Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 14 Entries. Monday, April 1 View Page LanTerra Update 2024. - Welcome to my scribes. OK so this year here is the line up. Growing this year for weigh-off. A big 1500* Squash from Cindy, 191-19 Kapelari FP's, 10.46 La Rue Eaton LG's, Several other misc maters including the, GVGO big head sunflowers and lots of flowers. Must give a very Special thanks to all growers for the seeds and especially John Vincent. My friend Mr Vincent works tirelessly for Ontario Giant Growers. Thank you John! Have first hand knowledge of the Eaton Long Gourds and the 10.46 maters. Yes after several on board ship discussions with Jack he easily gave away all his secrets. Knowing the provenance of the seed you grow is priceless. Looking ahead to a great season in my Pleasure Palace. The great pumpkin patch is everyone's to enjoy come October. GLTA   Tuesday, April 2 View Page Shout out to Chad New. Been a fan and watching for a while. You bring the seminar into my living room. Good Luck on the You Tubes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8LpVT3N45Q   Wednesday, April 3 View Page LanTerra Science update: Some recent 2022 mater research that has caught my eye. Amazing Amino's. Soy and or Sunflower Protein's with Glycine. Well worth the read. Soluble premixed products are on the market in Canada this year. A guy first scribbled about Glycine written here. Link one is direct to the study and please note and read the citations as they reveal broad base acceptance of the findings. Glycine was first noted in this diary several years ago. https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/12/8/1761#metrics https://www.ez-gro.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Aminogro.pdf Biostimulants, like Amino13 + other Glycine enriched amino acids are protein hydrolysates that can have various effects on different functions of Giants, namely size, which is yield and yield components of delayed senescence through extended growth promotion and increased transportation of micro nutrient availability. Noting that studies like this may help AGP growers to better understanding the use of them.   Friday, April 5 View Page Backups emerge. Caleb my 6 year old grand son and I started two backup 945* pollinators last Saturday. He put lots of hearts on the tags. Caleb filed and gently covered them while waving his hands over the pots saying the magic words. “Abracadabra grow squash grow” and then he watered them with natural stagnated rain water and went off to play. So turns out Caleb has a big fat green thumb. His dry non soaked non heated seeds placed on the window sill only took a short five days to break the surface. On day three I mixed-up and used Soluble Aminos on these two guys. Have decided to load up and juice all vine bury mixes this year with Amino Acids. More to come… and GLTA wishing you all good growing. Russ   Sunday, April 7 View Page Big head sunflowers. Logan is still waiting on his to germinate. Three plants on the go with many tall SF too and the boys took home seeds to plant for weigh-off. At LanTerra there will also be lots of patch SF volunteers. Last year we had a beautiful Giant Castor Bean and a 10' tall multi head giant SF strain that I topped early on. Have already gone through two small bags each of Soy and Sun Flower protein powder. Yesterday the main squash plants home planting site was treated with three types of protein powder. So the compost piles and all been layered and treated with these powdered Aminos. Including a hemp protein that was found on Amazon. A recent moron’s research is revealing exciting some exciting outcomes.   Sunday, April 7 View Page Just arrived and on the market. Hope the study proves it’s worth. Welcome Amino13. Have waited since 2017 for a liquid premixed product like this. Since first playing with Glycine mixology was always a problem. So yes, this moron will be testing this stuff out extensively during seed starting. More scribes on the research are on the GVGO FB page. Good luck and Good Growing.   Sunday, April 7 View Page LanTerra Update - Having mostly completed compost additions last fall Patch prep this spring is meager. So Sprayed very early on in Feb with Soap, dormant HC oil and Chitosan. Then earlier this week sprayed 6 gallons on the entire patch and all compost piles with molasses and honey mixed with another very strong Chitosan mix plus Humic Acid and Epsom Salts. The main planting site is prepped now. Added final touches yesterday include. Spread - up to 1" thick each of Worm castings, Coconut Coir, Promix Mix with Myco plus extra Vermiculite. Sprinkled in - WOW Humic Acid Concentrate, Rock dust, Bone meal and some Blood meal. Whipped in - Oyster shell flower and Dematiaceous earth for pest and nematode controls. Dusted over - Moderate amounts of three Protein Powders Hemp, Soy & Sunflower. Broadcasted in - Osmocote combined with Organic MG Fert, Plus Espoma Bio-Tone. Lightly raked in the mixes into the first thee inches of the surface. Covered over the 10 x 10' planting site with fresh old winter surface garden bedding of leaves and organic debris . Watered the entire area with stagnated rain water and a strong Alaskan Fish mix.   Sunday, April 7 View Page Big head sunflowers. Logan is still waiting on his to germinate. Three completion plants on the go with many tall SF too. There will be also lots of patch volunteers. Have already gone through two small bags each of Soy and SunFlower protein powder. Yesterday the main squash plants home planting site was treated with two types of protein powder. So the compost piles and all been layered and treated with these powdered Aminos. Including a hemp protein that was found on Amazon. A recent moron’s research is revealing exciting some exciting outcomes.   Sunday, April 7 View Page New for LanTerra this year is premade compost. Yes, know what your thinking. Ok, Gonna call it what it is "Moron Compost with Coffee grounds" Its got all of the patch prep moron stuff listed in a prior diary entry plus added coffee grounds. Have 5 completed with 2 more batches on the go. Was heating them all winter with seed matts. One of the batches has pre-inoculated clay balls. Certainly love the CEC potential of the organics. Coffee grounds are well composted and hope to provide a patch healthy home for Trichoderma they bring along. Planning to use the "Moron Compost" for planting time and vine burying or as long as it lasts or I run out of bin space.   Thursday, April 11 View Page Soak Time in Water at 83*F and Amino Acid. Filed a back up pollinator 1123.* Sproule and a primary 1500* Tobeck. Using Paper towel method and plastic wrapped in zip lock baggie set at low 80'ish.   Friday, April 12 View Page 1123* germinates at 20 hours from starting of soak. Bathed it in Myco and potted up with juiced up Moron seed starting mix with compost.   Saturday, April 13 View Page Since the Linderman days of Niagara Falls > Finally after years of wanting to do this it’s done. Managed to use Myco and a spring Buckwheat crop to pre-inoculate a large area of the Squash* patch. Buckwheat comes from the 1446 Eaton days. At Port Elgin, Dave McCallum turned to me as Eaton's monster approached the stage. He said Buckwheat that's what he uses. Grows prolifically here and deep roots can only help my patch. So after setting up the two hoop houses then Dug and Hand forked to a ten inch depth about 300 sq ft in front of the main Hoop house. Spread Osmocote and Organic Fert with Worm castings and Kelp. Sprinkled the area with Bone meal, Rock Dust, Oyster Shell Flower and Diatomaceous Earth. Covered over with Pro Mix Myco and Vermiculite. Hoed the mixture in. Colonization of the patch has begun. With sowing a spring Green Manure Crop Cover. Fall Rye - Green Peas - Buckwheat - White Dutch Clover. This mixture will be chopped down ahead of vine growth and used for a mulch around the squash plants crown area.   Saturday, April 13 View Page LanTerra Update > Squash hoop house soil temp already at 65*F. No cables needed this year. Promoting the rhizophagy cycle for cover crop roots that benefit in bacteria and fungi > these new roots will be able to get nutrients from them. Initially, microbes grow on plant roots in a zone outside the growing root tips. To cultivate microbes, roots secrete exudates or carbohydrate sugars and other nutrients. As root cells suberize and mature, the microbes are then doused with reactive oxygen (superoxide) they explode then degrade and release nutrients. Key is what components contain Superoxide. This Answered by WR holder Jim Bryson > was end of season maple syrup. Sprayed the spring cover crop and the main planting site in the patch. Soaked the soil with Naphthaleneacetic Acid (NAA) plus a strong Compost Tea blend mixed with lots of Molasses and Apple Cider Vinegar. Added in water soluble Black Swallow Amino Acid, Humic Acid & Fe. Grow Squash Grow...   Sunday, April 14 View Page Seed Starting. Early maters both are estimated & unofficial. They are off of two sibs of the 7.88 Butler. 5 - 5.08 Landry 23. 6 - 5.14 Landry 23.