amount of luck involved in this," Young said. "There's luck involved in every aspect of it."