A local grower is taking the world by storm with their record-breaking giant fruits and vegetables. Ryan Cook recently broke multiple state and world records with his impressive crops.
Cook has been gardening since 2008 but only recently began growing giant crops. He noted that his father grew some large pumpkins in 2016. That helped spark his interest in the hobby. Several years later, Cook’s giant crop journey began after purchasing pumpkin seeds that claimed they could grow up to 1000 pounds. While that batch did not live up to the potential Cook hoped, he said he did not get disheartened.
“I spent all summer watching YouTube videos from giant growers, and I learned a lot to use for 2021 which was last year. I grew a world record butternut squash, 83 pounds one ounce. I also grew a pumpkin that was 1016 pounds. That was my biggest one last year, and I grew a couple of other giant things but this year I stepped it up. I learned a lot from last year, and all winter long. I traded seeds and stuff and I got 37 to 38 different varieties of giant vegetables and fruit to grow.”
Once all of his giant crops began to grow, Cook started breaking records. He stated that he currently holds six state records and anticipates that number going up to seven or eight by the end of the season. He also broke two world records as certified by the World Record Academy. One world record is for the World’s Heaviest Butternut Squash. Cook’s squash tipped the scale at 83 pounds and 1 ounce. His other world record is for the most varieties of giant fruits and vegetables grown in a single season with 36 varieties.
Breaking a state or world record is an incredible feat. Speaking about breaking his first record, Cook said, “It was a huge sense of accomplishment.” That initial record break was a state record for the giant sunflower head diameter. He went on to talk about breaking a world record. He said, “When I broke the world record, it was awesome because I had growers that had been growing for years and years, 20 plus years, you know, reaching out to me for advice on something. Sometimes it’s overwhelming, but it’s very good. It just gives you a good sense of being able to accomplish something and being proud of it and wanting to do better and strive to do better.”
Cook said his best advice for new giant growers is to go in with as much knowledge as possible. He said, “If you have basic knowledge of garden skills, you can manage one [giant crop garden] pretty well. But you need to watch some of those YouTube videos for the more specific things directed toward giant pumpkins, you know, burying the vines and how to maintain, and keeping a giant pumpkin on the vine and healthy and all those things; how we fertilize, how we water, those types of things. That would be the first thing I would recommend.”
“A second thing would be to stay away from the store-bought seeds and find growers. There are lots of growers. I got elected to be the Mountain State Giant Growers president of the club. So there’s that club, it’s on Facebook, many of those growers, you can reach out to them and they’re local to wherever you’re at. They can help you. You can reach out to them for seeds and things like that. You can buy seeds from the clubs. Every state has a club, you can buy seeds from them. There are websites that you could reach out to and buy seeds from, and then there are auctions in the wintertime for these seeds. Those auctions support the clubs and the weigh-offs those clubs have and for prize money and stuff. We will be having a weigh-off next year, here in West Virginia. It’ll be the first one that West Virginia has had. There’s one in Milton but it’s not a GPC weigh-off. GPC is the Giant Pumpkin Commonwealth. They are recognized worldwide as the premier club.”
Cook’s final bit of advice is to keep trying and not give up. “The only other advice I would have is If you don’t succeed the first time just keep on trying until you do because there are so many different variables at play.”
If anyone is interested in getting involved in the giant growing hobby, reach out to Moutain State Giant Growers. The group is available through an official Facebook page, and experienced growers are available to help. Cook noted that the hobby is fun for all ages and encourages adults and children alike to get involved.
According to Cook, the Mountain State Giant Growers are planning to hold several weight-off events next year, and everyone, growers and spectators, are invited.
