Southampton man breaks Guinness World Record for world's longest cucumber

Amateur gardener Sebastian Suski produced the whopping 113.4cm (44.64 inches) cucumber beating the previous record by over 6cm.

Originally from Poland, Sebastian works as a beekeeper and lives in Lordshill with his wife Renata and four children.

The 44-year-old has been growing oversize vegetables for more than seven years and had attempted to break the cucumber world record several times before.

He said: "I'd grown big cucumbers but never quite long enough to beat the existing Guinness World Record's title holder.

"Growing super-long cucumbers is a risky business.

"If you cut too soon, you're not going to have a record-breaker but if you leave it too long, you get into the danger zone."

Sebastian's 113.4cm cucumber

Sebastian, who refers to his winning vegetable as a 'she', almost lost out on the chance to become a record holder when he was hospitalised at a crucial point in his cucumber's growth.

"Doctor found a leaking blood vessel in my head and so I spent a week in the hospital.

"But luckily my wife Renata was on hand to care for the cucumber and keep her well-watered and nourished. Without Renata, I wouldn't have this record."

Sebastian says his record-breaking cucumber comes from a "long record breaking family".

He said: "I've tracked the seed back 15 years to record-breaking specimens from the UK to Germany to Poland and back to the UK again."

Following the Guinness World Record announcement last week, Sebastian has become an international officer for the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth and will be on the lookout for the world's heaviest pumpkin.  

Guinness World Record UK-based consultant, Martyn Davis, of the National Vegetable Society said: "It's a beauty. It wasn’t easy to photograph.

"The gauge I usually use for things like cucumbers only goes up to one metre, so I had to photograph it overall and then at each end."

Sebastian now hopes to create a record-breaking streak of cucumbers, aubergine and butternut squash.

The world record cucumber will be on display with The Romsey Show on September 10. 

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