Topic: possible new Amaranth world record

[sunflower_info]

I still need to submit my claim to Guinness World Records, but the Mercer County, NJ Weights and Measured Dept. measured my plant on Monday at 23 feet 2 inches, breaking the current world record of 15 feet 1 inch.

FOX Philadelphia News Video
http://www.myfoxphilly.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=4645655&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.2.1


Trentonian News Article
http://www.trentonian.com/WebApp/appmanager/JRC/Daily?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pg_article&r21.pgpath=%2FTRN%2FNews&r21.content=%2FTRN%2FNews%2FTopStoryList_Story_762248

[caroline7758]

Wow! is all I can say!

[cambourne7]

Amazing but wheres the flower?

[saddad]

 :-\ Size isn't everything..  :-X
Seriously though well done..
 ;D

[cambourne7]

wow just managed to get the video working brian, i am amazed my the corn!!

[sunflower_info]

There are flowers on the plant, but they are small in comparison to the size of the plant.  They are similar in look to other amaranth flowers, but they are greenish/yellow.



Besides being tall, these plants are capable of producing very large stalks.  I was in competition for the tallest with my friend from Dutchess County, NY.  His plant was 22 feet, which was a foot smaller than mine, but his stem had a circumference of around 4 1/2 feet around. 


videos of friend's amaranth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pI86ls5BaQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgqqfgX2aSw

This one was grown in a pot!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQe7Brx0adg



picture of friend's amaranth in Rhinebeck, NY


picture of friend's stalk  (grew about a half foot since I took this picture)

[cambourne7]

wow, ok my first stupid question of the evening.

What do you do with these plants at the end of the year? There not edible so what do you do with them?

[sunflower_info]

What do you do with these plants at the end of the year? There not edible so what do you do with them?

  In some states, they are considered a invasive weed.  Any plant that grows in swamps, can grow, in one season, nearly 30 feet in the wild and produces large numbers of seeds is probably invasive.  New Jersey is most likely too far north to be a problem.  In the wild, the furthest north they are found is Virginia.  They are long seasoned, and take a while to produce seeds; so they are limited by cold weather.  I was out this morning and looked at my plants.  It seems that I will have seeds this year.  I found developed seeds on the female plants.  Two of my plants are females and the rest are males.  My tallest plants are all males, and two shortest are females.  The US Dept. of Agriculture list a possible use for these wild plants as "bio-mass"
I'm going to save some seeds for next year, and the rest I am going to sell on ebay.  I have to get my money back from all the fertilizer that I used.  Plants that tall get very hungry. 

[cambourne7]

let me know if your selling the sweetcorn seeds i would love to try growing these monsters...

[GardenGirlSarah]

[GardenGirlSarah]

If you cant read this and want more info on this Giant plant the phone # it is call (845)486-2949  that is an official measurement. and the Amaranth plant grew 27 feet & 10 inches TALL in NY. grown by Jesse Eldrid.
 27' 10"!!!!!!!!
 for more info on the world record 27 foot tall Amaranth plant contact Jesse at myspace/GardenMonster
     

[GardenGirlSarah]

New York state gardener/farmer Jesse Eldrid specializes in growing heavy, tall, and large vegetables and annual plants.  On October 25th, 2007, after a long summer of working, watching, and waiting, he finally contacted county officials in order to obtain a legitimate measurement of the Amaranthus Australis plant he had been growing since the beginning of the year.   When Jesse contacted the local bureau of weights and measures, he knew that he had a record-breaking plant -- but he didn't know that his plant would be almost twelve feet (11.98) taller than the the goal he had set for himself in the existing record: the official measurement of the plant, he would learn that afternoon, was 27'10".
    In the early Spring months of 2007, Jesse received several amaranth seeds from the USDA NCRPIS (United States Department of Agriculture, North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station).  Although one wouldn't think it from the size of the mature plant, Amaranthus seeds themselves are actually quite small (smaller than the head of a pin.)  Germinating them was fairly difficult, however.  Once he managed to get a handful of young plants growing well, he knew one of them was destined to be huge.  On May 15th, when Jesse transplanted the young seedlings outside, they started growing rapidly.  The plant that grew the fastest also happened to have the largest trunk (measuring almost five feet around) which may have helped the plant grow significantly taller than normal.  (An average "trunk" would have a five to eight inch circumference.) 
     As the temperatures rose, the plant grew faster and faster.  Competition, too, was on the rise.  In Spring, Jesse shared a small number of cuttings among friends, and their plants had begun to take on considerable height at around this time, as well.  As it turned out, many of these cuttings exceeded the 15' benchmark, some even stretched to 20+ feet.
    In the early autumn, near the end of the amaranth's life cycle, Jesse's record-breaking plant was still growing several feet per day.  Just before the official measurement, the plant also began producing flowers which also contributed to the overall height of the amaranth.   Another factor contributing to the overwhelming size of the plant was the amount of water it received per day -- approximately 30 gallons per plant, per day.
    In order to give the plant extra support (and to determine the benchmark for the old record)  Jesse built a fifteen foot tall trellis for the amaranth.  It didn't take long for the plant to outgrow it, though.  By the middle of August, it was no longer possible to measure the plant with a ladder alone.  (For the official measurement in October, professional arborists were called in, and a bucket-truck was necessary to get a measurement from the very top of the plant.)
     Jesse Eldrid has been growing unusual plants for many years, and gardening is a life-long obsession for him.  In the future, he plans on challenging the millet, sorghum, and historic corn records (for height.)  He also intends, one day, to beat his own amaranth record. By growing crops such as these, Jesse hopes to raise awareness about the natural world and the potential for alternative energy. 

 It comes down to who grew the bigger plant, not who brought in the bigger media or the better cameras. It's about gardening.
I had twelve plants over 23' tall. Most of Brian's plants were *clones* of my certified 27'10" plant. He has left that information out of all of his articles, and posted up elsewhere that my plant is a "bigfoot" type of claim. Not only does he know better -- but he should have *acted* better, too. It's a much longer story than this, and it would probably make a good book. Maybe Brian would be interested in helping me write it??

[Hyacinth]

....bigfoot, tippy toes, whatever, I don't know the discussion here, but...surely Brian posted this in good faith when he did? On the 15th October, he would have had no idea whatsoever that his monster was going to be overshadowed (so to speak!) by another which was measured on the 25th October? Brian does, carefully, write at the time of his post, that it was a 'possible' which would need to be verified?

Well done to you both, anyway!!!

Lishka

[GardenGirlSarah]

This is a link to the Full PDF Article

[Hyacinth]

This is truly fascinating stuff, Jesse and a rare glimpse for us into the world of giant plant growing.  Have you now received ratification by Guinness World Records? When you get your Certificate I'm sure you've thought of a good spot to display it? (well, here at Lotties4 certainly  ;)) but at home? I'd be thinking at the top of a very very tall flagpole ..... hope you kept the amaranth trunk for the eventuality ;D

I usually buy Guinness World Records - will be nice to see the Record and think....I know the fella that grew that 8)

Lishka

[Jeannine]

Well done Brian, a gentleman as always, fascinating to hear all about the plants, and your posts are a delight to read.

I have high hopes for the  other seeds you kindly sent me last year, fortunately I only planted a couple as it was quite late  when I did it, so when the floods wiped me out it didn't get them all, so this year I can start in earnest.

I love to see your pictures and hear your news, but I know very little about this plant, it sound very interesting, it seems quite remarkable that something so small just grow up to be a giant. I shall have to read more about this.

Lovely to hear from you again, take care and please continue to keep us  all informed.

XX Jeannine

Oh and musn't forget the other man too, is Jesse and Gardenmonster the same person, anyway well done to you too, I see this was your first  post so I should be saying welcome.

[Hyacinth]

Ta-da!!! Roll of drums please!!

Ladies and Gentlemen! may I present to you the Official GWR Amaranth Grower - my dear cyberfriend Brian, aka Sunflower_Info (or TippyToes as I like to call him in our more intimate PM-ing moments ;))

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records/natural_world/plant_world/tallest_amaranthus.aspx

Many congrats Brian - opnwards and upwards, eh?

 :-*

[Jeannine]

Well done Brian, I am very excited for you, it is a great accomplishment.

XX Jeannine

[GardenGirlSarah]

 "gwr" or WR? its about the bigger plant . and NO GardenMonster is not Jesse. new world record photos in the slideshow link below. Happy gardening to all!! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tW99koioEc&feature=related

[Jeannine]

Sorry, I was genuinely interested till the F word started yelling at me from my lap top. Sad.

XX Jeannine