Here is a copy of the actual test...

Here is the test...

You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much organic matter...

I just got my soil test results, which I will attach to this post.

First of all, this is not the soil that I have been using for the last 6 or 7 years. This is soil where I want to move the patch next year. 

Naturally, the soil that is part of my general garden gets less attention than the soil in my usual patch. It doesn't get "zero" attention, but it gets less. A few numbers in this report are quite a bit worse than ones from my soil test about five years ago. 

My pH is 7.9, up from 7.3!

My organic matter is 2.1, down from 2.3. 

Everything else seems pretty standard. One bright spot is that my salts are now 2.1, which is quite high, but a much better reading than 5 years ago when it was over 6!

At this point I'm not sure if I'm going to move the patch or not. I think what this tells me is what I already knew... just add organic matter. The difficult thing is that I live in a desert, and organic matter is sometimes hard to find in any volume. In fact, most agricultural activities around here are wheat and potatoes, and very little cattle, so again, sometimes it's hard to find manure other than from individual homeowners, one pickup load at a time. 

One thing has me puzzled. The test shows my sulphur to be very high. Of course, sulfur is something you add to reduce pH... I haven't added sulphur in years (other than ammonium sulfate for nitrogen) and so it looks like adding sulphur is not in the cards for reducing pH. 

Please comment, right here in the blog.

NOTE: I'm not at home, and I'm having difficulty posting the *.pdf file to the blog. I'll put it up soon.

Snow

Wow, we got walloped today, and it's still snowing. I'd say that we have 10 to 12 inches already.

I did receive email notice about my soil test. This was on Thursday, and said that I'd get the results in about one week. That would be Christmas... so unless I see it Tuesday, perhaps it will be a while. No hurry.

Soil test coming...

Here I am, on business in San Jose, CA. Bored... can't wait to get the results of my soil test. It is supposed to come via email, so it could come at any time. As soon as I get the results, I'll post them. One thing to look at, I need to know what's going on with my salts. Ece.

Some seeds to ponder, the annual winter dilemma

So what's going in the patch next year? Every year I look at the list of seeds I'd like to plant, and try to balance that with the fact that I typically can care for about four plants when the season really gets rolling.

Last year I started six plants, but in the end I ended up caring for only four. Barely. What I'd like to do is start five, and give each of them adequate care. So, what's going in?

My 779 is definitely going in. My personal best, 964 Wolf X 1092 Martin. That fruit was so trouble free. I can only imagine what it might do with an earlier pollination.

So naturally I also want to plant the 964 Wolf again. Why would I not plant the best seed I've ever grown?

Also in my possession is a 1121 Bobier (845 x 898). This one is certainly "proven", and is quickly becoming a highly regarded seed. I have to plant it.

So, that's three, and I still don't have any true orange. I would like to see some true orange in the remaining two spots, but at least one of them will be so. I have plenty of my own seeds that should be true orange, but I may need to do some horsetrading to find something with a little name recognition.

For Elise, I was going to encourage her to grow the 779, but maybe I'll just let her pick a few. There are so many good seeds to try.

Right now the most important thing is to keep working on the compost. Also, I've ordered up a soil test.

A good book...

Last Saturday I went and got another load of compost, and then did some deep subsoiling on the new patch. I'm going to continue getting compost whenever I can find the time. This stuff is quite good, and will do wonders for the soil in the new patch.

I like to read gardening books over the winter. This year I found a great one. "The Vegetable Gardener's Bible", by Ed Smith. Ed teaches the reader his method for wide rows and deep raised beds. I always thought that my garden would be better if I could quit walking on the same soil that is housing my roots. This book teaches you how. I'm still not sure with regard to the giants, but I now have some ideas.

The author will challenge your thinking with regard to using fertilizer, other than seaweed and fish. The plan is to start with good soil amended with compost, and then not to shock the plant with fertilizers. There is a lot of material that challenges our thinking as gardeners. I'm not sure that all of it translates to giant pumpkins, but, most of us do a lot of conventional gardening and this book is surely beneficial.

Finally found some compost

Last Saturday I actually found two free hours, and I checked out a manure pile that a friend said he had. Wow, I got the best compost I've ever seen! This fellow said that the pile was once 5 or 6 feet high, but now it's only about 2 to 2.5 feet tall. No stink, no smell, except for a nice earthy smell. In the center of the pile is the softest, best looking compost one can imagine. I got half the pile with one truckload Saturday, and hope to get the rest this coming Saturday.

Sure, I still do need to find several more goldmines like this one. But it's a good start.

Did I mention that I'm moving my patch after about 7 years at the old site? The soil on the end of the garden that I've been using is really nice now. So I may be crazy, but I'm moving to the other end to concentrate on that soil for a while.

The annual list...

Here we go on the annual list of things that I need to do differently next year. I hope you slept well last night because this is going to be boring.

Every year I make this list, and then I mostly abandon it as things get busy. I forget the same battles I fought last year. So, in order to further anchor my life in tradition, here is the list:

1. Prune more, including at least one of every three secondaries. Perhaps more. Every year my plants grow more thickly than I want. This prevents light from getting through the canopy and warming the soil. Also, some pruning of the secondaries may help in getting a longer main. My best, the 779, was grown on a 13 foot main which is more than my usual 10 (or less) foot main. I'd like to see what I can do with 15 to 18 feet on the main!

2. Watch that stem!! Every year I mention this. And every year I have problems. I've got to figure out a way to manage the vine and the stem. Another thing, a longer main is going to help with this. A good section of the main vine cannot "root" into the ground when it must be raised to go with the stem.

3. Leaf health. Wow, I really do have terrible leaves by the end of the year. I figure that the "lifetime" of one of my leaves is about 90 days. That means that the first leaves are dying by mid-year. By September, only the newest leaves are healthy. This is going to take some research. I don't know if Daconil, or something like Agro-K is going to help.

Those are the easy things. The heart of the matter is.......... drumroll please.........

4. Heat. I've been pondering ways to get more heat into my soil. Of course the key number one thing to add heat is to use a hoophouse, something that I've finally become proficient at. But I'm considering a change in my approach. What I want most is heat in the root zone. Hoophouses, give lots of heat in the above ground, where the plant is. They can turn a 60 degree day into a 90 degree day, and a 70 degree day into 110 degrees. This also warms the soil, of course, but...

My studying on this subject suggests that a clear plastic sheet laid directly on a raised bed is going to provide significant soil temperature warm up. In conjunction with this, I will bury a soaker hose to provide moisture. I'm thinking of a 3-foot radius (6-foot diameter) piece of clear plastic around each plant. And then, just leave it there all year long!

So with this in place, would I still do a hoophouse or cloche? I don't know. Here's what I'd like to do: Use something like a "wall-o-water" (for tomatoes), but larger, and made of hard plastic so that it has no chance of collapsing on the plant. (We spend too much effort on this to have it ruined by a collapsing wall-o-water!) I've seen these. They're like an igloo that can be filled with water. But if I could find such a thing that is about three or four feet in diameter, that would be perfect.

Final look

I cut up and moved away the 779 today. It's interesting how orange this one really was. I still have in my mind that it was vanilla, because it was that color until the end. It doesn't have the pretty orange skin, but in it's heart it's all orange.

This photo also demonstrates just how solid this fruit was. No cracks! You can see the black spot on the end where we gouged it at the weighoff about six weeks ago. That wound didn't go anywhere, it's still solid. Well, until today.

The seeds are nearly dry. I will be sending them to those who request, and also I hope to send a bunch of them to the NYSGPGA.

OK, back to pumpkins....

n/m

Hmmm...

So, where's my tax cut?

Lots of 779 seeds available

I cut the 779 open yesterday. I found lots of seeds, plenty in fact. They are white seeds, very good looking and consistent in size and shape. The mother seed was white. There were very few "empty" seeds, probably less than two percent. I will be sending some of them to the NYSGPGA, just to fill my responsibility to the club. But I'll have plenty of extras.

Seeds...

This time of year a lot of people, especially new growers, start looking for seeds. Let me say that anyone who wants seeds from my 779, which I think will be good, can have them. This is assuming that there will be seeds. Send me an email for more information.

But the best time to look for seeds is starting in November. Seed trading and exchanging goes on all winter. No rush. But right now most grower's seeds are still in the pumpkins. Sometimes there are 500 seeds, sometimes there are none, and usually the number is somewhere between the two.

Another great way to get great seeds is to join a club. For a small membership fee you'll get more seeds than you can ever plant. When you consider all of the postage and supplies that are needed to trade seeds individually, it really makes sense to just join a club that has a reasonable membership fee and a good seed distribution program.

Some post-season thoughts

Our great fall weather finally came to an end a few days ago with about four inches of snow. So far, I've made half-hearted attempts to clean up the garden. There is simply no time. Well, it's very hard to find time. Every night there is something to do with the family, Saturday is usually the same. I do want to get going with sand and organic matter. Most people I talk to that have manure can't understand why I'd want it now instead of in the spring.

We just saw a mini-fiasco over the supposed 1900 pound pumpkin back east. Turns out it was all a misunderstanding. It never measured 1900, rather it was more like mid-1500s. I think the guys involved would do it differently if they had to do it again. There is a certain amount of "fish story telling" in this sport. If the media got it wrong, the guys involved didn't correct the mistake. My only concern might be that the next time that someone really does have a pumpkin that measures as a world record, the media is going to say, "ah, fool me once....". Then again, I don't want to defend the media. Their only job is to tell a story, not necessarily a true story. So, I don't have a cut-and-dried opinion. Live and learn.

No record this year? Is this the first year in the last... what? 15 to 20 years since we've gone without a new record? That goes to show how special a 1600 pound pumpkin is. There still could be a record, but I think all of the big-time weighoffs have already happened.

This blog will continue throughout the winter. Please stop by on occasion, and you're welcome to use the "leave a comment" feature at any time.

Still no freeze.....

Here we are into October, and still no freeze! Amazing!

Actually, I'm about ready for a freeze. I need to get the garden cleaned up and start working toward next year. At this moment I have four giants on display in front of the house, and another one of mine is on display in front of the neighbor's house.

I'm still very happy about the 779. Next year the 779 is going in, followed by a host of orange seeds. I might also opt for another 964. But then again, every year there are a lot of surprises, and seeds that beckon. At this point the only sure thing is that the 779 is going in, assuming there are seeds in the fruit.

Eastern Idaho Pumpkin Picking Party

This event always draws a crowd, even in a down year. I'm always amazed at how many people come to see us weigh these things.

Below I'm with the 779, grown on the 964 Wolf. It went about 90 pounds heavy, and was pollinated by the 1092 Martin. No dill rings, no deep ribs, no problems whatsoever. This made the whole year worth it.

779

I'm very happy tonight. My 964 Wolf fruit went way heavy for 779, a new personal best!

It was measuring 326.5 OTT inches, which translates to 690 on the table I use. Would you believe that I still use the table in Langevin's Book II? Anyway, that's 89 pounds heavy and what, 15%? I can't find a calculator and am too tired to look, but I'll take that any day. So now the 779 Warren is (964 Wolf X 1092 Martin). I'll be planting this one next year.

Once again I want to thank Brian Christensen for hosting another great weighoff. Brian had his second official fruit over 1000, at 1003. I've got lots of pictures... I'll probably start posting some tomorrow.

779... a number numerologists love, ah....

Sandy soil?

I was talking to my farmer friend recently. He said that potato farmers who have sandy soil are pulling an extra $1000 per acre in production over growers who don't have sandy soil. 

Sandy soil goes in streaks here. About 5 miles to my north is a sandy area, and farmers love it. Mine is a silty river-bottom stuff... and I've convinced myself that I'm going to add a lot of sand this winter and see what happens. I'll probably add only enough to amend two or three AG plots, but if it works, I'll be adding more each year and improving all my garden soil as I go.

Freeze free

We're now past the autumnal equinox, and still no freeze! That's got to be some sort of record. Still, it would have been better to have good weather in the spring.

604

Here is one I haven't talked too much about. My own seed, the 604, grew this one. It's taping between 1000 and 1100.... just kidding. I'll be lucky to hit 550 with this one.

Last week

Here is spongebob, I mean, the 964, with one week to go. It's finally developed a tiny bit of color and cantaloped all out.

Tripod closeup

Another one, showing the gear needed for my tripod setup.

Lifting tripod

This time of year, a lot of people start thinking about how to move their pumpkin. This is one of the best ways. Click on the picture for a bigger version. Any questions? Just ask.

Hip to be square

Here is the 964 fruit, showing us that it's hip to be square. While you try to get that song out of your head, I'll add that if everything goes really well, and that's a big IF, but if everything goes well from here on out, there is a chance that this could beat my personal best of 720. I don't think it can make it to 800.

Eastern Idaho State Fair

The fair this year was a bit of a step back. To my knowledge, Brian Christensen and I were the only entrants in the adult division. I say, to my knowledge, because I need to leave by 6:30pm and I don't know if anyone else showed up.

This fair is more of an exhibition than a competition. We're allowed to bring split fruit. The fair does award ribbons and give TINY cash prizes (not enough to cover your gas to get there). In the past we've had up to seven different entrants in this category, but our bad weather early in the year hurt some. Beyond that, the bottom line is that we just don't see the interest to grow this hobby around here. Well, maybe I'm being harsh.

I brought in a 547.5 UGLY fruit from the 1092 Martin, and a 416.5 pretty orange one from the 857 Christensen. Brian needed to be out of town, but his wife brought down two splitters, an 829 and another one which I don't remember, but I think it was close to 750.

The highlight this year was the kids category. A local nursery sponsored a contest for the kids, with a $1000 top prize! Brian's son Blake won the event with a 491 pound fruit (grown all by himself) and my daughter Elise took second with a 290 pound pumpkin. Second place brings a cool $250. The best part was a lot of children took part, more than I anticipated. With this year's weather through May and into June, anyone bringing any pumpkin to the fair should be congratulated!

Oh, and I wrote the address to this blog on the side of one of my pumpkins. Hopefully a few of the 100,000 people who pass by will remember, and visit this page. WELCOME! We need more people to join us!! Please send me an email if you are at all interested in this hobby!

Elise's pumpkin

This is Elise's fruit on the 1016 Christensen. This is only about four feet, maybe less, on the main! The plant grew very slowly early on, and that was our only option.

I don't know what causes this "malnourished" look. I see it frequently on the Jack 'O Lantern pumpkins. The color is great, especially on the front of the fruit.

Orange and green...

Here is the 857 next to a leaf. Awesome color... not exactly glossy like last year's 1191 Zunino. The orange is eyeball searing electric orange. But the fruit is small and most of the leaves are not healthy, as you can see in this example. I need to remember this for next year, try using Daconil.

Mr. Ugly

Here is the top front view of the 1092 fruit. The rear end is not so impressive.

Arbor

My arbor is not much this year. Everything got started too late with the cold weather in May and early June. What you see here is a mix of hyacinth beans and long gourds.

964 one week later

Here is a comparison, one week later for the 964 Wolf.

964

Funny how a few days changes your perspective. Right now it's becoming apparent that my best hope for a personal best resides in the 964. It just keeps expanding and there is no ribbing yet. I'd like a little more size and then add a few hundred pounds of ribs.

857

Here is the 857... not too much left in this one. The plant is just way too small, and the leaves aren't so healthy. You can see where a skunk decided to go surfing up on top a few weeks ago.

Still more...

Just keeping everyone guessing...

More on the 1092...

>> "I'll be taking the pretty orange one to the fair."

Or, maybe not. The 1092 is developing a sag line. It's going to split eventually. I don't want to take it to the fair if it's already split, but if it stays intact over the next 10 days, maybe I'll take it.

1092 texture

The 1092 looks like it could go very heavy. I don't know, but when the surface of the skin oozes like an old pine tree sometimes that's a sign that the fruit has energy to burn and will go heavy. Oh well,... it's also the kind of fruit that scares young children. If I took this one to the fair I think kids would ask their parents to "make it go away". I'll be taking the pretty orange one to the fair.

I hate measuring...

OK, well, I finally decided to measure. This just confirmed what I suspected all along... I really don't have much at this point. The 1092 is doing OK, it's now just under 400 and grew 29 pounds in the last 24 hours. That's good. I'll take that.

The 857 is less than 300 and growing only 12 in the last 24. The 964 unfortunately was also disappointing. It's about the same as the 857, and grew only 13. But the 964 is nine days younger, and has a huge plant to drive it. There is still hope that it will take off.

Skunks again...

Everything is going well with the 1092, 964, 857, and Elise's 1016. Each of those fruits have been "clawed" by skunks, other than the 1092. That is, some animal, probably a skunk, has climbed up on top of each fruit, leaving claw marks in the process. I've been cleaning up the damage with a bleach and water mixture.

The 964 is really coming on strong as I thought it would! It's about time to start measuring.

Morning in my patch

First pic of the 964

This one is a later pollination, and is just now coming on strong. It has a LOT of plant to drive it. Excellent shape. I'm officially excited for this one.

857 C - "C" stands for color

You can't beat it!

Click on the image to see a (near) life size version. j/k

1092, officially a blob

Ha ha, the 1092 is officially turning into a blob. That's when the structure of the pumpkin goes all to heck, good luck finding the blossom end. That's OK, as long as it's heavy and doesn't split. In a way I look at this as not putting so much stress on the blossom end, which caused the demise of the 125 Wolf last year, not to mention the 1186 Holland which became an unofficial 604.

Angels in my patch

Yesterday I came home to find that some angels had secretly weeded my entire patch while I was gone for the day! Yes, five little angels and their mother angel did the job! Life is good.

OK, so that free'd me up to do the heavy lifting on a patio project that we would like to have done by next week. That's where I'll be spending a lot of time over the next few days. But to have the patch cleaned up is great!

Oh by the way, the 964 is coming on strong!

Four weeks until the fair

Exactly four weeks from now I'll be cutting one of these lovelies and heading to the fair. Same for Elise. I better watch out, she might beat me.

Over the next few days I'm going to make one more big push to clear out the weeds and then do some photography. Things are looking good overall, but as usual I don't know how I compare to previous years. Too lazy to measure.

1092 growing fast!

Yes, this one looks a lot like the 125 Wolf did last year. I hope it doesn't blow up like that one did! If it stays intact, it could be tough to plan on taking this one to the fair... I won't cut it if it has a chance to go really heavy.

photo

OK, here is the photo of the 857. (See previous post.)

857 C

Here is the 857, on July 29th. In addition to the shade, I put more rebar stakes all around it in hopes of deterring a skunk or racoon that climbed on top a week or so ago, leaving claw marks in the process. I figure the rebar might give the animal some fear that it was a trap, and just stay away.

Update

It's hard to keep up this year.

At least, I've spent the last week catching up in the patch. Weeding, and everything else. I really do need to take some pictures. Here is a run-down:

1092 - Coming on strong! It looks a lot like last year's 125 Wolf, which literally exploded in early August. It blew so hard, I could insert my hand in the hole left in the blossom end. I hope this one doesn't suffer the same fate.

857 - Looking great. This one wants to grow fruit, but not plant. The plant is kinda wimpy. But it looks long and flat, and has great color.

964 - This is an awesome plant, but has a slow to grow fruit. I do think August is going to be great for this one. Lots of plant to drive this fruit, which is about 13 feet out on the main. I want to learn something here, -- does the big plant really matter?

604 - This plant has taken a long time to decide what it's going to do. I finally culled down to one fruit this morning. I think this one is destined for a backup.

Elise has fruits on the 1016 and 1290. Each is looking nice. I taught her how to prune.

Do six lobers have more fun?

This is another shot of the fruit on the 857. It's a six lobe fruit, perfectly symmetrical, excellent shape. The color will be great. I'm really looking forward to this one.

Culls

That odd shaped one on the 964 was culled this morning. The second one on the vine is another 3.5 feet out, and looks much better in shape. It was pollinated July 9.

Because the 964 is going to be a later fruit, and the 604 will also be late, I decided to keep the first fruit on the 1092 Martin. This one now has the inside track to become the Eastern Idaho State Fair fruit. I hope I don't split it.

While things are certainly subject to change, this is how things look now: 1092 Martin is a another "wheel" shaped fruit, and it will go to the fair. The 857 is looking like it could become my best ever, and so that one will be held out until the end of the year. The 964 and 604 will each produce an end of year backup.

I sure would like to see us get an extra few weeks of good growing weather this year, to make up for the late arriving summer weather.

As for Elise's plants, she has sets on the 1016 and 1290. They aren't too far out on the vine, but they look good. The 1016 is a very handsome plant, nice leaves, but just slow to grow. Maybe it will be good at growing fruit.

Problem on the first 964 fruit

This one, the first fruit on the 964, had one of those cases where I think some of the seeds are on the outside of the fruit. I'mguessin that's bad. The next fruit on this plant was just pollinated yesterday.

857 Photo

Nice shape! It doesn't get any better at this stage.

857 looking good

The fruit on the 857 just hit 27 inches in circumference on day 10. This meets the current benchmark for a 1200 pounder. Well, I've been able to hit the early benchmarks before. It's the later benchmarks that I want to hit.

The fruit on the 1092 is smaller. 22 inches on day 11. It's only at 8 feet out. The second fruit was an open pollination, and not growing, so I culled it. The next fruit is at 12 feet and pollinated this morning. I'll keep each of these and see if the second one takes off at a faster pace.

A very similar thing can be said on the 964. The first fruit is nearly at 10 feet, and the second is at 13 or 14. The first fruit on that one is really odd, I call it a banana.

For the 604, that one was an "open", and I'm not sure it's going to "take". The second one hasn't opened yet!

So, I'm not sure what I'm targetting for the fair. If the 857 looks like it will be my best ever, I won't want to sacrifice it for the fair. The other fruits are going to be late.

I have a lot of work to do this evening. After that I hope to take some photos and post them.

Flowers opening at odd times

Yesterday morning I went out to look at the flower on the 604. It was not open, and it didn't look like it was about to open. Then I came home from work and found that the flower had opened during the day!

The same thing happened to a female on the 1185. I don't know what to make of it... two more open pollinations. I just hope they take, because it's getting late and I don't want to wait for another on the 604. I certainly don't see any bees when I go out in the early morning, but hopefully there are some that show up later in the day.

This morning I pollinated one on the 1290 Poirier with the 604. Elise is gone visiting cousins for the week. She's lucky she has me to fill in... I also pulled the plug on the 1186 Bowles. I decided that it makes no sense to have two plants taking up the same space. Neither plant gets pruned or buried properly if they are growing side by side.

Update

I've actually taken a bunch of pictures, but am too lazy to put them up. That and my daughter took my laptop to camp, and the pictures are on it. At any rate, I did have an early wave of pollinations this year.

1092 Martin - First one pollinated on 6/30. Second one caught me by surprise on July 4th. As I was busy with a community breakfast that day, it will have to be an OPEN pollination!

857 Christensen- Pollinated on 7/1. The next one is three or four feet down the vine and hasn't opened yet, so I might need to rely on the first one.

964 Wolf - Pollinated on 7/2. This one had a VERY strange look to the female flower, and the fruit is already an odd shape. But again, the next female is several feet down. I will certainly pollinate the next one, and who knows what I'll get.

That's really it for the first round. The 604 Warren should open tomorrow, and it's a good distance out. Its a little hard to measure due to the fact that the vine goes up and over a large tire. But it's a solid 12 or 13 feet out. A whole bunch will open soon on side vines of the 1185. (That one no longer has a main....) Elise's plants include the 1016 Christensen, 1290 Poirier, and 1186 Bowles. The 1290 is just now reaching out to eight or nine feet. It should have a pollination in the next day or two. The Bowles is still at five or six feet, and although it is growing right next to the 1290, I'm just going to leave both of them in that site. The 1016 is turning into a nice handsome plant, and slow as molasses. It's about seven feet right now, with a female just taking it's time to open at a whole five feet out. Actually, if the 1290 starts to look good, I may need to yank the Bowles and leave the 1290 for Elise.

Mulch

One thing I need to add for future reference. This year I'm using mulch, grass clippings in fact, around the plants. This keeps the soil moist instead of drying out in the hot sun. Well, now I'm noticing that in spots where I have mulch, I also have a LOT of roots near the surface! I just might have discovered something.

Now when I mow the lawn, I think of it as "harvesting mulch."

One more item to note: At our local nursery, McKee's, they have started carrying a product made in Blackfoot called "Shot". From what I can tell, it's actually aerobic compost tea made from worm castings. I'm giving the plants a "shot" once or twice a week, mostly in an attempt to keep my leaves healthy. Wow, with healthy leaves and more roots near the surface, maybe I can get up to.......? (It's nice to dream.)

Let the pollinations begin

I had one pollination yesterday on June 30, on the 1092 Martin, but I think I'll wait for the next one to open before making any decisions. Pollinated that one with the 857 Christensen. Then this morning, July 1st, I had a "keeper" (I hope) on the 857. This one was the second on the vine, and it's a beautiful, symmetric, 6-lober. I was still trying to decide between the 1092 and the 857 as a pollinator for this one. I took a deep breath, and decided to self it.

Over the last week or so I've come to the conclusion that the 1092 and 857 are the plants that I most want to use for pollinators. These plants are growing well and look like plants I'd like to see again. The 964 Wolf is also doing well. It does have a strange genetic thing going on, where the male flowers run attached to side vines for a bit... I'd have to show a picture. At any rate, I think I'll pollinate the 964 with the 1092, in a few days.

The 604 Warren is doing fine... the female on that one is probably a week out but it could be at around 12 feet, so that will be good.

Finally, the 1185. Sigh. It's time I fess up to something. In an act of classic stupidity I damaged the main on this plant. In the process I actually broke off the blossom on the only female. So now I have a ten foot main with no fruits on it. The leaves on this plant don't seem well. Many of them are a green and yellow mix... but then again, the plant that grew my 604 looked a lot like this at this stage. So, with no fruits on the main, the plan is to set at least two side fruits. One of them will belong to Elise, and she will take care of it. Elise has been helping and learning. She has three plants now, but each of them have only a four foot vine or less. I'm guessing that we'll have a three or four hundred pounder to take to the fair.

Chugging along...

Each of my "top five" are doing well. The 964 Wolf is leading in length. The 1185 is a little wimpy, but at least I have five chances at growing something. One thing that I still haven't figured out, is how to get longer vines at this time of year. No matter what I do, my pollination time will be July 4th through the 11th, or thereabouts. It matters not how soon I start, or how warm the plants stay. I simply can't get the length. It's got to be soil, or nutrition, but really I can't figure it out.

For each plant I've mounded the dirt in front of the main in hopes of avoiding stem stress. I think this was one of my limiting factors last year with the 720.

1185 Bortner

I can tell this one is going to be a fast grower, but not so sturdy. Some leaves have already flopped to the ground. But hopefully I can get a pollination at 12 to 15 feet out.

1092 Martin and 964 Wolf

I never find any rhyme or reason as to where this thing places my pictures. At any rate, here is the 1092 Martin and 964 Wolf. I'll upload the 1092 first..........

857 Christensen

Here is the 857 Christensen. Probably the sturdiest looking plant I have this year.

Time for some photos...

Looks like I'll have five plants going forward. Time for some boring photos. First up is the 604.5 Warren. I'm just going to leave the tire around this one and see how it does.

Cold spell now 3 weeks long...................................

Lows in the 30s, high winds, ...

Hard to believe, but overall I can't complain. But this week I've needed to cut holes in the greenhouses to let the main vines come out. With the holes now cut in the plastic, that combined with 50 mph winds yesterday has resulted in even more torn plastic. That has lowered the temperature to the plants, and will cause growth to nearly stop until the weather warms up. We're not predicted to see a warm up until at least Friday. 

Anyone in this part of the country who has tried to do this without greenhouses is going to be way behind this year. If you are in Idaho and reading this (other than Brian) please drop me a note and let me know how things are going. I'm trying to work some ideas through the state fair this year... and I need to get an idea of what we might plan on for this fall. Thanks.

Cold and rain...

I've been traveling the last few days. Back at home we've continued to have cold weather and rain. Things are going pretty well considering the weather, which hasn't been good at all.

Turning the corner?

The 857, 964, and 1185 are officially "down", as in the vine is on the ground. The 1092 is coming soon, and the other two might take some time. I'm anxious to get the plastic down... I just don't know, I think this plastic is limiting the light intensity that my plants see. Well, every year it's this way, I start searching for reasons that the plants haven't hit high gear yet. I actually do have a good reason......... the last 10 days have been very cool for this time of year.

All we need is a stretch of warm weather and the plants should take off.

Yesterday I cleaned up the weeds and did some very minor pruning. Pruning, just so the plants will become accustomed to the idea.

964 Wolf

The 964 Wolf. Has some large leaves and some smaller, just growing pains...

1185 Bortner

The 1185 Bortner, looking perfect.

604 Warren

The 604, I have just recently put a tire around this one. We'll see how that works out.

857 Christensen

The 857, running to the left instead of straight at me...

1092 Martin

The 1092 Martin. Looking fine, but has taken a long time to actually lay down and run.

I'd like to see the sun...

OK, well, we've been in thick clouds, cool and rainy for much of the last week. The plants are fine, but going nowhere fast.

I've made the culls down to the final six: 1092 Martin, 857 Christensen, 1085 Bortner, 604 Warren, 964 Wolf, and 1186 Bowles. Elise's plant is the 1016 Christensen, and it is way behind because it hasn't been in a hoophouse.

No genetic problems, except for one of the 604 plants developed a ribbon vine. This was the same seedling that had 3 seed leaves. Since it was double-planted next to another 604, the decision to cull was easy. The only other problem I have, other than being slow, is that the 857 is wanting to go east instead of north. I'll have to turn it slowly.

Remembering Howard Dill

The past two days have been gray, cold, and rainy. Not much is happening, just staying alive.

This week it is quite appropriate that I stop and recognize Howard Dill, breeder of the Dill's Atlantic Giant seed, who passed away May 20, 2008. I never met him, but wish I had. His contribution to the hobby, pastime, sport, whatever you want to call it, is immeasurable.

Things are going OK...

So far, everything is looking pretty good. Not too much different than other years... usually at this stage of the game I start looking at the plants and wishing they would finally lay down and start to run. Anyway, all of the plants are looking good. The largest three are the 1092 Martin, the 857 Christensen, and the 1185 Bortner. Each of these is developing a main that is heading straight up, but leaning the right direction. I'm anxious to see them touch down and start to crawl.

Right now it's difficult to find even 10 minutes a day to spend with the plants. Just keeping them watered. But one-by-one life is calming down to a summer pace. For the kids, track season, soccer season, choir season, piano season... etc., have come to an end or will shortly come to an end. These things are nice, but in May they take every single night. I'll still miss it when it's gone.

857 Christensen

Here is the 857, looking great!

1092 Martin

The 1092 Martin in the background, and a 1354 Vogler closer to the camera. The 1354 is one week younger. I'm not concerned about the strange leaf on the Martin. These plants tend to do strange things when they are young.

My Patch

Here is the patch. Three on one side, and three on the other. It looks a little ragged. I still have time to run the tractor right down the middle and between the plants one final time. Only one of my protection structures is a "no-hoop" house. They are very time consuming and fairly expensive to build.

Another close one...

Last night, everything was alive. I think they're all still alive, but we had one of those times where I didn't get home until around 10pm, then the weather said 32 for the low. It turned out to be 26. Elise's 1016 is still in a WoW, so it's fine. Same for the 1186 Bowles and 1290 Poirier. They are in the triangular "no-hoop" house, and one nice thing about that is it's easy to get into and place a WoW around the plant. But these two plants share a site.

The other plants look good. In each of the huts I have WoW in there but not around the plant. The plants are too big. I also have milk jugs full of water in them. This really helps, I believe. I say, the plants look good considering they just went through a very cold night. I might have some leaf damage on some of them. I just hope the parts that form new leaves and vines are OK.

Hopefully I can post some pictures later today.

So far, so good...

Things are going fairly well. Right now everything is still alive (imagine that!). If I were to list the early plants that are looking good, they would be the 1092 Martin, followed quickly by the 857 Christensen, the 1185 Bortner, and the 964 Wolf. The 1092 has me excited.

Snow Plant

My daughter's 1016 Christensen plant isn't in a hoop house. It's just in a wall-o-water. Well, this morning when we got 6 inches of snow, the top of the WoW was a bit "open", not pushed together like a teepee. When I went out to look at it the 1016 had a good two inches of snow on top of it. Right on the plant!

This afternoon I went to check again. The temp is up to around 50 and everything is melting. The plant is fine! Although the temp on the surface of the plant was likely very close to 32 degrees, it wasn't below that and now the plant really looks healthy.

6 inches of snow

Sigh. Welcome to May. Actually we do need the moisture.

Cold Spell

The next few nights will be below freezing around here. I've put a wall-of-water around each plant. I just hope next week will be better.

Plants are set out

After all we've been through this spring, we finally have some great weather. Highs in the upper 70's. I put all of the plants out.

Site one: 1092 Martin, and 1354 Vogler as a backup.

Site two: 857 Christensen. This plant is looking real nice.

Site three: Two 604.5 Warren plants. Each of them is looking good, one of them is a "tri-cot".

Site four: 1185 Bortner, with 1367 Sundstrom as a backup.

Site five: 964 Wolf with a 125 Wolf backup.

Site six: 1290 Poirier and 1186 Bowles. One to survive.

Also, my daughter Elise is growing the 1016 Christensen.

The strategy to use one gallon pots that are cut in half and reassembled with duct tape has been great! I will use this again.

Three seed leaves on my 604

Here is something I haven't seen before. One of my 604 seeds has three seed leaves!

Click on the images to see a larger version.

Would you believe, more snow?

Well, it's not much, and not too abnormal, but we have some extremely light flakes flying around out there in the middle of the day. On April 24th.

The 1016 and the 1290 came up, as I predicted they would based on my "digging". I'm already transferring the earliest risers into one-gallon pots. This is going to be necessary because I can't even harden the plants off at this time. I think the plants will go out for real, between Monday and Friday next week. Wow, I still have so much work to do. Patch prep is done, but I need to get the coldframes finished. I have the material, I just need a block of time to get them built.

More on seeds...

I don't know why I have so much bad luck with seeds. About 70% of them come right up for me. But I do get a fair amount that send a short little "club root" out and then stop. Usually at this stage in the game I start digging, to find out what's going on. Here is the scoop:

1071 Christensen and 1040 Christensen -> club root. Classic case. I've re-potted the 1071 but the 1040 was a lost cause.

The 1290 Poirier and 1016 Christensen -> I think they are on their way. They're just slow to rise from the soil.

Ah, the 869.5 Calai. No action whatsoever. The seed hasn't opened at all. I put it back in the soil. It's an old seed, so maybe it will take some time.

I do monitor temps. It's always between 85 and 95. Slight moisture, perfect conditions (I think). Very high quality Fertilome potting soil, although maybe I should look into "seed starting mix".

In the meantime, I'm starting more backups. Some of the notable ones are the 1367 Sundstrom and the 1354 Vogler. Actually, those might become frontliners.

Why are the orange seeds always so slow?

As of this morning I have 8 of 13 up.

Up: Both 604 Warren, 125 and 964 Wolf, 857 Christensen, 1186 Bowles, 1185 Bortner, and 1092 Martin (Yes!!).

Not up: 1016, 1040, and 1071 C, 1290 Poirier, and 869.5 Calai.

So, I have two orange seeds up, the 857 and 1186. But the other five that are not up are the heart of the orange plans. What is odd to me is, every year it is like this! The no-color seeds come up quickly and easily, while the color seeds take their time and have spotty performance. Oh well, it's only day 3. More of them will come up. No need to panic yet.

The Calai is a year 2000 seed, so it might take some time.

The others... if they don't show by this time tomorrow, I have plenty of backups to try.

More up...

When I arrived home Monday night the 857 Christensen, 1186 Bowles, and one of the 604 Warren seeds were coming up. This means I can take these off the heat and put them under the light. I can now condense (barely) the two trays into one, so I have no trouble keeping all of the seeds warm.

964 Wolf pops!

The "blanket over the whole works" is working well. This morning, the 964 Wolf was already pushing up. This was just under two days in the pot, and 2.5 days since I filed and soaked.

Seeds in, and the season's first problem...

OK, well, 13 seeds are in their pots. Twelve for me considering my double-planting strategy, and one for Elise. Her's is the 1016 Christensen.

I was all set to go. Two trays of seeds with a heating mat for each. Only now, late Saturday night, I discover that one of the heating mats isn't working anymore. The one that is still working is a heating mat that isn't designed for seeds... but it's good in that I can crank the heat up on it and try to get it to heat both trays. At the moment the one heat mat is supplying heat to two trays, each with a portion of their surface touching the mat. I threw a blanket over the whole works to try to preserve heat until I can come up with a better plan. It's either that or make an 11:00pm run to WalMart, and I'm too tired for that right now.

I hope I don't wake up in the middle of the night in a panic over my seeds...

Season starts today... well, maybe tomorrow

Looking outside, this just ain't spring yet. But looking at the calendar, based on a trip I need to take, I think I'll go ahead and file and soak seeds tonight, and put them on the heat tomorrow. That should put me "all up" on the 23rd, Wednesday. Transfer to one-gallon pots a week from today, and out to the patch sometime during the week of Monday April 28th to May 2nd. Nope, it's not too early!

My nine year old, Elise, insists that she is growing one "all by herself" this year. Hmm... I need to find a spot for it!

Can't control the weather...

Still cold here. It snowed late last September on weighoff day, and we haven't had any real warming since. The grass is still brown. Normally I would be mowing by now. My tomatoes should have gone out a week or more ago. Now after investing many weeks in them, they're getting leggy.... We can't even put them out to harden them off!! Well we could, but going from a 70 degree house to below 40 outside is pretty hard on them. Now I don't know if these will work or if we'll need to start buying tomato plants. Sigh.

Right now the prediction is for above average temps on Saturday.

The "no-hoop" house

Click on the image for a larger version.

This is what I'm planning to build this year. It worked for my neighbors last year, and that's quite a big deal considering the wind we get. I need six of them............. don't know if I'll get them all done, but I will build as many as I can.

869.5 Calai added to the lineup

I have acquired a veteran free agent to bolster this year's lineup, an 869.5 Calai. THIS IS NOT AN APRIL FOOLS JOKE. ;-)

A generous grower friend had one and decided that it didn't fit into his plans, so I'm making room for it. I can already envision a cross between it and the 1071 Christensen, which is (869.5 Calai X Self). Then if I could only grow that out to 4 digits or more, people might want to have an inbred true orange seed for their collections...

Slow warming trend this week. Well, it should warm up to about "normal" by the weekend.

Zion

Here's one from Zion last year... click on the image to see a large version.

San Diego

For all of us in the northern half of the continent, here is a break.

My 12 year old son Bryce enjoyed the nice scenery. To keep this pumpkin related, Bryce has no interest in giant pumpkins.

Blizzard

Just got back Saturday from a trip to San Diego with the family. Wow, it's tough to come back here. This spring really hasn't arrived yet. This morning we have snow and high winds... I suppose it should be classified as a blizzard. I could take a picture, but who wants to see another boring white photo of snow?

Normally the beginning of April ushers in all the things I love. Baseball starts up, warmer temperatures show, and I'm already in the garden with cold crops planted, and working tirelessly toward getting things in place for the giants. But right now it's hard to believe that I'd like to have plants out there in 3 to 4 weeks from now.

Still winter here.............

A year ago yesterday, it was 75 degrees in my town. Yesterday it was 40 with snow on the ground.

Orange bonanza

I don't know how many people noticed, but my good friend Brian C. grew 8 fruits between 744 and 1071 last year, and all of them are true orange-orange crosses. These are crosses between the 869.5 Calai, 1101 Northrup, 500 Northrup, 857 Christensen, and 670 Daigle. I think one of these is going to do well for me this year.

Two plants from one seed?

Well, here is an idea that might be worth writing about.

We talk a lot about cloning, which perhaps isn't technically "cloning", but simply keeping a plant alive all winter and growing it out the next year. Why not try propagation?

I've got a plant going in a gallon pot, which I don't intend to actually put in the patch. I'm just experimenting. We have an old container of rooting powder. I decided to take a cutting and see if I could make a new plant.

So, I cut the first true leaf, dipped in the rooting powder, and planted it in very moist soil, planting a good portion of the stem and firming it in well.

I don't know if this was a wise choice of plant part... that is it might make a whole lot more sense to propagate a portion of a vine rather than the leaf. Well, at least I can see if I can keep it alive.

Remember, you can click on the images to see a larger version.

This once was a 400 pounder...

Here's my neighbor's ~400 pounder from last year. It's still there, in front of the house..... ;-)

Fun squash

This is going into the garden this year along with the giants and all the other stuff. Should be interesting.