Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 323 Entries. Thursday, January 2 View Page Happy New Year All. Next set of grafting plants are C.C. Melons for scions and some Argyrosperma for rootstock. Asian melon growers use this rootstock widely to fight fusarium and rootballing. C'mon Spring   Sunday, January 12 View Page Trying to decide if I can put (2) AG Plants in my screen House in 2014. If anyone has input on the best method please let me know. I know theres alot of opinions on the optimal size of a Vine so I'm trying to keep that in mind. I personaly like Figue C so as to not have the main roots draw of each other and compete for nutrients.   Sunday, January 12 View Page Here is another set of grafts out of the healing chamber a few days now. This particular one is a Carolina Cross scion x Argyroperma Rootstock aka "White Giant Cushaw Squash" aka "Tennessee Sweet Potato". Started six plants and graduated w/six plants on these. Pretty good.   Sunday, January 12 View Page Supposed to read "Argyrosperma" rootstock   Sunday, January 12 View Page Another C.C. over Agyrosperma already pushin first leaf. One of the cot leafs split but not worried when they do this, I'll dust them to prevent disease. May put this one in a bigger pot.   Sunday, January 12 View Page This pic should have been before the last pic,lol. Told myself I would do better this year on picture placement...better get up and close the window because that promise just left.   Sunday, January 12 View Page Hold my beer, I'll show ya sumthin...This is a Carolina Cross scion single cot leaf graft with an AG,lol. I'm not laughin too much because its doing good at this point. Tommorrow it comes out of the healing chamber,lol. I'll grow it in a bigger pot to see just what happens with the graft.   Sunday, January 12 View Page I know this looks horrible but wait...it gets worse,lol. I grafted a (just broke the surface w/ the hulls still on Carolina Cross scion onto the rootstock of an AG that went south on a graft 2 weeks ago. I save all my plants that don't take to grafts for experiments like this. This graft is out of the healing chamber and is 5 days old. Watching with curiosity. First day with full sun on it and the cot leaves began to open as you can see.   Monday, January 13 View Page WOW, What a nice mail call today. The first of two GVGO Auction seed sets. Russ I think you set a new ground speed record for snail mail to the states,lol. That was quick!! The 1734.5 Steil'13 (220.3 Debacco x Self)9% HVY will see dirt in the screen house along with the 1224 C. Steil'13 (1450 Steil x 220.3 Debacco). Two nice Pollinators. I'll be havin a Full House!!   Thursday, January 16 View Page This seed will see dirt this season both grafted and traditional if all goes well. Thanks for growing it Mark and Thanks to the GVGO for puttin it out there. Still haven't been able to find out what Illinois State Watermelon record is...maybe It'll be right under my nose come this fall, lol.   Thursday, January 16 View Page Forgot to Thank the Hunts for gettin the 260 seeds out to me. Thank You!!   Tuesday, January 21 View Page Got the 308 Shewmaker'13 (220 Debacco'13 x Open seeds in the mail today. Just might one of those Dark Horse seeds out there. This may be one of the occupants of the screen house this season. Thanks Dave!!   Thursday, January 23 View Page Tomatoes popin in the mornin sun are as follows: (1) 3.28 Lyons '12 (7.33 Hunt x Self), (2) 4.32 Hunts (7.33 Hunt x Open), and (1) 3.49 Timm (5.58 Timm x Open)   Thursday, January 30 View Page Simply Put..My 2014 growing Season Stragety.   Thursday, January 30 View Page Note to self: Do not text and input to your diary at the same time. On that last diary post it should read.My 2014 Season Growing Strategy, I think#wait,lol.   Monday, February 10 View Page 24 hrs+ & out of darkness for this 801 dmg AG X C.C. Melon Graft. I have been doing a wedge center hole cut graft that I have had 100 % success with now. I'll keep this one in this 1/2 gallon pot for the next 6 days and after it comes out of the healing/germination chamber it will go into a 2 gallon container for kicks to watch it progress. I waited this time for the AG cot leaves to get to about 3" long because I believe they give better boost to the new scion, sort of a better chance at life and healing.   Thursday, February 13 View Page After having two teeth pulled today this is a nice relaxing moment looking and inspecting plants. Here is another Carolina Cross scion/Atlantic Dill rootstock graft after 5 days. I especially like how well and disease free at this point these plants look even at the intersections of the grafts. Zero fusarium. Been spraying with fruit tree spray/fungicide. Very Clean indeed. For me I have found the most successful way to graft the 260 Clements to an AG with 100% rate of success at this point in the winter testing. Now to work a bit harder on the double AG root stocks,lol. Started a dozen AG's in the germ chamber this evening. Again I will make sure the cot leaves are no smaller than 3" in length.   Saturday, February 15 View Page Carolina Cross x AG graft 6 days old & out of the healing chamber for good.   Saturday, February 15 View Page Gunna get this 6 day plant out od the 1/2 gal container and into a 2 gal. The second leaf is beginning to shoot up so I just know root growth is going bazzerk, if I may use that technical term. This thing is leggy so I know it will do good in an even bigger container if I can round one up. I'm going to keep this plant going as long as I can as well as a couple others I will br grafting next week. Will give it a 6% shot of fish on Monday.   Sunday, February 16 View Page I'm always saying I'm the luckiest Dad in the world.....Heres proof. My brother printed off some guitar chords for my daughter after I picked up an old martin guitar at a consignment shop for "a few bucks" and restringed it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI77jEXAAMw&feature=youtu.be   Monday, February 17 View Page A look outside and a look under the mini tunnel inside this mornin....I'll continue to look at mater plants I think.   Monday, February 17 View Page Second leaf shooting out of the c.c x AG graft this mornin. Just got the lights w/timer and plastic up to sit this under so today I will get this out of the 1/2 gal container and into a 5 gal container.   Thursday, February 20 View Page Third leaf poppin out after she got put into a larger container. Graft is healing and growing so far with out splitting. A good sign indeed.   Thursday, February 20 View Page CC x AG graft is looking and healing better than expected.   Sunday, February 23 View Page Started 12 cc melon seeds and 12 AG seeds on the 21st in the afternoon..not bad shooting tap roots in 2 days. Egg Incubator set at 86-88 degrees very little moisture in soil w/humidity trays in the bottom full monitored by an electronic probe in the soil via outside edge pots. With this round of graft trials these guys will get a tongue graft in order to accomidate a double root system. Started with Myco's and endo mixed in the soil along with worm castings and saw dust from my compound miter saw. I cut up pieces of dead limbs out of my sugar maples to bag the fine saw dust to put in my starter mix all mixed in my cement mixer in the basement...mmmm..Good stuff.   Tuesday, February 25 View Page More mellons and Ag's poppin up this morning helps to take the edge off the new snow outside..AAARRRGGG!!   Tuesday, March 4 View Page 3.28 Lyons Double rootstock grafted plant. Good successful graft. Plant is already getting buds following removal from the healing chamber 2 days aft.   Tuesday, March 4 View Page 3.28 Lyons x 3.28 Lyons double rootstock graft close-up shot. Shadows make it appear the graft is not clean but it is the hardening off stage and is very tight and clean with no gaps in the mating surfaces. I have it double stacke and braced at the top while it heals and me moving it around chasing the sun,lol. I'm going to wrap the graft area with nylon hose to secure it during transplanting out side and keep it wrapped the whole time to prevent splits during growth the entire season.   Tuesday, March 4 View Page Picked up 2 of these christmas tree storage plastic units at wally world for 20 bucks each. I fitted them with 48" shoplights and put harvested heated electric blanket cables in the bottom and in this one I have 348 tomato plants beginning to germ. They started poppin lastnight before bedtime so I left the lights go on them all night. Temp inside stays around 89 degrees + or - 2. They will also be nice to keep plants in as a humidor mini green house before planting. Pretty cheap. Our local walmart has them out on clearance in the garden area right now..yours may too.   Tuesday, March 4 View Page My hightech crucial germination temprature control devise,lol.   Tuesday, March 4 View Page This Grafted Carolina Cross x AG is beginning to go over to lay down and the cot leaves are acting like arms holding it up. I'll probably cut the cots off here in a week. Great looking plant.   Wednesday, March 5 View Page Three more Carolina Cross x AG grafts out of the healing chamber this morning. Nice solid even healing on the grafts with zero spliting.   Wednesday, March 5 View Page 144 additional Tomato plants poppin up. These will go with the nearly 500 other plants I've got growin early on for the tomato sales here at the house. Big smailes at .25 cents a pound. I already have people calling to see if I'm selling again this year,lol. About 16 days till SPRING!!   Wednesday, March 5 View Page This is egg shells put thru a OSTER Kitchen Center meat grinder. You older growers know what that is,lol. A Kitchen Center is a Standing Blender, Mixer, veggie chopper all in one from the 70's & 80's. This batch in the pic is not processed all the way because you can still see small chips of shells. I have to put a damp towel over the final process because of the dust...WOW. After putting the shells thru about 15 - 20 times, I then put a cup at a time thru an OSTER upright blender and turn it into powder for making a slurry with water. I add about 1 tablespoon of powder to 20 oz. of water shake well and spray on the grafts while they are healing in the chamber. Puts it at around 400 ppm. Read somewhere that calcium aids in rebuilding plant cell structure. So why not try it. I also use the powder in my starting soil and potting mix. Will also introduce it into the patches for sure. Not saying its working on the grafts but ever since I've been doing it I have zero splits at the graft mating surfaces.....probably just one heck of a coincidence.   Friday, March 7 View Page 6 more C.C. x AG Grafts coming out of the healing chamber today at noon. I've had this group hardening off for a couple days sitting on top of the hot box and they are not wilting at all so all indications are they are ready a day early. Next week I will start the melon money seeds for the season. If any growers were close to me I'd give em away. Hancock County, Illinois. The scion is my uow '13 97 lb. melon x my uow dmg 801 '13 Young rootstock. Should prove to be intresting. I can't see grafted plants making it through any of the mail services, I've already turned down a few growers in shipping to them. So sorry for that again.   Friday, March 7 View Page Here is a variety I'm putting in this year for Tomato sales here at the house. I'm told these guys get pretty darn heavy all by theirselves so I'm going to put a few of these plants aside for size plants just to see what gives.   Friday, March 7 View Page Watermelon line up for the 2014 season in no particular order. I have already picked the rootstocks that these gals will be perched upon. Will post the match-ups today sometime.   Friday, March 7 View Page New Season...New Coffee Pot and yes it had to be Pumpkin Orange,lol.   Friday, March 7 View Page Two days ago I trimmed back some of the lower branches off of the double rootstock Lyons plant and this morning after 3 cups of coffee and two eyes now open I have noticed that the leaves on this very young plant are getting comparably huge to the other plants that I have growing that are of the same day planted...hope that means bigger fruit size hence the meaning of this whole sceaming plan,lol.   Saturday, March 8 View Page I've been selling my own grown seeds to help fund my growing habit,lol. I'm adding more of my personal seeds daily.I also sell a pretty nice combo seed pack that includes my 801 uow/dmg'13 AG seed, my giant Cantaloupe '11, my Giant Tomato '12 and my uow Carolina Cross Watermelon '13 seeds. Good starter Pack cheap. Heres a pick of the corn seed pack and some of the corn ears from my tall corn last year (Field corn ear is avg size for comparison) and a Pic this morning of the corn seed germed 3 days after I put them in the germ box..pretty good lookin sprouts. Started 5, 5 germed. This is the 6th set of corn seeds I've tested from various ears. I also sell whole ears of tall corn from 500 - 800 seeds each on ebay. If anyone here at BP needs any and can't pay, contact me I'll make sure you'll have em to plant at no cost. So many people have helped me in the past and I appreciate it greatly. http://www.ebay.com/itm/281280394698?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649   Thursday, March 13 View Page Took the (2) 195 Mailey and the (2)214.5 English germed melon plants out of the germ box this morning, didn't light how flat and non filled the 260 Clementz seeds looked when I got em and yep they didn't germ. Didn't think they would from the looks of em. But the two others are mighty fine lookin plants even at this point. Will be grafted with (1) 435.4 Ciesielski '10 Squash rootstock and (1) 1134 Wolf '10 dmg AG rootstock. Am growing the same two melons traditional also evn if there is trouble with these grafts. Robins in the yard for the past week...get closer to plantin!!!   Thursday, March 13 View Page Last entry should have read Did'nt "Like" how flat and non-filled the 260 Clementz seeds looked when I recieved them. Would have loved to have grown them.   Friday, March 14 View Page Nice and 50 outside this mornin. Figured out if I flip the two Chrstmas tree storage containers I bought I can put the plants on the lids and use the bottoms as the tops and have plenty of room for taller plants. Mini green houses,lol. Gets pretty warm in there so I have to prop up one end about an inch to maintain about 85 degrees. I'm going back to wally world for more of these if they got em.   Saturday, March 15 View Page A couple melon grafts soakin up the mornin sun.   Thursday, March 20 View Page This Grafted Watermelon Plant needs to be in a greenhouse, really hard to just toss the two I've got left to give away. Marty in Mt Pleasant, Iowa I did respond back to you..hope you end up with them. This plant is a 161.5 P. Sweet scion x 1172 Singleton (1385 Jutras x Self) rootstock..what a crazy combo. I really need a heated tunnel.   Thursday, March 20 View Page This Grafted melon is a 195 Mailey (274 Kent x 255 Mitchell) scion x my own 801 uow dmg J. Young '13. Again hope these last plants end up in someones green house. Put new tags on the pots yesterday noticed after I took pics this morning that I had the I.D. tags backwards..They are now in the correct containers. Thought I was growing this one but one of the two 260 clements seeds did germ so I've changed plans. Wow is that confident in my grafts or what,lol.   Thursday, March 20 View Page Going for another double root system with this 3.68 Watson x 5.20 Hunt Graft using a whip graft. The 3.68 Watson will be the secondary rootsystem. A whip graft is good for tomatoes I've personaly have found when combining root systems or tomato main stems for surface rooting when laying them down. I also use this method when grafting my fruit trees along with cleft grafting. I'm also going to attempt cleft grafting with tomatoes and have a few different varieties on a single plant growth.   Monday, March 24 View Page Marty and his son stopped by over the weekend and picked up two grafted Melon Plants to put in their Hoops. It was Very Nice to meet them and Can't wait to see what transpires..He is a very good grower. I Thank Him for making the drive and being in the position to be able to give these plants a home. Good Luck!!   Thursday, March 27 View Page 4.32 Hunt in a 6 gal planter with electric blanket cable setup in the dirt set so it maintains 82 degrees. That sunflower lookin bloom at top center is a rather large megabloom that has appeared.   Thursday, March 27 View Page I germed this plant with a cell division hormone and 3 weeks later applied a 40 ppm application to the soil during the first transplant combined with mycos/endos and worm poo. Today I transplanted this plant to the 6 gal planter and put in the heating cables and at the same time entroduced in the layers, mycos again and endo with 0-24-50 along with 25 ppm 6-ben growth hormone disolved with alcohol and a suficant x 0.031 grams/0.281 oz. water. Used that to make the 25 ppm root and foliar app. The really dark leaves indicate the plant is indeed taking in the cell dividing goodies...   Thursday, March 27 View Page Hope to pollinate this in the morning   Friday, March 28 View Page 4.32 Hunt opened up more this morning. Will give it another hour or so and will break out the air can and make up brush to pollinate it. Bloom is now 2" across. Soil temp with the electric blanket cables in it is at 81.6 degrees this morning..looks like the plant grew around a couple inches taller over night.   Friday, March 28 View Page This is a poor picture but the double rootstock on the combined 3.68 Watson x 5.20 Lyons is very successful. I am going to cull the top portion of the 5.20 so all the root strength will go directly into the scion of the 3.68 Watson. Thats the way the whip graft is set up. This combo will also get transplanted into an inverted 4 gal container this morning with mycos, Endo and worm poo added. This plant is bigger than you can tell from the picks   Friday, March 28 View Page I have done alot of studying on the fertilization process of the Tomato Flower and have learned that it may take up to 14 days for a completed mega bloom fertilization process to occur. I use to think one tease of the flower and pollen is set. Nope, thats not how it works with mega blooms. So I have regrouped and have changed up my personal fert process. I will be teasing the mega flowers as if I were several revisiting bee's per day after day. My personal formula is as follows; for each combined bloom in 1 Mega flower I pollinate, I add 1 day of teasing the flower a few times/day or 3 mega bloom = 3 days of teasing. It is such a delicate process for the tubes to grow down each female style from the male anther, wow I'm blushing. Thats why for me I cup my hand over the flower and give a small blast of air from a can of compressed air for cleaning electrical boards and not use a brush any more because I'm probably damaging the reproductive organs on the flower. To get each style (combine female parts of the flower) fertilized to grow the biggest Tomato you have to make sure each individual set of styles are fertilized and that needs to be happening more than once a day for up to 10 days or more I found out. Heres a link for lamens like myself to get a hold of this subject. I've missed alot of big tomatoes by not following up on continued pollination of the same mega bloom. I will never claim to be a pro at anything but I will always claim to want to be a pro at learning about something and trying to get it right,lol. Credit on this post goes to UC Davis, California http://www-plb.ucdavis.edu/labs/rost/tomato/Reproductive/flrfert.html   Friday, March 28 View Page A picture can tell the whole story   Saturday, March 29 View Page Hung another grow light under the 4.32 Hunt MegaBloom as so to make sure all the anthers properly develope so I can increase the chances of all the lower segments tube development and fertilize all ovaries in all segments. Also put in a small DC fan as to lightly blow across the upper part of the plant to maintain temp and possibly help pollination throughout duration of tomato early stage development .   Saturday, March 29 View Page Lights on above and below and the stem at the blossom is 1/2" wide. I believe there is 3-4 segments. Grow baby Grow   Sunday, March 30 View Page It was nice to get the tractor out and turn some soil today. Sent soil samples in on the the melon and kin patches last week.   Sunday, March 30 View Page Also got the screenhouse bed turned and the patch next to it will be home to the 260.5 Clementz and Suprise Late entry Melon!! The patch behind this one will be home to the 195 Mailey and the 214.5 English. Got some "BIG" plans for melons this year.   Monday, March 31 View Page Grafted 260.5 Clementz x my 801 uow dmg'13. Took it out of the healing chamber yesterday evening and is doing fine..a perfect center hole graft. oh boy oh boy   Monday, March 31 View Page 260.5 Graft. Center hole on this graft is perfect as to assure the crown during maturity lessens the chance of a seperation split but of course thats always subject to change,lol. This dog oughta hunt I have a very incredible seed comin via the mail from a wonderful grower that will get the same treatment and then some.   Monday, March 31 View Page Meant to say again, look and see how big those 4" Rootstock Cot leaves are on the 260.5 Graft. I truely believe that the biggest I can get the rootstock cot leaves the better success I have on my grafts. I really think they push energy and health to the scion from the get go. My bushel gourd grafts are the same way. I let the cots get big and hardy before grafting.   Monday, March 31 View Page No you don't have to poor out that martini... it is what you think it is....a Big Zac grafting to an AG rootstock and YES I agree with you its not supposed to work this way but dangit its 5 days now and it won't stop growing, lol!!! It is actually healing up I've tried center hole grafting these but this is a one Cot graft. Lets just say it keeps growing and perhaps lets just say the darn thing sees dirt........Any Guesses? lol!!! Cabin Fever leads to insanity.....or damn big Tomatoes...   Saturday, April 5 View Page Screen House soil test. I don't think I'll need to do much in the way of extra feeding this year with everything way up. I introduced about 500 pounds of shredded soy bean stuble last fall and the OM is still low. Funny I thought there was too much of it when I pulled samples,lol. Either way all the soil test have come back favorable in my book.   Saturday, April 5 View Page Heres another soil test result on the east patch that is 40' x 245'. Not too much to do. Am going to spray mollasses on all the patches today because the temps are suppose to be in the 70's the first of the week and I want the bio bugs to get to work.   Saturday, April 5 View Page Grafted 260.5 Clements soakin up some sun and starting to bush out a bit. I really like how the scion took to the 801 UOW Dmg AG rootstock. Near perfectly centered so it should have zero issues at the crown area when it matures...yes thats me knocking on wood.   Saturday, April 5 View Page Got 2 of these 245 Bushel Gourds goin. Will be the first year I grow these.   Sunday, April 6 View Page Alot going on in the Germ Box...Pumpkins: 1734 Steil'13, 801 J. Young UOW DMG '13, 308 Shewmaker. Melons: (2)291 Kent, (2) 297 Kent, & (2)307 Bartoli. No Pressure. For rootstocks I have White Cushaw Squash, Bushel Gourds & Pear Gourds in there too, Three each for each melon to be grafted, will choose the best growers for the rootstocks. Thanks again Otis!!!   Monday, April 7 View Page Thanks to Pizza for turning me on to these seeds, can't wait to see what they do. Putting some in the Germinator here in a few minutes.   Monday, April 7 View Page Dug the center of the screenhouse 24" deep and tilled the bottom of it and backfilled 12" with humic, Crushed lava stone sand, kelp and a couple other specialty Items. Set in 50' of heat cables and backfilled into a raised bed of the well mixed sand dirt and compost to accomodate two off set plants. The 1734.5 Steil'13 and my 801 uow dmg '13. I'm putting the 308 Shewmaker in the patch just next to the screenhouse instead of inside of it after all. The 308 has the best outside spot as of yet.   Monday, April 7 View Page The pit is 10 ft wide so I can off set the plants pretty good and send them in east and west directions. It was nice to see the sand still down there I put in under the whole area last year.   Monday, April 7 View Page Finished product. The low watt bulb simply tells me if the cables have juice going to them. Got it set up with both a remote soil temp sensor and an ambient air temp sensor. Got the readout in the kitchen and no its not on the front of the fridge..............its on the side........lol.   Monday, April 7 View Page Spring is kickin in. Top left is Peaches and Plums Buddin strong, Top right is Blackberries pushin new plants up, Lower left is Rhubarb poppin up and lower right is Plum blossoms about a week from burstin.   Tuesday, April 8 View Page Gettin Closer. 1734 Steil and my 801 has broke surface in 2 days..Awesome.   Thursday, April 10 View Page Had to help one of the 308 Shewmakers (220.3 Debacco x Open) out a bit. Cot was stuck on one half but its doin fine under the grow lights in a hot box.   Thursday, April 10 View Page Rebuilt the egg incubator putting the coils in the bottom of the unit so the bottoms of the cups will warm up rather than just the tops. I took measurements last night and the top of the cups were at 95 - 97 degrees but the bottoms were incredibly in the upper 70's. Now the cups are 92.5 degrees all the way thru. Can't wait to see the results because in there I've got back ups going as follows 291 Kent melon, 297 Kent melon, 307 Bartoli melon and 2 401 Bucks'13 ( 1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace).   Friday, April 11 View Page The 1734 Steil seed failed today. It was with 7 other seeds that came thru the germ chamber fine. It broke surface but failed to turn green and died. The seed was a bit on the thin side which may have meant it was a bit under developed. So to replace it means putting the 401.5 Buck '13 (1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace) in its place.   Monday, April 14 View Page 260.5 Clementz x my 801 '13dmg AG grafted. This plant is sooo purty & Strong. Going to repot this in a 2 gal pot today with recommended two piece container for easy planting next week.   Monday, April 14 View Page 2 day old 291 Kent x 245.5 English'13 Bushel Gourd graft. I know its going to take good because there were no permenant leaves showing when I grafted it, just the cots. Should prove to be a grower. This rootstock was treated with a cell dividing plant hormone. Stand Back!!..I don't know how big its gunna get...   Sunday, April 20 View Page It was like Christmas here at the house this last week. Santa sent me a replacment seeds for the 1734.5 that didn't properly develop and after 2 days in the germ house it has roots. I inoculated/soaked the seeds for 2 hrs @ 88 degrees with 20% Endo powder, 80% Humic dry in a 95% water solution with........wait for it 5% (70%)Isopropyl Alchohol. I wanted to cut any chance of disease. Put the 1734.5's in styro cups w/Seed starter mix very light amount of the soaking solution was misted over the seeds slightly exposed above the soil surface in the cup. Germ chamber set @ 87 degrees. The seeds actually shot a tap root out in 29 hrs. Quickest reacting seed I've ever started to date. put a total of 201 various Tomato plants out in the East Patch yesterday with the help of my daughter. There are Sicilian Saucers, Purple Carbons, Golden Queens, Mortgage Lifters, Porter House, Super Beef Steaks, Polish Linguisa, Delicious and Daniella's (Greenhouse type Tomato). Sparrows have already pulled the hearts out of some of the plants so early this morning I will get them covered. They stuff their nests with them to keep mites at bay for when the babies are hatched. I deal with them every year. Happy Easter to All.   Monday, April 21 View Page This Seed came in the mail today and wouldn't you know it there is a prepped ready to germ pot in the chamber ready to go. Thank You Again Matt for the Chance on Marshmallow. It will be grown in the screenhouse along with the 1734.5 Steil. Still not sure on what crosses will occur if any between these two.   Wednesday, April 23 View Page Marshmallow has put out a tap root over night. All the other plants are doing great and will be in the ground in a few days. We have acouple of projected nights in the low 40's and that seems to be it for night time low temps...fingers crossed.   Wednesday, April 23 View Page Forgot to mention for my memory is that the two most agressive plants to date are the 401.5 Buck (1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace) and the 1314 Bryson (1818.5 Bryson x 1807 Steltz). Both plants are showing tremendous growth for how young they are.   Sunday, May 11 View Page Long Gourd set up. Cattle panel anchored to a utility pole. 83 1/2" LeMars   Monday, May 12 View Page 1734.5 Steil growing very well.   Monday, May 12 View Page 308 est Shewmaker'13 is now the most aggressive plant we have growing to date. In fact I have two of these plants growing and they are both very strong and should be landing very soon.   Monday, May 12 View Page Inside the screenhouse. Foreground is the 308 est Shewmaker '13 (220 Debacco x open) and in the background the 1734.5 Steil '13 (220 Debacco x Self). Sprayed/Drenched Systemic fungicide on all plants today. Squash Bugs showed up 4 days ago.   Monday, May 12 View Page 1314 est Bryson (1818.5 Bryson x 1807 Steltz) Hardy lookin at this point.   Monday, May 12 View Page 245 English Bushel Gourd. Only seed out of 3 that made it.   Monday, May 12 View Page 260 Clementz grafted x AG coming around with warmer soil temps now @70 degrees.   Tuesday, May 13 View Page 401 Buck '13 (1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace) Leaf got abit burnt but doing good. Massive storm rolled through late yesterday and it's wind protection is about 1/2 a mile out in a field, fingers crossed on its condition. I do have a back up plant for this one if needed.   Tuesday, May 13 View Page Here comes the wind and hail late yesterday. Hail turned out not too bad, dime size at times and not too much of it. Came in sideways so all but one wind protection stopped it. Captains Log: Will survey damaged from storms..... last night..... at first light....and...scotties working....on....more power. Kirk over. More coffee please!!   Thursday, May 22 View Page Overhead sprayers are in, final till and initial board placement has been set so the 1734.5 Steil (220 Debacco x self) and the 308 est Shewmaker (220 Debacco x open) are growing like theres nothin else to do. Both plants have laid down with the 1734.5 being at 4 ft & the 308 at 2ft. The vine trunk on the est 308 is massive already. Hope thats a good sign.   Thursday, May 22 View Page Thank God the wind was blowing away from my patches yesterday mornin. Round-up being applied. I had a field pumpkin patch get hit last year, not too bad. My east patch is 15 ft of the main fields so I pucker up when I see these guys roll in,lol.   Monday, May 26 View Page First males opened this morning on the 308 est Shewmaker. Plant @ 5ft in length putting out very nice strong secondaries already. All 8 AG plants are doing well except I have lost 2, 297 and 1, 291 Kents to corn seed maggots. I have treated the soil and will plant a couple late bloomers in their place fingers crossed. I have only the grafted 260 Clementz and 1, 291 Kent growing to date. I hold Special Rememberance to both my Father Robert who was a Police Officer and my Grandfather Luther who was in the Army 1st Infantry WWII who fought in France & Germany and to all fellow Veterans. Thank You All so Very Much.   Sunday, June 1 View Page 260.5 Clementz grafted to my 801 dmg uow '13 AG rootstock. First pic was takin May 12th during cool temps and the second pic was taken this evening June 1st after a few good hot days....What a difference in growth. Don't know if all the branching vines are normal growth but I like it. The graft crown area is doing great. This plant got it's first emulsified fish drench today and last week it got something really special. Lab use only,lol. all these vines have just shot out in the last few days. I hope it keeps doin good.   Tuesday, June 3 View Page Grafted 260.5 Cementz again early this mornin. You can see good growth because I put the skewers at the ends late last night and they have grown well past them since. You can see roots popping out of the ground from watering late yesterday. The AG rootstock is supplying some good juice to this plant. Will post a pic of the graft next.   Tuesday, June 3 View Page This is the 260.5 Clements Grafted Trunk. The 801 dmg uow Young '13 Rootstock has split abit but in all it is doing quite well and it is ingulfing the watermelon scion as it grows. To me that is good because the oposite growth would mean detachment and you don't want that. A week ago I put sulfer on the trunk/graft area and it really seems to help in the growth/healing process with the stress of the graft. It looks rotted on top but thats where I burnt it with ferts two weeks ago. The two small holes were roots. You can also see that there are roots coming out of the side of the trunk. Huge root system on this plant. Even the tap roots on the young vines are starting to appear very early..I hope that good too. All this may verywell be normal for a melon plant..I just don't have enough experience to know. Just lots of fun watching it grow so good.   Tuesday, June 3 View Page 401 Buck (1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace) is right at 8 ft now and beginning to throw out secondaries..Nice Plant!!   Tuesday, June 3 View Page 1314 est Bryson (1818.5 Bryson x 1807 Steltz)is right at 9 ft now and beginning to throw out secondaries also. This is the most agressive AG at this point and time followed in order : 401 Buck, 308 Shewmaker x 2, 1734 Steil, my 801 dmg uow 13 Young & the 179.4 Debacco '14(Marshmallow) doing great. I also have (2) 121.5 MacKenzie '13 (209 Werner x sib) FP's growing and I'll post pics of the Long gourd.   Wednesday, June 4 View Page New Burpee Steak House Plant with a 3-4 x mega bloom comin on. There are some others mega's starting on some other Steak House plants I've got growin also. Plants aren't all that big yet so I may pinch these back for now.   Wednesday, June 4 View Page Very Strong storms last night beging at about 10:15, one right after another. 401 Buck (1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace)This is the best thing money can buy in my book for protecting individual young plants period. Military misquito netting. The type used over a single military style bunk or cot. I think I payed 24 bucks free shipping for 6 of these on ebay 3 years ago and not one plant scratched by hail $ 70+ mph winds from about 7 different storms last night. 1 plant had other protection..it got beat to heck but will survive.   Wednesday, June 4 View Page Got 2 of these goin on the 4.32 Hunt   Wednesday, June 4 View Page 4.32 Hunt #2 mater   Wednesday, June 4 View Page 83 1/2" DeMars '13 beat up a bit from last nights storms but doing good in my book. This plant just started growing fast in the last couple of days. First season for growing long gourds.   Saturday, June 14 View Page Both the est 308 Shewmaker and the 1734 Steil have stopped putting out vines in the screen House. Both plants only reached about 7 ft total length probably due to High numbers in the soil. I pulled the 308 yesterday but am using the 1734 steil for males. I have 2 other 308 est Shewmakers plants in other patches that are doing very well. I've planted another plant my friend here locally grew last year from a Holland silver bullet seed. It is the 739 est uow Harmon '13.   Saturday, June 14 View Page Far plant is the 1314 est Bryson (1818.5 Bryson x 1807 Steltz). Plant in foreground is 401 Buck (1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace). Plant on the right is another 401 Buck.   Saturday, June 14 View Page 401 Buck (1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace. If you look close you can see this morning I pollinated the first kin on this one. It is pollinated by the 1314 Bryson (1818.5 x 1807 Steltz. Plant on the left is thee other 401 Buck, could'nt throw it out, lol.   Sunday, June 15 View Page This mornin pollinated the 1314 est Bryson (1818.5 Bryson x 1807 Steltz) with the 401 Buck (1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace). Nice and cool this mornin. Bad storms today though.   Sunday, June 15 View Page Kin this morning on my est 801 dmg '13 x 1734 steil   Sunday, June 15 View Page Kin this morning on the 401 Buck (1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace) pollinated with the 1314 est Bryson (1818.5 Bryson x 1807 Steltz). 1dap   Sunday, June 15 View Page "Cornish Giant" Swede/Rutabaga 75.2 Thomas. I have 7 of these growing. First year I've grown these and they all look good. Its cool how the dirt start to crack all around the base of these and you know shes growin big below. This plant is about 3 feet across on the leaves and 7-8 inches top surface on the base.   Sunday, June 15 View Page Another nice mega bloom on one of the new burpee "Steak House" plants.   Sunday, June 15 View Page 1734 Steil has been this size for over a week now. Just seems to have stopped growing and bunching up on the spacing of the stems of the vines. Gunna give it some more time. You can see the very young est 739 uow Harmon behind it.   Tuesday, June 17 View Page Pic of an average size bloom on this 260.5 grafted clementz plant I'm growing. Sorry for the blurry pics, dropped my camera again..These closed up again before I got to the to show the size so they have shrank some as you melon growers know they do later in the day and thats why you see cracks in the lower petals so really they are larger than this even a bit over 3" across. Will try and remember in the early mornin to get some better pics.   Tuesday, June 17 View Page 260.5 grafted Clementz, I think this is weird...two melons being so close to each other, just on opposite sides of a leaf node...is this normal? They are like this on nearly every vine around 6 ft out and are these melons plump...a couple are pretty nice length at nearly 3 1/2" at pollination stage and maybe thats normal for average or strong plants..I don't know.   Tuesday, June 17 View Page Nice mater on a Mortgage Lifter plant. This Mega bloom was huge, this on is right at 3 days after bloom closed down. Many more like this on on the ML's.   Tuesday, June 17 View Page 1 huge megabloom in a "U" shape on one of the new Burpee,"Steak House" plants. Should prove to be intresting.   Friday, June 20 View Page Nice big matter on one of the Mortgage Lifter Plants. The stem measures 3/4" on this one.   Friday, June 20 View Page Same mater on the Mortgage Lifter plant. Wanted to show a pic opposite side of the plant showing the 3/4" stem. The fruit is actually growing upside down after vine manuvering. It should turn over on its own ok, I'll watch it to make sure. This mater is huge at only 4 - 5 dap. Could have fliped the pic before posting,lol. There are several nice megas growing like this on these Mortgage Lifter plants.   Friday, June 20 View Page 260.5 Clementz all 3 dap. Had some earlier daps but didn't like the shapes. These guys seem to have some length to them but I don't have that much experiene judging them this early on. Have culled back over 40 melons on this plant..crazy I think. These four are going to really test me or drive me crazy trying to decide. I'm keeping growth rates even this early on. Don't really know how long to keep them all on the vines to where it won't rob to much energy from a potential Biggun. This morning #1 is 40mm x 74mm, #2 is 39mm x 76mm, #3 is 41mm x 82mm and #4 is 40mm x 85mm. Nerve racking,lol. I've got mini huts on them to keep off the sun. 2" of ran yesterday in the gauge.   Friday, June 20 View Page This is the first kin on my 801 est dmg uow '13. Needs positioning badly. Its sitting at 8 ft out and yesterday between the severe storms pollinated a really nice one on this same plant x 1314 est Bryson at 11 ft out. Nothin like lightning strikes close by while standin on water soaked boards in the middle of a pumpkin patch....dedication or plain stupidity,lol.   Friday, June 20 View Page 4dap kin on the 1314 est Bryson at 9 ft out on main. Lots of rain yesterday, 2" I think. Going to spray clean kins and leaves on all the plants this after noon (Lots of mud splatter), and then fungicide this evening.   Friday, June 20 View Page 83 1/2" DeMars '13 (117 1/4" Kline x open) growing across the top at 160 + inches in hieght. Had a friend of mine put my ladder up there in a semi permenant fashion in case we need to get up there regularly. I have no idea what I'm doing with these but its pretty cool to watch this thing grow. Its been putting out tons of male flowers to date.   Friday, June 20 View Page 121.5 MacKenzie '13 plant. I've got 2 of these growing and doing great.   Friday, June 20 View Page OMG. Another crazy mega on the new burpee "Steak House" plants. With the blurryness you can't quite see but there is who knows how many fused blossoms on this one. It looks like a freakin road map of sections,lol. What the heck am I going to find next?   Friday, June 20 View Page Just trimmed up the 4.32 Hunt. Hope she keeps adding wieght. Need to get some support on that mater.   Friday, June 20 View Page The 200 plant patch is doin good and fillin in. All the Mega Bloom plants like the Super Beefsteaks, Steak House, Sicilian Saucers, Delicious, Polish Linguisa and Mortgage Lifters are the first seven rows from the far side. I read a good thread on the Tomato messge board and learned real fast the correct way to trim and prune your competition plants...so I've been there and done that!! I have red flags hangin from the top lines to indicate theres something special growing there.   Saturday, June 21 View Page 308 est Shewmaker '13 (220 Debacco x open) pollinated with 1314 est Bryson (1818.5 Bryson x 1807 Steltz) at 10 ft out on the main. Nice four lober. Want this female to be happy so the males kind stayed around..... for well..........ya know..........conversation......ooooouuuuwwwwwwwww...did I really post that, lol. Hey, ya got to try anything in these temps,lol.   Saturday, June 21 View Page 308 est Shewmaker'13 in the west patch just past the Rockies, (my gravel drive way). Thee other 308 is east of the Rockies...Haulin water is a......haul.   Saturday, June 21 View Page Found the latest hiding mega mater this morning that I saw yesterday!! It just keeps gettin better n better..now if one of these will grow big for me.   Sunday, June 22 View Page 3 pollinations this morning: F 1734.5 Steil (220 Debacco x Self) with the M 401 Buck (1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace), F 401 Buck (1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace with the M 1734.5 Steil (220 Debacco x Self) and the F 1314 est Bryson (1818.5 Bryson x 1807 Steltz) with the F 401 Buck (1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace). Coffee Break!! First kin on the 1734.5 Steil and second kins for both the 1314 est Bryson and the 401 Buck. Steil plant is small yet but went ahead and set it anyways. Plant is finally coming on stronger in growth, maybe this will help to incourage it to grow, grow, grow!!   Monday, June 23 View Page Pollinated a very nice big 5 lober on my est 801 uow dmg Young x the 401 Buck (1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace). Culled another melon on the 260.5 Clements leave two on the plant to decide from, both very long and fat melons. Storms "AGAIN"!!! yesterday evening.   Monday, June 23 View Page This system was moving at 55 mph and pushing 70+ mph winds out in front. Nailed everything down..we're good.   Monday, June 23 View Page Long Gourd this morning. Posted a question on the LG page on how to deal with the vine growing straight up and not wanting to lay down. No response from anyone and the thing wants to grow to the stars so I went ahead and started to try and train it to lay down, just figured thats what your suppose to do. It is at 13.5 ft up has put out two females that I pollinated at around 8-9 ft x Self just for practice. Theres another female comin on up here on top so fingers crossed. This is the 83 1/2" DeMars '13.   Monday, June 23 View Page Nice chunky melon @ 6dap on the 260.5 Clementz. I think maybe this one is the one I'll keep. Its numbers are the best to date. In a few days I'll know for sure.   Tuesday, June 24 View Page This morning pollinated the 179.4 DeBacco ’14 “Marshmallow”, (335 Scherber x 1734.5 Steil) with the 1734.5 Steil (220 Debacco x Self). Nice 5 lober. Side of the flower was split a little so I used a portion of gift wrapping paper tubing to sleeve the bloom so pollinators could not enter the sides after closing the petals via rubber band following pollination. Too hot today to use zip lock bags for covering.   Tuesday, June 24 View Page 2dap 401 Buck x 1734.5 Steil. Don't try this at home,lol. I did this last season and it works good to help coax the kin to lay where it needs to. You can't put much tension on it at a time but again it works good to direct the kins position.   Tuesday, June 24 View Page Forgot to add that I culled the last contender on the 260.5 Clementz...................I'm all in with the choice of melon I've made on this particular plant. It is a good choice.   Tuesday, June 24 View Page Heres my simple daily log I use to keep track of the kins & melons. If its not too rough for you please copy it and use it. Good luck to all this 2014 Season!!!   Thursday, June 26 View Page My own 801 est '13 pollinated x 1734.5 Steil @ 15 dap. Pollinated another further out on the main this last Monday but I like this one. Same location that I blew one up last year by feeding to much 0-0-50...This kin gets the same 0-0-50 this morning,lol.   Thursday, June 26 View Page Closer pic of the est dmg 801 '13 J. Young.   Thursday, June 26 View Page Pollinated this Beautiful 6 bloomer this morning on the 401 Buck (1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace) with the 1734.5 Steil (220 Debacco x Self). This is the secon Pollination on this plant..Fingers crossed!!   Thursday, June 26 View Page 1314 est Bryson (1818.5 Bryson x 1807 Stelts) 11 dap pollinated this one with the 401 Buck (1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace) I like the shape.   Thursday, June 26 View Page Side view of the 1314 est Bryson   Saturday, June 28 View Page Pollinated the third kin on my est801 with the 401 Buck and also culled the second kin on the same plant. Will pollinate the second kin on the 1734.5 Steil tomorrow. First kin didn't take on the 1734.5 Steil, I feel the stressed plant wouldn't have supported it any ways. The plant has stablized and is growing fantastic.   Sunday, June 29 View Page Pollinated the 179.4 Debacco '14 "Marshmallow" this morning 12 ft on main vine with the 1734.5 Steil '13. 69 degrees F.   Sunday, June 29 View Page Then did the reverse and Pollinated the 1734.5 Steil '13 with the 179.4 Debacco "Marshmallow". Both plants had eight males available :-0. I'm still amazed on how quick the Steil plant recovered from nitrogen depleation. Thanks again Scott for setting me straight on the nitrogen issue, its because of you I have to spend half the day today weeding,lol.   Sunday, June 29 View Page 260.5 Clementz graduated to the 3 ft boogie board yesterday. 12 dap, weeds ARRRGG   Sunday, June 29 View Page If you look close you can see a larger long gourd on the right. It is 2 dap x self, closed pollinated. There are 5 gourds hanging that appear to be set but this particular one is by far the longest. Will keep an eye on it for sure. It is hanging at 13ft 4" at the hook in the gourd. There are more coming on over 14 ft. Still need to lear on how to support these dang things. Please let me know if you have a good way to hang these things!! I read where the Lyons use stainless steil skewers close to the top but won't that disqualify a fruit if it has holes in It? Maybe not.   Sunday, June 29 View Page Front & back of my est dmg 801 '13 Young. This is 6 ft out on the main but I believe it is going to be the keeper @ 18 dap   Sunday, June 29 View Page This is the kin I chose to keep on the 1314 est Bryson (1818.5 Bryson x 1807 Steltz). Nice shape and maybe a hint of orange. 14 dap   Sunday, June 29 View Page Two kins on the 401 Buck, (1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace). 1st kin, 7 dap is 14 ft on main & second, smaller kin(6 lober), 3 dap is 18 ft out on main. decisions, decisions.   Sunday, June 29 View Page Far plant is the 1314 est Bryson (1818.5 Bryson x 1807 Steltz), plant on this side is the 401 Buck (1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace). I've started to terminate side vines on both plants. The Buck plant will be getting the same shade cover that the other plants have real soon. I'd say the patch is full,lol.   Tuesday, July 1 View Page Pollinated the est 308 Shewmaker with the 1734.5 Steil this morning. 67 degrees. Had very strong storms last night roll through around 10:30. Strong winds = lots of leaf damage. One of the 401 Buck plants a total lost but thee other with a very nice kin is lightly damaged.   Tuesday, July 1 View Page Nice little single blossom 2 pounder off the 4.32 Hunt this morning   Friday, July 4 View Page Yesterday the 3rd of July I pollinated the East Patch 308 est Shewmaker with the 1734.5 Steil and also pollinated the 3rd kin on my 801 est dmg kin with the 401 Buck. Degrees at pollination yesterday morning was 56 degrees, yes 56 degrees,lol. Have some great kins growing well ahead of 1200+ benchmarks for day 20 numbers, can't wait to see what they are at day 30. Sprayed yesterday evening for Squash bugs and cukes. 1734.5 Steil plant has still got me amazed at its recovery and has a very nice kin set on it, a really really long kin. The 83.5" DeMars Long Gourd plant is huge with around 10 LG's set on it. Will begin to cull here shortly. Tomatoes are all doing really good. 260 Clementz Plant is unbelievable, with the grafted trunk doing awesome and no splitting, melon is getting heavy w/ a second very nice shaped melon pollinated yesterday just to see what she does. Happy Fourth of July Everyone!!!   Saturday, July 5 View Page The east side Tomato patch, 200+ plants, they are loaded just wish they would start turning. Temps in the lower 60's again this morning..that doesn't help any.   Saturday, July 5 View Page 1314 Bryson (1818.5 est Bryson x 1807 Steltz)20dap 73cc, 50fb, 50ss. 12 in gain in the past 24hrs. Should start doing better. Still just hitting 1000+ benchmark I think   Saturday, July 5 View Page My 801est dmg '13. This kin is behind because of storm damage to the plant. I'm getting new vines on in the back so hopefully it picks up. Hard to grow size and vines at the same time. OTT is 154.5 @ 24dap...not good.   Saturday, July 5 View Page This is the 401 Buck (1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace). This is the fastest growing kin I have at this time. 11dap, 40.25 cc, 32ss, 32fb, 104.25 ott. 10.5" gain.   Saturday, July 5 View Page This is the second kin (1st kin aborted) on the 1734.5 Steil. 6dap. You can see the 3rd kin pollinated yesterday (in the back ground) on the 4th of July. He's named Obie1explodie. It is also long like this 2nd kin. No the grounds keeper hasn't been in to weed just yet.   Saturday, July 5 View Page This is the 179.4 Debacc'14, "Marshmallow" 6dap, 13.25cc. I like the shape of this kin   Saturday, July 5 View Page This the 308 est Shewmaker (220 Debacco x open '13, 2nd kin in the west patch 5dap. This plant is in very nice condition and should do well fingers crossed.   Saturday, July 5 View Page 260 Clementz 18dap/96ott. I believe I have givin up on this one, will wait a couple days to see more numbers. I have 3 other kins just pollinated on this plant in the past two days. Probably too late for anything of size to grow. Too bad the plant is huge and the grafting is A-OK!!   Saturday, July 5 View Page Giant Rutagaga Plant. This thing is big. That is a full size shovel to the left in the pic. I'm standing up on some pallets to get all the plant in the pic. Will measure the set next week. It is getting multiple stems out of the top of it and I remove dirt from the sides to encourage lower growth. I have 6 of these plants going all doing very nice. I spray them with sevin to combate the worms.   Saturday, July 5 View Page Grapes are doing great!!   Saturday, July 5 View Page Last but not least on entries for today, This is a Jenny Wrens Nest (Common House Wren Possibly) in the grape vines. For the past 3 years this bird has always built her nest in the same place, a clutch of 3 eggs and they always hatch around the 4th of July. This on hatched at 7:30 am this morning on the 5th of July. The nest is 2.5 " across. Mom lets me get very close and she often flys & lands within 2 ft of me on the vines checking me out. I've put dead grass moths on leaves for her and she takes them with me right there..pretty cool.   Saturday, July 5 View Page Correction on the Bird Egg Identification in the last post.........I saw the jenny wren land and duck into another location on the grape vine. After looking in on her brood I relized I was at the wrong nest earlier. She has 2 babies in her nest and I find that the babies hatching in the other(posted pic) are Hummingbird eggs and hatched baby....Very Cool. Never thought birds would nest so close to each other..It may be that the Jenny or the hummer isn't threatened. We feed lots of Hummingbirds out here.   Sunday, July 6 View Page Pollinated a nice 5 lober on the 308 est Shewmaker west patch with the 179.4 Debacco "Marshmallow". Third kin on this plant w/ second being culled due to it aborting. First kin still growing strong on the 308. Pollinated a nice 4 lober,# 2 kin on the 179.4 Debacco with the 1734.5 Steil.   Monday, July 7 View Page 1314 est Bryson 22dap, 82"cc, 192ott. Starting to bring up the numbers with the heat. Last week 40's & 50's at night high 60's low 70's daytime..not good for #'s.   Monday, July 7 View Page My 801 est '13 a couple of days after drenching it with 20 gallons 0-0-50 @ 6%,lol. Even as I type its getting blahhhh looking,lol. 26dap   Monday, July 7 View Page This is the best grower I have to date. 401 Buck 13dap, 50cc, 127 ott, well above the 1200 benchmarks. Hopeing for a 100cc @ 20dap fingers crossed.   Monday, July 7 View Page The graft on the 260.5 Clementz. I keep it covered, dry and dust it in sulfer bi-weekly just because. It is strong and solid for an AG rootstock grafted to melon scion. Founf out I have not been watering enough so it is full steam ahead. Going to watch the numbers on the melon close for a week or two to see if I'll keep the current largest melon. 100 ott/32 lbs.   Monday, July 7 View Page My daughter going up to pollinate a couple last LG's yesterday evening. She is 5'3" so you can see the LG set up is pretty well up there @ 14 ft. Got a couple LG's at the top back highest point at little over a 1 ft long.   Monday, July 7 View Page A long gourd, 83 1/2" DeMars '13 @ 13 1/2ft up.   Tuesday, July 8 View Page 1314 Bryson 23dap, starting to really kick in 89cc, 58ss, 59fb w/206 0tt @ 203 lbs. Put 37 lbs on in past 24 hrs.   Tuesday, July 8 View Page 401 Buck 14dap, 57cc   Tuesday, July 8 View Page 260.5 Clementz 2dap. This is the melon I said I would like to try and grow because it had a huge female flower and a nice long body. The plant is very big behind it and I feel it will do better than the current keeper @ 21 dap @ only 102ott/31 lbs. Hope I have enough time to grow a biggun.   Wednesday, July 9 View Page Culled the keeper 260.5 Clementz, weighed uow of 33.7 lbs/21dap, yesterday evening..all chips are in on the new one. Plant is huge and healthy behind it so time will tell   Wednesday, July 9 View Page Culled and pinched back around 20 LG's on the 83.5 DeMars. Got a real nice one that is around 2' & another about 18". Both controlled/Self pollinated.   Thursday, July 10 View Page Did a back up pollination this morning on the west 308 est Shewmaker x 1314 est Bryson. 62 degrees, all setting kins covered last night as if it was late fall.   Thursday, July 10 View Page Terminated the main on the 401 Buck and the 1314 est Bryson both @ 45 ft. Will let them grow out on the backside in sept. Temp has dropped to 59 degrees now.   Thursday, July 10 View Page Forgot all about this beast. Found it again looking for tomato worms yesterday. It is on a Mortgage Lifter Plant.   Thursday, July 10 View Page Long Goourds this morning. Both of these were pollinated on 6/27. The bigger one in the back put on approx 4" in the last 24 hrs.   Thursday, July 10 View Page Just like pumpkin vines, I wonder whatthe limit is on growing Salad with LG's. Is there a limit to the secondaries in length one should limit in order to increase optimal gourd length? I'll post a question in the LG forum.   Thursday, July 10 View Page 1314 est Bryson put on 29 lbs since yesterday, 93 lbs in the past 72 hrs. Still abit behind of what I'd like to see but beggers can't be choosy. 97.5cc, 224 ott/259 lbs   Thursday, July 10 View Page Daughter was up checking out the LG's so I had her take an aerial of the 1734.5 Steil. It now graciously takes up more than half of the screen house. I culled the #2 kin on her and am keeping the kin at approx 12 ft out. 11 dap 23cc and picking up steam. Nice long kin. What a difference in the plants health. Thanks again Scott for the recommendations.   Friday, July 11 View Page This morning the 1314 est Bryson is well over the Ailts/Landry Benchmark for 1400+ lbs. 26dap, 233 ott. Had to pull thee intire kin with board 11" forward yesterday because of fast growth causing binding on the vine. All is well and add another diamond to the pile,lol.   Friday, July 11 View Page Culled my est801 '13 yesterday evening because of slow growth. 29 dap 65.5cc, 46.5ss, 45.5fb   Friday, July 11 View Page Meant to say the 801 seeds are fully developed at 29 dap, very suprised. This kin was treated with synthetic growth hormones at a rate of 200ppm. 5 x the suggested rate for Lab studies,lol. Kin was right at 100 lbs estd. May have been its demise. I knew full well it was more than suggested. I am going to test germ the seeds after they dry so to use them for graft testing over the winter..who knows I may try to grow one of these next year. There are two other kins further down the vine.   Saturday, July 12 View Page Lost the 179.4 DeBacco plant to this pest. I can deal with the cukes, slugs, Sqaush Bugs,etc. but I have yet to find a sticky trap for these ^%@%#@*. "Marshmallow" had a well above avg kin growin on her too @ 11 dap. I watched the cloud of Round-up just ingulf it.   Saturday, July 12 View Page 1314 est Bryson put 34Lbs on in the past 24 hrs. 242.5 ott, Weight #'s since the 7th are as follows: #24, #37, #27, #29, #31 and #34.   Saturday, July 12 View Page 401 Buck (1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace. Crossed with the 1734.5 Steil. This kin is so slick and shiny. I'm affraid to measure it for fear of it spliting,lol. 18dap 78cc, 191.5 ott, 163Lbs est. Go Baby Go!!   Saturday, July 12 View Page Forgot to mention the 410 Buck did #28 in the past 24.   Saturday, July 12 View Page The 83.5" DeMars'13 hangin around 36" this mornin, 4" from yesterday. 13dap I put Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers on the panel so it does not get rubbed too bad from swaying. When it gets a bit longer, (and I hope it does), I'll come up with lower restraints on it for windy days or storms. Other LG is about 18" @ 13dap, its soon to be culled if not today.   Saturday, July 12 View Page The Great White Hope. After what the 1734.5 Plant went through This is a nice kin set out at approx 12 ft. Crossed with the 179.4 DeBacco it has a 30cc @ 13dap.   Saturday, July 12 View Page 308 est Shewmaker '13, 12dap. 31cc crossed with the 1745.5 Steil   Saturday, July 12 View Page The "2nd keeper on the 260.5 Clementz plant. I hadn't checked on it for a couple days and the small shade cover had been rubbing on it causing scars, hope its ok. 6dap 22.5cc/48 0tt.   Saturday, July 12 View Page The 179.4 DeBacco still has a heart beat. I cut away alot of burnt leaves from the round up but being systemic I figured it would have takin it to the ground. Maybe me having just watered it before the field sprayer showed up helped it with surviving this long. It still has 1 kin out at 15'. Time will tell   Sunday, July 13 View Page Rained all night, both the 1314,110cc @ 28dap & 401.5,83cc @ 19dap put 32 lbs on ea. in the past 21 hrs. No splits.......yet. The 83.5 Demars lg put on 7" in the past 21 hrs and the 308 est Shewmaker put on 7"cc & 16" ott.   Tuesday, July 15 View Page I call this one MeggalaDawn. 16 dap/16"cc. On a Superbeef Steak plant.   Tuesday, July 15 View Page Bottom half of MeggalaDawn. I like how pretty much each fuzed section is plumping up.   Tuesday, July 15 View Page 83.5" DeMars this morning @54" in length. Read somthing the other day that these things only grow for 3 weeks of any decent rates. Please tell me I've read wrong. The lg is at 18 dap so its sucks that it has only about 3 days of good growth period left and its only at 54".   Tuesday, July 15 View Page 1314 est Bryson 30dap #'s, 117cc, 76ss, 72fb/265ott est@421 lbs. 401.5 Buck 21dap #'s, 90cc, 68ss, 64fb/222ott est@252 lbs. All other kins are growing very well. 260.5 Clementz is moving along w/ another on board just in case.   Tuesday, July 15 View Page Broke out thee ole Yanmar again and got the upper east patch cleaned up from loosing the 801 and the #2 308 plants. Going to put in a few Jumping Jacks and some of my est uow #89 seeds from '12 after its all tilled in with goodies.   Wednesday, July 16 View Page Never have seen a Long Gourd measured officialy and can't find any info on it. I'll post a question in the LG Message Board on what is the way to measure an LG, example "A" or example "B".   Wednesday, July 16 View Page Thanks Andy W for pointing me to the Resources Section on LG Measuring. I again didn't see the forest for the trees.   Thursday, July 17 View Page 401.5 Buck 23dap 96cc, 235ott   Thursday, July 17 View Page 401.5 Buck (1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace)top view. Looks to me like this one has got a bit of papa in it from the upper hump and a bit of momma from that side buldge and norrowing backside,lol.   Thursday, July 17 View Page 1314 est Bryson 32dap 121.5cc, 275ott. SOLID...Note to self: "Get a good "S" in the vines next year so you won't be pulling the dang thing for the 3rd time forward..both scary and Stupid on my part." Both the 1314 and the 401.5 Buck need pulled forward about 12" again today. Fast growers.   Thursday, July 17 View Page Top view of the 1314 est Bryson. Need to raise the shade cover. Forgot to make note that the 1314 has a small stem and the 401.5 Buck has a massive stem..;^)   Thursday, July 17 View Page 1734.5 Steil 18dap, 54cc, 127 ott   Thursday, July 17 View Page 308 est Shewmaker 17dap 58cc, 144ott. Sticky shiny and growing very well. This kin set idle the first week, week and a half and the past couple days has really picked up in growth. Crossed with the 1734.5 Steil   Thursday, July 17 View Page This is a fat lil melon on the 297 Kent 3dap. I'm letting it grow even though the plant size is not really big enough to support it. It may soon though.   Friday, July 18 View Page Just stumbled across this huge Mortgage Lifter tomato. I've seen this before down low thinking it was a group of maters.........NOPE, just one tomato. I'm going to trim the plant up and see if I can push it. Circ is 20.5 and guessing it is about 10 days old. Always thought it was a cluster under there..it pays to look closer next time,lol. Hard to get a good pic of it, it is crazy.   Monday, July 21 View Page "You May Feel A Little Pressure" I have been pushing the 1314 est Bryson a bit to catch up to 1500 benchmarks. I packed the split with sulpher and got a fan on it. Kin is starting to roll over towards the front with very good side to side growth.   Monday, July 21 View Page Introducing "PIG". Pig is growing on the 297 Kent and is 4dap/10" long. Daughter and I named it after the pig off of the movie, BABE. That'll do Pig.   Monday, July 21 View Page #2 melon on the 260.5 Clementz. I Doooooooo like the shape of this one. Also 4dap/45 ott. The current 1st place melon on this plant is 8dap/63.5 ott.........I think you know whats going to follow..this has to be my final choice with what growing time remains.   Monday, July 21 View Page *************Both the 291 Kent and the 297 Kent plants are grown "TRADITIONAL", I REPEAT, *************Both the 291 Kent and the 297 Kent plants are grown "TRADITIONAL"************* "Proudly" I must Say. I again Thank Chris Kent for growing them & Thanks to Otis for getting the seeds to me....OUTSTANDING!!!!   Monday, July 21 View Page 308 est Shewmaker getting along just fine. 183 ott 21dap Really starting to grow.   Monday, July 21 View Page 1734.5 Steil. Nice long Kin starting to put the pounds on. 163 ott @ about 100 lbs 22dap.   Monday, July 21 View Page 83.5 DeMars LG 24dap, 80" this morning.   Monday, July 21 View Page 401 Buck. Pic takin yesterday. Today 7/21/14 Cool nights has slowed it down. This morning 27dap 101cc, 248 ott, 347 est lbs on 2012 chart.   Monday, July 21 View Page Forgot to mention I'm battling chipmunks around the 297 & 291 Kent plants. Buggers ate the 1st 297 kent melon I pollinated back on the 13 of july. Chased one off the 291 yesterday.   Tuesday, July 22 View Page 83.5" DeMars long gourd measures 83.75" this morning @ 25dap. Pretty cool!   Wednesday, July 23 View Page 401.5 Buck aborted @ 28 dap, 248 ott. No gains for the last three days & its thump has gone away. Was growing well above avg & kaput. With that said the 1314 est Bryson, (knock on wood) is getting impressive splits around its stem due to the 29 avg lbs/day its been putting on. You can't see the 4' x 4' sand covered plywood anymore under it so I have been putting 10" x 6'x 1" planks with sand down and it has covered those by more than half,lol. I'm not complaining. I've got two fans on it, stem and the top storm damage,(rain pooled on top so I'm drying it out with sulfer also. Got a melon set on the 291 Kent so that makes 3 melons set, 1 ea. on the 291&297 Kents & 260.5 Clementz. I got one Huge Rutabaga that sorta reminds me of an ex mother-in-law but I wont say that on here because it just wouldn't be right. 308 Shewmaker along with the 1734.5 Steil are making incredible gains and the 83.5" DeMars Long Gourd is 87" this morning @ 26dap. Going to pull the 401.5 Buck this morning and cut it open, a moment of silence please.   Saturday, July 26 View Page 1314 est Bryson day 40....1 word describes it....."Really freakin WIDE."   Saturday, July 26 View Page That should read day 41 on the est 1314 Bryson   Saturday, July 26 View Page Backside side of the 1314 est Bryson 41 dap   Sunday, July 27 View Page 1734.5 Steil 216 ott/100"cc this morning   Sunday, July 27 View Page Long Gourd @ 95" this morning 30dap   Sunday, July 27 View Page 1314 Bryson growing good still with a 139cc. Getting wider and the front is growing over on the button. Sprayed and drenched systemic on the 1314, 308 Shewmaker and 1734.5 Steil, Also prayed Melons: 260.5 Clements, 297 Kent and 291 Kent. Windy warm and sunny today but the night temps for the coming week are 50's and 60's..not good for big kins.   Monday, July 28 View Page Strays on the 260.5 Clementz this morning. Maybe now it will pick back up.   Tuesday, July 29 View Page Another morning in the low 50's. Yesterdays high here was 71 degrees. Daily gains are only in the upper single to very low double digits and the next 7 days are forecasted the same. Can't hardly believe I am covering Kins and melons because of Sept temps in July.   Thursday, July 31 View Page 1734.5 Steil aka "The Drunkin Punkin". Next pic will explain the name. Its growing big but at a very wierd shape, lol.   Thursday, July 31 View Page 1734.5 Steil looking as if its wanting to fall over. When you stand in front of it looking striaght on you get tipsy feelin,lol. So the "Drunkin Punkin" affect. I hope the rest of its long frame fills out. It has put 200 lbs on in less than 3.5 days. go baby go!! Sunday I fed her 7 pounds of powdered eggshells put in a mixed liquor state laced with 1/8th cup of borax to 50 gallons of very warm water. Yes my fingers are still crossed & holding.   Thursday, July 31 View Page "Pig" looking good on the 297 Kent. Getting lumps n Bumps all over and growing well.   Thursday, July 31 View Page 260.5 Clementz growing nicely picking up steam   Thursday, July 31 View Page 291 Kent pear shaped growing rapidly. Hope it comes out of it but have another nice shaped 291 kent just set on this same plant.   Friday, August 1 View Page 1314 est Bryson is still growing strong after slowing a bit from the cool temps. The front has not gone over like I thought it was going to but the back and sides are really pushing and filling out. You can see how the sides are rolling the sand from pushing it like waves...pretty cool. I did some surgery to the top of er and the spot from the storm damage is healing nice and dry. Will post #'s on day 50. She feels like she ought to go heavy.   Sunday, August 3 View Page August 3rd........sheets and blankets?.........SERIOUSLY?!!! 53 degrees this morning at 6:00 although the 1734.5 Steil seems to be thriving on cold temps   Sunday, August 3 View Page 83 1/2" DeMars 1st long gourd of the 2014 Season is now the #1 unofficial Est 99.5" J. Young, 37 dap. There is much more pruned and trimmed plant behind another very fast growing LG so I wanted to get this one off to concentrate the energy to the #2 LG. Just a theory, I still have no clue what I'm doing. This one stayed at 99.5" for three days without any growth before removing it. In the basement it goes.   Monday, August 4 View Page Paytyn with the 1314 est Bryson yesterday. More and more spliting around the stem so more sulfur and fan is 24/7. Kin is still getting longer and wider @ 46 dap.   Monday, August 4 View Page This is the number 2 LG I've selected on the 83.5" DeMars after picking the previous 95.5 off the vine yesterday. This LG is 36" @ 4 dap. That is why I removed the 1st lg because this baby is smokin. There were about 20 lg's growing but this one really stood out in its super quick growth   Wednesday, August 6 View Page 1734.5 Steil this morning in the rain. Getting bigger all the way around and well just....Uglier,lol. This one must be one of the fine shaped specimens Scott had posted about earlier,lol. She is averaging 31 lbs/day for the past 6 days. 36dap,heavy & still feels tacky.   Wednesday, August 6 View Page That last pic was takin level, remember the "Drunkin Punkin".   Wednesday, August 6 View Page WOW!! LG number (2) is 57" this mornin @ 7dap. A bit over 9" per day so far. LG Plant got a nice dose of liquified eggshells, kelp/wormpoo Tea and Humic+endo all in a drench 3 days prior to this one getting Pollinated.   Wednesday, August 6 View Page 260.5 Clementz......The weeds are a strategy to keep the melon from rolling...seriously   Wednesday, August 6 View Page This is the 297 Kent aka "PIG". It has picked up tremendous steam in growth. It passed up the 260.5 Clementz. Whats crazy is that the 291 Kent is poised to pass this one up. I'm wondering if I should be concerned on the fact there is not one square inch of smooth on this melon,lol. Should has named this one "Lumpy",lol. Look close at the pics, its crazy!!   Wednesday, August 6 View Page Another close-up of the 297 Kent "PIG" Lumpy, Lumpy, Lumpy   Wednesday, August 6 View Page and one more   Wednesday, August 6 View Page 308 est Shewmaker is getting a stem on er.   Wednesday, August 6 View Page 1314 est Bryson stretching this morning after an all night rainathon. I like the orange. Got the fan and sulfer still goin on the stem side. She-Could-Go-All-The-Way!! I've been restablishing vines on the backside of the plant for future kin growth because some the leaves of the original plant are in poor condition.   Wednesday, August 6 View Page My daughter helped me peel some of the tarp for cover back on the 1314 and position a ladder to get somewhat of an overhead shot. The kin is still pushin good to the front back n sides   Wednesday, August 6 View Page OK, This is my biggest tomato and as you can see it wont even fit in my daughters sunhat,lol. This is growing on the 3.5 Sweet Plant. Can't say how old it is because I discovered it last week cleaning and trimming plants that got away from me. The plant is recieving TLC and everything else that I can throw at it. I did feed it liquified eggshells, kelp/wormpoo Tea & Humic+Endo the same day I fed the LG Plant. Plus it gets heavily watered everyday. Haven't measured it yet and I'm not going too until it gets picked. It is heavy Solid so today I'm putting a sling on it to be safe.   Wednesday, August 6 View Page Burpees new "Steak House" Tomato. I've picked several over 2 pounds like this one. I've got 3 plants nice and groomed with megas on so if I get anything of size going I'll be sure to post it. Oh and Diary...The're darn Tasty too!!   Friday, August 8 View Page Well...Lost the 308 est Shewmaker (220 DeBacco x open) today to aborting issues. Sorry Dave, tried to do you proud. I still have the second pack of seeds for next year. 39 dap so I don't know if the seeds if any are viable. 320 est pounds, the cross is (308 est Shewmaker x 1734.5 Steil) Wanted to bring the 220 DeBacco full circle somewhat. A moment of Silence...for the third time this season and hopefully the last before weighoff time.   Friday, August 8 View Page Here we go...Ok Ray, I'll see your ten and raise you 18,lol. Hope its alright Ray n Karl that I've delt myself in like this,lol. Too Funny   Monday, August 11 View Page I'm amazed at the growth of this 83.5" DeMars long gourd, 12 dap @ 77". I hope this is good growth and it keeps going, lol. It's growing twice as fast as the 95.5" gourd we just pick thee other day. Tied up with supports and got the weight off the vine this morning.   Monday, August 11 View Page 83.5" DeMars LG 12dap, 77" this am. Storm proofed. Piece of rebar in the ground with electrical conduit slidover it and up through the metal 4" panel & secured from blowing around.   Monday, August 11 View Page 1734.5 Steil over 500 lbs now   Monday, August 11 View Page Other side of the 1734.5 Steil. Another lumpy and bumpy,lol.   Monday, August 11 View Page ***Stupid Tip Of The Month*** Took a cheap 21" grabber thingy you see in the pic and turned it into a 9 ft trimmer for the long gourd plant. I used side cutters and removed the plastic tips (material) at the "red line", drilled 1/8" holes through at the "blue arrows" then drilled holes in the scissors. Used simple wire bent over as pins to hold the scissors to the grabber ends. Used old electric fence wire run up through a 9 ft stick of 1/2" pvc conduit with a fitting at the handle end. Disassembled the grabber unit by first removing the red handle. Thee original grabber handle got wrapped a few times with electrical tape and fit snug in the fitting end. The clamp end fit perfect into the scissor end so all I had to do was figure out the length of the electrical fence wire and whala. When you squeeze the trigger the scissors cut. Works great reaching the tips of the vines to dead head and to cull females and male flowers. No copy writes were harmed during this fuepwha & I did this for me "NOT TO SELL",lol. Only draw back... stiff neck from looking up so long at a time, so my daughter says,lol.   Wednesday, August 13 View Page Just amazed at the 83.5" DeMars LG. Yesterday morning it hit 83" @ 13dap. I wonder if it would be growing faster if I covered it when the temps are in the low 50's and 60's at night? I've been keeping the vine pruned back real good to keep energy to the plant confined. The last LG on this plant grew for 37 days/ 95.5 inches, so now the current gourd @ 6.5 inches/day avg could grow 233 inches at day 37, lol. If it maintains 6.5"/day. Anybodys guess..I say not,lol but it may do well..we'll see. She's started at 13.8 ft up and the bottom foot has straightened out.   Wednesday, August 13 View Page IN THIS CORNER WEIGHING IN AT...All right Chris Kent..very funny crossing melons with AG's Ha, Ha. 274 Kent might be headed to a side show somewhere in the UK rather than a weigh off. I smile every time I walk up to it and just stand there,lol. All I can say at this point is that...its filling out? I have a couple friends coming over this afternoon to help me get her on something else rather than this tipsy boogie board with the way its growing it could roll. I'll post some other pics with different side shots. Too funny. Its living up to its name, "PIG".   Wednesday, August 13 View Page 297 Kent   Wednesday, August 13 View Page 297 Kent Getting longer as it fills out   Wednesday, August 13 View Page 297 Kent getting a Gator shaped body to it.   Wednesday, August 13 View Page 291 Kent, AHH Tricked ya...This again is "Chunk" we culled 2 other, a 12 & a 21 pounder off this plant this morning and kept pig because with those two melons on Chunk still was packing on the same daily pounds . Now lets see what she'll do!!   Wednesday, August 13 View Page Meant to say we chose to keep "CHUNK" because of her ability to keep packing on the pounds even with thee other two melons on.   Tuesday, August 19 View Page 297 Kent aka "PIG" packin it on, lol   Tuesday, August 19 View Page "Pig" could be a new Comic character.."THE ANGRY MELON"!! lol   Tuesday, August 19 View Page 83.5" DeMars has hit 101.5" @ 20dap   Tuesday, August 19 View Page Try it again   Wednesday, August 20 View Page Too Cold and Too Wet. 1314 est Bryson 66 dap. 318 ott, 703 est pounds on 2013 ott chart. Actual uof weight, 783 pounds on certified 4x4 scale. Just quit growing but a very solid kin. the cross is 1314 est Bryson x 401 Buck (1872 Wallace x 2009 Wallace). Still have the 1734.5 Steil x 179.4 DeBacco growing in the screen house for now.   Thursday, August 21 View Page Pumpkin Season is Done. The 1734.5 has got a soft spot right above the blossom. The end to the "Drunkin Punkin". You can see the discoloration in the kin that it appears to be sick. Est 516 lbs & I believe 54 dap so I'm hoping the 1734.5 Steil x 179.5 DeBacco seeds are viable. Going to pull the screan cover in the morning and pull the seeds on er. Melon season keeps pushing forward as well as Long Gourds and Maters. Everyone have a Peaceful Goodnight.   Thursday, August 21 View Page Correction, 51 dap on the 1734.5 Steil which is now the est/uow 516 J. Young (1734.5 Steil x 179.4 "Marshmallow" DeBacco)   Friday, August 22 View Page The Seed Extractor   Friday, August 22 View Page 1734.5 Steil 53dap now 564 est J. Young '14 (1734.5 Steil'13 x 179.4 DeBacco'14) Taped 284 ott @ 507 lbs , weighed on 4'x4' State Certified Scale 564Lbs Unofficially. Was really Thick Walled. Wat too much rain and Way too cold for days on end stioped her growth. Thought it might have a soft spot and be sick/aborting but every square inch of it was solid as a rock just simply stoped growing @ 48 dap, 8/17/2014.   Friday, August 22 View Page 291 Kent is now too going wide bodied like the 297 Kent. The heat is pumping them UP!!   Saturday, August 23 View Page This 2.70 was grown off the 3.5 Sweet. Would like to know if its a Big Zac or What.   Thursday, August 28 View Page 291 Kent traditional. I called Jenny Craig today fot it... then realized what I was doing and Quickly hung up!! lol. Still growin good.   Thursday, August 28 View Page I still say its funny how the 297 Kent has the shape of an AG from the stem side. It is really filling out the lobes. Still fighting a tightening vine. Thats good right?,lol.   Thursday, August 28 View Page 297 (Wide Bodied) Kent, "Pig". I no longer worry about it rolling off the boogie board because the weight of it is slowly pushing it into the ground in turn making it more stable,lol. I haven't measured all the melons for awhile so it will be a nice surprise hopefully in a couple more weeks. The 260 Clementz has slowed down to nearly zip so I may pull it, we'll see in a few more days. The graft on it is big and in very solid condition. I think I'm going to make a bronze trophy just from the AG grafted Melon stump,lol.   Thursday, August 28 View Page Now Thats a split. Yesterday gave it a drench of 0-0-50...oops. This one was at 104.5". Will the seeds be any good?   Sunday, August 31 View Page 297 Kent this evening w/ milk jug for comparison. The milk jug sits right at 1 1/2" lower to the ground to be accurate.   Wednesday, September 3 View Page This is a Brown Cushaw Squash Plant. If you look down the vine you will see three fruits, yes that 3rd one is a 297 Kent growing off the end of the vine,lol. I grafted it at 10:00 pm on the 27th of Aug about 8 days ago. It has put on 3" on the circ, lol. For the 1st 3 days I kept a 3" gause bandage around the graft saturated so it wouldn't dry out. Am keeping the sun off of it too. I'm going to remove the grafting clams this coming weekend. Why do this? Why not, lol. I had three 297's on this one big plant with different approaches, two failed, this one kept.   Wednesday, September 3 View Page 297 Kent on a Brown Cushaw Sqaush Plant. Went with a 30 degree cut for more surface coverage on the graft. Thats why theres two clamps. Over the winter with testing I figured out for me that this approach works best with vine/stem grafting. Its funny this stupid thing is healing and growing,lol. Wish I would have done some of these earlier in the season.   Wednesday, September 3 View Page One of the Rutabagas I've got growing.   Wednesday, September 3 View Page 291 and 297 Kent cutting I'm rooting to mail to a fellow grower (after they have rooted well) who wants to keep the plants going through out the winter months from various cuttings to see if he can grow them in the spring. I'm doing the same here over the winter. These 297 cuttings are from "Pig" & the 291's are from "Chunk".   Friday, September 5 View Page 59, 1/2 pints of Praire Peach Preserves and Concord Jelly. I already have one peach out in the fridge,lol.   Friday, September 5 View Page 297 Kent this morning still packin it on.   Friday, September 5 View Page 297 Kent. Still do not know what happened to the side. Must have been a hit n run.   Friday, September 5 View Page 291 Kent this morning. "The Pear Shaped has left the building"   Saturday, September 6 View Page 260.5 Clementz Grafted by AG Rootstock still solid thru the season. I've got another near perfect shape melon growing after we picked the first one.   Saturday, September 13 View Page 291 & 297 Kent over wintering cuttings basking in the sun this morning. They are very strong and throwing nice full radius roots   Saturday, September 13 View Page Here is an example of the roots being thrown out on the 297 & 291 cuttings. Before repotting in moisture controlled potting soil, I cleaned off the rooting hormone slime that coagulates on the roots with a peroxide solution so there will be less chance of disease. They have also been inoculated with Extreame systemic fungicide at this time. I will inspect the roots on them in a weaks time , repot for the last time and some will be mailed out to a fellow grower who is wanting the 297 plant that is growing "Pig". Both the 291 and 297 melons are growing well still and with the 6.5 inches of rain we had overnight a couple days ago they both have put the pounds on incredibly with no "Side Affects", but there is cold ,cold weather coming, fingers crossed.   Sunday, September 14 View Page Finally got the 297 Kent off the boogie board and on somethin more stable. Talked with Chris kent thee other day and I believe next year I will have me melons on the same things he's using. 297 grew some more so I hope they can keep it up until Bengstons. Those guys up there are going to think I'm crazy dragging two melons, a giant swede and a long gourd up there,lol. Wait a tic...they probably aready think I'm crazy so what the hey!!   Sunday, September 14 View Page 291 Kent warming abit in the sun this mornin.   Sunday, September 14 View Page 291 Kent "Chunk"   Tuesday, September 16 View Page Exposing my 2 melons this morning. Posted a question in the Watermelons msg board if I should be doing this or not.   Tuesday, September 16 View Page Hmm, who does the 297 remind me off..Hmmmm   Tuesday, September 16 View Page Remind me "OF". What a Goober.   Thursday, September 25 View Page 291 Kent starting to get bumpy on top but still filling out. Slowed down to 1.5"-2"/day. ARG!!   Thursday, September 25 View Page 297 Kent let loose out of its dog house this mornin. The closest side is getting like another whole melon growing there,lol. Its currently putting on 3"/day. I have trimmed back all new growth for the last couple of weeks on both the 291 and 297 Kents vines in hopes up more last minute growth. Been hitting them with half strength 20-20-20. Have got a melon lifting device now for the weigh offs. Temps at night in the upper 40's-low 50's daytime temps in the low to mid 70's, not the best melon growing weather but the Giant Ruttys are lovin it.   Thursday, September 25 View Page I don't know how much more wide the 297 can go and why do I keep hearing that song "Brick House" in my head,lol.   Thursday, September 25 View Page Got a couple of interesting seeds in the mail this afternoon. Got these when I ordered another pumpkin book from Don Langevin. Order a tape or book and get these two free complimentary seeds that Eric Shaw of MA grew. Could be interesting. I've loaned out two books in the past two yrs never to see them again,lol. Stayin close to this one. Thanks Don   Thursday, September 25 View Page Giant Ruty off the 75.2 Thomas 2011, out of my GVGO Seed Pack.   Thursday, September 25 View Page The Mass Expansion of thatch behind the Ruty in the prior pic is a project I've got going to restablish the rain forest back into the midwest...yes we've all got to do our part because of the depleated rain forests, so I understand if someone were to confuse it with procrastination.   Thursday, September 25 View Page Same 75.2 Thomas'11 Ruty opposite side.   Friday, September 26 View Page Another Ruty I've got growin off the 75.2 Thomas'11   Saturday, September 27 View Page Well, I'm not at Bengstons weigh off this mornin. The Guy I had lined up to help me drive up there had to work at the last minute. Glad I didn't have the melons and rutabaga off the ground. Really wanted to go there this year and see Shazzy, George and the bunch. So I have got my Sister and brother-in-law lined up to haul us up to Anamosa on the 4th. It is getting more and more difficult for me to drive distances. Here is the 297 x 291 Kent this morning getting some sun to warm up a bit. Ken have you ever thought about "Big Melons".com or would that create more spam than your use to dealing with,lol. 7 days and counting.   Saturday, September 27 View Page 291 Kent x 297 Kent in the sun this mornin too. It is really turning into a fine melon, no record breaker but a nice melon. It is a "Chunk"   Saturday, September 27 View Page 297 Kent forground with the 291 Kent in the background. Got em covered in a grey sheet material for the remainder of the day. 297 Kent doesn't appear all that big until you walk up on it, sucker is wide.   Friday, October 3 View Page We got Ruty Baga out of the bloomin ground. Remind me to never grow these things directly in the ground..Container grown all the way from here on out,lol.   Monday, October 6 View Page Had such a great time at Anamosa. Met so many good people. My daughter and I got there very early and watched some of the early weigh ins. Found out Marty Schnicker can vertical jump 7.5 ft after hearing his Melons weight of 209 lbs,lol. Congrats marty. Mark and son on LG's, WOW!!Also saw that I have in fact been measuring my LG's wrong, we watched how the sight guys were measuring. One would hold the soft tape measure at the stem end while thee other guy would keep the tape pressed to the surface of the gourds following the curves to the end tip so I guess thats why I gained 1/2" in length to get 98" instead of 97 1'2" the morning of,lol. I throw out all my 2014 LG entries,lol. Hey Scott Steil I looked thru the FP seeds and found a pack of 2, 81 Wolf 2009 (88.5 Leland x 145 Mcinnis) seeds and a pack of 2, 94 Lyons (81 Wolf x Self. What ya got to Trade? lol!! It was awesome listening and learning from all of you I spoke with!! The Folks up there were just awesome as well as the parade and uptown venues. I won't mention the diff types of foods MMM!! Mr. Greg Norlin & wife, simply the Best of the Best!! Now the real work begins...Again. P.S. I did take home thee award for most Air captured within a melon. Pig, 297 Kent x 291 Kent taped 171 ott and weighed 117,lol. With that said I will grow this seed next year and the 291 Kent x 297 Kent seed.   Wednesday, October 8 View Page 297 Kent, Nothin but Air,lol. Still should be good seeds. Crosses are 297 Kent x 291 Kent & 291 Kent x 297 Kent. I plan on planting both next season...Plenty of seeds. I was very inconsistant with the melon watering this season.   Friday, October 17 View Page The 291 Kent x 297 Kent official "105 J Young melon. Second place for the most air in a melon,lol. Still, after talking with a couple growers at Anamosa the genitcs of both the 297 x 291 and 291 x 297 crosses should be good. The air in both melons was due to the patches being too far away from a water source. Even though we got record rain fall at times the watering was way too inconsistant. Lesson learned and so I am putting melons and bushel gourds next season in my east patch which is approx 295 ft x 40 ft now. I don't see myself raising market tomatoes next season due to health factors and a friend of mine dropped of an axle setup for a double barrel rain barrel set up that I can leave at my barns rain gutters and easily move with the tractor to different patches for watering. Sorta like a military water buffalo. Good winter project. I'll tell ya's, I've gottin very interested in these melons... I've gotta start gettin Tee Shirts printed up,lol.   Friday, October 17 View Page Opposite side.   Tuesday, October 21 View Page These are from my 117, '14 Melon (297 Kent x 291 Kent) Bottom row and my 105, 14' melon (291 Kent x 297 Kent) top row. I took the seeds out of there shel and germinated them in paper towel @ 90%f soaked in a systemic fungicide mixture. This is 48 hrs after setting in incubator inside ziploc. I also have same amount of seeds untreated started same way and have put them in steril potting soils & containers, all in identical environment for comparison.   Friday, November 7 View Page This is when you know corn production is at an all time high. This pic was taken by my daughter yesterday morning in Adair Illinois, McDonough County. You have to personaly be there to even grasp how HUGE this pile of corn is.   Friday, November 7 View Page Another pic of the corn Pile at the Adair Elevators