Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 62 Entries. Saturday, April 18 View Page My germination box,an old igloo cooler with a bi- fold lid. Seedling mat inside,and one of my wife's pie cooling racks inside. Maintain air temps. 96-99 degrees with digital thermometer and cracking the lid on one side about 2 inches. Soil temps average between 86-93. Seeds up in about 43 hrs. Saturday, April 18 View Page Ahem. Try this again. Before mentioned germination box Saturday, April 18 View Page 193 Bright Saturday, April 18 View Page Germination box Sunday, April 19 View Page 296.5 Barber Sunday, April 19 View Page 251.4 Kent Sunday, April 26 View Page 193 Bright Sunday, April 26 View Page 251.4 Kent Sunday, April 26 View Page 296.5 Barber Sunday, April 26 View Page 209 Schinicker He's about a week older.has spent several days outside.has one true leaf and a second developing.3 weeks old.other three are catching up.one true leaf each starting on the other three. Friday, May 8 View Page 209 Schinicker Friday, May 8 View Page 296.5 Barber Friday, May 8 View Page 193 Bright Friday, May 8 View Page 251 Kent Strong plant.as big as the Schinicker , but a week younger. Transplanted to patch today. Friday, May 15 View Page 209 Schinicker. 7 weeks Ready to plant tommorow! Saturday, May 23 View Page 209 Schinicker Saturday, May 23 View Page 296.5 Barber The baby girl She's the smallest of the three in that patch,but she's the prettiest plant. Saturday, May 23 View Page 251 Kent My 2 year old son snapped one of the first leaves off.i thought I would die, but since then it has grown rapidly. Tuesday, June 2 View Page 209 Schinicker Tuesday, June 2 View Page 193 Bright Replaced the 296.5 barber after the dumb ass neighbors equally dumb ass Labrador dug it up. Tuesday, June 2 View Page 251 Kent May 29th 2015 6 weeks old Tuesday, June 2 View Page 251 Kent June 2nd 2015 2 ft of vine growth in 7 days Wednesday, June 3 View Page First female. 209 Schinicker Thursday, June 11 View Page 209 Schinicker June 10th Thursday, June 11 View Page 193 Bright Interesting growth with this plant as it has always grown in this crescent shape. Thursday, June 11 View Page 251 Kent My best plant. It does get more attention,it's not sequestered(sp?) down at a spot on the marsh. Growing beautifully 8 weeks June 11th Thursday, June 11 View Page Found this on my Kent today. The first female. 1 in in length Bigger than the females I've culled on the other 2 plants. Alas,it met the lopers. Sunday, June 14 View Page 251 Kent Saturday, June 20 View Page 251 Kent 4 DAP Ugly little rascal, but from a 1 1/2 inches to Pepsi in 5 days is really impressive to me. Saturday, June 20 View Page Before mentioned melon on my 251 Kent Wednesday, June 24 View Page 251 Kent The pear beast 9 DAP 82 OTT Saturday, July 4 View Page 251 Kent x 209 Schinicker 12 DAP OTT. 87 Saturday, July 4 View Page 251 Kent x 220 Brinkley 8 DAP OTT. 67 Thursday, July 9 View Page 251 Kent x 209 Schinicker 18 DAP OTT. 109 Thursday, July 9 View Page 251 Kent x 220 Brinkley 14 DAP in this photo. OTT. 96 Friday, July 17 View Page 251 Kent x 209 Schinicker 26 DAP OTT 131. 71.5 lbs I think he will go heavy. Being in the construction industry,I'm used to heavy lifting. The melon seems mighty heavy for just 71 lbs Friday, July 17 View Page 251 Kent x 209 Schinicker Friday, July 17 View Page 251 Kent x 220 Brinkley 24 DAP. OTT 125 The unfortunate cull . Started out of the gate growing much faster than the 209 cross. Since day 10 however he has equaled or been behind per daily gains. Will cull on Sunday for seeds. Wednesday, July 29 View Page Plant was full and green Friday evening. This is Wednesday morning. Wednesday, July 29 View Page New growth on finger vine that supports melon. Every other leaf on vine is dead or dying Wednesday, July 29 View Page Fat pig. Short in length,barrel shaped across chest. 38 1/2 SS measurement since 35 DAP Thursday, July 30 View Page 209 Schinicker I thought plant had died. Planted at a nearby marsh along side a 193 Bright ,both plants sustained heavy vole damage . The 193 Bright was cut even with the ground at the stump.The 209 Schinicker was leveled flat. Plant came back on its own. Friend of mine who owns the property called me today and said,"I think you should come down here and look at your plant." Haven't been to check in a month,thought plant died. Weeds have gotten high. Thursday, July 30 View Page He had built a makeshift shelter for this guy. 130 OTT. Maybe 25 DAP? Open pollinated,we got him up out of weeds and on 4 1" x 1" salt treated decking rails. Better to be lucky than good. Saturday, August 15 View Page Melon on 209 Schinicker . One of two plants planted down at marsh in early May. Thought both were destroyed by voles,luckily it came back. Saturday, August 15 View Page 209 Schinicker Saturday, August 15 View Page 209 Schinicker Flat top Only about a 34 inch SS measurement 74 inch circumference. Age of melon is hard to gauge. It's open pollinated some where around first weekend in July. I can only guess based on previous measurements. OTT of 157 35-40 DAP Saturday, August 15 View Page 209 Schinicker Saturday, August 15 View Page 209 Schinicker Rack is 16" x 40" Sunday, August 16 View Page 251 Kent 143 OTT totally stopped growth on August 5th Begin to yellow slightly Melon is 48 DAP here Sunday, August 16 View Page Lost 2 inches on its side to side measurement due to a split lengthwise on the side. It was oozing for a week so I don't know how much weight it actually lost. Probably pushing to many ferts in an effort to keep it going. Sunday, August 16 View Page Before mentioned split. Sometime around Tuesday or Wednesday. Really went yellow fast after that. Sunday, August 16 View Page Final OTT of 143. 90lbs 86 even on the bathroom scale. Lots of dark brown seeds. Hope to try some next year as I think the cross was pretty good. 251 Kent x 209 Schinicker . My marsh melon is thumping along at 40 Dap with a 160 OTT. Good to still be in the game ! Wednesday, August 19 View Page Seeds from my 86 pounder. Wednesday, August 19 View Page My son inspects the dinosaur egg . Friday, September 11 View Page 209 Schinicker 66 days(?) Friday, September 11 View Page 209 Schinicker Think she's done for year. 2 weeks from Va state fair. Friday, September 25 View Page 209 Schinicker Loaded up ready to head to Richmond for the Va state fair. Reporter for the local paper came out and did a nice little story on it. I'll have my 15 minutes of fame I guess. Discovered a small hole in the bottom of melon. Mouse or a vole had recently started to work on it, but never made it through the rind. Nevertheless,it disqualified me for the weigh off. Now I just have to find somewhere to weigh it. Tuesday, September 29 View Page 209 Schinicker Tuesday, September 29 View Page Whole page in local paper! Wow, now I know how Chris Kent feels ! LOL. Tuesday, September 29 View Page Asked a local tomato grower if I could weigh it. Scale is certified in the state of Florida . I'm assuming it is in VA as well. Tuesday, September 29 View Page 209 Schinicker Final weight 132.2 UOW OTT 166 Not bad for my first attempt. 86,72,132.2 my first year. Is it spring yet ? Thursday, December 24 View Page First attempt at hole insertion grafting,and it looks like I might have success. Melon is my 132 grafted to fig leaf gourd root stock. Wish spring would hurry up and get here ! Thanks for the gourd seeds big moon!