Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 133 Entries. Saturday, April 13 View Page Well this is the start of my new patch. New spot never planted. The boards are the start of the layout. A new challange for me as i have wind galore since i'm on top of a hill. Lots of sun & wind !! Seeds start tomorrow. Looking at 239 Leonard, 274 Kent, 260 clementz, & ______ don't know yet Sunday, April 14 View Page Good news from the laboritory, all 6 seeds of the 239 Leonard have germinated. These are to be grafted by the mad scientist! Thursday, April 18 View Page so far so good, I'm 29 out of 30 and the last seed may yet germ ! 4- 239 leonard, 10- 274 kent, 8- 260 clementz, 8 113 kent . Going to be tough choosing, but the weather going to turn cool, so i may need the extras. Wednesday, May 1 View Page sunrise Wednesday, May 1 View Page even when the day is done & your bone tired, sunsets say.... it was a good day ! Wednesday, May 1 View Page patch spots ready to dig Wednesday, May 1 View Page New dirt, ready to till ! Wish the shovel was automatic ! LOL Wednesday, May 1 View Page Seedlings getting their first nutes ! Wednesday, May 1 View Page Finally starting to grow. Probally the slowest start i have ever had due to the cool/cold temps. The warm weather this week has really helped. No leggy plants this year...was too cold for them to grow ! Wednesday, May 1 View Page Grafts enjoying their 1st days outside. These are from the mad grafter Nathan ! Thanks Nathan, they are looking great ! Going to be one heck of a race this year ! Tuesday, May 7 View Page 239 leonard & 274 kent planted 5-5-13 113 kent planted 5-6-13 260 clementz planted 5-7-13 grafts are still waiting, growing slow. Friday, May 10 View Page 274 Graft planted, the 239 leonard graft will have to wait till next week, ground too wet in its spot! Weather was nice for 1 day. Need more warm dry days ! Friday, May 10 View Page Long gourd , was supose to be used but grew too fast. Still in a 16oz drink cup. Been growing on Advanced Nutrients. starting to vine ! Friday, May 10 View Page 274 kent grafted plants 1 day after planting. Monday, May 13 View Page 99 Lovelace long gourd headed north to michigan & Mark Clementz. He said he will give it a good home. Should arive on wed. Its been growing in this 16 oz drink cup & living off Advance Nutrients grow products. Monday, May 13 View Page 239 Leonard Grafts planted. Will be cold tonight so they are covered, but great weather returns tomorrow so i planted tonight. Every day counts ! 1 looks very good & 1 is poor but growing. I have a 291 graft that looks super. May have to fire up the tiller for another spot ! ;) Thanks Nathan for making my decisions difficult ! Wednesday, May 15 View Page anyone know what these are ? They were here when we bought the house, just came up when spring came. Very pretty, no smell to them? Thanks Friday, May 24 View Page full moon coming up over the patch. Plants are tucked in for a record cold night of 42, hopefully the last one ! Sunday, May 26 View Page Breakfast being readied for the plants. Lots of good stuff there, thanks to Advanced Nutrients. Sunday, May 26 View Page What does 6 melon plants eat for breakfast??? why 15 Gallons of grow,micro,bloom,F1,H1,B-52 vits , and some voodoo juice ! Sunday, May 26 View Page 260 Clementzzzzzzzzz plants Sunday, May 26 View Page 291 kent Grafted plant Sunday, May 26 View Page 239 Leonard grafted. All the grafts are still slow. But they are keeping pace. Monday, May 27 View Page this was a nice 274 kent. But i had 2 plants & one had to go. There is no 2nd place ! Thursday, May 30 View Page 239 Leonard... plant already has a female(see arrow) at only 1 foot. Never had one so early. I guess with the nice turn in the weather, the plant decided to take advantage and try to set. The 260 Clementzzzzz has a female also ! Monday, June 10 View Page 274 Kent grafted. All plants regular & grafted are growing like weeds now ! this is the best grafted plant so far. Monday, June 10 View Page 239 Leonard grafted. Smallest plant of all due to the fact that i snaped the main vine off ! DUH Its in the same spot as the 291 Grafted which is doing much better. I really wanted to have a 239 grafted, but it may not happen. Going to have to pull one in the next week to 10 days. Monday, June 10 View Page 291 kent grafted Monday, June 10 View Page 260 clementzzzzzzzzz Monday, June 10 View Page 113 Kent best plant so far. Only bad thing is my best looking plant never has the biggest melon....maybe that will change this year. Tuesday, June 18 View Page Rain rain go away. important pollination day! Plants are growing like weed(s) Need to make some world record seed(s) Saturday, June 22 View Page Its cull season. This is off the 274 kent. These are always hard decisions. Also pulled the 239 Leonard graft plant this past week. The 291 Kent grafted plant was the better one. I really wanted a 239 graft but it just wasn't ment to be, so my graft lineup is a 291 kent & a 274 kent. Sunday, June 23 View Page this is 6 oz of sap/juice that came from the stem where i cut off that cull last evening. Amazing! That cull only weighed 1.5 lbs. The power of theses plants. No wonder they grow so fast ! Sunday, June 23 View Page 260 Clementzzzz, or it was. 3.7 lbs. Got to be more carefull. ....i was positioning the melon when.... snap.. oh well, sorry mark....we will be more carefull with the next set ! ;) Saturday, June 29 View Page something is eating my vines & melons !!!!! there are rabbits in the fields next to me, but i never had them bother my melon plants. This better stop QUICK ! headed to the co-op to find a solution ! Saturday, June 29 View Page 274 kent all plants will fill their spaces by the end on next week ! Saturday, June 29 View Page 55 kent loupe . Saturday, June 29 View Page 260 clementzzzzzzz one of those 2 should be the keeper Just a few days old right now Saturday, June 29 View Page 291 kent graft. got to cut some grass Saturday, June 29 View Page 239 leonard. this is one of the plants where the vines are being eaten. I took down the wind fense to take away some of the protection. maybe _____ will find somewhere else to live & nibble ! Sunday, June 30 View Page These are 12 to 14 feet from the stump. I moved a board for maintaince and WOW ! I have not seen such growth before. thank you Great white & Advanced Nutrients Voodoo Juice ! Killer roots will put a hex on the competition ! LOL Monday, July 1 View Page I hate haveing to choose, i always think.... i may have just cut off the new world record ! That one on the right sure would have been fat ! Saturday, July 6 View Page This is Huckleberry, our new Plott hound. Need to gain some weight as he was not being fed right. Very good dog ! Saturday, July 6 View Page 239 Leonard. Don't know what happened to the strips. I sprayed one evening but didn't think i got any on the melon. Was very tender there for awhile, but didn't effect the growth. About 50 lbs Saturday, July 6 View Page 274 kent graft. Growing as well as can be expected for have cloudy weather & rain for 4 days now. Its effected all the plants. They were doing super till the sun went away ! I never remember 4 cloudy days in july. NEED SUN !! The scar on the end was from when it was young & tried to split ! Saturday, July 6 View Page 260 Clementzzzzzzzzzzzzzz One of the best in the patch so far. About 30 lbs Monday, July 8 View Page finally a sunny day ! I don't remember when we had so many cloudy rainy days in july. Plants are keeping up with previous years. Can't wait to see how they will do with sun. The leader so far is the 291 Graft. But the race is still young. My best in the past has never been the early leader ! Sunday, July 14 View Page 55 kent loupe pretty cool, this plant is getting females on the finger vines. Here is 2 together. Usually they apear on little side vines off the main or finger vines. Sunday, July 14 View Page 55 kent loupe another vine on the same plant. This one i selfed. I think it took too. Would be the fist time i got one to take. The females are larger then normal too ! Maybe thats a good sign. Sunday, July 14 View Page 274 kent Grafted. Plant & melon doing well. Keeping pace with past years records. Sunday, July 14 View Page 239 Leonard. Ditto. staying neck & neck with the 274 grafted, Going to be a long summer !!!! Sunday, July 14 View Page 291 Kent Grafted WOW ! Blowing away all records, all past melons, Going to be a fat high melon. Hope it keeps growing. If you hear a loud boom in the mountain, it will be this one blowing up ! LOL Youngest melon in the patch. Sunday, July 14 View Page 113 Kent. oldest melon. Now over 100 lbs. Rabbits have been a big problem with this plant. Vines are in poor shape from all the nibbling. Hope it holds on as its doing well. Sunday, July 14 View Page 260 Clementzzzzzzzzzzzz This one is one one the great ones. Its 2nd in the patch. Only the 291 grafted has it beat and not by much ! Wednesday, July 17 View Page 239 Leonard. This was the vine to the melon. Rabbits nibbled it half. %#@@!@! rabbits ! Wednesday, July 17 View Page 239 Leonard about 110 lbs estimated. 29 days old, would have been a great one. RIP Wednesday, July 17 View Page 260 clementz. They went after this one too, only ate about 1/3 way through. This is my 2nd best growing melon. I could just cry..... or shoot some rabbits. Anyone know how to get rid of them let me know ! I have tried repelants to no avail. Wednesday, July 17 View Page some of the dead vines pulled from the 260 Thursday, July 18 View Page final on the 239 lernard was 29 days, scale weight 113 lbs a few better then the 110 est. girth was already 48 inches. would have been nice one. Rabbits still running wild & eating vines. Going to put an electric fence up. Friday, July 19 View Page it ends in my patch ! Tuesday, July 23 View Page Update,....all melons doing better then anything i have ever grown before...both grafted & regular continue to break my past growth records ! I continue to feed all plants with Advanced Nutrients both through drip & foliar. I still have a HUGE problem with rabbits !! The 260 plant has gone from one of the nicest looking plant to about 30-40 % of the vines gone from being chewed off. Many vines in most plants are damaged and or with nibble holes. The rabbits have mostly left the grafted plants alone up untill i installed an electric fence to keep them out. Well they are still coming in & now eating the grafted plants too ! Repelants both commercial & homemade only slow the eating ! Every day i am so excited to see the growth & fear full to look knowing the rabbits may have ended another melons life like they did with the 239 Leonard ! Looking for the pieded pipper of rabbits !! I have been told to shot them, well if i ever saw them i would ! SUGGESTIONS WELCOME !!!!!!!!!!! Tuesday, July 23 View Page The 113 kent is the first one to reach double age. It now projects to reach 300 if I can keep up normal growth to the end. Higher late season or accelerated growth will yield higher numbers. Diseases or rabbits will yield lower numbers ! For example the 291 was projected to reach 260-270, but had excellent late season growth. Wednesday, July 24 View Page This better work ! My patch now smells like coyote ! Rabbits now eating my grafted plants. The were eating vines just inches from both melon vines ! please please work ! Going to fence with chicken wire next. got to stop them ! Friday, July 26 View Page Jessica is helping to find culls. She has a good eye for seeing them. She found a pre cull. So small she taped it to a piece of paper to see it ! LOL Friday, July 26 View Page ok, i have 8 mouse traps, 1 rat trap, 6 bat stations, 20 tampons with coyotee on them, & every type of repelent in,on & around my plants ! You would think the varmits would take a hint !! Sunday, July 28 View Page 3.98 Checkon tomato that mark mailed to me. Still looking for a mega bloom. Sunday, July 28 View Page 44 kent lope. So far so good. This was the selfed on a finger vine that i hand polinated. Haven't seen any more directly off a large vine. Just those side vine females, so i hope this does well. Sunday, July 28 View Page 260 Clementzzzzzzz This one should be called the "carpet bagger" estimated now at 132 lbs. Bigger then any other melon i have ever had for its age. Its 5 lbs ahead of the 291 pace ! Thats the good news. It has been slower then it was due to all the vine damage, but the varmits have left it alone for 4 days now, so i'm trying to grow back the plant. (See the next picture) p.s. I had to use some "protection" so just look at the melon ! Sunday, July 28 View Page 260 vines. the holes are where the vines were eaten Sunday, July 28 View Page 274 kent Grafted Nice !! Sunday, July 28 View Page 113 Kent Biggest & oldest in the patch. Funny, i almost didn't keep this melon several times. Sunday, July 28 View Page Went to help a friend & new grower (frank Moranio) fix his pumpkin. It was growing in the mud with all vines rooted. We had to cut the tap roots,cut the main past the pumpkin, & pick it up to get a board & sand under it. Misson accomplished. Sunday, July 28 View Page opps, that should have been the 55 kent loupe, it came from the 44 Holloway. Wednesday, July 31 View Page Thanks to Mark Clementzzzz of http://worldwidegiantgrowers.com/ for this great poster. My kids love the big green dinosaurs ! My melons love what it does for them. So far so good, all melons both regular & grafted are doing great�well except for the one sitting on the deck that the rabbits ate the vine off, it�s not gaining much ! All melons are larger than any in the past. I�m so excited I can hardly sleep ! I just hope they keep growing. I think I got the varmint problem solved. Thanks to all who offered suggestions. I tried them all. I think it was both the coyote urine & my neighbor bush hogging his field that did the trick. I have my 1st melon estimated at 200 lbs today. Never had one so early ! I hope it�s a good sign. Plants are as well as can be expected considering all the rain & varmint problems. The grafted plants have bigger vines but are also showing more disease issues. If the wet cool summer continues its going to be tough keeping them healthy to the end ! Tuesday, August 6 View Page 55 kent Loupe Got to decide on which to keep. Going to try only 1 on a plant this year. Tuesday, August 6 View Page Added so Azos to my irrigation water. Middle of the season & i figue the plants need a little push to keep the on a good finish ! The cal carb is for the folior. Great in the heat, but still good for the plants in this cool summer ~! Tuesday, August 6 View Page The hoop space is now filled on some plants ! LOL Tuesday, August 6 View Page plants still look great. Tuesday, August 6 View Page 291 Kent Grafted. Had to make a slight movement ajustment on her...Wow, seems heaver then the estimate of almost 200 now. I should call her "Brickhouse" ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5EmnQp3V48 Tuesday, August 6 View Page 260 Clementzzzzz starting to come back, the plant looks alot better now & growth is picking up. I have now caught 6 mice in the patch, & there are still more . The only good thing is they seem to be staying in the 239 Leonard plant. Since its melon was lost, i guess thats good. Thats why i still have the plant growing ! Its a giant mouse trap ! Tuesday, August 6 View Page 274 Kent regular. Had to roll the melon slightly, was putting pressure on the vine. Tuesday, August 6 View Page 274 Kent Grafted. Oh No, the stump started leaking & growth slowed. Hoping it will be ok. These grafts are more problematic then the regular plants, lets hope the effort is worth it in the end. If you can't finish them then all the extra early growth isn't worth nonething ! Tuesday, August 6 View Page 113 kent Still the leader. It would like more sun PLEASE ! Wednesday, August 14 View Page 55 Kent Loupe 1 of 2 on the plant Wednesday, August 14 View Page 55 Kent loupe The other one, this on is taller. The 1st is more round. Don't know which i prefer. Both estimated at 32 lbs doing 2 to 2.5 lb a day. Wednesday, August 14 View Page 260 Clementzzzzzzzzz closing in on 200 lbs estimate. That will make it 5 of 5 over 200. The 274 Graft stump is leaking, it filled with water. I drained it, but growth has slowed. Tough getting them to finish :( Wednesday, August 14 View Page Its time to push the plants. The weather has not been the best & forcast to get worse(rain,clouds). I used some of Advanced Nutrients products 2 years ago when i grew my 177 lb hydroponic melon so i know what they are capable of. Now i'm throwing all of them at the plants in order to maintain growth ! Wednesday, August 14 View Page 113 kent The biggest in the patch. Maybe this year i will finally see what this seed will do. previous best was 264 3 years ago. Its closing in on 1/8 ton estimated !! Excellant growth for its age ! Wednesday, August 14 View Page 291 kent grafted . Still out preforming all past melons & putting in unreal growth rates. I have been using the Voodoo Juice with every watering & also in all my foilar sprays. Its got the same base as Companion plus a whole lot more other goodies. Got to keep the plant & roots happy with this wet weather ! Grow baby Grow. Just need another 100 lbs !!! Wednesday, August 14 View Page found these 5 culls together on the 291 grafted plant. Just cant seem to keep them off. Thats my size `13 boot for scale ! Wednesday, August 14 View Page 274 kent grafted. This is the stump. I got it dried, but its probally too late. Growth has droped to 2 lbs per day. The vine are still good. It also has a hole where the vine meets the stump on the left side. The melon is on the right side vine. Saturday, August 17 View Page 55 kent loupe I culled 1 of the 2 fruits. So far so good, the remaining one has not blown ! Saturday, August 17 View Page Here is what it looks like cut open, seems pretty sound, seeds were mature too. Blosem end was about 1/2 in thick. Saturday, August 17 View Page Cull day...to the dump. 1 week of culls & this was not all of them :( Saturday, August 17 View Page Girls love our home made pickels ! Tuesday, August 20 View Page 274 kent The good genetics are starting to show up. It was behind earlier but has been outgrowing all past melons & most of this years the last 15 days. That was what i always liked about the 239 Leonard, its late season growth. 274 is the 239 leonard sibbed ! Tuesday, August 20 View Page pecan tree. Looking forward to these....yum ! Tuesday, August 20 View Page trying to grow some mushrooms. Our 1st picking ! Oyster mushrooms Tuesday, August 20 View Page 55 kent lope. so far so good. In the 40's now Tuesday, August 20 View Page 113 kent plant is the best i have ! Ignor the grass, its in the walkways. Can't seem to get the mower in the garden. Tuesday, August 20 View Page 274 kent plant, not the best , not the worst. Funny the worst looking plant is the 291 Grafted plant & it has the best mellon. Go figue ! Friday, August 30 View Page My 1st loupe off my 55 kent. Its been a tough weather year for them. Anyway this is a 44.4 lb sorry about the pictures. Here is a shakey pict of it on a certified scale at the co-op. Kinda neet since my address here is 444 ! Friday, August 30 View Page weight closeup Friday, August 30 View Page wish i could take better picts :( Friday, August 30 View Page stem end is solid Friday, August 30 View Page so is blossem end Friday, August 30 View Page 274 graft plant Friday, August 30 View Page 274 graft Not doing much except growing never ending culls. plant looks good. about 73 days old now Friday, August 30 View Page 274 kent regular. middle 200's now. lots of life left to grow ! Friday, August 30 View Page 260 clementzzzzzz Still growing well. seems to have taken the rabbitt & mice pruning in stride. Recovered better then i would have thought ! Friday, August 30 View Page 3.98 Checkon mater, just for fun Friday, August 30 View Page 113 kent plant. Best plant i have ever had this late. Looks great. Wish i could duplicate this every year in all my plants. One nice thing about the vines covering the hoops, you don't have to worry about storms blowing the hoops away ! The bad thing is i find big culls on those hoops all the time ! Yes thats the hoop on the right side. Friday, August 30 View Page 113 kent No i'm not just growing leaves, there is something big under that hoop !!!! Friday, August 30 View Page 291 Graft. The best for last. What can i say... its BIG !!!! Biggest by age, biggest in the patch. Funny story, that nick on the front is where i droped a rock on it when it was very small ! I came so close to ending its growth, but it healed & so i kept it !! Sunday, September 1 View Page 274 grafted stump. you can see how the stump split open. It did that after it started leaking. when i got it dried, it split. that was also the end of the good growth. Growth has slowed to almost nonething even through the plant looks great. Going to pick it on tuesday & take to the Tenn state fair in Nashville. This will give me a good idea on how these grafts will weigh. Its a fat one, 49 on the side to side measurement, so it should go heavy to the chart. Can't weight! Sunday, September 1 View Page 113 kent stump a normal looking stump. Sunday, September 1 View Page the 44.4 kent loupe cut. It was very good. We ate it for breakfast, Yum ! (yes we saved some seeds lol) Sunday, September 1 View Page 274 kent Grafted http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bXfY1a2VDc&feature=youtu.be Saturday, September 7 View Page my final loupe of the year. 45.7 lbs Saturday, September 7 View Page blossem end Saturday, September 7 View Page stem end Saturday, September 7 View Page the 274 kent grafted loaded for the tenn state fair. weight was 240.5 lbs. It was a little lite as the est was 246. Took 2nd place. A good start for the season. Sunday, September 8 View Page 260 clementzzzzzzzzzzzz now est at 260. Will be bigger than mmama ! Sunday, September 8 View Page 274 kent gets measured monday. est at 265+ Sunday, September 8 View Page 113 kent estimated at 292. Hoping for a PB with this one. Still lots of time to grow. Sunday, September 8 View Page 291 grafted plant. Looking better. disease treatments seem to be working along with better weather. Sunday, September 8 View Page 291 kent grafted Its BIG !!! Won't fit in the picture any more !! Youngest in the garden, still growing, 312 estimated now. Monday, September 30 View Page 113 kent Final at bear wallow Ky. weighed 270 lbs Took 2nd place Melon went was light as it was est at 304 Was crossed with my 274 kent Monday, September 30 View Page Final of the 260 Clementzzzzzzzz 297.1 Nice only a few lbs light as the est was 302. Also crossed with the 274 kent. I can only guess how big this would have been if the rabbits had not eaten as much as a 1/3 of the plant. Still I'm very happy as this is a new PB !!!! Monday, September 30 View Page This is the way i roll ! Getting ready to unload 572 lbs of melons from my chevy Aveo. Needless to say i was a low rider on the way there ! LOL Monday, September 30 View Page 274 kent final, the weight was 275.9 estimate was 285 so not to bad. This was selfed Monday, September 30 View Page 274 kent final picture of the melon on the scale Friday, October 4 View Page OMG, its Friday, its loading day for the big one. I have been waiting for this day since May ! Just 24 hours to go till she hits the scales !!