Swiss gardener grows 52.5 cm chili and breaks world record for the third time

Swiss resident Jürg Wiesli grew a 52.5 cm chili pepper and became the Guinness World Records holder for the longest chili pepper for the third time. The fruit was measured on 11 August in Dozwil, canton of Thurgau, and the record was confirmed by the organisation on 26 August.

The previous achievement also belonged to the same amateur gardener. In October 2017, at a vegetable competition in Jona, canton of St. Gallen, he presented a 45 cm-long pod, and a year later improved the result to 50.5 cm. This mark stood since 2018 — for eight years.

All the record-breaking peppers are descended from the Joe's Long cayenne variety. Over ten years, Wiesli selected seeds from the best fruits of each season and developed his own line, which he named Wiesli Big Long.

The gardener describes his method simply: he germinates the seeds at home under lamps at 28 °C from March, plants the seedlings in the ground at the end of April, once the threat of frost has passed, carefully loosens the soil and adds mature compost. After that, regular watering and balanced fertiliser are needed, but without overdoing it: otherwise, the plant produces leaves instead of pods.

Wiesli himself believes that the limit has not yet been reached, but the main difficulty lies not in the length but in the shape: long pods curl up, and straightening them is almost impossible — they simply break. That is why the record is updated so rarely: just three times in nine years, each time through the efforts of one person.

Length is not the only chili category. The heaviest pepper remains one weighing 460 g, grown by Briton Paul Davies and registered on 7 September 2020, while the hottest is the Pepper X variety, with a rating of 2,693,000 Scoville Heat Units. For comparison, an ordinary habanero measures around 350,000 units, while a jalapeño measures approximately 500.