Home What's New Message Board
BigPumpkins.com
Select Destination Site Search
 
wile coyote - 2020 Grower Diary Point your RSS aggregator here to subscribe to this Grower Diary.

Show Entries in

Grower Diary Menu
  Back to Previous Page
List Other Grower's Diaries
Submit to Your Own Diary

 
Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 156 Entries.
Wednesday, February 5 View Page
New Drip irrigation watering system I ordered arrived today. Last year's watering system of garden hoses/soaker hoses didn't work well because lack of water pressure. Last fall I timed how long it took to fill a 5 gallon pail to see how many gallons/hour I was getting from the faucet. The components I bought were based on that number. I should be able to put a row of drip tape alongside the main vine of every plant I am growing based on the GPH number . If it works, then I will continue to add rows of drip tape to fill in the rest of my growing area until I don't have enough water pressure to irrigate anything else. I hope the lollipops that they included as a gift didn't mean I was a sucker from buying from them.
 
Monday, February 10 View Page
Nasturtiums starting to germinate. Directions hint starting at end of May. Ignored directions so that they will be producing flowers that attract wasps that prey on SVBs at the end May. Couldn't find any at any greenhouses/stores last year which means I have to grow my own. Marigolds have been planted to attract ladybugs and other beneficial insects to my patch. Petunias have been planted to attract pollinators to my patch.
 
Monday, March 2 View Page
My wife was thinking of buying this for me and putting it at the entrance to my grow area.
 
Friday, March 13 View Page
203.9 Fortey marrow seeds finally arrived from German Silent Auction today. Marrow lineup now complete.
 
Monday, March 16 View Page
2020 AG Line up. Subject to change if germination issues. 2102 is first seed to be germinated if one of the others don't.
 
Monday, March 16 View Page
2020 Squash Lineup. Hope to create a super squash by combining biggest genetics (2118), best green producer (996), and a squash that went 29% heavy (1264).
 
Monday, March 16 View Page
2020 Field Pumpkin Line up. Hope to make a giant field pumpkin crossing these 2 seeds.
 
Monday, March 16 View Page
2020 Marrow Line Up. Hope to pollinate everything with the 203.9 Fortey for genetic diversity. Lessons learned from last year. 1. Plant in an area with more sun. 2. Do proper soil prep for marrows instead of just planting them in the ground. 3. Set up SVB traps around marrow plants. One of the causes of trashy looking plants at end of season. 4. Stay on top of preventing powdery mildew from trashing plants. Bought a new fungicide to use this year. 5, Don't be so heavy handed with fertilizer; just let the plants grow.
 
Monday, March 16 View Page
2020 Tomato Line Up. Deformed Porterhouses will be grow in small pots just to see if the tomato continues to evolve with deformity. 7.66 seeds will be grown in 5 gallon pails along the fence by the neighbor's garden. His watering system usually waters my yard so these plants should get watered by my neighbor every day.
 
Monday, April 13 View Page
2 yards of 50% composted cow manure and 50% compost delivered to my house today. Now I have an idea of how much more I can have delivered to the top of my driveway. Nature has been taunting me today with cold and sunny and then rain/snow. At least of I have everything I need gathered up to put it into my patch starting tomorrow.
 
Monday, April 13 View Page
Soil cables that I was too lazy last spring to put in. Ended up sending plants into shock for 3 weeks when I took off my makeshift greenhouse last year. No laziness this year. No excuses for not getting a giant pumpkin to the scale this year.
 
Thursday, April 16 View Page
First soil heating cable put down. I am growing AGs/Squash in 4' X 4' X 1' deep beds to try to grow the stump of the plant in an area with no weeds or tree roots to contend with. Wanted to go 8' X 8' X 2' But pumpkin budget said 4' X 4' X 1'. Bed will be filled with 6" of perlite and 6" of 50% composted cow manure and 50% compost. I will be covering it with a 1" layer of regular dirt. I am building 6 beds total.
 
Friday, April 17 View Page
Wheelbarrow broke while hauling compost from my driveway to my patch. Note the brand is Radio Line. The wheel barrow was over 50 years old. It can't be an antique because it would have to be in pristine shape. Not lots of wear from years of use.
 
Saturday, April 18 View Page
Bought new wheelbarrow. The handles were the wrong ones because the store clerk gave them to me. I found that out when it was time to put the wheel on and it wouldn't fit regardless what I tried.
 
Sunday, April 19 View Page
New wheelbarrow after assembling it. This one can hold 6 cubic feet of dirt. The old one could probably hold 3 cubic feet at the most. Less trips hauling compost from the driveway to the patch.
 
Monday, April 20 View Page
Started cherry and competition tomato plants. In addition to my lineup, I added 2 4.05 Peine Megamutts, 2 Peine 1.64 (4.54 Martin X Open), and 2 Deformed Porterhouses. We'll see what comes up.
 
Saturday, April 25 View Page
Finished putting economy greenhouses up on beds. Plugged in all soil heating cables. Started soaking AG/Squash seeds in seaweed water.
 
Sunday, April 26 View Page
Put AG/Squash seeds into peat pots for germinating after soaking in seaweed water for 12 hours. Took germinated tomato plants out germinating chamber.
 
Saturday, May 2 View Page
1033 Haist (996 Haist X 1264 Pierpont) squash starting to germinate. Hopefully the Kraken (2118 X Self) will germinate in a few days. It looks like the 1404 Tobeck (2145 X 2150 Skinner) looks like it will be poking out of the ground in the next day or 2.
 
Sunday, May 3 View Page
1033 Haist squash popped last night. It's taking in some rays today. Disappointed that none of my other seeds have germinated. With weigh offs being questionable, I would be happy to have had 4 out of the 6 seeds germinate.
 
Sunday, May 3 View Page
5 gallon pails I bought for the 5 gallon pail tomato challenge when I was at Menard's getting things for a much overdue lawnmower maintenance; Change oil and spark plug and sharpen blade.
 
Sunday, May 3 View Page
Dwarf Juliet Cherry tree was starting to blossom. It's year 2 with it us. The directions said we shouldn't get any cherries until year 3.
 
Monday, May 4 View Page
Started 2 more Big Wixom and 6.66 Spaziani tomato seeds. The other ones I started did not germinate. Both 7.18 Hill plants died. I am not starting anymore of them because I have plenty of plants with the 5.175 Hill genetics growing now.
 
Tuesday, May 5 View Page
Started 4 of my 4.05 Peine Megamutt seeds. Hoping to create an army of HYDRA plants. Whatever extra plants I have will go into the 5 gallon challenge or give to Reed if he needs some.
 
Wednesday, May 6 View Page
Dug up 1404 Tobeck that didn't have enough oomph to break the dirt. Cots were open so I am trying to nurse this plant healthy. Hopefully it will turn into a good plant because I want the genetics (2145 X 2150 Skinner). I gave up on the Krakken, 2109 and 1864 Zyweic, and 2091 Midthun seeds I started at the same time as the 1404 and 1033 Haist. Started another Krakken and 2102 Meier (1985 Miller X Sib) seeds.
 
Thursday, May 7 View Page
Started these seeds. I figured the 1342 Terry (2230 Wallace X 2624) would be a good cross with the 1404 Tobeck. I figured the 1309 Pierpont with give me the squash genetics I am looking for to cross with the 1033 Haist. The other 2 squash seeds probably wouldn't see dirt but with the weigh offs being in question, it wouldn't matter to me if they didn't get weighed. Hopefully they will give me nice dark green squash. I would rather deal with too many plants than not enough if everything germinated.
 
Monday, May 11 View Page
7.64 Spaziani seeds germinated and growing funny.
 
Tuesday, May 19 View Page
513.5 Weibel Squash popped up on Sunday. Was yellow. Shell came off easily.
 
Tuesday, May 19 View Page
1342 Terry popped on Sunday. I was poking around with a craft stick and accidently broke off the root system. I applied some Clonex where it broke to see if I get a new root system to form and save the plant. This is why you shouldn't be poking around in the dirt .
 
Thursday, May 28 View Page
My small army of 4.05 Megamutt plants that I hope they produce Hydra flowers.
 
Thursday, May 28 View Page
My best plant :-( I am waiting for other seeds to pop. Father of this plant was the 1578 Holub world record. I am hoping that it grows to 1200 pounds for a new MN record.
 
Thursday, May 28 View Page
7.64 Spaziani plants. It looks like they are finally trying to grow normal. I was thinking they were going to die the way the way the were growing.
 
Thursday, May 28 View Page
Plants with 5.175 Hill genetics.
 
Thursday, May 28 View Page
Big Marley Plants 2 6.66 Spaziani and 2 5.58 Tobeck.
 
Thursday, May 28 View Page
Deformed Porterhouse tomato plant year 2. I am hoping that the deformity continues to evolve into big megablooms.
 
Thursday, May 28 View Page
Unknown genetics. Lost id marker somehow on these 2 plants. My neighbor told me he wanted to try to grow giant tomatoes. I'll be giving these to him. He used to complain about my smelly fertilizers and now he uses them in his garden after he saw how well his plants grew after I gave his plants some.
 
Friday, May 29 View Page
203.9 Fortey Marrow popped today. The other marrow plants should be popping in the next few days. They were all put in the same spot on the driveway to germinate. 188 Treece field pumpkin should be poking through the dirt tomorrow.
 
Saturday, May 30 View Page
122 Lyons (220 Baggs X Self) marrow germinated today.
 
Saturday, May 30 View Page
188 Treece Field Pumpkin germinated today.
 
Monday, June 1 View Page
205 Wursten field pumpkin germinated today.
 
Tuesday, June 2 View Page
Lyons 97 (165 Baggs X Self) germinated. Waiting for 220 Baggs to germinated. I will be starting another 220 Baggs seed. Starting tall/big head sunflowers today. Temps today in the 90s.
 
Tuesday, June 2 View Page
7.64 Spaziani Domingo plants. Finally starting to grow normally. Hopefully Rebel's prediction about monster tomatoes coming from unruly plants comes true. Started Rebel's zucchini seed from exotic seed exchange today.
 
Thursday, June 4 View Page
My 513 pound squash growing well. This plant was first on my culling list if everything I germinated came up. It has outgrown the other seeds that did not come up and is going into the best spot in my patch to try to hit 1200 pounds with it (New MN squash record). I calling this plant "The little plant that could".
 
Thursday, June 4 View Page
205 Wursten and 188 Treece Field pumpkins (back) and 203 Fortey and 122 Lyons(220 Baggs X Self) Marrow plants ready to go into the patch,
 
Monday, June 8 View Page
513.5 Weibel squash has finally made it into the patch yesterday. I waiting to see if it turns into an aggressive grower. I am looking for a July 15 pollination date - 2 months after germination. Temp was about 90 when picture was taken.
 
Monday, June 8 View Page
205 Wursten Field pumpkin made it into the patch yesterday. Temperature was about 90 when picture taken.
 
Monday, June 8 View Page
203 Fortey marrow planted yesterday. Sitting in 4 cubic feet of 50% compost cow manure and 50% compost. Temperature was 90 when picture taken today.
 
Monday, June 8 View Page
122 Lyons (220 Baggs X Self) marrow planted yesterday in 4 cubic feet of 50% composted cow manure and 50% compost. Temperature was about 90 degrees when picture was taken.
 
Monday, June 8 View Page
97 Lyons (165 Baggs X Self) was planted yesterday. Temperature was about 90 degrees when picture was taken.
 
Monday, June 8 View Page
188 Treece Field pumpkin was planted yesterday. Temperature was around 90 degrees today when picture was taken.
 
Monday, June 8 View Page
Best of my 5.175 genetics plants (7.66 Hill) that were planted yesterday.
 
Monday, June 8 View Page
Best Big Marley genetics plant (5.58 Tobeck) that I planted yesterday.
 
Monday, June 8 View Page
Best Domingo plant yesterday (7.64 Spaziani). Now this unruly plant should grow better now that it is a much bigger pot.
 
Monday, June 8 View Page
Best Megamutt planted yesterday. (4.05 Peine).
 
Tuesday, June 9 View Page
220 Baggs marrow seed germinating. The first 220 seed I started is probably a dud since it hasn't germinated.
 
Tuesday, June 9 View Page
Spaziani Zucchini seed from exotic seed exchange germinated today.
 
Tuesday, June 9 View Page
Big Head Sunflowers germinated
 
Sunday, June 14 View Page
Rebel's Spanish Zucchini plant from exotic seed exchange. I am wondering how many other people are growing it?
 
Sunday, June 14 View Page
203 Fortey Marrow plant.
 
Sunday, June 14 View Page
513 Weibel squash plant. It has lots of growing to do to get to 12 feet for a July 15 pollination date.
 
Sunday, June 14 View Page
122 Lyons Marrow plant
 
Sunday, June 14 View Page
188 Treece Field Pumpkin plant
 
Sunday, June 14 View Page
97 Lyons Marrow plant
 
Sunday, June 14 View Page
220 Baggs Marrow plant.
 
Sunday, June 14 View Page
205 Wursten Field Pumpkin plant
 
Sunday, June 21 View Page
97 Lyons Marrow plant
 
Sunday, June 21 View Page
122 Lyons Marrow plant
 
Sunday, June 21 View Page
188 Treece Field Pumpkin
 
Sunday, June 21 View Page
205 Wursten Field Pumpkin
 
Sunday, June 21 View Page
220 Baggs Marrow plant
 
Sunday, June 21 View Page
513* Weibel plant
 
Sunday, June 21 View Page
203 Fortey Marrow plant
 
Sunday, June 21 View Page
Rebel Spanish Zucchcini plant. Plant is small compared to Farmer Brown's beast of a plant from same seed.
 
Sunday, June 21 View Page
Added more pest control to the patch. Put a blue and yellow sticky cardboards next to each SVB trap in my patch.
 
Monday, June 22 View Page
First Megabloom of the season developing on 6.66 Spaziani. Flower is in center of picture. 5.58 Tobeck has been opening some single blossoms.
 
Sunday, June 28 View Page
97 Lyons Marrow plant
 
Sunday, June 28 View Page
122 Lyons Marrow plant
 
Sunday, June 28 View Page
188 Treece Field pumpkin. Have to train it to go the direction I want it to grow.
 
Sunday, June 28 View Page
203 Fortey plant. Getting ready to run. Have to train it to grow direction I want it to grow. There are secondaries forming near the center of the plant.
 
Sunday, June 28 View Page
205 Wursten Field pumpkin plant.
 
Sunday, June 28 View Page
220 Baggs Marrow plant
 
Sunday, June 28 View Page
513* Weibel Plant. It looks like a secondary vine is ready to run with the primary vine. It has lots of growing for a July 18 pollination date.
 
Sunday, June 28 View Page
Petunia and Marigold companion plants. Petunias attract pollinators. Marigolds attract Ladybugs which eat aphids and other bad bugs. Their scent messes with bad bugs sense of smell. Several are scattered around the patch.
 
Sunday, June 28 View Page
Colored sticky cardboards working. Yellow cardboard has mostly wasps, bees, mosquitos, flies, and SVBS on it. Time to replace it.
 
Sunday, June 28 View Page
Rebel's zucchini plant.
 
Wednesday, July 1 View Page
1st megabloom of the season. Ona 4.05 Peine megamutt.
 
Friday, July 3 View Page
Found this near a pumpkin plant when I was checking on the plants with this 90 degree weather. I don't know what killed it. I am not putting out any poison. One less critter to worry about in my patch area.
 
Sunday, July 5 View Page
Rebel Zucchini plant
 
Sunday, July 5 View Page
220 Baggs Marrow plant
 
Sunday, July 5 View Page
97 Lyons Marrow plant
 
Sunday, July 5 View Page
188 Treece Field Pumpkin plant
 
Sunday, July 5 View Page
122 Lyons Marrow plant
 
Sunday, July 5 View Page
513* Weibel plant. Finally deciding to run. I see 3 vines in the photo. I am hoping I can get 10 vines going before setting a squash.
 
Sunday, July 5 View Page
205 Wursten Field Pumpkin plant. First male ready to bloom.
 
Sunday, July 5 View Page
203 Fortey Marrow plant. Plant is 5 feet long. I counedt 4 vines, I hope to have at least 10 vines when I pollinate. A male flower bloomed this morning.
 
Friday, July 10 View Page
First female flower on 205 Wursten field pumpkin plant. The flower is well positioned to grow blossom down.
 
Friday, July 10 View Page
First female flower on 203 Fortey marrow plant. I am not going to pollinate a marrow on this plant until main vine is 16 feet long. I want the plant to focus on getting huge so I can grow a monster marrow. The 220 Baggs plant should be putting out male flowers when it is time to pollinate.
 
Sunday, July 12 View Page
Rebel Zucchini plant. First male flower bloomed.
 
Sunday, July 12 View Page
220 Baggs Marrow plant.
 
Sunday, July 12 View Page
97 Lyons Marrow plant. I saw a secondary vine starting to form.
 
Sunday, July 12 View Page
122 Lyons Marrow plant. Starting to train a secondary vine to run south to north.
 
Sunday, July 12 View Page
188 Treece Field pumpkin plant. Cobra plant has finally started settling down. Female flower starting to develop at end of vine.
 
Sunday, July 12 View Page
513* plant. Plant has decided to start growing. 3 vines going; main, secondary, tertiary. I thought I saw another secondary forming on the main.
 
Sunday, July 12 View Page
203 Fortey marrow plant. 3 vines now going south to north. Main vine 6 feet long. Vine 4 too small to start training to go south to north.
 
Sunday, July 12 View Page
205 Wursten Field pumpkin plant. Hopefully I will have a female flower at the end of the week to pollinate.
 
Monday, July 20 View Page
First Female flower on Rebel zucchini plant. I am going to try to pollinate this flower with a flower from my 203 Fortey marrow. No male flowers yet on the 220 Baggs.
 
Monday, July 20 View Page
1st female flower on 513 Weibel squash plant. I was hoping for July 19 pollination so I have to wait a few days. Plant is big enough to support a pollination.
 
Monday, July 20 View Page
Applied new fungicide to plants in patch areas that I usually get powdery mildew in. I'm about a month early but my plants are growing too well to let them get trashed by powdery mildew.
 
Thursday, July 23 View Page
Pollinating field pumpkin 205 Wursten with 188 Treece
 
Wednesday, July 29 View Page
Repolinated 205 Wursten X 188 Treece. First attempt did not take. Probably because of heat
 
Wednesday, July 29 View Page
I found this dead bug on the 205 Wursten field pumpkin plant. Not sure what kind of bug. It was hollow so I cut it half with the scissors. Maybe an SVB was eaten alive by predatory wasp larvae. I've seen lots of wasps flying around by the plants.
 
Sunday, August 2 View Page
Finally a female blossom on the 513 Weibel squash plant. We;re finally going green on this plant. 4 previous female flowers aborted when the pumpkin on the flower turned yellow and the flower never opened. I think the plant is saying this is the one because I cut 5 female flowers from the plant and left 3 on the plant.
 
Monday, August 3 View Page
513 Webel Squash X Self at 14 feet on the main vine. I used 5 flowers to pollinate with. As many times as I've been tempted to pull this plant due to lack of progress, it comes through with something that keeps me from pulling it. This time a nice 5/6 lobe flower. The plant is big enough to support this pollination with 2 other vines that are 12 feet long and other vines starting to form.. Its supposed to be in the 70s this week so the pollination should take.
 
Tuesday, August 4 View Page
Add Cal-Mag to Fert program.
 
Saturday, August 8 View Page
Pollinated 205 Wursten X 188 Treece for the 3rd time on main vine at 19 feet. Hopefully this will be the one that takes. Cut back on N and gave plant Cal-Mag 2 days before pollination.
 
Saturday, August 8 View Page
Pollinated 122 Lyons (220 Baggs X Self) with 203 Fortey.
 
Sunday, August 9 View Page
Pollinated 205 Wursten with 188 Treece for the 4th time. This time on a side vine instead of main vine. If yesterday's and todays pollination take, I will cull the slower growing pumpkin.
 
Sunday, August 9 View Page
Pollinating the 513 Weibel squash X Self on a side vine. Previous pollination aborted after a week.
 
Monday, August 10 View Page
205 Wursten X 188 Treece 2 DAP. If the side vine pollination isn't bigger 2 DAP, then it will get culled. I've never seen 2 DAP so big on all my pumpkins I've ever grown. Set up anti critter protection on this set.
 
Tuesday, August 11 View Page
Pollinated Rebel Zucchini with 203 Fprtey marrow flower.
 
Tuesday, August 11 View Page
205 Wursten X 188 Treece 3 DAP on main vine. Culled side pollination because it was 1/2 the size of the main vine pollination.
 
Tuesday, August 11 View Page
Pollinated 203 Frotey with 220 Baggs at 19 feet on main vine.
 
Tuesday, August 11 View Page
Today I received this envelope of seeds from the Spain auction. They arrived in JFK on March 7.Youo can tell that this package had been opened by US Customs.
 
Tuesday, August 11 View Page
Instead of finding seeds in the package, I found this document saying that the seeds had been destroyed due to lack of a Phyto Sanitary certificate and the seeds were from an unknown origin.
 
Wednesday, August 12 View Page
Pollinated Field Pumpkin 188 Treece with 205 Wursten
 
Thursday, August 13 View Page
203 Forety X 220 Baggs 2 DAP
 
Thursday, August 13 View Page
205 Wursten X 188 Treece 5 DAP
 
Thursday, August 20 View Page
7.64 Spaziani There are a couple of other megabloom tomatoes on the plant. Trimmied off single blossom tomatoes.
 
Thursday, August 20 View Page
7.66 Hill. There are a couple of other megablossomo tomatoes on the plant. Trimmed off the single blossom tomatoes.
 
Thursday, August 20 View Page
F2 Deformed Porterhouse It's continuing down the path to deformed tomatoes. There were several on this truss of flowers. .
 
Thursday, August 20 View Page
188 Treece X 205 Wursten 8 DAP. First I thought it was going to abort. Now slow growing. The bad thing is th9s is the only female flower I have seen on this plant. It's getting 15-35-15 bloom booster.
 
Thursday, August 20 View Page
Culled these open pollinated marrows in the sea of leaves of the 203 Fortey plant. The 205 Wursten is planted next to the 203 Fortey so the chance of a marrowkin is pretty good.
 
Friday, August 21 View Page
Pollinated 220 Baggs with 203 Fortey. The 220 Baggs plant is running almost 3 weeks behind my other plants because I had to germinate a 2nd seed this spring. Its catching up in size with the 203 Fortey.
 
Monday, August 24 View Page
205 Wursten X 188 Treece 16 DAP Don't know why it is growing in weird shape. Haven't changed fertilizers and amounts. Maybe its turning into a big and ugly field pumpkin instead of a smaller pretty pumpkin.
 
Monday, August 24 View Page
Made choice which 203 Fortey X 220 Baggs set I am growing for weigh off. It is set at 21 feet on main vine. Culled other sets and female flowers on the plant. Don't know if 220 Baggs X 203 Fortey pollination took. It was high 80s when I pollinated. There's a female flower almost read to bloom a foot down the vine. Need to pollinated by Wed. to have viable seeds when I harvest it for Stillwater weigh off.
 
Wednesday, August 26 View Page
513 Weibel Squash. The previous 5 pollination attempts aborted. I saw the female flower forming and decided not to set up a pollination because I thought i was going to abort again. Then I would pull the plant. Once again the plant saved itself by doing something. t
 
Wednesday, August 26 View Page
My sunflower. I didn't give it much care because critters ate all the seedlings except this one. It got blown over by a storm and I tied it to the metal fence post for support. I didn't give it much care after that.
 
Wednesday, August 26 View Page
Fighting Powdery mildew on all plants. In the past it usually starts in one spot in my patch. This year even the areas of my patch that full sun are getting. Must be all the high humidity I've been having all the summer. Continuing to find and cull unwanted marrow pollinations in the ocean of green leaves in my patch.
 
Sunday, August 30 View Page
Today I am thinking my 203 Fortey X 220 Baggs marrow is aborting. It was dark green yesterday and part of it is yellow now. If it aborts, it's too late to set another for weighoffs and have viable seeds. When it aborts, I will set up another 203 Fortey X 220 Baggs cross and a 203 Fortey X self. I will grow both for seeds and do an unofficial weight of those marrows. I found a good sized open pollination in the sea of leaves of the 203 Fortey plant. I am going to grow it to see if it becomes a marrowkin. If it isn't a marrowkin, then I may take it to a weigh off.
 
Tuesday, September 1 View Page
7.64 Spaziani. An almost Identical 5.58 Tobeck is growing.
 
Tuesday, September 1 View Page
7.66 Hill A1.
 
Tuesday, September 1 View Page
7.66 Hill A2. Same plant as other 7.66 Hill tomato.
 
Tuesday, September 1 View Page
F2 Deformed Porterhouse tomato. When I started growing Porterhouse tomatoes last year, this is what I hoped could happen. Multiple tomatoes from a bloom. I hope that each tomato will weigh over 4 pounds each. The original seed packet said the tomato could weigh upto 4 pounds. If 3 tomatoes weigh 4 pounds each, then I would end up with a 12 pound tomato. I hope that the trait of the whole tomato weighing 4 pounds goes away. We'll see how this tomato grows out.
 
Tuesday, September 15 View Page
Assessed damage from last weeks cold weather. Only plant untouched by powdery mildew is 513* Weibel. Discovered it had 3 open pollinated squashes on 3 different vines. The biggest one is the size of a bowling ball. It made my day seeing how the 203 Fortey open pollinations are continuing to grow well despite the plant looking like hell from Powdery mildew. Both open pollinations are developing marrow ribs so I am 99% sure that they are 203 Fortey X self pollinations since the closest marrow plant to it is 30 feet away and they are in the middle of the plant. It looks like I can be heavy handed on ferts with the 203 plant if I want to grow something real big. I have a circuit breaker on the plant with multiple marrows growing. 30 Days until weighoff.
 
Tuesday, October 6 View Page
Bought this yesterday. I saw it at the store last week and hemmed and hawed about buying it and finally said no. Yesterday I saw it figured it was meant for me since no one bought it. It's not a marrow. It's a Cushaw Green Striped Squash. It can be populated by C. Pepo. It looks like it may have been pollinated by a pumpkin because I saw some orange on it. Next year I am going to grow a seed and pollinate it with a marrow.
 
Tuesday, October 6 View Page
My circuit breaker marrow on my 203 Fortey plant. It looks like its going to be a marrowkin. The marrow on the plant I am taking to Stillwater is dark green all over.
 
Tuesday, October 6 View Page
188 Treece X 205 Wursten 57 DAP. I don't know why it's still upright. It will be interesting to see if it produces viable seeds and how the seeds grow next year. Only 1 female flower produced on this plant. Same ferts and soil composition as 205 Wursten. Plant looked healthy.
 
Saturday, October 31 View Page
122 Lyons X 203 Forety Marrow. Plant never grew big enough to make a big marrow. No seeds inside.
 
Saturday, October 31 View Page
188 Treece X 205 Wursten Field Pumpkin. Disappointed in size and there was only 1 female flower on the plant despite giving the plant bloom booster. It was on the vine for 60+ days. No seeds.
 
Saturday, October 31 View Page
203 Fortey X Open marrow. 9.5 pounds. Learned a few lessons on why it was so small. I hope seeds will be there when I open it up tomorrow. It grew in the middle of the plant so I am probably sure it is a 203 Forety X Self pollination. There were no other marrow plants within 30 feet of it. The 205 Wursten field pumpkin was next to it if it turns out to be a marrowkin next year.
 
Saturday, October 31 View Page
F2 Porterhouse tomato. Weighed about a pound. Maybe next year I can get it to grow bigger.
 
Saturday, October 31 View Page
F2 Porterhouse tomato. Tomato weighed less than a pound. Hopefully next year I can get it to grow bigger.
 
Sunday, November 1 View Page
Harvested seeds from Peine 9.5 (203 Fortey X Open). Was able to harvest a dozen viable looking seeds. I wasn't expecting any because of the marrow size. Many seeds were under developed.
 
Sunday, November 1 View Page
Harvested seeds from Cushaw Green Striped Squash. Saved a dozen. I think it will be an orange fruit next year since I saw some orange on the fruit.
 
Saturday, December 12 View Page
My new rototiller arrived today. Wasn't expecting it until Dec. 20. Here is what I bought on Amazon.com. Earthquake 20015 Versa Front Tine Tiller Cultivator with 99cc 4-Cycle Viper Engine, 5 Year Warranty It had the 4 features I was looking for. 1. 4 Cycle engine. No mixing 2 cycle fuel. 2. Tills 11 inches deep. 3. Front tines. I consider this a safety feature for me. I am afraid of accidently sticking my foot under the rear tines. 4. Self propelled. Wish it had a reverse gear but I will have to be care around corners. Wife was happy with what I bought. A little over budget but not a piece of junk. Got it for a good price - $50 off. Was $399. Throw in free $40 shipping and I saved $90. I had been looking at rototillers on amazon during black Friday and cyber Monday and saw no deals. Tuesday I got an email from amazon with some discounts on different rototillers and I took on if the deals. I took free shipping. Otherwise shipping would have been another $40.
 
Saturday, December 12 View Page
My new rototiller arrived today. Wasn't expecting it until Dec. 20. Here is what I bought on Amazon.com. Earthquake 20015 Versa Front Tine Tiller Cultivator with 99cc 4-Cycle Viper Engine, 5 Year Warranty It had the 4 features I was looking for. 1. 4 Cycle engine. No mixing 2 cycle fuel. 2. Tills 11 inches deep. 3. Front tines. I consider this a safety feature for me. I am afraid of accidently sticking my foot under the rear tines. 4. Self propelled. Wish it had a reverse gear but I will have to be care around corners. Wife was happy with what I bought. A little over budget but not a piece of junk. Got it for a good price - $50 off. Was $399. Throw in free $40 shipping and I saved $90. I had been looking at rototillers on amazon during black Friday and cyber Monday and saw no deals. Tuesday I got an email from amazon with some discounts on different rototillers and I took on if the deals. I took free shipping. Otherwise shipping would have been another $40.
 

 

Top of Page

Questions or comments? Send mail to Ken AT bigpumpkins.com.
Copyright © 1999-2024 BigPumpkins.com. All rights reserved.