Giant veggies may topple world records

August 9, 2005

JOEL DAVIDSON\Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - Local growers and Alaska State Fair officials say there is a good chance world records could be set for fruits and vegetables at this year's state fair.

Vegetable-growing titans John Evans, Robert Thom and Scott Robb hold several dozen state and world records between them and show no signs of slowing down.

Last year, Palmer resident Robert Thom, now age 64, set a new state record for green cabbage with a 73.8-pound hulk. He also holds the state record for a white radish that weighed 11.52 pounds in 2001.

With more than two weeks of growing left before the fair and football-sized radishes already ballooning in his "glorified garden," Thom said he may top the record again this year.

"I'm trying to beat it," he said Monday morning, standing over a burgeoning radish. "I have the state record but I'm always trying different things. You have to play with stuff or you'll never learn."

Thom said he doesn't have any secrets except to keep the ground nice and warm, which he does by lining his vegetable rows with strips of silver and black plastic.

A few miles down the road, in the Springer Loop area, the legendary John Evans has a garden that continually surprises him. Evans is a legendary veggie grower and holder of the world-record carrot. This year he has a giant cabbage he described as a "perfectly formed accident."

For more than a quarter century, Evans has tweaked organic soil stimulators, trying to find the perfect concoction for maximum growth and production.

If the size and sheer number of his vegetables are any indication, he might have perfected the ultimate mixture this year.

Evans' tomato plants hang in giant grape-like clusters and his Lady Di peas are more than a foot long.

"Have you ever seen anything like this?" he said Monday.

Fertalive is the name of Evans' self-made soil-stimulator. He plans to put the all-organic concoction on the market in two months as part of his business, Alaska Bountea.

"I'm keeping the formula a secret, but I will sell it," he said. "It stimulates the soil, heats it up, and infuses nutrients into the plants."

Another Palmer vegetable guru, Scott Robb, holds the world record for celery, kale, rutabaga, and turnip, not to mention last year's world-record surprise, a 64.8-pound cantaloupe.

Pamela Meekin, the fair's vender and exhibits manager, said the giant crops competition is great for creating international interest in the state fair.

"It's become very competitive," she said. "The crops are growing bigger and bigger and there's a handful of growers that are always trying to break each other's records."

Kathy Liska oversees the crops exhibits.

During the summer she visits many of the top growers to see how things are developing.

From what she's seen so far, the Guinness Book of World Records could have a few updates by the end of August.

"There is some big stuff coming in this year," Liska said. "I think we may see some records."

Contact Joel Davidson at 352-2266, or joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.