Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 82 Entries. Thursday, March 11 View Page Well the 2010 season is right around the corner, so I'm gonna give a diary a try this year. Thursday, March 11 View Page Ok, here's seven months worth of work. It doesn't look like much now, but I guess it's whats underground thats important now. Horse manure, leaf compost and just the right amount of turkey litter will give the melons enough to feast for many months. I'm planning on covering the entire area(4000sq ft) with landscape fabric as I transplant, just to keep form having to deal with the weeds. This will be new for this year, as last year I just pulled weeds constantly! Saturday, March 13 View Page Here's a few seedlings that have just started. I've got a make shift grow chamber in the dining room. I have a grow light from Fitfh Seasons and a put a small fan in the corner to give it better air circulation. Maybe there's a 200lb melon in progress there somewhere!! Tuesday, March 16 View Page Ok here's a piture of what I do, hence the name Ice Man. I've been a ice carver now for the past 12 years, to bad I can't grow watermelons for a living. All plants are doing good now, 2nd and 3rd leaves coming in well. 225 bright, 203 boyette, 214 Bright and 136 Dawson are all in the mix. I'll choose the best 2 or 3 for my early season crop. I got a e mail from NDNskylight today and hopefully we can meet this season and tour each other pactchs. Tuesday, March 16 View Page Sorry I forgot to post the picture. Saturday, March 20 View Page here's a 225 Bright off to a good start Friday, March 26 View Page 225 Bright doing well. Weather here has been in the 70's all week, but a cold front with some rain is moving in. Other plants doing well, and in the meantime putting the finishing touchs on the patch. Monday, March 29 View Page Here's a picture of my irragation set-up. I've got 2 timers, 1 for water only and the other is hooked to a EZ Flo liquid tank for nutrients. All plants will have drip lines run with 1Gal/hour nozzles. Monday, March 29 View Page Ok, I guess all watermelon patchs need a patch protector, My dogs lazy, but nothing gets by BigBoy. Monday, April 5 View Page Here's a picture 2 of the 3 hills that were planted for the Aug. weigh in. Temps here are high 80's for the next few days, so the plants should trive. Monday, April 5 View Page A close up of some of the plants with the drip irrigation set up. Wednesday, April 21 View Page 136 Dawson Wednesday, April 21 View Page 225 Bright Wednesday, April 21 View Page 203 Boyette, Best looking plant I have. Not running as much as the others but overall color a leaf size are far superior. Thursday, April 29 View Page 225 Bright off and running, already has a few male blooms. Thursday, April 29 View Page Close up of the blooms Monday, May 3 View Page Here's the pacth with the new wind break. Monday, May 3 View Page 136 Dawson really starting to run. Monday, May 3 View Page end view of the pacth Monday, May 3 View Page BOO! Wednesday, May 19 View Page 136 Dawson doing really well. Already pinched several feamles off, letting vine get bigger before setting fruit. Wednesday, May 19 View Page Sideview of the pacth, 136 dawson in front, with 225 Bright in back. Wednesday, May 19 View Page Here's the picture of my problem leafs, appeared after heavy rains and several cloudy days. I think it's blight but not sure, I misted all oplants with fungicide and keeping fingers crossed. Tuesday, May 25 View Page 136 Dawson Tuesday, May 25 View Page 225 Bright Tuesday, May 25 View Page 203 Boyette Tuesday, May 25 View Page What I've been waiting for. This fruit is on the 203 Boyette, crossed with a 225 Bright. With all the clouds and rains lately, I hope this little guy makes it. Monday, May 31 View Page 136 Dawson in back, 225 Bright in front. Both plants doing great. Monday, May 31 View Page One of the young melons on the 136 Monday, May 31 View Page 88 Dawson - one of 3 plants set out as my Fair plants. Wednesday, June 2 View Page One of many young'ems on the 225 Bright plant Wednesday, June 2 View Page 6-7 melons around this size going on the 203 Boyette Wednesday, June 2 View Page Second biggest melon so far on the 136 Dawson Wednesday, June 2 View Page Here's by far the fast growing melon I've got. It's on the 136 Dawson is is out growing other melons 2 to 1. The only problems is the shape is a little weird and not sure of how it will mature. If anyone has had similar melons of this shape and know the shape will correct itself please shoot me a e-mail and let me know. Monday, June 7 View Page Here's a pacth picture taken on Sunday afternoon, after shading all melons. Extremly hot on Sunday, high was upper 90's with storm at night. Monday, June 7 View Page Here's MT. DEW 225 Bright, youngest melon, but has great shape. Had a hard time getting a melon to set on this plant with a good shape. Monday, June 7 View Page Here's MT. DEW 225 Bright, youngest melon, but has great shape. Had a hard time getting a melon to set on this plant with a good shape. Soory I forgot the picture! Monday, June 7 View Page DR. PEPPER 203 Boyette-- Plant is getting late afternoon shade, and this in the best meoln going on this vine. It's bother is about the same on closer to the stump. Will cull one within the week. Monday, June 7 View Page WAZINE #2 melon on 136 Dawson Great shape and growing strong. It is going to be hard to cull either melon. Monday, June 7 View Page BUD LIGHT #1 Melon on the 136 Dawson. Growing rapidly, 22.5 girth on sunday, but the shape is a liitle off, Wazine is a few days behind and one has to go, this will be a hard choice. Saturday, June 12 View Page Patch view, 136Dawson in back, with (2) melons and 225 Bright with (1) melon. Saturday, June 12 View Page Here's a melon on the 203 Boyette,15" long going 88 OTT, I might cull this melon just due to the fact I don't like it. I have set another melon thats about 2-3 days in and has great shape, see the next picture. Saturday, June 12 View Page Here's the small melon I might keep instead. Saturday, June 12 View Page Here's the smallest melon on the 136 Dawson. 96 OTT, 32LBS, 32" girth and 15" long somewhere around 11-12 days old. This one's probably gonna be chicken food tommorrow. Saturday, June 12 View Page This one has been fun to grow. One reason it's my best growing melon and also it is from my 2009 melon, so to me it's more fun to grow my own. 105 OTT, 40.5 lbs, 34.5" girth and 17" long. It has completly grown out of the weird shape and now looks like a watermelon. Im not sure how old it is, my guess is day 13 or 14, you can see it on June 2 in the dairy, thats what I'm going by. Last year aI keep no records of melon growth, so yhis year I'm all over keep track of them so I can tell how they are doing. If anyone can tell me by the measurements how this one is going-- like fat and long or skinny and short I would be thankfully, just pop me a email Thursday, June 17 View Page Here's the 203 Boyette--ss-26.5 ee33 cc48.5 108OTT 43.5lbs Thursday, June 17 View Page 225 Bright-ss25 ee34 cc50 3/4 109OTT 44.6 lbs Thursday, June 17 View Page 136 plant is to the left, growth has completely stopped as of Sunday. Maybe a inch, but barely. The melon was gain 5lbs daily and all of a sudden nothing. However I did find a few squash bugs monday and sprayed all plants with Permythin(sp?) could the squash bug have caused all growth to stop. I now have 3 more melons set and unsure of how long to give the big'um until I pull it. Monday, June 21 View Page 225 Bright 28.5 38.5 57.75 125 ott 63.4lbs Monday, June 21 View Page 203 Boyette 30.25 38.25 56.5 125 63.4 This melon and the Bright melon are playing a see saw match, they are always within a pound or two of each other. Monday, June 28 View Page a view of the patch, 225 Bright, front, 203 Boyette, 211 Boyette, and the 88 Dawson in the back. Monday, June 28 View Page Here's the 203 Boyette plant that's one one my market plants. Still averaging over 4lbs a day, and to only be 90lbs looks like a hoss. Monday, June 28 View Page Here's the melon of the 203. Monday, June 28 View Page The Bright melon nears 90lbs, not as fat as the Boyette melon but longer. Monday, June 28 View Page 88 Dawson, had the first melon set of the fair plants. Other fair plants have melons set now but are a week or so behind. Monday, June 28 View Page The grave yard!! My vines are so thick they are impossble to find. One day I can use the blower to look for culls, get them all, only to find 4-5 more the next day. Thursday, July 8 View Page 203 Boyette-Day 37 116lbs Thursday, July 8 View Page 225 Bright Day 36b 111 lbs Thursday, July 8 View Page 88 Dawson Day 26 86 lbs Thursday, July 15 View Page 225 Bright Plants showing a little stress and melon has all but stopped growing. As of july 13 the melon is 43 days old and around 123lbs. Not sure of YVD but my eye is watching it closely. Thursday, July 15 View Page 203 Boyette.. day 44 a still slowly gaing a few pounds daily. This will probably be the melon I take to the farmers market on Aug. the 6th. Next year I may not do any early plants for the market, it seems that the late crop has done much better. melon is around 133-135lbs Thursday, July 15 View Page 88 Dawson Fair plant Day 32 around 120lbs. Has been gaining 4.6 lbs over the last 5 days, and has a 49"girth. Thursday, July 15 View Page 211 Boyette. This was the nice melon I found hiding. Not sure of the age but is growing very nicely. 33lbs over the last 6 days and will most likely be my longest melon. July 13 melon taped at 92.5lbs. Thursday, July 15 View Page Planted some Bright cantalopes a few weeks ago. Trying for a late Sept. date. Not sure if I'm on track, but I'm gonna give them a try. Friday, July 23 View Page 88 Dawson- Day 40 Still growing and doing well considering the 100 temps were are having. Weight gain has slowed a litte, est. weight around 145lbs. Friday, July 23 View Page 211 Boyette-Day??? Melon is still 4lbs a day and growing long, I sure hope the girth comes! Sunday, August 1 View Page Finally found a way to control squash bugs but it may be to late for most of my plants. 225 bright stopped dead in it's tracks at 130lbs, just 2 days after leaves went yellow. Same as the 136 Dawson did a monith ago. 203 Boyette has slow to a crawl at 160lbs, but has to be picked on Thursday for the Farmers Market. So I'm left with a 88 Dawson and a 211 Boyette plant. The 88 Dawson has good girth but lacks the lenght, now around 55" but only 29 0r 30 inchs long. Sunday, August 1 View Page Now the 211 Boyette was a melon I found on July 2nd, the day I was leaving on vacation. I returned on July 8th and did a OTT measuremnet, which put he melon at 60lbs. I culled the other melon and got this one on foam and shaded it. Now I'm am completely guessing that July 8 was day 20 so now I'm day 44. Over the last 24 days it has gained over 4lbs/day, and the funny thing is 3 of those days it was over a 100 degrees and the melon put on only 2 lbs a day when over a 100. Day 44 measurements ee-37 ss-54.5 cc-85 Ott-176 I just want nothing else to do with squash bugs this year, and hope I can get at least one to mature. Wednesday, August 4 View Page As I rolled my market melon over to load for the market weight-in tommorrow this is what I found. Looks like little tiny holes, from a worm or something. Melon was still growing so not sure if it's rot or a worm. Melon was on 2" thick foam, but I can assure you form now on it's 2x4's all the way. Wednesday, August 4 View Page Here's a cross section of the melon, about 1/2" in, it appears that it doesn't go all the way into the red, just a little ways into the rind. Any melon doctors around? Saturday, August 7 View Page Both melons picked due to rot. 88 Dawson... now 180 Dawson 2010 203 Boyette...now 169 Dawson 2010 88 Dawson was only 54 days old, hated to see it go down Wednesday, August 11 View Page 211 boyette, lone melon in the pacth. And the great news is the bottom isn't rotting!! Average 3.1 lbs/day over the last 7 days, and still getting long. 37" long and 53 girth. Wednesday, August 11 View Page My cantaloupe, not sure what to excect, thought growth might be faster, but never grown these before. Wednesday, August 11 View Page Got 2 sreens full of seeds, these are the 180's. Just hate that am drying seeds this soon! Tuesday, August 17 View Page 211-- Still gaining a little weight. 17lbs over the last 7 days. Sun protection fell a little and got to close to the melon, which resulted in a quarter size burn on top of the melon. I am beliving that Auqust is a better time to grow weeds than melons. Tuesday, August 17 View Page Not measured yet, but can see lope is gaining, and maybe to fast. See the next picture. Tuesday, August 17 View Page Not measured yet, but can see lope is gaining, and maybe to fast. See the next picture. Tuesday, August 17 View Page not sure if I should clean, dry and use captan, or something else. Any idea's? Tuesday, August 17 View Page I'm offering my services this fall. If anyone has a problem with the deer, just shoot me a email, Have rifle and will travel!!! Thursday, August 26 View Page 211 Boyette Day 69 Thursday, August 26 View Page 211 Boyette. Still growing but vines look horrible. 7" of rain on Tuesday and cooler weather hasn't helped any. Noticed the stem was rotted past the melon, and was getting close to the stem. Cut the vine 18" past the melon and treated it with fungicide. Not sure if that was right, but the rot was getting close to the melon. Tuesday, October 26 View Page Well the growing season is over and patch repair has started. 211 Boyette(2009) is now the 211 Dawson(2010)