Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 193 Entries. Friday, May 11 View Page Melon plants x 3 are in the screen house. Nursing a recent heart attack so I'm hoping to stay in the game this season with help!   Friday, May 11 View Page Kins started this season 2018: 1734.5 Steil 2013 (220.3 Debacco x self) 9% Heavy 1873 Steil 2014 (1542 Kline x 2009 Wallace) 1172 Singleton 2009 (1385 Jutras 07 x Self) 1507.8 Kline (dmg) M: 2009 Wallace   Friday, May 11 View Page Tomato Plants approx. 24" tall really growing well with a few having nice mega blooms on. My own 3.40 Young x 3 & 4.29 Timms x 3   Saturday, May 26 View Page A nice mater on my 3.40 young. It is linear in the way the bloom is connected which means it has turned like a horse shoe on itself and all maters are fused together inline. I've got another 3 mega's that have set/taken. One of them on the 4.29 Timms is quite remarkable indeed.   Tuesday, June 12 View Page The 3 melon plants in the screen house. Again behind this year but the plants are growing fast throwing out females left n right. I'm hoping for a big surprise this season out of one of these plants. A few people know how big a damaged melon grew unofficially off this seed last year even after being neglected, no fertz no watering due to me being hospitalized and abandoning the patches in early August 2017. Had my last surgery this past Wednesday for a while (Knock on wood) and with help from my daughter, should grow something big this season! Introduced another 25 dozen Canadian night crawlers to the screen house patch and feed them white bread & light cormeal at night!   Tuesday, June 12 View Page This is the mater of my own 3.40 Young that was growing crazy in a horse show pattern but as it grew it tore apart ripping matter meat and stem in separating. This big bottom end it what's left. The stem is as big as the main stem on the plant nearly 2" around on the stem. Matter is still young and growing very well. I'm needing to upgrade the sling to a bigger one..nice problem. I would guess it at 2.5 pounds at this stage.   Tuesday, June 12 View Page a closer look at that beg stem feed this mater   Sunday, June 17 View Page installed fertz feeder line to the 3 melon plants. On a timed/mg rate feeding meter and you can adjust the rate at the plants also. Plants are growing well. Had a storm roll through and roll a few vines, found out just how darn good the plants are throwing roots at the nodes. each node has roots, Excellent and just what I was hoping for so we pinned all the vine down with bbq skewers sticks. Added more night crawlers to the patch also. Amazing at night how many are on the bread we feed them, and yes lots and lots of fresh worm poo!   Sunday, June 17 View Page Here is the ("WAY" behind) 1172 Singleton'09(1385 Jutras'07. This seed was very aggressive back in 2012.   Monday, June 18 View Page Nearly 100 degrees the last 4 days here on the mississippi. Suppose to be in the 80's for the rest of the week. Got 2 melons set on separate plants and growing fast! Fed melons with Emulsified fish on Sunday, cold processed. Noticed leopard frogs are in the melon plants.   Tuesday, June 19 View Page Treated Kin plants and all melon plants with Bayer 2n1 Systemic for Aphids and the like (4 week treatment plan). Had Wind panels installed (16'x 4' metal roofing sheeting.Pollinated 3 more melons this morning, all very nice sized.   Tuesday, June 19 View Page My best Mater so far...and growing.   Tuesday, June 19 View Page More of a top view. Love that stem. Had to cut part of the metal support because of Mater getting too big, lotsa pressure on that sling...love these kinda problems.   Wednesday, June 20 View Page Storm came thru, both kin plants are no more. We had 70-80 mph winds with sideways hail. Melon plants in the screen house survived, a couple rolled vines is all. Another huge storm is about 30 minutes away. All Tomato plants are in good condition with 'T' post's holding them from blowing over and are covered with screen. First time I've ever seen rain come under the windows.   Thursday, June 21 View Page Well here we go again. This is the exciting time of the growing season. Early yet   Thursday, June 21 View Page Melon # 2. Different plant than #1. Pollinated 6/19/18, 3 DAP   Thursday, June 21 View Page Just noticed that I might be posting the incorrect Pollination date on these melons. I pollinated both melons very very early in the morning because of doctors appointments & proceedures. Even forced open the females to pollinate at 5:00 am abouts. I'm counting the day I pollinated because its so early. If anyone thinks I'm wrong doing so let me know because I want to be right on this. These melons are growing very fast like last year. Theses melons are putting on size and laying over in the afternoon the day I pollinate them. PM me please if I'm doing the pol date wrong please.   Thursday, June 21 View Page side view of melon # 2   Thursday, June 21 View Page # 1 melon. I took this pic yesterday 6/20   Friday, June 22 View Page Remarkable..The 1172 Singleton '09 (1385 Jutras '07 x self)has sprung back from a bad storm on the 20th. All 3 melon plants have sets on. Gunna be a nice quite season round here. The docs have given me an all clear on growing with interruptions at a minimum!   Sunday, June 24 View Page I've committed to this melon on #3 plant. 5 dap, terminated all vines on this plant that has over 220 ft of vine. Trying to decide if I should term vine just past melon. Also trimmed stump area and covered.   Sunday, June 24 View Page Melon on #2 plant, 6 dap. It was nearly 2.5" when it bloomed and laid down the same day it was pollinated. Was astonished how big it got the first 24 hrs so we named this one, 'Mr. Long Johns' It is also weird shaped with a huge belly but I'm not sure its a keeper just yet. If looking straight down on it, it appears to be only 2/3 developed lobes wise. Plant has over 200' of vine and another melon set on this plant. Will watch this one close to see how it grows. If any of your see a problem with how this one looks even body wise, please yell at me. Thanks   Monday, June 25 View Page Used a 55 gal. plastic barrel for a melon house. Seems to be ok for it because hours out in the hot sun it is nice n cool inside the melon house on plant #3   Monday, June 25 View Page closer look at the barrel melon house. Local recycle business has these for 5 bucks ea. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!!   Monday, June 25 View Page The 1172 Singleton '09 (1385 Jutras'07 x self) is at 9' now. Drenched all Tomato, Kin & Melon plants today with emuls>fish & 5-10-6. Japanese beatles are so thick in the air you have to keep your mouth shut outside or tote the Ranch Dressing with you...mmm tasty!   Tuesday, June 26 View Page Pollinated & covered (storm 5 miles out),a very nice long 4 lobe (melon x sib) on # 2 plant and a nice 3 lober (melon x sib) on #1 Plant, 1st melon to be pollinated on #1 plant. Both are my own 146.5 Young. Buried vines on both kin plants this morning w/kelp, humate, fish & crushed aspirin. Drenched with willow water. Eazy Peazy not so Cheezy.   Tuesday, June 26 View Page I think I've found out how I'm getting such rapid growth on the melons. Each node has a great root system and the nodes that are not yet buried are throwing out root taps from on top of the node like kin plants do. Didn't know they did that. You can see the roots coming up from the ground due to lots of rain. Massive root system everywhere on these plants!   Tuesday, June 26 View Page Nodes that I've covered recently have great tap roots from the upper portion of the vines already in the ground doing they're job. Old hats to a lot of you but I find it very interesting.   Tuesday, June 26 View Page Melon #3 this morning on it's new 4' growing surface. 7 dap, 79 0tt. Needs a name yet   Tuesday, June 26 View Page Melon #2 'Mr. Long Johns this morning 8 dap, 85.5 ott. He may be replaced soon because I have 3 other melons on this # 2 plant with one of them standing out.   Wednesday, June 27 View Page Mr. Long Johns on #2 plant is as the Monty Python 'Dead Parrot' scene would state is...NO MORE! The melon that replaced him is a WOW!!! My daughter carried it out to the road and yes.....smashed it! I have video,lol.   Wednesday, June 27 View Page Pollinated this melon yesterday 6/26/18 so 1 dap. Body is 2 7/8" long x 1 1/2" wide. Stem at melon measures 3/4". I realize its way too early to get excited but....dang! This is the #2 plant that had Mr. Long Johns on. It is throwing out big females as well as # 3 plant. It is 13 ft out on a main, opposite end of former Mr. L J's position.   Wednesday, June 27 View Page Daughter named this melon Mrs. Puff. I plan on scaring it... a lot!   Friday, June 29 View Page Storms just won't seem to let up. The screen is laying across the 1172 Singelton plant. Ripped the screen at nearly every retainer clip   Friday, June 29 View Page Melon Patch in the screen house. Hope it recovers. Winds were around 80 mph here for a good constant 10 minutes. Had most vines rooted down or pinned down but still rolled/flattened pretty bad   Friday, June 29 View Page Amazing how the melon plants are do darn resilient. Plants are all corrected from the storm yesterday and the screen house has been put back and screen clips screwed down. Kins plants too pretty darn resilient. Had to put some bracing under approx 14 leaf stems between the two plants. Will have male flowers blooming tomorrow for the 1st time on the kins...females out 11ft and 12 ft on the kin plants. They should open 1st of next week.   Friday, June 29 View Page 146.5 Young melon on plant #3, 10 dap: 48"cc/24"ss/32.5 ee = 104.5 ott > est 35 lbs. Melon needs a name yet..thinking thinking   Friday, June 29 View Page Drenched and foliared kins and melons with me special AACT this evening. Fingers crossed nothing blows!...by the way "DO NOT" use plastic 55 gallon barrels for melon huts...don't work very well after a couple days I found out.   Saturday, June 30 View Page Nothing exploded last night after drenching!! Here's my best melon so far & it is on plant # 3. It put 5 lbs on since 7:30 pm yesterday. 112 ott, est a tiny 43 lbs.   Saturday, June 30 View Page Simply amazed how good the kin plants look after being knocked down during the storm a couple days back. 1172 Singelton (1385 Jutras x self) is over 12' this morning.   Saturday, June 30 View Page Found a crack in one of the main vines on Plant #2 that Mrs. Puff was growing on. Had another melon set on secondary feeding from same main so I cut away the main after the secondary that thee other melon was set on in hopes to turn that vine into a main. Should work. Left Mrs. puff growing on the cut off vine because I feel there is plenty of power from each node being rooted. Cool experiment anyway I feel.   Saturday, June 30 View Page Well, the cracked melon vine on plant #2 that I cut ended up croaking and Mrs. Puff is no more. That's OK, still got 3 other melons on that plant that are doing well along with the melon on the secondary that hopefully turns into a main. That particular melon has increased in size substantially. Put shade screen up over thee 1172 Singleton plant....Dang Hot today.   Tuesday, July 3 View Page Melon plants are incredible at this point. Have dedicated melons on all 3. #1 melon is named Mrs. Puff Deux, #2 melon is Mr. Hankey (The Christmas Poo) from South Park because well... he's a 'number 2' and we have thee lovely Fiona of Shrek on #3 plant. Yesterday drenched both kin plants and melon plants with a systemic insecticide/fungicide also late evening foliar sprayed 5-50-17 on melons & kins. Have got a kin 14' out on the 1172 Singelton that will open on the 4th of July.   Wednesday, July 4 View Page Female on the 1172 Singelton '09 opens in the morning 14' out but there are zero males that will be open. Two plants, I have not removed any males and there are no males ready..Dangity Dang! There is another female around 16'... fingers crossed!   Thursday, July 5 View Page Amazing, 1 male did open this morning for me to be able to pollinate a beautiful 4 lobe female on the 1172 Singelton '09.   Thursday, July 5 View Page 1172 Singelton '09 14' on main pollinated today 7/518 (1172 Singelton x self)   Thursday, July 5 View Page Mrs. Puff this morning at 7 dap, 53 ott on plant #1 in the screen house   Thursday, July 5 View Page Mr. Hankey on plant #2, 7 dap, 59 ott. He's a stinker!   Thursday, July 5 View Page Fiona on plant #3. 16 dap   Thursday, July 5 View Page Fiona Plant #3   Thursday, July 5 View Page Fiona, showing off her buttresses. Mr. Hankey is the next melon to the left and Mrs. Puff is on the far east end of the screen house, 1st plant when you walk in from the east side.   Friday, July 6 View Page Both parts on a melon blossom...gotta back off the Hawaiian Bud!   Friday, July 6 View Page This Hawaiian Bud, not thee other. Hadn't been to Colorado in years. This may explain some of the huge females in the melon patch! I both foliar & drench with it & it goes in my special tea brew. Yum Yum   Saturday, July 7 View Page had to do some vine trimming again last night on ole #3. Vine was binding on the melon corner, still need to move entire board to the side asap to even it up & relax vine. Melon should be 100 + lbs. on Monday for a day 20 number   Saturday, July 7 View Page Got stump covers finally put up yesterday in the melon patch.   Saturday, July 7 View Page 1172 Singelton '09 this morning. One melon pollinated, another will be pollinated tomorrow x self. Fingers crossed on males being open.   Sunday, July 8 View Page No shortage of male flowers for this morning pollination of the 2nd kin (5 lobe)on the 1172 Singleton '09 (1385 Jutras x self). This pollination is (1172 Singleton x self). 17' out on the main vine. 59 F. degrees at pollination.   Sunday, July 8 View Page Fiona should have some good 20 day numbers tomorrow! Put another 7+ pounds on the last 20 hrs   Monday, July 9 View Page Fiona day 20 101.5 ott 7/9/18   Monday, July 9 View Page One thing I noticed this afternoon with Fiona is that she looks very young still. At day 20 the melon still has a tack feel to it and you can see she still has brilliant vivid green colors and that is where it is still tacky to the feel. 88 growing days left & if she can put at least an avg minimum of 3 pounds per day..well lets just say the numbers are interesting. Fingers crossed. The other 2 melons, Mrs. Puff & Mr. Hankey are growing very well too! Mr. Hankey is close to passing up Fiona's 12 dap numbers. Special tea brewing for the 3rd time, we drench & foliar again Wednesday on Kins & melons.   Monday, July 9 View Page Anybody know where I can get a pair of these please let me know!   Tuesday, July 10 View Page Correction: 7/9 2 posts back says Fiona 101.5 ott, should read like the pic 101.5 Lbs not ott for 7/9 entry   Thursday, July 12 View Page Fiona, 23 dap milk jug & 5 gal bucket comp. I've got pieces of boogie board foam under the bucket & jug to be the same level the melon is.   Thursday, July 12 View Page Mr. Hankey, 14 dap   Thursday, July 12 View Page Mrs. Puff, 14 dap   Thursday, July 12 View Page 1172 Singelton '09, (kin A)on the main 7 dap   Thursday, July 12 View Page 1172 Singleton '09, (Kin B) 4 dap   Thursday, July 12 View Page Pollinated this 783 young uow x 1172 Singelton this morning. Its growing where my LG's normally would be. Stupid idea yes....that's why I did it   Friday, July 13 View Page Pollinated another beautiful 4 lober 18 ft out on the main of thee 1172 Singleton '09 x self (1385 Jutras '07 x self). Took a chance and pulled all future male flowers because I killed my 1st cuke bug this morning beings these cukes love male kin flowers. Melons are growing very well and I would even go out on a limb and say very very very well.   Saturday, July 14 View Page The melon patches are al approx. 24" deep with foliage. I've never had such healthy plants before and I believe it due to reading and listening to growers on how to rotate fungicides. My secret Tea has got to do with it too,lol. My daughter foliar fed my Celery tea brew last night and this morning...huge numbers on growth and the plants are standing up and saluting!..Yes I said celery tea brew. Cut up and heated,(not boiled) celery extracting the juice in 2 gallons of water in a big stainless pot mixed with 2 cups of worm castings(bagged) and 5-50-17. I foliar feed late with sun off the plants twice/week.   Saturday, July 14 View Page Fiona this morning going wide and staying tall n heavy. So proud of her! Measured her circ around the middle..Oh My. 25 dap, can't wait for 30 dap #'s   Saturday, July 14 View Page Fiona is a 4+ jugger lol, this morning if I had 4 jugs to line up.   Saturday, July 14 View Page Mr. Hankey the Watermelon Poo growing quite well this morning. He like his Hawaiian Bud, 16 dap numbers are very good also   Saturday, July 14 View Page Mrs. Puff getting buff. 16 dap. She is not long but growing straight up & out   Saturday, July 14 View Page Just a note: Mrs. Puff Passed up Mr. Hankey in weight yesterday   Saturday, July 14 View Page Made a final decision on the 1172 Singelton, '09 (1385 Jutras '07 x self). Tarp t-posts set in so when kin gets bigger & needs bigger shade cover.   Sunday, July 15 View Page 1172 Singleton got a new home 7/14. No more than we got the tarp over it & shade cloth hung a popcorn storm developed, barreled through..no problem!   Sunday, July 15 View Page In honor of the 2018 World Cup! ***Team Fiona USA***   Monday, July 16 View Page My daughter Paytyn 6392 dap & Fiona 27 dap.   Monday, July 16 View Page Got the 1172 Singelton's vine propped up and stem straightened. 27" cc yesterday 10 dap   Thursday, July 19 View Page Today is day 30 on melon #3, Fiona. She estimated this morning well over 150 lbs so if she makes it to scales this melon should smash my PB of 146.5 I need to put wings on her stand because she is nearly 4" over on each side of her 18" wide table she's growing on. The melon has also out grown her 24" tall canopy. Rubbing on the wire fence top, not good.   Thursday, July 19 View Page Fiona and her mother day 30 154 pounds averaging 5.5 Lbs/day   Thursday, July 19 View Page Fun Fun, Huge 60,000 ft Tornadic storm heading right our way Where Misouri, Iowa and Illinois meet. We got the basement ready!   Friday, July 20 View Page Bad storm damage here, Barn roof peeled back, baseball size hail, house siding destroyed, windows smashed out. Had sideways rain, hail and 80+ mph winds into my bedroom, kitchen and attic. Got the hail smashing out the kitchen windows on video, hail even smashed 4" holes into & through the down spouts, crazy. Lost a huge maple tree as it fell and smashed our vintage school swing sets. The corn and soy beans around us are done. The 1172 Singelton is no more. Not even stems left on the plants..shredded. The melon plants may survive with time but the screen house is lost from the hail and winds. Sounded like a train went over us. Tree limbs are twisted and gone out of most of the trees. Just ripped out as if a giant was pulling weeds and only getting the top halves. Will post pics tomorrow.   Friday, July 20 View Page 1172 Singelton done n done   Friday, July 20 View Page Melon patches got roughed up but I believe they will pull through   Wednesday, July 25 View Page Fiona is back growing very strong after the rains and storm. Don't tell anyone but I've made a deal with a couple Russian melons not to disclose Fiona's weight. Mr. Hankey and Mrs. are very impressive at 27 dap ea.   Wednesday, July 25 View Page That green plastic sheet Fiona is sitting on is 18" across. That dragon fly that landed on her was big. Shes back to putting 5-6+ lbs on daily. I had a roofing looking at her and when he left he was telling still know way is the melon really,lol. Love that. She's simply getting big. She looks like another big melon with the Kent lineage in her. Her mother was 297 Kent x 291 Kent.   Wednesday, July 25 View Page Correction on Fiona's lineage. Her Mother is my own 146.5 J. Young and so on and so on.   Thursday, July 26 View Page Just remembered I crossed Fiona with Mr. Hankey   Thursday, July 26 View Page Just another day in the melon Patch. For a few years now I've read and experimented with some pretty loose methods of growing better root systems more importantly plant health that leads to better and longer plant & fruit life. By now I feel I have positively reached the point of not knowing anything that I've done has helped or even affected anything I've grown.....maybe. I am getting tons of both sexed blooms and double melons at leaf node junctions, large sets of tap roots from the tops of my melon vines rather than just the sides or bottoms. Top tap roots are coming out even if the vines are in the air...and this all may be perfectly normal and well, thee amount of them are truly baffling, lol. I'm actually introducing Iodine into my tea brew as to combat ROS. The Island of Dr. Moreau, lol Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are undesirable byproducts of the aerobic life.   Thursday, July 26 View Page I better just stay out of the patches from this point on. Makes you keep on your toes for cull's.....BELIEVE ME!!!   Friday, July 27 View Page Fiona's new melon house. 5'x3'x2.5' tall. She fills it up!   Friday, July 27 View Page I like this house better, just lift and the 3 poles in the back support it. I drilled a hole in each end pole and bent the heavy fence wire to act like a hinge pin. Eazy Peazy   Friday, July 27 View Page 38 dap w/ 71 day to grow. I'm hoping she'll out grow this house in under 29 days.   Friday, July 27 View Page and 1 more. I'll post some pics of Mr. Hankey & Mrs. Puff today also   Friday, July 27 View Page I ran into a problem in the middle of the week. I have to use the pumpkin tape on Fiona now because she out grew the regular soft tapes.   Saturday, July 28 View Page 61.F degrees this morning. Have been covering melons for 2 weeks now..oh yes..it's still July!   Saturday, July 28 View Page Mr. Hankey yesterday at 29 DAP   Saturday, July 28 View Page Mrs. Puff yesterday at 29 dap   Saturday, July 28 View Page Mrs. Puff top view   Sunday, July 29 View Page Now in the melon patches I'm finding more n more male flowers doubling up too.   Sunday, July 29 View Page ...and of course still getting the doubled up females too.   Sunday, July 29 View Page Fiona is 40 dap today. She is growing so well right now I venture to have a goal of 300+ lbs by day 60. Lots of ran this morning and this will slow them down. Both Mrs. Puff & Mr. Hankey blew the doors off day 25 numbers of well over 100 lbs. The plants are so deep n plush we found 30 pound culls on both #1 & #2 plants. Fiona's plant is watched very closely but we still have found a few 10 pounders off her at times. Crazy how they can hide right in front of you. Houston out.   Sunday, July 29 View Page Sprayed malathion & daconil after the melon plants completely dried out from the rain. More rains predicted over night into tomorrow, Tuesday & Wednesday.   Tuesday, July 31 View Page I think my melon season may very well be over. July 29th in my diary you can see the plants are near perfect condition bright green disease free and recovering a bit still from the 19th hail storm. The 29th I noticed spots, very small brownish spots on the melon leaves. This morning all the leaves are covered with bigger spots nearly covering thee entire leaf. Tearing the leaves apart there is no stickiness or gumminess. Vines look good so far, melons are putting on weight still but the leaves are going to toast very rapidly. Smaller leaves completely blackened. Microstroma Juglandis is my guess. Fiona was growing at an incredible rate as well as Mrs. Puff and Mr. Hankey. Such a shame.   Tuesday, July 31 View Page One thing I did this morning was to walk over to the nearby corn and bean fields that were shredded by the hail and all of they're leafs too, (what's left of them) are infected as well so it tells me that all of this rain and wind with huge humidity levels day after day after day we have been having has infected the patch. Simply amazing it comes down to this. I disinfected the seeds 1 hr/10% bleach prior to germinating, even removing the seed casing prior and the plants have been on Tebuconazole and Chlorothalonil systemic fungicides from day one also just happened to spray Daconil on the 29th rotating with Merit and a copper based fungicide. You can't say I didn't try, lol..not so much.   Tuesday, July 31 View Page Yuck! Stumps & vines are all dry at this point with zero splitting or seeping anything.   Tuesday, July 31 View Page Thanks to some good people in the Watermelon forum for making me feel better & knocking some sense into me on insecticide spraying with fungicides. Apparently I have or the crop dusters in a field away burnt the leaves with Malathion or something. The leaves in some case have lightened up and spots have gone away and in some cases have stopped in their tracks on getting bigger. I only hope the leaves will still produce go juice for the melons. They are still growing according to this evenings numbers. I'm getting excited to see what Fiona puts on by August 30th and yes..Beyond. Shes at 42 dap today and very well over 200 lbs est.   Thursday, August 2 View Page I don't no what the standard of 'Normal is but I'm guessing this are back to normal in the melon patch's. I'm back to watering twice a day since temps are back up near 90. My daughter mostly and I have cut all badly damaged leaves out of the patches along with wilting old age leaves around the trunk areas as not to spread disease and I dusted Fertilome Sulfer powder around the trunks 24" out. Culls are a problem so I am doing what I read about years back and going melon hunting at night in the patch with a spot light as to draw out the shiny younger melons...works good! A few have said Fiona is on a WR track but how do we really know 4sure until she sets on a scale in October right. It indeed fun watching them grow.I have noticed taking measurements twice daily that Fiona really stretches on inches from about 12:30-4:00 pm then slows down the rest of the time to a normal pace. I think she may be reacting to that special light foliar she gets daily in the morning around 6 am. I'll water for 5 minutes shut down the sprayers then instantly spray my tea blend then water 10 more minutes (2 cross patterns rain birds opposite sides so to cover everything. I'll be dead heading vines again in a week just to make sure new leaves have replaced old, burnt ones. I truly don't know what the heck I'm doing at times really, lol. Technical term: Copying others hard work & wingin it! Houston out!   Saturday, August 4 View Page 46 dap for Fiona. She is busting at the seams. That hail strike on her stem I hope is healing up. It looks horrible but solid & dry and not soft but more important...she is packing on the lbs just fine. She is still maintaining her height but really getting wide.   Saturday, August 4 View Page The melon patches sure has bounced back   Saturday, August 4 View Page If I put wings on her she'd look like a C-5 Galaxy, lets just hope she weighs as much,lol   Monday, August 6 View Page Melon plants are nearly 3 feet deep in areas and that's with them dead headed. All 3 melons are growing great. We culled last night and Fiona alone had over 50 pounds in 3 large ones we missed. I scratch my head and wonder where she would be on weight now if I would have found these earlier. Boy it is tuff finding the culls with out trampling the plants.   Tuesday, August 7 View Page Pulled more culls off all of the melons plants this morning. Here is Fiona who by the way has out grown her new home & where the heck is her sitting board anymore? I put a tape around her to measure her girth...lets just say I've seen the 350.5 Kent youtube video of that same measurement and got a big grin on my face and its dap 50 for Fiona tomorrow. Good girl. The last 24 hrs she put on more weight than ever before. Yikes, 60 days till weigh-off.   Tuesday, August 7 View Page When I measure her horizontal circ the pumpkin tape doesn't seem so big now, lol. Pictures don't do her justice. To see how she's filling out at the corners check out the last pic I posted, you'll notice she hides 99% of the board she sits on. Shes binding on the vine again so I have to move her back very soon.   Tuesday, August 7 View Page Girth measurement on Fiona is not, I repeat "not" the same as the 350.5 Kent was to this point but not far off. I meant 2 posts back to say I saw the 'same way' the 350.5 was measured girth wise. Houston out!   Thursday, August 9 View Page Moving day today for Fiona. She turned 50 dap yesterday. She needs to back & north about 5".58 days till Anamosa. Mr. Hanky or Miss puff will visit Bloomfield Iowa on the 29th of Sept if all goes well and if they weigh melons there..don't know who to contact on that info. Might even show up in Republic Missouri. Hang in there my little melons!   Saturday, August 11 View Page Me after measuring Fiona yesterday evening. 52 dap The culls are freakin crazy in numbers..DANG YOU NEAR PERFECT SOIL & PLANTS!!!   Saturday, August 11 View Page Patch pic   Saturday, August 11 View Page Mrs. Puff with the ball closing in on 200 pounds very soon 44 dap   Saturday, August 11 View Page Mr. Hankey the Patch Poo! He too is closing in on 200 pounds quickly at 44 dap. Mrs Puff is currently 1 lb more than Mr. Hankey. Its a back and forth race between them.   Saturday, August 11 View Page and yes Fiona has got to get some pick up ball too.   Saturday, August 11 View Page Pass it Fiona PASS IT!   Saturday, August 11 View Page I meant to say that I truly believe that the plants love it when I foliar feed very early at day break before the bees because the melons are showing that they really grow well during the mid day and not the night like kins do. Just my opinion from monitoring their growth spurts so close.   Saturday, August 11 View Page Side view of Mrs. Puff   Sunday, August 12 View Page Ordered a 5ft pumpkin tarp now I just need 4 or 5 individuals to show me how to use it come the evening of the 5th of October if we make it that far. Also put a message in watermelon growing asking what the heavy hitters do when you run out of melon chart numbers. Interesting problem, Hmm.   Wednesday, August 15 View Page Oh the woes of growing. A mom n pop set of big groundhogs have entered my melon world the day before yesterday. They have took it upon theirselves to dig under my barn not 75 feet from Fiona and the gang. Have traps set with canteloupe but I'm also having an Al Pacino look alike contest in the wee hours this morning...what next?   Wednesday, August 15 View Page Moved Fiona back yet again but this time it took a Sawzall, 4 guys and some elbow grease...heavy on the elbow grease because under her weight we had to cut the rail boards up since they were stuck in the ground and would not move. We had to build a new structure under her where she sits which was no easy task for 4 of us then put new level surfaces so she could be measured true on the sides & ends. Once we got her where she would move we inched her back & over to eliminate tension on the stem and vine. Nerve rackin but it is done for yet about another week. Mrs. PufF also had to be moved very carefully. She has gone crazy with growth as well as Mr. Hankey. Both of their numbers are getting pretty wild for 48 dap both. I've still got Henry the Golden Boy watchin over the patch as well as pie pans flappin on 'T' Posts and loud talk shows on the radio in the chicken coop not 10 ft off the patch. I truly feel there is something special goin on here in the world of Sandbagginsville east of the Rockies. Good Night!   Thursday, August 16 View Page No that's not a weird green striped pumpkin out there in the patch..it's just Fiona. She is really kickin it in overdrive at 58 dap. She is seriously starting to take an AG shape.   Thursday, August 16 View Page Baby Got Back....and a baga chips!   Thursday, August 16 View Page Again pics don't do these melons justice on how big they are. Fiona adding bulk.   Thursday, August 16 View Page Mrs. Puff 49 dap   Thursday, August 16 View Page still can't get over her size   Friday, August 17 View Page An interesting note: I told Chris Kent last week that I know that I'm lacking approx. 1/2" per side on measuring the ott on Fiona because of the screwy set up I have had her sitting on. Her weight was bringing the plastic matt upwards and shortning her ott. Well after getting her up and repositioned I'm able to get an exact ott. I'm amazed to go back and look at past years top 5-10 spots on the weigh off results and read the ott's to compare to Fiona's ott & where she's at beings today is 59 dap. Very blessed & lets don't forget lucky! My daughter has purposely not let me tell her the numbers on the melons or est weights and not see them so on Sunday she will see them and its going to be cool. I might record her reactions.   Friday, August 17 View Page Looks like we had another rip snorter last on storms. Melon patch blown around a bit. Enough to expose some good size culls that needed to come out. A couple on Fiona that bathroom scaled at just over 20 pounds and 8 other smaller on just her plant. I hope she shows her appreciation of us getting them off her vines. Funny how we name the melon but not the plant when, if it wasn't for the plant we wouldn't have the melon...Man that's deep...even for a shallow mind like mine.   Saturday, August 18 View Page Getting Fiona use to the new 5' pumpkin tarp that arrived yesterday.   Saturday, August 18 View Page All the melons have their own custom sewn blankets. It has been in the upper 50's lower 60's for 3-4 weeks now at night. Nice n warm every morning. No they don't get read to although it has crossed my mind,lol.   Saturday, August 18 View Page 60dap for Fiona today and day 51 for both Mrs. Puff and Mr. Hankey. Mr. Hankey is growing strong but Mrs. Puff is pulling a Fiona and running big numbers now. Mrs. Puff is 35 lbs under where Fiona was at 51 dap but Mrs. Puff has bigger daily avg's right now than Fiona. This is fun! I have got it figured at the rate Fiona is growing in less than 14 days she will do something pretty darn incredible and it has nothing to do with the current WR. After 14 days from now if Fiona stays healthy and keeps growing till October I may start drinking,lol. No details to give at this time in Sandbagginsville east of the Rockies. Oh and the plants are now wanting to grow over the melon caves, lol. They have been growing taller than the 3ft sides, not vining just full huge leaves bush type plants/vines. Craziest thing I've seen and yes I terminate vines again and again and again etc, etc.   Tuesday, August 21 View Page I am so in disbelief on how young and lush the melon plants look and feel. Even the 'Original main leaves are still there although darker in color..are still freakin there and are huge in size. The plants are simply gorgeous healthy looking for as old as they are and what they have been through, storms stupidity etc, etc hence melons that are doing very well. Keeping the culls off of them is another story,lol. The race between Mrs. Puff and Mr. Hankey is great but I must say Mr. Hankey is now going long and has caught back up to Mrs. Puff. Fiona just sits and watches as they try to catch up to her in size and has she got size, goodness she's got size. Hang in there gang. If they all 3 survive I do know where each of them are going. My daughter is required now to help with the tape in measuring Fiona and how Mrs. is positioned It is difficult to get my arms around her to hold the tape for the cc. Keep 'em going everyone!   Tuesday, August 21 View Page I salute Marion North Caroline in declaring 'Big Foot' as their official animal. Seriously. They did.   Wednesday, August 22 View Page Mrs. Puff 54 dap yesterday   Wednesday, August 22 View Page Mrs. Puff button end yesterday 54 dap well over 200 pounds   Wednesday, August 22 View Page Mrs. Dizzy view yesterday 54 dap   Wednesday, August 22 View Page That last entry is suppose to read, "Mrs. Puff", dizzy view yesterday   Wednesday, August 22 View Page Fiona yesterday 63 dap 4.9lbs/day avg. Its been cloudy all week some rain and lots of fog with temps in the 50's & 60's at night. Got some warm temps coming this weekend.   Wednesday, August 22 View Page Fiona button end. Was told buy a seasoned grower that she may be full of air since she's grown so fast..Hope not because she sounds solid.   Wednesday, August 22 View Page OK, Show of hands..who else has an AG that the top of it measures nearly 9ft off the ground? Didn't THINK SO!! lol   Wednesday, August 22 View Page 1st day of low numbers on all 3 melons. Only 1/2" growth on each melon because of temps in the low 50's at night and clouds the last 6-7 days. We had sunshine today but a day not out of the 70's. I foliar sprayed for fungus and drenched w/ a Systemic > insect/disease. Very cool mornings for the last week with heavy heavy fog = powdery mildew threats hence I have stepped up fungicides for preventive maintenance. Fiona put on nice girth numbers in the past 3 days but as far as the last 24 hrs they all show they have slowed evenly so not too too worried right now. We have a forcast for temps in the 90's but T-Storms for all weekend. Sucks.   Thursday, August 23 View Page I tip my bottle & my hat to these seeds & to this seasons melons. Heck Mike's here might even talk me into given out Fiona's actual numbers this evening after measuring.   Thursday, August 23 View Page Well I thought Fiona slowed way down the last couple days but nope! My Calculator decided to do funny things so in the trash it went. Fiona has an ott of 229 which puts her at an est of 327 lbs & I have to remember she still has from 40-50 days left to grow depending where she's goin. Her vertical girth is going up nicely as it should be (She's a couple inches shy of where the 350.5 Kent's vertical Girth of 76" was). She will increase in size no doubt with warmer temps starting tomorrow in the high 80's & 90's. She is getting lumps n bumps in places that can't normally be measured, Hope that's good). It has been cold damp & plain crappy for melon growing here but its got to get better. I will hold off on any further numbers till she hits the scales and of course only if she holds on. (Fingers Crossed). Mr. Hankey may have hit his poo peak at around 230 est pounds or maybe not with this crazy weather, he is super long now and miss puff, well she is 56 dap today and putting on another 6 pounds over night and a lot bigger than Mr. Hankey. Keep'em growing people. I will need therapy after this ones over,lol.   Saturday, August 25 View Page Small melon patch tour vid! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9LXy4Ha8eg   Saturday, August 25 View Page Had a lot of rain again lately but we are in much higher temps! Melons have slowed again after an uptick. Also leaned on Mr. Hankey #2 melon while measuring this evening and heard a small crack sound from within. I posted a question in the Watermelon forum if this will hurt his growth because he has picked up a bit. Hope it doesn't mean doom for him.   Monday, August 27 View Page Mrs. Puff (Closest) has sure got the whale body thingy goin on, Mr. Hankey has out grown his melon cave fore sure and Fiona, Well...she's Fiona.   Monday, August 27 View Page Mr. Hankey, chuggin along. Both he & Mrs. Puff are 60dap today.   Monday, August 27 View Page Have a crew coming over today to get Fiona moved back & over about 5" to relieve stem stress. She's becoming quite the load ';^)   Monday, August 27 View Page My daughter & Fiona   Monday, August 27 View Page Just got a lesson in watermelon growin..No pics! Lesson learned,lol. I will comply > abide by, observe, obey, adhere to, conform to, hew to, follow, respect. If I've missed somethun ..just let me know,lol   Tuesday, August 28 View Page This is serious stuff!   Tuesday, August 28 View Page Getting a lot of positive feedback about posting so many pics and updates. Heck I can barely hold a deck of cards much less hold them close,lol.   Wednesday, August 29 View Page Like expect parents we are on a 400 watch around the patch. Fiona is 71dap with 38 days till OCT 6th. She is at a daily avg of 4.69 lbs. Her lobes are filling out now like Mike Tysons neck. I'm afraid if I get too close she'll take a bite of my ear! She is 40" L x 26" W x 20" Tall. Blocky for a melon I think.   Wednesday, August 29 View Page 71 dap   Wednesday, August 29 View Page Mr. Hankey this morning. Now only 1 lb behind Mrs. Puff, his daily avg. now is 4.89lbs   Wednesday, August 29 View Page Mrs. Puff is turning into a Tank. She is wider & taller than Fiona but not as long. 62 dap   Wednesday, August 29 View Page Pumpkin darn near got blown off the barrel top,lol. I'm surprised it's still there.   Friday, August 31 View Page Getting pretty exciting around here even though again it has been cloudy & rainy the last 2 days. Melons are still putting on weight. We are going to Bloomfield Iowa on Sept 29th. I have registered for the NC Fair but Nothing for sure yet where Fiona will end up, Anamosa's Nolin Ryan, Republic Pumpkin Daze or NC State Fair. Will have it figured out in about 2-3 weeks. Fiona's plant seems to be bouncing back from the latest storm, her plant got tore up bad. Lost a lot of leaves at the center of the plant. I'm using our mini van to haul these melons and will remove seats and have figured out to load them from the side doors instead of back being that a forklift can pull right up to the side and grab a pallet easier than dealing with the back hatch door. It will be hilarious trying to get them loaded,lol. Fingers crossed. Does a Royal Flush beat a Full House? Hmm   Saturday, September 1 View Page I couldn't make my mind up so I left it up to Fiona!   Saturday, September 1 View Page Was told to just look normal, just like allllllll thee other melon heads   Sunday, September 2 View Page Just a note: When my daughter and I were making hotel reservations in the Hamilton, Ohio area for the Operation Pumpkin weekend Oct 12th-14th we noticed a lot of hotels filling up fast so if you haven't already you better Get'Er Done!   Sunday, September 2 View Page Going to boost nitrogen intake on the plants slightly starting this morning to help sustain plant life through mid October. At this point I feel the melons are demanding much more from the plants than they are taking in. It is now very warm and humid in the 90's with night time temps in the 70's. Once again the 70's at night with dew is a perfect breeding ground for downy mildew and the likes on fungus so we will foliar spray fungicides a bit more often and I will give one more drench of systemic for bugs & disease. There is more noticeable leaf age on the plants so again the up tic for foliar spraying for disease is a must. This last stretch of the race is where I think in the past I have lost control of my patches. I also feel for the 1st time the patches need weeding, not bad but could easily get out of control with all the rains we have been having. This is where my daughter's smaller feet come in! I'm a bull in a china cabinet. I know the plants are very health still because of all the culls coming out of them.   Sunday, September 2 View Page As big as Fiona is getting I still believe there are other veteran growers out there that have got something special they are keeping very quite about. It's the name of the game in melon growing I have come to know. Should make a Heck of a contest.   Sunday, September 2 View Page Interesting observation. I can no longer get my tape under Fiona to get a vertical girth measurement anymore because she is growing in all those unmeasured areas that are not the norm for an ott. The surface she is on if you look back in earlier post has these 2" x 3/16" wide grooves that you can run a tape under her. Not anymore,lol. The small wings I put on to be able to measure her side ta side are permanent now,lol. She has grown out onto them with such force I can't move them or pull them out to be able to move them. Good girl! 75 dap today, she put on 6 pounds over night. Not complaining here by a long shot!   Sunday, September 2 View Page This morning no moles.......................Just walked out to the patch, MOLES!!!!!! It looks like HWY 5 to 101 out of LA on a holiday wknd. They have been baited w/ mole worm bait, 4 x over!   Monday, September 3 View Page Thought I would put this out there. I fried my phone camera by burning the camera eye with a lazer while taking a shot of the lazers beam..not the smartest thing I've ever done,lol. So every pic has that reddish squiggly mark on it.   Monday, September 3 View Page She is packin it on without a doubt   Monday, September 3 View Page She's getting wider n wider = heavier n heavier   Monday, September 3 View Page Fiona today 76dap and still packin it on   Monday, September 3 View Page I wish I had a nearby fellow grower to witness on how big she sits in this patch. From about a week ago my daughter and I lift Fiona's bonnet up step back and shake ours heads in disbelief. Crazy how big she really is getting. I hope some of you all get to see her in Hamilton Ohio   Monday, September 3 View Page The stem base is sinking in more n more like a pumpkins. She is now packin weight on where she is not normally measured so I hope that means she'll go heavy. Stay healthy girl! The brown on her stem is from that July 19th hail strike. Dusted with sulfer powder weekly it is solid!   Monday, September 3 View Page Its amazing on how good people will help you through the years and have little or no clue on just how much of an impact they have made in your growing ability. John (Big Moon) Ciesielski sent this bundle of melon diary's from various growers back in 2012 and I have read the darn thing over n over and then again & again and before putting it down heck I'd read it again front ta back and back ta front. Thanks John and to the growers who wrote up their technics in this crazy game of growin melons, I truly appreciate you all.   Wednesday, September 5 View Page Just letting people know I am suspending any further posts on how Fiona is doing until after midnight of the 14th of September because there is a 'Guess Fiona's weight' contest in message boards under Watermelons under: Rethinking 2018 weights....., by Clutchhitter. Top 3 nearest guessers get a heck of a seed packet from me on all this seasons melons I'm growing and The 2015 seed pack (146.5 J. Young that is growing Fiona, Mrs. Puff & Mr. Hankey. Good Luck to all!   Thursday, September 13 View Page Fiona & Mr. Hankey are loaded up in our mini van,. I may need to get tractor weights put on the front of the van to keep the wheels down,lol. Can't wait to meet other insane people/growers,lol. Thee ole saying, 'When the tailgate drops the Bu..........When the van door opens the_______...........no clue what would rhyme with opens,lol.   Wednesday, September 26 View Page Fiona was a tank with all that air and still weighed 300.5 lbs. Mind you, this was yesterday and she had been cut off the vine Sept 12th. The 146.5 seed hits soil next season for sure!   Sunday, September 30 View Page Paytyn cut open her 226 lb Mr. Hankey. Lots of seeds. I crossed Fiona aka 300.5 J. Young '18 x Mr. Hankey aka 226 P. Young '18 and Mrs. Puff 225 (UOW/DMG) was crossed x Fiona aka 300.5 J. Young '18. After drying out we will get all seed packets together for clubs that have requested them and to the winners of the guess Fiona's weight contest.   Sunday, October 7 View Page Got this in the mail yesterday. Thought it was pretty cool.   Sunday, October 7 View Page /   Monday, October 15 View Page Got off the phone just now with a Rep from Douglas Net Company. They are as interested as I am on strength testing their netting so they're sending me some samples to test so I have my melon hammock frames built and strength test them with 400+ pounds of sakrete over the winter in the basement. Soil tests samples have been sent in and today I started the germination tests on all of our 2018 melon seeds. They all will see dirt in the coming spring.   Tuesday, October 16 View Page Put Tomato seeds in the germinator today my own 3.40 Young. Doing a double rootstock cleft grafts and will put them in 20" tall stacked filter media for hydro growth. The media is sort of like scotch bright green scrub pads that the roots can easily travel through but will pick up and take in nutrients via recirc pump drawing out of a bottom gravel reservoir in a 5 gal bucket. Bottom reservoir pumps up into an aerated chamber which gives the roots plenty of viable oxygen before dumping into the media to feed the plants. Gunna grow some big maters over the winter!   Wednesday, October 17 View Page Started seed germ tests on Fiona 300.5, Paytyns Mr. Hankey 226 & Mr. Puff 225 dmg uow at 7:15 am Monday 10/15 and Fiona's seeds germed at 8:45 pm 10/16 and the other 2 melons are all germed not long after and are all germed this morning 10/17 at 6:00 am. Not too bad for pre soaking an hr in straight bottled water then into the egg incubator at 88 degrees. Will get all seed packets together and out soon! NOTE: I put separated seed groups into individual Ziploc labeled bags between 2 moist coffee filters for germing. Simple & I have potting soil that has been ran through a food processor in containers inside a much larger growing chamber heated to 80 degrees for germed seed transplanting. I do the same thing for readying of plants to be grafted.   Tuesday, December 18 View Page I'm adding these to my tool bag for melon growing in 2019. Fingers crossed for better weather. The melon's names, according to my daughter should be named after the women characters of Petticoat Junction! The 'Shady Rest Melon Patch'- Sorry Uncle Joe!   Tuesday, December 18 View Page After a lot of discussion it has been determined, better yet > guesstimated that I need better root structure for better feeding of nutrients and bigger inner melon development hence the last post!   Wednesday, December 19 View Page At least I'll be dressing more respectful for weigh-off's in 2019   Wednesday, December 26 View Page Took off the weights on 2 of my Melon hammocks after 1 1/2 months to inspect the sagging/stretching in the netting & frames. Very little if any in the 2 different types. I have 380 pounds ea. for testing and may bump it up to 425 lbs for the next 2 months.