Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 134 Entries. Sunday, March 16 View Page Nearly time to start. Soil sample sent off and got to plow the early patch yesterday just in time for todays rain. Rye and clover was in great shape, just above ankles. Hopefully some of these will still be alive for three of the August weigh-offs. A last minute adjustment was made to this years early line-up with the addition of the 1530 Gehweiler. I think this seed came in the Southern Grower seed packet. Same cross as the 1442.5 Matessa, should be interesting if all goes well. I want to thank Pete & Cindy Glazier and John Matessa for their seeds and everyone involved in getting me the Gehweiler seed. Decided to throw a squash into the mix. This is the first of my crosses that I won't have to plant more than one of to get a greenie. No plans at this time for planting watermelons this year. This could change but I doubt it. I do plan on putting in a couple of lope and tomato plants and maybe a sunflower or two. The farm is in full swing with pruning, plowing and spraying. Also plans are in place to expand the American Chestnut project.   Monday, March 24 View Page Managed to get patch worked down a bit before the freeze comes back in on Tues. Expecting near 20° with wind which could spell disaster for the peach crop again this year. Started some of the seeds for Aug weigh-offs today. Been getting some pressure from friend to raise giant melons again this year. I haven't totally ruled it out. I'm considering trying a couple hydroponically.   Monday, March 24 View Page Started 8 tomatoes which will be grown hydroponically. They are the small little guys with tags. Plants are 6.57 Boudyo, 5.08 Maston, 2-4.61 Finders, 3.25 Wexler and a couple more that I can't remember off the top of my head. They'll be transferred to their permanent location before long as their roots are starting to grow through their plugs.   Thursday, March 27 View Page Managed to get hoops set up just prior to the wind picking up ahead of some expected rain. Noticed flies in the hoops that produce seed corn maggots. Hopefully the timing is right to keep them from laying eggs in the hoops and causing me problems. Seeds are starting to push up in pots and should be breaking through by tomorrow. This will be the first year that they will see sun light from day one and not fluorescent. Thanks to a bit more encouragement I'm going to put some effort into a couple watermelon plants. I'm going to try to do them hydroponically although I'm not sure exactly which method I'm going to use. Since I have no idea how this might turn out I'll plant a couple of my proven seeds to get an idea if the method can produce results similar to years past. It won't be a definitive comparison but it should give me some clue as to whether or not future effort is warranted. No grafts just traditional.   Friday, March 28 View Page Started about 30 seeds today from this pumpkin, 1051.5 Cantrell, to use as trap plants around the fair patch. Hope this is enough to stop most of the squash bugs when they come out. I noticed last year that nearly all the plants that had YVD were on the outer edges of the patch. The plan is to grow them in circular fashion like they're chasing each other in hopes the bugs will land there first. Got a tentative plan pulled together for the melons. I'm going to start 4 plants soon with the plan of moving them to their permanent spot in about a month. Going with 165 Cantrell(B) 10, 207 Cantrell 11, 199 Cantrell 12, 188 Cantrell 13. I don't want to chance some of the "harder to replace" seeds on this unproven method. I'll try to do updates frequently on this experiment.   Saturday, March 29 View Page Decided not to transplant tomatoes to permanent spot just yet. The root weren't near as extensive as I thought they would be. Made cups with drain holes on side to create a small reservoir in the bottom which should hold a little hydro solution and keep the little guys from drying up if I'm late on watering. After looking at this pic I may have needed to put the holes a bit higher on the cup. When filling with perlite and watering in there is a fair bit of dust that settles out thus maybe filling up this shallow of a space. I'll keep an eye on them and if needed I'll re-do. Holes were made by heating a 16d nail with a propane torch while being held with vise-grips and then it will slide right in.   Saturday, March 29 View Page Complete lineup BR L/R: 6.57 Boudyo, 5.08 Maston, 4.61 Finders, 4.61 Finders. FR L/R: 3.6 Johnston/Butler, 3.5 Toms, 3.25 Wexler, 3.08 Shenoha. I need a bit of help confirming the 3.5 Toms. Quite sure it came in the SGPG seed packet but the hand writing was VERY hard to read. I'm not sure it said TOMS. If anyone has the accurate info shoot me an e-mail.   Sunday, March 30 View Page Someone was on their toes. I wrote 3.5 Toms and it should have said 4.5 Toms. After getting an e-mail I could read that it said 4.5 Evans. Thanks Travis   Thursday, April 3 View Page Decided to plant seeds in gro-blocks. They should facilitate moving without disturbing the roots for quite some time. Since this pic I've put the 4 in a shallow plastic tub and have been pleased with the ability to treat them as if they were on a float table. Plans are to leave the center plant in each block unless one of the others just takes off but they better do it soon.   Thursday, April 3 View Page Pumpkin line-up all present and accounted for. I've got an extra 1784 that was started to replace the ugly duckling. It's probably not needed but the season is too early and I've got plenty of seeds that need to be grown if there continues to be a problem. Pete has test germinated some and assures me they're normal looking. My second one looks normal. I expect great things from this seed.   Sunday, April 6 View Page Replaced the ugly duckling with it's sister. Got all the plants in the ground with a couple backup 259 squash plants. Did not put in heating cables this year. Hopefully we won't need them. Struggling with when to start the main patch seeds. Normally around April 15th but I seldom have anything for the late weigh-offs as everything has quit long before late Sept. Then there are the pollination issues with starting later. What to do, what to do? Still plenty of time to decide since the soil test results aren't even back.   Sunday, April 6 View Page Melon plants are thinned and doing fine. With out a doubt these are the strongest young plants I've had. The fert program is similar to years past so I think it's the natural sun light vs fluorescents. I've also made a concerted effort to keep them warm. It's time to get their permanent home built. Tomatoes are doing fine. Got their homes nearly completed. Hope to move them in this week.   Sunday, April 6 View Page Roots are just starting to peek out of a couple blocks so it's time to move. Going to use storage tubs for a temporary home for the melons. I can set them up as mini float tables until I finish their homes. These should easily last until vining begins in earnest.   Sunday, April 6 View Page Can't move in without a little remodeling. Rough measurements of tubs are 24x17x6 inches. Used a 2" hole saw to make the plant hole and wrapped the tub with black plastic to minimize sunlight entering tub to reduce algae growth.   Sunday, April 6 View Page Used a circular saw to cut slots that make it possible to maneuver the lid under the plant. I'm not totally pleased. I may cut the lids completely and tape them in place.   Tuesday, April 15 View Page The 1442 Matesa started to look like it was N deficient. Turned out to be seed corn maggots. Sure thought I had these guys figured out. I'll use a plant that had been intended to be used as a trap plant as a replacement. I'll wait a day or two to put it in the ground as it is snowing currently. Mid 80's a day ago and expecting 26 tonight.   Tuesday, April 15 View Page Start day has arrived and the next generation has been chosen. These are the seeds from other growers that will go in the main patch assuming they germinate. Squash: 1175 Holub 13, 1086 Carlson Peterson 04, 89 Shymanski 12 Pumpkins: 1770.5 Lieber 12, 282 Scherber 13(est), 1734.5 Steil 13 Kin/sq crosses: 1221.5 Robinson 12, 1531.6 Haist 10, 806 Shymanski 10. Thanks everyone for the seeds! I'm excited to see each one of these grow.   Tuesday, April 15 View Page Five of my own seeds will be started for the main patch. The extras will be planted around the outside for bait/trap plants. I will try to self pollinate those just in case a special surprise pops up and makes it to the end of the season. No plans to give them any special attention. With luck there could be a few to sell. The 604.5 & 743 will produce pumpkins but are half squash. So far these two have produced HEAVY fruit. The 259 is a squash in its frst year out. The 615 has a 25% chance of going green. It's a 50/50 blend of squash and pumpkin. I plan on planting 4 in 2 spots growing to a common center eliminating the orange producers. The 894 has a 50% chance and will get 1 spot planted in the same fashion. If a greenie turns up soon enough the plan is to use the 615 on one of the pumpkins in my last post starting the process all over again.   Thursday, April 17 View Page Some days are better than others. Temps dropped too low for the strawberry patch the last couple of nights. The center of these blooms should be bright yellow like the sun. I suspect the entire crop is gone but we'll know more in a week or 10 days. Peach crop looks just as bad maybe worse. Despite what some city slickers think the plants don't just grow more fruit. Still got to do the maintenance work for 12 months with no pay. On a good note the AG's are starting to pop. As of now the popped and potted seeds are 1770.5 Lieber, 1175 Holub, 806 Shymanski, 1734.5 Steil, 1531.6 Haist and a couple 604 Cantrell's. I'm sure there are more to follow soon. Now if I can just figure out what plan B is for income.   Friday, April 18 View Page Main patch seeds have nearly all popped. They are now potted and in the brooding chamber. Still waiting on a couple that I would sure like to see pop, 1086* C/P and 282 Scherber. I may start my second 282 in 24 hrs if the first one doesn't pop by then. I have a second 89* Shymanski popped that could take the place of 1086 if it's a no go. Planted several 1051 Cantrell's about 12' apart for bait/trap plants around the fair patch. It occurred to me this morning that I could put zucchini between them to quickly fill in part of the gaps. Seeds will go in pots today. I want a screen of bait plants.   Friday, April 18 View Page Got reports from other growers that their 282 Scherber's weren't popping after several days. Decided to open this one and behold. A bit underdeveloped. Cots are thin also. Not too concerned as all my 259* Cantrell's are the same. It was about 35 days old when it stopped due to YVD. It takes a bit more TLC but I've gotten several to sprout and 2 in the fair patch ready to vine. Prepared a new towel as normal placed seed side down, shell up. Also started 2nd 282. If both germ I'll find a space.   Saturday, April 19 View Page Just as I had hoped. If you look close at the tip in the previous photo it had a dark spec covering the whole thing. Seventeen hours after shucking one side, I'll call it "oyster surgery", there are signs of life. Fitting name since it was left on the half shell. We'll remove her from ICU in a couple hours after a bit more progress in radicle development and get her in her own room. I'll perform another surgery later today on the second sibbling.   Saturday, April 19 View Page Performed surgery this AM on second 282 and 1086* C/P. No signs of advancement at that time. 8 pm and we have movement in both. I've noticed that 72 hours or so after starting seeds with the paper towel method my zip-lock seem to have lost a bit of moisture. I suspect changing the towel is a big help in getting these stubborn seeds to go. The earliest potted seed are starting to break the surface.   Wednesday, April 23 View Page Going to grow these 2 melons in a setup similar to a float table. Not so sure they'll live but we'll see. Bed is built out of a sheet of OSB board with a 2x6 frame lined with plastic. It will hold approximately 90 gallons if my math is correct. Two plants may be a bit much but I really have no idea. What I don't like about this setup is if one develops a root disease then both are sure to get it. It does give me the option to pull 1 plant if I quickly see I need more root space. The plan is to cover the box but the vines will be trained to grow outside this temporary greenhouse not over the box. I want to use the sun to finish warming the water to 70-75°. I may split my cover so I have access to the root area without affecting the plants in any way. 2 more melons to go somewhere very soon. May by a similar setup but leaning to a totally different one. Stay tuned!   Wednesday, April 23 View Page Worked out about like I figured. Both 282 Scherber seeds sprouted which ain't all bad. For those that don't know the plant that produced the 282 also produced the 2009 Wallace. Thanks to Matt DeBacco and his clone work. Not as good of luck with the 1086* C/P. Seems to be a no go. Another bit of bad news. Saw 2 spotted cuke beetles today. Fortunately they were on a bait plant. They're gone.   Wednesday, April 30 View Page Never claimed to be a tomato grower so don't laugh too hard at my setup. This location is just temporary. Good thing about the bucket method is it can be moved without a lot of trouble. Actually I'm quite pleased with the way the plants look. Any suggestions on what to do from here are welcome seeing as I haven't read the tomato bible. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail with ideas or suggestions.   Wednesday, April 30 View Page I put the 2 plants in the float bed that were the largest and best looking at the time. Well that didn't take long to change. They are still growing but they look pitiful so on to plan B. I started to convert the float table, for lack of a better term, to an ebb and flow system but it occurred to me that it would require a VERY large reservoir of solution to fill the bed. The tomatoes look ok so I've decided to go with a giant Dutch bucket system. I assume the roots will go down into the bucket instead of trying to stay at the surface.   Wednesday, April 30 View Page My bucket is a black plastic 32 gallon garbage can from Walmart. About 10 bucks. Cut a 1" hole and inserted a 3/4" grommet. Best ones I've found to work with are at Ace hardware. Slid a piece of 1/2" pvc through grommet and put an elbow with the opening down. This will drain the bucket except for the last inch or so.   Wednesday, April 30 View Page There will be an elbow on the outside with a section of pvc going into a larger pvc pipe for a return to the reservoir. That will get hooked up when the buckets get put in there permanent location.   Wednesday, April 30 View Page So as to not have a bunch of debris in the reservoir I've made a filter out of a 5 gallon paint strainer and filled it with perlite. Actually used 3-4 gallons so that the bag could be shaped to fit the bottom a bit better. Zip tied the top of the bag.   Wednesday, April 30 View Page Filled the cans with perlite and watered them down. Took about 30 pounds of perlite. This job must be done outdoors. DUSTY!!! Transplanted the same two plants into buckets and watered them in. I was surprised at the relatively few roots present. Plan is to do the next two tomorrow. I'm not exactly sure how I'll get the plants to grow to the ground but it will only be 3-4 feet and there won't be a keeper that close. Just something else to think about while working the fields.   Wednesday, April 30 View Page This is why plan A was canceled. The middle plant was the runt by a small margin when the plan started. It will be interesting to see if they snap out of it in a day or so.   Thursday, May 1 View Page Small patch of competition melons this year. It's a bit of a late start but had trouble getting motivated to add more to my plate and I didn't want to wait another year to see some of these go. Had a tough time narrowing the field but this is what it is. Started a few 169 Cantrell 13 for backups also.   Friday, May 2 View Page If it's on this list it got planted today. 1175* Holub, 2 of 89* Shymanski, 1770.5 Lieber, 1734.5 Stiel, 1221.5 Robinson, 1531.6 Haist, 2 of 282 Scherber and 2 of 806 Shymanski. One of the 806's is planted on the edge of the patch opposite its sib so it can be a replacement or a bait plant. I'll do the same with several of my own tomorrow. For the time being I need more water to warm prior to transplanting. I hope to keep records of which plants I actually see squash bugs on and how many. This may help me when choosing a plant to cull. So far no sign of them. Made the same comment last year and saw them within a week. Planted commercial lopes and specialty melons today. Experimenting with several new varieties. We'll do taste tests and let the customers decide what I need to grow assuming there are no production issues. Speaking of lopes, it's about time to start those. Look out Jake and the rest of you lope heads.----Hmmm----Wonder if thy would grow hydroponically?   Saturday, May 10 View Page It took more than a day or two for the weakest of the 2 plants to recover but it's finally coloring up and starting to grow. It has taken longer to get the timing and length of watering adjusted to get results without stunting the plant from too much or too little. I'm sure I'm still along way from having it optimized. All the plants have surely been stressed as females are starting to show up. Tiny little buggers although the 199 put out 1 decent one. Overall the plants look okay but I'm not excited about their total growth. Seems a bit slow but so do my pumpkins. Hope it's just my perception.   Saturday, May 10 View Page Put the granddaughter in the melon patch before going to work on the rye. Some of it was actually taller than me at 6'4". Took a bit of work but got er done. Since I got such a late start with the melons and I have a couple weeks before they HAVE to go in I'm strongly considering solarizing the patch to see if I can eliminate the weed seeds and skip a ground cover. The 197 Leonard is a no go. The 157 Bright was the first to pop. At this time it will be 157 Bright, 316 Edwards, 290 Mudd, 169 Cantrell. The 169 is 157 Bright x self and had a VERY similar shape to the 316 Edwards. I hope to make that cross. Started lopes a couple days ago with a couple no shows so far which were 46.6 Westfall, 61 Daughtridge (Thanks Harry). Popped and potted are 44 Holloway, 55 James, 8.0 Cantrell. Fingers still crossed on the other 2.   Sunday, May 11 View Page Didn't figure it could hurt so I dragged an old piece of greenhouse plastic out and down she went. Got a good rain late yesterday so that should help. Final amendments are not made but it won't take much to pull the cover back and do that when it needs watering in a few days. No rush to put melons in. Had a 46.6 Westfall lope to pop overnight. Potted and in the brooder.   Monday, May 19 View Page Don't know how hot it has to get to kill pigweed, crabgrass and lambs quarter but I hope this works. Ben sort of cool and wet last few days and I didn't think it would warm under the plastic this quick (78 today). I pulled the plastic back and let it rain on the patch for a day or so then put it back in place afterwards. Also decided to do the same to the lope patch. Getting mega blooms on all the tomato plant but the largest and weirdest looking is on a Brandywine in the garden. It appears to be blooming over a period of several days. It's sort of like one side set a tomato and it kept blooming across the bloom. Can't get the camera in a good spot to shoot it and it's barely a foot off the ground. Got nothing to loose so it gets to stay.   Sunday, May 25 View Page Pulled back the plastic on the melon patch and found a patch of nut sedge in the lowest point. A few other weeds mixed in the same spot. My assumption is that the field drain to this spot and never could get hot enough for sterilization to occur. This spot is not actually in the growing patch, it's just below the drainage corner. The rest of the patch is weed free for the moment.   Sunday, May 25 View Page The 4 plants going in later today are 290 Mudd, 316 Edwards, 157 Bright and 169 Cantrell. Nothing like sun and heat to get the little guys off to a good start. They have done sooo much better than the early ones.   Sunday, May 25 View Page Put a piece of 2x4 inch welded wire under one of the hydro plants to let it ease to the ground. The rest have grown with no support. No reason other than to see if it needed to be done in case the others broke.   Sunday, May 25 View Page The others reached with no problem and have attached to dead grass. Decided to just keep the growing area sprayed with round-up and let these plants grow in a specific area. I should have located the plants farther apart as I can foresee training issues. All these plants are putting out females on a consistent basis but the size is not what I desire but the plant are still smaller than I need. I figure another week or so before I start looking for keeper. A much larger reservoir is needed. Having to mix solution nearly every day. This could be a real problem when the plants reach full size.   Sunday, May 25 View Page Wrong pic in the last post. Here they are. That tomato is on the 3.08 Shenoah   Sunday, May 25 View Page A 4.61 Finders here. No idea what I'm doing with these things.   Sunday, May 25 View Page I do it every year. Wrong pic again! That was the 6.57 Boudyo. This is from Frank & Tina's 4.61. By the way I've got a BUNCH of curled leaves that Chris was talking about but mine see to all curl down and in a corkscrew manner. They straighten with time.   Sunday, May 25 View Page The 1051's that I'm using for trap/bait plants are doing what is expected. About 50% greenies. This one opened today and had a couple on different plants that were yellow. Haven't seen a squash bug "yet" and I'm tempted to pull the yellow producers and let a greenie fill in their spots where possible. Planning on selfing these green ones just in case one goes heavy like its mama. If they go as green as their mama was orange they should be pretty.   Monday, May 26 View Page Here's how I'm growing the 615 Cantrell's, 4 plants in the foreground. They are all growing toward the same spot in the center. Of these 4 plants 3 have quite yellow vines and I don't expect them to produce a squash. My hopes rest on the 1 with a green vine. I'll wait till each produces a female and confirm its color before they get culled. The other group of 4 has 3 green and 1 yellow vined plants. Most all the AG's are in the 3 ft. range. Lost a 282 Scherber, still have a second going, to high wind breakage and replaced it with a 410 Wahl. Never tried to grow for orange before but been fortunate to have a few. It's only at the 4 leaf stage. Got 2 more in the bait ring that may produce a retail kin.   Wednesday, May 28 View Page First pollination of the year. On a 259 Cantrell squash at 11 feet. Used a 1784 Glazier.   Wednesday, May 28 View Page First melon done also. On a 199 Cantrell at 6 ft crossed to 165(B). Females are definitely getting better on the hydro system. Don't really expect to keep this one. Traditional plants don't seem to have slowed a bit after transplant. I think they may be the best I've had at this age. Even hydro plants are looking very good now. Maybe planting later with more heat could have some advantages? Hmmm. Plan on getting lopes in the ground tomorrow. Kind of got a deadline to meet as patch time is going to be hard to come by soon.   Thursday, May 29 View Page Didn't know how to show the growth rate of the American Chestnut orchard other than pulling the 3500 in with them. Starting their 3rd summer in the field. The growth still amazes me of these eastern giants.   Thursday, May 29 View Page By the way several are going to bloom this year!   Friday, May 30 View Page Got in close to the 615's today and it appears that at least 2 of the yellow vines will produce pumpkins. They will get a few more days before being pulled to confirm color. One green vine appears to be growing a stripey and one a greenie. It's very early on both so time will tell. No females on the balance.   Sunday, June 1 View Page Got the lopes planted 2 - 44 Holloways, 2 - 55 James and 1 - 46.6 Westfall. Other 2 plants just didn't look near as good. First of the early kins here. 1530 Gehweiler has it's first contender that should be ready in a few days.   Sunday, June 1 View Page Other early kin here is 1784 Glazier. First female should be ready to go on Tues. Hope I get to pollinate her. Got a date with a surgeon sometime on Tues and won't know what time till tomorrow.   Sunday, June 1 View Page The 4 late melon plants may look the best at this stage of any melon plants I've grown. This is the 290 Mudd and vining well for a month old plant. Not a nickels worth of difference in the 4 except.....   Sunday, June 1 View Page for this one. Wind must have snapped the main on this 316 Edwards. I finished the amputation as there are at least 5 locations that vines are starting to sprout. Not concerned. What I am concerned about is that I saw my first squash bug today and the striped cuke beetles have appeared also. Everything has been treated with systemic and I went to turn on the pump this morning to do a booster and found a slight problem.   Sunday, June 1 View Page Blaming it on a mouse. Hope it died!!! Ran fine 2 days ago now I just have to figure out how to get everything watered. It's almost panic time. Entire farm, including giants, depended on this pump.   Tuesday, June 3 View Page Got the pump to a repair shop yesterday with an est time of 7-10 days. Not a serious chance of rain in that forecast. Did manage to get the early patch hooked to utility water. Still working on a solution for everything else. Did 4 pollinations this AM. This one on number 2 259* Cantrell. Crossed it with 1530 Gehweiler.   Tuesday, June 3 View Page This is 1784 Glazier and it got a dose of #2 259* Cantrell. Thought I'd mix things up a bit since the #1 259* appears to have lost its pollination from the 1784. Figure it's just a bit more of Murphy as Nor_Cal has hinted. By the way NC I have a brother-in-law there in Concord.   Wednesday, June 4 View Page Should have entered the 150 ft challenge. Selfed 2 - 1051's today that were both greenies and most of these will be in that 150 neighborhood. Also pollinated a couple melons in the hydro patch. Only a couple of females that I really have hopes for but plants are still young. The 199 sure throws some fat females at bloom.   Wednesday, June 4 View Page These are not some sort of worms. Actually stitches inside my right shoulder. Seems farm work is not conducive to long shoulder life. Trip to meet surgeon yesterday was not as simple as my December visit. That one was like getting split ends trimmed followed by a couple weeks of therapy, left shoulder. This time six week immobilized in sling with who knows how much therapy. Rumor has it while first waking from anesthesia I managed to kiss a nurse on the cheek. I don't believe them but they said I said "thanks". Wife kinda laughed when I told her. Murphy needs to keep his nose out of this one!   Wednesday, June 4 View Page Squash plants are doing fine. I've got 3 going that are from other grower's seeds. This first one is the 1175 Holub. Slightly larger than the rest but only slightly.   Wednesday, June 4 View Page The first of two 89 Shymanski plants. Right on schedule considering there is still no irrigation. Weather report has changed since I saw it last night. Maybe an inch tonight! Or not.   Wednesday, June 4 View Page And the second 89 Shymanski. All 3 of these plants are over the same drip tapes and beside each other so things are starting out as near equal as possible. There is a 615 Cantrell in this line that shows early signs of being green and one that is yellow. At least 1 894 Cantrell will be green. I've killed 3 squash bug so I'm a long way from getting anything to a weigh-off.   Thursday, June 5 View Page Second attempt with the 1770 Lieber. Last year my plant had deformed males and would not set a fruit. This year's looks normal except for a few of the yellow spots on the leaves again. Used a couple males on a 1051 Cantrell as a test for later. I plan to attempt a 1770 x 282 Scherber along with crossing both on squash. Both of these plants have very heavy any yellow vines. Very aggressive as well. Only other kin/kin cross planned is 1770 on 410 Wahl for orange.   Saturday, June 7 View Page Let the pollinations begin. A handful of females ready today. Hopefully something will stick.   Saturday, June 7 View Page Over the years I've seen a few females with male parts. I don't know if these carry viable pollen or not but I've always culled the female, selfed the plant or called it open pollinated. I may try to set a female later to see if it will self pollinate without other males. From a genetics standpoint we need to know.   Monday, June 9 View Page It's official! A 615 that will be green. Can't guarantee how dark but it's green. Already using this plant for pollinations. The only other 615 left appears to be green also. It's in another spot so with any luck they will both get a chance to prove themselves. All four of the 894's went green. I've redirected 2 of them to let them both stay in the patch. The smaller 2 plants got pulled. All plant culling has been completed with a couple early pollinations in the main patch to start tomorrow. Plants may be a bit small but I'm afraid the heat due in shortly may cause pollination issues. Still waiting on pump. Need rain yesterday. Doing work and trying to type with one arm sucks. Cleared for light therapy to start this week.   Monday, June 9 View Page 316 Edwards is rebounding nicely. Vines seem to be growing at nearly the same rate. Only weeds I'm seeing so far is a bit of crabgrass where the hole was dug for transplanting. Nut sedge was unaffected by solarization in the lope patch.   Monday, June 9 View Page Still outpacing the group is the 157 Bright. Main and sides in the 4' range. Managed to get a couple nice females in the hydro patch pollinated yesterday. Sure hope they stick and have the shape to go big. Had to change out the reservoir in the hydro system. Doubled capacity and fear it too is too small. Took cuttings from the 5 largest tomato producing plants. Thoughts are to get clones going to do pollinations with for seeds after results are in. I'd like to get some controlled crosses from the largest ones. Got my tomato bible in the mail on Saturday. Now to find out what I've been doing wrong and make some adjustments.   Wednesday, June 11 View Page First of the fair patch contenders. On the 1530 Gehweiler at 14 ft. 5 lobes and pollinated by the 259* Cantrell plant #1. Lost the main tip on that 259 so still waiting on a female to stick on a side vine.   Wednesday, June 11 View Page At 12 ft I got the opportunity to pollinate the 6 lobed female and did so with the 259* Cantrell plant #2. Still going to pollinate females on all plants for a while.   Wednesday, June 11 View Page Got a squash that shoes early signs of sticking. 259* Cantrell #2 here was pollinated by the 615 Cantrell plant #2 that had a greenie a couple days ago. This cross will ad even more new genetics that could go huge in the right hands.   Friday, June 13 View Page Been a while since I've had a melon female this size. Couldn't measure it with only one functioning arm but it was nice. Foam coffee cup covering the male beside her. Actually the only one I've had before was on her grandmother but this one is fatter. Don't like the male parts in the bloom but I'll take what I get. This has been the only female on this plant that has had both. It is now selfed and on the 188 Cantrell 13.   Tuesday, June 17 View Page It can be done! Hydroponic watermelons. The first candidates are just hitting the chart in weight which puts them in the low 20's. These may not be the keepers as others are coming on strong and have not reached day 15 yet. Here is a 165-B female with their typical large girth to length ratio. A younger sister may get the nod because of her early length but she better be chubby as well when she reaches day 15. Four melon plants and 8 tomatoes are drinking about 30 gallons a day and they are no where near fully developed. Got to find a way to get spraying done. So far no fungicide treatments which will spell disaster.   Tuesday, June 17 View Page The 199 has a descent girl going but I'm still looking for one with a little better shape. I've missed a couple of cuties on this plant so this could be the one. All the early kins have sets with backups. Fastest out of the gates is the 1530 Gehweiler but only by a nose. We'll see where they are when we hit the first turn. Main patch is struggling. Limited water is taking its toll. Inches of rain all around us but not here in Little Egypt. Rumor has it pump should be ready by lunch today. We'll see.   Thursday, June 19 View Page Got one going on a side vine on the 259* Cantrell #2 plant. Crossed it with 1175* Holub. Lost the main tip to something unknown so pollinated the fattest females on the sides as they appeared. The plant is nearly covering the allotted space.   Thursday, June 19 View Page I like the early color & shape of this girl, 1784 Glazier. This time of the season may be my favorite. Kins grow so fast. No serious problems and the dreams of monsters are all good.   Thursday, June 19 View Page The 615 pollinator on this 259* #2 is producing greenies. Hope she can keep pace with the rest. A bit more of an early barrel shape.   Thursday, June 19 View Page Still leading the pack is the 1530 Gehweiler. I'll start taking ott's soon to compare to previous years. Like most of the country our first heat wave is here. Fortunately the pump arrived as promised and the competition patch and commercial melon field got its first good drink in over 2 weeks. I fear the competition patch is going to be more of a genetics patch. The plants did suffer. Haven't seen many squash bugs at all this year. Still haven't been able to spray anything so the season could be short anyway. Lost a giant tomato to rot after it started to color up a few days back. Second one was showing color yesterday so it may get weighed later today.   Thursday, June 19 View Page My first giant tomato of the year! By giant standards it may not be much to brag about but I'm still pleased. It's the largest that I've been able to locate grown in Tennessee at 3.17 pounds. Rumor has it that there are others growing this year in Tn so I don't expect it to be on top long. It was grown hydroponically on a 4.5 Evans and is open pollinated. Speaking of hydro. I'm not getting the gains on melons that I hoped for. Yesterday I drastically increased the run time of system. Sunny day. Temp reached 92°. Great day for melon growth. Gains fell by nearly 50% on ALL melons. Was this too much water? Water temp too high? Would this have happened anyway? Adjustments coming later. Got to remember this is just an experiment. Going to shorten time and change fert program to ad a bit more K. Fingers crossed.   Saturday, June 21 View Page I put a line to show where the plants separate. The near plant had an early set melon that just didn't grow well at all to start and the plant seemed behind. Pulled the melon approx. 10 days ago. and you can see what happened. All 3 plant with a set melon look very similar. Not much new growth and gains are below expectations. Adjusted water timing back to original setting and gains are right back where they were 2 days ago, still not great but better than previous day with similar weather. Made some fert adjustments with more to follow if things don't improve quickly.   Saturday, June 21 View Page It just wasn't meant to be. This was my second attempt at growing a 1531.6 Haist and the squash bug got her. My first casualty of the year to yellow vine. It set in much earlier than most years. Quite sure it's due to stress from lack of water the past couple weeks. I do have a couple other plants crossed to this one so maybe we'll get an idea in a year or two what she could have been. Had the 1530 Gehweiler hit the chart today, 18 DAP. Tomorrow it will be 1784 Glaziers turn. Both may be as dark colored for early kins as I've ever had. Suspect it's the 1770 in them.   Wednesday, June 25 View Page Late melons are doing fine. A few females starting to show up but most are small. Going to wait a bit longer to get bigger plants before attempting to set fruit. I've had rain off and on for a few days and the crab grass & pigweed is sprouting everywhere EXCEPT in this patch. VERY few weeds period! Horse nettle, nut sedge and a couple jimson weeds are about it. Where the ground was disturbed for transplanting there are a couple grass and pigweed sprouts but that's it. Lope patch looks the same. I'll do this again.   Thursday, June 26 View Page Pulled the tomato plants that had not produced mega blooms or had produced thin/shallow fruit. Still have 4 going and I like what I see. I've taken cuttings from the 4 to put in the buckets that have been removed. Don't know if there's time to grow a big one on them or not but this is a year of experiments. I'm surprised the root-ball wasn't even bigger than it was. Still a fair bit of room in the bucket. Plants were 6-7 ft tall.   Friday, June 27 View Page Been a good day. Managed to take a couple more tomatoes to get them weighed. This one was on the 6.57 Boudyo. Beat my last one by nearly 1/2 pound.   Friday, June 27 View Page Here she is on the scale. 3.51 pounds. Open pollinated.   Friday, June 27 View Page Second one up from the 3.08 Shenoah. Open pollinated. I lost the bottom on one earlier in the week so I decided as soon as I see a fair bit of color we're headed to the scales.   Friday, June 27 View Page More than a pound heavier and a new PB!!!! 4.59 pounds.   Friday, June 27 View Page Just for perspective. Hard to tell how big these little buggers are when pictured alone. Hydroponics might hold some promise. I suppose I'll turn in the big one to GPC early tomatoes.   Saturday, June 28 View Page Melon patch filling in nicely. No sign of females yet. I'm getting anxious. I think there's still time to get a big one going.   Saturday, June 28 View Page A few keepers have been determined. 1221.5 Robinson here. Not as aggressive as last years and a bit lighter in color. Lost last years to YVD so hoping this one hangs in there to at least day 40 for seeds. Pollinated 6/12 with the 1531.6 Haist that I pulled due to YVD. Cross has 25% chance of going green.   Saturday, June 28 View Page 806 Shymanski is as light as last years was dark.   Saturday, June 28 View Page 806 was pollinated on 6/12 with 604.5 Cantrell. Another 25% chance cross.   Saturday, June 28 View Page 1784 Glazier pollinated by 259* Cantrell plant #2. 6 lobes and looks like she is going to be dark. Last 4 day average 26 lbs   Saturday, June 28 View Page I think the 1530 Gehweiler is going to be dark also. Shaped similar to mama. Last 4 day average just a bit better.   Thursday, July 3 View Page Growth on the 3 older hydro plants has all but stopped. Decided to cut all 3 loose. I'll get weights later when I have a young wiper-snapper here to lift them. I've got a plan.   Thursday, July 3 View Page Since all 3 were very close in size and the plants were comparable in square footage. I want to know if these 3 plant, given enough time to fill in much more, can do a better job on a second melon. Shooting for 2 weeks but I'll let the plants tell me when. I'm not the best at keeping healthy plants so this could be futile but I've got to try. This is also the first year I've let my competition plants nearly fill in before setting fruit. Just now starting to pollinate those. Last year I set early and had all kinds of issues. Baaaaad year with good seeds.   Friday, July 4 View Page Left to right 199, 165(B), 207 all Cantrell's. 199 33 days, est wt 78 lb actual 75. 165(B) 30 days est wt 85 actual 96. 207   Friday, July 4 View Page Grrrr I hit "Submit". 207 31 days est wt 69 actual 73. Learned a bit about hollow heart. It's not from lack of water. The 2 on the right had very small air pockets starting and they were over the chart in weight. The one on the left was SOLID and under the chart. It's simple geometry! Long thinner melons may have the same ott as the short wide ones but their lighter. KEEP THIS IN MIND WHEN SELECTING A KEEPER!   Monday, July 7 View Page Since everything is set up I thought I'd try something different. I cut the plant off on the right and I'm letting a sucker grow for a new plant. My thoughts are that the large root system will want to push this plant and maybe be inclined to set large blooms relatively quickly. The plant on the left is a cutting from the plant on the right. This is the 3.08 that produced my 4.59. Replicated this with the 6.57 that grew the 3.51. Just curious if I can get a good late one. I've pulled several of the bait plants to make it easier to maneuver through the patch. Nothing exciting to write about there. Have seen some squash bug nymphs and a bit of powdery mildew. Got to locate a willing soul to do some spraying. Still another 10 days in a sling.   Tuesday, July 8 View Page Thank God for grandsons! Spraying completed with Pristine and Baythroid. Finally got a nice little rain earlier, maybe a little more than a 1/4 inch.   Saturday, July 12 View Page You know it's a GOOD day when you walk out the garage door with camera in hand for a patch update and 30 ft away in a hickory tree Mr Bob White is doing his best to call in a girlfriend. Here he is between notes bob and white. Standing there I could hear 5 separate quail roosters (including him) doing the same. This is one restoration project that is working just fine. Also saw my first decent buck in velvet this morning. Looks like he will be 8+ points but a little light on mass.   Saturday, July 12 View Page Look like I may have a keeper on the 282 Scherber. 14 days and crossed with the 1175 Holub.   Saturday, July 12 View Page I really like the early color of this 615 Cantrell #1. I need to support its vine a bit.   Saturday, July 12 View Page Same color but a different shape on this 615 Cantrell #2 plant. Again some support need on these long stems. It's early but these are the 2 most aggressive squash in the patch. This one is crossed with the 1175* Holub also. The #1 plant was crossed with 1530 Gehweiler which going to be dark orange.   Saturday, July 12 View Page Only 1 keeper in the melon patch so far. This is on the 169 Cantrell. Plenty of pollinations on other plants just waiting for some to fill out. I fear several are pear shapes and I may have to take open ones to play with. Not my preferred choice.   Saturday, July 12 View Page The 5.08 Maston produced this girl. I wanted to push it to the end and she stayed solid. Unofficially 3 pounds 2 ounces but that's close enough for me. One tomato left on original vines and it's on a 4.61 Finders.   Tuesday, July 15 View Page Last nights storms has turned my competition patch into a genetics patch. Most plants are flat and broken up. Several kins are 30+ days so there should be some with good seeds in a few days if the plants can't be salvaged. The fair patch is only 150 yards away and doesn't seem to have been hit. Freaky winds. Big day tomorrow. Hoping to get out of this harness and get my arm working again!!!   Friday, July 18 View Page Day 14 and the stem end just keeps getting worse. No other hand pollinations to choose from. Yanked it anyway.   Friday, July 18 View Page But I did find this one under the foliage a couple days ago. Both were on the 280 Mudd. No idea on the age of this ole girl nor do I have any vitals. Doesn't matter, we're going to dance. One last melon to choose and that should happen on tomorrow on the 316 Edwards. I still have work to do on these hand pollinations. I sure let some good females get away due to poor shapes.   Friday, July 18 View Page Took a stroll through the 3 yr old chestnut trees and found a total of 5 burrs. Hopefully some of them will have viable seeds. This is the largest of the lot. Unlike the Chinese chestnuts these rarely have more than 2 seed in a burr and usually just 1. Largest trees are around 12' tall. A bit of bad news in the kin patch. Had to pull the 1175* due to YVD, dag nab it.   Sunday, July 20 View Page Finally made the last culling decision in the melon patch. Decided to go with vine location and girth over length and earliest numbers. I'm hoping that the girth will offset the difference between the two. The 188 on the hydro system is at the same age that the others shut down. Its vine is continuing to grow and set an occasional fruit which are getting culled. It's estimated at 90 pounds which is larger than any of the other estimates for the same age. The other vines have grown and filled in quite nicely but there is quite a bit of Bermuda grass starting to take over. I'm going to spray the grass with poast and let the vines set a melon to continue the plant size experiment. The distance from the stump and age of the vines could cause the results to be skewed. We'll see. I have noticed that I've got fewer plants with the leaves around the stump dying early this year. Makes me wonder if all the early sprayings that I've done in the past have been too strong. Hmmm. Last spraying was with mancozeb and I could see it gathering on the leaf tip but not running off. Most of those leaves are now toast. Still no serious weed issues in the watermelon patch and vines are rooting everywhere. Keep this in mind folks for next year. Solarize.   Sunday, July 20 View Page Several kin near the 40 day mark. I can't tell that I'm getting any better at this according to their numbers. This is the stage where they normally slow down for me while other growers keep them going. Can't blame it on the heat this year! Weeds and lack of care maybe but not the heat. Did soil and tissue test and it appears I've been starving them. Made adjustments but I've never been able to get the gains back that I've missed. Whichever one stops first will go to Columbus then Indy and so on.   Friday, August 1 View Page Loaded and ready to head to Columbus. No Howard Dill award in this one although its mama was. I tickled to get something to the scales early but mostly looking forward to seeing some of the gang that we only get to talk with a time or two each year.   Sunday, August 3 View Page Had a great time at the Ohio State Fair. My squash was heavy but not sure how much officially. I had it estimating around 410 and it weighed 500 even. Not bad for such a small plant. Heard rumors of a real good squash going in another growers patch. Saw pictures and the color and shape are vey good. Good luck.   Sunday, August 3 View Page Edged out one of my favorite people Mr. Bill Neptune and his 966 for first place. Both our pumpkins went about 100 pounds heavy. Officially mine was 1005.5. This was grown on 1530 Gehweiler. The damage around the stem explains why it stopped growing. This is the only kin I've ever had to exceed 40 pounds a day for multiple days.   Sunday, August 3 View Page John Maston had this beauty and was good enough for 3rd place. I want to thank him and Gus Smithhisler for agreeing to harvest my seeds which allowed me to head on home instead of staying till Sunday evening.   Wednesday, August 6 View Page Terminated the hydro melon project and dumped the perlite on the kin patch. I could not get sets that were comparable to the early ones. Most females were misshaped after pollination or very small at bloom. Much to my surprise was how few roots there were in the cans. The VAST majority of the roots were in the top half. Nothing like the tomatoes which formed a tight ball in the bucket. I know the container sizes were much different but so was the plant size. I'm not sure that I have learned anything major. I was very disappointed with the overall gains of the hydro melons but when compared to my competition patch that has had all the tests and amendments recommended this year, the 32 day weights are nearly identical. Oddly seeds from the same packs of commercial melons that I've used the last 2 years have produced melons that average about 20-25% heavier over previous years. Zero sprays on commercial and a few on competition. Commercial look good, competition not so much. They're going down fast. Got a couple new tomatoes set on clones. It will be interesting to se if they do better that their mother plants.   Wednesday, August 6 View Page The youngest of the grandkids has discovered that she likes Poppy's watermelons. They grow way too fast!   Friday, August 8 View Page Should have loaded last night. Got to remember to check the weather forecast a couple days before the weigh-off to be sure excessive rain is not expected that might make loading a bit difficult. Had to use another tractor to pull this one out and it wasn't because the squash was that big either. Please ignore the lambs quarter that is as tall as the tractor. Now some you will understand what I mean when I say I found it in the weeds.   Friday, August 22 View Page Went to Indiana to see some old friends. I cut the 1784 Glazier loose a couple hours early as I failed to reach one of my goals this year of 1200 pounds. Absolutely no complaints since she went 1199. Thanks Pete and Cindy for the seed! If more folks grow this seed you'll see some HD winners from it. She was grown in the fair patch which wasn't near as weedy as what the competition patch is. I'm hoping to dig around in the weeds and find something still alive to take to Cullman. Best crop of lambs quarter I've ever had. The squash I took was way too light in color to suit me so at this time I don't intend to grow any of the seeds from her even though she is crossed with the 282 Scherber. I've got the 282 crossed with 1175* Holub which was much darker before the squash bugs took her out. I'm trying to line up a greenhouse for a winter project to save a season in the squash project. Got wind of a good squash out there from one of my seeds that has fueled the fire. Fingers crossed she stays intact.   Tuesday, August 26 View Page For years I've been using my hatching incubator to dry my seeds. It should be between 98° and 99°. I dry them for 2-3 days, peel the skins and let them rest for about a week before bagging and storing. I've had great results and no moldy seeds that germinate just fine. Well that may not be the case with this years first batch. I went out to pull them after 3 days and evidently the thermostat decided to crap out. Best I can tell is it got somewhere around 130°. This happened about a week ago. Decided to go ahead as normal and pull them and let them rest. I'm test germinating all 3 batches that were in there. The first batch, from my 1199, was only in there 24 hrs and they have been in the germ box for 48 hrs. Just checked and 2 have popped. The other 2 batches were in the incubator for 3 days and have only been in germ box for 24 hrs. One batch has a bunch of white tips so it will be interesting to see what effect this mistake may have had on all 3 batches.   Thursday, August 28 View Page Quick update on my "roasted pumpkin seed" project. The seeds that were in for 24 hrs had 100% germination after 72 hrs. The 2 batches that were in for 3 days had 0% germination after 72 hrs. Those 2 batches will get pitched.   Monday, September 1 View Page If you've ever stopped to talk to the spectators you know one of the questions they'll ask. "What are you going to do with it when your done?" This is my version after seed harvest. The 2 I took to Indy only lasted about 30 minutes after calling the girls in for a snack.   Monday, September 1 View Page Took 2 more to Cullman. The one in the center was the 4th largest pumpkin at the weigh-off at 1045. Grown on the 806 Shymanski and pollinated by the 604.5 Cantrell. If I get seeds I'll grow these like the 615's of this year in hopes of getting a squash. I also have hopes of putting it on display at the Tennessee Valley Fair in a few days. It will NOT entered in the weigh-off. I should have one for it but it will be much much smaller.   Monday, September 1 View Page This is the pollinator of the 806 and weighed in at 784 as an exhibition kin. Not at all disappointed with the weight. As the grower we know the field conditions and attention each plant gets. Virtually none and in a wet location. Pollinated by one of the 615's which will give me a 50/50 chance of green and still 50% newer kin genes.   Monday, September 1 View Page This is the main reason why the 784 went to Cullman. After harvesting most of the seeds it made a big hit. Really enjoyed Cullman in spite of the heat, nearly 100°. Got to see several old friends and a few new ones. Unfortunately I found out there were a few growers there that did not bring an entry and I did not recognize. Please make sure and say hi the next time our paths cross. If I don't say hi first it's because I'm old and have a BAD memory. Ignore that and speak up. I want to shout out a huge congrats on the 4 state records that fell. We can grow big in the south with a little more effort and education.   Monday, September 1 View Page Had a couple people give me a poke in the ribs and question whether or not the weeds are for real in the competition patch. These are towering over one of the 615's. Can't back away far enough because of more weeds to get a good perspective.   Monday, September 1 View Page This is the only 615 that was used as a pollinator. No seeds will be saved from this girl as it is open pollinated. Lost the squash on the main at around 35 days and let the plant go at that time. Sure like the color of this one.   Monday, September 1 View Page The other 615 here is crossed with the 1530 Gehweiler. I need her to last about another week to get her to the fair and weighed. By no means a bad color but I would like to eliminate the lighter stripes. The 1530 was my fastest gainer of all time until I lost the stem. Got the plan to cross this with the 282 Scherber x 1175* Holub that I've harvested seeds from. Hope I can get this done this winter.   Tuesday, October 21 View Page She didn't hold till the fair. Had a couple bad spot develop on the side in the weeds so instead of taking a weeping squash to the fair I just cut it. Wish I had taken her to get it weighed to see just how much heavy she went. Doesn't matter now. 490 Cantrell 14 est. No luck on getting a greenhouse for the winter project so we'll have to wait till spring.   Tuesday, October 21 View Page This was my pumpkin entry at the Tennessee Valley Fair. Now 752.6 Cantrell 14 (743 Cantrell 11 x 1531.6 Haist 10). Another squmpkin with a 25% chance of green.   Wednesday, December 31 View Page Happy New Year!