Green fingers: Pensioner breaks world record by producing 1,355 tomatoes from ONE seed
A green-fingered pensioner is celebrating after harvesting a world record-breaking 1,355 tomatoes - from just ONE seed.
Keen gardener Surjit Kainth, 68, planted the seedling in April last year and was stunned when his plant sprouted a never-ending supply of tomatoes.
The father-of-three revealed his secret is giving the five-and-a-half-foot plant 'a lot of care', and also praying beside it.
He received official confirmation from Guinness World Records last week that he has broken the record for 'most tomatoes grown on a single truss'.
He nearly tripled the current record held by Graham Tranter, from Bridgnorth, Shropshire, who boasted 488 tomatoes in 2009.
Surjit, a retired bus driver from Coventry, said: 'I am so pleased to have the record, it was quite a relief to get the certificate through. It was a nervous wait.
'We were pretty sure it would beat the current record but I was concerned about the variety of tomatoes.
'I planted the seed at the end of April, my daughter got it from a gardening centre for me, it wasn’t a special seed or anything and I doubt it cost very much.
'By the end of July I really started to notice its phenomenal growth, I couldn’t believe it, I wasn’t feeding it anything strange, just standard vegetable feed and water.
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'I have given the plant a lot of care and I also pray beside it, which I guess may help and may be a reason why it has grown to be probably the biggest in the world ever from one seed.'
Surjit also explained that he watered the plants continuously during summer, which became like a full-time job.
The gardening enthusiast admitted to picking more than 100 tomatoes off before the counting, and believes another 300 could potentially have been added to the record.
He used the record-breaking fruit in salads, chutneys, soups and salsas, and had so many that he had to give some away to family and friends.
'I didn’t start growing the tomato plant in order to break any sort of record, but to think I have broken a world record is amazing, it is great, brilliant, fantastic.
'My children and my wife are also really excited, they are overjoyed actually, I don’t think they can believe what has happened.
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'I do like gardening, I have grown cherry tomatoes and potatoes, but I have never done anything like this before.
'As I said, I didn’t really mean to break this record but it is a great feeling for me and I think it just proves that nothing is impossible.
'My plant is beautiful and I am very proud of myself. It has become such a part of the family we have called it Fateh which means ultimate victory.'