Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 212 Entries. Friday, January 1 View Page Happy New Years everyone. Now that it is 2016 I can start thinking about starting carrots for the heavy challenge. I hope 25 gallon pots are big enough for an indoor carrot.   Friday, January 1 View Page For long carrots I am going to use 4 foot tall, 6 inch pvc tubes.   Friday, January 1 View Page I think I will start the transplant carrots in 10 gallon pots. Right now I have about 2000 seeds of New Red Intermediate, Flakkee and Berlicum. Only a few of the Flakkee but plenty of the others. If someone wants to get in the carrot challenge and needs seeds email me. I will share.   Friday, January 1 View Page 78 days until spring. I think I might not have enough time for winter tomato challenge.   Wednesday, January 13 View Page Received a package of seeds today. A lot of good ones in it but how can an orange grower not get excited about the 1912 Carter. I have to find the perfect spot in the patch now.   Saturday, February 20 View Page Carrots don't seem to grow that slow. Hard to decide which ones to thin...they all are doing about even.   Saturday, February 20 View Page Winter tomato plant. It has been a good learning experience.   Saturday, February 20 View Page Come on little one. Get bigger! 1/2 inch per day won't impress any AG.   Sunday, February 28 View Page Time for a carrot update I had trouble thinning the carrots. Too hard to choose which to pull. The solution to my dilemma was to dig my fingers into the soil and spread them apart.   Sunday, February 28 View Page The first carrot to be transpanted is this one.   Sunday, February 28 View Page This is my choice for carrot to be weighed in december. Grown indoors for about a year in a 25 gallon pot.   Friday, March 4 View Page It must be carrot day. This is my choice for carrot to be grown indoors all year. Planning on pulling it at the end of december for weighing.   Friday, March 4 View Page This carrot is my choice for transplant outside this spring. Hopefully it will go along with a pumpkin to some weighoff this fall.   Friday, March 18 View Page I think Qtip might be the winner of the minnesota winter indoor grow challenge. Maybe I can even it out with a carrot. After my big zac went down, I tried a commercial delicious in a 5 gallon pot. Unfotunately it didnt have any megablossums. I will be ready for next year.   Sunday, March 20 View Page With the end of winter indoor challenge, I have a big area open in my basement grow room. The only solution is to start more tomatoes. I intend to start 3 plants every 2 weeks. Round 1: 3.75 Thurber 2014 Bigzarro, 5.05 Reinhard 2015 Big Zac, 3.37 Rakkas 2013 _______   Tuesday, March 22 View Page Carrot update: I am getting worried that a ten gallon container wont be big enough to hold this carrot until May. I ordered some 25 gallon grow bags to transplant this weekend. Hopefully can do this without causing too much stress. This plant is growing a bit differently than my others. The leaflets grow straight up until they hit a certain size and then drop. I was concerned at first but now I think it might be good. The plant is getting maximum light growing this way. Its stem is much bigger now than the carrots that arent dropping the leaflets. Wish i could see what was happening underground.   Friday, April 1 View Page My favorite carrot had outgrown its 10 gallon container. I had seen in another growers diary an idea about stacking containers. With a special order received from my local grow store and some careful plastic cutting I transplanted it. Its new home is a 40 gallon planter stacked on a 25 gallon. I hope this is big enough. It is getting harder to transplant.   Saturday, April 2 View Page I think qtip and socal are battling for the lead. Have to wonder how the rest of the carrot growers are doing. I tried to take a picture close up. Hard to do with my iphone. The stem measures about 1.25 inches just above ground and i am starting to see the ground swelling there. I can relax a little bit, looks like the plant survived the move with no major shock. 5 1/2 more months to find out what it weighs. I am thinking about taking it to Gale Woods Farm...September 24th weigh off. Will there be more than one carrot there?   Sunday, April 3 View Page round 1 of tomato starting was not a complete success. The seed that most interested me did not sprout. I have only a few chances left to get one started. I decided to take it up a level and ordered gibberelic acid. The rakkas was the first sprout to break ground. As much as I look I cant see anything different from the Reinhard bigzac to determine variety. Maybe I just dont know what to look for.   Sunday, April 10 View Page they grow so slow.......................,   Sunday, April 17 View Page 150 sq foot contest nice weather today! I took the opportunity to build the border. It was a good project to play with my new miter saw. My growing partner was enjoying the day also.   Sunday, April 17 View Page 150 sq ft contest It is difficult to truly determine the shape from the previous picture. Here it is from a different direction. Later tonight I will post as it is drawn out on graph paper. I hope my math calculations were good.   Sunday, April 17 View Page 150 sq foot contest I tried a picture from a ladder. It might give a better idea of the shape.   Tuesday, April 19 View Page carrot update My best carrot continues to grow. It is so much larger than the other carrots that I started at the same time and have had the same basic care. I really am hoping to get seeds from this plant next summer. The stem thickness is now about 2.75 inches.   Tuesday, April 19 View Page Now for the bad news..for the past week i have been noticing the tips of the older leaves turning brown. The new growth looks great. I am not sure of the reason why. I fertilized with some 0-4-9 this morning thinking it might be a potassium deficiency but am really clueless at this point.   Tuesday, April 19 View Page 150 contest border dimensions and shape   Tuesday, April 19 View Page this is my scribbled planned vine pattern. First secondary on right side looped around the stem. Every secondary on the right side after that looped back across the main. I think I will have issues with overcrowding of leafs but am aiming for maximum root nodes. The border angles out from the stem in an effort to try to get the longest secondaries closest to the fruit. This plan might be all wrong but will only know for sure come fall.   Thursday, April 21 View Page I am not sure...but I am thinking that there might be a little room for improvement in my outdoor acclimatization technique. Four days ago, I placed this plant in one hour of morning real sunshine. Not recovering very fast.   Thursday, April 21 View Page No more procrastination. I am starting plants tonight or I wont sleep. This years line up: 1912 Carter 2015 - entered in Bubbas Big Orange Contest. To be grown in 900 sq feet. First time in five years of growing that I will have a full size patch. Thank you neighbor. 1714 Lüders 2015 - This will be my 150 sq foot plant. European seed for an international competition. Planned pollinator for the 1912. 356 Borgers 2015 - I am expecting this plant to grow the prettiest pumpkin in my patch this year. My HD hope. 552 Minor 2015 - This seed will be started in a few weeks. To be grown in community garden. Hoping to awe the general public with its beauty.   Saturday, April 23 View Page Cosgrove's other sibling,her name is Carina,will never see the sun. But at least she is now seeing 450 watts of LED power equivalent to mexican noon sun in July. If she survives this, another light is ready to bring it up to equator light intensity. The university of minnesota never got back to me but the soil drenches with added potassium is seeming to help with the browning of the leaflets.   Wednesday, April 27 View Page 35 days after starting the 3.37 Rakkas seed, I believe I have my first megabloom ever. It is only 7 inches above ground. Much to early to transplant outside so I will see if i can set a new personal best for indoor tomato.   Saturday, April 30 View Page I know you will all get tired of seeing pictures of Carina but she loves the camera. Next weekend will be adding another 150 watt LED to bring it to a total of 600 watts. Any more light will have to try side lighting. Seems the more light available the stronger she grows.   Saturday, April 30 View Page Carina's crown by my measurement is about 2 1/4 inches. It is hard to get an accurate picture. Still almost 5 months to grow.   Wednesday, May 4 View Page 150 Sq foot contest- The1714 Lüders went into the ground today. I rotated the boundaries by 90 degrees before transplant. It should allow more sunshine for the 150 plant and it also make it easier to utilize the rest of the patch space.Maybe I might be too optimistic...I needed some soil for a raised bed for an outdoor carrot. Perfect source was where i wanted a sandpit for the huge 150 pumpkin to grow on. Hopefully can hit the bullseye pollination spot.   Thursday, May 5 View Page Another one for Linus--you might see Garth at Stillwater but I am hoping this might be your closest competition. I will call her Persistence. No need for more specifics since I know that no one else in the world has this seed.   Thursday, May 5 View Page I am ready to get more serious about competition tomato and carrot growing. UPS delivered my new scale tonight. 10,000 gram capacity .5 gram readibility. My goal is to max it out with a carrot (22 pounds).   Sunday, May 8 View Page My final two plants for 2016... On the left is the 552 Minor and on the right is the 1912. I think I have gone over the edge talking to my plants like some other growers here. My conversation with the 1912 went something like this. "I am sorry mr 1912. You were a little slow out of the starting gate. I know you only have one cot to get the ball rolling but my little one was so anxious to prove herself that she jumped all the way into the prime spot. Dont be worried though..I still love you. In a few weeks you will be looking good and ready to take your place in the community garden to be admired by a whole city."   Sunday, May 22 View Page 552 Minor now in its place in the community garden. With the good weather we are having the city opened the gardens for planting two weeks earlier than expected.   Sunday, May 22 View Page 3.37 Rakkas ....I am getting hopeful that can set new personal best for indoor tomato.   Sunday, May 22 View Page 3.75 Thurber.. Michaels Portuguese Monster...Bigzarro Going outside today.   Sunday, May 22 View Page Led lights take some getting used to for color. This picture doesnt show totally orange this red can looks under LED's. If didnt know better I would think it was a can of orange soda.   Sunday, May 22 View Page Same can under normal light. Getting the new scale figured out.   Wednesday, May 25 View Page Am I obsessive?------It has been a month since i have posted a picture of Carina. She now is under 1200 watts of LED lighting. Two 300 watt fixtures over the top and four 150 watt fixtures for side lighting. Should be more photosynthetic active radiation than anywhere outdoors on earth. Running the lights 15 hours per day for a really high DLI number. Temperature control set at 68 degrees. Steady watering both from the top and bottom with a high potassium solution. Her crown right now is about 6 inches in diameter. Still 4 months left for me to mess up badly.   Wednesday, May 25 View Page Here is an attempt to get a picture of her all lit up. Iphone camera really doesnt like LED lighting. i spent some time browsing at the local grow store today. Talked myself out of buying CO2 system, but I know it is only a matter of time.   Thursday, June 2 View Page My best plant is from one of my own seeds. I put a crack in the main trying to move it too fast but too late to start again. Lost some weight but hopefully didnt lose any pretty.   Thursday, June 2 View Page 150 Update: After a cold spring unprotected by any covering the 1714 Lüders is finally starting to grow. Looking forward to the side vines to see how my pattern will work. The plant does have a hole all the way thru the stem. I have no idea what caused it.   Friday, June 10 View Page I finally get a full size plot to grow in thanks to my backyard neighbor. Unfortunately my side neighbor decided she had weeds in her yard and called a yard service. Pumpkins do not like 2-4-D. Dont know if it will come back. If it doesnt the only pumpkin I have let in home patch is the 150 sq foot plant.   Friday, June 10 View Page Thanks chris for posting pictures of your carrot, Chris Qualley (qtip). i have been so bummed by my pumpkin that your post helped me see that there is something to grow for. I am thinking that 5 pounds plus should be easy with carina. Growing bigger than Dan Mccoy 8.47 pounds is a high probability. World record maybe not impossible (9.1 kg, 20.06 pounds. Did a flush of the 65 gallon pot two days ago. Was getting an electrical conductivity reading of over 10. Now that she is clean...time for the next round of nutrients.   Saturday, June 11 View Page 150 contest- The first female has appeared on the 1714 Lüders. It is at 8 feet, 4 feet shy of the target zone. Maybe the next one will be in range.   Saturday, June 11 View Page slammer contest- I might be a little bit later than the rest of you. It is all part of my secret plan...slow,so i can watch how the other growers do things.   Monday, June 13 View Page I decided today to move Carina over and further from the wall for better access. The carrot that I had growing next to her in a 25 gallon pot had to go. It is 1/4th the size. I pushed and pulled and out it came. Was alot longer than expected.   Monday, June 13 View Page I just couldnt throw her out after all these months so into carrot recovery she went. She is the one in the front. All of these plants have gone thru this rough transplant. The one in the raised pot has been pulled from the ground four times already. These carrots are tough.   Monday, June 13 View Page About a month ago i started 6 carrots in an effort to impress my cousin with a long beautiful carrot. I think I should have started earlier.   Tuesday, June 14 View Page 24D plant update- Over the weekend I cut off 16 leaves that were showing the most damage in an effort to reduce the amount of herbicide moving into the rest of the plant. Now i am getting leaves that are splitting. I have marked the current borders of the plant with a line drawn in the soil. If it doesnt show signs of recovery by Thursday I will pull the plant. I have already talked to backyard neighbor trying to decide what we can plant in 900 sq feet at this late date.   Wednesday, June 15 View Page I knew it wouldnt take long for me to give in to obsession. I am thinking that a carrot uses light and co2 to produce sugars in the leaves that is stored in the root. Carina has many leaves, light from all angles and soon plenty of co2 to consume. I dont want to be thinking next winter "i knew I could have done something better and didnt "   Thursday, June 16 View Page 24D plant..today was the day to decide if to pull or not. No new damaged leaves, main tip grew 6 inches in the past day, 3/4ths of the secondaries have resumed growing. First female flower spotted at 11 feet. She is staying in the patch for now. The plant has had 1/3rd of its leaves removed. I am hopeful that persistence will live up to her name.   Friday, June 17 View Page 150 sq foot-update what a difference a few weeks of warmth makes. The female blossum at the main vine tip is in target range. Should have 8 vines on both sides averaging 10 feet long to support the pumpkin. First looped secondaries on left side are just about ready to cross the main. The vines will be 6 to 7 inches apart from each other. Might be the wrong strategy but at least it is going according to plan.   Friday, June 17 View Page 24D plant-I made an observation today. Nearly all the leaf nodes that came out in the first 4 days after the plant was exposed to herbicide have double tendrils. The ones for the last couple of days are normal. Coincidence...maybe but maybe not.   Monday, June 20 View Page 150 sq foot plant- 1714 Lüders-Selfed this blossum at 8 feet today. Hoping that it will just be practice.   Monday, June 20 View Page 150 sq ft-This is the one i am hoping for. 13 feet out, right on target at the sand pit.   Monday, June 20 View Page The pumpkin plant that is in community garden (552 Minor) is growing but not as fast as my home plants. No sign of any female flowers yet. Today,will start to fertilize with some bloom booster.   Tuesday, June 21 View Page Carina has a problem...she wants to be a mommy. Those are little white flowers under that canopy.   Tuesday, June 21 View Page Pulling her to see what the carrot weighs. Not many roots made it to the bottom 25 gallon pot.   Tuesday, June 21 View Page The top 40 gallon is one big ball of roots.   Tuesday, June 21 View Page She needed the three months of her scheduled grow time.   Tuesday, June 21 View Page My new personal best to try to beat next year. 4.02 pounds. As i took the carrot out i noticed that the first five inches of media was wet. It got drier the further down I went. At 12 inches it was almost completely dry. I was watering about a gallon per day. Next year will have to figure out how to even the moisture out in the container.   Thursday, June 23 View Page Ok fellow carrot growers It isnt over yet. Now that i have gone from being slightly in the lead to way behind it us time to bring it to the next level. I just received the media sample results for Carina back from the University of Minnesota. I think I know what to do better. My hope now rides on Carusa. He has had a hard life.. 1/4th the size of Carina...but 3 more months to grow. He wont have the 1500 ppm of CO2 to work with but hopefully can still grow good. Gave him an overdose of fish fertilizer, kelp, and great white tonight. I intend to see if this carrot can thrive in extreme conditions.   Friday, June 24 View Page I made my daily trip to the community garden and had to snap a picture. The family 2 spots from mine is taking growing in small spaces to the extreme level. They have 4 atlantic giants (commercial seed package) and 1 watermelon plant growing in a 4 foot by 10 foot area. This picture is of their first pumpkin (2 dap). Not bad for growing in 8 sq ft. Hope it keeps going.   Friday, June 24 View Page 24d-persistence update..this will be the last diary entry i make with the 24d alert. I am thinking that she survived this calamity. Final damage total is 16 out 48 leaves lost,4 secondaries lost and I am guessing two weeks later pollination. All new growth is coming out normal now. Unless another disaster happens still should be able to get a reasonable pumpkin from her. As you can see I have a problem with shade. Almost have neighbor convinced to let me cut down one of his trees.   Friday, June 24 View Page 150 sq ft update-the pollination at 8 feet took. Hoping to be able to cull that one in about a week. The space is 3/4ths full. If i get a set at the blossum at 13 feet will have 9 secondaries on one side and 7 secondaries on the other that cross over the main. Total vine length of about 175 feet. With an average of 7 inches between nodes it should be about 300 root nodes to support the pumpkin. After setting the pumpkin at the target zone, the next step in the plan will be to set the drip lines in between each vine. Still havent decided what to put in the fertilizer injector.   Saturday, June 25 View Page 150 sq ft- Tomorrow is the big day. Going to make a short road trip tonight to west of minneapolis to pick up pollen. The 1714 Lüders is flagging heavy in this 93 degree heat. Thunderstorms forecast for tonight with tomorrow still being hot. I will spend all day tomorrow trying to keep my baby cool.   Saturday, June 25 View Page Persistence- The 1714 Lüders might not be right for southern growers but persistence might be. The heat isnt bothering her at all. Not a single flagging leaf. All these years of selfed I have decided she is tough genetics. The line has gone thru disease, complete lack of care, and this year herbicide. And it throws pretty orange. Next year i might release the seeds.   Sunday, June 26 View Page I think my wife has adjusted to being married to a pumpkin grower. "no dear,these flowers arent for you, they are for my secret affair out back" Thank you Adam Johnson. Hope to see you this fall at the weighoffs.   Sunday, June 26 View Page This is the first year that I have tried using 1 gallon paint strainers for controlled pollination. Much better than the previous methods.   Sunday, June 26 View Page 150 sq ft-pollinated the 1714 Lüders with the 1912 Carter this morning. I have never had a 3 lobe blossum before. The flower is at the perfect location according to the plan. If the pollination is successful it will probably be the keeper.   Sunday, June 26 View Page 150 sq ft- Just finished getting the drip lines set-up. Probably a bit too late...this plant doesnt like heat..only 82 degrees and it is still showing alot of flagging. I know the lines look close together. That is because they are...about a ten inch spacing. They are run between every secondary with duct tape over the emitters where ever it crosses over a vine.That is an attempt to reduce disease issues by keeping the vines dry. Each line has a separate shutoff in case I see some area getting too wet. I will wait for a few days for the fruit to set then plan to start feeding the plant with a 1/2 hydroponic solution. With the sand that I grow on it will be similar without the recirculation. This small area growing is fun...can I blow her up?   Monday, June 27 View Page 3.75 Thurber ,michaels portuguese monster, bigzarro..I am a tomato rookie but this plant is wild. Do you like to prune? This plant will keep you busy. Not only do the suckers come out at the vine nodes, they come out at each individual leaf.   Monday, June 27 View Page Have a baby on the 3.75. I dont care what it weighs. Just want to make sure that I have enough seeds to grow this line again next year. I wonder what kind of mess this would be with no pruning and if it would reach full potential height.   Tuesday, June 28 View Page 10 day catch in a svb trap. I have 4 traps up around the patch. Thru the years I have become used to the quantity that are around here. I am just glad that merit works.   Thursday, June 30 View Page Pollinated the 552 Minor today at 11 feet in community garden. I brought from home a bouquet to do the deed. I hope it takes and starts to grow a pretty orange. So many people are watching it grow.   Saturday, July 2 View Page Today was the day for Persistence's first pollination. Nice symmetric 4 lober. I am hoping it takes so I have the keeper on all plants now.   Sunday, July 3 View Page 150 sq ft-1714 Lüders x 1912 Carter 7 DAP-She is a little bit smaller than i had hoped but still growing.I made the decision today to go all in on this one. Had a female open 4 ft down the main that looked just like this 3 lober. This is the cross that I wanted so trimmed the main just a little after the kin. I have a secondary coming around to occupy those precious inches. Still have 4 secondaries that still have room to grow. Another week and all vines will terminated. Two days ago connected the fertilzer injector to the drip lines. Wondering how hard is it to blow up a 150 sq ft pumpkin. My Iphone takes terrible pictures- the actual color of the fruit is a very light orange.   Wednesday, July 6 View Page 150 sq ft plant- i dont know if it is aborting, has had some strange coloration since last nights thunderstorms. Wherever the cloth placed over it it has a deeper orange color. I thought it might go away today but with the pumpkin completly uncovered only about 50% went away. Day 10 it is measuring about 25 inches cc. I hope it is still going...i want 1000 pounds.   Thursday, July 7 View Page I am not sure what is going on with my 150 plant. It has had these darker splotches for the past 3 days but it is still growing 3 1/2 inches per day cc. The only thing that i have sprayed is eagle. The rest of the plant looks great..in fact the leaves look way healthier than i am used to. Made a message board post for comments.   Friday, July 8 View Page I have an indoor tomato that I thought might be showing signs of TMV. Received the test kit from Agdia today and immediately tested that plant. Good news-the test is showing negative for TMV (and some of the other potyviruses). Bad news- now i have to figure out what is wrong with nutrient balance in that pot.   Friday, July 8 View Page The shape of the first pollination in the community garden does not impress me. The second was done yesterday and it is looking like it will be same shape.   Saturday, July 9 View Page 150 sq foot- 13 DAP- splotch is still growing. The marks are not getting better or worse. 36 1/2 inches cc this morning. I am beginning to wonder if the marks were made by hail hitting the wet sheet. I pollinated a 4 lober on a secondary that is still within target zone this morning. Only have one vine left that isnt terminated. It is a secondary that is circling the target area. There is female at the tip of that vine that is the 3rd and last chance for this plant.   Monday, July 11 View Page tomato update- i have twenty plants outside and space for 10 inside. My best big zac mega blossums are coming from both the outside and inside 5.75 Domke. Unfortunately both blossums are pointed towards the stem. Is that genetic?   Monday, July 11 View Page More tomato-Have a nice one set on the 3.75 Thurber Michaels Portuguese Monster-Bigzarro. Topped the plant today. Had to take it inside and put it in my cloning seed starting tent. If i can get roots on it will try to cross it with my biggest megablossum plant, the 4.65 Thurber Domingo. Might take multiple clones to get the flowers to mature at the right times. I have no idea what i could call a portuguese monster-domingo cross. Months to figure that out.   Tuesday, July 12 View Page community garden plant-12 DAP- it may look strange but it will be orange. I cut off a later pollination that had the same odd shape. I am curious what the final shape will be.   Tuesday, July 12 View Page qtip-this is BER   Thursday, July 14 View Page My daughter refused to give up her electric toothbrush so I went shopping. Hurry up indoor baby slammer plant...I am anxious to use the new vegibee.   Saturday, July 16 View Page 150 sq ft-20 DAP-153 ott. 42 ss,42 ee,69 cc. Team Pumpkin chart 84 pounds.The pumpkin is gaining about 15 pounds per day. No chance of a HD award with this one. My daughter is asking "where is a weighoff that has an ugly award?   Saturday, July 16 View Page Backup carrot-I guess it is possible to blow them up. So far this year is not very good. One to seed and one cracked. Now to choose the backup to the backup...   Saturday, July 16 View Page Maybe Carina will make a late season come back..you didnt think I would throw her out did you?   Saturday, July 16 View Page I am guessing this one might be my new best hope for heavy.   Sunday, July 17 View Page 150 patch-splotch is still growing. Day 21-gained 19 pounds yesterday. If it wasnt so ugly I would be very pleased. As it is..only 1/2 happy. I have a little hail damge on some of the early leaves but they are 4 feet tall. Will have to delay feeding it today. It needs to quit raining so i can utilize the fertilizer injector more. Already thinking of ideas of how to grow bigger in the next 150 competition. This small space growing is fun. A lot less vine burying and weeding. Now to break 1000 pounds in 150 sq ft.   Wednesday, July 20 View Page community garden-552 Minor 20 DAP 45ss 46ee 66cc 157ott - has a funky shape but looking like it will be very orange. It is a multi-generation selfed plant which I crossed with my multi-generation selfed orange. Next year will hope for heterosis effect.   Sunday, July 24 View Page Persistence-after a rough start of herbicide and hail is starting to make a run. Fortunately the other H-word (heat) isnt bothering her. Best 14 DAP numbers of the three plants that I have. Still hoping she can make it a challenge for Shannon at Stillwater.   Tuesday, July 26 View Page 150 sq ft-1714 Lüders x 1912 Carter DAP 30-59 ss,60 ee,108 cc-227 ott-265 pounds est weight. Looks like should reach my goal of over 300 by August 1st. I wont be measuring much now. It is too difficult to measure without risking damage to the plant.   Saturday, July 30 View Page 552 Minor in community garden-Day 30 DAP- I didnt bring a tape measure to get her numbers but she is still growing. Funky shape but bright orange with green. No HD award from this one.   Saturday, July 30 View Page Persistence-20 DAP- 49 ss, 49 ee, 75 cc- total 173 ott-est weight 121. I think she might be a challenger for HD award.   Friday, August 5 View Page 150 sq ft..40DAP- this pumpkin keeps getting uglier..turning green now. Maybe it will become a squash.   Friday, August 5 View Page this will be my best entry to the wixom slammer contest...hope it can grow for awhile since i cant remember when pollination date is.   Friday, August 5 View Page Persistence-25DAP-taping 227 ott=265 pounds. Averaging 28.8 pounds for the past 5 days. At this rate she will be bigger than her momma by day 28. Her momma was grown in 150 sq ft, no vine burying, no weeding, hail damage, august pollination, svb damage, watering by rain and the random sprinkling from her primary caretaker..a golden retriever. Persistence has 800 sq feet, drip irrigation with fertilizer injection and best care of the goldens owner. I think the dog is proud that he carried these genetics forward a year. If persistence hadnt lost weeks of pollination time and 1/3 of her early growth due to herbicide damage she could be really awesome. Side note- out of the seeds from the 356,persistence is grown from the only seed that did not float from about 400.   Friday, August 5 View Page 150 sq ft-i received an email that said that my pumpkin didnt look so ugly...so i have to add a picture from another angle...forget the hd award i might go for the ugly award.   Tuesday, August 9 View Page Persistence- DAP30-112.5cc, 72ss, 70.5ee- total 255 ott, est team pumpkin weight 371 pounds. Almost 2 months left to grow..hoping for new pb.   Saturday, August 13 View Page 552 Minor -community garden- Of the 3 pumpkins that I have growing this is the smallest but has the brightest coloration. It tapes now at 410 pounds. I can tell that my home soil is a little more potent. I wish that I had picked a blossum with better shape.If so I think it might have been a qualifier for HD award. Next year I wont be so impatient.   Saturday, August 13 View Page 150 patch- taping 482 pounds- Only 48 days to grow more ugly. New goal-win HD award and Ugly award in the same year.   Saturday, August 13 View Page Persistence-34 DAP-taping 471 pounds Tentatively Stillwater bound. With the orange monsters I expect to be there, it could be difficult for her. She needs to develop a bit deeper color. Her shape is going boxy with the blossum end a hair bigger. Skin quality appears good. I expect her to weigh about 1000 which should lower her chances. I am an HD snob. Will vote for the prettiest even if it isnt mine.   Friday, August 19 View Page After a season of picking off tomatoes with BER I finally get one that can actually be weighed. It is grown from a 6.83 Fulk. I was a little disappointed with what the scale said since it measured 20 1/2 inches. Cant complain too much though since this is now my personal best in my rookie season. I have bigger ones coming.   Sunday, August 21 View Page community garden-Lack of care for the past 3 weeks is showing. Weeds and stray tertiaries everywhere. The pumpkin is taping about 500 pounds right now. Due to lack of time I will probably let the plant grow naturally for the next month. If I had to choose today this will be the pumpkin going to Gale Woods Farm on September 24th.   Sunday, August 21 View Page 150 patch-Ugly-still growing,taping 565 pounds now. Did I mention Ugly. I wanted to take a picture from her good side. There isnt one. I think I will be taking this one to Nekoosa,Wi on October 1st.   Sunday, August 21 View Page Persistence-Dap 42-Taping 641 pounds. Hoping that she will develop a bit more color and hold a reasonable shape. Planning to weigh her at Stillwater Mn, October 8th.   Sunday, August 21 View Page New PB tomato-21 inch cc .Grown from the 5.05 Reinhard. Thanks Tyler. Hoping that a few more PB are still left in this years garden.   Sunday, August 28 View Page new pb-3.32 pounds off from the 5.75 Domke. I think that maybe I should get my scale checked since everything is measuring light. This one taped 22 inches.   Sunday, August 28 View Page I really like the Wixom Slammer seeds. This is a picture of what I am predicting will be my biggest tomato this year. Measuring 22 inches and still growing.   Sunday, August 28 View Page Higher up on the same Wixom plant I have this awesome mega bloom which hopefully will be going to a fall weigh-off. Thank you wixom for your great crosses.   Sunday, August 28 View Page Today I spent time topping the plants and making the choices for fall weighoffs. I couldnt decide between these two so for now both are still growing. These are from a 3.73 Veitch which was a single blossum from the 6.83 Boudyo.   Friday, September 2 View Page Finally my daughter is willing to be my pumpkin model. This is Persistence at 54dap. Tapes 817 with 36 days to weighoff. She has slowed down with nighttime temps in the 50's but I am stilling hoping to get over 1000.   Friday, September 2 View Page Since qtip started growing 5 pounders I thought I would take over the title of Mr 3 pounder. Next new personal best at 3.36 pounds grown off from the 3.6 English. Still have lots of tomatoes to weigh.   Saturday, September 3 View Page Once again a new personal best tomato. Getting closer to my 4 pound goal. This one was grown off from the wixom slammer. I thought it might have been heavier but after picking it I noticed a big cavity on the right side. It wasnt rotted just an empty space. Still tomatoes yet to weigh.   Saturday, September 3 View Page I spent the day getting my1954 Allis WD45 ready for fall lifting duties. 3 weeks to go for first weigh-off.   Sunday, September 4 View Page Rookie mistake-was trying to measure this one off from the 6.15 Ansems and made a mistake snapping the stem. Quite sure it would have made the next pb.   Saturday, September 10 View Page I am really liking this tomato on the wixom slammer plant. It is at least 7 fused blossums. Weather will be an issue. Not much growing season left.   Saturday, September 10 View Page A grower who lives close to me asked how my pumpkin is doing. It just went over 900 pounds team-pumpkin taped measurement (925 gpc). 28 days left until stillwater. My fingers are crossed that I will get my first 1000 pound official weight.   Sunday, September 18 View Page Today was the first time that I have ever had a pumpkin tape over 1000. Persistence has 20 days left to grow big enough to cover light to chart. No more pictures of her until after stillwater.   Tuesday, September 20 View Page 150 sq ft plant...growth is stalled at 309 ott. Thumping like a rock though. 1714 Lüders x 1912 Carter. Will get official weight Oct 1st if things go to plan. As of now I am not planning on growing this seed next year but considering the genetics of this ugly pumpkin I am thinking that it would have a 25% chance of throwing a big big orange. All winter to think about it.   Saturday, September 24 View Page I went to the weighoff today at Gale Woods Farm. Beautiful site, many friendly growers. Super job of organizing this first year event. Congratulations to Glen and Margaret Martin for their first place finish of 1598 pounds and to Chris Qualley (qtip) for taking second with first official weight of 1481 pounds. Received a suprise gift from Dan Maccoy. Thank you Dan. Next year minnesota might be the most competive state to grow tomatoes in. Glad that the competitors are so nice.   Sunday, September 25 View Page I am thinking about pulling my giant carrot for exhibition vegetable at Nekoosa. It would have been dwarfed by qtip's yesterday.   Sunday, September 25 View Page Or maybe I should pull my large radish. The worse part of growing root vegetables is not knowing what you have.   Sunday, September 25 View Page And when do i find out what is in the long carrot tubes. The only thing i can decide on is soon.   Wednesday, September 28 View Page This is a picture of what I hope will be the parents of my first cross. Both are grown from seed from little tomatoes grown indoors over the summer. 1.01 x .77 (6.83 Fulk delicious x wixom slammer (domingo x big zac). Sorry marv variety identification is going to get very difficult. These plants will not be part of the winter indoor challenge.   Saturday, October 1 View Page 150 sq ft contest-happy with the official weight..704.5   Saturday, October 1 View Page Some of the pumpkins lined up at Nekoosa... can you spot my beauty?   Saturday, October 1 View Page Suprise ! An award for the ugliest pumpkin at Nekoosa. I prefer to think of it as aesthetically challenged.   Sunday, October 2 View Page Right after lifting the Nekoosa pumpkin into the truck the shifter on the Allis stopped shifting. 5 days to figure out the problem and find parts for a 62 year old tractor or there will be no bnot pumpkin at stillwater. Last year at crunch time it was starter. Hopefully I can figure out the problem and set new heaviest personal best pumpkin lift for this tractor.   Friday, October 7 View Page Today was not the way pumpkin loading is suppose to be..No shifter no problem can manually put it into gear. Just a little messy.   Friday, October 7 View Page I didnt have to worry about hitting a pothole. The tractor created its own.   Friday, October 7 View Page Hooked up my truck to pull the tractor and pumpkin out of the garden. This didnt go so well and dropped the pumpkin from about 12 inches. Damage done broke the stem.   Friday, October 7 View Page Looks like my bracket isnt rated for 1000 pounds. At noon it was straight. Next year I have been thinking about growing one that isnt orange trying to get a really big one. After today I might change my mind.   Friday, October 7 View Page Loaded and waiting for the drive to Stillwater tomorrow.   Saturday, October 8 View Page Persistence will now be known as the 1109 Borgers. After the early troubles of this year she lived up to her name. And she even won the HD award at Stillwater. Glad I had faith in this F5? line(Hope I am counting it correctly)   Friday, October 14 View Page One of my breeder tomatoes is looking good at a young age. It is doing better than the other 3. Maybe I have learned something in the past two generations of indoor grow. This plant was started too early for the winter grow challenge. This weekend I will decide on which seeds will be my competition plants.   Saturday, October 15 View Page Started my breeder tomato plants 3 weeks ago. Already have flowering on all four plants. I am thinking for winter competition that I should back off the red spectrum of light on the early seedlings and get a bit more vegetation before flowering.   Sunday, October 16 View Page After soaking all night my first indoor challenge tomato seeds are in dirt. For the first two plants I choose seeds from my summer plants that were growing well but didn't reach their potential due to grower error or weather issues. I will refer to these as the 2.52 Domingo and the 3.71 Big Zac. My choice for starting media is now Happy Frog with the addition of Great White mycorrhizae. Winter growing gives me a chance to support my local grow store. I like using these clear plastic 32 oz cups. They are upside down with lids on and the bottoms cut off. With the clear plastic it is easy to monitor the roots to know when to transplant.   Sunday, October 16 View Page After sprouting i will pick the strongest seedlings and transfer them to these 40 gallon pots. They are under a 600 watt metal halide lamp which can convert to HPS for flowering with the switch of the bulb.   Sunday, October 16 View Page I found a special priced roll of reflective mylar yesterday. After duct taping it to the walls it feels now like my grow room belongs in a science fiction movie. At least I like science fiction.   Monday, October 17 View Page I started two more seeds tonight. The best of the two of them will replace this plant in the breeder program. I want to cross the strongest plant with the strongest plant. Unfortunately my strongest Delicious has a very nice mega forming but I am afraid the wixom slammers wont be ready yet with pollen. I am going to have to ask wixom the secret to getting the timing right.   Friday, October 21 View Page My first try cross-pollination on Delicious plant 2. Hoping for pollen from the wixom slammers. I probably removed too much of the blossom in an effort to keep the cross pure but have all winter to improve my technique.   Wednesday, October 26 View Page Today is the end of the outdoor tomatoes. Picked the final three that haven't been growing for the past three weeks. A Big Zac, a Micheals Portuguese Monster and my seven fused blossom Wixom Slammer. Indoor growing is going good so far..6 for 6 for germination rate. Every few weeks I plan on germinating a new seed to replace whatever plant is lagging behind the rest. The summer grow was succesful in one respect..I now have a few thousand seeds to play with.   Sunday, October 30 View Page The first round of winter tomatoes are up and about ready for transplant. I spent time yesterday adding two 20 amp circuits into the grow room. Now I have 55 amps of dedicated circuits. The extension cords from multiple rooms was probably a fire hazard.   Sunday, October 30 View Page Tomato breeding is not going well. I think The Wixom Slammer and Delicious plants are conspiring to open their blossoms opposite of the other. Have a non-crossed mega growing on each but that isnt the goal.   Monday, October 31 View Page Winter tomato grow experiment. Transplanted 4 seedlings, half under 600 watts of Led lighting and half under 600 watts of metal halide. The seeds are 2 siblings of Domingo and 2 siblings of Big Zac. One sibling under each light bank, led on the left, metal halide on the right. I also started a MegaZac today, thanks wixom. It should be going under a 315 watt ceramic metal halide if I can decide soon if a 3100k bulb or 4200k bulb would be the best. At $450 per light fixture not an easy choice. Happy birthday to myself.   Saturday, November 5 View Page Harvested the seeds from my 1109 Borgers 2016, Stillwater HD award winner. Count was good but I think that many of these seeds will be considered immature. The parent and grandparent of this multi-generation selfed seed both had all white seeds but they were younger. Nearly all the seeds from this generation are bi-colored. After the seeds are dry they should be available in the "The Best of Stillwater Harvestfest 2016" seed package available from the St Croix Growers Association.   Sunday, November 6 View Page Finally pulled my long carrots today. They werent very long, but all multi-headed. Looks like they would be more suited to growing heavy than long. They are the perfect size for storage in my little refrigerater to try for seeds for next year. One of the carrots came out with 2 foot by 6 inch diameter root ball soil intact. About 2 feet of hair roots was broken off. I had an empty 65 gallon pot available downstairs so transplant it was. I wonder how it will respond to having an extra 60 gallons of soil to grow in. A six inch diameter by 4 foot long holds a little less than 6 gallons. My first indoor carrot went to seed in 6 months. Wonder if this one can grow for 18 months.   Saturday, November 12 View Page The winter indoor tomatoes are growing well.This is my best looking plant (big zac under led lighting) about 1 month from seed start. Seeing a megabloom starting to form at the top.   Saturday, November 12 View Page Another entry for the challenge. This is a Wixom Slammer that is being grown under a metal halide light. I had the habit of overwatering in my first attempts at indoor grow. Soilless media that seems really dry to my finger can show high moisture 6 inches down. This winter, the moisture probe is my favorite tool.   Saturday, November 12 View Page This is the baby of the bunch. It is a 6.23 Konieczny Megazac. Thank you Chris. I am trying to do my best with this one. It is being grown in 40 gallons of Ocean Forest. Four bags were mixed together and then a sample was brought to the University of Minnesota for testing. Ocean Forest has a reputation as being a hot media and after seeing the results of the test i can understand why. I added some bat guano 0-10-0 to try to balance the mixture and also added some TeraVita LC-10 plus 7 , which is humic acid with micronutrients. Of concern is that the nitrogen is mainly in the form of NH4 and at a high level. As a precaution, I also did a drench of fungicide. It will be growing under the newest light in my collection-a 315 watt ceramic metal halide 3100k spectrum,sometimes referred to as LEC.   Saturday, November 12 View Page Yes Master P giant carrots are fun to grow. The outdoor carrot that was transplanted from a six inch diameter tube seems to like its new home. I have spent the morning rearranging the pots and lights. I will have two carrots indoors, both in 65 gallon pots. Each will be under a 600 watt metal halide light. I have moved the tomatoes over to LED since same start date tomatoes are throwing mega-blossoms under LED light and the ones under MH light were not. Since i do not want the carrots to flower this seems to be the best match. I am very curious to see how long I can keep this May germinated carrot from going to seed. My second large pot still has a breeder tomato in it but before January I am going to try to set it up for next year utilizing what I learned last year. I am currently considering a multi-depth drip irrigation system with a water chiller for keeping the soil cool.   Sunday, November 13 View Page Two more tomato plants started today. An 8.41 MacCoy and a 5.04 Daho (grown from the 5.85 Boudyo).The last 20 seeds that I have started came up with 100% germination. My procedure is a 12 hour soak in reverse osmosis water, then into these clear cups in this miniature grow tent. My wife was using this tent for her hydroponic experiments until she got a larger one. It is perfect size for seed starting and easy to maintain temperature. It is now lit with a 200 watt LED COB light. Next week I am thinking that I will start a couple more seeds to replace the weakest plants that I have growing now and that will be it for my winter indoor grow lineup.   Monday, November 14 View Page Wow, suprise in the mail today. As i have been told the only grower interested in this seed after the 2014 grow season sent me one from his small stash. I bet a few more growers would have been interested after seeing what it can grow. 484 ott is the biggest by volume pumpkin i have ever seen. And it was orange ! Thank you my friend for sending this. Now I will be tormented for months...in my 2 spots do I plant a 2624 yet to be acquired or the 2096 meier which i have... or the 1385 h/j that I now have or ....   Thursday, November 17 View Page For the good new.. have mega-blossoms forming on 5 of my winter tomato plants with 3 plants still too young.   Thursday, November 17 View Page The bad news..every indoor grow cycle I have the problem in the picture. This has happened in a wide variety of grow media. I give my plants a systemic pesticide and fungicide. I have spent hours searching the net to determine the cause. For this round I am going to hypothesize that the plant is suffering from intumesence. LED grow lights state they have UV light but lower limit is about 380nm. This is barely getting into UV-A range. I have purchased a single bulb 2 foot t-5 24 watt fixture and placed a UV spectrum only bulb in it. It will emit the UV-B spectrum between 280-315 nm. I will be observing how this light affects the plant and make a determination if to add a uv only light to the rest of the plants.   Saturday, November 19 View Page Indoor 6.23 Megazac. It looks like i am behind you Westham by about a week. No major issues with this plant but I haven't usually had many problems at this stage of growth. Watching for sign of ribbon vine but so far nothing is catching my eye.   Sunday, November 20 View Page The plants under my test uv-b light appear to be improving. This 3.77 wixom slammer is showing severe intumescence. It has a nice mega forming on it but the leaves are fading faster then they are growing. It will be a week before more uv-b bulbs arrive so this plant will become a test subject. I am wondering about the correlation between lack of uv-b light and vitamin d. As an experiment i am going to foliar spray this plant with diluted vitamin d. The dosage for infants says one drop per day. Wonder what the proper dosage for a tomato plant is? Hmmm, I will try one bottle (15 ml) mixed in one pint of water. If the plants dies tomorrow I will know that is too much.   Sunday, November 20 View Page One of my breeder plants that is showing the advances stages. I sprayed this one too...nothing to lose here.   Sunday, November 20 View Page I am getting somewhat excited..already the two plants I sprayed earlier are showing improvement. So I sprayed a single leaf from another plant twenty minutes before this picture. I should have taken a before picture. In twenty minutes the protrusions have gone flat, the whole leaf has gotten a darker green. It still shows the discoloration of where the bumps were but I did not expect this quick of a change.   Sunday, November 20 View Page 1/2 hour later..change is slowing. The tip has regained some its green color and and many of the discoloration spots have gotten a little smaller. I will be interested to see what it looks like tomorrow.   Monday, November 21 View Page One day later...the leaf did not make a full recovery but it's decline was slowed by the application of Vitamin D3. D3 is fat soluble so now I have residual oil on the leaves, not an ideal situation. For the rest of the winter grow I believe I will be relying on the addition of UV-B light. After this I might start a few tomatoes and induce intumescence. Then the plan would be to test the effects of a foliar Vitamin D2 application. Vitamin D2 is water soluble.   Monday, November 21 View Page First of my winter challenge blossoms is starting to open. It is grown from my 3.71 uow from this summer. The 3.71 was grown from a 6.15 Ansems. This would have been my pb tomato by far without grower error. I snapped it from the vine while measuring when it was still gaining about 1/4 inch per day. It is outperforming the other plants I currently have growing now. I like the size of the first truss blossom with a slight doubled ribbon going into it. Vegibee action now for the next few days...have to get this one to set.   Wednesday, November 23 View Page i received my new UV-b meter today. I was going to test the various grow lights i have and report the results here. It was an easy test...basically they all output about zero. I tested LED, metal halide, t5 fluorescent. About the only light that i could get a reading better than one was the ceramic metal halide at about 3 inches from the bulb..it was 5 uW/cm2 there. Not usable at that distance, it would cook the plant. In comparison my agromax t5 24 watt ho uv only spectrum bulb shows about 500 uW/cm2 at 12 inches. This is the uv-b level in miami at noon in july. On Friday,8 more of these bulbs will be delivered. Have to wait until Monday for the fixtures to arrive. When all the pieces get here my plan is to adjust the height of the uv lights to give 200 uW/cm2 to the plants at canopy level. I will then adjust the timers to slowly get them used to the UV. I figure it is something like hardening the plants in preparation for spring outdoor transplant. From that point on will be adjusting intensity and time of light based on plant observation. It will be a learning experience to find the optimum balance.   Wednesday, November 23 View Page Tough question Wixom...Minnesota gets 15 hours and 38 minutes at summer solstice. Since I have plants always in different stages of growth i cant vary day length. I have settled on day length a few weeks before summer solstice... 15 hours per day. I use this meter to adjust the height of the lights for intensity. It measures PAR in uMols m-2 s-1. Using this meter and the formula DLI=PAR x hours of light x 3600 / 1,000,000 I can set the level that the plant is exposed to per day. Right now I am running between DLI numbers of 30 to 48. Still tweaking and still learning. Progress is being made though.   Wednesday, November 23 View Page I really want to get a set on this blossom. So far vegibeeing has shown only a few granules of pollen dropping. I do not have any other blossoms open to boost pollination. This might be my biggest indoor bloom yet.   Thursday, November 24 View Page I am questioning if physiological leaf roll is a good thing "slammer syndrome" or something we can improve on. Today with hourly misting the leaves are unrolling. Do I connect a timed misting system to the plants or not?   Friday, November 25 View Page Another mega is opening on my winter tomatoes. This is a Domingo grown from my 2.52 that was picked early for the Gale Woods weighoff. It is from the line 4.65 Thurber 2014...4.55 Wahl 2012...I am expecting this tomato to set. Vibrating the blossum is dropping much pollen. This plant is under the strongest light of my indoor plants now. It is about 24 inches under a 300 watt LED plus it is getting light from the adjacent metal halide. PAR reading at the top is showing about 1050 uMols which calculates to a DLI of about 56. This is about the daily light equivalent of California in July   Friday, November 25 View Page I started some more seeds today. Have soaking some 3.32 seeds from a summer plant. This was grown off from the 5.75 Domke. These were my first giant tomato seeds that Caton sent to me about a year ago for the winter challenge. Thanks Caton, look at what you got me into. After the 3.32 germinates I am going to replace a domingo that has had single blossoms now for 3 trusses. Still time left for me to aim for 1st truss mega-blossoms. The picture is the 3.77 Wixom Slammer. This was the plant that was suffering from intumescence. The application of Vitamin D3 has halted the symptoms but I lost a 1st level mega in the process. Starting more 3.77 seeds to replace this plant. They will have UV-B light to grow under.   Friday, November 25 View Page I think application of Vitamin D for indoor plants needs more investigation. This is the test leaf sprayed 5 days ago. My past experience was that by this time this leaf untreated would be 1/2 brown to completely gone. My breeder plant that was almost foliage dead is starting to form new leaves. Anyone have a research lab available for me to experiment?   Friday, November 25 View Page This is the new growth i was referring to in the last post. This new growth is showing up on nearly all the vines. If this plant goes from being nearly defoliated to green again I will be totally suprised. The rate of growth of the fruit has also increased in the past 5 days.   Saturday, November 26 View Page Weekly update on the 6.23 Megazac-The plant appears to be growing fine. No major issues but some of the lower leaves are showing some dryness. The first flower is forming. With close inspection with my magnifying glass I can tell it is going to be a mega. The vine feeding the flower is getting bigger. In the next week will know if the ribbon to the flower is genetic. The light for this plant is set for a PAR reading of 800 uMols 15 hours per day for a DLI number of 43. Its color spectrum is slightly tilted towards red. It is also now under UV-B light at a rate of 50 uW/cm2 for 8 hours per day. Temperature is set at 88 degrees during the day and 72 at night. My relative humidity is still low even though I have a humidifier running 24 hours per day. It is 40-45 day and climbs to about 60 at night. CO2 meter shows this plant is in about 1100-1200 ppm. I would like that to be slightly higher but would have to enclose the room to bring it up. Still searching for things that can be changed to grow bigger.   Sunday, November 27 View Page I will be really suprised if this blossom set. It is on my 3.71. Great size but very little to no pollen. Will know in a few days if it is going to get bigger.   Sunday, November 27 View Page My 1109 seeds finally were dry and packaged up this weekend. I had enough to send to those of you who had requested them. I saved 5 seeds for myself. First time I have ever tried printing labels. I think they came out acceptable. What you see is the pile of discards. I rejected about 2/3 rds of the seeds. Unfortunately the seeds were not as mature as I would have prefered. The ones that I put into envelopes I think will sprout. The seed that this plant grew from was even more immature at 45 days.   Wednesday, November 30 View Page Indoor growing area soon to look bare again. I have 9 new sprouts going to replace the non-performers. Of the first 6 planted for the winter challenge have a mega set on the domingo.. and the 6.23 has a mega just about to open. I am keeping these two. I lost the mega on the wixom slammer and I think that the really big blosson on my 3.71 didnt set because of pollen issues. These plants will be replaced with the same seed. I have singles set on two more plants but for competitve growing a single doesnt make the cut. No reason to grow them out. Indoors I cant wait for nipple high sets. My rule...mega first truss or the plant gets replaced. Added 4 fifteen gallon pots to the grow room. Now I will have 12 tomatoes growing at one time and two carrots. With three grow cycles per year for the tomatoes should be able to ideally weigh as many as 36 plants per year.   Thursday, December 1 View Page My current indoor tomato leader. This set on a domingo plant is going to grow out ugly. All new growth terminated but still have another mega left on this plant that hasnt opened yet. The seeds from this plant will probably see another generation. Have to like a plant that throws mega on each group of blossoms.   Friday, December 2 View Page All winter tomato plants are now sprouted. I removed two larger plants to make room for the sprouts. A year ago..I was getting 30% germination...now i am at 35 out 35 seeds started. That problem solved. Next problem was intumescence. I now have 10 uv-b lights hung over all the plants. No sign of intumescence. Problem solved but still needs to be tweaked for optimum uW per plant. Final lineup for winter challenge... 5 big zac, 2 delicious, 2 wixom slammer, 1 domingo, 1 megazac and 1 megadom... looking to have all blossoms set by jan 1. I am going to extreme but all you other winter growers lets see your progress. The more we share the quicker we get to the big weights.   Friday, December 2 View Page A former outdoor tomato grower emailed me asking how we pollinate the indoor plants. I thought it was a good question so this is a picture how i do it. I use a device meant just for pollination. It is called a vegibee. It vibrates a bit faster than an electric toothbrush similar to frequency of a bees wings. When the flower opens i vibrate the blossom on it's side for about 4 seconds three time per day. I place a spoon under the blossom to see how much pollen is dropping. If it drops a lot, i will sometimes attempt to manually add pollen to the stigma of the flower. How do you electric toothbrush users do it?   Saturday, December 3 View Page 6.23 Megazac weekly update. Blossom is getting bigger. I don't need a magnifying glass to see it now. Sometime in the next week it should be opening. As you can see the stem ribboned just before the blossom. I was unsure how to prune but decided to remove one vine. Wish it was a ribbon direct to the flower like the mother had. I think mega blossoms with ribbon vines might be the next step up in giant tomatoes.   Saturday, December 3 View Page Another picture of the 6.23 for the weekly update. The plant is now about 15 inches tall. If the mega sets the tomato will be grown on a plant under 24 inches.   Sunday, December 4 View Page And the winter grow troubles continue. This mega on my Domingo is going down to blossom end rot. Just when I had thought that I had this issue under control it reappears. The pregrow media test showed high calcium levels. I am thinking the problem was lack of uv-b light until a few days ago. So the plant produced no vitamin D for regulation of calcium. Did a drench of cal-mg just in case. It is not a complete loss. I was expecting to cull this tomato anyway. I have a much bigger blossom that should be opening next week.   Sunday, December 4 View Page I started to thin my final winter plants today. I wasn't looking very carefully, just pulling the smallest. After pulling this one,I noticed something different, it looks like it has two roots from one seed. Quick back into another cup it went. Even under my magnifying glass it looks like one seed. Hope I didnt kill it by yanking it out of the ground. I want to see what it looks like after the seed coat comes off. Last summer Qtip's secret weapon was the double stem double root ...maybe this winter my secret weapon will be the double root single stem. I remember the simple math...2 x weight = big ;)   Monday, December 5 View Page I am getting excited about this blossom on my domingo plant. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Not only is it wide but it is equally thick. Way bigger than the one on my 6.23 megazac. Both blossoms should be opening close to the same time. This plant is from the 4.55 Wahl lineage. Hope to have good pollen in both blossoms. Either one could blow away my pb indoor weight. Will be about 3 weeks until I have more mega's to watch. Glad I grow indoors in the winter..spring is too far away.   Wednesday, December 7 View Page 6.23 mid-week update- The flower has opened. Bad news it is dropping little to no pollen. With the distance the stigma is protuding I didn't feel that there was much of a chance of getting a set. Going with plan B. My big blossom on the Domingo plant is dropping lots of pollen. I collected some on my spoon and added to the megazac. If this blossom sets some seeds might be a combination of the big three- Delicious, Big Zac and Domingo. Sorry Marv.   Wednesday, December 7 View Page My plants have had about a week of UV-B light. I am thinking that have been giving them too much exposure. The closest leaves to the lights have been under 200 uWatts/cm2 for 8 hours per day. I am noticing now those leaves that are the closest are getting a glossy shine on them and are getting brittle. I am going to back off to 4 hours per day and adjust from there.   Saturday, December 10 View Page I was going to post the weekly update on the 6.23 but not much to report. The first blossom I have my doubts about. Only about 25% chance of having a set on it. I have another at the next truss that is about to open. 200 uWatts/cm2 is too much. I have cooked alot of leaves. Dropped it to 100 uWatts for 4 hours per day for the 6.23 and the rest of the plants. I am still a believer in the benefit of uv-b light but have to work out the right dosage. Haven't found out much info on the internet other than weed growers that use uv-b in the final 3 weeks of their grow. This is a picture of my carrot that was started in May. I have trimmed most of the summer growth from it. What you see is the new growth since the end of Oct. I am being very conservative with it. If It can go until weighoff next fall it will be a 17 month old carrot. World record long carrot was grown for 14 months so I think 17 might be possible. I have ordered a replacement light for the 600 watt metal halide it is currently under. It will be a 4200 k ceramic metal halide at 315 watts. The new light will put out a better spectrum at more intensity and less heat output. The new light is not cheap though ..$470 per light. It will take 2 years for the new light to pay for itself in electric costs. Three more weeks to get my second carrot pot ready. Stay tuned...soil chiller and multi-level irrigation on the radar.   Tuesday, December 13 View Page Another winter tomato that I didn't catch the blossom end rot in time. I have had success of saving the fruit if I spray the plant with rot-stop at first sign. Now instead of Rot-Stop I am mixing calcium chloride to the same tds. A one pound bag cost me about $5. This plant was new growth terminated so i am pulling it. In the next few weeks intend to get the soil analyzed to try to figure out what the problem is. This pot will be removed from active grow area. Need to make room for some hydropronic experimentation.   Wednesday, December 14 View Page 6.23 Megazac..to my suprise it is starting to look like this blossom set. If I get seeds out of it , they will be really mutts. This blossom was 80% pollinated with the Domingo plant growing now. That Domingo was grown last summer and was open pollinated. Watching the vines on the indoor Domingo I am noticing it has the vine characteristics of the Michaels Portuguese Monster that was the plant right next to it last summer. It is possible that seeds from this little fruit could be a cross of MegaZac(megamarv(?x?)x bigzac) x Oops(Domingo x Michaels Portuguese Monster). If I get seeds I will have to plant a few just to see what it can grow.   Wednesday, December 14 View Page 2nd blossom set on my Domingo. This has to be one of the most deformed tomato sets i have grown. I have another set lower that is about 11 inch cc already so unless this one does something amazing in the next week or so it will be culled.   Saturday, December 17 View Page I have started the grow room rearrangement. This will introduce recirculating deep water culture hydroponics. Initially I am planning on starting with 3 plants and a master bucket. As the winter tomatoes mature I will move the 40 gallon soil pots outside for the summer grow. Then will add more RDWC plants as space becomes available. The chiller will be used to cool the hydroponic reservoir but also the nutrient solution will be pumped thru 100 feet of stainless tubing wrapped around the inside of the 65 gallon carrot pot to cool it.My goal for next winter is to move beyond hydroponics to high pressure aeroponics. One year of soil indoors, one year of hydroponics and then to advanced techniques. For those of you that requested carrot seeds I have sent a package with all the permits and labels needed to ease the seeds into the usa. As soon as I receive them will send them out to you.   Sunday, December 18 View Page Have the first of the DIY hydroponic buckets connected. Spent some time this morning trying to decide what seeds to put in them. I have 3 buckets and I also have seeds from 3 different Wixom Slammer plants. They are the 4.8 Konieczny, the 4.24 Spaziani, and 3.77 Borgers. It is going to be the Wixom Slammer showdown. Same environment, same nutrients. I think it will be interesting to compare growth characteristics.   Thursday, December 22 View Page Wixom slammer showdown...the winner of the germination race goes to the 4.80 Konieczny. Both seeds started sprouted before either of three 4.24 Spaziani or the three 3.77 Borgers. If i get 2 sprouts of each seed i might add another group of hydroponic pots which will be coconut husks in 4 inch net pots. Have ordered beer wort chiller coils to add to the master reservoirs. Fortunately have the next four days off to work on the systems.   Friday, December 23 View Page More grow room rearrangement. Moved a 55 gallon drum into the corner that holds reverse osmosis water. The chiller next to it will maintain its temp at 62 degrees. Two pumps will be installed in this tank. One to cool the hydroponic tomato plants reservoirs utilizing beer wort chiller coils. And one to cool the carrot using 100 ft of 1/2 inch stainless tubing.I am contemplating attempting a carrot hydroponically to be grown in 65 gallons of coco with a 40 gallon nutrient reservoir. Have a little over a month to set up the system but already have most of the components. I had 100 % germination rate on the 3 different wixom slammer seeds so needed more hydro tomato pots.Only going to grow 6 of them. All hydroponic...3 in clay pebbles and 3 in coco. One year ago...indoors I had one tomato in a 5 gallon bucket under one 150 watt LED light. I am starting to like indoor growing more than outdoor. Wonder if my wife will agree with growing a pumpkin in the family room?   Friday, December 23 View Page Upstairs in a 28 inch by 28 inch grow tent the 3.71 Borgers is throwing a mega only 4 inches above ground level. It was transplanted from a one gallon pot to a 15 gallon just one day ago. It is being grown under a 200 watt 8 bulb t-5 6200k flourescent. This might set my record for quickest tomato.   Saturday, December 24 View Page This will be probably my first winter challenge entry. At about 13 inches gaining about 1/4 inch per day. Wont be big and it is going to be really ugly but it is a start. I will second qtip's suggestion to support the umgpg silent auction. Minnesota growers better get your tomato seed genetics now.. i have heard rumours of big payout for tomatoes at Gale Woods Farm.   Monday, December 26 View Page Another winter tomato plant to be pulled. Need to make room to start setting up a hydroponic carrot pot. Going away is the 5.04 Daho. It has put out two trusses of small single blossoms. If it was outside I would let it grow but I now need the space. All that I have left for the winter challenge is 4 plants in 40 gallon pots, 5 plants in 15 gallon pots(breeder plants so wont be big) and 7 plants just started hydroponically (probably not enough time to be contenders). Any one that still has a plant growing has a chance at winning.   Monday, December 26 View Page Wixom slammer showdown.. The 4.80 Konieczny won the germination race but not by much...one day. The winner of the most interesting seedling goes to 4.24 Spaziani...it has 3 cot leaves.   Monday, December 26 View Page The success of the 6.23/6.13 has gotten me really interested in genetics that can throw both megablossoms and ribbon vines. I have had more ribbons this winter than ever before. This is top from my 3.32 Borgers grown from the 5.75 Domke. It is a ribbon of at least 7 sections. In the middle of this is more than one mega. Ideally I would like about a one inch ribbon to feed a big mega. The challenge is to figure out the proper pruning down for maximum growth. So far I haven't gotten it right yet. As long as I can keep getting seeds from these ribbon mega's i can work on finding the right technique.   Monday, December 26 View Page 6.23 Konieczny update. I have this frankenstein set and growing. It is about 10 inches right now. Sorry Chris I cooked the plant trying to find out the right dosage of uv-b light. There isn't any chance of growing to it's potential. The amount of uv-b light that I settled on was 100 uWatts at canopy level for 2 hours per day. I originally started at 200 uWatts for 10 hours per day. At the lower level I am not seeing any sign of intumescence and the leaves seem not to be showing adverse effects on my younger plants. I have another mega higher up on this plant that also has a ribbon vine to it. Will probably stick with the frankenstein just because i would like grow out it's seeds.   Tuesday, December 27 View Page This is my secret hope (not so much secret anymore) for the winter challenge. There are at least 6 blossoms coming off this ribbon. I keep looking at it under magnification but am still not sure what I have. The seed is the 8.41 MaCoy. Thanks Dan again for your generosity at Gale Woods. I debated trying one for indoor grow but I am glad I did. See you in October with hopefully some really big maters.   Tuesday, December 27 View Page Not the best way to build a hydroponic system...parts arriving while already having plants growing but have to do it whatever you can. The beer wort coils arrived today. This will allow for a mid 60's reservoir temp for maximum dissolved oxygen content. I swapped the clay pellets for all coco. I am now spending a few hours per day taking nutrient solution measurements and reading about optimum levels. I admit..i am obsessive. By next winter I think I will be all hydro- aeroponic.   Wednesday, December 28 View Page The system keeps getting more complicated. Have 3 additional pumps ordered. Hoping they arrive before this next 4 day weekend. I have noticed some growers from Europe have been using EC instead of TDS. When trying to convert the numbers, I found out that the standard that USA growers use,TDS,is meter dependent based on which conversion factor the meter uses. To avoid confusion I am going to adopt the European EC. One week from germination the hydro tomatoes still look healthy. The are currently being fed nutrient solution at .74 EC. This weekend will slowly start to raise the levels. Have started charting to track levels of not only NPK but also all the minors. Soon I will be looking for a lab that will test nutrient solution for a reasonable price. It would be educational to test the nutrient solution at the start and after 2 weeks to see what the plants are actually consuming.   Saturday, December 31 View Page Many of the indoor growers have sent me pictures of problems their plants are having. I think the biggest issue is light intensity. This diary entry and the next will show some of the result of different light levels. Both tomatoes were planted at the same time. Both in 15 gallon pots with similar nutrient schedule. The tomato in this picture is growing under a mid-quality 300 watt LED. Measuring with my PAR meter the maximum amount of light that I could give this plant is 2000 uMols. Currently it is set at 600 uMols.   Saturday, December 31 View Page In comparison this tomato is being grown under a 200 watt T-5 ho light. Measuring again with the PAR meter the maximum intensity available is 350 uMols. I have it set it at the height above canopy for maximum. The leaves of this plant do not have the same dark green as the other. The internodal length length is much longer and total leaf mass is less. Soon will have an idea of how it effects the most important quality..fruit weight. Both plants are forming a first truss mega at the same time.