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Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 128 Entries.
Sunday, March 29 View Page
I have been remiss in starting my diary. We went to the IGC in Vegas, learned a lot & had a great time!
 
Sunday, March 29 View Page
Along with everything else, one of the highlights for our little Indiana group was the presentation of the 4,000 pound jacket to Mikkal Hodge. Congrats Mikkal, richly deserved!
 
Sunday, March 29 View Page
Here we are after the awards banquet.
 
Sunday, March 29 View Page
Then a brief vaca in Aspen.
 
Sunday, March 29 View Page
World record seed, looking good!
 
Sunday, March 29 View Page
Here are some of my Giants & heirlooms paired up with rootstock. Probably will start grafting in 4-5 days.
 
Thursday, April 16 View Page
Ahh, Spring is sprung & I am ready to start my seeds. Of course, the Maters have been started long ago & are growing well. I have 3 spots for plants, 800-850 sq ft. As I have done in the past, with the exception of last year, I will start seeds in designations of Green Squash, Atlantic Giant-Huge & Orange. At each spot I place the 3 most vigorous plants & after a month, after the vines have touched down, I cull to the best plant. If all 12 of my seeds germinate, I will have spares to give away. These seeds have had their edges sanded & are soaking in water at 89 degrees with Humic, Seaweed, Essential & H2O2 for 3 hours. Then they will go into 3” Cowpots with Burpee Organic Seed Starting Mix & placed into my egg incubator at 89 degrees & around 90% humidity. It is necessary to soak the Cowpots, otherwise they will rob the seed starting mix of their moisture & adversely affect germination. So the pic shows on the left the seeds: 1935.5 Jutras, 1701 Jutras, 1511.5 Haist & 1306 Pierpont. In the center the biggies: 2416.5 Haist, 2252 Paton, 2157 Paton & 1916 Barron. On the right the Orange: 1780.5 Wagner, 1567 D. Gantner, 1501.5 Wagner & 1148 Lengerich. Woohoo, can’t wait!
 
Thursday, April 16 View Page
I should mention that I roll the seeds in Captan before sowing them.
 
Thursday, April 16 View Page
Here are my babies in the Cowpots lying in the incubator. Once germination occurs, the roots quickly begin to breach the walls of the Cowpots, whereupon they are placed in 6” Cowpots.
 
Thursday, April 16 View Page
Here is 1 of my patches with the frames of my 5’ x 8’ hoophouses in place. All amendments have been tilled in. Then I remembered I had a bunch of coffee grounds so those are the dark spots that are visible. I think I will just rake those in.
 
Thursday, April 16 View Page
Here is my other patch. This is the one I have generally grown my Giant squash in.
 
Saturday, April 18 View Page
World record 9.65 Marley Domingo approach graft onto Shin Cheong Gang, just done.
 
Sunday, April 19 View Page
My 3 hoophouses erected today, the 1 in the distance is dead center. They are 5’ x 8’ covered with 4 mil visqueen. Soil heating cables are in & each has a small electric heater on a thermostat.
 
Sunday, April 19 View Page
I have 5 showing at 78 hours!
 
Thursday, April 23 View Page
I got 12/12 germination out of the seeds I started. One is a little wonky & will no doubt be getting a slower start. The other one is on the right in this pic, more typical plant on the left for comparison. The cotyledons are a paler green, almost grayish. All growing conditions are the same, same lighting. I am interested in an opinion on this from experienced growers. I will post a thread on the General Discussion Message Board. Thanks in advance!
 
Thursday, April 23 View Page
Thought I would post a pic of my new “helper” in the patch. She is a 10 week old Aussiedoodle that I am sure will at first be a hindrance to my efforts, maybe even a terror. But I am confident that as she matures with proper training she will discourage some of the local varmints from bothering my plants. Supposed to be 25 pounds at maturity, but I am betting closer to 20.
 
Thursday, April 30 View Page
I have 3 patches. Here are the 3 plants in the “huge” category that will be going into 1 patch tomorrow. From left to right: 2416.5 Haist, 2157 Paton & 1916 Barron. The 2252 Paton germinated but might as well not have, tiny contorted cotyledons & true leaves very tiny also. Would not even consider it as a backup & will not show a pic of it due to its ugliness. On the bright side, the IPGA club Spray program & the WOW products which we had ordered through the club arrived today!
 
Thursday, April 30 View Page
The 3 Orange plants selected: From left to right. 1780.5 Wagner, 1501.5 Wagner & 1567 D Gantner. The 1148 Lengerich was just barely edged out, it’s vigor perhaps reduced by the thin membrane lying over the cotyledons & lessening photosynthesis. It still would make a fine backup or perhaps be available to gift to another Southern Indiana grower.
 
Thursday, April 30 View Page
The 3 Giant Green Squash selected. From left to right: 1701 Jutras, 1306 Pierpont & 1935.5 Jutras. Eliminated is the 1511.6 Haist, although it would make a fine backup or to give away to a grower in need.
 
Friday, May 1 View Page
I planted out in my hoophouses today. My huge trio: 1916 Barron, 2416 Haist & 2157 Paton
 
Friday, May 1 View Page
My orange trio: 1567 D Gantner, 1780 Wagner &1501 Wagner.
 
Friday, May 1 View Page
My green trio: 1935.5 Jutras, 1701 Jutras & 1306 Pierpont.
 
Sunday, May 3 View Page
How scenic! My neighbors love me!
 
Thursday, May 7 View Page
Lights in my hoophouses. My wife says they look like they are ready for liftoff. My plants look relatively pale green so tonight I gave them a little pickmeup of fish & seaweed & 17-18-28.
 
Sunday, May 17 View Page
My huge trio, all growing well, but the 2157 Paton has the thickest main vine.
 
Sunday, May 17 View Page
My orange trio are all pretty evenly matched, will be a difficult decision as to which to cull in a couple of weeks.
 
Sunday, May 17 View Page
My green squash trio. You can’t tell from the pic but the 1935.5 Jutras on the left is way out in front, keeping the others at this point is purely precautionary.
 
Friday, May 22 View Page
I culled down to 1 plant at each of my planting sites. This is my 2157 Paton, looking pretty good at 56” long, growing R to L.
 
Friday, May 22 View Page
This is my 1501.5 Wagner growing L to R at 4’ long.
 
Friday, May 22 View Page
This is my 1935.5 • Jutras really stretching out R to L at 6’.
 
Wednesday, May 27 View Page
This is my patch with the 1935.5 Jutras. Just took the hoophouse out & hastily installed the silt fence as windbreak. We also just connected up the driptape which obviously needs straightened up yet. The vine has a female blossom at its tip, around 9’.
 
Wednesday, May 27 View Page
This is my other patch with the 2157 Paton & 1501.5 Wagner. I had put the silt fence up yesterday. Today we took out the hoophouses, laid out the driptape & connected them. I just noticed today that the R first sidevine of the 2157 Paton has a female blossom at its tip. Of course I plan to terminate that sidevine. Guess I better get around to it, ha!
 
Tuesday, June 2 View Page
This is my 2157 Paton plant growing R to L. It is 11.5’ long with female blossoms at 8’ & 11’ I have 30% shade fabric over it & you can see the silt fence windbreak.
 
Tuesday, June 2 View Page
This is my 1501.5 Wagner growing L to R. It is 10.5’ in length with a female bloom at 9’.
 
Tuesday, June 2 View Page
This is my 1935.5 Jutras Squash growing R to L. It is my most vigorous plant at 14.5’. It has female blooms at 10.5’ & at the tip. I am concerned that the 10.5’ bloom is not any larger than when it first appeared. This is the same patch where my plant last year wouldn’t set any blossoms & I discovered with a tissue test that the plant had low P. I may be jumping ahead of myself but I gave all 3 plants a drench with Schultz 10-54-10 tonight.
 
Friday, June 5 View Page
This shows one of my patches after we put weed fabric on it. You can see it on the right which is at the back of the patch. There is another strip running R to L between the 2 plants.
 
Friday, June 5 View Page
This is my Squash patch after placing the weed fabric. You can see it at the front of this pic with walking boards on it. There is another strip of it that is obscured by the shade fabric. The purpose of this is to cut down on the amount of hoeing required.
 
Friday, June 5 View Page
This is the weed fabric I got. I was inspired by John Young with the pics he had of his patches. Thanks John! I got the 8’ wide roll, 250’ long. I would have gotten more use out of it if I had gotten it earlier but there was delay in shipping related to the pandemic.
 
Friday, June 5 View Page
This is some folded up tulle fabric I have placed over the growing tip of the main vine of my 1935.5 Jutras squash. Of course, like everyone else, I have shielded the tips of my main vines with little plastic tables but I have had several occasions where the growing tip has injured itself. I use shade fabric suspended over my plants but this gives another safety measure.
 
Saturday, June 6 View Page
Here is the first female blossom on my 2157 Paton after pollination. I did not have any male blossoms on this plant or on the 1501.5 Wagner & was forced to use a blossom from my 1935.5 Jutras squash.
 
Monday, June 8 View Page
The stamen on the male blossom of my 1935.5 Jutras squash is split. This is only 1 example as the majority of them are split like this. I haven’t seen this before, I don’t believe it is related to cold weather. Significance?
 
Monday, June 8 View Page
This is the female on the 1935.5 Jutras squash that opened today. I selfed it.
 
Wednesday, June 10 View Page
This is the tip of the main vine of my 1501.5 Wagner. It ends in a leaf. I haven’t seen this before. I have seen secondaries end with a cluster of male blossoms. I swung the closest vigorous secondary forward & will make it the new main. It already has a female blossom at it’s tip so that’s great.
 
Saturday, June 13 View Page
Here is the S curve on my 2157 Paton. It is 7 DAP & it is 9’ from the stump. The S curve is not very good because there is a second blossom 2.5’ further that I was figuring would be my keeper so I didn’t start on the S curve until today. The vine heading off to the L is the secondary at that node. I will keep it as long as I can but it would appear to only be a matter of time if this baby starts to take off.
 
Saturday, June 13 View Page
This was my favored female blossom on my 2157 Paton & you can see that it is declining, withering petals & small ball. The main vine 5’ further has another female blossom which I will pollinate but I suspect the keeper will be the 9’ fruit because it has such a headstart.
 
Saturday, June 13 View Page
5 DAP fruit on my 1935.5 Jutras squash is starting to lower to the ground, I need to get some sand under her.
 
Wednesday, June 17 View Page
I am attempting the Paton pot over leaf node method. A little more intensive.
 
Saturday, June 20 View Page
The female blossom this morning on my 1501.5 Wagner, 16.5 feet out on the main vine. I selfed it. Sure hope it takes!
 
Saturday, June 20 View Page
Also on the 1501.5 Wagner, on a secondary. Not nearly as pretty but I still selfed it, right now it is the reserve.
 
Monday, June 22 View Page
I have decided that this fruit is the chosen one on my 1935.5 Jutras squash. I have placed under it a piece of athletic tumbling foam & 2 pieces of mill fabric, each separated by a layer of sand. Circumference is 34” at 14 DAP.
 
Monday, June 22 View Page
I have not been very pleased with the growth of the fruit on my 2157 Paton. It was at 8’ on the main vine. The next 2 females on the main vine aborted so I am looking for alternatives. This is the blossom on the Left 6th secondary. Not the prettiest, I am calling it 4.5 lobes. But I pollinated it anyway. I also pollinated a female on the Right 6th secondary. It was a pretty symmetric 4 lober that I forgot to photograph.
 
Thursday, June 25 View Page
My 1935.5 Jutras squash this afternoon.
 
Wednesday, July 1 View Page
One of my better blossoms. It is on a 5.71 Lambchop Domingo.
 
Thursday, July 2 View Page
An impressive 2 DAP fruit on a Big Wixom plant.
 
Thursday, July 2 View Page
My 1501.5 Wagner fruit is 12 DAP & we placed it on mill fabric yesterday.
 
Monday, July 6 View Page
My 1935.5 Jutras squash is 28 DAP. His name is Gumby. His OTT puts him at around 218 pounds.
 
Monday, July 6 View Page
My 1501.5 Wagner fruit is 16 DAP today & has a circumference of 65”. Looks like it’s gonna be orange!
 
Monday, July 6 View Page
My 2157 Paton fruit is 14 DAP & has a circumference of 48.5”. You likely can’t tell from this pic but the blossom end is quite low & I expect this fruit will likely grow over it. Unfortunately, no spares on this plant & as hot & sunny as it is going to be, pollination of another blossom is unlikely.
 
Tuesday, July 14 View Page
My 1935.5 Jutras squash at 36 DAP taping out at 375#. You can see the Aluminet sun shield overhead & the action figure mascot. This is my 5th year growing & I swear, I am still learning new things. For instance, I never thought it was that important to snip the tendrils off the vines. But it certainly is important when those tendrils are turning a secondary away from the direction I want it to go.
 
Tuesday, July 14 View Page
My 1501.5 Wagner, Garfield. He is 24 DAP & taping 286#. I am accompanied by my little bunny chaser, Alexis Rose.
 
Tuesday, July 14 View Page
My 2157 Paton at 22 DAP is taping 193#. I learned something else today. Of course after choosing a fruit I move my driptape lines so they don’t run under the punkin. But today I found wet sand under my punkin & I had to search to find out why. One of my drip lines ran over a walking board & then downhill under my fruit.
 
Saturday, July 18 View Page
My 1935.5 Jutras squash. 40 DAP taping 460 #
 
Saturday, July 18 View Page
My 1501.5 Wagner, we named him Garfield. 28 DAP taping 385 #
 
Saturday, July 18 View Page
My 2157 Paton, unnamed as yet. 26 DAP taping 310 #, stepping up weight gains recently.
 
Friday, July 24 View Page
My 1935.5 * Jutras, Gumby. 46 DAP 617# Currently getting more sunshine to heighten the color. Thanks Joe!
 
Friday, July 24 View Page
My 1501.5 Wagner, Garfield. 34 DAP 552 #
 
Friday, July 24 View Page
My 2157 Paton, as yet unnamed. 32 DAP 462 #
 
Monday, July 27 View Page
A nice mega on one of my MegaZacs.
 
Monday, July 27 View Page
I couldn’t miss taking a pic of Gumby.
 
Tuesday, July 28 View Page
I put a new, improved shade structure up over my 1501.5 Wagner fruit, Garfield. Thanks Jay Yohe for your design suggestions.
 
Tuesday, July 28 View Page
I got a closer look at Garfield’s stem than I had in some time & found a surprise. A stem split extending into the fruit. I had 1 pumpkin last year that had 3 stem splits like this.
 
Tuesday, July 28 View Page
I had learned how to treat this by reading Dave Chan’s diary from 3 or 4 years ago. Here you can see I took a knife & cut, extending the split in the stem & in the punkin. Also a short transverse cut in the punkin just beyond the split cut.
 
Tuesday, July 28 View Page
This is after spraying it with 3% hydrogen peroxide & then blowing Sulfur powder into it.
 
Tuesday, July 28 View Page
So then I look at the underside of the stem & find another split. Pic isn’t that good, my upside down photography needs some work. Same treatment. I already had 1 fan on the stem but I added another one.
 
Tuesday, July 28 View Page
Here is a handy tool for viewing under stems & into crevices. I forget where I got it but it can be very helpful.
 
Thursday, July 30 View Page
I made my first tomato entry to the GPC, a Big Marley & of course my first entry for our team.
 
Thursday, July 30 View Page
My second tomato entry to the GPC, a Slammer.
 
Monday, August 3 View Page
I found a soft brown spot on the stem of my pumpkin on the 2157 Paton plant.
 
Monday, August 3 View Page
I cut the brown tissue out, sprayed it with hydrogen peroxide & dusted it with Sulfur. I put a fan on it. I will check it tomorrow & if it looks good put my Captan-Daconil paste on it. It had already had cd paste on it but it had been washed off by rain.
 
Thursday, August 6 View Page
Well, I still can’t post any pics. Too bad, I have a 4.54# tomato that I weighed yesterday.
 
Thursday, August 6 View Page
Pic for first post of yesterday.
 
Thursday, August 6 View Page
Hazards of waiting too long to pick.
 
Thursday, August 6 View Page
So there is a small bad spot on the lower right. Too bad!
 
Thursday, August 6 View Page
Seed 5.71 Lambchop Domingo
 
Friday, August 7 View Page
This monster was weighed by Kerry Gross yesterday, 6.05 pounds for our team. Seed 6.13 Konieczny MegaZac. New State record too!
 
Friday, August 7 View Page
Another entry for the team competition. I grew this 4.05 pound fruit on a 4.8 Konieczny Slammer plant. 43 DAP Circ 23 &1/8”.
 
Saturday, August 8 View Page
Another entry for our team, grown by Kerry Gross.
 
Saturday, August 8 View Page
Here he is holding his 2 big ones!
 
Monday, August 10 View Page
Another entry for my team. I grew this off a 6.52 LaRue Big Zac plant.
 
Wednesday, August 12 View Page
I found a sunken orange area on Garfield yesterday, on the button. I had applied Captan-Daconil paste previously but hadn’t refreshed it recently.
 
Wednesday, August 12 View Page
So I cored it out to healthy tissue.
 
Wednesday, August 12 View Page
And put my cd paste on it. My paste was rather thin so I did a rather sloppy job of it. Will have to clean that up later.
 
Thursday, August 13 View Page
My 1935* Jutras, Gumby, is starting to get a little more green. At 66 DAP he tapes 341” or around 908#. Has been growing at 13#/day the last 10 days.
 
Thursday, August 13 View Page
My 1501 Wagner, Garfield, is 54 DAP. He tapes 347” or just short of 960#. Loving the color!
 
Thursday, August 13 View Page
My 2157 Paton, Putty, continues to grow well. He is 52 DAP & tapes 357”, around 1,035#.
 
Sunday, August 16 View Page
Wayne O’Brien, winner at the Indiana State Fair substitute weighoff. I believe it was 1,036#. Sincere thanks to Mikkal Hodge hosting the event at his farm.
 
Sunday, August 16 View Page
Group picture at the weighoff.
 
Sunday, August 16 View Page
Congratulations to Jef Treece taking 1st place for Gt tomato yesterday at 3.8#.
 
Sunday, August 23 View Page
Gumby at 76 DAP. Taping around 1,010#.
 
Sunday, August 23 View Page
Garfield at 64 DAP, taping 1,072#.
 
Sunday, August 23 View Page
Putty at 62 DAP, taping 1,204#.
 
Thursday, August 27 View Page
A big double, alas at 3.98%, not big enough.
 
Thursday, August 27 View Page
Correction, 3.98#
 
Saturday, August 29 View Page
Gumby around 1,055#.
 
Saturday, August 29 View Page
Garfield around 1,140#.
 
Saturday, August 29 View Page
Putty around 1,300#.
 
Wednesday, September 2 View Page
Gumby, 86 DAP, taping 1,075#.
 
Wednesday, September 2 View Page
Garfield, 74 DAP, taping 1,180#.
 
Wednesday, September 2 View Page
Putty, 72 DAP, taping 1,325#.
 
Sunday, September 13 View Page
Putty has a flat enough top that Kathy decided to put him to use as a cocktail table.
 
Sunday, September 20 View Page
The lifting crew for Gumby Thursday evening. Unfortunately found a bad rot spot underneath.
 
Sunday, September 20 View Page
The bad spot.
 
Sunday, September 20 View Page
Gumby was taping 1,115# so was happy to see him go heavy. Unfortunately had to say goodbye to a new state record for Indiana for green squash.
 
Sunday, September 20 View Page
Gumby had very thick walls, retrieved around 436 seeds which are now drying.
 
Sunday, September 20 View Page
Took first place for tomato at the Ky weighoff.
 
Saturday, September 26 View Page
The lifting crew for Garfield this afternoon.
 
Saturday, September 26 View Page
Garfield all strapped down & ready to go to the Hodge Family Farm tomorrow.
 
Tuesday, September 29 View Page
Garfield, now the 1197 Strickler, went 6.5% light. Finished second to the 1209 Hodge. We were given the HDA. Had a great time at the Hodge Family Farm, huge shoutout to Mikkal for hosting!
 
Wednesday, September 30 View Page
I have just now found rot on the side of my big pumpkin, Putty. It is next to the soil surface. I had some disease in the main vine that was controlled & there isn’t anything wrong in the vine leading up to the fruit. I believe I had a drip tape too close on that side. We are just sick over it!
 
Thursday, October 1 View Page
Losing a fruit you have nurtured over 5.5 months causes great anguish!
 
Saturday, October 10 View Page
Winner of the Fair Oaks weighoff, Tom Mobley, Spencer, Indiana
 
Saturday, October 10 View Page
The growers gathered around the winning fruit.
 
Saturday, October 10 View Page
Jim Beal with a new state record bushel gourd at the Fair Oaks weighoff.
 
Thursday, October 29 View Page
Here is why my 1197 Strickler went 6% light.
 
Saturday, October 31 View Page
Happy Halloween!
 
Saturday, October 31 View Page
Happy Halloween! No tiger King but the best I can do in 7 hours!
 
Wednesday, December 16 View Page
Merry Christmas!
 
Wednesday, December 16 View Page
She loooves the snow!
 

 

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