Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 54 Entries. Sunday, April 10 View Page Finally decided that I WOULD grow this year. I don't expect to break any records and I may not get controlled crosses but with a bit of luck I will have something to take to a weigh-off where I can see many friends. A lot of work to do now in a very short period of time. Fortunately I did the soil test in anticipation this might happen. Going light on numbers this year. 4 squash and 4 melons. Squash lineup: 500 Cantrell 14, 516 Cantrell 15, 694 Cantrell 15 and 1445.5 Jutras 15. Melons: 199 Cantrell 12, 251 Kent 14, 272 Neptune(K) 14 and 290 Mudd. Decided to pass on a bunch of other great seeds this year due to the pollinations concerns and scarcity of the seeds.   Wednesday, April 20 View Page Tomato plants are transplanted. Decided to do the soilless method again this year in 4 gallon buckets. Simple setup and low maintenance. Will move outdoors when night temps warm a bit. One plant left over and will go in the garden. No famous seeds just the ones I had on hand. 4.59 Cantrell, 4.02 Finders, 4.8 Foss and 4.91 Brammer. Only 1 Foss plant. Squash plants are doing fine. Got them transplanted into hoops just in time for the corn seed maggot fly hatch. Looks like they had pupated so no losses yet. Plenty warm and dry this spring so maybe only one crop of them. The 694 is just a bit behind the others but with only 2 solid seeds I decided to use one that was really ugly and half full, about 30% white tip. It germinated way better than I expected but the cots were shorter than normal. I'll use the good ones when I feel confident I can get controlled pollinations. The 516 and 1445.5 are very aggressive at this time. Normally I yank the hoops off early and put up wind breaks. This year I'm going to wait till they nearly outgrow them. I've lost too many to the early winds. Hopefully I don't cook them.   Wednesday, April 20 View Page Watermelons are up. L to r: 290 Mudd, 272 Neptune, 251 Kent and 199 Cantrell. Only 4 spots this year and I plan to plant the best of each. At this time my thoughts are to transplant these to much larger pots (1200's) and wait till it's plenty warm/hot to transplant. Too often my plants sit stagnant till it really heats up. Don't care if they are starting to vine out. Sending in my GWG dues before the deadline. At the edge of the garden I'm putting in enough seeds to hopefully get a greenie out of my 548.5 Cantrell 15 that went 29% heavy. Both it and a 1047 Barlow will be grown for genetics. The 1047 was pollinated by the plant that grew their 2034.   Thursday, April 21 View Page Just checked the 10 day forecast. Looks like rain in the next 24 then a warm up into the mid and upper 80's. Going to till and solarize the melon patch to see if I can kill the weed seeds and go without ground cover. Plants have plenty of time before needing to be planted.   Monday, April 25 View Page Got the melon plants transplanted to the 400 size pots today. If needed I can go up to a 1200 and still handle them if the root ball will stay intact. Also got the plastic down for solarization. Hottest temp I saw today was 100. Soil is fairly moist But I'd like to have more water on it. If rain is called for in the next week or two I'll roll it back till the rain stops. Tomatoes looking good. I can see the blooms starting to develop on a couple.   Thursday, May 5 View Page This past weekend the huts came down and the windbreaks went up. Still need some protection from the east but should get that done in a couple days. Got to come up with more banner material. I think I know where there are a few more to be confiscated. All in, down to one plant in each location. Can't tell from this direction but all plants are down and running nicely. The 1445.5 Jutras is ahead of the pack at about 8 feet. Actually have pulled females from 3 of the plants. Saw the first spotted cucumber beetles on a dandelion. Plants treated but I didn't give them a chance to bite. Current on vine burying and weeding. Temps expected in the 40's the next coupe nights but back in the 70's during the day. Extended forecast in the 80's. Gave the a little shot of N to keep them on the move.   Thursday, May 5 View Page Narrowed the field to 3 of each except for 2 Neptunes. Pulled the 3rd one early on. Odd how close the sibs look so much like each other. The Kent and Mudd are similar with large leaves, Neptune and Cantrell smaller early leaves and plant. AG's in the back are for the genetics patch. Only 2 of the 4 1047 Barlow's will get the nod. All 8 of the 547.5 Cantrell's will see dirt with those that grow pumpkins getting pulled. I'd be thrilled with 2 greenies from those. As a group I'm a bit disappointed with the tomatoes. Only 2 have mega blooms on the first truss. Both plants are the 4.91 Brammer.   Thursday, May 19 View Page Two pollinations complete. 510 X 694 at 11 feet and 500 x 1445.5 at 12. In general the plants a smaller than I would like but it's now or never for controlled pollinations. I might be able to get one set at 13 ft on the 1445.5 before schedule problems get in the way. Sure would like to get a 1445.5 x 694.   Friday, May 20 View Page One of the 2 blooms that just seem to keep on blooming. Don't have a clue if it will develop all the way across or not but it sure is interesting. I keep using the toothbrush on them. If any plants abort they are finished since all new growth has been terminated. I'll start round 2 of my seeds in a week or two.   Friday, May 20 View Page First squash pollination is looking good so far. Waiting on a gentle landing. I did get the third one done today. 1445.5 x 694 Getting the first good rain in weeks. It's been going all around us. Sunflowers planted and melons moving slow. They need some heat. Genetics patch planted later than it should have been. Plants show the affects. Small pale leaves but the ferts should snap them out of it.   Saturday, May 21 View Page My patch made the cover of a magazine. Well it's not quite the focal point but it is in the center.   Sunday, June 5 View Page Had a good one going but it wasn't to be.   Sunday, June 5 View Page This is why. Going to take a cutting a bit later and see if I can get another one. If not maybe I can get a small one to self for seeds. All squash growing a bit slower than hoped for. Had wind roll the 1445.5 and cracked the main quite bad early on but it has put down roots and it still going. Nice green color. Been hot and have had the most squash bugs ever. Be lucky to get something to a weigh-off.   Sunday, June 12 View Page I've been growing about 8 years. Other than Chris Kent's melon patch I can't remember EVER being to another grower patch. No wonder I haven't broken 1200 pounds. After a tour the California growers (and probably everyone else) do things different than I do. Nothing secret they just do what is written about on BP. Seeing it action is a whole different story. Pete and Cindy Glasier pictured on the left were some of the kindest folks I've met period. Even though we didn't have much spare time on the west coast we managed to get an informative tour of a couple of patches. Jose Ceja, on the right, is another great grower, person and a working machine. He also has Juno trained not to go in the patch. She wants to be as close to him as possible so she follows him around the exterior of the wind break while he even works after dark weeding. Coming from the east and being fortunate to have sandy loam I'm amazed at the results these folks have had in what looks like a gravel pit. With that said their % organic matter was still much higher than mine. Lots of work to do here if I want to compete.   Sunday, June 12 View Page John and Patty Hawkley were just as kind and informative as the others. Seeing weedless patches was inconceivable for me prior to this trip. Don't know if I can ever attain the results these folks do but I surely have a better chance than I did. Thank you to EVERYONE!!!   Friday, June 17 View Page Those of you who are growing a 2323 keep your fingers crossed and eyes open. How many lobes can you count?   Friday, June 17 View Page If you guessed 8 you would be right. I've never heard of one of these before and I'd love to say it was on one of my plants but then again it would surely be wasted. These photos came from Mr Bill Neptune. Best of luck Bill. Hope the next one is well developed and even bigger.   Tuesday, June 28 View Page First tomato of the year. This is off a 4.02 Finders. Not a PB but glad to have it. Learn a bunch this year. Main thing is don't take an extended trip(s) during growing season. Tomatoes didn't get watered for a week right in the middle of prime growing. Several coming on near this size and none appear to be a new PB.   Tuesday, June 28 View Page After returning from California I found 3 vines with YVD and going down. I've decided to terminate all but 2 genetic plants with hopes of getting one special cross. If they show any bad signs they will get the tiller also. I'm really trying to break the live cycle of the squash bugs here. I nuked all the plants with a strong dose of insecticide in hopes of killing the beggers. Haven't seen hardly any since the first day I returned and sprayed. Pictured is the 1445.5 Jutras. Not many solid seeds. nice thick walls. Didn't weigh it but estimated at 343. Crossed it with a 694 Cantrell which was 25% heavy The offspring on the 694 had very good color and looked like it was going to be long. We'll never know for sure. THICK walls on it but she was young. Hope to keep that plant alive long enough for 1 more pollination.   Thursday, June 30 View Page Second tomato of the year from the second 4.02 Finders plant. Translates to about 3.47. No seeds to be saved.   Saturday, July 2 View Page Tomatoes are ripening fast. This is from one of the 4.59 Cantrell plants.   Saturday, July 2 View Page The second 4.59 which is my personal produced this one. Only.1 pounds from a new PB. Didn't think it was close at all. One early tomato left and it's still a couple days out if she doesn't split.   Sunday, July 3 View Page Last of the early tomatoes. This one is from the 4.8 Foss. Looks like the 4.5 is as good as I could do early. I have taken some cuttings from a couple plants to see how they do under a bit different hydroponic management. I was out of town when the later seeds that I was planning on starting needed to be germinating. Most AG plants tilled in with sorgum-sudan to follow shortly.   Friday, July 8 View Page Can you say 9! Same plant that had the 8. Go Bill!   Sunday, July 17 View Page Went to Ohio this past week to let my grandson compete in the national championship skeet, sporting clays, etc. competition. He is on the right and this is his team preparing to shoot their last round in International Bunker. They are now the 2016 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS! I was able to squeeze in a bit of time to run over to visit a couple good friends Bill and Teresa Neptune. This was the first time I've been able to visit their patch and I got to see the 8+ lobe producing plant along with a few others. No doubt the two of them spend way more time in their patch than I do. Very efficient setup and no weeds. Hard to comprehend. Won't say what I saw under the shade structures.   Sunday, July 17 View Page Just before leaving for Ohio I set up a different hydroponic system than I had previously used. Plants are cuttings from two plants grown in the earlier setup this year. Decided to grow them out of the weather in a small greenhouse at a level where I don't have to bend over. "Lazy" I can tie supports to the top of the greenhouse. It's a bit warm but the plants don't seem to mind. Actually they look better than their mothers at the same size. I've pinched out the earliest trusses as soon as I can detect them in hopes the next ones will be on stronger plants and produce some larger mega blooms. Time will tell. One of the 2 remaining AG's appears to be coming down with YVD. Will know in another day or two. I did try surgery again and removed a large portion of plant in hopes I got ahead of the disease. It's never worked before but I've got to try. I really want seeds from the cross. I will probably start a daily spray of antibiotics early in the morning with hopes the plant will absorb it and by some miracle it helps.   Saturday, July 23 View Page Started out the driveway this morning to get calcium nitrate and had to stop for a group of at least 5 hens and so many youngsters that I couldn't begin to count them. They got into the thicket too fast. Roughly 40.   Saturday, July 23 View Page Tomatoes coming along just fine. Second trusses are starting to appear. If they don't have nice blooms they'll be cut out and I'll wait on number 3. Most appear that they will have at least one.   Saturday, July 23 View Page I've decided to start clipping out the cull blooms at a very early age to see if it will hel create some even larger mega blooms. I'm using a pair of tiny scissors that are used to clip stitches from your skin to surgically remove the tiny blooms as they appear. This is the stage that clipping begins   Saturday, July 23 View Page At the stage my plant are at I'm going through about 15 gallons of solution per week. I changed my timer on the irrigation pump last weekend from running 24/7 to 2 hours on and 1 off starting at 1 am. Seven cycles leaves a couple extra hours at night for the buckets to drain well bringing in fresh air to the roots without them drying out. At least this is my hypothesis.   Saturday, July 23 View Page I've chosen not to buy an EC meter. Instead, I'm running the system for a week at which time I connect a short piece of pvc pipe to divert the remaining solution out of the greenhouse. I leave the pump on and flush 10-15 gallons of fresh water through the system and out the door. This should help to eliminated salt buildup in the buckets and bring everything back in balance. I mix 15 gallons of fresh solution and go again until next Saturday when I'll repeat the process.   Friday, July 29 View Page Still fortunate enough to have two plants left. If it makes it 20 more days this will be a pumpkin even though it's half squash. Crossed back to a squash. 1047 Barlow pollinated by 694 Cantrell.   Friday, July 29 View Page The 1047 Barlow plant is only about 125 square feet and has no stump. Just looking for seeds on what is left. This is the second time I've had coyote issues with pumpkins. A few nights back one reached out with it's paw to check it out. I wish this squash was darker but it was pollinated by the 694 Cantrell which was dark. It's on the 548.5 Cantrell. A second squash on the plant was pollinated by 1047 Barlow. Long way to go to get seeds here. Still having squash bug issues but NO where near the early numbers. Down to 6-10 per week. Monitor daily for pinching and spraying weekly. Most show up the last day or 2 before spraying. Been using Baythroid and Admire in combination.   Wednesday, August 3 View Page When your season is all but over early one has the ability to travel and SPY on your neighbors. Went by to see the Terry clan for the first time. I figured out how to eliminate squash bugs. Tuck your patch back in the hills where they can't find you without GPS. These guy are figuring out this hobby quickly. I can't divulge what is going on as far as weights are concerned, not that I would. I will say the pumpkins and melons look great. The ugly duckling plant was my 516 squash. Plant looked great but quite sure it's a sterile plant. Heard of more than one out there. Sorry guys. I love dad's wind break which I will copy. The consistent theme I'm picking up in my travels is fewer plants and better care. Hard to do when one needs a bunch of plants for genetic purposes.   Monday, August 8 View Page Gave my granddaughter a quick lesson on operating a high lift. Let her push up a pile of dead peach trees. She had a blast and no she didn't drive it alone.   Monday, August 8 View Page Got the pictures reversed. Previous was a portion of the young turkeys that were seen earlier in the year. I need a wide angle lens to show the rest of the parade.   Monday, August 8 View Page I really like having the tomato plants elevated. I've tied a guide string to the top of the greenhouse for training purposes. Gravity carries the excess fertilizer back to the storage bin for recycling. No pit to dig to hold the bin.   Monday, August 8 View Page Tomato vine clips are used to attached the vines to the string for guidance. If the plant gets too large for the clip just unsnap and save it. The upper clips will support the plant. If anyone needs clips let me know as I have thousands of new ones, cheap compared to the internet. Not knowing "exactly" how others are pruning I'm trying a modified version of my past pruning. As seen on the right side I'm letting the first leaf of the side branches stay and I prune out the tip. I'll do this until I top the plant after choosing my keeper then all new suckers will be terminated as they appear.   Monday, August 8 View Page Another advantage to elevated plants is how easy it is to monitor the plants. If you find tiny specks of what appears to be black sand on the leaves look closer. There will be a tomato worm starting to enjoy the buffet. I found 2 this morning this being about half the size of the other.   Monday, August 8 View Page I'm also able to inspect the early fruit to see if some show that death is inevitable. I clip it out and wait on the next one.   Monday, August 8 View Page I only have one fruit that is obviously set. Two other better blooms on this plant. If they don't pan out I'll keep this one for our local fair. This plant has been topped. So far I'm more than pleased with how these clones are performing.   Thursday, August 11 View Page The first of my genetic crosses got harvested today. It didn't have a chance to get very big but it did fine for no more vine than it had. Just barely made the chart at 171 inches. Not weighed so estimate is 123. Very excited to grow this cross in the future 1047 Barlow 15 x 694 Cantrell 15. 50/50 chance of getting a squash from this cross. The 1047 was grown on a 1159 Kline 13 and pollinated by the 2036 Glazier 14 that grew their 2034 Barlow 15. The 694 Cantrell 15 went 25% heavy but it only produced 2 fully mature seeds. I used one of the partially filled seeds this year. The fruit on it was a medium green and was going to be a long squash before it went down to YVD.   Thursday, August 11 View Page The walls weren't as thick as what I'd hoped for but the ends were solid. The seeds are the leftovers that wouldn't fit into a 16oz sour cream tub but they got saved. There's a bunch of unrelated genetics in this package.   Tuesday, August 16 View Page Harvested the last 2 squash from the genetics patch today. The first was 49.5 and the other was 231 pounds. They were lighter in color than I would have liked. Both were grown on the same plant, a 548.5 Cantrell 15 which was the one that went 29% heavy last year. Pictured is the 231.   Tuesday, August 16 View Page The 231 was solid at the blossom and went 12% heavy. They were weighed at a farmers co-op. I don't have a chart to compare the 49.5 to. 231 is (548.5 Cantrell 15 x 694 Cantrell 15) and should produce a squash. 49.5 is (548.5 Cantrell 15 x 1047 Barlow 15) with a 50% chance of going green. The plant was about 300 square feet and had virtually no care and no soil test. Just a bit of nitrogen early on.   Tuesday, August 16 View Page I got quite the surprise when I harvested the seeds. Keep in mind both fruit were pollinated the same day, July 9th, and were on the same plant. The tan seeds on the left came from the 49.5 and the lighter colored ones from the 231. Most of the lighter ones had white tips and are not fully developed. The few that are fully developed are still definitely lighter in color. Nearly all the tan ones are developed. I wonder what caused this. They did have different pollinators. The white tips came from a pollinating plant that started from a seed that was about 30% white tipped. Both of those plants have some similar genetics within a couple generations. The tan seeds go back a few generations before there are known relatives. Could genes from the pollinator affect seed development and color? Maybe it's not genetics. More questions than answers.   Sunday, September 25 View Page I had 8 cuttings from early tomatoes. Both early and cuttings were grown in 5 gallon buckets. Early plants had roots that totally filled the pot. Less than 30% bucket fill on cuttings. Could be why the fruit didn't quite compare in size. I would still take cuttings to produce controlled crosses.   Sunday, September 25 View Page Got to harvest the seeds from one of the Terry melons and it gave me a chance to do a little test. I suspected the rind was more dense that the center but I needed to know for sure. I cut a section of each and after a bit of trimming I got them both to weigh 100 grams.   Sunday, September 25 View Page I put the rind piece in a glass with a measured amount of water along with 5 quarters to hold it down and I marked the level. The level was marked before and after putting in the piece.   Sunday, September 25 View Page Next the heart piece was put in. Although not visible the same quarters were used again. As suspected the displaced volume went up telling me the rind is heavier per cubic inch. I've noticed over the years some melons, and lines of melons, have a great deal of white flesh around the seed area. I suspect it too may be heavier than the red. That's a test for another day. What does this mean? Maybe nothing. Maybe, if given the choice between to comparable seeds, go with the one that had a thicker rind. Do the taller melons have thicker rinds? Are those rinds more structurally sound? Could they be even more dense? What I do know is when my patch is done I have too much time to think. P.S. don't tell mama I used a Sharpie on one of her glasses.   Monday, September 26 View Page Repost picture from 2015. The void starts early.   Monday, September 26 View Page 1 of 3 that looked similar. 35 kent   Monday, September 26 View Page Number 4. Thinner rind but 5 lobes. Smaller void and 11 extra pounds. No overall dimensions kept on any of the siblings. I do remember this one was a bit shorter than the rest.   Tuesday, September 27 View Page Just for reference.