Measure of Success

Records are made to be broken.

That adage certainly holds true on Longboat Key during the annual cotton plant measuring ceremony for Guinness World Records. This is Casa del Mar’s sixth entry as the World’s Tallest Cotton Plant.

The cotton plant at Casa del Mar underwent its annual height measuring Friday, July 15, by the tennis courts. Longboat Key Fire and Rescue provided a firetruck with a ladder to allow firefighter/paramedic Jason Berzowski to drop a tape measure from the top of the plant to the ground in order to get a precise measurement.

There was a crowd of about 50 people in attendance, and they enjoyed food and drinks while waiting to learn the new recorded height of the cotton plant.

D.M. Williams, general manager of Casa del Mar, has enjoyed growing three different world-record cotton plants on the Casa del Mar property during his 30-year span. When asked why the three plants have grown so tall he said, “We really don’t know. Only God knows that.”

Only one cotton plant remains on the property. One was knocked down by a storm, and the other one froze during a cold snap.

The current plant was being measured for the third time and has already been in the Guinness World Records two times before. At the bottom of the plant, Casa del Mar Assistant Manager Mark Meador held the measuring tape while Ervin Shannon, of the Manatee County Cooperative Extension, wrote down the official height of the plant to send to Guinness World Records.

The cotton plant has grown in the last three years. In 2009, it was 30 feet, 4 inches; in 2010, it measured 31 feet, 7 inches; and this year the plant was measured at exactly 32 feet.

Williams and Meador said they made sure to water, fertilize and keep the plant warm during the cold snaps.

“We put those heat lamps on it when it got cold out,” said Meador.

Bonnie Schneider, of Pelican Harbor, has attended the cotton-plant measuring ceremony two times in the past.

“It’s free entertainment!” she said.

Contact Rachel O’Hara at [email protected].