Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 117 Entries. Wednesday, January 11 View Page What is THAT??? A Pumpkin B...? No, I'd better not, lol. Here is my latest experiment. Let's hope it works to my expectations, as it will be neat-o to at least myself and anyone looking on! As of yet the seed has not sprouted, but why wait to show the mechanism... I was very lucky to find all the materials within 20 feet of me, lol---eg   Wednesday, January 11 View Page This project is dedicated, without even seeing what others have done concerning it, to simply growing an AG or any seed with the capability of seeing the roots as they grow downward to perhaps an unlimited length; If you've never thought about it too much, roots go both outward and then also downward FROM the outward excursions, IMHO. Once the roots reach the bottom container, they will be able to branch OUTward to the full extent of the container - I am excited to see that occur after a 4-foot journey to the lowest point possible(!). Please read the texts within the pics to get an idea of 'how to' or at least what went into this device; A gallon Airizonuh Tea jug X 2 was my initial choice butt that is LOT of SS mix, so, I went with the OS juice containers. Amazing that I've had that clear tube for about 30 years and that the containers, both used or not, matched up perfectly with this! In fact, a gallon AT jug will fit into or be fitted with an OS 64 oz.! FYI for later...   Wednesday, January 11 View Page Hoping that the texts in the pics are clear and readable as well as understandable; If not, you know how to let me know, lol--- It WAS a pain to instill the SS mix into the container, as it is very clingy and cloggy through a funnel, even a bigger, wide-mouthed one; I lernt a lot about agitation and re-grouping, even in the course of a 64-ounce container, butt it is knowledge now to be appreciated @ another time. I'm thinking: add 1/4 cup Myco, half the DRY SS mix, seal and shake, add rest of SS mix that'll fill the container, settle, add substantial water, etc. untill full and plant-capable, blah, blah, blah...It will be worth it!   Wednesday, January 11 View Page Here's to my 178 Gerry '14 (492 Gerry X 1421.5 Stelts) which is very quickly-sprouting and has never failed to impress me as a seed, nor plant, in general; It has been in the SS mix for about 36 hours as of yet; Wish it luck!!! Very convenient that the label on the container was there to write on. WIll post again once the seed sprouts. Meanwhile, I'll be looking at others' experiments - I still would have done this, lol---eric g   Friday, January 13 View Page The 178 I had planted in this event DID sprout butt I was impatient and although it was 'tug-tested', I knew that another one in its place would appease me more on a second try; When pulled up, it had a root on it about 1.5 inches long. I have not been willing to provide other than room temperature (72-75)F unless I were to aim a heater fan at it and well, it ISN'T cost-effective that weigh, lol. Maybe set on 'low' and with the thermostat on 'really?'...hmmm...56" tall... More to come! eg   Tuesday, January 17 View Page WOW - That was quick!!! Nooooo, butt this IS a 178 of mine that blew up in '22 and I had thought that only super-top seeds would do this, as has been my experience, with let's say the 1385 H/J also, about 30 feet away; SO, it is exciting that one of my own seeds does it too! If nothing else, it's neat to see them trying to grow as fast as they can, eh? My 2nd 178 in this experiment is still in the process of sprouting - If I had only left the 1st one ALONE...   Friday, January 20 View Page Well, the 178 seed sprouted, finally - I had not been giving it other than room temperature like 73 to 75 F wherever I might be, so it took a lot longer and makes me appreciate it moreso this time. I had removed the seed shell/coat/casing before H2O2/planting it and left the green sheath on - this prevents seed 'blooming'; Was gonna show it sprouted, upright and without its green sheath, butt, we all know what that looks like, lol.   Friday, January 20 View Page Any of these roots at like 4-1/2 inches could be THE tap root or it could be heading downward out of sight; I'm thinking this could be a corner lamp+germination technique for those with eclectic tastes one day, lol. (*_*) eg   Wednesday, January 25 View Page Well, rolling right along here at 10 inches from where I believe the roots do start; Silly me went to water it tonight and forgot about the cut corners (lol) of the upper container. A little cleanup, no biggie - I'd expect the tube with a clamp around it to be basically water-tight. It is doing well, and that is what matters. eg   Wednesday, January 25 View Page Surprised they have never or I haven't seen a movie about a monster giant pumpkin plant; It'd probably scare too many little kids or something; There is a movie I wanna see called 'Little Joe', the name of the sinister(?) plant that a woman gives her son to keep him company. Yeah, it'd start like that. And then, he'd join a website and start encapsulating and viewing the roots and... lol---eg   Friday, January 27 View Page Lil' Baby Doll took a tumble today; I had 'er standing up in a new spot in the living room because the seedling was growing toward the light at night and was getting misguided - Even though I gave it the 'topsy-turvy test' and had fiber board under it, it tipped over at about 10 am. Luckily, I was half awake and lept like a trooper to its rescue, lol; It had fallen with its midpoint of the plastic tube over a duffel bag and someting harder, kinking the tube slightly and allowing about a half cup of SS mix to spill out - butt NO damage to Baby Doll!!! I would say 'Tough Plant, butt more likely it was seriously LUCKY! No damage. None. Cool! Maybe the plant growing outward caused it...Ooooohhh......   Friday, January 27 View Page This pic came out so well I didn't even edit it. It's a view from down on Earth as the Monster Pumpkin Invaders look over their new root zone, lol. Hey, if I can walk and yet tip over maybe they can tip over and therefore walk. I did look for pumpkin monster movies and there are a few that I'd watch for laughs and maybe 1 or 2'd be scary; The rubber bands on the top container came in REALLY handy to direct the plant's initial growth! Later---eric g   Saturday, January 28 View Page Well, it happened AGAIN; I was opening a front window curtain that has not been opened all winter because I had just fixed a rolling cart that I could now move to another room...for more room, lol and the movement of me stepping back to admire THAT through the floor boards caused 'er to tip over again. NO damage, except to my pride in what USED to be common sense! There'll be NO 'third time's a charm' because now, it is LEANED up against a wall with default stuff (a thermostat) in the weigh of that ever happening. Oyyy, getting it out of my (sy)stem, I hope! The GOOD news is that I could not take a second dash of SS mix on the carpet, so, I went nuts and vacuumed three rooms! Almost forgot about the SS Mix until I saw it again, lol---eg   Friday, February 3 View Page So, January 27th, a week ago, I last posted and had had a tip-over experience and my roots have ostensibly only grown an inch since then, so, no need for a picture of that; I'm debating if what's up top dictates what's going on below so if the plant is only a seedling, maybe the roots don't grow beyond what is needed to support that. If this was in a warm, well-lit and real-life situation I might have seen roots by now in the bottom container. Hmmm...26 inches to go, I think. No problem - I watered it thoroughly yesterday and I make less of a mess as I go along and I could feel where the water was getting down to with my hand holding the plastic tube. I shoulda noted that depth,, lol--- Maybe that second shock has something to do with it. I have other experiments...eg   Saturday, February 4 View Page My next experiment - To grow a plant in total water immersion of the root system. Here, the 178 Gerry seedling is at about1 week old but I think it was started 1-20-23. No heat other than random heater fan; In any event, its root system was robust and just right for the project.   Saturday, February 4 View Page This is Howie DeWitt. There COULD be that guy, lol--- Keeping the water at the very edge and turning about 4 times enabled somewhat-gentle SS Mix removal.   Saturday, February 4 View Page I kinda think that this was sprouted in SS Mix that HAD Myco in it, butt I had sterilized it with H2O2 and it foams up the SS Mix dramatically; The Myco was probably killed in the process as I had read that that would happen. As the plant grew after a 5-day or so germination, it was slow going with possibly NO living Myco; Hence, I thought I'd put Myco in the water anyway and did so with a tablespooon of it. Let's watch:   Saturday, February 4 View Page So, plain H2O up above the stem of the plant and inoculated with Myco at 1 TBSP. Those tap rootS looked eager to hit that bottom-dwelling oasis!   Saturday, February 4 View Page See???   Saturday, February 4 View Page I won't drag it out - The Myco APPEARED to have no effect and the granular substrate never dissolved. I was expecting BLOBS of fungus feeding my little seedling, but no, perhaps not without a soiled and airy environment. It may have helped - who knows? This is the plant at about one week after 'submergence'; today, in fact; A far as I can tell and with the purpose of this experiment mostly fulfilled, I will never worry about plants' roots not getting enough oxygen; I wasn't to begin with and I have had plants IN SS Mix that have been submerged in plastic cups that grew VERY well and I could have planted out but were 'just' mid-winter experiments, so...   Saturday, February 4 View Page Sorry for this pic butt it's what I took and I thought I was alllll done, lol. I decided that the cloudiness was not good and it did not smell BAD but it was not fresh, rooty water like I expected, so I replaced it (no Myco) with Miracle-Gro 10-52-10 at 3/4 Tbsp./gallon H2O, ??% stronger than the recommendation for indoor plants, but this is an AG! So, nice, blue water for it from now on. WIll report!!! I had feared the roots to have been soggy and falling apart as there was one that appeared broken, but only that one fell off and the rest were as strong as ever. Later---eric g   Monday, February 6 View Page I'll bet ol' Ronald never thought that those little dimples in a soda lid would be used for sprouting seeds, but leave that to me! Here are 4 178 Gerry seeds that were placed into the dimples on 1-30-'23 @ 6:20 PM; Using a Stanley, serious box cutter with the tip set on halfweigh, I poked it though each of them downward after pushing the dimples in also. It is very dangerous to one's fingers, so be CAREFUL if you do this.   Monday, February 6 View Page I snip my seeds reliably, depending on my mood and well, I pretty much do it to ALL seeds, regardless of their value; I use TOEnail clippers, starting from the TIP itself and all the weigh around the seed. There is a blueprint right on the seed of where this can be done, like seeing a crop circle or ancient civilization's imprint from way above. It CAN enable the seed to get out of its shell much more easily, like 9 of 10 times and yet, there will always be a random couple that coulda been better. It has become a habit. We all want a seed coat to stay in the soil, but when one comes up anyway and I'd otherwise be killing the seedling trying to remove it, this is very handy and I've always been glad I did it. Anyway, 'THE ONE' is obvious, lol.   Monday, February 6 View Page YAY!!! I have never had one sprout into or on top of nor even NEAR just plain water before, so this was really exciting; Terrible picture, butt ya gotta take the bad with the good! The sprout is at about 3-1/2 days of partial submergence, meaning that just the tips are in the spring/tap water all the time; The temperature has been random (55-75) butt I had no reason to not put it right in front of a heater fan. One time I moved the whole thing and it was definiitely bathwater-warm, so, like 105*F? Wherever I am, these are nearby. lol. Toasty! And not! As the water evaporates and falls to below the tips, I can resort to simply swirling the WaWa to rejuvenate the hydration of them.   Monday, February 6 View Page 'Mr. Gerry, you have QUADRUPLETS!!!' Gotta go get more cigars, I guess. Four. Of Four. I'll show YOU what FOUR, lol. PS---Once the seeds are stuffed into the dimple slots and I've found the points at which they do not try to pop back out nor in, they really stay put, thankfully! I figured the seedlings would be slowly cut in half or another tragic mishap would occur. Not yet and I'll describe more stuff next! Ohhh, goody, goody!!!   Monday, February 6 View Page Okay, from left to right, #2 and #4 have full-length roots happpening (#4's is offa the right of your screen), whereas #1 is growing a little club-rooty and #3 is actually growing butted up against the side of #2. Like a nest of birds, each is its own, individual little bugger! So, what I think is gonna happen is the leaves' growth will push the root assembl(ies) outta the seed coats and potentially, the seedlings could actually drop off, but be submerged, into the water; Not sure yet why they are growing SIDEways, butt, in due time, lol. Probably like a new jellyfish - but straight downward. It'd be funny to find that the seedlings float; Some plants populate new lands by doing just that! Oh, by the way, this will be known in my corner of the world (I thought it is round?) as 'Hydrosprouting' an AG seed. I have just minutes ago Hydrostarted seeds that will otherwise NOT sprout(?)... More to come!!!---eg   Tuesday, February 7 View Page Couple thoughts (not like the ones at Couseling, lol): 1. It almost seems like the roots are avoiding the H2O; 2. The sideward growth growth may be (and almost definiteley is, now that I think it) because the stems 'see' the light and wanna bend toward it and in doing so, not the plant butt the root moves because it is free to do so. Wow...maybe... It's like 'Ya see this?' (right fist) 'Poommm' - 'Watch out for THAT!' (left fist)... I prolly don't wanna FULLY remember THAT lesson, lol! eg   Wednesday, February 8 View Page So, there I was, minding my own business and doubling my root system, when... Nnyyeeaahh, just a little 2-day progress; They seem to be likin' this treatment. Can't wait 'til they come outta their shells; Will they?   Saturday, February 11 View Page In having fallen out of or dropping from the lid into the water, I wonder, if this had been in the soil, or just in general butt we don't see it, could this prybar action of the seed occasionally help it out of its shell? This IS the one I had snipped all the weigh around and that had the smallest roots of the 4. Odd or coincidence? It also did not sink like a rock - Air bubbles in the roots kept it afloat and I had to do a bit of swirling to get 'er done. Err, down.   Saturday, February 11 View Page So, what I had not thought of happening is that the rounded tips of the seeds are stuck in the mainly-dry seed coats and would be stuck there forever without being hydrated and so, the seed leaves' tips turned white and were brittle, as they had never been intently moistened to begin with. Pardon the many 'tense errors' there; As was seen, the one snipped seed got around this. However, the stems on the remaining 3 are elongating and I'm sure that Nature would have seen them go on to be Great Pumpkin plants in any event.   Saturday, February 11 View Page Just thought this was funny as I did not know what the three 'stumps' were in the background. Bah-Dum-Bump-Domp-Daaahhh (The McDonald's Golden Arches) Ha---eg   Saturday, February 11 View Page Not even sure yet if it'll be OK with the plant butt this AGAR is @ about 120 degrees that I'd not wanna have to soak in; I'll need to let it cool to the point where it is like Jell-O pudding (go figure) so that I can place the seedling into it and have it stand on its own. I am marginally successful, lol---   Saturday, February 11 View Page Removing the seed coats was pain - probably nothing compared to that had by the seedlings(!); I ended up breaking the rounded tips of each one but they will be fine after a few days. Of course, it is like removing a seed coat from a dry seed to study it. Would be careful with a Top Seed ferr sherr! Hey, what works here will work on any AG seeds. These plants are gonna be so AGAR-avated!   Saturday, February 11 View Page Worthy of note: After that last pic I didn't have any additional AGAR made so I just stuck the seedlings back into the water overnight and went on my way until about 18 hours later; They were fine and just floated around. Now, they are AGAR-avated and we'll see how they do over the next week. SEE NEXT for AGAR deets!   Saturday, February 11 View Page Here is BulkFoodsDotCom where I got this AGAR about 2 years ago: https://bulkfoods.com/gelling-agents/agar-powder.html Item Number 47034 I bought 5 lbs. when I did and have not made a dent into it with just experimenting 2 years; It really is very cool stuff to mess around with and it only takes 1/2 Tablespoon per pint of H2O to make the right consistency. It is mixable with Seed-Starting Mix and I'm sure also Miracle-Gro, lol; So, relatively-hot water to begin with in a 16-ounce Pyrex measuring cup; Add and stir-in 1/2 Tbsp; 3 minutes in center of rotating microwave and 30-second bursts from there-on; I dare NOT look at the mic for very long other than to see progress; As far as I'm concerned, it is very BAD for your eyes and generally-so otherwise (!); I view that it is 'Lava Lamping' and once it foams up, I hit the STOP/Clear button; It is a slow eruption, butt it can get ya! Upon this event, remove from mic (200*F, mind you) and distribute into glass(es) right away or plastic/peat/whatever *once cool enough to handle and flow*. Plants can be inserted as soon as YOU would lay around in it, lol! Okay, now the waiting begins! eg   Wednesday, March 1 View Page Terrible pictures I do take with a cell phone, but Oh, well! The wildly-submerged and tormented plant I had in a vase got to this level of growth even though the submerged roots did not like their submergence after a week or so - My belief is that with circulation and proper hydroponic apparatus, all would be well;\ I have seen it done before, of course on BigPumpkins.com, with massive rooting results!   Wednesday, March 1 View Page This is the secondary root system, we'll call it, on that plant; Makes me wanna grow LEGGY seedlings and plant them a foot deep or more! The plant is no more. Glad I never spilled it, lol---   Wednesday, March 1 View Page I love the roots on this plant, and these are of course not even the main tap root! The more = the merrier!   Wednesday, March 1 View Page I'm not sure at all why or even how this plant is twisting in the light of day and then evening living room lighting for apparently no reason; It seems like it would just rotate left and right rather than go all the weigh around, lol! Either weigh, it is really neat and will lend credibility to another experiment I have in mind.   Wednesday, March 1 View Page Okay, here is the ROOTS plant @ 27.5 inches' root depth; Last week it was growing downward at 1 inch per day butt now, it has stopped. WHY? Well, unbeknownst to me, the amount of H2O I have added over the last couple of weeks has accumulated up to the point where the root stops growing. (!) This is of interest because if the root stopped because it attained standing water, then that is perhaps why my other plant stopped its root at 19 inches. I did such a good job snugging and taping the bottom container on (by accident, lol) that it is just like my vase/submerged roots experiment, previously. I punctured a tiny hole into the bottom container and it is dripping/seeping out at about a tablespoon per hour, so, once the water level drops, if it does (SS Mix is very adherent to H2O) the root may continue! 2 NOTES: >>>The entire apparatus is leaned up against a wall to avoid it tipping over again, so the root grows obediently along the one side of the plastic tube. Awesome! >>>The bottom container was INCREDIBLY hard to puncture into - if you need to store/protect something, drink a lot of fruit juice! Stay Tuned! eric g   Thursday, March 23 View Page This will be a waste of a Diary entry with no pics but I have yet again sprouted a 178 seed and put it into the Pumpkin Bong to see if I/it can break the 27.5-inch record thus far. It had been sprouted in a ZipLoc bag as part of a 'No-Air or Not No-Air' experiment to see if 2 seeds would sprout sooner if all the air was SQUEEZED out of one of the ZipLocs. Inconclusive, as I used gallon-sized (stupid) bags at first 'cause that's al that I had, lol. I have done this experiment before and I am convinced that a relatively AIRLESS environment is more conducive to seeds sprouting quicker than a usual, inconsiderate-of-air-volume proseeding, lol. SO - the PB contestant is already at 1/3 the required distance and it is in record time at doing so. PS---the seeds in the air expairiment were in the ZipLocs for a week (moist paper towel, 2 seeds each) to 10 days before I even moved them to the living room where they got a TASTE of any warmth (70-74, intermittently) then - BOOM!!! Growth!!! They may have been gonna sprout in another day, butt, still...eg   Thursday, March 23 View Page Okay, so, in thinking about WHY I experiment and wanna know things, the result here is that a pumpkin seedling's roots can and will go to 27.5 inches into soil that is enabling it to do so. For most of the weigh to that 27.5 inches downward, there are roots that want to extend sideways as well and I'll assume that they will do just that AND send others downward if merely permitted to in the patch. SO, a hole 3 feet deep (minimum) and I'd say a foot in diameter (minimum) would be needed initially to accommodate a plant early on; There must be some logic and wisdom to those 'growing pits' that I used to see all the time in Don Langevin's books. If it is up to me though, I'd merely fill this Hole of Wonder with Mycorrhizae-enriched Seed Starting Mix; I 'found' and bought some the other day at Target - 'Back to the Roots' brand - 12 quarts and has 4 species of Myco already in it. $7.99...About the same cost of as if I had bought SS Mix, added water AND MYCO and had to mix it by hand. THIS stuff is ready to rock. Will be testing it in the near future, indoors first-----eric g   Monday, May 1 View Page Here is the Gerry Germ-Fridge - The Germerator, lol--- It is not literally plugged in, although that is an option for later into the summer. It is far more useful for sprouting seeds! Honestly, every fridge should have this option... I only just now noticed the association of words like refrigerate, Frigidaire, Refrigerator, etc. So, 'fridge' is just a term that means all of that but is spelled as it is said, lol---liv and lern! eg   Monday, May 1 View Page It may be difficult to make out where the light bulbs ARE due to the glare but there are four total and they started out as (2) 14-watt 100-watt replacement bulbs from Walmart; The brand is 'Great Value' and they are about 8 bucks for FOUR bulbs - they will REALLY light up your life! I actually 'had to' remove one from my kitchen's 4-receptacle overhead light, as it was TOO bright in there! It turned out to be that the wattage is of course super-relevant to if they are used as a light source versus a heat source; You could burn your hand on the plastic part where the LEDs are actually lighting up butt the opaque plastic bulb is quite cool, which totally makes sense - it is just to disperse the light. I ended up adding a few more items and had to slowly step up to 2 - 53-watt Halogen bulbs also, so the final wattage is 134 watts. eg   Monday, May 1 View Page Here it is with a few either remaining or initially-occupying seed starts; It was impossible to have three shelves a perfect distance apart and the third (bottom) one was probably absorbing more of the heat than anything - plus the uncertainty of what the wattage would end up being. It works GREAT like THIS! eg   Monday, May 1 View Page Great - 22 little 'mouths' to feed soon, lol---I could not be happier! eg   Monday, May 1 View Page If I want to, I can fit 33 seedlings VERY temporarily under each 40-watt X 2 light assembly; The bulbs are 1 Full-Spectrum/Aquatic and 1 that says 'Chroma 50' on it; Hey, since one of my fluorescent lights didn't work for no apparent reason, I made sure I was on DRY concrete and when I WENT TO wiggle the bulbs, they lit up; Nothing was loose, nothing was poorly-connected - further than that, merely touching the edge of the light reflector (edge) made it work - at different points along the edge! There IS life after death, as these bulbs are about 18 years old; Weird. Once warmed up, they start just fine if turned off or on intermittently...eg   Monday, May 1 View Page Yeah, hooray for Starbucks! Nothing wrong with using what would otherwise be tossed into the work garbage, right? Don't answer that - or my phone for me, lol--- The lights are lowered to as close as possible to the seedlings' leaves - <= one inch is perfect; At only 40 watts each, even their intermingling with the leaves is completely appropriate and there is never any leaf burn or whatevers and they never become leggy! Of course, they have to come up gradually, as the plants HAVE TO grow, but the legginess, regardless, is surely the least it can be! The lack of burn possibility may be not true of NEW bulbs, butt I doubt that it'd be a concern. Prolly find out the hard way someday. For NOW, 'Leaves n' Lights' it is!!! eg   Monday, May 1 View Page Maybe I should check the rating again on the bulbs; Could it have said '400'??? Maybe I got a good deal on them, after all! ---Laters---Eric G   Thursday, May 4 View Page Here is a piece of a cover crop prospect I have in my pumpkin patch; I intend to "Search Google' for it butt I'll bet that that won't work just because I REALLY wanna find out what this is, lol, and I had to put it on here to even see if it would work from here; It has little light purple flowers on long, little stalks and having said that it could be Baby's Breath, perhaps. In any event, it is seemingly 'stoloniferous' or has tiny vines/sideways stalks that cause it to be somewhat 'creepy' and it is abundant naturally, butt I want a LOT of it in seed form, just like Buckwheat or Clover or whatever. If you or anyone you know could or would determine its variety for me, I'd appreciate it! I will advise if I ever find out for myself; Thanks---Eric G   Thursday, May 4 View Page 'Nuther angle...not finding it to be Baby's Breath, yet...eg   Friday, May 5 View Page Veronica persica Poir. Bird's-eye, Persian speedwell, Bird-eye speedwell, Creeping speedwell, Creeping veronica, Common field speedwell... (I'd like to meet this 'Creeping Veronica' when she's not creeping, lol. It is OK with me, though, if it helps to grow BIG pumpkins!) As far as I can tell at 5:20 AM, lol--- I will treasure this website FOREVER, with its 'add/drop an image' function!: https://identify.plantnet.org/the-plant-list/species/Veronica%20persica%20Poir./data ...down further, there were literally HUNDREDS of images to see concerning my query; https://bs.plantnet.org/image/o/f852e5339fc002663bf97d70f5ce0fe9eab59216 DO be careful that your takeaway is not the photographer's name, rather than the botanical name (!). EG   Monday, May 8 View Page Another thingie growing in my pumpkin patches - has been creeping into them for about three years and is impervious to Glyphosate! If I can't beat 'em, I'll research 'em! eg   Monday, May 8 View Page The address in the previous previous entry was incorrect in that I offered the addy that went to the plant in question. The seemingly correct addy for general entries is: https://identify.plantnet.org/ ...and my Mystery Plant is 'Marsh Horsetail'; It could be 'Common' or 'River', butt I like its sound...Marsh...Horsetail, right alongside a marsh that is MINE (!) with all its little cover crop examples---eg   Friday, May 12 View Page Here is MONSTAHHH - a 1541.5 McMillin that is not only a curly-leafed beast butt also a friendly, two-leafed (with benefits) 'sweety' and has a slightly-doubled stem to it that just begged to be planted to see what is in store for early growth and who knows what - But I will find out! The cots are curled under 99% and the 1st true leaf was not able to be seen enough to determine direction of growth, so, after minor surgery to remove said 'third leaf', I left it alone from there on and I merely pointed it in the direction of stem lean and I'm sure it will be fine - I'll have you know that this seedling is the most vigorous one of the year and I even have another planted and that one is considered 'normal'. Now, about the grower... Plus, check out that root system! yeahhh...   Saturday, May 13 View Page I believe this is cow parsley... checking, checking... I'd like to have clumps of this scattered about...   Saturday, May 13 View Page Here I am - Rock You Like A Hurricane, little 839 Sandercock! Getting my -Gro on, people! Umm, for reference, the 839 and all others in my pics this year probably did not have experience with direct sunlight NOR any fertilizer, so this pic was JUST for as long as it took and the following clothesbasket coverage is essential for the weigh I break them into it, whereby they are kept shaded 'til planted and plywood-shielded for a few days and/or up until they get out of any greenhouses I may keep them in. PS---Yes, it's cow parsley in the previous pic, but its leaves r very similar-looking to poison hemlock... although I have not had any adverse reactions to pushing it aside to plant the 839, lol! eg   Saturday, May 13 View Page Here is or are the standard Gerry pumpkin putout items, minus the WeedBlock just to get them in the ground, pronto! I usually use TWO clothesbaskets, butt I had not noticed, or rather forgot, that I was down to only like 8 of each kind, so, limited protection this year for the first 16 plants, lol; A basket provides: Wind protection - somewhat, critter protection - somewhat, sun protection - sideways, somewhat and from above - dramatically; Doubling-up of them doubles-up the protection of 2 out of 3; The plywood piece will go on top of the basket soon - for now, it is the plant's morning or afternoon sunblock. SHOULD have supplied two per plant; eg   Saturday, May 13 View Page What I mean by 'doubling them up' is to of course put one on top of the other and turn the top one to 'polarize' the two, resulting in double the physical strength and greater protection from critters and wind - this also reduces the light level getting to the plant, butt that'll be alll right before tooo long. Can't have it all! Actually, well, no, good enough for now...eg   Tuesday, May 16 View Page I had a seed sprout recently that I thought I was doing a favor to that was white-tipped; I felt that another previous seed had rotted IN the white-tipped end, so I figgered 'Let's see if snipping the white part off this one would help' (a rerun); Well, that seed had done this, complete with the leaf ends snipped (oops!) and the better part of this is that the 2nd 2 seeds basically HAD TO come up through the snipped end. Hence, here is an example - It'll be neat, or devastating, to see (if) the seed coat ever comes off... or busts! eg   Monday, July 10 View Page Hey, here's that pic of the intended main vine replacement via...   Friday, July 28 View Page Minor update - one of many; Thank you, NSB for the prompt; Ongoing is best, butt I wish I could remember better what I might have been thinking AS I took a pic, lol. Note to SELF: Do NOT walk into one of these when barefoot, shirtless and in just shorts., AGAIN. eg   Monday, July 31 View Page VINE ON 412.5 7-31-'23 Not bad to begin with and would be just fine for vine burying, but 'You're it - In the name of Pumpkin Science!!!'.   Monday, July 31 View Page Breaking off of initial kickstand furthest along vine; They are really cool and have great purpose butt get them outta here! Becomes a habit and is not a waste of time. Thumb goes to the right staying very close to the vine.   Monday, July 31 View Page Kickstand will probably hang by a thread - we just want avoid a 'hangnail;   Monday, July 31 View Page YANK KICKSTAND OTHER WAY TO DETACH. Sorry for caps - didn't wanna have to re-type, lol!   Monday, July 31 View Page DO THE SAME BUT THIS OTHER WAY TO THE NEAR-GROUND KICKSTAND.   Monday, July 31 View Page VINE WITH NO MORE KICKSTANDS   Monday, July 31 View Page USING MIDDLE FINGER ON UNDERNEATH TO CRIMP BOTTOM OF VINE. Normally, the sounds made would be horrible, lol! It works very well and I'll be experimenting more with it soon - ONE MORE PIC...>>>>>   Monday, July 31 View Page Ta-Daaahhh!!! Ready for the dirtiest shovel of it I can find. Bear in mind that these vines are usually for the PURPOSE of carrying water and nutes throughout the plant and will be BURIED anyway. There's no need to worry beyond 'Is it gonna carry water?' 'Is it gonna get infected?' and 'Is it gonna be HH-approved?' I'll show any items that come from this for fun - There WAS a pumpkin on that vine, butt it must have been before the surgery. ---Go for it! eric g   Tuesday, August 1 View Page Ooooooohhh, the Blue Atrocity, lol---I use Miracle-Gro exclusively and always have; It's the first thing anyone asks about when they also say 'How'd you get it so BIG? Miracle-Gro???' ...to which I can honestly reply 'Yup!'. This is ACTUALLY a mix of Miracle-Gro 15-30-15 that I HAD to buy because I was unable as of yet to find MG 20-20-20 nearby nor even in quantity and when IIIIIIIIIIIIII search for anything, it is usually a night-long vigil - SO, this is MG 15-30-15 mixed with 24-8-16 Expert Gardener Brand from Wal-Mart; If ferts are anything like milk and Pepsi, gasoline octane ratings and whiskey and diet Coke ratios to suit me, then I'm good to go! The dosage by default is 1 tablespoon per gallon of H2O. I may increase to double that and/or double the frequency and the plants have had no ill effects, but I also don't overdo it as a mainstay, lol! MY soil!!! MY plants!!! Oh, the atrocity of doing what works for me, lol---eg   Tuesday, August 1 View Page FOAMY'S GOOD, RIGHT???   Tuesday, August 1 View Page Here is a neat idea to be able to YANK on the power cord from ANY distance and it has been used a few times for just that - there is a power switch on my pump, also, whereby whenever the power PLUGS melted together, THAT could also be utilized.   Tuesday, August 1 View Page Here is the pump inlet closeup pic - The Y adapter enables me to allow actual air into the system, which is in total about 1000 feet long; I envision one day needing to hear and see the introduced air pocket escaping at whichever sprinkler I'm using, thereby knowing that THAT fertilizer has reached THAT Whizzer. COOL!!! eg   Wednesday, August 2 View Page 702 Holland in 2015, I believe. Here as an example of Blossum-Under Syndrome. eg One more pic>>>   Wednesday, August 2 View Page I guess the picture is deleted if there's an invalid username or password, even if you correct it; Crap! Anyway---702 Holland in 2015, I believe. Here it is as an example of Blossum-Under Syndrome. eg One more pic!!! >>>   Wednesday, August 2 View Page Grown on bare dirt and nothing happened; Not saying to not treat with anything - just that it might not need to be worried about TOO much. I wonder if its confinement equates to it actually being protected, butt from what, otherwise? Kids with shoes on are at the weighoffs, lol---eg   Wednesday, August 2 View Page Here is the pump outlet closeup pic. The Y adapter enables me to allow actual water+MG out of the system to prime/purge or to alternatively initiate flow into the main line, which is in total about 1000 feet long; Just for fun, I may measure it this fall before putting it all away. eg   Wednesday, August 2 View Page Hatin' on that I forgot to fully describe the pump outlet scene; The Y adapter does ITS thing and there are two shutoff valves after it - One yellow, one black; Each has a hole drilled through the ball portion of the valve, allowing only a small amount of whatever to flow through it OR be wide-open; The first one is 3/32-inch and the later one is 1/16-inch. Switching-in either of these gives me the option of how much flow I can use to reduce the Whizzer sprinklers' outputs, as they DO create a Helluva radius if uncontrolled!!! Pretty cool is that the entire hose from one end to the other is a giant shock absorber, so I can turn a valve off or on and have a residual effect of high to low pressure, enabling adjustable, slowing coverage over a minute's time if I so desire. There's also a drilled valve at the base of my 55-gallon barrel for a super-slow fillup, not interrupting house water usage. Down to a SCIENCE!!! Oh, also - that Y adapter outlet is also so that if anyone gives me crap about Miracle-Gro, I can tell 'em to 'Suck it'! 'Is 70 PSI enough for ya???' Lol---Haven't had the chance...yet. eg   Thursday, August 10 View Page Not going as was planned - Not that the plan is ever written such that it will (or won't) be met with nor not changed in the running, lol. Bum deals: I had ordered fertilizer and a WEEK later was informed that the new date of delivery was to be 8-28-'23 or so; ...canceled that and ordered a different fert but that one was GRANULAR upon receipt; That was my fault because I was taken in by the term 'Soluble' which all ferts are butt I just wanted to get it ordered and it was 4 am... Note: Even granular fertilizer will dissolve but it takes several days and so I'll use an old grain feed bag with about a quart of it in it over the side of my 55-gallon barrel of water as a constant-feed regimen, along with whatever OTHER ferts I may be incorporating. lol - Return shipping would have been on ME and I had already used 1/2 cup of the material. Learning for Next Year! SO, limping along on my remaining Miracle-Gro between fertilizer Happy Days has not been good for PUMPKIN sizes butt the PLANTS have been doing fantastic the entire time - There has been a touch of PM in about 3 places but they are so HEALTHY that it has not spread anywhere beyond the oldest and weakest/yellowest leaves that are indicative of fertilizer 'backoff'; Don't Stop the Ferts! ...even if it just got done raining. THAT could be when they need it the most! Next year... Computer problems, tractor problems, car repair(s), new neighbor digging and hit a boulder, I guess, gave me a start and I broke the blossom offa my biggest pumpkin (pictured)...endless, it seems, list of Life's little tragedies. The GOOD news is that the pictured fruit has swelled to official beachball size since the pic was taken 5 days ago. I was like 'WOW!' Too bad about the blossom. eric g   Sunday, August 13 View Page This is my 1541.5 McMillin fruit, showing that it can handle the stress of what is to come; If NOT, well, this behavior at least is shown to be possible without any human involvement and yet I may have seen this technique used intentionally in another grower's Diary recently. No plagiarism here, I can assure you! eg   Sunday, August 13 View Page This is on my 206.1 from '17 (20 Gerry (Prizewinner X 689.5 Sandercock) X Self); It seeeeeeeems to have a propensity (tendency) to have a ribbon vine characteristic on at least part of the plant, where the rest and in most cases it grows normally---with an added flair for extra female blossoms very close together and an all-around, expectable zest for oddity (!). I've been 'trying' to grow this for years but had always saved it for last, then ran out of room or whatever due to its smaller-sized fruits expected, but deep, reddish-orange examples appeared in probably '18 or '19. Anyway, this fruit here started out growing 100% vertically and without my permission began tilting the weigh that it did and I've been happy with it ever since! Oh that color! Yum-kin! Ahem...My other one is growing more normally with no ribbon-vining. Not to worry. Even the seeds have a satiny, swirly edge coating that is beautiful and unique. Too bad about the 6 years they've been waiting---eg   Friday, August 18 View Page Well, I don't know about Howie Dewitt, butt this is how I'm doin' it this year with the Blossom-Down, 'Got me over a barrel' Method. Thanks to Little Kins for prompting me to do SOMETHING Blossom-Down and that was like 3 weeks ago or more. At the time I had about 5 plants with no pollinations on them yet. This one on my 443 plant X Open just...presented itself on a long, miscellaneous secondary and was like 'I ain't busy tonight...' 'Well, I have all these barrels that aren't busy either, and...' Voi-Lah!!! Roll out the barrel--- Funny as heck - I scanned around my back patch today and at first glance at this from the other side for once, 'What the...' "OH>>>It's the barrel. Ohhhhh"....lol----not another giant fruit, lol... This is my second attempt on a different plant - the first one aborted, probably because there were two others on the plant already (the double-vining 206.1, previously-pictured). eg   Friday, August 18 View Page (1541 X 301.5) BD 2023-08-16 As the fruit weighs down, I can roll the barrel however much, of course; Assuredly, long bamboo stakes X 2 on each rounded side will prevent 'wind roll'. PS - I barely mind slugs and snails anymore; Once they stop outrunning the plants, ironically, they seem so be just like the cleaner fish in an aquarium, most-likely very beneficial and annoying just the same, but only in the beginning... They also don't seem to adhere themselves to anything that is not damaged or rotting to begin with, except for smooth, vast pumpkin skin. I'll research them a little. Per the previous pic, I avoid their disgusting nature but moreso admire them at a distance, lol...eg   Saturday, August 26 View Page Not really anything of my pumpkins 'worth' showing a picture of today but these farmers' sunflowers are sure nice! ...butt I'll announce that about 6 of my pumpkins have aborted or are about to, butt it's not like I didn't expect them to with the lack of nutrition for a week or more several times and the facts that: 1. I have not really been able to add organic matter for about 3 years; (I have Alpaca, Cow, Horse and Chicken manure at least AVAILABLE to me at all times - It used to be a matter of money, now it's the broken-down spreader AND tractor; 2. The trees all around my property are getting more and more bushy as well as taller, so I need to relocate my 'operation' to a HUGE single patch of about 60 feet by 300 feet, smack dab in the middle of the back lawn 'Sun Belt' that gets sun all day from about 7:00 AM to about 4 pm - ambient after that. Else, I am looking at from about 8:45 to 4 PM presently butt the trees around 5 patches become a factor, regardless. 3. I grow too many plants to give any more than about 10 of them the attention they deserve, presently switching attentions to the still many that are left like 1541 McMillin, 839 Sandercock X 2, my 367 (352 Gerry '05 X 2145 McMullen), 1511.5 Haist* and my 178 x 2, 206.1 (20 Gerry X self) x 2, 412.5 Gerry (1317 Clementz X 1985 Miller), 236 Gerry (1007 Brown X 2145 McMullen) X 2, 301.5 Gerry '05 and Seeds X and Y '20 (2003 Haist X 301.5 and 20, respectively). All of those are doing well and I could easily zero in on the 839-1, 178-1 and the Seed Y-1 with all my enthusiasm butt I still have no trailer hitch on my vehicle. Coming through with 8-15-36 water-soluble fertilizer at even 1 Tbsp./gal after a dry spell for the fruits caused at least two of the down fruits to have stem splits that I don't feel would have happened if no fert was applied; No problem - To see what the color is on a new seed is the most important thing, to ME. If it gets big - a plus! A prodding with a Timothy grass stem confirms it - Game Over. Okay - Other, GOOD news: Got the tractor running perfectly again (removed a speck of debris in the carburetor, plugging the low-speed jet). YAY! Manure spreader is tight as a drum now and the noises it always made, that are still horrifying? It is just the chain links when they snap from one angle to the other as they go around the sprockets or guides. Wanna oil it, but... It made it around at least once and will be run at a slightly higher speed before I damage the engine from LOW RPM. If I do have a PB-breaker, I know someone whom might truck it to a weighoff with me and any fruits this year will be sold in order to break even and/or as a source of a Plethora (Godzilla adversary?) of great crosses! Hell, I'm just now trying out the crosses from '17-'20! Later---eric g   Thursday, September 7 View Page Here is my 1541.5 McMillin Over A Barrel (OAB) end-of-main-vine fruit that has decided to be the one and only fruit to go the distance; The Grasshopper and the Fly ('zat a movie?) helped out as size references. The main fruit on the plant, X Self, was one of the ones that stopped growing when I ran outta fertilizer about a month ago. No worries - I do have many viable-appearing seeds in the dead fruit butt I'll probably only keep like 50-100. It was one TOUGH fruit to break apart! I'll START with a shovel from now on, lol. THIS fruit here did not reach rock bottom on its own - I rolled the barrel accordingly and found out that the back side of the fruit had been touching the barrel and that left a marring flat spot that was also discolored. A towel, rolled up or whatever under the vine can be used to correct this problem. Additionally, there is a heavy rock in the barrel to hold adjustments. eg   Friday, September 15 View Page This is the 1511.5 Haist* X Self; It is the first squash that I remember growing since about 2004 or so; No estimated weight, of course and this is one of the fruits that was inadvertently starved for nutrients and did not recover from it. It was a vigorously-flowering plant and I am pleased highly with the color. Hoping for plenty of viable seeds, for I DO love that Green-Eyed Lady out in the patch! eg   Saturday, September 16 View Page The squash in the previous pic has aborted butt I should still get any seeds that are not too far gone. Pfffttt... Well, here is that 1541.5 McMillin final fruit that I grew 'Over A Barrel'-Style! Should be a Helluva cross: (1541.5 McMillin X 301.5 Gerry '05); The ring around the Rosey is from a recent watering/rainstorm and raises concerns of if it'll start to rot there. I should douse it with Clorox and water @ 1 Tbsp. Gal...maybe...eg   Tuesday, September 19 View Page Well, here's my Big Baby for the year; It is off of my 178 seed from 2014 and is estimated at 434.2 pounds. A far cry from what I had thought was about 800 pounds but I let the last few days' late afternoon sun and my imagination get the better of me, lol. Nontheless, it is bigger and heavier than the last 2 years' biggest fruits. It also has a seepage issue, with that clearish, liquid yet gummy sap oozing from everywhere below its equator, but there are NO cracks nor any soft spots. It had this very early on, as well. Hmmm...OK! eg   Tuesday, September 19 View Page Mmmmmm...orange. From my Seed Y (2003 Haist X 20 Gerry (Prizewinner X 689.5 Sandercock)), AKA 51 Gerry '20 and estimated at 410.1 pounds, it is completely perfect to me in every weigh. There is another Seed Y later in this broadcast and I'll tell ya, it really wants to grow Big Beauties! eg   Tuesday, September 19 View Page More juicy orange! From my 206.1 seed (20 Gerry x Self) and poll'd by the 839 Sandercock, not only is it a screamin' orange producer, evident here and with two others on this plant and another on another, perhaps with the cross with the 839 it will have a chance of becoming a GIANT orange producer en masse in years to come. Trouble-free, consistent color & nice to see every day! eg   Tuesday, September 19 View Page I should have made the shot from more-above to depict that these two are only about 2 feet apart on the same vine, facing each other. Funny to see the stem of one and the blossom of the other! (206.1 Gerry X 839 Sandercock) Never had any trouble with these two and they are also poll'd by the 839 Sandercock; Let me explain my pollination philosophy, as well: I generally/always pollinate all the fruits on a particular plant exactly the same if I can help it, to allow me to remove, sell or cull any of them without wishing I had not, in order to always have the cross I may have originally wanted to begin with. This simply removes any animosity or discrimination toward any one fruit or cross. eg   Tuesday, September 19 View Page Here's that fantastic pollinator and all-around great grower, the 839 Sandercock; Early-on, this promiscuous plant had three open pollinations ongoing before I caught up to her! 'Whooooaaaahhh, Nellyyy!!!'; Ahem. I could not believe the frequency of male flowers as well. Looking back, I dunno why I did not pollinate with it MORE frequently. I guess three on my 206.1 were adequate, and my own seeds I think I simply wanted to self the first time around. 839 Was like 'Awww???'. Pheewww...You shoulda heard what that plant said to me. I'm still afraid to nap near the patch!!! Lawn chair broke yesterday and I'm lucky to still be sort-of upright, lol. The cross here is (X 1541.5 McMIllin) and its estimated weight is 373.4 pounds. Please note that this is one that started growing again once I got back in the groove with the ferts - kinda bulgy! eg   Tuesday, September 19 View Page At a whopping 288 pounds Est., here is my 367 seed doing its thing in finality (352 Gerry '05 (689.5 Sandercock X 1097.5 Beachy) X 2145 McMullen); Sorta neat, that warty appearance I have not seen become this prevalent randomly since 2014 on my 343... Anyway, a great grower with a Great Pumpkin on it! eg   Tuesday, September 19 View Page This is the 839 Sandercock #2 X OPEN; It is one of several that are in line to be 'HAMMERED' to see how big it'll get in as short a time as possible with about a 400 square foot plant at its disposal. If I can get it to blow up, that'll be cool!!! At least, I'll know I had done a little something exciting with it. Water, water, water at this time of year is essential, essential, essential, lol--- Starting tomorrow and from there-on. eg   Wednesday, September 20 View Page The previous fruit is estimated at 155.5 pounds. Oops. THIS one, my orangest beauty, is the (206.1-2 X 1541.5 McMillin); 148.5 # Est. and it was grown on a ribbon vine, hence the wild horns on it, lol; I'm looking forward to growing more of these oddities and with the prevalence of ORANGE? Yeahhhhh....eg   Thursday, September 21 View Page Here are two chunky mamas on my 412.5 seed (1317 Clementz X 1985 Miller); The color here is in stride with any grown on this seed before and I am pleased with the shape and OMG, the density. On the original 1317 plant they were also grown two at a time, very near to each other and I hate culling, of course! Intending to slam these two here at the last minute and they are each (412.5 X 1541.5 McMillin);   Thursday, September 21 View Page Still trying to get my 940.6 to fruition and the other fruit that was on it aborted butt was on its weigh until I ran outta fertilizer and that one DID try growing again butt split open massively within 3 days of said application. DO NOT try to make up for lost time, as this will happen reliably. (It has happened here a few times, lol). This one here is OPEN-pollinated and just filling in space, but you never know...eg   Thursday, September 21 View Page Whom knows how much longer my '14 seed the 178 will keep germinating, so I selfed it and it is still a very solid fruit here, estimated at 131 pounds. Classic, undernourished peanut-shaped, butt orange and solid! eg   Saturday, September 23 View Page As per the previous Seed X (50 Gerry '20) I have going on and ITS color, it appears that that may be how that color is gonna be, as in whitish, and who will know what it'd turn out to be if it took early and went for 80-90 days? It's OK, since they seem to be very dense fruits and the plants are vigorous (2003 Haist X 301.5 Gerry '05). Funny that the (2003 Haist X 20 Gerry) AKA 51 Gerry '20 (Seed Y) ended up being more of a trooper this year! See the next pic. YUM! eg   Saturday, September 23 View Page Here is one that is surprising me with its rapid growth in the late season; My (Seed Y X 301.5 Gerry '05); I had not been out back, here in a few days there were suddenly pumpkins' circumferences rising above the leaves - You know that feeling! I was like 'Cool???'; It has a great texture to it as well - excellent for adjusting it to the vine! Ahhh, Seed Y. Yeah, cool...Est. Wt. 10 days ago was 205.5 pounds. Time to measure it again! eg   Sunday, September 24 View Page Nyyyeeeahhhh, might as well... (443 Gerry '14 X 301.5 '05); I suppose that since my Seed X (2003 Haist X 301.5) did not throw the blaze orange (or, at least, I may not know THIS year) I had expected by being poll'd by the 301.5, it's still gotta happen SOMETIME! So, for posterity, here is this 57.9-pounder Est., 10 + days ago, lol---eg   Sunday, September 24 View Page 141.8 pounds est. (236 Gerry X 1541.5 McMillin); 236 is (1007 Brown X 2145 McMullen). Yeah??? Ooooohhh... Although I'm STILL trying to get some of these seeds on the 'worthy' list for anything other than color, there are always a few that surprise me with their tenacity and always make it worthwhile to grow them in hopes of at least a One-Hit Wonder. It'd be better in that than to have NO hit at all! My other 236 had subsequent aborts at the other end of the property, also on a VERY small plant; This one just got to this size and has remained nice and solid ever since. Lah-Tee-Dah, I guess! eg   Sunday, October 1 View Page I love the Pumpkin Spider! It is ironic or something that I HATE spiders otherwise! Rock and a hard place - I hate them butt won't kill them. UGHH!!! This is my 442 '23 from my Seed Y. I look more forward to lifting pumpkins now because I know they will NOT be damaged. eg   Sunday, October 1 View Page Here's a little addition to the Pumpkin Spider in that I needed a convenient way to keep the straps from dangling so much when going from pumpkin to pumpkin or whatever; It is just a piece of house wiring butt performs a major task! eg   Monday, October 30 View Page Strange that I've 'never seen' one of these used at a weighoff - This one sure makes it easy to clean off a wide swath of any under-debris and is probably good-sized for a scale. I have a wooden-handled one as well, for after the fallout, lol---eg   Monday, October 30 View Page These are the Gerrorangies for 2023. The next day, 5 were bought and taken, leaving only the second one from left, the 211.4; They would have taken all six butt the truck said 'Five!, unless one o' ya wants to walk!'. Baa Haa Haaa...It was a good day and time well-spent! eg   Saturday, November 18 View Page Here is a final pic of the result of the Gerry Seed Y (51) '20 (2003 Haist X 20 Gerry '10) and I cannot WAIT to grow this seed in '24! Two others aborted and this one arose from their ashes to the tune of 275 pounds and was sold to a lucky guy along with a 234-pounder offa my 412 from '21. He lives a mile from me. He kept all the seeds. Ut-Oh (if Utah and Ohio got married?)! Well, it's not like I WIN anything anymore, lol, but next year...eg   Saturday, November 18 View Page Here's that 234-pounder from my 412.5 - It is pollinated by the 1541 McMillin. As if the 412 offspring are not dense enough already, what will be seen in subsequent photos of the 1541 that I grew 'Over A Barrel'-style this season will make me wish that I HAD kept one of the two of the 412.5's fruits, butt they both sold! Awww...lol---eg   Sunday, November 19 View Page Yup. Here is the 1541 McMillin fruit, 133 pounds and poll'd by the 301.5 Gerry '05. 17 years' difference and I am SO looking forward to growing this seed!!! eg   Sunday, November 19 View Page Whoops! Yup. Here is the 1541 McMillin fruit, 133 pounds and poll'd by the 301.5 Gerry '05. 17 years' difference and I am SO looking forward to growing this seed!!! eg   Sunday, November 19 View Page Whaddayah, THICK??? This is that stuff akin to couch cushion foam that has the seeds on the OUTSIDE of it, where the seeds seem to be just inside the shell of the fruit - Makes sense, butt I cannot figure it out right now, as to the seeds' placement in the fruit and its efficiency at either protecting the seeds until spring via the skin or having an animal eat them, butt not destroy them, in an unknown effort to spread them around the property. We've all seen AG seeds around our places, yes, and maybe wondered how they got there - at least, by what animal, lol---eg   Sunday, November 19 View Page Nnyyeeaahh, I guess the seeds' placement is not any different than usual, but all else applies. I don't think I had a taste of this stuff because the fruit was pret-ty ripe, but it sure smelled good. I could live offa pumpkins, if I had to! Yum? Yup! eg   Sunday, November 19 View Page There appear to be about 200 seeds in the bucket and I was only half done. It was like panning for gold on a great day. Every scoop of my hand or even picking through the 'debris' yielded a couple to like 5 or 6 seeds each time. I guess I'm just excited about the --->>>Are you ready for this? ...wait. ...Wait. ...WAIT. FRUIT FILLING!!! It was fun, and the last one 2 be done of the year. eg   Wednesday, November 22 View Page I dunno HOW this and its sibling fruit offa the 301.5 Gerry '05 got omitted from my one-a-day-to-keep-it-simple (lol) picture submission strategy this year. Just missed a beat and lost the rhythm, I guess. Ummm, 301.5 X Self!!! 210.8 pounds, AKA 210 Gerry '23. If the 301.5 no longer sprouts, it will have ended its era as the GET THIS>>>One that did NOT get a WEIGH! BaaaaaaaHaaaaaBaaaa...Oyyy, Spring, where are you??? eg   Wednesday, November 22 View Page Ummm, if it comes back at you that you omitted something, you have to re-add the picture. Even if you originally added a picture. I dunno HOW this and its sibling fruit offa the 301.5 Gerry '05 got omitted from my one-a-day-to-keep-it-simple (lol) picture submission strategy this year. Just missed a beat and lost the rhythm, I guess. Ummm, 301.5 X Self!!! 210.8 pounds, AKA 210 Gerry '23. If the 301.5 no longer sprouts, it will have ended its era as the GET THIS>>>One that did NOT get a WEIGH! BaaaaaaaHaaaaaBaaaa...Oyyy, Spring, where are you??? eg   Wednesday, November 22 View Page Here be the other one offa the 301.5 (now X Self) = 211 Gerry '23. Unnnhhh!!! Only one 301.5 sprouted and reluctantly at that. The plant had everything NOT going for it but I guess having been in a reasonably sunny spot; Ben says 'What???' It was a surprise scenario all around. It was also supposed to grow into a 'cavern' created by a fallen weeping willow tree's huge branch that fell a couple years ago that I've let become a Nature trail 25 feet long, lol - It said 'Naaahhh. I'm gonna grow THIS weigh!' So funny, these AGs. eg