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.