Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 51 Entries. Sunday, February 8 View Page Getting some of those mild temps here that seem to show up every year in Feb. Colder temps due back in by Thurs. Decided to join the crowd with an overview of the patches. Blue patch is the early patch for August weigh-offs and fairs. Way more patch than what is needed so I may put in a long gourd or 2. Red patch is the main patch for this coming year. Not planning on putting any melons in the ground this year but I will probably try another hydroponic test. Line-up not set in stone but several different F2 squash seeds going in. Not many 100% pumpkins. Going with a lot fewer plants. Plan to try and give them better care and push them for once. Want to see if that 1500 pound barrier that is below the Ohio River can be broken with a greenie.   Sunday, February 8 View Page With it being so nice I decided to pull a couple soil samples today. Ground was surprising dry. I know what is to come. Spring rains, cool cloudy weather and an itch to get the ground turned and warming in that early patch before the plants get too big. Generally not a problem for the late patch. In order to keep myself occupied I decided to give giant cabbage a go. Nothing too fancy. Just 6 plants grown hydroponically in an old lab refrigerator. No idea what I'm doing but if nothing else I can eat the things in a couple months if I decide to terminate them. The system setup can be lowered with growth and eventually moved to the outdoors. If they grow well I may move them to an enclosed room in the barn and keep them under lights.   Friday, March 27 View Page Sometimes the results of a cold winter doesn't show up until spring. Peach trees are starting to bloom and what a beautiful sight EXCEPT there should be three times as many blooms on this tree. Any bud that is not pink by this time is dead. Looks like I'll have more time for the patch again this year and I have 2 good shoulders going in. I've chosen my fair patch line-up. Starting with six plants. 1578* Holub 14, 500* Cantrell 14, 1873 Steil 14, 282 Scherber 13, and 2 F-1 crosses   Friday, March 27 View Page Changed the cabbage project. They started growing way too fast for a 5 gallon bucket. These tubs had a protein supplement in them for cattle. 20 inches inside diameter. I drilled a hole in the side just above the bottom for drainage. Filled with potting mix and transplanted. Suppose to be in the mid to low 20's and the boss said I can bring them in the house for a couple nights. Prep done on the fair patch and it rained last night. Going to dig out some old plastic from a neighbors greenhouse and solarize the patch as best I can before planting time. Strongly considering planting through the plastic and leaving it in place to kill as many weeds as possible. Plans are to grow a couple tomatoes and maybe do an experiment to see if lobe numbers and female size at bloom have any effect on final watermelon size. I'll gladly listen to any suggestions on how to set this up if anyone wants to share ideas. No competition melons planned. Main patch AG line-up decided. Cut way back this year. Only 8 plants. Mostly F2 squash crosses like the 615.   Sunday, April 19 View Page Hard to believe how big these plants get. Nearly 4 feet wide. I think the tub is big enough for the root ball but I don't know if it will get top heavy when the head develops. I moved the plants from full sun to a location near the barn where they will be in the shade from about noon and beyond. My concern is our heat in the afternoon. I'm watering 2 gallons a day at this point with some run out which is evident next to the basketball. This should keep the salt down from frequent feedings. No sure signs of heads yet. Leaves appear to be starting a head then they continue to unfold. I'm getting anxious and I don't know what to expect.   Monday, April 20 View Page First casualties of the season succumb to high winds during a wicked thunderstorm. Lost two 1873 Steil (main and backup) and one 1478 Holub F1 (backup) plants. All early fair plants sustained damage. I will replace the 1873 with something from the main patch lineup. The 282 is very slow to get going. I will put it in the early patch but it won't be early. Only got 1 of them to pop this year. I've increased the size of my main patch but reduced the number of plants. I plan to mow between plants this year and there should be plenty of room to walk around perimeter. I'm behind most it seems in getting my main seeds started but I figure I haven't been able to get one to a later weigh-off in years. Got a huge surprise 3 days ago. A bumper crop of cucumber beetles started showing up. Way earlier than most years.   Sunday, April 26 View Page Gladly went out of town for a couple days. Took my grandson and nephew to their first trap shooting match. They both had the highest scores for their respective teams. What a great couple of days.   Sunday, April 26 View Page Before going out of town I decided to do something that I just didn't want to do. That was till the early patch after it was planted. The solarization didn't work like last year in killing all the weed seeds. Just flat out didn't get hot enough. What it did do was germinate loads of weed seeds and nutsedge. Put roundup on the sedge about 10 days ago but still didn't kill it fast enough to suit me and a massive amount of new pigweed sprouts appeared so I decided to lightly till the surface. Tried to till only the top inch so as to not bring up many more seeds.   Sunday, April 26 View Page When you go out of town and there is no one to tend the patch you may end up with frost damage. Entire early patch looks the same. Time will tell if there is a survivor or two out there. If so they had to survive another massive storm last night. Daylight will soon be here and I'll have some idea where the early patch stand. Still wouldn't trade all the giant pumpkins for the time with family.   Monday, May 25 View Page Had a hard time not growing a giant melon this year so I decided to modify my hydroponic growing system. I'm still soilless but not watering with a timer. Pool is only 38 inches across and about 8 deep. Drilled several holes in the bottom for drainage. It will be just inside the end of a greenhouse to protect from heavy rains with plants growing out the door. Plan is to staple down a tarp with bird netting on top to eliminate weeds and give vines something to grab to. No vine rooting could limit melon growth. Goal is 200 pounds. If I can reach this a larger pool could be in the future. Doing 2 setups with 1 each of the 169 Cantrell 13 (157 Bright x self) and 272.5 Neptune 14 (291 Kent x 316 Edwards).   Monday, May 25 View Page Glad to see those huge leaves that have been missing the last 3 years. If they will only last about 3 months. This is the Neptune melon. Cantrell plant is slightly ahead with even larger leaves.   Monday, May 25 View Page This is the geranium patch. As good as the melon plants look the kin plants are struggling. Being a tightwad doesn't always pay off. Used a "cheaper" potting mix that was suppose to be the same as Pro mix to start my giants and I got what I paid for. Made some mistakes not fertilizing early then overcorrected and shazam I've got geraniums. The 38 survivors are trying to rebound. Most are F2 squash crosses and the patch will be whittled down to 8 if that many survive. Starting some late seed to be grown in a commercial setup all on a single dripline with the intentions of selfing all plants and keeping the best of each sib group. Plant size will be limited to 300 square ft. I'm looking first for dark and heavy to chart but that could be trumped purely by size if a special one shows up.   Saturday, June 6 View Page All 3 cabbage plants are making heads. This is the largest and it started forming first hard to tell but it is about a foot across and somewhat flat. The other 2 look like they will be more round. All 3 plants have started leaning to the east presumably since they are in the afternoon shade to keep them cooler. Today I spun the tubs they are in to see if the head will lean back and get more centered.   Saturday, June 6 View Page Both melon plants are doing well. 169 Cantrell here. I have decided to manage the plant more like a pumpkin except no vine burying. Plans changed and I put down clear plastic to solarize just outside the greenhouse and I decided to just grow on top of it. Don't need to worry about compacting soil with this method. I am training sides that start inside the greenhouse to grow straight back and I'm eliminating tertiary vines. This will greatly reduce culls. Haven't decided at what point to terminate sides but I'm leaning to the 8-10 ft. range. Surprisingly the roots have just recently reached the far side of the pool where I've been checking. Also added another dose of ferts under the assumption the plant is sucking them up in this confined area. I was concerned that I might burn them up but no signs damage so far. 200 or bust!!   Saturday, June 6 View Page My work load is getting a bit lighter. I've culled 3 plants that have produced pumpkins instead of squash. Here are the examples of what to expect. All were on green vined plants. I have decide to wait until a bloom opens before culling a plant. I made the mistake of assuming I had SOMEHOW made an error on one of my pollinations from last year when I saw a tiny yellow female on a plant that should have only produced greenies. That little female had aborted and was dying. Not realizing it was dead and wanting to make sure there was time for other grower decide what they wanted to do with their plants I called it open and posted it on the message board. Since then the plant has only produced greenies. I'm confident the 500 Cantrell is a controlled cross. Pictured left to right we have 615 squash producer, 1045 stripey and 1045 yellow both would be pumpkins. Notice the yellow stem on the one on the right. Quite sure no green genes at all in this one but I can't prove it.   Monday, June 8 View Page Day 5 and no signs of laying down.   Monday, June 8 View Page Lost the main right at the pumpkin to sunburn. Hope she hangs in there. Used the 1586 Holub as a pollinator. Will replace the foam with plywood, mill fabric and sand later today. Measured leaves on 1586 and 1486 Holub today. Both had the same plant as the pollinator. Plants are similar in size. 1586 larger leaves run 11-13 inches across and 1486 20-22. Still swarmed with cuke beetles and squash bugs. Be lucky to get one to the end without shutting down at 40-45 days.   Wednesday, June 10 View Page First melon pollination attempt of the year and it's on the 169. I've only had a couple females this size in past years. First one was open pollinated and turned out pear shaped. Looking back I wish I had selfed that plant for seeds. Other female was on the 165(B) in the hydroponic setup last year. This female had the male parts also. Plan was to very carefully snip them out and pollinate it with the 272 Neptune. As soon as I clipped the first little male part it fell onto the stigma and I could see pollen had been deposited. Fortunately I had covered males on this plant also so it has now been selfed. I used 2 males and re-pollinated 90 minutes later with 2 more. Fingers crossed!   Saturday, June 13 View Page Found a 2-3 inch cull hiding under the leaves. As usual I cut it open. Hollow heart starts early. Still no sure answer as to what causes it. Got a dilemma in the squash project. Going to end up with 3 green 615's competing for the same area. I can turn them a bit and grow them all on much smaller areas. Or, cull all the way down to 1 or something in between. Not many 615's left in the world. Opinions welcome! Click on the little envelope and send me an e-mail with your thoughts. Averages seem to work out. No greenies from 8 plants from my 1045. What a disappointment. I really wanted to self that one. Total of 11 other F2 plants left competing for 4 spots. All have at least one squash producer going. Narrowed the field down on pumpkin. Making the patch 1730 Werner, 1916 Barron, 2008 Neptune.   Saturday, June 13 View Page Yesterday I noticed this plant (490 Cantrell) needs a bit of nitrogen. The first set is only 3 days old. Reluctantly I added a bit of N. No change today. "Light bulb" Willing to wager I'll be pulling it by tomorrow. I'll wait to see if it truly is yellow vine decline. I was concerned about this that's why I included several in the genetics test. On a side note, this is the first year since 2009 that I have buried vines. Been finding a bunch of the squash bugs just under the vines where they need to be buried. When you pinch their heads you don't have to worry if the spray is too strong. They have been relentless this year. All I can figure is they are migrating in on the wind. Not seeing hardly any eggs and NO juveniles.   Thursday, June 18 View Page Still no irrigation in place in this early patch. Everything is behind. Daytime highs has been and will be in the 90's for quite some time. About 1/2 inch of rain for last month here. I have watered overhead by hand a few times. Takes forever! Main patch has SOME drip lines in place and hope to do the same here before dark. Had a couple visitors in the patch this morning. Hard to make out but it is a rooster bobwhite quail. Only harvested 6 birds last season and they are everywhere this year. Grandson and nephew should have an interesting fall.   Thursday, June 18 View Page Don't know if this will show up but caught the target on left and shot separating from the wad on right. Grandson on right broke 87 out of 100 at this regional meet. The good watermelon female went pear shape and got culled. It was going to be a beast. Fastest starter I've ever had but it is no more. Down to 10 AG plant in 6 spots in the main patch. At this time I'm planning on growing all 3 615's. All 1045's got pulled as none were green. Pulled 1730 Werner due to severe wind damage. Besides a 1916 and 2008 all the others are F2 squash. Started 36 - 1045's for genetics. They'll be late and all but the greenies will get pulled. Just looking for seeds from the ones with the best traits.   Saturday, June 20 View Page One of the bright spots this year. These have been the easiest to grow. Started with low expectations so getting one to the size of a basketball is quite rewarding. We needed rain and we have gotten it. Sure didn't need the constant wind. Older and youngest sweet corn is standing fine but the middle crop is flat. Sun should bring most of it back up. Some vines have been uprooted and rolled but way too muddy to get out and fix them. Got a squash that needs to go on a board with mill fabric. Spayed last night and had 3 pairs of squash bugs under it's little sheet this morning. So far no YVD but my time is coming.   Saturday, June 20 View Page Been seeing a few of these around the patch. Kind of reminded me of a miniature vine borer so I knew they had to be bad. Really had no clue what they were and I wasn't fast enough with a camera so this photo was uploaded. A little research done and turns out to be a predator of squash bugs!!! A tachinid fly, Trichopoda pennipes.   Saturday, June 20 View Page Got some of the best megablooms that I've ever had. Only 7 plants this year and managing them quite different than last year. May wish they were on low trusses but mine are on the 3rd and 4th. Five of the 7 are blooming now.   Monday, June 22 View Page Nothing like family and minor league baseball on fathers day. Smokies won 8-1   Monday, June 22 View Page All 36 1045's sprouted. Now to get them planted. Field is saturated but they will go in anyhow. Plan on trying to set the first one on each one that is green. The balance will be pulled. Will be pushed with nitrogen especially early. Finally got sets on what was suppose to be my early plants. No contenders for the early weigh-offs here. If all goes well there will be 3 squash and 2 pumpkins to haul somewhere.   Wednesday, July 1 View Page Should have been a pear farmer. Been harvesting young pears off my melon vines. I have managed to keep one on each vine which are the least ugly of any prospects. 200 looks doubtful. ALL tomato blooms aborted. Waiting on next set. 1478 Holub has shut down at day 25 at about 250 pounds. Plant still looks good and is growing. Don't know if it was the heat or me. This is my 500 Cantrell today on day 28 taping right at 300 and ramping up on gains. Love that color.   Wednesday, July 1 View Page Forgot the pic.   Wednesday, July 1 View Page Shame the ramp was too steep. I guess her first 35 pound night was too much for her. One less plant to care for. Sad part was this was my last planned hope for an August weigh-off. Got 3 aborts in the main patch but a couple back-ups pollinated on cooler days. Two squash plants showing very long females. 784 and 752.6 Cantrell. Hope the make it out of curiosity. Used the 752.6 on the 2008 Neptune, also a long one.   Wednesday, July 1 View Page This is one of the long females. The other looks the same but it has reached the ground. Both had the same pollinator. I'm hoping this length will help solve the split issue. No idea if it matters. I've used this plant as a pollinator on a 615 and the other on a different 615.   Wednesday, July 1 View Page Along with the pears in the melon patch I'm fighting something I haven't seen before. Leave start to yellow near ribs in blotches. Progresses to small dead spots and will eventually consume the whole leaf. Quite sure it is bacterial spot. Hard to stop. I'm stripping leaves faster than the plants seem to be growing them. Also spraying with a frequently with a bactericide (antibiotic). Seems to be slowing but all the rain is not my friend for this.   Wednesday, July 1 View Page Decided to pull the plastic under the melon plants to see if that was causing excessive heat buildup under the plant. Since the plants were attached to the netting it was similar to pulling a table cloth from under china but much slower. Leaf curl continued UNTIL the rains set in. I inspected the bottom of the vines at the leaves and can't believe how quickly the older junctions started to sprout roots. If the melons take off I won't know if a 200 pounder could have been grown in the pool alone. Now I have to decide if I want to fertilize and water the bare area as needed. There's also time to try and set a good shape melon if good female comes along. Maybe aborting the mission is the best bet. I'll sleep on it.   Thursday, July 23 View Page Not a lot of good news out of the patch. Yellow vine is taking it toll. I did manage to get this one to 34 days with at least a few solid seeds which I'm thrilled about. It's now the 423 Cantrell 15 est. Off the 490 Cantrell 14 and selfed. Makes it a 3/4 kin (615 x 1530 Gehweiler) and it should produce some greenies. With the thickness this one could be real special. Other casualties: pulled the melon plants, nothing but pears. Changed the tomato fert formula, too low calcium and BER. They're done.   Thursday, July 23 View Page Found this odd male in the genetics patch. It has both parts. Similar males scattered on the plant but not all. Made a pollination but I have decided not to keep seeds from her. If she makes it we will try to find a Fall home for her. Most crosses in the genetics patch are aborting. Too much heat and no time to baby them. Corn and peaches are coming in.   Thursday, July 23 View Page Not the norm in the entire orchard but where they were thinned properly the 14+ ounce peaches are fairly common. Cabbage plant are about done. One good head but leaves are about gone. Other 2 are just not going to have heads of expected size. May need better seeds and more education.   Thursday, July 23 View Page Only plant left in the early patch. 1578* Holub selfed. No excessive gains but this whole patch has struggled. Got 3 other f2 squash still going in the main patch. All about 20 days and their color is good. Nearly all other plants pulled or dead.   Monday, August 10 View Page Well the 1578 stopped shortly after the last post so I decided to take it to Columbus. On Friday I cut it free and started lifting when I saw the dreaded juice. Est 624. Set her down just outside the patch and went to a family reunion in WV based on my great great grandfathers descendants. Had somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 relatives show up. What a great weekend. Came back and measured the others this morning and another had stopped so I cut her loose. This is off a 784 Cantrell 14 and is selfed. Inside was just starting to turn to liquid. Est 352. Plant has been very pale for some time. A sister plant looks the same but still growing. Both started out like gangbusters but lack of care did this one in.   Monday, August 10 View Page Only got 6 solid looking seeds out of that 352 est which reminds me why I started this squash/pumpkin project. Increase size and try to eliminate some fertility issues by outcrossing were my goals. The excitement following the selfing which produced the 2009 Wallace and others has been contagious so I selfed everything this year. Not sure that was a great idea as I suspect fertility issues are more likely to show up if they are present, genetically speaking. Odd thing is I ran over a smaller fruit on the same plant hidden in tall weeds that was full of seeds that were solid. Open pollinated of course. Makes me wonder why.   Saturday, September 5 View Page This is the 516 Cantrell 15 weighed in at Cullman. 784 Cantrell 14 x self. 12 % heavy and symmetrical. No seeds harvested yet. Plans to put it on display at our local fair if it will hold together a couple more weeks. I expect this one to produce some very special squash in the future. I'm hoping for a much better seed count than her sib had.   Saturday, September 5 View Page Won the Howard Dill Award at Cullman with this squmpkin. She was off a 1160 Cantrell 13 and selfed. She went 5% light so I chose not to harvest seeds for my squash project instead she got dropped from a crane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwHqiAEFNso   Saturday, September 5 View Page Although not as big I have saved a large number of seeds from this 118 pound pumpkin. Same cross different plant in the genetics patch. This one and several more on this plant are darker in color and are weighing right at the chart. I hope the darker orange will translate to darker green in a year or two. This is the smallest fruit on this plant but the only one with a controlled cross. It was also grown on a tertiary vine.   Thursday, October 1 View Page Seed harvesting time on the 516 from a couple of posts earlier. I wanted to get her out of the barn and into the sunlight for a few better pictures before cutting. Great shape and color with NO deep ribs.   Thursday, October 1 View Page This is what 12% heavy looks like. Very pleased with the blossom end thickness and overall structure. Good seed count.   Thursday, October 1 View Page Had the largest squash at Bear Wallow and 25% heavy to boot. 694 Cantrell 15 The cross is 752.6 Cantrell 14 x self. I don't think I have posted anywhere the genetics behind the 752.6 since it was weigh at a local fair and originally was not going to plant it. Plans change. She was 743 Cantrell 11 x 1531.6 Haist 10.   Thursday, October 1 View Page Good news. I did not think a cavity could get any smaller but it did. Bad news. Only 2 solid looking seeds and about 6 half filled seeds. Started looking to assign blame immediately. Must be temperature related. Both this and 516 pollinated same day. Same number of males. This plant actually looked healthier all year. Same treatment, basic. More questions than answers.   Sunday, October 4 View Page I had no intentions of hauling an open pollinated pumpkin along with the squash to Bear Wallow but when I walked by this one in the genetics patch I gave it a slap and it sounded different. I grabbed a pallet and off we went. Officially 548.5 Cantrell 15 (604.5 Cantrell 11 x open). She shows a lot of her squash background.   Sunday, October 4 View Page Well I showed you what 12 and 25 percent heavy looks like this is what 29% heavy looks like. I know most normal folks would not consider saving seeds from this open cross but I know what pathetic conditions and what good plants were in the patch. All the surrounding plants will make the seeds have a 1 in 4 chance of going green. Will I ever grow it, who knows but looking at those walls makes it tempting. Will I hand it out, not unless requested. Descent seed count. Are you a gambler?   Tuesday, October 6 View Page Was ask at a weigh-off how the American Chestnut project was going and I realized I had not done a diary update. In general great. Last year if I recall correctly I collected about 12-15 nuts. This year after the last burs are collected and shelled out there should be well over 300 solid seeds. This is a pic of the 3rd harvest. I wait until the bur just starts to open then pick it. I have NO IDEA how this will get done next year as many of the trees will be too tall. Also next year we inoculate the trees with the blight if all goes according to plan and about half of them will die. Just like the squash project they all won't grow up to be what we want, blight resistant in this case, but some will!   Tuesday, October 20 View Page Looks like I am going to have a few chestnut seeds to spare. I'm looking for a few growers in the old range of the original trees that are interested in planting a couple chestnut seeds. There is a catch. To receive your seeds you must first agree to grow one of my squash seeds in 2016. It can be the squash seed of your choosing while supplies last. Sorry I do not have any 615's left. Just contact me by e-mail and we will work out the details.   Thursday, December 17 View Page First tomato set in the winter challenge. Plant topped and all new growth terminated. Pollination appear to just be ok. Used electric toothbrush for a day or two for pollination then left to spend a couple weeks in the woods. Bigger than a golf ball but smaller than a tennis ball. Second plant has one good bloom on the 2nd truss. Either it sets or the plant gets pulled. Plants are in an old lab fridge and can't go taller. Plants look good for not seeing any natural light. Lighting with one 4 bulb T5 light fixture.