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Notably Large / Largest Fruits & Vegetables (Guinness Records, Etc.)

No not the British Cabinet but whoppingly large onions, pumpkins, etc.:

Web posted Thursday, September 2, 2004



707-pound Nikiski pumpkin sets record

By JENNY NEYMAN
Peninsula Clarion

Driving by the front of the Tuboscope shop in Nikiski this summer, you'd never suspect anything unusual was tucked away behind the metal building off Old Nikiski Beach Road near the high school.

It would seem likely there would be the usual assortment of industrial-related items stashed out of view ‹ some tools; a forklift or two; maybe some scrap metal and a junk pile ‹ but certainly not what is likely to be the largest pumpkin in state history.

Yet that was home sweet home to a 707-pound giant gourd from the time it was planted in April until it was cut from its tangled sea of vines, loaded on a truck and taken to the Alaska State Fair in Palmer for a weigh-off Wednesday. As of 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, the pumpkin was by far and away the largest entered in the competition.

The proud papa to the amply-proportioned pumpkin is J.D. Megchelsen of Nikiski, a Tuboscope employee and gardener extraordinaire.

Megchelsen started nurturing his green thumb as a child, visiting his grandfather's farm in Iowa. He grew vegetables throughout his young life in New Mexico, then moved to Alaska after college and figured he'd have to scale back his gardening exploits due to the cold and short growing season. He certainly never imagined he'd be able to cultivate a pumpkin that would outweigh any in Alaska's history.

"People are amazed when they see it," Megchelsen said. "I see it myself all the time and I can hardly believe it."

Megchelsen got interested in growing mammoth pumpkins after seeing the success David Schroer of Homer had with them. Schroer set the previous state record for pumpkins in 1997 with a 347.01-pound specimen.

"He showed everybody else it's actually possible to grow stuff like this up here," Megchelsen said. "I would have never dreamed this is possible, myself. I'm indebted to him."

Megchelsen started growing pumpkins from store-bought seeds in five-gallon buckets three years ago. His biggest that year was 80 pounds. Last year he nursed a pumpkin along that reached 152 pounds. At that point, he decided to get serious. He stepped up his research, both in books and on the Internet. He got in touch with a giant pumpkin grower from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada, who gave Megchelsen some Atlantic Giant pumpkin seeds that came from two of the largest pumpkins ever grown in the world.

Frank McAnally of Tuboscope indulged Megchelsen's flourishing hobby by letting him take over the back of the shop with homemade greenhouses (where he also grows tomatoes and giant cucumbers) and an automatic drip watering system.

To most people, the stretch of property between the building's back wall and the tree-covered hill about 50 feet beyond is nothing special. To Megchelsen it is gardening gold ‹ a perfect microclimate with the building blocking north winds, the hill blocking south winds and the open space in between perfectly aligned to the arch the sun traces across the sky.

Megchelsen mixed his own loam, rich with compost and a variety of nutrients. On April 7, he planted the seeds under a grow light. On April 27, he transplanted them into the greenhouse. Then the fun and real work began.

"It's tough to get one to this size," he said. "A lot of them will do themselves in."

In some respects, pumpkin growers in Alaska have it easy because the pests and plant viruses that plague growers in the Lower 48 don't exist up here.

"I had a moose come through once, but he didn't know what to make of it," Megchelsen said.

Megchelsen said he doesn't have any secrets for producing such vast vegetables. Just watering with warm water, using a good mix of compost soil and fertilizer and exercising basic gardening knowledge goes a long way, he said. Beyond that, it's been a process of trial and error.

"The best way to find out is just to grow one yourself," he said.

The main challenges growers here face are cold and the short growing season, Megchelsen said, but this summer was an exception to most with its record-breaking heat and low rainfall.

Though summer growing conditions did help, Megchelsen still had to put in a lot of effort ‹ usually about two to three hours a day before and after work and on his lunch break. Pumpkins have to be kept off the ground and rotated from the stem, he said. He buried the vines where roots sprouted so the plant got more nutrients. Pumpkin stems constantly crack and heal, but you have to be careful that no cracks or holes form on the pumpkin itself or it is ineligible for judging, he said. The pumpkin plant needed to be watered twice a day ‹ consuming 60 to 80 gallons of water most days and up to 100 gallons on hot days.

"These guys will eat anything you throw at them," Megchelsen said. "They're voracious eaters. You just about can't over-fertilize them. They just keep eating."

Then there's the problems that arise when pumpkins have minds of their own. Megchelsen said pumpkins develop personalities. As such, he gives them names. This year, two pumpkins made it to maturity.

Boxy ‹ so named for its somewhat square shape ‹ is the "little" one, weighing in at 504 pounds. Boxy was always well-behaved and didn't give Megchelsen any trouble. In fact, he (Megchelsen uses male pronouns when referring to the pumpkins) has a tenacious spirit, growing to several hundred pounds even though his vine cracked and didn't allow him to get full access to nutrients.

"I've got a lot of admiration for this little pumpkin here," Megchelsen said. "He did all this on a broken vine."

Then there's big brother, who was not so easy to care for.

Meet Thunderhorse ‹ 3 feet tall, 4 feet wide and 707 pounds with a light orange, cantaloupe-textured rind. The man from Moose Jaw who gave Megchelsen the seeds said growing a large pumpkin is like trying to ride a wild horse. Megchelsen experienced firsthand what the man meant and named the pumpkin in honor of the battle.

"It was literally a different problem every day," he said "... If you don't like problems, don't try and grow one of these guys."

Thunderhorse didn't start out as auspiciously as his name implies. At first he was the runt of the seeds Megchelsen planted. At one point he dug it up to see if it was even sprouting after the other seeds had broken above the dirt. He planted it anyway and it began to take off so fast that Megchelsen pollinated it with the other pumpkins, then killed all but Boxy off to give Thunderhorse room to grow.

"I came back the next morning and said, 'My God,'" Megchelsen said. "It went from (the size of an) orange to grapefruit to volleyball to basketball that quick, by the day."

The pumpkin's largest weight gain in one day was 9 pounds ‹ from 22 to 31 pounds. The next day it was 38 pounds and the next it was more than 41 pounds.

Thunderhorse spent most of his life outside the main greenhouse, not in exile, but because he refused to grow where Megchelsen wanted him to. He was growing against the greenhouse wall and continued to do so no matter how many times Megchelsen staked and repositioned him. Megchelsen finally cut a hole in the greenhouse wall, propped Thunderhorse off the ground outside the greenhouse and built him a warming shack complete with a little heater to keep him warm on cooler nights.

"They have their own will," he said. "I'm not sure who pushed who to the limit harder, me or the pumpkin."

By the time Megchelsen cut the pumpkin free of the rest of the plant Tuesday, the plant's main vine was about an inch in diameter and 45 feet long. With all the foliage, the entire plant weighed about a ton, Megchelsen estimated.

In a community as small as Nikiski, it's tough to keep a 700-plus pound pumpkin a secret for long. By the end of August, Megchelsen had to start scheduling visiting times because so many people were dropping by to see the plant, sometimes up to 40 or 50 a day, he said.

On Tuesday, a crowd of about 30 friends, family members and curious onlookers came to watch Thunderhorse and Boxy be loaded in Megchelsen's truck in preparation for their trip to the fair.

"Its exciting, especially to have it here in Nikiski," said Linda Spotts, a co-worker of Megchelsen's wife, Dana. "(Dana) has talked all about her husband, how important it's been to him and how he's just babied it. Even the whole (staff of) Tuboscope's been babying it. It's been a family project."

Megchelsen called in favors from about eight large Nikiski men to have them help lift the pumpkins onto palates that were loaded onto his truck with a forklift.

"There was enough people picking it up, it wasn't too bad," said Butch Ewing, operator at Tuboscope. "We've been looking at it all summer. I think it's amazing for something like that to grow up here."

The atmosphere at the loading took on a fair-like quality as people admired the size of the produce, kids gathered leaves and pieces of vine to take to school and almost everyone took turns posing for pictures with the pumpkins.

Through it all, Megchelsen bustled through the crowd, shaking hands, laughing at jokes and making sure his pumpkins were being safely transported. Thunderhorse had a special enclosure built around him for transport and was padded with foam, quilts and pillows. Boxy received somewhat second-class attention but still was padded, secured and handled with care.

Megchelsen was good-natured about the requests for pumpkin pie and jokes about how much care he's given the pumpkins.

"I wouldn't want to drive up behind him," Ewing said. "He'll probably drive 40 (miles per hour)."

Dana Megchelsen said she was excited for her husband and had hoped he would win.

"It's been his whole summer, and he loves it," she said. "He definitely has a green thumb, even at home."

Thunderhorse and Boxy will be on display at the state fair in Palmer until Monday.

Megchelsen said people do use giant pumpkins for pies and other edible endeavors, but he's not planning to do that. Last year he turned his biggest pumpkin into a jack-o'-lantern, but probably won't repeat that effort.

"They're so thick it's like chiseling a piece of granite," he said.

Megchelsen is working out a way to display the pumpkins in the central Kenai Peninsula after their duty at the state fair is done. After that, they'll go back in the compost pile to be recycled as food for next year's crop. But the memory of Boxy and Thunderhorse will live on, inspiring Megchelsen and several of his friends who have taken up gardening to try to grow even larger ones next summer. Megchelsen said getting other people interested in gardening is part of his reward for his record-setting pumpkin.

"If someone does grow a bigger one next year, I'll be the first one to want to see it," Megchelsen said.

http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/090204/gar_090204new001001.shtml
 
Experts seek key to monster veg

Experts seek key to monster veg
Crops of oversize organic vegetables grown by a Scottish couple are being studied by scientists.
Cameron and Moira Thomson have produced onions the size of footballs and strawberries the size of apples on what was a boggy hillside near Blairgowrie.

Mr Thomson said the secret of their success had been remineralising their ground with simple rock dust.

Scientists from Glasgow University have begun a three-year study of the Thomsons' pioneering work.

Viewers of BBC Scotland's Beechgrove Garden programme will see the results of the Thomsons' work on Thursday night.

The former art teachers have spent 20 years experimenting with remineralisation.


People see giant vegetables and think 'how can they be organic?'
Cameron Thomson

In 1997 they set up a charitable trust, the Sustainable Ecological Earth Regeneration (Seer) Centre and planted 64 trial plots of land to carry out research into organic gardening.
The plots were spread with crushed-up volcanic rock and the crops harvested in July. Experts have now started a three-year examination of their work.

Mr Thomson, 56, said that their land at Enochdhu had been transformed from "infertile, poorly-drained upland grazing".

At first, people thought they were "cranks" but the couple have spent years "ploughing on".

Microbes and worms

Last year, the Thomsons planted a trial patch of potatoes between June and July, normally too late in the season, but despite predictions there was a bumper crop.

He said: "We got massive spuds out of there, bigger than mangos.

"They had less water in them and last so much longer than anything you would ever have seen before. We were eating them until about a fortnight ago."


He added: "People see giant vegetables and think 'how can they be organic?'"
The project has received more than £150,000 in Scottish Executive funding to help trial the application of rock dust in agricultural systems and to maintain its staff and gardens.

Rock dust was spread over the crop trials and left for microbes and worms to naturally fertilise the land and replenish it with up to 75 minerals and trace mineral elements.

The Thomsons source the dust for free from the Collace quarry, with Tayside Contracts, who service roads in Perth and Kinross, Tayside and Angus, agreeing to provide them with as much as they require.

Mrs Thomson, 42, said: "Rock dust is the perfect way at getting the earth back to full health."


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/3679450.stm

Published: 2004/09/22 10:47:49 GMT

© BBC MMIV
 
Not the first time something like this has happened in Scotland.
The Findhorn Community was widely celebrated in the 1970s -
they attributed their giant veggies to spiritual factors, rather
than minerals. No doubt there is something on the Web about this
group and its fate. I'll go see . . .

Seems it has evolved into a New Age educational trust and still
receives thousands of visitors each year:

http://www.rnw.nl/special/en/utopia/html/findhorn010103.html


And here is their own Website:

http://www.findhorn.org/about_us/display_new.php

"The land in the caravan park was sandy and dry but he persevered. Dorothy discovered she was able to intuitively contact the overlighting spirits of plants - devas - who gave her instructions on how to make the most of their fledgling garden. Again Peter translated this guidance into action, and with amazing results. From the barren sandy soil of the Findhorn Bay Caravan Park grew huge plants, herbs and flowers of dozens of kinds, most famously the now-legendary 40-pound cabbages. Word spread, horticultural experts came and were stunned, and the garden at Findhorn became famous."

I note that "sandy and dry" suggests something like the volcanic dust added to the ground in the new story. Not that I'm dissing the Devas at all.

:)
 
The village of Goostrey near here is famous for its giant garden produce.

My attitude towards such activities is probably best summed up by the old music hall song, 'Oh! What a beauty!' :D
 
Originally posted by James Whitehead
I note that "sandy and dry" suggests something like the volcanic dust added to the ground in the new story.

Note that "Findhorn Bay" suggests that the "sandy" is due to - erm - sand.
 
Location. Valle De Santiago Mexico
Date: 1947
Time: morning

A young farmer was out plowing his field when he was suddenly confronted by a very tall gaunt looking individual, that resembled an albino and with distorted features. The stranger told the farmer that he had been held captive by "humanoids" in the interior of a nearby inactive volcano. The stranger then sketched a formula on a piece of paper which he claimed was the secret to growing huge vegetables, he then walked away and disappeared. The farmer indeed has been able to grow giant vegetables ever since.

source

Volcanic dust again? It seems likely: Volcanic Dust Creates Giant Veg.

Mt Shasta, incidentally - renowned as a hotspot for bizarre entity encounters - is also a (currently inactive) volcano. I wonder what the vegetables are like there? And what the devil is this all about:

POSSIBLE ALIEN VISITOR REPORTED IN MISSISSIPPI

In the '70s, I was on the road for business and stopped in a small cafe. While we were in there, a man came in and asked the waitress where he could find liquid for batteries. It was very early in the morning and the cafe was the only place open. I knew he needed battery fluid by what he said, and told him he could get help at the gas station. He said he was in a trailer which was run by batteries. He seemed quite distressed waiting for the station to open as he had a schedule to meet. He said he was coming from Mexico and was on his way to work on Mount Shasta, not in the town, where he had work to do.

He wanted to know if U.S. newspapers reported on the giant vegetables being raised in the mountains of Mexico. His people had been helping these isolated people by teaching them how to grow things. His people had tried to help the other nations as well, but no one would have anything to do with them. He said the governments of the world did not want to talk to them and they were totally disregarded. He talked about how bad-off the world was.

This conversation began to take on a surreal amount of information, which made me wonder who he was. We were all mesmerized by his stories. The only people in the cafe were us four women, all over 30 years old, who really wanted to hear what he had to say. We were all eager to just listen to him. He was of medium height, muscular, and had snow-white hair, even though his face seemed ageless. He looked Swedish, but his English was good, but he did not know that electrolytes were needed for batteries. He did say he had important work on Mount Shasta and had to be there on time to get it done. He was so white, and he had an expression of peace and quiet, and a steady voice like an angel, which was like music to the ears.

source

And lastly, Humanoids From Space Give Formula to Grow Giant Vegetables.
 
When I was a baby, I was raised for a brief period near Fyndhorn, Scotland and and still have a couple of short memories of the "community garden" as my mom refered to it. About six months ago I came across a rather well-written book that talks about how the community started and also details the interactions with the devas; there are some wonderfully believable stories from the early days of Fyndhorn. I'll see if I can dig it up tomorrow and give the title and maybe a quote or two (it'll force me to finish unpacking from the move).
 
Does "2 Jags" Prescott count as a 'massive vegetable'?

just wondering... :)
 
Parsnips of the Caribbean: World-record breaking 17lb vegetable that looks like Davy Jones shocks horticulture fans at growing competition
By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 20:48, 8 March 2012 | UPDATED: 00:43, 9 March 2012

Shiver me tubers! This giant parsnip bears more than a passing resemblance to the tyrannical Davy Jones of Pirates of the Caribbean fame.
Just like the captain of the Flying Dutchman, played by Bill Nighy, the veg sports tentacle-like features sprouting out of its bulbous body.

The 17lb 3oz parsnip, grown by Cornish farmer David Thomas has just been recognised as the world’s biggest by Guinness World Records.
He then travelled 500 miles so the parsnip could be officially weighed at the Three Counties Showground near Worcester.
It tipped the scales at 17.3lbs - 4lbs more than the previous record-holder grown by Peter Glazebrook from Newark, Nottinghamshire.

However, the giant parsnip bears little resemblance to the traditional straight vegetable seen in shops.
Mr Thomas, 43, said: ‘It’s not a beauty contest and the parsnip is ugly. It’s been compared to Davy Jones but it is the biggest and now it’s official.’

Pirates character Jones has an octopus-like head, with tentacles giving the illusion of a thick beard. He uses the tentacles like fingers to manipulate objects.
There are also similarities with the monstrous alien from the Predator films.

David dug up the vegetable last September with his 11-year-old daughter Madeline.
He entered it into a giant vegetable competition at the Malvern Autumn Show later that month and the record has now been verified by Guinness World Records.

David said: 'My daughter helped me dig it out that day and we were quite excited when we realised how big it was so we weighed it on the bathroom scales.
'It is totally different to my day job and it's a bit of a challenge and it is great fun. I get to go all over the country doing it.
'I even went to Germany last year because they invited me to talk about giant vegetables.
'It's a very friendly thing to do because the scales do the judging.' David also grows giant cabbage, pumpkins, squash, marrow, cucumbers, carrots and swede.

He travels to two or three shows each year and says his wife Sarah 'tolerates' his hobby because he involves their daughter.
David believes he is getting close to smashing more world records with other vegetables.
He said: 'I've got cabbage and swede that are very close to the world record but it's getting that extra pound or two that's difficult.
'My best pumpkin is 800lb but the UK record is 1500lb so I'm about halfway.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1obygSps8
 
Uh oh...

Giant pumpkin boat to make 100m attempt in Portsmouth

An artist who works with outsized vegetables is to attempt to break the world record for the fastest 100m paddle in a boat made from a pumpkin.
Dmitri Galitzine also plans a crossing over the Solent from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight in the giant gourd powered by an outboard motor.

He sourced the 800lb (360kg) prize-winning squash at the Mere Brow Giant Pumpkin Show.
He has spent days working with boating experts to create his pumpkin vessel.
Mr Galitzine, who creates giant vegetable sculptures influenced by English folk culture, has no sailing experience, but is being supported by Portsmouth marine entrepreneur Jonny Boys.
The artist said the pumpkin "does float on its own, but we have stuffed it with polystyrene to make it more buoyant".

The pumpkin boat will first sail in Trafalgar Wharf, Portsmouth, where Mr Galitzine will attempt to beat the Guinness World Record for the 100m fastest paddle in a pumpkin later.
If weather permits, he will then attempt a crossing of the Solent on Thursday from Stokes Bay in Gosport.

A handful of pumpkin regattas, in which boaters race each other in giant pumpkin ships, have been held in the US and Nova Scotia in Canada since the 1990s.
A pumpkin boat race also took place in Hampshire in 2006.

Mr Galitzine said that while sailing pumpkins was "not common... the crossing over the Solent is different to the regattas in the US, [as] it's over three miles and there are strong tides".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-24609767

An inexperienced sailor, an unconventional vessel - what could possibly go wrong? :roll:

"..we have stuffed it with polystyrene to make it more buoyant"
Bouyancy doesn't work like that. The bouyancy is the weight of water displaced by the 'hull'. Nothing put inside the hull will change that.

Does this character make a living from his art? He'd do better painting pretty pictures to flog to tourists!
 
Giant pumpkin artist sets 'record' for 100m paddle in Portsmouth

An artist who works with outsized vegetables claims he has set a new world record of exactly two minutes for the fastest 100m paddle in a pumpkin.

Dmitri Galitzine sourced two 600lb (270kg) and 800lb (360kg) squashes at the Mere Brow Giant Pumpkin Show.
Speaking after his 100m paddle in Portsmouth, he said it had been "difficult" but paddling the pumpkin through the dock had "felt good".
Guinness World Records said it had received notification of the attempt.

Mr Galitzine, who also plans to cross the Solent from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight in a giant gourd powered by an outboard motor, spent days working with boating experts to create two pumpkin vessels.

The larger pumpkin was fitted with an outboard motor for the Solent crossing, while the smaller one was hollowed out for the world record paddle attempt.

His record attempt was recorded by independent adjudicators, and will be examined later, Guinness World Records said.
It had said Mr Galitzine would have to complete the 100m paddle within three minutes to set a new record.

Mr Galitzine, who creates giant vegetable sculptures influenced by English folk culture, has no sailing experience but was supported by Portsmouth marine entrepreneur Jonny Boys.

His next challenge will be the three-mile crossing of the Solent on Thursday from Stokes Bay in Gosport, using a hollowed out pumpkin powered by an outboard engine.

...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-24609767
 
He's under way!

Bit squashed in there? Artist attempts three mile sea journey in pumpkin
by Claire French
Published 24/10/2013 09:00

SMASHING pumpkin records on the water yesterday, Dmitri Galitzine has set off in another modified boat from Gosport in a new challenge.
At 8am, the artist left Stokes Bay for the Isle of Wight.

On Wednesday, Dmitri broke the world record by paddling the fastest 100m in an unmodified pumpkin.

Today’s attempt will see him sail the three mile journey at between one and two knots in a pumpkin fitted with an onboard motor.

Dmitri said:’Despite weighing 500kg, giant pumpkins are naturally buoyant and have a thick waterproof exterior.
‘They are round in shape like Welsh coracles, which were an effective vessel in fast flowing rivers. My biggest challenge are the strong tides across the Solent.’

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/bit-sq ... -1-5618150

Stokes Bay and the East Solent is handy for ...04 if things go pear-shaped! :twisted:
 
Yes there is!

Vegetable artist crosses the Solent in giant pumpkin boat

An artist who works with outsized vegetables has crossed the Solent from Gosport to the Isle of Wight in a giant pumpkin powered by an outboard motor.
Dmitri Galitzine sourced two 600lb (270kg) and 800lb (360kg) squashes at the Mere Brow Giant Pumpkin Show.

He left Stokes Bay at 09:00 BST and made the three-mile crossing to Wootton Creek in one hour and 56 minutes.
A spokeswoman said it went "very well" and Mr Galitzine was now heading back across the water to Portsmouth.

On Wednesday Mr Galitzine set a new world record of exactly two minutes for the fastest 100m paddle in a pumpkin.
He spent several days working with boating experts to create the two pumpkin vessels.
The larger pumpkin was fitted with an outboard motor for the Solent crossing, while the smaller one was hollowed out for the world record paddle attempt.

Guinness World Records said it had received notification of the paddle record attempt, which was recorded by independent adjudicators and will be examined later.

etc...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-24653190
 
I reckon this counts as an extreme pumpkin.

What is the largest ever fruit, and how much bigger can fruit get?

They are big, tasty questions.

The answer to the first is reasonably straightforward.

This recording breaking feat triggered a discussion about how it is possible to grow such large fruit The answer to the second, however, is much juicer, attracting the attention of some of the world’s leading plant biologists. They have just published new research into what influences the extreme size fruit can grow to. This new research not only reveals something about what goes on inside these giant fruits, it also confirms how much we still have to understand about how plants produce their fleshy, often sweet bounty.

So far, the largest known fruit was a pumpkin, grown by a human, rather than naturally in the wild. Produced in 2014, it weighed more than a tonne, topping the scales at a mouth-watering 1056kg. ...

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150114-the-biggest-fruit-in-the-world
 
CbsbeeE005011_20160925_BSMFN0A001_11n.jpg


A photo shows David Thomas, a vegetable grower from Britain's Cornwall, with his world record red cabbage. Thomas's 23.2 kg red cabbage beat a previous world record set in 1925, also in England, for a red cabbage weighing 19.05 kg. (Photo courtesy of Malvern Autumn Show)



LONDON, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Giant vegetable grower David Thomas from Britain's Cornwall is celebrating after being confirmed having created a new record for the world's heaviest red cabbage.

Thomas's 23.2 kilogram red cabbage beat a previous world record set in 1925, also in England, for a red cabbage weighing 19.05 kg.

Judges at the UK National Giant Vegetables Championships which was held at the Malvern Autumn Show in Worcestershire this weekend, confirmed the world record.

Thomas was waiting on Sunday to hear if Guinness World Records will verify the record.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-09/26/c_135712838.htm
 
A photo shows David Thomas, a vegetable grower from Britain's Cornwall, with his world record red cabbage.

I love red cabbage...... just love it! Sadly I don't seem to be able to grow it.
 
Record-setting jackfruit ...
Family grows 113-pound jackfruit in back yard

An Indian man is seeking Guinness World Records recognition for a 113.3-pound jackfruit that grew in his family's back yard.

Johnkutty, a resident of Edamulakkal, Kollam, said his family found one of the jackfruit growing in their back yard was unusually large, and they determined the 38-inch-long fruit weighed a staggering 113.3 pounds.

The resident said his family decided to seek Guinness recognition after discovering the current world record for a jackfruit is only 94 pounds.

Johnkutty said he is also applying to have the jackfruit recognized by India's Limca Book of Records.

SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/05/14/Family-grows-113-pound-jackfruit-in-back-yard/8591589467504/
 
In case you've wondered how long radishes can grow ...
How long can you grow?
When it comes to vegetables, It would seem very long. With a new world record just being broken at the 2017 Malvern show in Worecestershire, the world's longest radish measured 6.703 metres. In other words, this radish was half the height of a Telephone Pole. Considering that your average radish has a height of 6 inches to 18 inches at maturity, this was a clear winner.

SOURCE: https://www.learningwithexperts.com/gardening/blog/record-breaking-sunflowers
 
I've regularly grown broad beans (fava beans) with the plants regularly reaching 7 feet - somewhat larger than normal although the pods were normal size. As a horticulturist in a previous life extra large fruits and vegetables are down to a combination of several factors:

  • microclimate in a garden/polytunnel/greenhouse
  • water availability
  • type of soil and how it is suited to the plant
  • the amount of organic matter in the soil plus the soil microclimate (bacteria, fungi, microscopic animals and earthworms)
  • the mineral content of the soil and added substances
  • the level and length of available light
  • the variety of seed or plant eg., Bumpkin and Atlantic Giant are the same cucurbit pumpkin species but bred to opposite ends of the size scale.
If you can get all of the above into a favourable combination, with no stress limits placed on the plant then you may get a giant!

The awards for 'longest' roots like carrot, parsnip, radish are very boring IMHO, a seed is placed on top of drainpipe full of fine sifted soil, it's then grown and fed and watered horizontally, extra pipe sections being added. The roots are normal size, just with yards of a fine string-like tap root attached.
 
Actually, that's far larger than any potato that has ever been since time began. I looked up jackfruit on Wikipedia (good ol' Wikipedia!). Sounds yummy. Smells like pineapple and banana, and has seeds that can be roasted for a chocolaty aroma.
 
No idea what this "jackfruit" is - can we count it as Mandela's? :)
 
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