Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 194 Entries. Wednesday, January 2 View Page Here is to all of having a healthy, happy New Year! And of course to all growing PBs!   Saturday, January 19 View Page So here is my indoor grow. On this side are 2 plants in an Earthbox.   Saturday, January 19 View Page And on this side, 4 plants in bottom-watered pots. Unfortunately a rapidly growing tomato plant goes thru more than the volume of water than is in the bottom.   Saturday, January 19 View Page So here is my solution to watering the pots. This especially important as we are going to be in Cuba for a week...Cultural exchange, you know. My purpose in growing these plants is not to compete in the Winter grow. I have 3 Brutus Magnum plants & 3 MegaZac plants & I am trying to cross them.   Saturday, January 19 View Page I thought I had posted this earlier but apparently not. On the right is a Vegibee for vibrating the blossoms & on the left a black spoon with pollen collected on it.   Saturday, January 19 View Page It is difficult to choose which pictures of Cuba to show.   Saturday, January 19 View Page This is the obligatory American convertible in Havana pic! We’re in the front. Our driver spoke English pretty well. I felt sorry for him though, Kathy had a rather continuous stream of questions for him! Hmmm, didn’t see any pumpkins in Cuba.   Saturday, January 19 View Page I noticed this behind the ship. We are rather distant but there is a storm & on the right there is a linear form that I believe represents a waterspout.   Saturday, January 19 View Page Since we got back from Cuba, we have to refill the bird feeders. Here is a visitor that we see occasionally in the winter. I had to search for to some time but I believe this is a Snow Bunting.   Saturday, January 19 View Page Well, despite my best efforts, I have found Blossom End Rot on some of my fruits. At first I gave the plants some Calcium carbonate, then switched to Calcium nitrate & now I’m using some CalMag Plus. I have placed a small yogurt cup for size reference for the fruit .   Monday, February 4 View Page Here are the magnets my wife made for me on the back of my truck. I am pretty pleased with them. The middle row is giant squash. They are greener than shown in this pic. Next time we will use stencils for the numbers, that would clean them up.   Friday, February 15 View Page I picked 3 tomatoes today (all MegaZacs) so we just had to have a Caprese salad!   Wednesday, March 20 View Page I am stoked! I just started 3 varieties of tomato rootstock , 21 varieties of heirloom maters for eating, & 13 strains of Giant maters for competition .   Saturday, April 20 View Page Here are some of my maters in the midst of grafting. These grafts are 6 days old. 13 out of 14 of them show a very good graft union, 1 is questionable.   Saturday, April 20 View Page Here is a closeup of an approach graft union, again 6 days old. The rootstock top has been pruned off. The scion is a 7.73 Menting MegaZac. I am quite bullish on this one!   Saturday, April 20 View Page This perhaps shows the graft union better.   Sunday, April 21 View Page I did it! I filed the seeds, soaked them in Chamomile tea with kelp & H2O2 for over 4 hours then rolled in Captan. Placed them in starting mix with Azos & Myco in 3” cowpots (already soaked). They are in the incubator at 87 degrees F & 85% humidity. I have decided to go Orange this year, 3 spots with 3 plants competing for each spot. I still have 2 yogurt cups with the late flush of my Giant Maters in there too. Good luck everyone!!!   Wednesday, April 24 View Page I was transplanting some Giant & rootstock tomato seedlings for a second flush of Giants & I noticed something unusual. A quadricotyledon seedling!!! Tricots are not that unusual & many people have seen them but this quadricot is a first for me. I have grown tricot seedlings out & the mature plant wasn’t anything special. But I will definitely be watching this one! Pic to follow on the next post   Wednesday, April 24 View Page The quadricot is on the right with DRO141TX rootstock on the left. The quad is a 5.61 Konieczny MegaDom.   Saturday, April 27 View Page This is what I have germinated, all seeds sowed late on April 21. In the back row I have 3 681 Ganserts, the one on the right just starting to poke up this morning. In front from left to right is 2416.5 Haist, 2138 Ceja & 2152 Gantner. Still in the incubator are 2 982 Trychta & a 1157 Eddie Z. One of the 982 Trychta is starting to push dirt. That wasn’t the case yesterday so I sowed another 1157 Eddie Z, a 1211 Ailts & my last 982 Trychta . I had promised Dustin I’d grow it & I’m relieved that it looks like I might get at least 1.   Saturday, April 27 View Page Here are my 5 potted up into 6” cowpots, looking good! The little 681 Gansert is lonely, probably will graduate into the larger cowpot in 2 days.   Sunday, April 28 View Page Here is a pic of one of my successful tomato approach grafts without the slipknot in the way.   Sunday, April 28 View Page Here is the next step in my grafting, purely precautionary. I wrap the graft union with masking tape & I stake the plant up. I think I can recall losing 1 grafted plant beyond this point in the last 4 years but it is unusual . Still, this might allow a plant to survive a drop or other fumble. You might chuckle but this is the type of anal precautions which have led to my sparkling success rate of 94% to date.   Tuesday, May 7 View Page Busy day today! I put down my few last minute amendments & then tilled them into both of my patches. I planted this trio & erected a small hoophouse over them. From R to L, is 2416.5 Haist, 2152 Gantner & 2138 Ceja.   Tuesday, May 7 View Page Also in that patch, I planted the 681 Gansert trio. The runt is obviously on the R, it was slow to germinate & when it did, the cotyledons had some rot on them that I pared away. Yesterday I transplanted 9 Giant Tomatoes, mostly MegaZacs, 1 Delicious & 1 Big Zac. I started my 30 gallon Aerated Compost Brewer going this morning, using WOW products.   Wednesday, May 8 View Page Here is my third trio planted out today. On the left, 1211 Ailts, center 982 Trychta & right 1157 Zaychowski. Up at the top of the pic, the linear red objects are the soil heating cables which I haven’t completely covered.   Friday, May 17 View Page From L to R, 2416.5 Haist, 2152 Gantner & 2138 Ceja, planted 10 days ago & showing good growth. Busy day today, putting up fenceposts & laid out the driptape system.   Friday, May 17 View Page My 681 Gansert trio, planted out 10 days ago. You can see some “grower error” here. I had my little electric heater too close & fried some leaves.   Friday, May 17 View Page From L to R, 1211 Ailts, 982 Trychta & 1157 Zaychowski planted out 9 days ago. Also showing good growth! I have to acknowledge many thanks to my wife helping me with the driptape.   Monday, May 27 View Page I hesitated to post this, mainly because I am ashamed of the appearance of my plants when I compare them to the pristine plants you see here. This is my 982 Trychta on Saturday . At the base of the stem there is a crack & you can see it is yellow with infection. It had been in a hoophouse but it had been getting so hot that I had been opening the ends. Some wind must have gusted to cause this stem injury. I wasn’t optimistic but I dusted it with Sulfur.   Monday, May 27 View Page My 982 Trychta today. The base of the stem is rotten & I put it out of my misery. You can see the burnt leaves too. This happened despite 50% shade fabric overlying the plants. I am so disappointed because I had committed to Dustin to grow this seed.   Wednesday, May 29 View Page My 2152 Gantner yesterday, it’s been planted out 3 weeks ago. It was more vigorous than my 2416.5 Haist & 2138 Ceja, which were culled.   Wednesday, May 29 View Page My 681 Gansert, has been planted out 20 days. Of the 3 plants at this spot, this one had some early root nodes which was in it’s favor. The largest plant had a mild kink in it’s stem. I don’t know how significant that is, but I decided not to chance it.   Wednesday, May 29 View Page This is my third spot. Note absence of 982 Trychta , (sniff). On the L 1211 Ailts, on the R 1157 Zaychowski , planted out 20 days at time of photo. These plants were severely impacted by sunburn I believe. Anyhow, they just received a douse with Aerated Compost Tea, so I expect their growth should accelerate .   Wednesday, May 29 View Page My family & I recently had an elephant “experience”, we gave Lou a bath. Lou is a 35 year old female Indian elephant. Lou particularly enjoys being scrubbed on top of her back, which is quite a reach & behind her ears. Who would have thought that elephants could purr?   Saturday, June 1 View Page Here is the demise of my 1211 Ailts. Similar to my 982 Trychta , at the base of the stem there is a tear with disease in it.   Saturday, June 1 View Page So the lone survivor in this patch is my 1157 Eddie Z. It does not have a problem at the stump but it needs to lay down & start moving out.   Saturday, June 1 View Page Here is my 2152 D Gantner. I haven’t measured it but it is now growing well.   Saturday, June 1 View Page This is my 681 Gansert, also growing well. It is hot today, around 84, so I’ve been manually misting all my AGs several times to cool them.   Sunday, June 2 View Page The rain really encouraged weed growth & I was behind in my weeding. So today I got after it hard, well, probably too hard, I broke my hoe. It was probably over 30 years old so I certainly got my use out of it!   Saturday, June 8 View Page My 2152 Gantner. The other day it was 12’ long with a female blossom (early) at 11’.   Saturday, June 8 View Page My 681 Gansert. The other day it was 10.5’ long. No female blossom yet.   Saturday, June 8 View Page My poor little 1157 Eddy Z. The other day it measured 4’ long & it has now landed. No tomato pics. I have several impressive megablooms but my problem is that there are very few other blossoms to obtain extra pollen from to help with pollination.   Monday, June 17 View Page My 1157 Zaychowski is puttering along at 9.5’, no female blossoms yet. It has a few secondaries, longest one maybe 2’.   Monday, June 17 View Page My 2152 Gantner is now 18’ long. A few days ago I noticed that the distal main vine has a yellowish tint. At first I was pleased because I thought this was a sign that the fruit would probably be orange. Then I noticed that the female blossom at 11’ doesn’t look so good anymore. The little baby punkin is small & the petals have turned from green to yellow. So I believe it is aborting. The main vine doesn’t have any additional female blossoms. If anyone is convinced they know what is going on with this, I’d appreciate an email or message. TYIA!   Monday, June 17 View Page My 681 Gansert is now 16.5’ long. It has a healthylooking female blossom at 12’ & an odd small female blossom coming off at an odd angle at 14’. We have had 5” of rain in the last 2 days & another storm is going through right now.   Wednesday, June 19 View Page The female blossom on my 681 Gansert opened today. It is a somewhat funky looking 3 lober. I only had 1 male blossom on my 3 plants this morning, it happened to be on this plant. So I pollinated it & tied the blossom shut. If this takes, it will be my earliest pollination ever. If it doesn’t , I am sure prettier more symmetric blossoms will appear soon.   Friday, June 21 View Page Caught this SVB moth yesterday on a leaf of my 2152 Gantner. It was very weak due to it’s exposure to insecticides. Die, you little monster!   Friday, June 21 View Page This is the blossom on my 681 Gansert that I pollinated 2 days ago. I cut most of the flower part off. When the rest of it rots I’ll pull it off. It is already lowering to the ground. I slipped a small piece of styrofoam under it. I had just finished painting the fruit with Florel (ethephon) at 96 ppm.   Sunday, June 23 View Page A 4 lober opened on my 681 Gansert at 14’ down the main vine. Still a little asymmetric but probably would produce a rounder fruit than the first blossom on this plant.   Sunday, June 23 View Page So I selfed it & tied her up.   Sunday, June 23 View Page These were the 3 daddies available to me.   Tuesday, June 25 View Page I procured some male blossoms last evening for today’s pollinations.   Tuesday, June 25 View Page I had a pretty nice 5 lober on my 681 Gansert opening at 16.5’ on the main vine, very pleased to see that!   Tuesday, June 25 View Page I had a beautiful 5 lober open on my 2152 Gantner at 23’ on the main vine, extremely gratified to see this!   Tuesday, June 25 View Page I also had this weird blossom open on a secondary vine of the 2152 Gantner. Immediately culled. I did my usual shade structure over the pollinated blooms. Because it was going to be warm (83-84 degrees) I also put my Aluminet sunshield over them & I placed small fans blowing on them. I didn’t think the conditions warranted some of the extreme measures I have seen others do with coolers & ice, etc.Ha!   Thursday, June 27 View Page Not a very good pic but it shows a mole track in my patch. The little critter doesn’t know it but this means war!   Saturday, June 29 View Page The 4th female blossom opened today at 21’ on the main vine of my 681 Gansert. 4 lober but with some asymmetry. I found that the fruit from the 2nd female on this plant had a crack on the stem & it was yellow with infection. So I culled it.   Saturday, June 29 View Page This is the same blossom after pollination. Taking the pic really does help you to see the pollen on the lobes.   Saturday, June 29 View Page This is the 3DAP fruit on my 681 Gansert.   Saturday, June 29 View Page Hold on, that last pic was 5DAP.   Saturday, June 29 View Page This is the 10DAP fruit on my 681 Gansert, pic taken from above with a yogurt cup next to it for scale. It measures 22”” in vertical circumference .   Saturday, June 29 View Page This is my eagerly awaited 3 DAP baby, from the 5 lobe blossom 23’ out on the 2152 Gantner   Tuesday, July 2 View Page My 2152 Gantner at 7 DAP, it is 23’ out on the main vine, from a beautiful 5 lobe blossom. It is a little small compared to some fruit on other plants as well as a fruit the same age on a secondary of this plant.   Tuesday, July 2 View Page The first fruit on my 2142 Gansert. It is 13 DAP & has a circumference of 31.5”. It is not well seen from this angle, but the button is angling down such that I don’t think that it is likely to be very round. But look at the color! I’ve not had a pumpkin this age show so much color. I’m hoping for a deep orange. Also on the main vine I have a 7 DAP & a 3 DAP fruit So far, both of them are more round. I think I am going to keep this one until Friday but if both of the other 2 are still looking good, I’ll cull it.   Friday, July 5 View Page This is the blossom on my 1157 Zaychowski, 20’ out on the main vine. It has been eagerly awaited. I crossed it with the 681 Gansert, only used 9 male blooms!   Friday, July 5 View Page This is the 10 DAP fruit on my 2152 Gantner. It is growing well, but is on a secondary vine. I did have a fruit at 23’ out on the main vine but it aborted.   Friday, July 5 View Page This is the fruit 12’ out on the main vine of my 681 Gansert. It is 16 DAP & has a cc measurement of 38.5”.   Saturday, July 6 View Page My 681 Gansert is 17 DAP today & I decided to put it on the mill fabric. Of course, huge thanks to my wife for helping. CC is 41” this morning.   Sunday, July 7 View Page This is the female blossom 20’ out on the main of my 1157 Zaychowski this morning. I had pollinated it 2 days ago, crossing it with the 781 Gansert . You can see the lobes are a gelatinous moist orange mess with lighter yellow disease on the stalk headed toward the fruit. It has been extremely humid. That could be a factor, or maybe Norm just has the clap! Lol just kidding!   Sunday, July 7 View Page So I amputated the button. The cut end looks like clean healthy tissue. After this I put Captan-Daconil-Sulfur paste on the cut end. I am hoping for the best. There is another female blossom 5’ down the main that looks like it could open in 2 days.   Thursday, July 11 View Page My 2152 Gantner at 16 DAP circumference 40.5 “.   Friday, July 12 View Page My 681 Gansert at 22 DAP circumference 61”.   Tuesday, July 16 View Page My 681 Gansert Sunday.   Tuesday, July 16 View Page My 2152 Gantner Sunday .   Thursday, July 18 View Page My 681 Gansert got it’s shade structure today.   Thursday, July 18 View Page Something got into the garden last night. Three cabbages down overnight . Today I think we found the culprit , he will not be coming back!   Thursday, July 18 View Page We went walleye fishing on Lake Erie Saturday . Here my son is reeling one in with our captain ready to net the catch. Good times!   Thursday, July 18 View Page My wife with our 681 Gansert. The 2152 Gantner got a shade structure today also.   Thursday, July 18 View Page This is my MixRite 568 AG I just received & the simple “rack” I built to accommodate it. Now to learn how to best utilize it.   Tuesday, July 23 View Page Not a stellar day at our patch! First I find this stem split on my 681 Gansert which extends into the fruit. I checked with a straw & it does not as yet extend into the pumpkin cavity. I blew some Sulfur powder into it & then daubed a Captan-Daconil paste at the edges. I didn’t try to fill this crack with my paste. I already had a fan at the stem but I redirected it to blow more directly upon this defect. Should I try to fill it? Fruit is 33DAP, been growing at around 15 pounds/day. Then we measure my 28DAP 2152 Gantner & find that it appears to have quit growing. Thankfully we have a spare that actually has been growing faster than the original fruit. Will check growth again for the next 2 days before making the decision to cull.   Wednesday, July 24 View Page Here I have performed the incisions Richmond Dave had shown in his 2018 Diary. I just used my Little Swiss Army so they are pretty thin. I cut the stem from the split toward the main vine, I cut extending the split in the pumpkin & I did a transverse cut in the pumpkin flesh beyond the split cut. I had put some Captan-Daconil paste on the splits yesterday . I didn’t want to use water to get this off. I dusted the incisions with Sulfur.   Wednesday, July 24 View Page My 681 Gansert today, taping around 260 pounds. I bought a cable puller/come-along today & tomorrow afternoon we will carefully see if we can move the kin back a little. My sincere thanks to all those who offered advice!   Wednesday, July 24 View Page We have a critter taking bites out of my tomatoes, the eaters as well as 1 of my giants weighing just over 3.5 pounds. This evening I got my Havahart trap out & baited it. And no, I don’t have a heart!   Wednesday, July 24 View Page This is my largest tomato currently . Tonight I put some chickenwire around it’s tomato cage to protect it from critters.   Thursday, July 25 View Page This is a tissue test on one of my AGs. I have never done a tissue test before. It is my 1157 Eddie Z which I haven’t been able to get a blossom pollinated—-I think I have tried 6 times. At first I thought the plant is just sterile. So here it says P is low & I am wondering if this could be responsible. Now I can figure out how much of what to spray or inject through my driptape system. But this recommendation is for 1 time or should it be repeated in a week or a month? I will start a new thread on the Fertilizing message board.   Thursday, July 25 View Page This is the tissue test result for my other patch. Just a little low on Cu.   Thursday, July 25 View Page Here is my 2152 Gantner today at 30 DAP.   Thursday, July 25 View Page It has been about 3 weeks since I was adjusting the main vine of my 681 Gansert & like a klutz cracked the vine around 2/3rds. I approximated the edges & gave it a hefty coating of Sulfur. Now look at the exuberant callus which formed!   Thursday, July 25 View Page My 681 Gansert is growing it’s shoulders into the distal main vine (bottom of pic) & into the secondary vine at that node ( top of pic). This is the “before” pic. I hate the lack of directions that are currently provided for all sorts of products nowadays. Via trial & error, we figured out how to work the cable puller/come-along which I had bought. So then I figured pulling the pumpkin would be a piece of cake. Wrong! It turns out that pumpkins are round & rather slippery when covered with a towel. Next pic shows the result   Thursday, July 25 View Page Well, this pic is rather different in perspective from the one previously . But you can see the pool noodles are not as tightly positioned to the kin. I figured we moved it around 3-4 inches with only minor scratches to the pumpkin.   Thursday, July 25 View Page Moving the pumpkin gave me a better look at the underside of the stem. Unfortunately there is another stem split extending into the fruit. So I repeated the procedure I had done previously . The pic is after I had dusted with Sulfur.   Thursday, July 25 View Page Some of the Giant Maters I have been picking recently, unfortunately the only 1 over 3.5 pounds is the one with the bite out of it.   Saturday, July 27 View Page One of the hazards of mousetraps in the patch. Honestly, I hadn’t placed it that near to this secondary vine. It got the standard Sulfur dusting.   Saturday, July 27 View Page Dam raccoon got another one!   Saturday, July 27 View Page My wife caught me in action spraying.   Saturday, July 27 View Page We caught a possum overnight. Hopefully he is the culprit plaguing my tomatoes. I had been so sure that it was a raccoon because just a few days ago we had chased one out of the backyard . Tonight the trap is baited with a sliced tomato & several marshmallows.   Saturday, July 27 View Page I really took my sweet time culling my spare in the 2152 Gantner patch. At one point the original keeper had a pause in it’s growth.   Sunday, July 28 View Page The saga continues. Another possum? Nothing in the trap overnight.   Sunday, July 28 View Page My 2152 Gantner this morning. I finally removed the younger baby to go with this older fruit.   Sunday, July 28 View Page My 681 Gansert this morning.   Friday, August 2 View Page My 2152 Gantner, estimated at 284 pounds.   Friday, August 2 View Page My 681 Gansert estimated at 357 pounds.   Saturday, August 3 View Page So I have been obsessing over my third AG, a 1157 Eddie Z. The first 7 blossoms I pollinated all aborted. I’m thinking, it’s genetic, plant is sterile. But then I get to thinking, maybe it’s low P. So I send a tissue sample & sure enough, P is low. I applied P through my driptape system & through foliar sprays. Suddenly I have pumpkins taking. I figure it is too late for a competitive giant but I just want to make sure I get something & it is likely that it will be a pretty orange. This pic is my 10 DAP fruit 45’ out on the main vine. It is from an asymmetric 4 lobe blossom which had some seeds in it.   Saturday, August 3 View Page This is a 8 DAP fruit which is on the ninth right secondary . It also is from an asymmetric 4 lobe blossom but at least it didn’t have any seeds in it.   Saturday, August 3 View Page This is a 10 DAP fruit on the second right secondary of my 1157 Eddie Z plant. I think I will keep these 3 & when they reach 20 DAP, narrow it down to 2.   Sunday, August 4 View Page My 2152 Gantner, around 313 pounds. Growing about 15 pounds per day.   Sunday, August 4 View Page My 681 Gansert. About 365 pounds but growth has slowed. Not sure why. I’m going to give it a little extra water this evening.   Monday, August 5 View Page One of my tomatoes I am bullish on. This is a Domingo with a cc of 12 3/8” & I believe 16 DAP.   Monday, August 5 View Page Another tomato I have high hopes for, another Domingo. This one has a cc of 17 1/8” & as far as I can tell from my little notebook , is only 13 DAP.   Thursday, August 8 View Page “Audrey II” taped at 387 pounds today.   Thursday, August 8 View Page “Clementine” taped out at 405 pounds today.   Saturday, August 10 View Page Indiana State Fair today, first place. Obviously certified scale. This is my first entry for the team competition . MegaZac.   Saturday, August 10 View Page Second place at Indiana State Fair today, my second entry for the team competition . This one is a Domingo.   Saturday, August 10 View Page This was my third fruit at the State Fair. I hadn’t noticed it but the fruit was leaking some fluid from the bottom & it was rightfully DQd.   Saturday, August 10 View Page Indiana State Fair weighoff today, the growers posed around Phil Groenewold’s winning fruit, it also took the Howard Dill award. Congratulations Phil!   Saturday, August 10 View Page I was presented my first place ribbon & plaque. But Kelly Klinker’s boy stole the show!   Sunday, August 11 View Page My 2152 Gantner, around 427 pounds.   Sunday, August 11 View Page My 681 Gansert, around 431 pounds.   Sunday, August 11 View Page A nice mega on my 5.61 Konieczny MegaDom. I was optimistic for this one. It wasn’t until I studied the pic that I noted the dark color on the right end of the style, indicating that it probably is not going to take .   Wednesday, August 14 View Page This pic belongs to Paul Harrington (lunker99) who is on my tomato competition team. The tomato was officially weighed at the Iowa State Fair at 2.776 pounds.   Thursday, August 15 View Page “Audrey II” is 51 DAP, around 480 pounds. Somehow I keep hearing “Feed me Seymour, Feed me!” Ha!   Thursday, August 15 View Page “Clementine” is 57 DAP, around 460 pounds. Her color just keeps getting deeper. The stem splits extending into the flesh appear to have stabilized.   Thursday, August 15 View Page Since there is limited time for growth, I decided to keep 2 fruits on my 1157 Eddie Z plant. This is the older fruit, 22 DAP, around 147 pounds. We decided to name this one “Tweedle-Dee”.   Thursday, August 15 View Page So of course this one is “Tweedle-Dum”. 19 DAP, around 104 pounds.   Monday, August 19 View Page This is an entry for the team competition from Paul Harrington (lunker99). 2 pounds 3.2 ounces is 2.2 pounds. We are Team 11.   Wednesday, August 21 View Page My 2152 Gantner, Audrey II, around 560 pounds.   Wednesday, August 21 View Page My 681 Gansert, Clementine , around 490 pounds.   Wednesday, August 21 View Page This is the kin on the main vine of my 1157 Eddie Z, Tweedle-Dee, around 270 pounds.   Wednesday, August 21 View Page This is the kin on a secondary vine of my 1157 Eddie Z, Tweedle-Dum.   Friday, August 23 View Page This is the tip of the main vine of my 681 Gansert. You can see how the leaves look kind of cupped? I don’t have any other places where the leaves look like this as I note as I am continuously trimming tertiary vines. I am unsure whether this is disease or nutrient deficiency. I will start a thread on the general discussion board, hopefully to get some input from experienced growers.   Tuesday, August 27 View Page My 2152 Gantner, Audrey II, around 623 pounds.   Tuesday, August 27 View Page My 681 Gansert, Clementine, around 535 pounds. Unfortunately we found a problem at the stem.   Tuesday, August 27 View Page I found a rot spot at the junction of the stem with the main vine. This is where the leaf was at this node. You can see how big the stem is. I believe it enlarged as the plant was attempting to wall off the disease. The brown tissue extended all the way into the cavity.   Tuesday, August 27 View Page I drilled 2 holes in the undersurface of the stem to drain fluid. In this pic I have lined up the top hole with one of the draining holes underneath.   Tuesday, August 27 View Page I poured a 50% bleach solution into the cavity initially with the drain holes plugged & then flushed it out. I dusted it with Captan & Sulfur and then directed a small fan into it. It has been growing around 7 pounds/day.   Tuesday, August 27 View Page One of my Eddie Z fruits, Tweedle-Dee, around 387 pounds.   Tuesday, August 27 View Page My other 1157 Eddie Z fruit, Tweedle-Dum, around 330 pounds.   Wednesday, August 28 View Page Here is a tomato I am enthused about. It is growing on a 5.01 Clayton Domingo from a 4X blossom. It is 16 DAP & has a cc of 16 5/8” today. Grow, baby, grow!   Wednesday, August 28 View Page As I was pruning tertiary vines today I ran across this weird blossom, male Siamese twins!   Friday, August 30 View Page Entry for Team 11, a Domingo.   Friday, August 30 View Page Nice solid looking bottom to this fruit packs on the weight.   Friday, August 30 View Page Another Domingo. I sent it to the GPC but it is third among my tomatoes so doesn’t go into the team competition .   Friday, August 30 View Page I am always impressed by the multiple lobes however the gaps/cracks between them results in lost weight.   Monday, September 2 View Page Pics from Yesterday . Clementine around 665 pounds.   Monday, September 2 View Page Hold on! This one is Clementine, 681 Gansert. Around 560 pounds. The previous pic was my 2152 Gantner, Audrey II. Both are slowing in their growth. I had gotten a tissue test showing they were low in K, Cu & Zn. So they are getting K foliar & thru driptape. I have a chelated product for Cu & Zn that I am spraying.   Monday, September 2 View Page One of my 1157 Eddie Z fruits, Tweedle-Dee at around 475 pounds, growing at 18 pounds/day. Actually forgot to take a pic of the other one, Tweedle-Dum but it is around 420 pounds, growing at 20 pounds/day. Tissue test shows this plant also low in K, Cu & Zn.   Tuesday, September 3 View Page Currently my largest mater, a Brutus Magnum. Still green.   Tuesday, September 3 View Page My 5.01 Clayton Domingo. Measures 19” at 21 DAP.   Tuesday, September 3 View Page A 4X fruit on my 5.0 Strickler MegaZac at 5 DAP.   Wednesday, September 4 View Page Here is a pic showing how close Tweedle-Dee & Tweedle-Dum are. And it seems even closer as they grow!   Saturday, September 7 View Page An entry for Team 11 from lunker99 (Paul Harrington , 3.35 pounds.   Sunday, September 8 View Page Another entry for Team 11! This one is mine, 4.79 pound Brutus Magnum. It is out of my 5.39 pound fruit from 3 years ago, I believe.   Sunday, September 8 View Page The bottom of my 4.79 Brutus Magnum.   Wednesday, September 11 View Page Another entry for the team competition from Paul Harrington (lunker99) for Team 11. Gotta get more of a margin over Team sLamMer with the monsters Porkchop is going to bring in!   Wednesday, September 11 View Page The top of Paul’s new entry.   Thursday, September 12 View Page Another entry for Team 11 by Paul Harrington , 4.01 pounds.   Thursday, September 12 View Page Yet another entry by Paul Harrington for Team 11, 3.49 pounds!   Friday, September 13 View Page The sad end to an awesome fruit. This was from a 4X blossom on a MegaZac. It was situated with the bottom facing straight up. Around 5 days ago I thought I saw some brown fluid in some of the crevices on the blossom end. I thought then that it was probably a goner but I sprayed some hydrogen peroxide on it. It was still ok 2 days ago but today the 2 brown spots on the lower left appeared & they are soft.   Monday, September 16 View Page Audrey II taping around 750.   Monday, September 16 View Page Clementine taping around 615. I’ve really had a time with vines splitting on this one, the 681 Gansert.   Monday, September 16 View Page Tweedle-Dee on the 1157 Eddie Z, taping around 665. Really like the coloration.   Monday, September 16 View Page Tweedle-Dum is 3 days younger but is starting to catch up, taping around 645.   Monday, September 16 View Page The only good cuke beetle is a dead cuke beetle BWAAHAAHAA!   Thursday, September 19 View Page Taking my 681 Gansert “Clementine” to Guston, KY Saturday so lifting her today.   Thursday, September 19 View Page The bottom is concave but no bad spots or problems.   Thursday, September 19 View Page Our son helping out. Gary May partially obscured by the straps.   Thursday, September 19 View Page The lifting crew, took us less than 45 minutes to get her loaded. Earlier I had positioned the tripod over the fruit with the assistance of Kathy & Trevor.   Friday, September 20 View Page Domingo starting to blush, has cc 24 1/8”. Hoping to keep it on & growing but the temps are working against me.   Saturday, September 21 View Page We went to the weighoff at Roberts Family Farm in Guston, Kentucky today. It was quite well-run & everyone was very friendly. Props to Frank Mudd (MC), Dwight Slone, Jeremy Lindley as well as the unnamed volunteers doing the necessary scutwork.   Saturday, September 21 View Page Clementine (681 Gansert) went 655.5, 4.7% heavy, which took third place & delighted us. I entered 1 tomato which weighed 3.08 pounds & took first place. I took another tomato just for exhibition which I had already submitted to the GPC Early Tomatoes.   Saturday, September 21 View Page Clementine will be on display at Lark Ranch.   Thursday, September 26 View Page One last upgrade from Phil Harrington for Team 11. 3.93 pounds. Porkchop is shivering in his boots, ha!   Thursday, September 26 View Page Lifting Audrey II went as well this evening as I could have wished!   Thursday, September 26 View Page Awesome lifting crew! We are headed to the weighoff Saturday at Wasson’s Nursery in Fishers, IN.   Saturday, September 28 View Page Took first place for Giant mater at Wasson Nursery weighoff today. Will upgrade our weight for Team competition.   Saturday, September 28 View Page Took 5th place at Wasson Nursery weighoff today. Fantastic weather (hot) & great camaraderie amongst the growers. Great attendance by the general public also although they seemed more interested in the pony rides & petting zoo, lol!   Saturday, September 28 View Page Growers posed around Mark Goodman’s new Indiana State record, 1781. Dang thing went over 17% heavy!!!   Sunday, September 29 View Page New Indiana State Record!   Friday, October 4 View Page We lifted Tweedle-Dee easily. We take him to the Fair Oaks weighoff Saturday .   Friday, October 4 View Page Although Tweedle-Dee doesn’t tape that big, he sure makes my truck handle differently . Hmmm, heavy? We’ll find out!   Saturday, October 5 View Page Tweedle-Dee weighed 753 pounds, taking 4th place & the HD Award.   Saturday, October 5 View Page My tomato weighed 4.16 pounds & took 1st place. Brutus Magnum.   Saturday, October 5 View Page The growers gathered around Mikkal Hodge’s 1st place Giant Pumpkin, 1,449 pounds. Mikkal has exceeded 4,000 pounds with 3 pumpkins shown at 3 GPC events, earning his jacket.   Wednesday, October 9 View Page The lifting crew tonight . We will be taking Tweedle-Dum to Hamilton , OH on Friday.   Friday, October 11 View Page HDA at Operation Pumpkin! Went a little light.   Tuesday, October 29 View Page I made a gigantic JackOLantern of Tweedle-Dum yesterday .   Wednesday, October 30 View Page I did some carving/sculpting on Tweedle-Dee.   Wednesday, October 30 View Page A better look at the Wicked Witch of the West, complete with fangs, glowing eyes & turkeyneck.   Wednesday, October 30 View Page A better look as it gets darker.   Friday, November 1 View Page I have bad news. Our punkins can be overcome quite easily by elephants!   Friday, November 1 View Page I am going to be in deep mourning for an indefinite period of time!   Tuesday, November 12 View Page Early snow for us!! My last post wasn’t meant to be a downer, more tongue-in-cheek. The last 2 pics were at the Indianapolis Zoo. The elephants really loved the pumpkin. One of the trainers told us that the elephants are fed pumpkins daily through October but that this was a special treat for them.   Tuesday, December 24 View Page Woohoo! Received the trophy for 2nd place in the tomato team competition today! Along with seeds (World Record, no less) a bag of WOW Super Starter Paks & a handwritten note from the World Record holder himself! Talk about an early Christmas, HO HO HO! Really I have to give all the credit to my team members, Rob Butler & Paul Harrington. Thank you so much Chop!