Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 194 Entries. Saturday, January 2 View Page My main focus for 2016 is beating this one. Good luck to everyone!   Sunday, February 7 View Page O YEAH!!! The 224.66 was 16% heavy and very solid!   Monday, February 15 View Page Watermelon growing in the garage is fixing to bloom lol   Monday, February 15 View Page My biggest winter time goal was trying to figure out grafting. Here is a melon grafted to a gourd growing very well. I cant help but let it keep growing.   Tuesday, February 16 View Page And it bloomed today   Wednesday, March 9 View Page Really nice day! Played in the dirt after work and collected soil samples. Jason was down so we put him to work lol.   Wednesday, March 9 View Page A few lil maters even got out and enjoyed part of the day. Got up to 79 degrees today.   Friday, March 25 View Page Let the season begin! Starting maters in waves, first up the 7.05 Porkchop. Thanks for the seeds.   Saturday, March 26 View Page Starting a few kins today! Soaking a few 1522 and 1318 Terrys. 1522 is my first choice 1318 a backup.   Saturday, March 26 View Page Sunny and 70! A few plants enjoying some sunshine. That little melon is the one that breaks Lindley's heart at Cullman. Hehe   Saturday, March 26 View Page In the previous pic are two American Chestnuts I started from seed that brotherdave sent me. Im really excited to help bring these trees back to our region. With some luck these will be here long after im gone. Thanks Dave!   Sunday, March 27 View Page I planted one of my 2.80 Big Zacs (8.41 MacCoy x open) yesterday March 25.   Sunday, March 27 View Page Jason has his patch laid out, and dad and I got ours laid out today. All amendments either has been or will be ordered by tomorrow. Should have everything by the end of the week. Still plenty to do like get water systems going and putting up fence but we are getting close.   Monday, March 28 View Page More goodies came today!   Tuesday, March 29 View Page Checked the roots on my early melon graft and decided to go ahead and up pot it.   Tuesday, March 29 View Page This is a 151 Terry grafted to a C. Ficifolia rootstock. It was just a practice one that I have decided to plant so thats the plan.   Saturday, April 2 View Page Growing 2 kins this year in hopes of allowing me to focus more on these 2 plants and also giving me more room for melons. Prepared pots this a.m. and placed them in the germ box to warm. These two seeds will battle for one spot.   Saturday, April 2 View Page The other kin will be the 1522 Terry. I loved watching this kin last year! I really pretty orange pumpkin that was low and wide. It was grown from the 1530 Gehweiler and pollinated with the 1813 Northrup. Here they are 7 days old today.   Saturday, April 2 View Page Here is a pic of the 1522 in the patch at around 70 days old.   Saturday, April 2 View Page Package from The Great LakeState. I can't wait to put theseproducts to use especially the Rootkeeper! Gonna have to order some Mark's Special Tea, I've heard nothing but good things about it.   Sunday, April 3 View Page Started a 2059 Daletas and 1998 Juttras today. Hoop houses built and added some K, borax, kelp meal, alfalfa meal, and blood meal to the planting areas. Nice day to be in the patch.   Wednesday, April 6 View Page Started some melons today!   Wednesday, April 6 View Page The 2 kins in the background in the previous pic are the 1998 Juttras that was pushing dirt in 48 hours, and the 2059 Daletas that was pushing through in 58 hours.   Wednesday, April 6 View Page Up potted my two 1522 Terrys this evening. Both are looking good!   Sunday, April 10 View Page Got out today and pit a few things in the ground. Here is the 1522 Terry settled into its hoop home. I believe this seed will grow a big pretty orange pumpkin.   Sunday, April 10 View Page Today is the day Lindley and Spence have been dreading. 151 Terry in the ground!   Sunday, April 10 View Page This is a plant from my 2.80 UOW mater from last year.   Monday, April 11 View Page Kicked back watching The Masters yesterday after a day in the patch.   Monday, April 11 View Page Roots!!! This is the 2059 Daletas 7 days from placing seed in pot. Gonna get it potted up and outdoors bu this weekend...if it wins the spot.   Monday, April 11 View Page This is the 1998 Juttras also 7 days from planting. Gonna be a tough decision, I like both of them so far.   Thursday, April 14 View Page Planted mine and dads pumpkins today. Here is my 1998.5 Jutras.   Thursday, April 14 View Page Dads 1921 Weston.   Thursday, April 14 View Page Dads 2145 McMullen   Thursday, April 14 View Page And finally dads 2230 Wallace   Thursday, April 14 View Page Took a pic of my 1522 to intoduce Henry my size comparison duck that Spencer sent me. Thanks Spence, its gonna be a fun year!   Saturday, April 16 View Page Starting the 6.88 MacCoy.   Saturday, April 16 View Page Also got melons grafted. Here is the 291 Kent! Hope these things make it.   Sunday, April 17 View Page The misses helping out this evening with the watering. Having good weather and plants look good.   Sunday, April 17 View Page Watering uniformly around the plant.   Monday, April 18 View Page Soaking watermelon seeds   Monday, April 18 View Page Soil in the process of warming up to temp   Monday, April 18 View Page Melons planted and placed in the germ box.   Wednesday, April 20 View Page Red sky in the morning sailors take warning. Hope this means some rain is coming, we have been hot and dry. The melon I put out early sure is loving it though, and the kins are doing good just have to keep up with the watering.   Wednesday, April 20 View Page 151 Terry really loving this warm April weather   Friday, April 22 View Page Melons are up pictured in the front tray. Back tray has 2 nice 7.05 Porkchops, and 3 - 6.88 MacCoys just now humpbacking thru the dirt. 350 Kent has yet to move, hopefully it will soon.   Sunday, April 24 View Page PORKCHOP IN THE HOUSE!!!   Tuesday, April 26 View Page Transplanted melons to bigger pots this eve. Will get these babies acclimated and in the ground soon.   Tuesday, April 26 View Page Close up of the 291 Kent.   Friday, April 29 View Page Planted 2 - 6.88 MacCoys today   Friday, April 29 View Page Worked most of the day getting the melon patch ready for plants. Thanks to the help of Jason and dad we gotta er done. Now to get the plants out and get to growing eye poppers!   Friday, April 29 View Page One of my 209s from last year looking good.   Sunday, May 1 View Page Got all the melons planted today. Black Diamond, 224.66 Glasgow, 251 and 291 Kent, 199.5 Mudd, and 229 Edwards.   Tuesday, May 3 View Page Boneheaded move cost me 2 kins. Lesson learned and planted backups. 1577 and 1522 Terry   Wednesday, May 4 View Page Got a lil cool last night threw some pine straw over the melons.   Wednesday, May 4 View Page Thats not perlite on the melon patch, thats hail! Thank goodness I had everything covered.   Friday, May 6 View Page Took a lil while but got all the pine straw spread. Next is putting up the fence and installing the watering system.   Saturday, May 14 View Page Cool and gloomy today. Put some wire over the melons so I can cover them with blankets later.   Saturday, May 14 View Page Here they are all tucked in. Low 40s the next few nights then we should warm back up. Need suuuunnnn!!!   Monday, May 16 View Page 516 Cantrell   Monday, May 16 View Page 1522 Terry   Tuesday, May 24 View Page 1921 Weston   Tuesday, May 24 View Page Leaf on 1921   Tuesday, May 24 View Page 2145 McMullen   Tuesday, May 24 View Page 2145 leaf   Tuesday, May 24 View Page 2230 Wallace   Tuesday, May 24 View Page And leaf   Thursday, May 26 View Page 4.79 hit the dirt!   Saturday, May 28 View Page Plants doing well. Gave everything some grow,silica, and Root Keeper   Saturday, May 28 View Page Briar had to get out there and help papaw water the kins.   Saturday, May 28 View Page Then we took off and spent the rest of the day at the river.   Saturday, May 28 View Page ...   Saturday, May 28 View Page Selfie! Hehe   Monday, May 30 View Page 184 MacKinnon says hello world.   Monday, May 30 View Page Melon patch this eve. Growth has been great this past week and it's starting to get exciting.   Monday, May 30 View Page Black Diamond and that lil boys smile...   Monday, May 30 View Page 251 KENTTTT!!!!   Monday, May 30 View Page 243 White. Reigning Alabama state record. Will it stand this year? I know them boys down there are working hard. This was planted late but it will catch up soon enough.   Monday, May 30 View Page 199.5 MUDD...enough said   Monday, May 30 View Page 229 Edwards   Monday, May 30 View Page 291 KENT. This plant is a lil slower than the others but no worries its growing steady and looks great!   Monday, May 30 View Page 224.66 Glasgow. Very aggressive plant. Has been from the start. Hope it turns out well I plan to use this to pollinate some things.   Monday, May 30 View Page And last but not least...209.5 TERRY!!! Great plant and I believe it will grow a BIG MELON! Of course I would hehe.   Monday, May 30 View Page Wind up a great Memorial Day Weekend with a fire and family.   Saturday, June 4 View Page Pop up storms and rain moving in on us today. Plants are looking great! Bout 8 days out from pollination. Here is the 2145 in front and 1921 in the back.   Saturday, June 4 View Page 2230 Wallace   Monday, June 6 View Page First field pumpkin in the ground!   Tuesday, June 7 View Page First pollination in the morning! This is on the 2145 McMullen.   Tuesday, June 7 View Page May be hard to see but this is a baby 251 in the tip.   Wednesday, June 8 View Page Overview of the kin patch this eve.   Thursday, June 16 View Page 1921 Weston   Thursday, June 16 View Page 2230 Wallace   Thursday, June 16 View Page 2145 McMullen   Thursday, June 16 View Page Found this great big male bloom on black diamond thought it was cool.   Friday, June 17 View Page Started field kins today   Sunday, June 19 View Page Always tough to cull. This one on the 2145 was culled for the next one down becaues of location and the really short stem on it. Perfect 5 lobe that started out well.   Sunday, June 19 View Page This is the one we hope. Also a perfect 5 lobe at 15' with much better stem.   Sunday, June 19 View Page This is a 243 White planted a lil later. Really starting to move.   Sunday, June 19 View Page Trying to score brownie points from the guys and gals on the west coast. Maybe they will give me some pointers lol. GO WARRIORS!   Wednesday, June 22 View Page 1921 Weston 10 DAP   Wednesday, June 22 View Page 2230 Wallace 10 DAP   Wednesday, June 22 View Page 2145 McMullen 8 DAP   Thursday, June 23 View Page Planted field pumkins today.   Friday, July 1 View Page 1921 Weston dap 20   Friday, July 1 View Page 1921 top side   Friday, July 1 View Page 2230 Wallace dap 20   Friday, July 1 View Page 2230 top side   Friday, July 1 View Page Neil...   Saturday, July 2 View Page Nice bloom on the 4.79! From what I've seen so far this seed is throwing some really good mega blooms. Glad Jason has plenty more.   Sunday, July 3 View Page 2145 McMullen dap 20   Sunday, July 3 View Page 2145 top side   Tuesday, July 5 View Page Another one racked up and another hoop house built. All in on the 251 Kent!   Thursday, July 7 View Page Mega blooms on the first truss of my 2 Slammers. Really nice blooms. The pictures don't do them justice. First pic here is Slammer plant A   Thursday, July 7 View Page Here is the bloom on Slammer plant B   Thursday, July 7 View Page Really excited about this one on the 4.79 Terry Big Zac!   Friday, July 8 View Page 209.5 Terry   Friday, July 8 View Page 199.5 Mudd   Friday, July 8 View Page I made a mistake on the previous pics of blooms I said were Slammers. They are actually MegaZacs.   Monday, July 11 View Page 20 day and 30 day comparisons of the 2230 Wallace.   Monday, July 11 View Page 20 day and 30 day comparisons of the 1921 Weston.   Wednesday, July 13 View Page 20 to 30 day comparisons of the 2145 McMullen.   Saturday, July 16 View Page 209.5 Terry   Saturday, July 16 View Page 251 Kent   Saturday, July 16 View Page 199.5 Mudd   Saturday, July 16 View Page Black Diamond Neil   Tuesday, July 19 View Page Calling all 251s, here is mine.   Tuesday, July 19 View Page Not the biggest right now but my favorite from my 209.   Tuesday, July 19 View Page Black Neil Diamond day 30   Thursday, July 21 View Page 1921 Weston day 30 and 40.   Thursday, July 21 View Page 2230 Wallace day 30 to 40.   Wednesday, August 3 View Page Pic of my best Slammer still pretty young.   Thursday, August 4 View Page Got the 251 Kent measured just before the rain.   Thursday, August 4 View Page As promised here she is. 251 Kent, 40 DAP, 181.5" OTT   Friday, August 5 View Page Breakfast girls...Hamilton will be here before you know it lol   Friday, August 5 View Page Beach Ball patrolling the perimeter this a.m.   Saturday, August 6 View Page 1921 at 55 days old still pushing sand.   Saturday, August 6 View Page Field kins bloomed out this morning.   Saturday, August 6 View Page New growth.   Saturday, August 6 View Page My youngest melon the 243 White.   Saturday, August 6 View Page Future projects...build dad's 251 a bigger shade cover!!! Dang girl back away from the table lol. Save me some 251 seeds Chris! Plz   Saturday, August 6 View Page 1921 stem side.   Saturday, August 6 View Page 199.5 Mudd, 40 DAP, 182" OTT   Sunday, August 7 View Page 209.5 Terry, 40 DAP, 179.5 OTT.   Wednesday, August 10 View Page 2230 Wallace day 50-60   Wednesday, August 10 View Page 1921 Weston day 50-60   Thursday, August 11 View Page My youngest really starting to blow up! 243 White   Tuesday, August 16 View Page Double rainbow over the pumpkin patch this eve   Friday, August 19 View Page My best mater ever grown from a Wixiom Slammer!   Friday, August 19 View Page   Friday, August 19 View Page Remy holding it   Friday, August 19 View Page Briar with it   Friday, August 19 View Page And me   Saturday, August 20 View Page Collecting Red Scorpion seeds for the seed exchange   Sunday, August 21 View Page Honored to have Chris Kent visit today. He pulled out the tape on dad's 251 and gave it the stamp of approval.   Sunday, August 21 View Page My youngest off the 243 White. All melons taping 200 + now.   Sunday, August 21 View Page Final on my Black Diamond. It just never took off and grew like some of the other guys did. Weighed right to chart.   Wednesday, August 24 View Page Almost 3 lb single off a MegaZac. 2 lbs 10 oz   Monday, August 29 View Page 4th place at Cullman. 1136 Terry (2145 McMullen x 1916 Barron).   Monday, August 29 View Page Jason took second with a weight of 1336.   Monday, August 29 View Page His melon was a tad heavy and was good enough for 3rd with a weight of 236.   Tuesday, August 30 View Page Picked the last of the maters and im happy with my year. New pb, 2 over 4 lbs. learned alot and I think I can do better next year. Here is a big single from a Wixom Slammer. These things weigh good!   Tuesday, August 30 View Page Nice one grown from a MegaZac.   Tuesday, August 30 View Page 4.01 from the 2.9 Wiesli BigZac.   Friday, September 2 View Page Sad day. Whoever said this sport wasn't for the faint of heart was right on. Lost the 1921 just weeks before weigh-offs. It was a fun ride watching it grow. Final OTT 426" weighed at concrete plant. 1540 lbs   Friday, September 2 View Page ...   Friday, September 2 View Page ...   Friday, September 2 View Page ...   Friday, September 2 View Page ...   Friday, September 2 View Page ...   Friday, September 2 View Page ...   Friday, September 2 View Page ...   Friday, September 16 View Page For the orange lovers! 2230 loaded for Ky.   Friday, September 16 View Page Mini van loaded gonna drive it like we stole it. Ky. weigh off tomorrow hope we won't be sorrow. Spencer said Tennessee coming hope we at least in the running!   Friday, September 16 View Page My 243 White ready for the trip to Ky.   Saturday, September 17 View Page Dad and I took 6th and won the Howard Dill award! Weighed 1153, bout 7% heavy! Cross is 2230 Wallace x 1916 Barron. Congrats to the Van Hook brothers for the win and new Ky state record! Also to all the growers. Many pb, largest Jumbo Black Diamond ever grown by Chris Kent and new Ky state record watermelon grown by Frank Mudd!!! Great event!!!   Saturday, September 17 View Page 229 lbs a new pb for me! Still 3 to go. Grown from the 243 White. Great plant and melon! Would have been much bigger but stump issues put the brakes on.   Saturday, October 1 View Page 3rd place and new pb at Allardt today. 232 lbs grown from the 199.5 mudd.   Saturday, October 1 View Page Briar was so upset it went a lil light lol   Monday, October 3 View Page Took a 100 day measurement on this melon today and got to thinking...how old is this plant, it still looks great. After checking my notes I was amazed. This plant is 174 days old, still growing, still producing. Still packing pounds on a 100 day old fruit!   Tuesday, October 4 View Page 2016 fall display at dads   Sunday, October 9 View Page Had a great time at Operation Pumpkin this weekend. Unfortunately my melon the beat ive ever grown was dqed. Congrats to all the growers it was good meeting and talking with everyone.   Sunday, October 9 View Page Even got to meet ol Bubba himself.   Sunday, October 9 View Page Back home with the 234 Terry DMG. This was grown from my own seed from last year the 209.5 which was a 296 Barber x 272 Neptune.   Sunday, October 9 View Page Inside the melon didn't look to bad I didn't think.   Sunday, October 9 View Page Got plenty of seeds.   Sunday, October 9 View Page One more to go! North Carolina State Fair on Tuesday.   Thursday, October 13 View Page Great ending to the year! 2nd place at N.C. State Fair and a new pb beating my previous by 58 lbs. 290.5 lbs!!!   Wednesday, November 2 View Page The last two remaining pumpkins loaded and going to the Knoxville Zoo in the morning to let the elephants play with them.   Thursday, November 3 View Page I wasn't able to be there but it seemed lime everyone enjoyed watching the elephants eat the pumpkins.   Thursday, November 3 View Page Tonka is the largest male elephant in the US. Weighing 15,000 lbs he made the 1472 look small lol.   Thursday, November 3 View Page He likes it! Tonka likes it!   Thursday, November 3 View Page Ok back to work lol. Threw some 290 seeds in the germination box this evening to test and also some rootstock. May as well take advantage of starting some melon seeds and practice grafting.   Saturday, November 5 View Page Inside my 290, nice thick rind and lots of seeds!   Saturday, November 5 View Page Someone named Brian emailed me a couple days ago and I accidentally deleted it before I responded. Email me back and I will answer your question.   Sunday, December 4 View Page A few watermelon grafts. Gotta do something this winter lol. The two in the back are my 290.5. I think its gonna be a good seed. Tested 6 and had 100% germination. 251 Kent selfed, how can it go wrong?