Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 26 Entries. Wednesday, April 23 View Page We decided to grow again this season after taking 2007 off to pursue other things and let the patch rest. The soil in our patch is the best it has ever been (I think...lol). We are going to grow 12 plants this year. My two boys will each grow one, my wife will grow one or two, which leaves me with eight or nine. Here is our line-up: 1502 Wallace 1442 Eaton 1347 Wallace 1253 Sperry 1233 Reiss 1231 Pukos 1225 Jutras 1180 Daletas 1173 Macari 1104 Hester 1081 LaRue 998.6 Pukos Any suggestions on crosses? Good luck this year everyone! Friday, April 25 View Page Here is the compost tea brewer I made. Here is a link to how I did it: http://www.fisher5.org/brewer.htm Saturday, April 26 View Page 10 of 12 emerged this morning: 1502 Wallace, 1347 Wallace, 1253 Sperry, 1233 Reiss, 1231 Pukos,1180 Daletas, 1173 Macari, 1104 Hester, 1081 LaRue, 998.6 Pukos. Saturday, April 26 View Page Here is our patch layout for 2008. Sunday, April 27 View Page Looks like trouble with the 1225 Jutras and 1446 Eaton seeds. We have the following backups to choose from: 1131 Fisher dmg 2006 (1370 Rose x 1233 Reiss), 1059 Fisher 06 (1225 Jutras x 1180 Daletas) and 971 Fisher 06 (1123 Daletas x 1420 Larue). Friday, May 2 View Page Set-out 1502 Wallace, 1347 Wallace, 1253 Sperry, 1233 Reiss, 1231 Pukos,1180 Daletas, 1173 Macari, 1104 Hester, 1081 LaRue, 998.6 Pukos on the 28th. Set-out the 1225 and 1446 today. Decided to go with them, they just started a little slow and I thought I was going to go with a couple of back-ups. I have 2 - 971 Fishers and 2 - 1059 Fishers as back-ups that are now going to go in my brother in law's patch. Things are looking good! 1180, 1104, 1173 and 1502 are currently the front runners. Very vigorous with huge seed leaves and 2" first true leaves already. I've never had them this big this early before, especially with temps in the mid 60's during the day and low 30's at night. Friday, May 2 View Page One other note: my wife told me that I am starting to be obsessive about the pumpkins and that we have a long way to go. Wednesday, May 14 View Page Here is the 998.6 today. Wednesday, May 14 View Page Here is the 1104 today. Wednesday, May 14 View Page Here is the 1173 today, biggest so far. Wednesday, May 14 View Page The 1180 today. Wednesday, May 14 View Page The 1347 today. Wednesday, May 14 View Page The 1502 today. Wednesday, May 14 View Page Temps are rising! The plants are going to get a rude awakening starting Thursday, as they are predicting record high temperatures for this time of year. The predicted high Saturday is 99, so I am going to have to come up with a plan to cool these guys down. My water system is not put back together yet, as I normally don't need it until June. Looks like I'll need to get the misting set-up together a little earlier this year. At the very least, I am going to have to remove the greenhouses from the bigger plants and hope that night-time temps stay in the mid 40's. Wednesday, May 14 View Page Well, I hope accuweather is wrong! Look at these mid May temps, 10 degrees higher than the record high, with 50 degree difference between high and low. I hope these plants survive! I think I need to get some shade cloth up and work on misting. Wednesday, May 14 View Page Here is the patch today, and the layout of the plants. Friday, June 6 View Page Have not had a full day of sun for 18 days. Plants are slow, and now it looks like all 12 plants are infected with mosaic...welcome back to growing. Saturday, June 7 View Page So....I had a master gardener tell me that the issue with my plants looks like mosaic virus. I don't think so now. I think it is a combination of no sun for almost three weeks and chemical burn. I have had an interesting bug issue. First, there are these little flies swarming around the plants. They look like little knats. A couple days after these guys appeared, I got hit with Cuke beetles (both striped and spotted). I sprayed with sevin as usual. Cuke beetles done, but the sevin did not touch the little flies. This yellowing issue started to appear, and it showed the same signs as spider mites like I had two years ago. I had to wait to spray due to just using sevin. So, I could not stand it anymore and after 7 days I sprayed with malathion. Well, the little flies died but returned two days later following rain. What is going on? How can I control these guys, and are they causing damage? The next few entries show some pics of the issue on the plants. Saturday, June 7 View Page Is this mosaic, or issue from spider mites? There are no little webs like usual with mites. Saturday, June 7 View Page Another shot. Mosaic? Saturday, June 7 View Page Mosaic? Saturday, June 7 View Page What is happening? Saturday, June 7 View Page This is typical of new growth. Saturday, June 7 View Page Again typical of new growth. Saturday, June 7 View Page More issues with new growth. Thursday, June 12 View Page Looks like I was correct, lack of sun and insecticide burn. Also treated with some epsom salts to cover all bases. New growth looks good. 1173, 1502, 1347 and 998 are at near 8 feet, with a few others closing in on six feet. Lots of sun the past few days.