Point Loma High alum Jon Berndes, who now lives in East County, “really” knows how to grow pumpkins. Every year he brings in the cream of the crop. As you can see, he didn’t disappoint again this year. “I have been growing pumpkins for almost 20 years,”?Berndes said. “I have grown almost 10 tons of pumpkins.”  
Berndes added, “This year’s 800-pound pumpkin is my largest. I entered it in the Irvine pumpkin weigh-off Sept. 23 and I won $1,000 for being the third-heaviest pumpkin. I also won $100 for being the prettiest pumpkin.”
Berndes said, on Halloween day, his pumpkin “will be full of candy and dropped from the 11th floor at Muir Hall at UC San Diego. I have provided the pumpkin for the drop the last eight years.”
Berndes added his other big pumpkin, the lighter one, is 700 pounds.