Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 50 Entries. Sunday, May 2 View Page For the melon growers here is a node root grown thru landscaping cloth from last year Sunday, May 2 View Page Look how long this node root was. grew right thru the cloth. Sunday, May 2 View Page All of these are up and ready to see dirt next week if the weather permits. 255 Mitchell 259 Kent 243 Kent 209 Kent 246 Bright 194 Holloway 179 Scnicker Sunday, May 2 View Page Made last preparations before planting today. Over the last few months I added: 35 yards of composted cow manure, 5 yards of composted chicken litter, 200 pounds of cotton seed meal, 40 pounds of bone meal, small amounts of dolomitic and ag lime, and kelp meal. Sunday, May 2 View Page Here is the patch ready for plants Tuesday, June 8 View Page Plant doing fine. Sunday, June 13 View Page Nearing 100. Plants loving it but hard to set fruits at this temp. Sunday, June 13 View Page This is one reason I have been having problems setting fruit. I started shading female blossoms which has helped. Thursday, June 17 View Page 191 and 194 Holloway. My two best plants much bigger than the others. They both have some good looking females on them but it is still early Thursday, June 17 View Page Something happen to my 179 Schnicker during a storm. I'm thinking it could have been struck by lightning. It was fine a few hours ago. I hope it was lightning and not something else that might get my other plants. Tuesday, July 13 View Page Though I had serious problems but I think I lost this 243 to stump rot no other signs of diesease. No streaking in the viens. There was a small crack in the stump and I couldn't get to the rot to treat it. It is a shame look at the size of this stump. Tuesday, July 13 View Page Finally decided to pull the 243 Kent. I kept wilting and I wanted to inspect the inside. Good news doesn't look like fusarium. I keep working on the stump of the 246 Bright and it quit wilting. Tuesday, July 13 View Page 259 Kent Averaged 4 pounds a day last 12 days. Tuesday, July 13 View Page 194 Holloway 90 pounds. Tuesday, July 13 View Page 191 Holloway 5 Day average 4 pounds per day. Tuesday, July 13 View Page 246 Bright over 4pounds a day average last week. This one has the length. Growing over 1 inch in length a day. Not bad girth either just really long. I hope it holds in there. I have had some problems with the plant. It has looked better this week. Saturday, July 24 View Page Look at the stump on this 246 Bright. Got it covered with Captan. Still trying to keep the rot away. It is looking better than it did a few weeks ago. Hope I can hold on to this one. Saturday, July 24 View Page 259 Kent about 120 lbs. This one started out strong but has lost some steam. Getting fat but doesn't have the length. Saturday, July 24 View Page Here is the 246 Bright. Day 30 110 lbs Length 31". I was expecting a little more at day 30 from this one, but we had about 3 or 4 days of clouds and rain. Hope it picks back up. Saturday, July 24 View Page 255 Mitchell 96 lbs. This one was a late set, fastest growing at this time. Shape looks identical to my 194 from last year. Saturday, July 24 View Page I lost one 243 Kent to stump rot. I have one 243 Kent remaining. I lost a 255 early in the season. So I replaced it with a 243 Kent. It is behind time wise and is a small plant compared to the others. I didn't pay much attention to the watermelon on it, just picked the biggest one. I don't know when it was pollinated. I measured it for the first time on 7-19 at 62 lbs. Measured again on 7-23 at 85 lbs. May be a good one. Sunday, July 25 View Page I have been shading the 243 with a box tommorrow it will get a perminate table Sunday, July 25 View Page 194 Holloway is slow compared to the others. I think the stump rot may slowed it some, but I should have waited for a later set and a longer melon. Sunday, July 25 View Page 191 Holloway. 107 lbs. This one is a long one too. I cut a 50 pounder off when this one was about 15lbs. The 50 pounder was an early set with bad vine position. I liked the length an position of this one. It was the right move. Sunday, July 25 View Page Heres a pic of the patch Sunday, July 25 View Page 259 Kent and 194 Holloway slowed down. 246 Bright and 191 Holloway growing well. 255 Mitchell and 243 Kent growing the best. Sunday, July 25 View Page Canteloupes and gourds probablly won't be as good as last year. The pear gourds grew really fast to start with but kept splitting.I finally got one to hold together but the plant is in bad shape now, probablly won't make it to last years size. Never got a set on the canteloupes that was shaped good enough to get a great bigun. Wednesday, August 25 View Page Haven't posted anything in a while. Nothing exciting going on here. The heat was unbearable down here last month. It killed my canteloupes. Only managed a 37.5 pounder that was not mature yet. Also slowed the melons, but they are still growing Wednesday, August 25 View Page Bro Dave here is the pic I promised. This is what I have been dealing with all year. Just keeps coming back every time I think I have gotten rid of it. Yes that is a watermelon stump, not a pumpkin. Wednesday, August 25 View Page Got length? This is the 246 it is the longest melon I have ever had. Started out really strong but the stump rot and heat slowed it down. Just keeps getting longer. Ussusally they start adding more girth at this point, but this one growing more length than girth. Wednesday, August 25 View Page Here is the stump of the 246. It is 18 inches in circ now. Never seen a melon stump like it. Almost rivals some of those big pumpkin stumps. Notice it is totally hollow from fighting stump rot. Wednesday, August 25 View Page Here is the 243 Kent. This maybe my only shot at a good one. The heat did slow it down but it is still gaining good for me at this time of year. It is the youngest in the patch, but has caught and passed all the other melons in the patch except the 246. If it holds steady this week it should catch it too. Thursday, August 26 View Page Here is the first Mountion Hoosier we picked grown at my dads house. It weighed 101 lbs, and is out of the 103 Masterson. Crossed w/ 259 Kent Thursday, August 26 View Page Sorry the pic didn't load the first time. Onces again the 101 Mountain Hoosier grown from the 103 Masterson. I crossed it with the 259 Kent. Thursday, August 26 View Page I beleive there were two different crosses in the 103 Masterson Mt. Hoosier. I think some were crossed with a CC and some with Mountain Hoosier. This melon showed alot of traits of a CC. Huge plant size, Females identical to CC's (turned dark later), longer, less density. Thursday, August 26 View Page Here is the other Mt Hoosier also out of the 103 Masterson. Notice it is much darker, and shorter. The plant was normal size, and the females were round and dark from the begginnig. This one must be crossed with another MH. I intend to cross these two next year try to get a big blue melon. Thursday, August 26 View Page Not bad girth for an eatin melon. I think this one will likely be heavier. These things are good to eat. Good as any little one, much better than a cc. Thursday, August 26 View Page All other melons between 160-175. Various ages Monday, September 27 View Page This is the 110 pound mountain Hossier. Was still gaining when it went down. Hope to grow a big green one from this one next year Monday, September 27 View Page Pick 4 melons, with the help of Doug Adams and my brother Cory in the picture. 191 Holloway, 255 Michell, 243 Kent, and 246 Bright Monday, September 27 View Page From left to right: 246 Bright-185#, 255 Mitchell-172#, 259 Kent X 255 Mitchell- 162, 191 Holloway- 178#, 243 Kent- 185 when picked 184 at weighoff a week later. I also had these crosses 194 Holloway X 259 Kent and 191 Holloway X 259 Kent. These two melons were picked early to help germination of seeds. Monday, September 27 View Page 246 Bright the longest melon I ever had just shy of 40". Just didn't get the girth. It sttarted out fast but the heat and stump rot slowed it down and it quit on me about 60 days. I just left it on the vine hoping it would keep. Monday, September 27 View Page Here is the final pic of the massive rotten stump of the 246. Monday, September 27 View Page Me and Lindsey with Chris's new World record. Was amazing to see. Monday, September 27 View Page This may be the closet one of my melons ever get to a World Record. About 2 feet! Monday, September 27 View Page Chris's WR in front You can see the width of the melon here. Monday, September 27 View Page Not my best finish, but not to bad I quess for the heat and rot problems Monday, September 27 View Page Chris Shows the anticipating crowd the good news Monday, September 27 View Page Chris With 291 Monday, September 27 View Page Chris and Janet