Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 34 Entries. Thursday, April 20 View Page I guess it's the start of the season. Ice and snow is gone and i brought in 20 yards of 2 year old manure the last couple days. I also am trying to start a 993.2 V/M..soaking as i type. 993 came back to me from Scott Marley from the morning chat group.....Hope it pops and I'll have a 907 Young selfed or sibbed I will start to keep that nice orange!! Will start seeds this weekend..still snowin here need big starter buckets...Hope everybody has a great year!!   Sunday, April 23 View Page Hopefully this year will go better than last year. Put my plants in the ground last year and tore my rotator cuff a couple days later....end of season. Operated on in October so I should be good to go. I have 3 seeds i planted last year that I will plant again this year....1723.5 Rea....1625 Gansert and 1552 Young. I started these and 5 other seeds yesterday. Others are...1977 Rea...1634 Rea.... 2006 Wolf....1215 Young and Ned lets see what your 839 Sandercock can do. Lets see who germs and how they look.   Wednesday, April 26 View Page Everybody is up except 993.2 V/M which was a questionable seed because of its age. Still holding out hope that I might get lucky. Aged manure will get spread today and then a week of rain....then I'll till. Can't plant for a few weeks anyway so hoping for some nutrients to get washed into soil before tilling. Lets see what happens!!   Friday, April 28 View Page And then there was seven. 993.2 V/M was a no go but I had to give it a try. Also I had a first in all of my germinations. The 1723 Rea germed and seed only came part way out of dirt and stopped. Waited a few days and gently dug around seed. The root was disconnected from seed which was well on its way to mush. On the brighter side everybody else is looking good and first leaves are starting. Will transplant today into larger containers.   Monday, May 29 View Page Well I finally planted my kins today. Broken tiller set me back a bit and then when it worked my back set me back a bit. In the 30s three nights this past week and now 80s. Plants liked it indoors in 68 degree weather so everybody has laid down and running...EXCEPT the 1625 Gansert Seed. Who in their right mind would grow a Gansert Seed anyway.   Monday, May 29 View Page I planted 6 plants..I'm such and Idiot..old people. I planted 1977 Rea ( Glenna 1634 went to my nephews..still hoping to cross pollinate)..1552 and 1215 Young..2006 Wolf (Thank You Amelia)..839 Sandercock ( which happens to be leading the pack) and the afore mentioned 1625 Gansert. Let there be ORANGE!!!!   Monday, May 29 View Page To round out the day I caught my 3rd woodchuck today...beat that Mr Gansert. Glad I got stuff in the ground..Carpal Tunnel surgery tomorrow. Grow Em Big and Orange!!   Friday, June 2 View Page This is why nobody in their right mind would grow a Gansert Seed. This is AbbyNormal taking up his normal position and ganserting all the attention!!!   Friday, June 2 View Page My baby on Neds 839 is at 28"..take that Vt John..hard to see but on very left of pic..I was not camera man. All 6 plants in ground and doing well.   Saturday, June 3 View Page Can't believe I've got my fourth woodchuck. Get 'em now is better than later!!   Saturday, June 17 View Page Been very cool and now finally wet. Plants are just starting to take off and not much has changed in the past 2 weeks. Gotta love the Adirondacks!! Got my fifth woodchuck this morning after he flipped my trap a couple different times the last couple days. Hope I run out of woodchucks soon. Warmer weather on the way later this next week. Things should really take off then.   Monday, June 26 View Page Well it finally warmed up a bit and even hit 70 a few days ago!! Plants are liking it and they have finally started moving. 2006 Wolf is doing 6" a day but 1552 Young is leading the pack. I might even be up to 6' with my longest. Everybody is dark green and happy. Looking like mid july pollinations here. Grew a 500 lber my first year on a secondary 7' from stump with july 21st pollination so not worried about pollination dates with the slow start. Also got my 6th woodchuck the other day...Mr Gansert you're slacking..you got 11 last year.   Tuesday, June 27 View Page 1552 is no longer the leader of the patch. She got trimmed back a little by a deer. I do have a decent secondary where she was done chewing so I'll train that as new main. She got in a fight with my fencing and I guess she won. Fencing partially down and deer hair everywhere. She'll be going in freezer as soon as bow hunting starts. Also got my 7th woodchuck...smallest one I ever got. It must be the year of the critters. Spent the morning shoring up fencing and sprayed the entire perimeter and plants with my homemade recipe of Irish Spring soap, Tobasco sauce, garlic and peppermint oil. Hope this keeps her away. Fencing is set at 6' which isn't high enough but what I've got. Time will tell.   Friday, July 7 View Page And then there was four. Pulled the 2006 Wolf..not quite sure what happened but turned yellow in 2 days and was done....Then I pulled the 1625 Gansert..stopped growing a few days ago. Everybody in the patch has been treated the same way. All others looking healthy for such a slow start. Mid to hi 80s in May and first 3 weeks of June was 30s and 40s at night and only hit 70 once daytime. Warmed up and everybody took off and then these two stopped. Also got my 8th and 9th woodchuck..two more and I'll tie Mr Ganserts Hi of eleven.   Friday, July 7 View Page On the bright side plants are growing at 6-12" per day. Looking like mid to end of July pollinations. I have babies at 12' on the 1977 Rea and the 839 Sandercock!! 1552 Young will probably become a multi pumpkin plant as the end was eaten by a deer. Got 2 nice secondaries but probably wont show fruit for a while. 1552 is looking like a bush and has plenty of room to grow when I removed the 2006 Wolf. I will Y the secondaries as new mains and grow side vines off them..lets see what happens. I've also got a 1215 Young about 10' long. I wanted 4 plants..I got em'.   Monday, July 10 View Page Missed a nice 4 lobe pollination on my 839 Sandercock at 10'...found it yesterday morning but think it was open from the day before. Have another baby at 12' and will make my mind up on who to choose...would prefer controlled pollination but at this stage of the game will take what I can get. I believe I have a 1977 Rea opening tomorrow and found a baby in the tip of the 1215 Young!! 1552 Young is just running wild with the main eaten off. I got babys everywhere!! Think I ended up with 9 off the 907 Young the one year. Ended up with the prettiest Kin I ever grew from it. Might try a repeat.   Tuesday, July 11 View Page Pollinated 1977 Rea x 839 Sandercock..nice 4 lobe but could only find one male from 839 which is better than none. Like the cross. Glad i have sandy loam soil which drains very well. 8" of rain in 4 days....feel sorry for a lot of growers in the Northeast with poor draining soil.   Tuesday, July 11 View Page 1977 pollination was at 12'   Saturday, July 15 View Page My 1552 Young took a beating from the storms on Thursday evening. Long stems and elephant ears for leaves didnt help it out in the heavy winds. Vines twisted and roots pulled out of ground. Just going to add soil to reach vines and cover roots. Other 3 plants survived pretty well. Found a baby about the size of a baseball. Gotta be about 10 days old. Might take that as a keeper and start terminating some other vines. Also have a pollination on my 839 Sandercock this morning and have 3 1977 Rea males in cup opening as I type. I'll see what the lobes look like.   Saturday, July 15 View Page Pollinated 839 Sandercock x 1977 Rea....nice 4 lobe...3 males   Wednesday, July 19 View Page I had 3 1552 Youngs open this morning on the 3 secondaries I trained to be new mains after main end was eaten off. All 4 lobes. Pollinated one with 1977 Rea another was selfed and I broke 3rd one off with solo cup ..what an ass..was going to pollinate with 839 Sandercock. Have another baby further out I will pollinate with 839. Looking for genetics for next year.   Thursday, July 20 View Page Pollinated the next in line on the main of 1977 with 839 ...4 lobe. Hoping first pollination took and use this as backup. Getting a little late in the season.   Thursday, July 20 View Page 1215 Young does not want to give me a baby on the main. The one I saw fell off 2 days later. Had a butt ugly 4 or 5 lobe this morning on a secondary that I will let bees take care of. Hopefully I will get something from this plant.   Saturday, July 22 View Page Pollinated the 1552 with 839 4 lobe on a secondary further back than I wanted. Will still pollinate trained secondary for main in a couple days. Want the genetics.   Saturday, July 22 View Page Then there we're three. Gonna pull 1215 Young but want to get pics first. End leaves on main were turning yellow and clusters forming at the tips...not good. Had problems in that end of patch a few years ago and didn't replant for 3 years. Already pulled 1625 from that area this year..both were meant for backup and I still have 3 strong plants!! The 2006 Wolf plant I pulled earlier this year was at other end of patch??????   Sunday, July 23 View Page Pollinated 2 1552s x 839 on side by side secondaries. Stick a fork in me I'm done Maybe not..also pollinated a field kin this mornin..might have a few more pollinations on them shortly.   Tuesday, July 25 View Page Both 1977 Rea's aborted on me. I pollinated another 1997 x self at about 20' this morning. Lets see what happens.   Monday, July 31 View Page Think I finally got one to take. 20 dap is 40"cc...on 839 Sandercock x open. It was a pollination I missed. It's at 10' Lets see what happens.   Saturday, August 5 View Page Best news coming from my patch is I got my 10th woodchuck!! One more and I'll tie Mr. Ganserts eleven from last year!! 16 more HD Awards and I'll tie him there also. I do have a couple nice Field Pumpkins going. Can't believe the size of the stems...if the fps grow into them I'll be a Happy Camper!! Still holding out hope I might have a couple AGs.   Sunday, August 13 View Page And then there was one. 1977 Rea went down and lost my kin on 839 at basketball size. I have a 1552 Young plant left that is huge and has several that might take if the doe doesn't get them first. You know you're having a bad year when the biggest in the patch is a Field Pumpkin. There is still hope!!   Saturday, September 2 View Page My 11' tall Glass Gem Corn. Never grew corn before but know how. Guess I did alright. Thank You Joe House for the seeds!!!   Monday, October 23 View Page I never grew corn before and was pleasantly surprised yesterday when my Grand Nephew and i pulled a few ears for him. The color schemes are amazing!! He took a couple warty pumpkins and some corn Thank You Joe House for the seeds for both and others you sent me.   Thursday, October 26 View Page The VFW Symbol looks great surrounded by Glass Gem Corn. All spectrums of the rainbow.   Thursday, October 26 View Page Hope this pic shows up. Ken's probably off hunting someplace and doesn't care about us old fat guys from the mountains!!