Did a Mississippi man grow the world’s tallest pepper plant?

Henry Pope, the lead grower and plant geneticist for Mississippi Foundation for Renewable Energy, worked to cross-pollinate specific peppers for seven years. He thinks he has a world record holding cayenne and is waiting on confirmation from the Guinness Book of World Records.

Pope started the project seven years earlier and six generations of plants earlier. “The original parent plants were a variety of long cayenne produced by myself for Mississippi Foundation for Renewable Energy and a himo togarashi pepper.”

He said he spends a lot of time working in gardens, the greenhouse and a lab looking to develop open-pollinated, edible plants. Growing a record-holder wasn’t the original goal, but it became clear the opportunity was in sight with this one.

“We called it the record plant because I suppose we always assumed it would be the world’s tallest pepper plant (or I did), but that was more of a joke really,” he said.

How big is the world’s tallest pepper plant?

According to Guinness, the current title is held by Laura Liang in Irvine, California. Her cayenne pepper plant was 16 feet tall when it was two years old in 1999.

How tall is the Mississippi pepper plant?

Pope’s plant measured as almost 16.5 feet tall. If validated by the Guinness Book of World Records, it could set the new world record.

How did they measure it?

In November, four men measured and identified the plant using video and photos to record its height. Pope identified them as:

• Willie Roses (an expert in measurements).
• Willie C. R. Perteet (County supervisor in Attala County).
• Tobias Campbell (forester).
• Mark Terkanian (a plant specialist, who holds a Bachelor of Science in plant sciences from the University of Massachusetts).

They took video while one person ran a tape measure to the ground and someone held the end at soil level. In addition to continuous video, they took still camera shots at the top and bottom to verify where the tool was.

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Does he have gardening advice?

For Pope, the goal is sustainable, edible plants that help people be more self-reliant. His mother was a horticulturist, and his father ran a landscaping company and exotic animal breeding operation. The combination of experiences, paired with a passion for chemistry, led him to approaching plants from a scientific angle.

“My family and I live self sufficiently and have for a very long time. The work I do now is the cumulative product of these experiences in my life,” Pope said.

If you want a mega plant, he said, start with selective breeding.

“Learn how to save seeds from your crops in a professional manner. Anyone can do this with some research or simple training. We teach people to do this almost daily. Observe your crop for plants that have certain characteristics you desire. Save seed from that plant for a successive planting. Isolate these plants from others so they don’t cross pollinate, and repeat this action for multiple generations until you have something similar to what you want,” he said.

Or people can give a lot of care to stable-variety seeds sold by existing companies.

“You can do anything you put your mind to. In my profession, I see people do just that every day in various ways,” he said.

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Mississippi man isn’t done with the project

“Sometimes when you attempt to achieve one particular goal, another opportunity arises. This happens quite often really, not just in genetics, but in most scientific endeavors,” Pope said.

The plan was to develop a plant for vertical gardening, like on balconies or in small yards — or something that can be trained horizontally on a fence.

“Opportunity for creating a world record of any kind was never the goal. The goal was the same as it always is for us, to produce a natural variety of edible plant that is beneficial to those who wish to become less reliant on the grocery store, but when working with genetics observation of the characteristics you have to work with is the first step,” Pope said.

The plant submitted to Guinness is an sixth generation plant. He plans to invest several more years into the project.

“I will consider the project complete when I reach a 12th generation. I believe through further selective breeding that I can beat my own record in the future,” Pope said.

Bonnie Bolden is the Deep South Connect reporter for Mississippi with Gannett/USA Today. Email her at bbolden@gannett.com.