Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 76 Entries. Friday, April 18 View Page Season II underway, was going to be attack of the clones but unfortunately the 282 did not germ for me. 1744 Fulk: Pa's largest, and great genetics make it an easy choice. 1429 Checkon: Great parents from the 1381 on both sides, this thing has heavy producer from every angle. 1319 Bouch: a 1495 x 1634 prodigy and largest Elk County has produced 1317 Clementz: A marriage between two the of best lines make this a very interesting cross. 1442 Matessa: Similar to above, but with an orange 2009 pollinator. Makes this cross too interesting to ignore. Backups will be started tomorrow.   Sunday, April 20 View Page Plants up, backups started, houses up, cables in and on, relaxing while I still can. Happy Easter everyone!   Monday, April 21 View Page 150 patch 9' x 16'.   Monday, April 21 View Page 150 patch 9' x 16'.   Thursday, April 24 View Page A week since they pushed dirt. If the sun was out they spent all day in it. After last year I'm concentrating on hardening them off better. They are very short and stalky so far so good. Backups took forever to germ, so in a panic I started backups to my backups, and well,.... they all germed....14 plants for 4 spots...talk about overkill. Still contemplating on when to put them out, I may try and hold them another week.   Thursday, May 1 View Page 1744 Fulk Week 2. One day in the ground.   Thursday, May 1 View Page 1319 Bouch: Week 2, one day in the ground.   Thursday, May 1 View Page 1442 Matessa: Week 2, one day in the ground.   Thursday, May 1 View Page Notes thus far in the early season. 1.) April 13th is way to early in the season to start when the patch is not next door. 2.) I started six plants for three spots, picked the strongest. Surprising how some handled the hardening off better than others, 2 that I was hoping for didn't make the cut. Lastly, I'm thinking the 899 Scherber (220 x Self) will make the 150 patch, will double serve as genetics project.   Thursday, May 8 View Page 1744 Fulk week 3, one week in the ground. All looks well.   Thursday, May 8 View Page 1319 Bouch week 3, one week in the ground. All looks well. This plant became the best plant this week. It must remember the Elk County soil from which it came.   Thursday, May 8 View Page 1442 Matessa week 3, one week in the ground. This one slowed down a bit and has some yellowing. Not concerned as its still the first week in the ground, and it hasn't been all that warm at night.   Thursday, May 15 View Page Week 4, 1744 Fulk. Starting to vine out.   Thursday, May 15 View Page Week 4, 1319 Bouch. Nicest looking plant, a little behind the 1744.   Thursday, May 15 View Page Week 4, 1442 Matessa. Looks much better than last week, but something about this plant seems off to me. Very yellowish stalks, and slower to grow. Cot leaves dead already. I'm 98% its nothing, but I'm keeping a backup in a 3 gallon planter just in case.   Thursday, May 22 View Page 1744 week 5, as Frank mentioned in his diary this thing does not mind the cold, true snowball offspring here.   Thursday, May 22 View Page And Franks own seed is not slouch either, huge leafs, starting to vine out now.   Thursday, May 22 View Page The 1442 week 5, doing better, still slower than the others. Vine showing now, few inches long.   Thursday, May 22 View Page 899 Scherber (220 x Self) in the 150 patch, slug holes and all, the pollinator in the tub down bellow.   Thursday, May 29 View Page 1744 Week 6, running out of room houses will be off soon. Need to prune it a little bit.   Thursday, May 29 View Page 1319 Bouch week 6. This season has just been easy going so far this year compared to last.   Thursday, May 29 View Page 1442 week 6. Still lagging behind but down and running. The photo doesn't show it, but, the yellow I was concerned about is really yellow, but I'm taking it as a sign this thing is going to go really orange.   Thursday, June 5 View Page 1744 Fulk   Thursday, June 5 View Page 1319 pulling ahead.   Thursday, June 5 View Page 1442 slow and steady, house will be off Sunday, 8 days behind the others.   Thursday, June 12 View Page 150 sqft plant.   Thursday, June 12 View Page 1442, wet around the tip from rinsing it off, the water doesn't pool there. In a rush between storms.   Thursday, June 12 View Page 1319, still in the lead, I'm guessing at about 12' long.   Thursday, June 12 View Page 1744, just patiently waiting for pollination time. Been busy spraying cukes, burrying knodes and pruning to keep me occupied.   Sunday, June 15 View Page Happy Fathers Day! pruned tertiaries, tilled up in front of plants, buried some vines, and applied some fungicide for the long stretch of rain coming. Side Note: The Fulk threw me two females back to back at 10' so that won't get the early pollination. The 1319 looks good to go in roughly 10 days. The 1442 being so slow to grow won't get hit until July, unless I decide to pollinate at around 10'. And I'm not doing a weekly update this Thursday like usual.   Tuesday, June 24 View Page I decided to pick off any fruit 10' and under. Two reasons, to keep me out of the patch, and I wanted bigger plants this year. Well here is my first attempt of the year FINALLY!....1319 x 1744....only one problem.   Tuesday, June 24 View Page TOO MUCH RAIN!!!! Fingers crossed please.   Wednesday, June 25 View Page And more rain..... I have to decide if walking in the muddy patch is worth pollinating the 1442 at 10' tomorrow morning as well as covering flowers on the other plants. Unfortunately the plant really never turned on, thin vines and slow growing. If i pass it up it won't get hit for awhile, no other females out of the tip yet. Decisions, decisions.   Thursday, June 26 View Page Pollinated this dirty girl this morning after all. The Fulk had 3 flowers in reaching distance so I jumped on it. 1442 x 1744 at 10'   Thursday, June 26 View Page This photo ^^^insert above^^^   Friday, June 27 View Page 1319 x 1744 attempt #2, around 15-16ft main, 3 DAP in the background.   Sunday, June 29 View Page 1744 plant to date, still waiting on a pollination attempt.   Sunday, June 29 View Page 1442 plant to date, this photo makes the plant appear bigger than it is. Dirty Girl is at 3dap, still can't tell if she took, goofy plant for sure.   Sunday, June 29 View Page 1319 with a 5dap, as you can see the rain the last week has pounded the patch. Today was 20% chance and we got hammered again, I had to go in and prune tertiaries and pick unwanted flowers, was going to till up around the plants and burry vines today guess that will have to wait. So I'm a bit behind.   Tuesday, July 1 View Page Got all caught up yesterday thanks to good weather and Dana.   Tuesday, July 1 View Page This morning took a little ride to pick up some handsome men. Thank you Frank for the flowers, they are beautiful hahaha.   Tuesday, July 1 View Page 1744 Fulk X 1429 Checkon. Hoping this one sticks. Just saw another severe storm is rolling through. this has been tradition for me and pollination days, however so far when hit with a big storm I'm 100%.   Wednesday, July 9 View Page 1319 Bouch Day 15.   Friday, July 11 View Page 1442 day 15 a whopping 36" circumference.....   Friday, July 11 View Page 1744 Day 10, another beast at 17"....hmmm wonder whats up this year. Side Notes. Weeds are a lot worse this year than last, and quite frankly winning the battle. 3 female svb's found on the plants today, been doing the Merit rotations in preparation. Weather has been very poor thus far, with lower 70's as highs and lower 50's as lows in the near future.   Monday, July 14 View Page 1319 day 20. 70cc.   Wednesday, July 16 View Page 1442 Day 20, Bryce measures this one out to be 55 inches and laughs at me.....some peoples kids.   Wednesday, July 16 View Page 1744 day 15 34"....no need to water Bryce's tears of laughter soaked the soil...   Saturday, July 19 View Page 1319 Day 25 = 198lbs. Not horrible when compared to the other two. I've written the 1442 off as the plant is in decline already, The Fulk however, gave me 2 inches around the last 3 days being past day 15 I just can't understand it. I cut some leaves off around the stump yesterday and water was pouring out, if only there was a way to force that into the fruit....The stump is bigger than a beer can, the leaves are healthy, the plant is bigger than all others, just makes no sense...feeling defeated.   Monday, July 21 View Page 1744 Day 20 48 inches. Positive spin, the last two days went 4 inches a night...better than 2, still baffled.   Monday, July 21 View Page 1442 Day 25, still not on chart, right below 100lbs, half the size of the 1319 same day. May not go big, looks like she will be decent looking, keeping with the positive spin approach....   Thursday, July 24 View Page 1319 day 30 = 308lbs. Consistent grower thus far.   Saturday, July 26 View Page Bryce is back to measure and 140lbs on day 30.....   Saturday, July 26 View Page 1744 Day 25 67 inches.....Just about 4 inches a night last 5 nights. Will need to keep giving me the same night after night for a long while to get in the game.   Tuesday, July 29 View Page 1319 Day 35 = 403lbs. Once again, consistent is the word. Hot days, cool days, any day the ends in Y, she gives me the same.   Tuesday, July 29 View Page The three kins all in a row, was smallest to biggest until yesterday when the 1744, passed the 1442, not saying much but still doing 4.5 inches a night after night. Only need hmmmmm 20 or 30 more nights of that lol :)   Thursday, July 31 View Page 1744 Day 30, 168lbs, 15 a night last few nights. It's been cold. I'm hoping, but not optimistic, this one will find another gear.   Thursday, July 31 View Page 1442 171 lbs @ day 35, so 6lbs a night. I won't be keeping 5 day track of her from this point on. I hope she does make it to the end though, and if so I'll post her final appearance.   Sunday, August 3 View Page Day 40 for the 1319, and the bad news is just 460lbs, I walked away and didn't take a photo or put the blanket on her, after about 20 mins walked back down and decided to look for any problems on the vine/stump and found a pumpkin about 12 to 13 days old and a good 30lbs, I'm hoping this is what caused most of the growth decline. Other news, the 1744 did hit another gear, gave me 30lbs in a night, then the last two were 20 respectively. Albeit to late in this neck of the woods to reach my goal of 1000lbs, I'm happy to see her growing well because she is the cross I wanted the most.   Wednesday, August 6 View Page 1744 day 36 = 316lbs. Avg 25lb a day last 6 days. I couldn't be happier with these results coming from a day 10 of 17", Day 20 of 48". Last two nights AVG 4" in CC. Skin looks younger than the other two kins at the same day, I'm very interested to ride this one out and see how her story ends.   Wednesday, August 6 View Page I need a place to store my wine recipe attempts this year, so... 6 pineapples 9lb peaches 3tsp acid blend 1 1/2 pectic enzyme 3/4 tsp tannin 6 tsp yeast nutrient 8lbs Sugar   Wednesday, August 6 View Page Here is a bottle of last years 650est. Pumpkin is a great fruit to make wine with. Best part is the most expensive or hardest part about wine is gathering enough pounds of fruit. well we don't have that problem with the pumpkins we grow. I have a more "chemical friendly" kin on a plant and I will try three different recipes this year to narrow down one I prefer.   Friday, August 8 View Page 1319 just a touch over 500lb, slowing to a crawl at 10lb a day. Weather this summer has averaged 75/50 and not much you can do with weather like this. Dipped into the mid 40's again last night.   Saturday, August 9 View Page As promised the final result of the 1442. Stem started to rot and hole formed. I cut it off, trucked it up the big hill in the cart and was hoping to keep it around awhile longer. It looked nice and sturdy.   Saturday, August 9 View Page Just followed the path she wasn't hard to find.......Well anyways, she taped 220, but definitely was heavier than that. Kept a handful of seeds 1442 x 1744. Will hand them out to the people locally who ask for seeds.   Sunday, August 10 View Page 1744 Day 40 416lbs, AVG 25lbs a night last 4 days. 44lbs lighter than the 1319 on its Day 40, was 130lbs lighter when comparing day 30's. Will be interesting to see who comes out on top, I can't believe its even in the competition for king of the patch after such a slow start. I got to see the pollinator of this fruit today, Thanks again for the patch tour.   Friday, August 15 View Page 1744 day 45, 524lbs avg 20lbs a day last 5. Not bad considering the night time temps flirting in the low 40's. Hoping she makes it through one more night foretasted for 43. Some relief coming after that.   Friday, August 15 View Page 1319 floating around 550 and all but about done. Little down she didn't even beat my PB but she is pretty.   Wednesday, August 20 View Page 1744 632lbs Day 50. Bryce decided he's ok with this one's growth this far. In a day or two will be a new PB. Avg just above 20lb a day last 5   Tuesday, August 26 View Page 1319 down and out with a BES. Tapped around 575est. PM showed up on the 24th, 22 days later than last year so I'm happy my treatments extended the health of the plants this year, will do even better next year. 1744 was still doing 20lbs a day as of two days ago, I'm not taping her until day 60 when, if she keeps it up, will be over 800lbs. Heres to hoping she holds on and keeps growing. She's all I got left.   Sunday, September 7 View Page 1744 Day 68 879lbs. I guess my goal of hitting a 1000lbs is not out of the question. Avg 10lbs a day last 6. Will continue to push and ride this one out.   Sunday, September 14 View Page 1744 Day 75, stem rot appeared a few days ago. Seems to be in control now as it has not worsened over the last few days.   Sunday, September 14 View Page 1744 Day 75, 964lbs = 12LBS a day the last 7. I can't believe my shot at 1,000lbs is coming from this 17" day 10. I wrote her off way too early, glad I treated her the same as the rest because her she is last one standing. Fruit still seems quite young for its age, plant definitely is aging fast with these 60/40 days.   Monday, September 29 View Page Well end of the season is here. Stem split, not all the way through, but just about there. I had 7 goals this year went 1-7. Weight wise I set my bar at 1000lbs and although the final taping showed this one over 1000lbs, no weigh off = doesn't count. So next year will learn from mistakes and get one to scale.   Sunday, November 2 View Page I guess I should finish the diary out this year. The stem split never went all the way through, and about two weeks after the last photo the 1744 started to thump like a rock. So I made a few calls to find a home for her. Frank came and helped with the lifting, always appreciate his help.   Sunday, November 2 View Page The town decided they would take it. While I was at work they came and grabbed the trailer and while at work I got a text, "she weighs 1160", apparently they took her to the paper mill and weighed it lol. Sounds like they had a lot of fun driving around with it and finally placing it where it stands now. Ultimately I wished this one made it too a weigh off for my first official 1k fruit, but this feel satisfying. The 1160 Johnson UOW, 1744 x 1429, she tapped at exactly 1000, so she did go heavy.