Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 25 Entries. Saturday, March 24 View Page Happy 2018 growing season to all! It's officially spring but the patch still has snow on it. Should be gone by the end of the month, then we'll just have mud for a while. In the meantime, the giant watermelons are beginning to emerge!   Tuesday, May 15 View Page Alright, time to fire up the diary! All plants went in May 1st, on black plastic under floating row cover with an extra layer of plastic in cool weather. This is a 1613.5 McCracken, in the wettest part of the patch.   Tuesday, May 15 View Page The 2112 Skinner   Tuesday, May 15 View Page Another 1613.5 Mccracken after I adjusted it to help it lay down gently. This plant has the added benefit of soil heating cable   Tuesday, May 15 View Page And the 1810 Werner. Already laid down beautifully on its own, and is also on heating cable. No stem splits this year, seems like a faster start than usual for me, all systems are go!   Monday, May 28 View Page 1810 Werner. Covered Dome #1 this afternoon, got lucky and had virtually no wind   Monday, May 28 View Page 1613.5 McCracken. Can't wait to see what she can do   Monday, June 18 View Page Pollinated this one at 11 feet on the 1810 Werner on Saturday June 16th. 5 lobes, gave it Anthesis this morning   Tuesday, June 26 View Page 1810 Werner x 1613.5A McCracken, 10 days old at 11 feet out. 24.5 inch circ. Still have no successful pollinations on any other plant. Missed one on the 1613.5A when it opened a day earlier than expected and I just wasn't paying close enough attention. Both 1613.5s should get pollinated by the end of the month and the 2112 Skinner should be right after that. A 2112 female failed to develop all the way and then it put out male after male after male for a while. Finally a girl coming now but the clock is ticking......   Wednesday, July 4 View Page 2112 Skinner, pollinated July 1 at 19 feet with the 1613.5A McCracken. Received Anthesis yesterday. 5 lobes and looking good despite being pollinated on a 96 degree day. This is the first year I've had to use the styrofoam cooler/ice pack method but it seems to have done the trick. Already terminated a couple of side vines on this one, looking to push it right out of the gate   Wednesday, July 4 View Page 1613.5B McCracken, 4 lober pollinated June 30th at 15 feet. Got Anthesis on Monday. No cooler/ice pack used on this one and I'm honestly not sure yet if it took. Pollinating the next one on the plant tomorrow   Wednesday, July 4 View Page 1613.5A McCracken pollinated June 30th with the 2112 Skinner. 5 lobes at 18.5 feet, Anthesis on July 2. Got the cooler and ice pack treatment, looking fine so far   Wednesday, July 4 View Page The 1810 Werner on day 18 now, 64 inch circumference. It's been a strange pollination season with this one so early and everything else on the late side. Very little terminated on this plant yet and the fruit doesn't seem to mind. If I feel I want to push it more I can, but for now I'm content to let the secondaries keep going since there are only 13 total before the fruit. The goal with this one is long sustained growth   Thursday, July 5 View Page Here is my watermelon attempt for the year, the 304 Mudd. Pollinated 2 on July 4th, one on the main and one on a side vine. My melon plants have been tremendously healthier ever since I moved them away from the pumpkins a few years ago. Storms coming overnight so the young fruit are covered for Anthesis application in the morning   Tuesday, July 10 View Page 1613.5B McCracken, 10 days old today. The smallest day 10 circumference I've had (that I know of) at 16.5 inches. It's shiny and growing though, with nothing else set on the plant yet, so it looks like I'm going with it.   Tuesday, July 10 View Page The 1613.5A McCracken also reached day 10 today. 21.75 inch circumference. Really hard to keep them all watered right now, it's been sunny and dry with at least 4 more dry days coming   Wednesday, July 11 View Page 2112 Skinner turned 10 days old today. Fastest starter of the year for me at 27 inches. Great plant so far, all secondaries growing vigorously, about 8 of them terminated already   Wednesday, July 11 View Page It's day 25 for the 1810 Werner and the numbers are not impressive. It's around 205 OTT today and just hasn't kicked in yet like I thought it was going to. Maybe 12 side vines before the fruit isn't so great after all. I never got another pollination to take on this plant anyway so I'm going with it. And oh yeah I found a soft spot on the bottom already too   Wednesday, July 18 View Page Suffered first loss of the season, the 1613.5B McCracken went down to vine rot. It was a slow grower all along, maybe it's had the disease for a while. Been a few years since I've had one go down this way, rot is in the center of the main vine with no external rot visible at all.   Wednesday, July 18 View Page 1613.5A McCracken, 18 days old today. 63.5 inch circumference with the height of Joel Embiid. Watch out world   Monday, July 30 View Page This is Agnes on the 1810 Werner. 44 days old today, estimating 525 pounds. 15 pounds a day over the last 6, so it's really a longshot at this point to even get it to 1,000. So I'm trying to focus on how pretty she is!   Monday, July 30 View Page Patti pictured here on the 1613.5A McCracken. 30 days old and estimating 465. 200 pound gain over the last 6 days, healthy big plant. Perhaps a shot at a personal best here? Hmmmmm, one can hope   Thursday, August 2 View Page 1613.5 McCracken, Patti on day 33. OTT is 288 inches, she really pushed out on the bottom right this week. Too much rain and not enough sun continues   Saturday, August 4 View Page Edna hit day 33 yesterday on the 2112 Skinner. OTT IS 285 inches for a 533 lb. estimate. All the rain lately has kept the weight gains modest, I think. Supposed to get sunny and hot here for a few days so we'll see what that does. Plant is not as healthy as it could be either, but that's normal for me in August. The 1613.5 McCracken looks very healthy, so that one still has my hopes up for a biggie this year   Sunday, August 5 View Page Well after measuring the 2112 Skinner pumpkin and another night of heavy rain, I come out yesterday evening to this. Vine rot takes down another one. Just too wet this year and it looks like humidity is in the forecast for the foreseeable future. Now I gotta focus on the 1613.5, my last hope for a big one