Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 54 Entries. Wednesday, May 23 View Page Got a late start this year, but the pumpkins went in yesterday. All the seedlings were grown under LEDs as sole source lighting at 250 umol . You can see its hard to see them under the light.   Wednesday, May 23 View Page Here they are in normal light. Shown in the photo: 1609 Robinson= 1969 Haist x 2145 Mcmullen 1498.5 Bernstrom= 1801 Berrens x 1944.5 Pugh 1795.5 McCracken= 2145 Mcmullen x 1625 Gantner 1458.5 Meck= 1338 Martin x 1385 Howell-Jolliette Watermelon= 350.5 Kent and 316 Dawson Bummer that the 1807.5 Holub seed didn't germ.   Wednesday, May 30 View Page 350.5 Kent. Lots of rain, little sun   Wednesday, May 30 View Page 316 Dawson. Both this and the 350.5 are non-grafted. Will plant another set of grafted ones as a comparison. Got a late start this season, but they'll catch up   Wednesday, May 30 View Page 1795 McCracken   Wednesday, May 30 View Page 1498 Bernstrom   Wednesday, May 30 View Page 1458 Meck   Wednesday, May 30 View Page 1609 Robinson   Saturday, June 2 View Page 316 Dawson grafted to Lagenaria 'Rampert' bottle gourd   Wednesday, June 6 View Page 350.5 Kent   Wednesday, June 6 View Page 1795 McCracken getting ready for touchdown   Wednesday, June 6 View Page 1498 Bernstrom   Wednesday, June 6 View Page 1458 Meck   Wednesday, June 6 View Page 1609 Rollins   Wednesday, June 6 View Page 316 Dawson graft. Greened up some since the last photo.   Thursday, June 7 View Page Here's the 350.5 Kent grafted to Macis gourd via One cotyledon method. This is 5 days after the graft, already acclimating well to ambient humidity. Grown and healed in a controlled environment. It's amazing how quick they heal up! Will get planted out next week   Tuesday, June 12 View Page 350.5 starting to vine   Tuesday, June 12 View Page 316 Dawson graft. I need to take those weeds out   Tuesday, June 12 View Page 1609 Rollins   Tuesday, June 12 View Page 1458 Meck   Tuesday, June 12 View Page Here's the 350.5 graft after planting today. It should be interesting to see how this one and the non-graft perform comparably . Both were sown the same day, but one endured the stress and healing of the graft process, so the graft is currently behind (for now). We shall see.   Tuesday, June 12 View Page Here's the 350.5 graft after planting today. It should be interesting to see how this one and the non-graft perform comparably . Both were sown the same day, but one endured the stress and healing of the graft process, so the graft is currently behind (for now). We shall see.   Tuesday, June 12 View Page Reposting the pumpkin photos from today because I messed up the photo labels. Here is the 1609 Robinson   Tuesday, June 12 View Page 1795 McCracken   Tuesday, June 12 View Page 1458 Meck   Tuesday, June 12 View Page 1498 Bernstrom. I was fearing a ribbon vine on this one as the vine was starting to get really wide and flat... Looks like its becoming a double vine after all. I'll remove one of the growing points and see what it'll do. It's been the strongest growers so far of my 4 plants   Thursday, June 14 View Page Yikes!   Sunday, June 17 View Page Pinched one of the growing tips on the double vine, looking better now!   Tuesday, June 19 View Page Plants are holding up well despite the heat and growing fast. It got to 98 degrees the past two days. Here's the 316 Dawson graft, its out about 7 feet now, but pretty sure it grew a foot overnight.   Tuesday, June 19 View Page Here's the picture that was supposed to go with it   Tuesday, June 19 View Page 350.5 Kent non-graft getting some size to it.   Tuesday, June 19 View Page 1795 McCracken. Not much secondary growth on this one yet, but overall healthy. Visible female on it, but will let it bulk up a bit more   Tuesday, June 19 View Page 1609 Robinson. Another one with minimal secondary growth. Visible female as well, but plant needs to grow a little more.   Tuesday, June 19 View Page 1498 Bernstrom. Biggest plant so far. This one had the double vine, but after pinching one side its back to normal. Female showing at about 7-8 feet out.   Tuesday, June 19 View Page 1458 Meck. Second largest in the patch right now. Huge leaves on it, vine is out about 7-8 foot now. Female showing   Tuesday, June 19 View Page Here's the big leaves on the Meck plant.   Wednesday, June 27 View Page 350.5 looking good! Had a female on it just shy of 8 foot out. Will wait for the next one   Wednesday, June 27 View Page 316 Dawson grafted plant. Most of the secondaries on this one are trained near the away from the pumpkin.   Saturday, June 30 View Page 1795 McCracken. Plant still doesn't want to grow much for secondaries.   Saturday, June 30 View Page 1609 Robinson   Saturday, June 30 View Page 1498 Bernstrom   Saturday, June 30 View Page 1458 Meck. Biggest plant at this point. Should have a pollination on most of these during next week.   Saturday, June 30 View Page Another view of the 1458 Meck   Tuesday, July 3 View Page Pollinated a 5 lobe on the 1458 Meck on a 96 degree day. Had this block of ice nearby to keep it cool.   Wednesday, October 10 View Page Harvested my biggest three right before the hurricane comes through for the weighoff tomorrow. They’re looking good up in the truck bed   Thursday, October 11 View Page Here’s my 80.5. This was my third best this year. My two larger ones were classified dmg at 96.5 and 120   Thursday, October 11 View Page All the melons lined up on display!   Thursday, October 11 View Page Here’s the 120 unofficial dmg.   Thursday, October 11 View Page Here’s what the bottom of the 120 looked like... Darn! This thing gained a pound a day until the day I cut it for the weighoff.   Thursday, October 11 View Page Here’s my 96.5 unofficial dmg. This thing was liquid upon arrival. It had stopped growing 3 weeks ago, so it must of been breaking down. Grown on the 316 Dawson.   Thursday, October 11 View Page Congrats Chris Kent on this beast of a melon!   Thursday, October 11 View Page Congrats Chris Rodebaugh on taking first with a 1551!   Friday, October 12 View Page Forgot to mention. This and the 120 were grown on grafted plants, separate plants of the 142 Meck. 142 Meck is the 290 barber x open   Sunday, October 14 View Page It’s been a while since I posted this season. Very rainy season where slowly all my pumpkins were lost. For a first year growing giant watermelon I was pleased with the results. I brought my 4 best to the NC state fair. I ended up placing with an 80.5 in 9th place. My 120 and 96.5 melon were unfortunately classified as dmg. The 96.5 appeared fine until arrival at the loading dock where it was sitting in a puddle. Looks like it was rotting internally but appear fine outside until disturbed. The 120 had a few lesions on the base, but solid otherwise. Was a bummer, but still happy to place