Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 172 Entries. Saturday, May 3 View Page These are most of the plants that arrived yesterday morning in a overnight package from Fedex. Wow, it was like Christmas to me. A huge thank you to all involved. I am a happy camper. :-) More to follow soon I think.   Saturday, May 3 View Page Sorry, one of the plants in the last picture was wrong. It has now been replaced with a plant with 2 sets of cots, LOL. These youngsters are loving the full sun by the way. They slept under grow lights last night. I may wait about a week or so to plant them to take advantage of the extra night lighting so they may get a little extra growth on them.   Saturday, May 10 View Page Plants are doing well but I have acquired more than I should have.   Saturday, May 10 View Page Some of my tomato and pepper plants.   Saturday, May 10 View Page My pepper garden.   Saturday, May 10 View Page Young tomato plants at the top of my garden.   Saturday, May 10 View Page A picture across the top of my garden.   Saturday, May 10 View Page My blueberry plants have loaded up good again this year.   Saturday, May 10 View Page My front yard today.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page test   Tuesday, May 27 View Page I have been experiencing an internet problem the past several days but now I am back on track and able to post. This first pict is a 274 Kent x Shintosa Camelforce. It's growing on a new raised bed I built.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page 1/2 of my rat patrol. lol   Tuesday, May 27 View Page My pepper patch.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page A better shot of the pepper plants.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page 239 Leonard. This is my first one and I am proud to be growing it. Thank you Chris for the nice plants you gave to me this 2014 growing season.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page 260.5 Clementz. This is a very nice little plant.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page 350 Kent is a nice looking plant.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page 316 Edwards is maybe my most aggressive plant for now.I am most happy to be growing these great genetics.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page 229 Edwards x Shintosa. This one is starting to accelerate.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page 291 Kent x C Ficifolia. This was my dream plant over the winter. I tried to make this graft myself. Thnak you so very much Nathan.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page 270 Neptune x Shintosa is a very healthy plant with a lot of promise.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page 270 Neptune x Shintosa is a very healthy plant with a lot of promise. Sorry about the caption with the lack of a picture.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page 229 Edwards x Shintosa. I have a couple of multiples right now. I also have more than one 274 Kent x Shintosa. They are all worth giving a chance I think.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page Another 274 Kent x Shintosa.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page Another 229 Edwards x Shintosa.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page Another 274 Kent x Shintosa.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page Mountain Hoosier.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page Unknown Carolina Cross.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page 228.5 Masterson. I once promised myself I would try not to grow too many plants again. I am sure the numbers will decrease some as the season progresses.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page Pictures will follow soon.   Saturday, May 31 View Page 270 Neptune x Shintosa main has been chewed off.   Saturday, May 31 View Page A little better look.   Saturday, May 31 View Page 274 Kent x Shintosa main has been chewed off.   Saturday, May 31 View Page A squash plant all chewed up.   Saturday, May 31 View Page What could be doing this ? I saw a woodchuck on the edge of my garden a few weeks ago. Are they capable of this ?   Saturday, May 31 View Page Mountain Hoosier main chewed off. I don't have the resources to put up a fence right now.   Saturday, May 31 View Page Two giant marrow plants mains chewed off.   Saturday, May 31 View Page Two more squash plants all chewed up.   Saturday, May 31 View Page 2 giant pear gourds nearly destroyed.   Saturday, May 31 View Page Giant bushel gourd almost gone. Any suggestions ? I have ordered coyote urine granules hoping this will help.   Saturday, May 31 View Page Another gourd almost gone. I have some extra melon plants I will plant in this garden for bait plants. I hope it will help a little.   Saturday, May 31 View Page 2 more squash plants served up as a salad. I would love to destroy whatever did this.   Saturday, May 31 View Page 316 Edwards, my prettiest plant, finger vine chewed off.   Saturday, May 31 View Page Tomato and pepper plants seem to have been left alone so far. I am going to try some hot pepper juice and epsom salt as a foliar spray on the watermelons to make then taste bad.   Saturday, May 31 View Page Another load of horse manure for my garden. I have probably hauled 25 or 30 loads already this year.   Thursday, June 5 View Page I ordered coyote urine crystals and then decided not to use the product. Yesterday morning I picked up a trap I ordered from Lowe's to try to catch the groundhog(s). When I got home yesterday afternoon I found this now in squirrel heaven squirrel in my new trap. I did not find that encouraging. It may have tipped off the groundhog.   Thursday, June 5 View Page When I arrived home this evening the first thing I did was look to see if the trap had done me any good. It had not. So I started watching the garden area from a rear window of my home. Soon I saw leaves shaking on a squash plant and then saw the groundhog chomping away on the leaves. I watched him for about 20 minutes as he was at the time leaving my melon plants alone and mostly was eating leaves off plants on the edge of the woods that border my garden. I took a few pictures as I watched. I guess if I can shoot pictures of him then maybe I can shoot him with a air rifle. I went on Knoxville Craigslist and found one I hope to purchase. To be continued......   Saturday, June 7 View Page I found out from the owner of the vacant lot next door I had built part of my raised bed on his property. He asked me to move it to my side. The 274 Kent x Shintosa was too big to move so I had to pull the plant. Plus it was 2 days of work for me to move everything.   Saturday, June 7 View Page 239 Leonard is small be not chewed on so far. But due to so much going on it has received little attention.   Saturday, June 7 View Page 260.5 Clementz has been chewed on a few times and the main is gone.   Saturday, June 7 View Page OK, let me try again. 260 Clementz has been chewed on a few times now and the main is gone.   Saturday, June 7 View Page 350 Kent has been a slow starter for me. I guess the groundhog has not found it appetizing so far.   Saturday, June 7 View Page My 316 Edwards is still a pretty good looking plant except the main has been chewed up and swallowed. On a brighter note I did some exploring in the woods around my property and possibly found the burrow for the groundhog and tried to make the hole unusable.   Saturday, June 7 View Page I am not sure the "bait" plants I planted are doing anymore than providing the critter extra food. Every one of them has sure been chewed on though.   Saturday, June 7 View Page 274 Kent x Shintosa main has been chewed off. I now have a radio in the middle of my garden playing talk radio from dusk till dawn. Will this help me ?   Saturday, June 7 View Page Some of my squash plant damage. The Carolina Cross plants would probably be almost completely gone if these poor plants were not providing the majority of food for my overgrown rat.   Saturday, June 7 View Page 229 Edwards x Shintosa looks well chewed on. It just makes me sad.   Saturday, June 7 View Page 209 Masterson had the first sign of a melon on it.It looks like trash now.   Saturday, June 7 View Page Another 274 Kent x Shintosa with lots of damage and the main eaten.   Saturday, June 7 View Page 228.5 Masterson with the main chewed off. This is actually the one with an embryo on it. I thought it was going to be a good year. I am still working on my problems though it is getting late.   Saturday, June 7 View Page 229 Edwards x Shintosa is pretty chewed up. I hate woodchucks.   Saturday, June 7 View Page These plants are mostly healthy except for being eaten alive. I am falling behind in taking care of them though.   Saturday, June 7 View Page 270 Neptune x Shintosa has been eaten on a few times. Maybe I can grow it as a bush. LOL   Saturday, June 7 View Page 270 Neptune x Shintosa has been eaten on a few times. Maybe I can grow it as a bush. LOL   Saturday, June 7 View Page 291 Kent x C Ficifolia is remarkably untouched. It has been a slow starter but if I can get rid of the groundhog maybe it still has time to grow a nice melon.   Saturday, June 7 View Page Why can't the darn woodchuck prefer pepper plants ? I would certainly be much less upset.   Wednesday, June 11 View Page This is my lone Carolina Reaper plant. The Reaper is said to be the new hottest pepper in the world.   Wednesday, June 11 View Page 270 Neptune x Shintosa newly moved to my new raised bed. I have never moved melon plants this late in the season but I am desperate to keep a grafted plant or two away from the groundhog. I moved it last night and it seems to be doing OK as I have seen no wilting. It it too late to grow a competitive melon though ?   Wednesday, June 11 View Page Sorry, here is the picture that goes with this caption: 270 Neptune x Shintosa newly moved to my new raised bed. I have never moved melon plants this late in the season but I am desperate to keep a grafted plant or two away from the groundhog. I moved it last night and it seems to be doing OK as I have seen no wilting. It it too late to grow a competitive melon though ?   Wednesday, June 11 View Page Here is a much chewed on 229 Edwards x Shintosa that I also moved to my new raised bed. I moved it this evening. I don't think the woodchuck will travel into my front yard as they are said to not venture far from their burrow.   Wednesday, June 11 View Page My 239 Leonard with some plant stakes around it I am hoping will discourage the woodchuck.   Wednesday, June 11 View Page 316 Edwards with some blocks around it. Will the woodchuck cross the blocks or go around them ? It probably will.   Wednesday, June 11 View Page My 291 Kent x C Ficifolia needs to get a move on. I have no air rifle yet for the vermin. Any of you East Tennessee growers have one I can borrow for a few days ?   Wednesday, June 11 View Page I am trying to define some of the grow space for my Carolina Cross plants with concrete blocks. I purchased about 240 used blocks from a ad on the Knoxville Craigslist for $65.00.   Wednesday, June 11 View Page Anyone need any pepper plants to put in your garden ?   Sunday, July 13 View Page 239 Leonard 3dpp. It is very late but has a good shape to it. It has some months left to grow so we will see.   Sunday, July 13 View Page 239 Leonard 3dpp. It is very late but has a good shape to it. It has some months left to grow so we will see.   Sunday, July 13 View Page Sorry - picture to follow.   Sunday, July 13 View Page 260.5 Clementz 10dpp. my non grafted plants are further away from the groundhog's den so they have fared better.   Sunday, July 13 View Page A later set on the 260.5 Clementz but with a better shape. I think I'll look at this one for a day or two.   Sunday, July 13 View Page A small set on the 350.5 Kent.   Sunday, July 13 View Page 2dpp on my 316 Edwards.   Sunday, July 13 View Page 316 Edwards is still my largest plant.   Sunday, July 13 View Page This is a Mountain Hoosier that has been often chewed on.   Sunday, July 13 View Page This gourd was planted early and this is the size the groundhog has allowed it to reach as of now.   Sunday, July 13 View Page 291 Kent x c ficifolia 3dpp. It you look close you may be able to tell it is about over dosed on forchlorfenuron and brassinolide.   Sunday, July 13 View Page 291 Kent x C Fic plant is doing well considering it is the lowest area of my garden. Groundhogs have gotten to this plant only 2 or 3 times.   Sunday, July 13 View Page This is my stump protection on my 291 grafted plant.   Sunday, July 13 View Page 350.5 Kent plant. All my melon plants are growing on a thick layer of manure. I have hauled many truckloads of it this year.   Monday, July 14 View Page This is the stump of a 229 Edwards x Shintosa Camelforce melon plant I transplanted too late and it was set back to much to grow a timely fruit. There are no signs of disease on it or any of my other grafts so far. I guess I have been lucky.   Tuesday, July 22 View Page This is my giant sunflower growing in a pot. It's nothing special but I am enjoying it.   Tuesday, July 22 View Page 239 Leonard at 12 dpp.   Tuesday, July 22 View Page 260.5 Clementz at 19 dpp.   Tuesday, July 22 View Page Another set on the 260.5 Clementz at about a week.   Tuesday, July 22 View Page 350.5 Kent melon. This plant has been slow from the start and I don't expect much out of it.   Tuesday, July 22 View Page Another set on the 350.5. This one is pretty messed up with growth hormones.   Tuesday, July 22 View Page This is my 316 Edwards. It is going to be short and fat I think.   Tuesday, July 22 View Page 291 Kent x C Ficifolia.   Tuesday, July 22 View Page 274 Kent x Shintosa. This one is in dangerous territory and is basically on a bait plant. The shape reminds me of a "doublewide" Chris took to the Tennessee State fair a few years back.   Tuesday, July 22 View Page 270 Neptune x Shintosa Camelforce in my raised bed upper garden. This plant was transplanted here very late after I had to pull the 274 Kent I had growing there due to incursion onto a neighbor's lot. This plant is growing nicely now but it took a long time to get straightened out after the transplant. I just felt I had no choice but to give it a try. This bed has not been touched by the groundhogs and I think they will continue to leave it alone. Maybe I still have time to get a decent melon this year. I have been so stressed for time with my groundhog problem and lots of other things that all of my pollinations are open so far this year.   Tuesday, July 22 View Page 270 Neptune x Shintosa plant has finally come around. Thankfully, my Shintosa stumps are all looking good so far.   Saturday, August 2 View Page I will guess the first picture of my 270 Neptune was of a melon about 8 days old and the picture was taken on July 22nd so the melon is now, on August 2nd about 17 days old. The OTT score is 125 and that would make it 59 pounds. But it will probably go light to the chart due to it's irregular shape. Yesterdays computed weight was 54 pounds so a 5 pound gain in 24 hours. I am hoping the growth rate will pick up a little more since it was probably slowed a little by early use of a modest dose of forchlorfenuron. The plant is young and vigorous and the Shintosa stump is looking excellent right now. I just wish this melon wasn't so late. I have a couple of more melons that are doing so so. Mostly though it is another poor year for me due to my grounghog problem and overuse of growth hormones.   Sunday, August 10 View Page 270 Neptune at about 25 DPP. It is measuring 150 OTT inches so it is close to 100 pounds less a few pounds due to it's odd shape. Does it have time to get up to a competitive size ? We will see soon.   Sunday, August 10 View Page You can kind of tell how poorly shaped my 270 is from this shot.   Sunday, August 10 View Page 270 Neptune looks pretty good from the fat end and side.   Tuesday, August 12 View Page The 270 Neptune was so late at one point I gave up and planted tomatoes and peppers in the bed with it so I would at least get something out of the space. Now vigorous vines are approaching the end of the run close to 25' away from the stump.   Tuesday, August 12 View Page Top half of my raised bed.   Tuesday, August 12 View Page Bottom half of my raised bed.   Tuesday, August 12 View Page Leaves are big and healthy right now. I have used a modest dose or two of brassinolide on them. I also have a lot of rooting going on due to use of butyric acid.   Tuesday, August 12 View Page I have been posting plastic coathanger pieced for the vine tendrils to grab onto as there currently are very few weeds in this garden.   Tuesday, August 12 View Page 270 Neptune at approximately 27 DPP and 155" or 109 pounds less a few pounds for the odd shape.   Tuesday, August 12 View Page The bad news is a found the beginnings of a leaky area on the stump today. I doctored it and placed a fan under the glass. I am very disappointed but not ready to throw in the towel just yet.   Tuesday, August 12 View Page I have the sheet pan placed where it is to help shield sprayed water from the stump.   Tuesday, August 12 View Page I bought this pear tree under another name but I think it is a Seckel or "sugar pear" as the fruit are small and amazingly sweet.   Tuesday, August 12 View Page My fig trees are finally setting a little fruit after being killed to the roots from the cold weather last winter.   Tuesday, August 12 View Page A few of the peppers I picked yesterday.   Wednesday, August 13 View Page Some of the leaves on this pepper plant are amazing.   Wednesday, August 13 View Page I counted 17 runners that are racing to the edge of the bed. I have stopped all other vine growth and this seems to have stimulated the ones that have been left to grow. When they get to the edge I will terminate their growth and allow a little growth to emerge elsewhere to replace leaves that will be getting old.   Wednesday, August 13 View Page This pot grown Habanero pepper is starting to really spread out.   Wednesday, August 13 View Page Small Crepe Myrtle on my property line has been blooming nicely.   Wednesday, August 13 View Page I have the melon covered up with a nice warm quilt tonight. I have never done this before in August and there was twice I should have covered this melon in July. All in all it has been a very cool summer for us. But the humidity has been tremendous here in the Tennessee Valley. I am thinking we will have a very early Fall this year.   Tuesday, August 19 View Page 270 plant is mostly looking good for this time of the year and we have some good weather ahead for the next week or so or so say the prognosticators.   Tuesday, August 19 View Page The stump is my biggest worry. It seems intact at the moment but I don't think it is entirely dry.   Tuesday, August 19 View Page This is a shot from the skinny end of my misshaped melon. It measured 168" this evening so chart says 136 pounds or a seven day increase of 27 pounds or 3.857 pounds per day. I just have to remember to take off a few pounds for the poor shape so realistically it may be somewhere in the 120's.   Friday, August 22 View Page This is the effect of too much Forchlorfenuron and the sad part is the melon wasn't even growing fast.   Friday, August 22 View Page Check out this leaf on my 270 Neptune.   Sunday, August 24 View Page Liza and I traveled a few miles to visit some good friends this evening. Most of you will recognize Jessica and Chris.   Sunday, August 24 View Page Here are Liza and I standing in front of the Kent home this evening. Chris and Jessica are wonderfully nice people and as always it was a very enjoyable visit.   Tuesday, August 26 View Page This is the stump of my 270 Neptune. It is small considering the size and aggressiveness of the rest of the top of the plant. The blue color comes from Cupro fungicide I have rubbed on to discourage rotting.   Tuesday, August 26 View Page My 270 Neptune plant is looking excellent for the most part. Warm sunny weather has returned and growing conditions have been nearly ideal. If only I could get another 40 days of this..... LOL..... but that isn't going to happen.I am just hoping for the best.   Tuesday, August 26 View Page 270 measured 179 very liberal inches this evening and on the GWG chart that comes out to 165 pounds. That comes out to 29 pounds for this 7 day period or a daily average of 4.14 pounds. The shape of my melon gets worse all the time though and IMHO it will likely go 20 to 25% lite when it is weighed. I am very satisfied with current growth though.   Tuesday, September 2 View Page Many Habanero peppers are ripening.   Tuesday, September 2 View Page 270 Neptune has slowed dramatically although the weather has been great. OTT score showed it at around 177 pounds this evening so a weekly gain of only about 12 pounds so it may be under 2 pounds a day now. Still 41 days to go until Raleigh though so maybe it will make 200 pounds and win enough to make my trip worthwhile. Or Allardt may still be an option if I choose not to compete with the big growers. But even 4th place at Raleigh pays $400 and 10 places are being paid and there may not be that many late melons so I am leaning toward a North Carolina trip if I can keep my plant healthy for that long. http://www.ncstatefair.org/2014/Competitions/Entering/documents/GreatPumpkinWatermelonWeighOff.pdf   Tuesday, September 2 View Page Here is a closeup of my fungicide covered stump. It is still leaking a bit but at this point I do not suspect GSB. The vine going over the brick is the one to the melon.   Thursday, September 4 View Page I ran into a good friend at the weigh-in at the Tennessee Valley Fair this afternoon. Brother David Cantrell was checking in the melons and making sure the fair display is attractive. He has done a great job. The display looks way more professional this year than it has at any time I have gone there over the decades. Dave is trying to raise monies to turn this weigh-in into a GPC weigh-off next year. I hope a lot of growers will help him to get this done through our donations of seeds and money for seeds. I think Dave is a get it done kind of guy and am just happy to have him for a friend.   Thursday, September 4 View Page Brother Dave is probably going to take second place with a 168.4 pounds melon.Entries were being accepted until 6:00 PM and it was close to that when I left. My little melon off my 239 Leonard plant went 119 pounds and was only the 3rd melon there so it might have taken third place by default if no more melons arrived.   Thursday, September 4 View Page Here is Liza standing in front of my little 239 Leonard. She and I will be married soon. I believe this melon would have done very well if I had not over dosed it on forchlorfenuron.   Sunday, September 7 View Page Chris came over on Saturday to check out graft unions on a few of my plants. Thankfully he also gave me a couple of pointers that probably helped me a lot. I had an active infestation of aphids that he told me how to deal with and he also suggested I dig a little soil from underneath the melon's shelf to keep the belly of the melon out of contact with the soil.   Sunday, September 7 View Page Plant is this holding up pretty well. I have been removing a lot of old growth in anticipation of replacing it with new growth that should last until near harvest time.   Tuesday, September 16 View Page Some of my potted habaneros are looking really right now.   Tuesday, September 16 View Page I meant to say some of my potted habanero pepper plants are looking really nice right now.   Tuesday, September 16 View Page There are still plenty of green peppers in the upper branches.   Tuesday, September 16 View Page 270 Neptune put to bed for the night. It seems to be growing a little again as I measured it at 192" or 197 pounds this evening. Do they ever almost stop gaining weight and then start back a little. Anyway I had a terrible aphid infestation that nearly stopped all growth. I used imidicloprid on the plant and got them killed but lost most of the healthy leaves on the plant. The melon seemed to have almost no growth for 2 weeks or so and now seems to be picking up a little bit. There are a lot of new vines growing and leaves growing now.   Tuesday, September 16 View Page The stump has gone hollow but seems to remain dry. There are small insects or the like running in and out of the stump. So this has probably been a good portion of my slow weight gain problem also.   Tuesday, September 16 View Page Here is some of the new growth I am seeing on this large plant.   Wednesday, September 17 View Page Lots of new melons are trying to set on now.   Wednesday, September 17 View Page Melon is approaching 200 pounds now.   Saturday, October 4 View Page For October, parts of my 270 Neptune plant are looking nice. Too bad the stem on the melon died several weeks ago and it is just sitting there. I hope it will last until the weigh-off in Raleigh, NC on the 14th of this month..   Monday, October 6 View Page My season is over. The stem rot that was on the stem of my melon moved into the body of the melon. I wasn't expecting that but oh well, life goes on.   Monday, October 6 View Page I pulled on the stem a little bit and this came off very easily, you can see it is rotten.   Monday, October 6 View Page Here is a good shot of a rotten melon.   Monday, October 6 View Page Here is the melon cut open. It really wasn't very hollow inside.   Monday, October 6 View Page Here is a shot of the underbelly of the melon. It was getting enough light under there to not be totally pale.   Monday, October 6 View Page Red Thai Chile peppers gone wild.   Monday, October 6 View Page Another shot of Red Thai peppers.   Monday, October 6 View Page I have a lot of habanero peppers just hanging full of fruit.   Monday, October 6 View Page Red Douglah 7 Pot peppers.   Wednesday, October 8 View Page My lone Carolina Reaper Chili has finally set some pods. I hope it isn't too late for some of them to mature so I will have seeds.   Wednesday, October 8 View Page Red Douglah peppers. I gave one to a friend and he told me he chewed on a small piece and his mouth was on fire for over an hour.   Wednesday, October 8 View Page Can anyone identify these peppers for me ? They are similar in size and color to my Caribbean Red Habaneros but are a little longer and most of them come to a small point.   Wednesday, October 8 View Page Or how about this one? it is too yellow to be a orange habanero. Problem is a lost the labels I had in some of my pots and now I am wondering what I have.   Tuesday, October 21 View Page 270 Neptune is still trying to grow a melon.   Tuesday, October 21 View Page Chocolate habaneros ripening in the sunshine.   Tuesday, October 21 View Page Red douglah peppers ripening in the sunshine.   Tuesday, October 21 View Page Carolina Reaper peppers may have to come in the house to ripen as Jack Frost will be here soon.   Tuesday, October 21 View Page This one is called 7 pot brain strain.   Saturday, November 22 View Page I finally had some Carolina Reaper peppers ripe when I returned home from my wedding. I think you need to give this one plenty of time if you decide to grow it.   Friday, December 26 View Page These are the Carolina Reaper peppers I picked off the plant that has been sitting in the window in my living room since some time in October.   Friday, December 26 View Page These are seeds from my Carolina Reaper hot pepper plant.   Wednesday, December 31 View Page Did a little garden cleanup work today. It will be time to get started again before we know it.   Wednesday, December 31 View Page I hope everyone has a great 2015.   Wednesday, December 31 View Page testing