Thorold zucchini farmers fall short of breaking length records

Between 2023 and 2024, the Thorold area was a hotbed for record-breaking zucchinis.

In that span, three men showed off their green thumbs by growing squashes that stretched over eight feet long. The gardeners have been unable to duplicate their success since.

“We had a great crop. I picked about 40 of these things on my side,” said zucchini grower John D’Amico. His neighbour Ramesh Khurana said he picked at least 20 on his side.

While it may have been a bumper crop of zucchini this summer for D’Amico and Khurana, they won’t be squashing any records this year.

“The cool weather, then all the rain and then the heat, they just wouldn’t grow. We gave them everything we had,” D’Amico said.

Two years ago, the pair grew a zucchini that measured eight feet six inches in length. This year’s five-foot-three runt pales in comparison, but they still consider themselves the world record holders.

A few blocks away, Henry D’Angela is still relishing his record-setting zucchini from three years ago, which measured eight feet 4.79 inches. He wasn’t even close this season.

“Unfortunately, we got off to a slow start with a cold spring. The plant didn’t start growing until probably about the middle of June. As you can see, the zucchini that’s here hasn’t really fully developed just because it started late this year,” D’Angela said.

D’Amico and D’Angela have failed to reach their record zucchini lengths since. D’Angela’s latest attempt is a measly 53 inches, but these gentlemen aren’t done yet.

“I’ll be trying again next year and hopefully we have a better spring and a better summer where we do see a nice eight-foot or 10-foot zucchini growing from the side of my house,” D’Angela said.

D’Amico agreed.

“Yup, we’re gonna try it every year. As you can see behind us, we’ve got the rope system already there for next year,” D’Amico said.

These men don’t officially own the Guinness World Record for the longest zucchini because none of them finished the lengthy registration process.

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