The late update

Every time I think nobody is watching this blog, I get a note from someone who says that they enjoy it. I appreciate your interest!

It has been a tough year for giants. Let me give you the 30,000 foot recap.

I grew the 1240 Bogie. Unfortunately the plant seemed stunted. Likely it was my cold weather that stunted it. The nodes on it were very small, and the plant just wouldn't grow. A few weeks ago I started up the tractor and cleared the ground. Harsh, I know, but if I can't grow the plant, I'd like to at least remove the weeds.

Still in the patch is a 1211.5 Toftness. This was a fantastic plant, good to grow. The fruit on it has good color, but about one week into the life of the fruit, it developed a huge sag. Right now it looks like a bean bag chair that the big bad wolf has been sitting in. It collects about one cup of water every time the sprinklers come on. It will likely go down early. Unfortunately, I was not able to get another fruit to grow on the plant.

The 1467 Perham also has a deformed fruit. It's high on the stem end, and very low on the blossom end.

I'm growing the 1725. This plant just didn't want to get big. The fruit is there, and it's VERY small. I almost don't want to talk about it because it's NOT the seed, it's the grower. The fruit is currently white with a green-ish hue.

The 720 Warren is also a tiny plant. It had one node of a double vine early on. I was able to get the plant to come out of it, but because of that double vine, the plant has no dominant first secondaries. That is, instead of a Christmas tree shape, the plant has an egg shape. The fruit is a nice color, but looks malnourished and has not ribbed out at all. I doubt this fruit has a chance to be 300 pounds, but it's really my only candidate for the fair. (Unless I take the bean bag.)

Finally, the 1505 Holland has been an excellent plant. I really like it. The fruit looks nice, but as of yesterday it was only at 360 pounds! I guess that's what cold weather and late pollinations will do to you. I have a decent shot at hitting 500 with it. But I'm honestly getting tired of 500 to 700 pound fruits.

For next year, if there is a next year, I need to consider larger hoophouses and putting heaters in them. I'm starting to think that things like double-vines can be environmentally triggered. That is, some plants when subjected to cold might react differently than if they never saw that cold. I don't know. I want to cut down to four plants, and use two large hoophouses to start them back to back. And finally, grow them in a huge mound of well composted manure.

Two years in a row we've had terrible cold spring weather. And two years in a row I've had deformed fruits and small plants that don't want to grow. This is in different soil each year. I just wonder if repeated exposure to the low 30's causes a plant to just shut things down? Please tell me what you think.

1505 Holland

This has been my best plant, the 1505 Holland. Most of my chance to get a PB this year rest on this fruit. I didn't expect this great color, if it gets better from here, which is normal, it should be great.