How to Grow Giant Vegetables and Fruit

Giant Vegetables and Fruit Records

As any gardener knows, a zucchini grows fast and furious. Left un-harvested, it can grow a couple of feet long and many pounds in weight. Other fruits and vegetables can grow pretty large, too. As a matter of fact, there are a large number of hobby gardeners, who grow fruits and vegetables, not for eating, but for their size and weight. To go after a giant vegetable world record, there are two things you need to do. First, learn all you can about how to grow giant vegetables. Second, seek giant vegetable seeds with great genetics. They are usually not available in stores. Rather, get to know other competitive growers. Often, they will give you seeds upon request.

Among the world of giant fruits and vegetables, the best known are giant pumpkins. At annual fall weigh-offs all over the world, growers seek to produce the biggest pumpkin ever grown. And, it’s an exciting time, as giant pumpkin growers have broken the world record on an almost annual basis for the past 20 years. These giant pumpkin growers now have their sights set on producing a one-ton pumpkin. They are getting closer every year.

Will You Break the Record for Giant Vegetables or Fruit?

Gardeners seek to break the world record on many other vegetables, fruit, and plants. Here are just some of the giant vegetable world records:

Giant Squash
Tallest Sunflower
Biggest Tomato
Long Gourds
Giant Cantaloupe
Largest Cabbage
Giant Peppers
This list goes on, and on, and……

Just how big can your favorite vegetable grow you ask? You may be surprised. Listed below are some of the giant weights we have found. Some of them are even world records. If you know of any large fruits and vegetables, or new records, please send us a note so we can share it with others.

World Records for Giant Vegetables and Fruit

Item	Size:	Grower:
Cabbage	138.25 lbs.	Scott Robb, Palmer Alaska (2012)
Cantaloupe	67 lb. 1.8 oz.	William N McCaslin from Kentucky, on August 5, 2019
Long Gourd	14 ft, 5.75 in.	Al Eaton, measured at the Bracebridge Ontario, Canada on September 17, 2022
Potato	18 lbs., 4oz.
Giant Pumpkins	2748 lbs.	Travis Giener, California, in 2023
Field Pumpkin	211 lbs.	John MacKinnon weighed at the West Hants Pumpkin Festival in Windsor, Nova Scotia.
Tomatoes	11.65 lbs.	Del and Julie Faust, Minnesota on October 8, 2022
Green Squash	2,118 lbs.	Joe Jutras weighed this giant, green squash at the Frerichs Farm Weigh-Off in Providence, R.I. on October 7, 2017.
Rutabaga	77.8 lbs.	A Royal Rutabaga grown by Norm Craven displayed at the Royal Agriculture Winter Festival in Toronto, Canada (2008)
Sunflower, Biggest Head	32 1/4 inches in diameter	Grown by Emily Martin in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada in 1983.
Sunflower, Tallest	30 ft. 1 inch tall	30 feet 1 inch by German Hans-Peter Schiffer in 2014
Watermelon	350.5 lbs	Grown by Chris Kent from Sevierville, Tennessee. It was weighed at the SOGPG GPC weigh-off in Hamilton, Ohio on October 4, 2013.
Zucchini, Weight	64 lb. 8 oz.	Bernard Lavery, UK in 1990
Zucchini, Longest	8 ft. 3.3Giovanni Batista Scozzafava (2014)

The World’s Largest onion weighed 18 pounds 11.84 ounces. It was grown by Tony Glover of the United Kingdom. It was officially weighed on September 12, 2014.

Garden Tip: As noted above, other giant vegetable growers are a great source for giant vegetable seeds with good genetics. Fall festivals and weigh-offs are the best places to meet them.