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Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 206 Entries.
Monday, January 3 View Page
Happy New year everyone! This is a shot of my sweet corn patch last summer. Soon it will be summer again! Out of all the varieties I grew, my favorite was a yellow supersweet called 'Vision'. I have grown 'Vision' for several years and it always ranks among the very best.
 
Thursday, February 3 View Page
2022 growing season is here. Candy onions are started.
 
Monday, February 28 View Page
Free soil test from state ag experiment station. It covers the basics. I am mostly interested in the pH. By the looks of the test that lime I put in really worked. Maybe a little too much
 
Friday, March 18 View Page
I ruptured my achilles tendon playing basketball, Not sure what this year is going to look like for me. I truly do love this hobby and it brings me so much joy. I plan to be able to grow this year, but it is in God's hands, not mine.
 
Saturday, March 19 View Page
Happy day! look what came in The mail this week. This has to be the best spring newsletter yet. Many thanks to steve Connolly and the rest of the crew at the sngpg. There is no better more enjoyable way to read than off of paper and ink.
 
Saturday, April 9 View Page
Just got some grafts done on the giant watermelons. I am going to try rooting them in pure perlite. Fingers crossed. So far this year it has been a struggle in many, many ways. Mice have eaten up two batches of my watermelon seedlings and rootstocks. Hopefully I have that under control now. As gardeners (and in life) we are battling against forces that are out to thwart our best efforts. "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you. -Genesis 3 I am still on crutches, recovering from my ruptured achilles. If nothing else I now have a lot more respect and empathy for people who deal with physical disabilities.
 
Monday, April 11 View Page
Because of my injury I am trying to cut back this year. I am hoping less is more. In other words I am hoping for a personal best. Growin only one plant should help me focus. I am going to take it on faith that my body will be able. The 1883 bayuk is the seed I will be growing
 
Sunday, April 17 View Page
Happy easter everyone. It looks like my two 1883 Bayuks came up. I am thrilled. If they didn't come up I was seriously thinking of taking the year off. I am not one to quit easily and I try to make it my motto to "never give up". BUT this year is different and not quitting is one thing, but I also don't want to be a glutton for punishment! LOL
 
Monday, April 18 View Page
Potting up some 268 Houston’s melons. I like to add some perlite to the media to help aid in the prevention of root rot diseases
 
Wednesday, April 20 View Page
My tomatoes were getting a little bit big for their cell packs. So I cut the tips out. I like to try and leave at least a couple leaf nodes beneath the cut because you will get two new leaders from axillary buds located there. This will slow the plants down and also create a bushier transplant. They are a bit ahead of schedule so slowing them down is a good thing. But if you click on my next entry you will see the real reason I am doing this.
 
Wednesday, April 20 View Page
They make great cuttings and i am able to double my tomato transplants without having to plant more seed.
 
Wednesday, April 20 View Page
Some Carolina strongback seedlings to graft to. These are for harvest moon and orange crisp seedless melons I am also growing a (new to me) open pollinated variety which should be really good to eat. The variety is called legacy My favorite has always been jubilee but in recent years I have preferred allsweet which is an open pollinated sangria type. The allsweet has a very small seed which is why I prefer it now
 
Wednesday, April 20 View Page
1883 bayuk seedlings. The one in back is a bit challenged it has ver few roots. Some come out like that. I just plant them a little deep and I n no time she will catch right up
 
Wednesday, April 20 View Page
Here are some legacy seedlings germinated under intermittent mist in pure perlite. Notice the soil thermometer a must for germinating seeds. Mine is just a cheap meat thermometer to check your meat after it is removed from the oven or grill. I got it at my local hardware store for a few bucks.
 
Wednesday, April 20 View Page
This is a graft of my 188 on a rampart rootstock. Initially it failed and the cotyledon wilted and turned brown. It looks like the graft still took
 
Wednesday, May 4 View Page
1883 bayuk still a couple weeks away from planting. I have gone the opposite way of most growers. Everyone else is planting earlier and earlier. I have been staring later and later. The past couple years I haven’t even done the cold frame thing. They go right out into the garden
 
Wednesday, May 4 View Page
Three 268 Houston grafts. Two are on hybrid squash rootstock one is on rampart can you guess which one is the rampart?
 
Wednesday, May 4 View Page
A marsh bushel gourd.
 
Wednesday, May 4 View Page
Plastic is All laid for the melons. My son Abel did most of the work. I am not able to get around very well yet, but I am in a boot and fully weight bearing. The big problem is that I am in a boot with a four centimeter heal lift. So you can imagine my back and hips don’t like being so uneven. The lifts start coming out today so I am thrilled. To be on level legs again will be a god send. That will hopefully be a reality within the next week or so.
 
Wednesday, May 4 View Page
While my Achilles is grafting itself back together, so too are these apple trees. These are on a semi dwarfing rootstock. There is a person in town with a very old seedling summer apple tree. It is very old and declining. I offered to help save the tree as the owner told me it produces very good tasting apples that are very sweet. It is a July apple so I am sure it will not keep but I am excited to see that it looks like these grafts took. The old tree I took the scion wood from was so unvigorous I had to use old branch tips as the scion wood not the recommended one year old vigorous wood that is ideal for grafting.
 
Wednesday, May 4 View Page
These are the tomato cuttings that I posted about in a previous post. All rooted up and ready to grow. Free plants how can you go wrong?
 
Wednesday, May 4 View Page
Do as. Say not as I do. Lol these are some tomato seedlings potted up in a fifty fifty mix of pro mix and finely ground pine bark. For some reason the bark doesn’t eat up the nitrogen quite the same as wood chips do. In fact pine bark is what most nurseries use for their woody trees and shrubs and to some extent their perennials. The bark adds stability and life to the growing mix. If a grower were to try and grow trees in a pure pro mix media the mix would lose its porosity and also the ph would be far out of whack in a long term situation. Peat perlite mixes are for short term crops like annuals. Plants that will be potted long term will be in some combination of a peat/ bark/ sand mix
 
Wednesday, May 4 View Page
1883 bayuk still a couple weeks away from planting. I have gone the opposite way of most growers. Everyone else is planting earlier and earlier. I have been staring later and later. The past couple years I haven’t even done the cold frame thing. They go right out into the garden
 
Thursday, May 12 View Page
56.2 english. I started this a bit early but I don’t really have any fairs to bring it to so I would rather have it ripen in the hot weather of august than the cooler weather of September. Melons don’t taste as good when they ripen in cooler weather.
 
Thursday, May 12 View Page
56.2 english. I started this a bit early but I don’t really have any fairs to bring it to so I would rather have it ripen in the hot weather of august than the cooler weather of September. Melons don’t taste as good when they ripen in cooler weather.
 
Thursday, May 12 View Page
Cleopatra hybrid muskmelon
 
Tuesday, May 17 View Page
On Saturday I planted 3 giant melons, a bushel gourd and two Ag's. More details as to what I planted will be coming soon. I have some extra grafted melon plants if anyone is interested let me know.
 
Thursday, May 19 View Page
I got a kick out of Rmen's diary today. He said the following; "I am not able to stop growing, this is a vice, I germinated seeds for my father, and in the end, in addition to watermelons, field pumpkins, tomatoes, in the end I grow pumpkins." Sometimes I have wondered why I do what I do too. I have been limping around the patch in a medical boot (slow as a turtle), yet I still go ahead and plant giant watermelons, Atlantic Giants, and bushel gourds etc.? Who in their right mind does that?
 
Friday, May 20 View Page
Here is my line up that is in the ground as of right now. I have two 1883 Bayuk Atlantic Giant plants in the ground. and as for Giant Watermelon I have a; 268 Houston on a RST-104 Hybrid squash rootstock. This is my high risk high reward plant. If I can keep the stump from failing you know its going to grow like heck on that rootstock. It is already twice the size of the others.. 259 Terry on a Rampart rootstock 188 Ciesielski JBD type melon on a rampart rootstock. Lastly a 294.5 Marsh bushel gourd. I still have yet to plant a 56.2 English Cantaloupe. and also a 175 Ciesielski CCx JBD melon plant that is still very small.
 
Sunday, May 22 View Page
It's been a hot humid weekend here, that first hot weather is usually when the cucumber beetles first show up. My two 1883's were wilting badly I am glad that I have them in a spot that starts getting shade around 4 pm. As soon as the sun got off of them they started to perk back up. Soon they will have established roots and should fare better in the heat. Supposedly a cool front is coming through this evening. Hopefully we don't get any violent weather.
 
Monday, May 23 View Page
I planted a 56.2 English giant cantaloupe today, I also planted a really small 175 Ciesielski CCxJBD hybrid melon. This year I had planned to grow the original f1 crosses that Chris Kent made back in 2017 but unfortunately a mouse ate all my seedlings. So the 175 from 2018 is the next best thing. It was grown off the 52 Kent '17.
 
Sunday, May 29 View Page
Sweet! a bunch of volunteer watermelons. Oops my bad those are Carolina strong back weeds. They have been showing up every year since I planted them to grow out some seed. One year of seedling means seven years of weeding.
 
Sunday, May 29 View Page
268 Houston on a Shintosa rootstock, my best plant. If I can get this plant to make it through July I will be very happy
 
Sunday, May 29 View Page
1883 bayuk plant b
 
Sunday, May 29 View Page
1883 bayuk plant a. Overall I am happy with how much these plants have grown in such a short time
 
Sunday, May 29 View Page
294.5 marsh bushel gourd
 
Monday, June 6 View Page
I am seeing lots of photos with nice looking pumpkin plants in peoples diaries. I just saw the Paton's diary, their plants are gorgeous and huge, and we are only in early June! Twenty Years ago, growers would be happy to have plants that were that big in mid to late July. The hobby has really come a long ways in a very short period of time. It has been very exciting for me to see the advances that growers have made to achieve unbelievable weights. Weights that I could not have even fathomed when I started this hobby. I really never thought we would get much over 1500 pounds yet here we are at over 2700 pounds#. I often wonder what the future will hold in general but also specifically what the future will hold in store for this hobby. It seems that things are changing rapidly in the world and perhaps we will not have the luxury to be able to devote so much of our time and money into producing fruits that you can't eat. In Lloyd Bright's book about Giant watermelon growing he talks about a period of time in the 1920's where competitive Giant watermelon cultivation was a common hobby in his part of the country. He states how the great depression put a stop to that and sadly even the 'Triumph' seed variety that was grown at the time was lost forever during the depression. Lets hope that history does not repeat and that we can maintain the Atlantic Giant seed line in perpetuity. Perhaps this type of thinking is too negative, I hope my gut feelings are wrong just like they were about the limits of size that an Atlantic Giant' pumpkin can attain. We will see.
 
Wednesday, June 8 View Page
Lots of arguing on the message boards these days. Dang! Here is my two cents Don't be mad at me if you are reading this and don't like it. Remember you clicked here. There are lots of opinions given up on these boards. some of it is good advice and some of it is bad. As people we need to be able to discern what is right and what is wrong. Each of us will have to do this as individuals. No one can do this for us. Zuckerburg got it right the first time when he said the good information will outweigh the bad. Like cream the truth should float to the top (if it is allowed too) The proof will often be in our results. (Plant health, pumpkin weights etc.) But not always........ Some of the smartest horticultural minds and best advice on this site over the years has often come from individuals that are not people who would be considered heavy hitters. A guy that comes to mind is Steve Jepsen, (He was limited by physical and patch location difficulties.) There are many, many more names but I fear actually calling them out will either be patronizing to the ones I remember to name and also insulting to the ones I forget to mention. As for the heavy hitters not really being on here anymore, yes it is less. But I bet if you asked a heavy hitter as to why they don't post anymore. It is not because some growers give bad advice. It is the hate... and the meanness... which the top dogs often receive from jealous haters. Also they are busy growing pumpkins and why should they bother posting on a message board when they can just privately email a grower they respect. Lastly they are busy, really busy growing pumpkins and maintaining there lives. To be great at this hobby is costly and requires great sacrifice. The tunnel vision and focus required is tremendous. They need to be above all the distractions.
 
Wednesday, June 8 View Page
Lots of arguing on the message boards these days. Dang! Here is my two cents Don't be mad at me if you are reading this and don't like it. Remember you clicked here. There are lots of opinions given up on these boards. some of it is good advice and some of it is bad. As people we need to be able to discern what is right and what is wrong. Each of us will have to do this as individuals. No one can do this for us. Zuckerburg got it right the first time when he said the good information will outweigh the bad. Like cream the truth should float to the top (if it is allowed too) The proof will often be in our results. (Plant health, pumpkin weights etc.) But not always........ Some of the smartest horticultural minds and best advice on this site over the years has often come from individuals that are not people who would be considered heavy hitters. A guy that comes to mind is Steve Jepsen, (He was limited by physical and patch location difficulties.) There are many, many more names but I fear actually calling them out will either be patronizing to the ones I remember to name and also insulting to the ones I forget to mention. As for the heavy hitters not really being on here anymore, yes it is less. But I bet if you asked a heavy hitter as to why they don't post anymore. It is not because some growers give bad advice. It is the hate... and the meanness... which the top dogs often receive from jealous haters. Also they are busy growing pumpkins and why should they bother posting on a message board when they can just privately email a grower they respect. Lastly they are busy, really busy growing pumpkins and maintaining there lives. To be great at this hobby is costly and requires great sacrifice. The tunnel vision and focus required is tremendous. They need to be above all the distractions.
 
Sunday, June 12 View Page
56.2 english giant canteloupe. On wood chip mulch.
 
Sunday, June 12 View Page
175 Ciesielski jbd x cc f2 hybrid I got a late start with this but figured what the heck. It is also growing over wood chip mulch. I believe it is on a strong back root stock. We will see how it does
 
Sunday, June 12 View Page
175 Ciesielski jbd x cc f2 hybrid I got a late start with this but figured what the heck. It is also growing over wood chip mulch. I believe it is on a strong back root stock. We will see how it does
 
Monday, June 13 View Page
Life is more than just pumpkins. This kousa dogwood is something else. I just had to stop the truck and get a picture of it.
 
Monday, June 13 View Page
At the same location they have this tree it’s a nice tight columnar sweet gum it resembles a lombardy poplar minus the short lived disease issues you see with the lombardy poplar.
 
Monday, June 13 View Page
Melon patch this morning. From top to bottom we have a 268 Houston on a rst 104 09 rootstock. (Same thing as a shintosa) then it’s a 188 Ciesielski on a rampart rootstock. Last down the line is the 259 terry on a rampart. It’s my first year using rampart and so far I like it. The ramparts have already caught up to the squash. That is a surprise to me.
 
Friday, June 17 View Page
While much of the country is dealing with extreme heat, we are not here in the northeast. It will be in the 80's today and it won't be until next Wednesday when it looks like we will reach the 80's again. We are still waiting for summer to start here, hopefully farmers will be getting there hay done now while it is cool and dry. It always seems like it is hot as heck when it's time to put hay in the barn.
 
Thursday, June 23 View Page
1883 bayuk plant. This is on the smaller plant it is throwing double pumpkins whenever the main is flowering. However it is not a double vine. I like the look of the shape on the 1883 fruit. It looks like it will be a long pumpkin.
 
Thursday, June 23 View Page
1883 bayuk big plant. Is producing nice long sets too. I don’t think I will keep these but will go with a later set
 
Thursday, June 23 View Page
Patch is filling in despite the cold weather. Not many females yet but the ones that are there are fat little buggers
 
Wednesday, June 29 View Page
Sunflower tower built by my daughter and I. It consists of four hickory poles and three two by sixes with bamboo poles to tie the sunflowers to. The tall sunflowers are Richard mace’s seeds. We are a bit behind as the sunflowers went in the ground last week. But they were in 1 gallon pots and about 6 inches tall when they went in the ground. I can’t wait to see them grow. Plus it’s nice for me not to have to care for them as my daughter does all the work with these. She has been the tall sunflower champ at our local fair since she was a young kid.
 
Wednesday, June 29 View Page
A close up of the sunflower set up
 
Friday, July 1 View Page
I noticed my giant melons were flooding when I turned on the drip tape. I found the problem. A rat or mouse had ate the tape and it was flooding the patch. Hopefully I have a repair coupling for it. Also one more litltle hiccup. My two carolina cross melons the 268 Houston and the 259 Terry both turned out to be JBD. I am confused to say the least. I am not sure what happened. I am pretty sure I must have screwed up the labels at some point. Dang it's bad enough to screw up one....but two? Sorry Jason and Hank, I really wanted to prove those seeds for you... It has been a weird year to say the least. On a positive note the achilles tendon is getting better and I am able to get around much better than before. Hopefully I will be able to forget about this year someday.. However I probably am supposed to learn something from this but so far the biggest thing I have learned is that I don't like it.
 
Monday, July 4 View Page
Happy fourth everyone. This lumpy black diamond is my oldest and biggest so far it is on plant number three.
 
Monday, July 4 View Page
1883 bayuk pumpkin kind of an unusual shape
 
Monday, July 4 View Page
These are my two 1883 bayuk plants
 
Monday, July 4 View Page
Another jbd melon
 
Monday, July 4 View Page
Marsh bushel gourd
 
Monday, July 4 View Page
Three jbd melon plants
 
Tuesday, July 5 View Page
Sorry about the sideways and upside down journal entries all year. This year I have moved into the 21st century and I now have a cell phone, however I obviously still have a lot to learn. I will figure this out at some point.
 
Friday, July 8 View Page
For the past week I have been battling mice/voles/rats in my melons. Something is eating all my vines large portions of my plants have been severed this past week. A few minutes ago I went into the patch and noticed a few of the culls had been chomped into. I sprayed the plants with some deer repellant and put out some traps. Hopefully I can get this under control soon before they end my season. There are so many obstacles to success it is amazing any of us get anything to the scales. I am very frustrated right now, which is par for the course. Stay level headed.
 
Saturday, July 9 View Page
1883 Bayuk plant a
 
Saturday, July 9 View Page
1883 Bayuk and pant b Hopefully I did these photos correctly thank you to Ed pappas for the help with that
 
Saturday, July 9 View Page
1883 Bayuk and pant b Hopefully I did these photos correctly thank you to Ed pappas for the help with that
 
Monday, July 11 View Page
It looks like the 1883 Bayuk on "plant a" decided to abort, it has stopped growing and I have that bad feeling. It hasn't gotten too soft yet but it is not a healthy gloss color like it should be. Too bad I was all in with it too. Just a day ago I went through the plant and pruned off all the pumpkins. I have been doing this hobby long enough to know that this is par for the course. I don't see any pollinations coming up any time soon as I removed a lot of the females too. I am still hoping to get a pollination done within the next ten days. Our weather has been ideal for pumpkins lots of sun and not very hot. Low to mid 80's. Nothing in the 90's recently.
 
Friday, July 15 View Page
1883 bayuk on “plant a” has aborted. Not sure what the heck is going on.
 
Friday, July 15 View Page
1883 bayuk”plant b” has this pumpkin that is still alive although it isn’t growing very fast It is upsetting because this plant is ready to rock. Hopefully I will figure out what is going on.
 
Friday, July 15 View Page
294 marsh bushel gourd
 
Friday, July 15 View Page
See the puckered leaves, on the underside of the leaf it is covered with aphids
 
Friday, July 15 View Page
I will console myself with my melons which are growing rapidly in this sunny drought we are in. The gardens need rain soon if we don’t get rain soon my unirrigated plots will be toast. Probably with in a week
 
Friday, July 15 View Page
Sunflowers are starting to grow
 
Friday, July 15 View Page
Melons are just about filled into their 12 x30 spots
 
Thursday, July 21 View Page
Both 1883's aborted, I am beginning to fear YVD infection. The vine tips near the pumpkin are showing the stunted growth pattern typical of YVD. Other than that I am not seeing much in terms of symptoms of the disease. So far I have two symptoms, Aborting pumpkins, and stunted vine tips with just a slight off color. Perhaps the puzzle will come together and the finished puzzle will show that it's YVD. Or perhaps it will be something I never figure out. In the meantime I am allowing my plants to fruit heavily on unaffected portions of the vines hoping to glean something out of this season. But if it is YVD eventually the whole plant will become unable to grow a pumpkin at all. I find it interesting because someone could grow summer squash and still not have a total loss as far as production is concerned even in a field that is heavily infected with YVD positive plants, because with summer squash you are eating the very immature recently pollinated fruit. The Zucchinni doesn't ever reach a day ten, you are harvesting them within a few days of pollination. YVD often allows for a fruit to be pollinated and then grow for a bit. On a positive note I find this kind of let down easier to deal with than losing a really special pumpkin that is growing like gangbusters. Those hurt the worst.
 
Thursday, July 21 View Page
Glyphosate damage on leaf
 
Thursday, July 21 View Page
Glyphosate damage a slightly different look
 
Thursday, July 21 View Page
A leaf that is aged and worn out by chemicals
 
Thursday, July 21 View Page
A leaf that is aged and worn out by chemicals
 
Thursday, July 21 View Page
First time ever a melon with a stem split
 
Thursday, July 21 View Page
It is a fatty
 
Thursday, July 21 View Page
The patch
 
Thursday, July 21 View Page
Glyphosate damage on melon
 
Sunday, July 24 View Page
I was looking under my melon tents and I noticed some discoloration on the melons especially tucked into the rib area. Mites are having a field day underneath the structure. No rain hits there to wash them off, they are completely protected like in a greenhouse. Mites are a big problem, and I am sure the greenhouse growers deal with them every year. Such a pain in the butt.
 
Monday, July 25 View Page
Blue satin rose of Sharon in the background. If the rose of Sharon is in bloom you should be picking your early sweet corn. Just something I have noticed over the years. The technical term for that kind of observation is called phenology.
 
Monday, August 1 View Page
Stem split melon still growing. But so is the………
 
Monday, August 1 View Page
Stem split
 
Monday, August 1 View Page
This one is my biggest. I haven’t measured it yet. I am always scared….. will I be happy or will I be disappointed? I am pretty sure I have never grown one this fat before
 
Monday, August 1 View Page
The light color in the ribs is from mites. Grrrrr
 
Monday, August 1 View Page
The light color in the ribs is from mites. Grrrrr
 
Thursday, August 4 View Page
This is a trial that they are running at the ct ag experiment station in Hamden. They are trialing different growing media for rooftop or urban gardens. The cucumbers in the picture are being grown in 100 percent compost. They look to be a bit stunted and yellow compared to those grown in pro mix bx. See next entry
 
Thursday, August 4 View Page
Pro mix bx
 
Thursday, August 4 View Page
Now that hemp is legal. The scientists are growing it and studying it for cbd production.
 
Thursday, August 4 View Page
The chestnut orchard. There are trees from all around the world all with varying degrees of resistance to chestnut blight. One scientist is studying the effects of a mycorrhizae that has been found growing on the roots of healthy mature American chestnuts. This particular mycorrhizae strain is not found in association with the stump sprout saplings that abound in the woods around here Perhaps it imparts a level of protection. The work they do at the experiment station is fascinating and we can thank them for a lot of things. For example the mamophaga fungus which has helped stop the gypsy moths was discovered. and brought to the us by scientists working at the ct ag station. Initially they thought the introduction had failed to take but several years after introducing it the gypsy moths were dying off soon after hatching. The fungus is now dispersed and works great as long as we have a wet may
 
Thursday, August 4 View Page
Some of the vegetable trials they are running
 
Thursday, August 4 View Page
The stem split got too deep so I had to harvest the melon
 
Thursday, August 4 View Page
From above
 
Thursday, August 4 View Page
The plant it is on is one of the nicest I have ever grown. Too bad about the melon
 
Thursday, August 4 View Page
View of the massive split
 
Thursday, August 4 View Page
Final picture before cutting it open.
 
Thursday, August 4 View Page
Measurements of the big melon.
 
Thursday, August 4 View Page
Looks like it would have gone right to the charts………pumpkin charts that is. I am glad I didn’t get this thing weighed it would have been a heartbreaker for me
 
Thursday, August 4 View Page
Some of the vegetable trials they are running
 
Saturday, August 6 View Page
I have been doing some research and I found this article, recent research is indicating that incomplete or poor pollination early in the season may be a factor in hollow heart. I need to start hand pollinating and test this theory. The weather was still on the cool side here in late June. Not a great environment to transfer pollen in. Also around here the native bee populations don't really get started until later in the summer. In June all I see is a few honeybees or bumblebees available to pollinate. https://sites.udel.edu/weeklycropupdate/?p=14108
 
Tuesday, August 9 View Page
Cleopatra melons. These are darn good eating
 
Tuesday, August 9 View Page
1883 bayuk. I cut this off over a month ago when it stopped growing. It has amazed me that it is still here. Look at that color. I still haven’t quit yet on my two 1883 plants that are still in the garden. It is early to say but I am hoping to bring one or two to a weigh off. I have been treating the plant with product called phosphite. It is known to fight bacterial diseases if applied in the high dosage given on the label. It is thought that yvd is a bacterial disease hence my reasoning to use phosphite.
 
Wednesday, August 10 View Page
YVD?
 
Wednesday, August 10 View Page
yvd?
 
Wednesday, August 10 View Page
How is this possible? Phosphite?
 
Wednesday, August 10 View Page
Or this?
 
Wednesday, August 10 View Page
Or this?
 
Wednesday, August 10 View Page
Virus on dahlia. I think.
 
Wednesday, August 10 View Page
Huge bushel growing gourd plant doing a lot of nothing.
 
Wednesday, August 10 View Page
This is one plant. It is huge. I will have to see how many square feet it is. Thinking about 500 square feet. Yikes.
 
Wednesday, August 10 View Page
This plant has two melons on a dying stump Too bad
 
Wednesday, August 10 View Page
The other huge plant. This one had the stem split melon. I am letting it load up with new fruit
 
Friday, August 12 View Page
My biggest pumpkin this year, be scared it may be coming to a weighoff near you lol
 
Tuesday, August 16 View Page
56.2english tucked away under some leaves. This is my first time growing a giant cantaloupe. I am not counting last years failure. I definitely could have put this thing in A better spot and given it better care. We will see how it does. it has to be close to getting ripe now
 
Tuesday, August 16 View Page
175 Ciesielski melon an f2 hybrid from Chris Kent’s 2017 jbd and cc cross. This has not gotten any care and is just growing over some wood chip mulch. It is being grown mostly for seed reasons
 
Tuesday, August 16 View Page
175 Ciesielski melon an f2 hybrid from Chris Kent’s 2017 jbd and cc cross. This has not gotten any care and is just growing over some wood chip mulch. It is being grown mostly for seed reasons
 
Friday, August 19 View Page
It is dry here, very dry. It stinks to have to feed hay in august. On average we get about four inches of rain every month of the year. Not this year
 
Friday, August 19 View Page
It is dry here, very dry. It stinks to have to feed hay in august. On average we get about four inches of rain every month of the year. Not this year
 
Friday, August 19 View Page
Shrubs are wilting. These are lilacs. It is kind of hard to grow crops without rain
 
Friday, August 19 View Page
One more shot of the dry pasture
 
Monday, August 22 View Page
56.2 English got harvested today. Definitely not a record but still pretty impressive next to a regular sized melon
 
Monday, August 22 View Page
Legacy melons
 
Monday, August 22 View Page
Another photo of the legacy melons. A good melon but some got a little sunburned
 
Tuesday, August 23 View Page
Still waiting for rain here. All the showers have missed us. Some trees are turning yellow and dying. The species most sensitive seem to be the birches, tuliptree and black walnut some red maples are flagging too.
 
Wednesday, August 24 View Page
Finally had a few showers hit yesterday. I am grateful for that
 
Wednesday, August 24 View Page
1883 bayuk I am not even going to label the fruit I have like five pumpkins going. I will show pictures of a few.
 
Wednesday, August 24 View Page
Another 1883
 
Wednesday, August 24 View Page
Last photo of pumpkins. Stay tuned I have a question to ask
 
Wednesday, August 24 View Page
Here is the question I would like some opinions. Does this or the following photos look like yvd?
 
Wednesday, August 24 View Page
YVD?
 
Wednesday, August 24 View Page
YVD?
 
Wednesday, August 24 View Page
YVD?
 
Wednesday, August 24 View Page
Burnt up plant centers. Probably from all the phosphite
 
Wednesday, August 24 View Page
If you don’t have a huge cull pile you ain’t growing Em right lol
 
Wednesday, August 24 View Page
What’s under the blanket?
 
Wednesday, August 24 View Page
I let the stem split melon plant load up with fruit after the melon went down. It is my nicest plant
 
Wednesday, August 24 View Page
another shot of th loaded up plant
 
Wednesday, August 24 View Page
another shot of th loaded up plant
 
Wednesday, August 24 View Page
another shot of th loaded up plant
 
Monday, August 29 View Page
Noticed a bit of anthracnose on my melon plants. I have been slacking I guess. It is easy to do this time of year. I have to remember to be vigilant right to the end!
 
Tuesday, August 30 View Page
It is hard to tell the difference between a Carolina strong back and a watermelon. The only way I can tell the difference is by the flower color. The lighter colored flower is the watermelon and the darker one is the strongback
 
Tuesday, August 30 View Page
This volunteer looks like a cross between a zucchini and an acorn squash. There are lots of different vegetables that are of the species cucurbita pepo. Therefore you will almost always see these types of crosses
 
Wednesday, August 31 View Page
This is a first for me. Bear damage on the 175 Ciesielski wood chip melon. This melon had to be around 100 pounds or so the bear moved it about ten feet from where it was growing
 
Wednesday, August 31 View Page
You can see the bear’s claw marks in the red flesh
 
Wednesday, August 31 View Page
You can see the bear’s claw marks in the red flesh
 
Wednesday, August 31 View Page
You can see the bear’s claw marks in the red flesh
 
Wednesday, August 31 View Page
Another photo of the damage.
 
Wednesday, August 31 View Page
Orange crisp melon. It is a very sweet, crisp and juicy melon. But in my opinion it lacks the real flavor of a good watermelon.
 
Thursday, September 1 View Page
Cicada killer wasp, these are huge. they are a solitary bee that lives in a burrow that it makes in the ground. They eat cicadas and like sandy soil to build their nest in.
 
Thursday, September 1 View Page
Cicada killer wasp, these are huge. they are a solitary bee that lives in a burrow that it makes in the ground. They eat cicadas and like sandy soil to build their nest in.
 
Monday, September 5 View Page
142 pound melon I brought to the fair
 
Monday, September 5 View Page
Gary Vincent’s new Goshen fair record
 
Monday, September 5 View Page
My322 pounder off the 1883 bayuk. A real solid orange color.
 
Wednesday, September 7 View Page
142 Ciesielski melon. Notice the lighter color in the ribs. That is from mite damage
 
Wednesday, September 7 View Page
142 Ciesielski from behind
 
Wednesday, September 7 View Page
142 Ciesielski from the stem end
 
Wednesday, September 7 View Page
Last but not least, it’s measurements
 
Wednesday, September 7 View Page
322 pumpkin next to the 142. It’s pretty sad when my melons are almost half as big as my pumpkin
 
Wednesday, September 7 View Page
Last but not least, it’s measurements
 
Friday, September 9 View Page
Getting ready to harvest this for the Bethlehem fair
 
Friday, September 9 View Page
It is one of the nicest looking melons to ever come out of our patch
 
Friday, September 9 View Page
My son and growing partner Abel entered it in the fair. I told him if he beat my fair record I was going to be ticked off. Lol. He almost did…… the fair record I have at Bethlehem is 162.
 
Friday, September 9 View Page
Gary Vincent’s first place pumpkin
 
Friday, September 9 View Page
Bob Ellis’ second place pumpkin
 
Friday, September 9 View Page
Tom ecsedy’s third place pumpkin
 
Friday, September 9 View Page
Steve mayden’s fourth placed pumpkin
 
Friday, September 9 View Page
My fifth placed pumpkin
 
Friday, September 9 View Page
My fifth placed pumpkin
 
Wednesday, September 21 View Page
I just got back from Durham Fair last night. I noticed the weights and number of pumpkins are down a bit from previous years. I have a theory. We will see if it plays out or not. I think that this has been a tremendous year in terms of sunlight and warmth. In CT perhaps it was a bit on the high end for temps and many many pumpkin's have been lost because of it. If a grower was able to make it through the summer and still have a good one going come September I think that those pumpkins could be special. September has been perfect. Maybe just a couple of cool nights so far. Some more thoughts.... Since we were a bit on the high side for temps here my thought is that perhaps.... Growers from NH, VT, or ME might really have something special. This is not based on anything I have heard from anyone... Just my thoughts. I am excited to see if this will play out or not in the weeks to come. My hope and wish is that for all growers wherever they are in the world that they get their big ones to the scale. The finish line is almost here.
 
Wednesday, September 21 View Page
In my last post I mentioned the states of ME, NH and VT. THere is one more state that is right there too, and Lots of top growers are located there.... How could I forget NY? I am interested to see what comes out of that state too. It's a little different in the giant pumpkin world now, than it was ten years ago. Ten years ago, just about every grower kept a diary so you had a tiny clue about what they had in their patch. These days it seems there are far fewer diaries out there to glean information from. Now, We just have to wait until the weigh off , when the "tailgate drops".
 
Friday, September 23 View Page
Loading up the big melon for the Durham fair last Tuesday
 
Friday, September 23 View Page
A side view of it. Notice the tan color in the ribs that is where the mites fed the most heavily. Obviously it didn’t seem to slow down the melons growth too much.
 
Friday, September 23 View Page
Yeah I tried to pose for this one with a big sh….. eating grin. Lol
 
Friday, September 23 View Page
Strapped onto the pallet and ready to make the trip to durham
 
Friday, September 23 View Page
Here are it’s measurements. It went light. Too bad imagine if it went ten percent heavy. We d be getting around two hundred fifty pounds! Still I am very happy with 211.5 as it still ups my pb by six pounds and this one has all the traits of a jbd!
 
Friday, September 23 View Page
Here it is on the scale.
 
Friday, September 23 View Page
A big thank you to Chris Kent for making the original CCxJbd cross back in 2017. The very best of both CC and JBD went into that cross. His 302 and his 205 genetics are in these things. I think this years fruit represent an f4 generation of that original cross. The reason I say "I think" is a long story which I will elaborate on later when I have more time.
 
Monday, September 26 View Page
Awesome photo I took this morning of the sun blasting through the trees
 
Monday, September 26 View Page
My oldest son is a huge joe burrow fan. So we went to see him play the jets at MetLife stadium. I had never been to an nfl game before. I couldn’t get over how big the stadium was….. it was enormous. Just for the record I am not a jets fan. I have been a giants fan since I was a kid in the eighties watching Lawrence taylor crush opposing quarterbacks.
 
Thursday, September 29 View Page
She is a fatty. 211.5 Ciesielski
 
Thursday, September 29 View Page
Another shot of the 201” OTT watermelon. The melon is on the ground and so is the Rubbermaid trash can
 
Monday, October 3 View Page
The monster stump the 211 was grown on. It only partially fell apart.
 
Monday, October 3 View Page
The melon was about five feet from the stump. Which was a bit surprising to me because the plant was much bigger than that at the time of pollination. I speculate that the fruit was initially set on a less vigorous somewhat lagging finger vine that picked up some steam once the fruit was set.
 
Thursday, October 6 View Page
142 before cutting into.
 
Thursday, October 6 View Page
142 a four lober. A decent size hollow heart on this nearly round melon
 
Thursday, October 6 View Page
159.6 Ciesielski. A beautiful melon
 
Thursday, October 6 View Page
159.6 another shot of it before seed retrieval.
 
Thursday, October 6 View Page
This one has a fairly tight flesh. Nice jet black seeds too.
 
Thursday, October 6 View Page
Now for the big hoss 211.5
 
Thursday, October 6 View Page
She is hollow but according to the measurements taken at the fair she only went about 3% light
 
Thursday, October 6 View Page
211.5 nice jet black seeds and a thick thick rind
 
Wednesday, October 19 View Page
A fordhook zucchini. I brought this one to the fair and entered it in the heaviest zucchini contest. It won first place. It is probably not worth getting seeds from it as it was grown next to some field pumpkins
 
Wednesday, October 19 View Page
This is theStem split melon plant After the stem split melon was removed in early august I decided to let the plant load up with new melons they will be a treat for the cow
 
Saturday, October 22 View Page
I was just looking at Erik Gunstrom's diary (pumpkinPicker). Here is what he had to say in his early september entry. "I have always grown for ORANGE since I started growing a long long time ago knowing the really big ones are hard to get when you grow for orange. But the past 3 or 4 years we have seen a orange revolution taking place in the pumpkin growing community in which the genetics are now capable of throwing a brilliant orange world record again!" I feel the same way, I never thought this would happen but low and behold it definitely has happened
 
Saturday, October 22 View Page
Another quote that I found interesting was from Andy Wolf, Andy said the following back on October 1st; "1761 Wolf 22 (2183 Mendi x 1797 Wolf) What a rock solid fruit. A healthy but unremarkable plant. I pulled the 1797 plant due to odd fruit that wouldn't grow, so the line ends here and I won't save the seeds from this one. This may be the last ugly fruit I intentionally grow." It is a good time to be a big and orange guy! Now a days if you grow big and orange you don't have to feel that you are starting off with a handicap.
 
Monday, October 31 View Page
Happy Halloween!
 
Monday, October 31 View Page
1883 bayuk all carved up!
 
Monday, October 31 View Page
1883 bayuk all carved up!
 
Wednesday, November 30 View Page
I went Newport Rhode Island in the beginning of November. Did the cliff walk and saw the mansions. Of course I appreciate the trees more than any mansion. This is really cool photo of a camper down elm. It has a classic silhouette that you would expect to see next to a haunted house on a night with a full moon.
 
Wednesday, November 30 View Page
I went Newport Rhode Island in the beginning of November. Did the cliff walk and saw the mansions. Of course I appreciate the trees more than any mansion. This is really cool photo of a camper down elm. It has a classic silhouette that you would expect to see next to a haunted house on a night with a full moon.
 
Wednesday, November 30 View Page
There were some cool weeping beeches this one here is a small one. I still bet it is fifty to seventy five years old though
 
Wednesday, November 30 View Page
Here is a shot from inside a bigger weeping beech.
 
Thursday, December 1 View Page
The breakers mansion built by the vanderbilts. I went on the tour. This place is something else
 
Thursday, December 1 View Page
The Newport cliff walk. People come here from all over the world.
 
Saturday, December 17 View Page
I just saw an interesting movie on the Tv. It was called "The Circle". The movie was made in 2017 and it was based on a 2015 book of the same name by Dave Eggers. The movie was very interesting and brought to light a lot of the dilemmas we are now facing with big tech and social media. In 2015 when the book was written it would have likely been considered a science fiction thriller. But in 2022 it really hits home how fast this stuff is changing in our world. Back in 2017 a movie like this would not have seemed very political, but just like everything else these days it most likely would be considered political if it came out today. I recommend this movie as it poses some interesting questions and ideas.
 

 

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