Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 45 Entries. Wednesday, February 6 View Page I've been having a problem letting go of £50 for mycorrhiza (fingers can't be prised apart) but definately want to try it so the solution for me is to try and farm my own. Got a small packet of native species from the local garden centre for £2.99 and mixed it in with 15l.of potting compost made up from the patch hoping that these two factors will mean that the ones I do get will stay around for a while.Into each 2l. pot has gone 5 chive seedlings and 4 vetch seeds (an allium and a legume)leeks would have been 1st choice but were not available today and time is running to short to start them from seed for when I want to use it. Planning to cut the tops off the plants in about 2 months time apparently this stimulates the mycorrhiza to reproduce and then to harvest (chop up the roots)10 days later. These links are where I got info from. http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/pub/cm/review/2004/amfungi/ http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4294037.html http://www.sunseed.org.uk/page.asp?p=167 Now we have to wait for nature to take its course. Sunday, March 16 View Page Vetches and Chives look like they will need potting on. Monday, April 7 View Page The tops have now been cut off my "Bait" plants. Those little mycos are now supposed to think their host is dead and be stimulated to produce spores in an effort to survive. Thursday, April 17 View Page Time to see whats beneath the surface. Thursday, April 17 View Page Here's the roots after catching them in a seive. Lots of material here,if you had looked into my eyes at this point you would probably have seen £ notes. Thursday, April 17 View Page I tried 5 seconds in a blender but that didn't really work for me probably because I hadn't used one before. So I resorted to half an hour with a pair of scissors. The roots will now be mixed back with the potting soil and that will be my innoculant. Of course I don't know for sure that there are any mycos there but if there aren't they wouldn't have been found on my pumpkins either so the worst that can happen is that I save fifty quid. Sunday, April 20 View Page Seeds have been put to soak. 511 Zaychkowsky,1188 Paton,843 Reiss,769 Lombardi and 936 Raymont in diluted H2O2. 977 Andersen 1997 in GA3. Wednesday, April 30 View Page This is what I have to play with this year,843 Reiss,511 Zaychkowsky and 769 Lombardi just planted out in the background. Was going to grow 2 plants may try and accomadate 3 as I really like all of these.511 was the best seed I have ever grown and I really fancy crossing the two Howard Dill award winners. No joy with the 977 but thankyou Alex for giving me the opportunity.1188 had 3 cots and 936 has a pair of second true leaves. Friday, May 9 View Page Culled my 936 and used the soil to pot the 1188 Paton into a 5 gallon container,at the moment I am planning to test the roots of this plant for myco later in June. Saturday, May 31 View Page Best plant so far is the 511 Zaychkowsky vine is about 4ft long. Saturday, May 31 View Page The 843 Reiss is 3ft.long this plant wilts a lot more than it should and I think there must be something wrong with the root it may right itself when I start burying vines. Saturday, May 31 View Page Unfortunately the 769 Lombardi has blown itself up,this is by far the biggest problem I have growing AGs probably soil related as it doesn't seem to happen to others much. Saturday, May 31 View Page The 1188 Paton had just started to fall behind because of the constraints of its pot now I have the job of getting it out of that pot and into the 769s place. Saturday, May 31 View Page I made some cuts with an angle grinder and carefully lifted it into place then finished the cutting off.Half way there in this pic. Saturday, May 31 View Page It went well and the 1188 is now back in the equation. Saturday, June 21 View Page I've been tinkering with the overhead watering,this year I have a timer for each sprayline one comes on at midday and the other at 2pm. Saturday, June 21 View Page Also changed nozzles from 120 L/hr (red)to 70 L/hr (black) so that I can run more at one time off the same pressure. Saturday, June 21 View Page This is a pic of a typical female from the 1188 plant. Unfortunately being in the pot so long caused it to develop a bonsai habit its grown out of it now but it was a bit to late as the 843 is all over it. Saturday, June 21 View Page This is the 843 Reiss still wilts more than I would like but otherwise fine. Saturday, June 21 View Page 511 Zaychkowsky plant,Ohh yeahh! This one has a 8ft back main because it wanted to. Maybe I should have given this plant the whole Tunnel? You can see from the pic how I double dig away from the plant as it grows.weeds go in the bottom with a bit of manure in the top spit also some old soya and chicken manure pellets. Wednesday, June 25 View Page First pollination of the year 511 x 843 @12' Thursday, June 26 View Page 843 x 511 @12',6 lobes not to sure about them. Next chance about 16' on both plants. Friday, July 4 View Page 843 x 511 @ 16'. Been busy last week and I got a lot of catching up to do in the patch. Saturday, July 5 View Page 511 x 843 @16'. Monday, July 14 View Page 843 x 511 @ 21'. The pic is of the first pollination on this plant,good colour and shape could be the keeper. Growth is slow again this year with a re run of last years poor weather at this time. Tuesday, July 15 View Page 511 x 843 @ 21',also allowed an open pollination on a secondary for backup.Both plants main vines have been stopped just past their next females which will be 24'. Had to cull the first pollination on the 511 (on right in pic) because of slow growth C 37" @ 20 days.The next one is 17" @ 10 days so I'm a bit worried now. Friday, July 25 View Page This is the 5th july pollination on the 511,47" @ 20 days. small but growing ok at the moment. Had a little flurry of pollinating on this plant 2 or 3 days ago and am now finished with that job for this year. Saturday, July 26 View Page Day 30 for this one on the 843,85". Monday, August 4 View Page Day 30 on the 511 now at 83"C.Poor weather is costing me pounds everyday but at least I am still ahead of last year. Tuesday, August 5 View Page Day 40 for this one,est.is 410 lbs but I'm guessing its heavy to the chart. Thursday, August 14 View Page Day 40 on the 511,343 lbs est.Still ahead of last year but this is turning into the worst summer ever. Friday, August 15 View Page Day 50 on the 843 Reiss,300" ott and 572 lbs est. Sunday, August 24 View Page Day 50 on the 511 Zaychkowsky,est.is 480lbs amazingly still fractionally ahead of last years showing a bit of cantalouping now. Monday, August 25 View Page Day 60 already on the 843 reiss est.672lbs. got a few small grey spots on it hope its not a sign of trouble ahead. Tuesday, September 2 View Page It was indeed a sign of trouble ahead,a soft spot showed up underneath at the back after no real gains for a few days.Final est. was 691lbs.Weight on bathroom scales was 760lbs.So 760 Raymont DMG 2008 it is (843 Reiss x 511 Zaychkowsky). Tuesday, September 2 View Page Cross section,not much wrong with it really,probably a thinner bit of wall meets bump in the ground thing. Thursday, September 4 View Page Day 61 on the 511.Est is 611 lbs. Sunday, September 14 View Page Est.weight on the 511 is now 666lbs and growth is slow. Tuesday, September 23 View Page Day 80 0n the 511 and its now 700 lbs est. I haven't been looking after it very well lately. It looks pretty solid and has done well considering. Friday, September 26 View Page Sunshine at last means night temps are falling,got a tiny bit of stem rot as well so its time for the fan and tent. The two go together for me as I need the tent to keep the overhead water off the electrics two jobs for the price of one. Next year I must remember to set it up a week or two earlier. Sunday, October 12 View Page It was a gloriuos day at Southampton and we were priviliged to see Two European record holding Pumpkins at the same time,Mark and Franks not very old one and Ian and Stuarts new one. My own Pumpkin weighed 830lbs and was placed second. Well done everyone. Sunday, November 16 View Page Onions are back on the agenda for next year.It will be a very interesting challenge growing them to organic legal standards.I'm optimisic following the increase in size of my Pumpkins after growing this way. The first hurdle is no Peat allowed and so today I have brought in some 3y.o. cow manure to dry out before seiving to use as a substitute in the sowing/potting mixture. Saturday, November 22 View Page Mixed up my compost ready for Onions,7 parts patch soil,3 parts old manure (half cow half horse)2 parts sand and I chucked in a handful of chicken manure pellets as well. Sunday, November 30 View Page Started my onions this evening. They are in the porch on the side of the house that doesn't get used as much not quite the best place but very convenient. I've got 2 strains in 2 different composts its nice to grow something where I have enough plants to do experiments on. Saturday, December 27 View Page My onions were started in 3" pots and today I started potting some up into 4"sq.and 5" round ones.The round pots contain 75% composted horse manure and 25% sand with 4 oz of bonemeal per bushel I wanted a second mixture in case there turned out to be a problem with the patch soil in the other mix (which there didn't). Had a few things wrong with the chamber at the start,I went for open to natural light from the south facing window which had worked fine for me in other places but the position of the porch on the house wall and dull weather meant I was losing a lot of artificial light to gain not much natural so the foil had to go on 4 sides. Also lifted up the box the foil is taped to so that the bottom was 6" off the bench this allowed cool air into the bottom of the chamber and gave me a thermal chimney effect.At the start I had a fan sucking hot air off the light when I raised up the box I switched the fan off and the temp at the plants dropped 5°. Sowed some more onion seed today for quality classes.