Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 71 Entries. Thursday, January 11 View Page Happy new year to all ! wishing to all growers à new Personal Best !!! I want to bring some interesting informations about the test I started at the end of 2023. Here the first photo of the roots in Pot A which is "Le Témoin" It contains only the substrat and nothing else. It s important to have a comparison base. All pots were treated with the same water/light/température/cares. The photos were taken 2 weeks after the transplantation in the pots.   Saturday, January 13 View Page Pot B contains only a brand of Myco I m using for years now. For each stuff used in the pots, I have carefully followed the rate of the label.   Saturday, January 13 View Page Pot C contains just Wallace Wow Mychorrizes. Each pot is made of clear plastic to check the roots but I placed them inside another black pot to avoid to expose the roots to the light. The roots in that pot are very well developped.   Saturday, January 13 View Page Pot D contains Wallace Wow Mychorrizes + Azos Funny to see less roots in this one but wait to see it again later...   Saturday, January 13 View Page Pot E contains the brand of Myco I m using for years now + bacillus IT 45. Pretty good rooting system.   Saturday, January 13 View Page Pot F contains brand of Myco I m using for years now + azos.   Saturday, January 13 View Page Pot G contains a brand of Myco I m using for years now + azos + Bacillus IT 45.   Saturday, January 13 View Page Pot H contains Wallace Wow Mychorrizes + Azos + Bacillus IT 45.   Saturday, January 13 View Page Pot I contains Wallace Wow Mychorrizes + Bacillus IT 45.   Saturday, January 27 View Page As you can see, the best rooting system was on pot C (Wow Wallace Myc only). Pot E ( Brand of Myco I m using for years + Bacillus IT 45) and H ( Wow Wallace myc + Azos + IT45) are pretty good too but not as good as Pot C.   Saturday, January 27 View Page 54 days later, here the evolution of the roots. Pot A   Saturday, January 27 View Page Pot B   Saturday, January 27 View Page Pot C   Saturday, January 27 View Page Pot D   Saturday, January 27 View Page Pot E   Saturday, January 27 View Page Pot F   Saturday, January 27 View Page Pot G   Saturday, January 27 View Page Pot H   Saturday, January 27 View Page Pot I   Saturday, January 27 View Page To sum up the test, after 15 days the best roots were in Pot C but after nearly 2 months, the winner is Pot D. White, fresh, well developped and many " poils absorbants" which is what we all want to absorb more water and nutrients.   Wednesday, February 7 View Page Green manure is growing well and so stinging nettle will bring some free nitrogen too. Soil is Absolutely FULL of lobworms. Galleries everywhere perfect to bring oxygene and water to roots and digest OM. All those lobworms poo are free wormcasting. I kept watering regularly all winter to wash soil, keep micro life actives/alive and increase lobworms population.   Wednesday, February 21 View Page Here what we call here " mouron" which is liking high OM soil.   Wednesday, February 21 View Page And here are the "orties".   Friday, February 23 View Page Last year, I grew 2 squash just to make a nice cross. Target was to find a line carrying differents gènes than the 1109 Jutras. Good shape, heavy, great color and , of course, good size : 1628.5 Sikorski so I planted it , let it grow with almost no cares. I pollinated a nice female on the mainvine with 3 mâles from 1109 Jutras. The plant produced about 7 fruits but , for sûr, I only saved the seeds from the cross I've made. That s a promising cross for the futur. Here a photo.   Friday, February 23 View Page This is another 1628.5 Sikorski squash from the same plant. All fruits were well shaped and over the chart. Didnt save seeds except the ones from the cross.   Tuesday, March 5 View Page Green manure done ! Then I watered heavily with little amount of sugar. Now, I need to create 3 indépendant watering circuits. Very longgggggggg job...   Tuesday, March 12 View Page Meet my lovely dog " Booba", he's a newfoundland so friendly. A wonderfull beast ! Fun giant vegetables question : what s the common point between Steve Strickler and I ?   Saturday, March 23 View Page Subsoil done ! I m very glad to my last soil analysis. For the very first time since 2008, it comes back almost perfect ! I usually struggle to get the ph down and get micronutrients in the right levels but the corrections done over the years are finally paying off.   Wednesday, April 3 View Page About 1500 tomatoes plants are almost ready. Weather is awful.... rain, rain rain and no sun. Started pumpkin seeds on sunday.   Wednesday, April 24 View Page Wednesday was a special day for us. Our biggest ever carp has been landed at 82lb3oz ! That fish is named " The Long Common" cos it tapes over 1.10m long. The amazing détail is that carp is a mâle, usually the biggest carp are deep bodied females. Same guy had also a 53lb and a 56lb. Happy days ! Congratulations Nick !   Friday, May 24 View Page Last corrections and some great organic goodies for the tomatoes bed. Should transplant them by tomorrow ( fruit day).   Friday, May 24 View Page Very bad weather ... very heavy rains, grey skies and 15C almost everyday... roads and lakes flooded. We need sun and heat !!! Pumpkin plants are healthy but need speed now. Best one is again the famous 2365 Wolf.   Thursday, June 13 View Page Spreading spidermites predators just for prevention. Those are ideal to prevent them cos they dont need them to survive and also they live well even in dry and hot conditions under polytunnel. It works perfectly if you apply them at the right times of the season.   Thursday, June 13 View Page Here the result. Will start to apply aphids predator soon. The new range of bugs are fully adapted to polytunnels that means they dont fly away and stay inside to chase them. That saves you 2 chemicals spray on your leaves ;-) Healthy plant for a longer time :-)   Sunday, June 16 View Page 2447 Cutrupi X 2365 Wolf   Monday, June 17 View Page 2560 Gienger X 2365 Wolf All 2560 babies got long shape   Wednesday, June 19 View Page 2365 Wolf X 2560 Gienger Beautiful 5 lobes !   Saturday, June 22 View Page Leaves are slowly becoming darker everyday. The sun should be back on monday at the end ! But only for a couple of days.... 22,3mm of rain 2 days ago, 6,5mm yesterday and 4.5mm today. It s raining everyday. This is the worst spring I have ever seen. The 2365 plant is awesome ! Same plant as last year, aggressive, strong, thick vines and leaves , I love her so much ! ( Andy, I love you too !!!)   Wednesday, June 26 View Page First aphids on the Wolf plant. Ordered predators for tomorrow. Weather is now very hot ! 31C yesterday, 32C + today From grey/wet/ cold to hot/dry/very sunny, plants have to support a stress very quickly. Misting /shading net / beach Umbrellas to help them. Wolf plant is sensible to the sun, got a couple of sun burns Gienger plant is okay, just 1or 2 leaves burned . Cutrupi plant is loving that weather, leaves dont stress at all. Probably genetic point.   Wednesday, June 26 View Page Soil temp at 17.4C for the Gienger plant.   Wednesday, June 26 View Page 19.8C for the Wolf soil temp which is just a few yards away.   Thursday, June 27 View Page Job done ! Aphidaxis contains 6 différents parasites which is perfect to cure all aphids types ( green, yellow, Black...). They will emerge in the next 7 days and start to work quickly. Aphidoletes need 10/15 days to become active but will eat all aphids strain. They can survive weeks in the polytunnel. Just need to maintain about 65% hygrométrie.   Friday, June 28 View Page DAP 12 : 2447 Cutrupi X 2365 Wolf   Monday, July 1 View Page To cure aphids spots, I also use black soap if needed.   Monday, July 1 View Page Very sticky, it glues them.   Monday, July 1 View Page Ready to spray ! Organic, simple and it works well. Love the smell !   Thursday, July 4 View Page Here you can see cecidomyies larvas (aphidoletes) eating aphids, they look like Orange maggots. Each cecidomyies can lay up to 100 eggs on a aphids spots and each larvas can eat up to 100 aphids ! I just spread another 2000 aphidoletes on the soil. Also, I did a second introduction of phytoseiulus of 2000 adults. Each adults can eat between 20 to 25 spidermites eggs, 20 to 30 spidermites larvas and 5 spidermites adults per day ! I also put 2 more aphidaxis under the other 2 pumpkin plants. No more aphids and spidermites on the pumpkin plants.   Thursday, July 4 View Page This is how you need to place aphidoletes momies. A wet spot under the canopy is ideal.   Thursday, July 4 View Page And a Zoom...   Friday, July 5 View Page 2447 Cutrupi is looking good so far. I m adjusting his position everyday to keep his blossom end up.   Sunday, July 7 View Page The 2365 Wolf is a slow starter but the plant is a monster ! Super aggressive with huge laterals still growing mad. Amazing plant again ! Very healthy, very green and very thick vines. I lift the fruit to put the sand and I was greatly surprise to feel his density.   Thursday, July 18 View Page 2447 Cutrupi at day 30 All my numbers are pretty low this season but pumpkins and plants are looking so far. A few PM spots detected about 3 weeks ago which is very early but not surprising with the very wet and cold weather of that weird season. Many laterals still growing to fill the space. Time will tell   Saturday, July 27 View Page Gienger fruit got a nice shape. It s growing forward so I have to pull it back every 3 days. Plant is stunning, very enjoyable and easy to look after.   Saturday, July 27 View Page Beautiful Gienger plant.   Saturday, July 27 View Page Plenty of white and big roots still emerging from the nodes.   Monday, August 12 View Page Be scared Ian.... VERY scared !!!! ??   Tuesday, August 13 View Page Last auxiliaires introduction against spidermites. We had high temps up to 36.3C which is ideal condition for them. They love hot and dry weather under polytunnel. The previous introductions did a very good job as usual, no signs of spidermites at all so far. I know that every year about mid august, spidermites are trying again to come back so spreading one more time the predators are very useful. They are severals différent strains to fight spidermites but I really like this one cos it prevents and cure the problem.   Sunday, September 1 View Page Very happy with the quality of the leaves at this time of the year. Did différents things to improve air flow and reduce humidity inside the polytunnel.   Sunday, September 1 View Page All 3 plants are looking good. No aphids too, the friendly predators are doing a great job.   Wednesday, September 4 View Page Aphydoletes momies are present everywhere under the leaves.   Sunday, September 15 View Page My good friend, Julien, got a very nice squash which is taping over my actual National record ( 1024lb back in 2014). It s from the 386.9 Daho 2023 (1628.5 Sikorski X 1109 Jutras). The shape and color are very good. Plant was beautiful and problems free. Great job Ju !   Tuesday, September 17 View Page We had an awful season over here, mostly wet and grey with very few days of sun and warm températures. During 5 days, nights temps dropped to 3C ! Never mind, there is always next year...   Tuesday, September 17 View Page The surprising thing is the actual growth. Pumpkins are over 90 days old and still doing 12lb per day. I guess the great plants condition is probably the reason.   Tuesday, September 24 View Page Went to Kaiserslautern GPC German weigh off last week-end, great show ! Third place with 1661.8lb +6% Cross is 2447 Cutrupi X 2365 Wolf It was still growing when picked up. Plant was still in very good shape for end of september   Tuesday, September 24 View Page Here a photo of the Cutrupi plant taken earlier this week. Very healthy canopy.   Monday, October 7 View Page Congrats to Julien for this new French record squash ! It weighed 1356,7lb, not bad for his first ever squash. Seed is 386.9 Daho 2023 ( 1628.5 Sikorski X 1109 Jutras) The shape, color and plant were very good up to the end.   Monday, October 7 View Page Won first place with 1822.3lb. Cross is 2365 Wolf X 2560 Gienger).   Monday, October 7 View Page Another shot   Monday, October 7 View Page Look at the Gienger plant. Still in good conditions for 7th october. Pumpkin is 112 days, still growing and has a very good shape. Cross is 2560 Gienger X 2365 Wolf   Tuesday, November 26 View Page It was time to get a weight for the 2560 Gienger. That plant was unbelievable up to the end. Pumpkin was still growing when picked up at day 115. The major issue was the maivine stress during the whole season. It was growing forward a lot so we had to have to pull it back many times ( 12/13 times). The bend of the mainvine just a few inches from the stem was so bad , it cracked deeply. Despite the big size of the maivine at this point (4 inches), only 1 inch was still connect to the fruit, the rest was dead but dry.   Tuesday, November 26 View Page Won first place at Ludwinsburg weigh off at 1974.2lb, that was a great surprise! It went 6%. Soft skin like a baby. Could have been way bigger with sun/ heat and no mainvine damages. All 3 pumpkins grown 100% organic as asual. Very tough 2024 season with a challenging weather.