Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 17 Entries. Tuesday, June 7 View Page I tried to get a pic of the base of the stump on one of my plants. Notice the rough spot just above the roots. This spot is the portion of the stump that is below the soil when the seeding comes up. As soon as the cot leaves appear I remove the dirt down to the roots. (also helps prevent damping off) You have to support the plant with skewers. As the roots become more established I remove more soil until the roots are slightly exposed. The plant is on a mound so water can't pool after the dirt is removed. I feel this helps a lot with stump issues on melons because most often problems actually start at the base on the vine side you just don't notice it there until it has spread.   Saturday, June 25 View Page This is how you keep you males from getting contaminated. Its much easier than covering a dozen males in the patch. Put three per straw add water up to the base of the flower and bring it inside for the night. There are usually 2 males per vine that open each day. Look for the ones that closed today and pick the next two for tomorrow.   Friday, August 5 View Page 238.5 Holloway X 239 Leonard day 40   Friday, August 5 View Page Alright heres where I'm at. I tried 2 giant squash and found out about July 4 that it is to freakin hot to grow squash here without air conditioning. Planted 2 watermelons 238 Holloway and 282 Dawson. They were the two best plants out of the bunch. The 282 quit on me about day 20. I cut the vine and found there was no water in the xylem. So I jerked it out as soon as possible.   Friday, August 5 View Page This was one of the seeds I really wanted to grow once. The 239 Leo. I only had one of them it came up but almost damped off. The stem looked funny so I was afraid it might rot, but I couldn't toss it. So I planted it in the eatin garden, no drip lines, no soil amendments. Just used it as a pollinator. The stump has had no issue, go figure. Should have had it next to the 238.   Friday, August 5 View Page Brother Dave, We talked about this a few years ago, but I'm trying it this year. I left the middle completely unsupported to see if it will keep the middle from seperating and the melon flattening out. I only have one melon to test it on. Could just be genetic but this is the unflattest melon I have grown   Saturday, August 6 View Page I'm not saying any names, he would be mad. But I haven't heard anything from this guy in a while. So I decided to sneak over there this morning and see what he has. I took this pic of the biggest one.   Friday, September 9 View Page This is how I do my stumps. This practically eliminates rot from the soil up. Doesn't stop the crown. I plant the seedling on about a 4 inch mound. As the plant gets bigger I start removing soil. Eventually there are several inches of roots exposed. In the picture if you look close the base of the stump is actually several inches above the soil line.   Friday, September 9 View Page the melon is on the main vine. All the leaves are cut back about 6 inches on either side of the vine. You have to redo this ever so often as more vines invade. Once a week spray the stump the vine and melon stem with the following mixture in a hand sprayer. 32 oz. water with(1tbs Penncozeb, 1tbs daconil, 1teaspoon of Kocide. This helps keeps the vine and stem from rotting. Don't get it on the leaves.   Saturday, September 17 View Page 238 Holloway X 239 Leo day 80   Saturday, October 29 View Page This is the 229.5 cut open. This is what I have been looking for in a seed melon. Small void thick rind.   Saturday, October 29 View Page This is the thickest rind I've had that didn't have a big void.   Saturday, October 29 View Page So what did I do in my 2 years off from growing melons. I grew some little pumpkins. This is the 229.5 at the weighoff.   Sunday, October 30 View Page Cross section of the 229.5   Sunday, October 30 View Page rind thickness   Sunday, October 30 View Page So I took two years off from melon growing to grow some little pumpkins. 229.5 (238 Holloway X 239 Leo) at weighoff   Sunday, October 30 View Page sorry double posted I didn't think it worked the first time