World’s Tallest Sunflower Was Grown In Indiana

World’s Tallest Sunflower Was Grown In Indiana Tall plant breeder/grower Brian Moore (Vol. 48, No. 6) couldn’t be happier that someone else grew the world’s tallest trellis-supported sunflower. That’s because it was seed he bred that did the trick for Indiana grower Alex Babich. “Other top sunflower growers are breaking personal records with the seed, but Alex’s plant reached 35 ft., 9 in.,” says Moore proudly. “He was recognized by the Guinness Book of Records this past September. He beat the previous world record of 30 ft., 1 in. that had lasted for 10 years.” Moore was on hand for the recognition. It was seed that Moore bred by crossing a wild sunflower found in Nebraska with seed he’d received from Richard Hope, a grower in the U.K., nearly 20 years earlier. The seed had been harvested from a previous world-record sunflower. “I didn’t know if the old seeds would germinate, so I laid them all out in a furrow and covered them over,” says Moore. “Only one grew.” He planted the Nebraska wild sunflower seed nearby. To cross the two, Moore would climb a ladder when he came home from work each day and rub the heads together. “I was hoping that Hope’s seeds, which were fairly inbred, when crossed with the wild seed, which is so different, would exhibit hybrid vigor,” explains Moore. That was two years ago. Moore shared the resulting seeds with another grower in Germany, who grew a 28-ft., 2-in. tall plant from the cross in 2024. That plant matched the previous all-time second-highest sunflower. It was that grower who swapped seed with Babich.  “That kind of cross-pollinated plants are called transgressive hybrids, when you take two dissimilar things, and in the second generation, they recombine,” says Moore. “They’re called hopeful monsters.” Moore is hopeful the monsters will come through again for Babich, who hopes to break his own record. “He’s asked me to not share the seed with anyone else this coming year.” While Moore developed the seed, he has no interest in competing for the title of tallest. “Growers like Alex and previous record holders use a trellis for their plants and baby each one along,” explains Moore. “I don’t believe in trellising. I like to see how tall they can grow when planted en masse with other tall plants.” Moore’s second-generation hybrid reached 18 ft., 7 in., without supports. Although he wasn’t mentioned in the Guinness recognition, he received an award from his home state’s Department of Agriculture. While Moore isn’t planning to build a trellis anytime soon, he’s working on his next record-breaking seeds. “I got some wild sunflower seeds from a man in Texas and plan to cross them with mine to see if they’ll do even better,” says Moore. He was also given some seed from a Minnesota grower who had grown some really tall Mexican sunflowers. “They didn’t do well in 2024, but reseeded themselves,” says Moore. “This past year, the tallest was 17 ft., 9 in., and another one reached 16 ft., 7 in., unstaked.” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Brian Moore, 281 Goat Hill Rd., Lambertville, N.J. 08530 (ph 609-610-4147).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.