Shropshire grower tops tomato world again as world record reinstated
Champion tomato grower Graham Tranter has won his eight-month battle to be reinstated in the Guinness Book of Records.
For four years Mr Tranter held the record for harvesting the most tomatoes from a single seed – 488.
But there was controversy when bus driver Surjit Kainth came forward last year with a challenger.
He offered a tomato plant with 1,355 tomatoes – but Mr Tranter, from Glazeley, near Bridgnorth, immediately lodged an appeal with the organisers.
"I always thought the Guinness World Record had got it wrong," said the 70-year-old, of Eudon Burnell Farm.
He argued that Mr Kainth's tomatoes were grown on a single plant, rather than from a single seed. On each plant there can be between eight and 10 trusses and I believed the adjudicators had mistakenly added them all together.
"It looked like Mr Kainth's record was for one plant and not a single truss.
"At first they looked through the records and thought mine was also for a plant and not a single truss.
"But they've reinstated mine now and the other will stand for most tomatoes on a plant.
"I have been ringing them since December last year, but it was great to get confirmation that all the information had been corrected."
Mr Tranter has also tasted success at two recent shows.
He scooped first prize for a pair of cabbages at last weekend's Shrewsbury Flower Show, which followed a second place prize at Burwarton Show.
"Each cabbage at Shrewsbury weighed about 35lbs," he said.
