Wednesday, July 27
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I am growing a 470 Connolly bushel gourd this year. Today is day 20 DAP and it is the smallest day 20 measurement I have ever had. I hoping it kicks into gear or I might pull the plant. Too much work for a small gourd.
Day 20- 45cc
Day 18- 38cc
Day 17- 33cc
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Wednesday, July 27
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The plant has been very strong and easy to grow. I�ve been spraying insecticides and fungicides weekly. Cucumber beetles love bushel gourds. The onslaught from them never ends, even with weekly sprays. I�m not happy with the shape of the gourd. It has a long neck similar to the one I grew a couple years ago. I did terminate the main vine right after the gourd and turned the side vine that the gourd is growing on into the new main vine.
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Monday, August 1
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This years boneheaded event. A few days ago I sprayed insecticide and fungicide. I�ve been having heavy pressure from cucumber beetles. I sprayed the gourd as well. I left the cover off the gourd the following day and left for the day. I came back to this burn spot. Not sure if this is the end of the season for me or not. I hope it�s just superficial.
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Monday, August 1
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We�ve been getting a lot of rain the past couple of weeks. The soil just doesn�t drain well. It�s about six inches of loam on top of heavy clay. The water goes through the loam and can�t go through the clay. It pools up and creates a pool of water in the soil profile. The plan this off-season is to install drain tile underneath to fix this.
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Monday, August 29
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Amazingly, the fruit did not die from the burn. It scabbed over and has continued growing. It�s not going to be huge but I will take it to the fair in September.
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Monday, August 29
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Close up of the burn spot.
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Monday, August 29
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Plant is looking tired so not expecting much more growth. My plants always look like this at the end of the year with the oldest growth looking the worst. I�ve never known if this is just old age or if there a lack of some type of nutrient. I never was able to control the cucumber beetles even with weekly sprays. They�re everywhere on the plant. Luckily no gummy stem blight this year though. Maybe because of the new fungicide (Ranman) I used this year?
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Thursday, September 22
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I will be loading up tomorrow night for the weigh-off on Saturday morning at the State Fair of Virginia.
When I cut it off the vine tomorrow it will be
78 DAP.
The last measurable growth was on day 74. I would love to see how many days bushel gourds grow from someone that has grown one on a scale.
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Friday, September 23
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When I removed the vines there was no rot and rooting along the vines at just about every leaf junction.
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Friday, September 23
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Getting her loaded
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Friday, September 23
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Ready to go for tomorrow morning. I couldn�t find all of my ratchet straps so I had to make a spider web with rope.
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