Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 327 Entries. Monday, January 1 View Page My 4.38 is not looking promising. After sitting hours in an empty bucket, I am sure the roots are 1/2 dead. Trying the last resort this morning. Due to the fact that the root structure is so compromised, I am thinking that it can not support both full foliage and the fruit. I have trimmed the plant down about half already. Hoping for some good new growth to cut another clone or two.   Monday, January 1 View Page Today is the day. Happy New Year! Soaking my final start for the winter competition. Been trying to decide over the past few weeks what will be the final seeds to start. Originally, I was going to go with a Porkchop 8.22-Qtip 7.07 grow off. After clogged return lines that crashed the system, I am going to keep reservoirs separate from now on. Due to lack of chillers, going to go with only one bucket for the final start. Final decision for final seed for this years competition 8.41 MacCoy. Backup, in case this seed doesn't germinate, offspring of the 6.88 MacCoy and the 4.57 MacCoy. Also started more 4.38 seeds, just in case..Doesnt my seed starter block look so cute...it is 3/8"x3/8"x1/2".   Tuesday, January 2 View Page Final winter starts are cozy in their custom germination chamber. These are the smallest starting cubes I have ever tried. I think that only two will be grown to the end. Here is my planned timeline. Seeds soaked Jan 1. Hope to see roots or cots by Jan 6. Jan 20th give the plants flowering nutrient solution + add some extra red light spectrum, Jan 25th hope to see first blossom formation, Feb 3rd pollination date...and then 45 days of fruit growing for a competitive entry. It will be fun to see how close I can get.   Tuesday, January 2 View Page I pulled my super mega 4.38 today. I might have been able to save the plant but there was no chance of saving the set. I cut 3 more sections to get clones. This is in addition to the clone that I already have in soil. I expect to get seeds from these and then I can try to duplicate the conditions that the super mega formed in. Some things may or may not have contributed...did the foaming azatrol have an effect?   Saturday, January 6 View Page I have a baby on the aeroponic plant. It only has to grow to 1/2 pound for my goal for first aeroponic try to be met. 60% chance for success now.   Saturday, January 6 View Page I have exchanged emails with Dan S. It appears that we are very close in size for the first tomatoes. This is my biggest right now. It is measuring about 13 inches at 17 DAP. I see some air gaps so it will probably go light..but mine always go light. Hoping can get many more days of growth but I think my grow room is too hot to expect it.   Saturday, January 6 View Page My final winter starts are right on schedule. I have visible roots. Now, need to get those roots deep into the hydro bucket.   Sunday, January 7 View Page Aeroponic roots. I am getting better at determining the moisture level of the roots. Waiting for leaf flagging seems too late. In the past week have started misting longer and more often. Current timing-3 seconds on, 2 1/2 minutes off. Even though the root chamber is running 85 degrees during the day I am not seeing any signs of root disease. Before next winter, I intend to find a used thermoelectric wine cooler and utilize its parts for the aero tank.   Sunday, January 7 View Page Aeroponic leaves. I think that earlier in the plant growth that I should have boosted N a bit more. I have many leaves but they are all small. Too late now..will be running a fruiting solution for the rest of the grow. I am satisfied with the current strength. Getting just a bit of leaf curl up on the lower leaves, new growth just barely deformed. This may not be the right level, but at least I am at the level I am aiming for. Maybe next year can do some side by side testing to find a more exact level.   Sunday, January 7 View Page Late winter starts. 7/8 seeds sprouted. My number one choice was the one that didn't grow.Unless something changes in the next week, I will be going with the two fastest seedlings. They are the 3.48 grown from the 4.57 MacCoy and another 4.38. The other 5 seedlings will go into 5 gallon buckets for experimentation. Now to think of something fun to try...   Monday, January 8 View Page Something is wrong. Everbody that has posted a picture of their winter grow has plants that look healthier than my plant. At least my set is still getting bigger. I have decided that a megamutt D can handle a lot stronger solution than a big zac. Currently running an NPK ratio of 1-1.5-3 at an EC of 4.5 (2250 ppm with my 50% EC meter) Wish i would have pushed it harder at the beginning. The fruit is gaining 1/2 inch cc per day. It is at 14 inches 19 DAP. I figure that I need about two more weeks of this growth rate to make Dan S sweat. So far there has been only one person that has grown over 3 pounds indoors. I am hoping to be the second.   Monday, January 8 View Page I am going to be pulling this plant. It is at 11 inches at 19 DAP. I need to free up some lights and space for starting onions and carrots. After I pull this one, I will have left for the winter grow- My biggest in hydro, four plants with a few days old set: one in hydro, one in aeroponic, and two in soil. And finally two one week old seedlings in hydro. Total of seven chances left for this season. I still may end up at zero by the first day of spring.   Tuesday, January 9 View Page Keeping a close eye on the late winter starts. This is one of the more difficult times I find with DWC hydroponics. It takes time for the root system to develop. I am keeping the water level about 1/2 inch below the tip of the longest root. This root and the bottom of the net pots are still getting enough splash to cause a bit of purpling on the bottom of the cot leaves. As the roots grow, I can keep lowering the water level until the net pots are dry. This will eliminate the overwatering- lack of oxygen symptoms. My little rock wool cubes must still be holding too much moisture. About a day after net pots are dry will have root tip touchdown in solution then it is off to the races. I am adjusting only for the top two seedlings. The remaining slower ones probably wont survive. Next weekend..the top two will be in their own buckets with a separate chiller for each. I still think I can have a competitive entry with the January 1st start. This week is just to get them established and deep rooted. Next week, the foliage growth will determine a lot.   Wednesday, January 10 View Page Since Wixom Chris showed the biggest tomato of 2014/2015, I thought growers might be interested to see the biggest of the next two years. First in 2015/2016 was this monster grown by Dan Sutherland that weighed 3.69 pounds. This is the current winter record for the BP challenge. Dan followed this great success in the winter by growing the world record tomato the next summer. Did the knowledge gained from winter experience help him the next summer...I hope so.   Wednesday, January 10 View Page Last year Dan took the winter off. It gave me a chance in the competition. I made improvement from 2015/2016 to 2016/2017. Tripled my weight to come in at 2.51 pounds which was sufficient for first in the competition. This year I am expecting to see some good numbers from many growers. At this point in the competition I am seeing more growers with sets than ever before. I don't think it will be long before it takes 4+ pounds to win.   Saturday, January 13 View Page My budget for auction seed acquisition is spent.The addition of three new water chillers is worth more to me than a 2145. I have had return line crashes two years in a row now. Never again. Individual buckets, individual chillers...each plant getting a nutrient solution based on the observation of that plant..not the group. My top two Jan 1st starts have touched down in nutrient solution. Two weeks left for me to bring them to first blossom formation. I think I am about 3 days behind schedule but the next week will be important. Nutrient solution is mixed to about 2.2 EC with an n-p-k ratio of 3-2-4. The new seedlings are under 3100k CMH light at an intensity of 700 uMols PAR. The lights are on 16 hours per day. This intensity/timing calculates out to a Daily Light Integral of 40 which is the equivalent of Minnesota sunshine in May-June. Nutrient height has been dropped..net pots should be dry in about 1-2 days. The other 5 Jan 1st starts have been moved to an unchilled bucket. Still deciding on what learning experiment they will be subjected to.   Sunday, January 14 View Page The last of my indoor soil tomatoes, two with sets (a double and a triple) and a clone from this winters lost super mega 4.38. Next winter I am planning on being all hydroponic-aeroponic. I think a grower has more control (easier to mess up?) of nutrient levels in hydro. This season is not done yet and I am already getting excited about next season.   Sunday, January 14 View Page The forgotten 5. The slowest growers of the late starts have ended up here. If my grow room was cooler these plants would be quite content. As it is,with my grow room at 85 degrees with high intensity light shining on black buckets the roots will be in about 90 degree solution. This causes two problems. Warm water holds less dissolved oxygen than cool water. To correct for this condition I am trying twin air stones bubbling at a rate of 4 liters air per gallon of solution per minute.The second problem is root disease can thrive at these temps. I have added Hydroguard (Bacillus amyloliquefaciens) at about double strength to combat this. If any of these plants survive my experimentations for the next 3 weeks, I should have a chilled bucket become available.   Monday, January 15 View Page 26 DAP. Tomato growth is slowing quickly. Plant looks terrible. At the rate things are going downhill on this one I am thinking it will not reach 2 pounds. Not much to lose..I threw away the cannabis flowering formula. Did a half reservoir change with my new ratios. If it gets better I am on the right track. If it gets worse will have to come up with another try. Glad I still have many more plants to go.   Monday, January 15 View Page This is going to become my new best hope for the winter competition. It is measuring 9 inches 7 DAP. I have it in a much weaker hydro solution. Foliage is still looking good. New growth does not look optimum. I am thinking that I need to drop the P a bit. Mixing nutrients from different companies has given me better ability to tweak ratio's but all of them push P really hard. I don't know for sure but I am theorizing that in the blossom formation stage excess P can cause ribbons and super megas. After formation I am thinking high K and Ca is needed. My theories might be all wrong but give me another 5 years..i will get it more exact. If I had a few hundred plants to work with progress would be faster.   Wednesday, January 17 View Page I have many blossoms forming on my funny looking tomato plant. Variety- giant bell pepper. I don't know what is wrong..none of these appear to be megablossoms. How am I to choose which fruit to keep. I am guessing the outside green spikes are similar to tomato sepals. Most have 6 but one has 7. Maybe that will be the chosen one of the eight blossoms that are forming. It is somewhat fun just to grow a plant without researching. Whatever I get will be my PB.   Thursday, January 18 View Page It is getting bigger. 10 DAP measures 11 inches cc. It missed wixom's 10 day 6 pound benchmark by 1 inch. Since I am hoping to only break 3 pounds I am happy. It is in a difficult area to measure but I have done some careful rearrangement of branches to give the fruit a clear spot to grow bigger. This plant is growing from my .87 seed which was harvested from an indoor clone off from a plant grown from an 8.61 seed. The .87 in hydro is in first, the .87 in aeroponics is a close second, the .87 in soil is set but not growing nearly as fast. Now my challenge will be to resist the urge to over feed.   Friday, January 19 View Page I discovered last night that my favorite was showing signs of BER on its hidden side. I sprayed the plant with calcium chloride and this afternoon it looks like the BER might be drying up. It is at 12 inches 12 DAP now. I have started to research abscisic acid ABA as a possible preventative. BER occurs much too often in my indoor grows. It is happening even though the Ca in the hydro solution is really high. Just in case, this picture is of my new second favorite, it is not an .87. This Wixom Slammer F4 is in soil, today is 7 DAP and it measures 8 inches. Will a soil tomato be biggest in my indoor garden again this year?   Friday, January 19 View Page New Years Day germinations are starting to pick up. I think that I am still behind schedule by about 3-4 days. Roots are well immersed in solution, net pots are dry. Will have to see how quickly the plants gain height. Usually i start to see first sign of blossoms at 6-7 inches of plant height. I am still planning on switching towards a flowering nutrient ratio on sunday. If first blossoms start to form by next weekend there still will be time to get a good entry by the first day of spring.   Friday, January 19 View Page Austin, I like the way you showed the new sets with a quarter. This is what 8 inches cc looks like.   Sunday, January 21 View Page My back up late winter starts have established roots in the lowered hydro solution. Net pots dry. I am going to have to split them up to individual buckets in the next few days or the roots will be so entangled that it won't be possible. I have a few special plans for some of them.   Sunday, January 21 View Page To make room for enough hydro buckets another plant has to go. This is the slowest growing set that I have. It is at about 9 inches day 10. Looking at plant health and growth rate I am thinking it would probably finish at just over a pound. The new starts have more potential so bye-bye soil .87. Remaining for this years competition, 4 plants with sets and 7 plants that were started Jan 1st. Hope I am right about being able to grow a competitive tomato in 80 days.   Sunday, January 21 View Page The aeroponic plant. At about day 7 DAP it started to show signs of blossom end rot. I sprayed the plant with calcium chloride and the BER is now dried up. You can see the scars on the bottom of the tomato. This tomato will grow rather flat due to the damage at the blossom end. Also the heavy foliar Ca spray hurts leaf quality. It measures 13 inches at 15 DAP. I am sure I will reach my goal of 1/2 pound for first try aeroponic, but probably not much more. Next year I think I can do better.   Sunday, January 21 View Page My hydro .87 is responding to the BER treatment. Starting to dry and scab. It was my fastest grower but BER really slows it down. It is now measuring 12.5 inches 13 DAP. Will be doing a preventative experiment on a few of my late starts.   Sunday, January 21 View Page I know that many growers will be trying giant bell peppers for the first time next summer. You will probably have the same questions I have now. Best pruning method is is my question for today. It looks difficult to terminate all new growth. The main forked in the middle and every node above that is also forked. It also forms suckers. Maybe time for some internet searching...   Monday, January 22 View Page Backup late winter starts are all in there own bucket. Looks like they are about 3 days behind the chilled bucket late starts. This makes them about a week behind planned schedule. 45-7=38 days of tomato growth after pollination. Still a possibility to be competitive. I put them in a 1-1-1.5 solution at 3.0 EC. In about 2 inches I am going to try a nutrient blast on two plants. After that will probably be down to three backups.   Monday, January 22 View Page OK Dan, you are going beat me with the first tomatoes of the season. 33 DAP I am starting to see a bit of pink, Iphone doesnt show it very well.Measuring 17.5 inches. I have probably less than a week to go. Dan, post the weight of your 18+ incher after you pick it. I might pull this one a few days early to move a late start to a chilled reservoir. Season is still young.   Tuesday, January 23 View Page This is the clone from my lost 4.38 super mega plant. It has been the slowest clone I have ever had to get established. I would have pulled the plant but I want seeds. This plant is still showing it's unique characteristics. The new clone growth came out in a ribbon. Looks like 4 or 5 joined. I am not sure how this will straighten out to get a tomato set. Will be feeding this plant very little. Just need a 1/4 pound tomato with seeds.   Tuesday, January 23 View Page I picked the first winter entry today. I probably could have let it grow a few more days but I want its bucket for the late starts. It might have gained another .1 pound but not enough to make a difference. This seed was started Nov 16th, pollinated on Dec 20th and picked today. Total of 68 days seed to harvest. Pollination was right in the middle...exactly at 34 days. The number to beat to take over 1st place is 1.67 pounds. It will be a few weeks before I have another to weigh.   Wednesday, January 24 View Page Jan 1st start- I see the first blossom one day earlier than my planned date. See my diary entry from Jan 2nd. Good to be back on schedule. Next plan date to reach-Feb 3rd pollination.   Wednesday, January 24 View Page I might have a difficult decision to make in a few days. My aeroponic plant has a 14.5 inch 18 DAP tomato on.. yes :) goal achieved ..over 1/2 pound. I have this little mega just opening. Looking at the stigmas..they are in a 3/4 inch line with two 1/8 inch perpendicular attached stigmas, one up and one down. I am guessing this will turn out to be at least five fused. If this blossom sets (right now this blossom and another are not dropping enough pollen to guarantee a full set) should I stick with the 18 day old or cull it and go with this one..i have much better root system now then when the first blossom was set. By the end of this weekend, I should have made my decision.   Thursday, January 25 View Page Indoor growers have made much progress in the last few years. Two years ago, there were only a couple of growers that were getting blossoms and getting them set. This year, I am seeing most of the growers that started seeds this winter with a succesful pollination. Still, we have much more progress to pursue. BER seems to be the biggest issue right now for the indoor tomato growers. With my late starts, I am going to be trying a few different approaches for preventing BER. Most of the listed causes of BER do not apply to my situation. It is not a watering issue..my plants are in hydro. My temps and Ph are also monitored. I have been doing internet research looking for answers. I came across a few scientific studies that suggested that Abscisic Acid applied to the plant leads to higher calcium flow and reduced BER. These studies looked interesting so I ordered some Abscisic Acid. One plant will be getting a treatment. At this level, even if it works, it will not be a practical solution due to cost. If it has a positive effect I might have to look for a cheaper equivalent. On the remaining 6 plants, I will be trying different growing techniques with the idea that the right technique at the right time will prevent BER. Then again...the plants first have to survive my nutrient blasting interest. I have new ideas on this too. Amazing that I ever get a tomato weighed.   Saturday, January 27 View Page Getting things ready for the late starts. With these plants am planning on utilizing much more foliar feeding than I have done before. Over feeding the roots is just not good enough..I probably can kill the plants twice as fast if I feed the leaves too. Made a trip to a grow store that I hadn't been to before. Had a really good conversation with the owner. He kept reaching behind the counter pulling out samples to give me. Next time I go back there am going to bring him a good selection of giant tomato seeds. It will be interesting to see what he can do with them.   Saturday, January 27 View Page Tonight is blast one. On the left, I have two 2.73's grown from the 6.88 MacCoy. On the right, I have two 4.38's grown from the 6.79 Sutherland. After the lights are out, one right and one left will get a foliar nutrient blast. I have a few hours before blast off to decide if the difference between left and right will be nutrient strength or nutrient ratio. This is an experiment to get ready for summer. In hydro, I can do a blast and flush the system a few days later. In soil, I am stuck with whatever I drench it with. I am hoping that with foliar, I can get the same effect, but can recover faster than if it is a drench in soil. Not much to lose..I am expecting these plants to go down from root disease before any tomato is ripe. 90 degrees wet environment is too favorable for root pathogens. If I can curly top one of the two blasted, I will consider this experiment successful.   Sunday, January 28 View Page Finally getting carrots and onions started. Not sure where this project is going but temps will be under control for a few weeks. Contemplating trying a few seeds in hydroponics and one seed in aeroponics.   Monday, January 29 View Page Better keep your tomato growing Dan. I am right on your heels..21 DAP.   Monday, January 29 View Page Giant bell pepper...only about 694 grams more to grow for world record. Wonder what the indoor world record is?   Tuesday, January 30 View Page The result of the first round of foliar blast-no effect. 1st round was at .6 and 1.2 EC. Tonight raising the level. Going to 1.8 and 2.4 . It takes about 3.5 EC to 4.5 EC to the hydro roots at this stage of growth to get the boost-kill effect. I was expecting foliar to be a much lower level. Soon I will be out of time, the plants will be past the critical stage.   Wednesday, January 31 View Page My second best of tomatoes still on the vine. The aeroponic tomato just hit 17 inches at 25 dap. The 5 fused blossom didnt fully set so I am sticking with this one. It is still growing. Hoping it might reach 2 pounds.   Wednesday, January 31 View Page It is amazing the size of a tomato that you can get out of a little plant. After I pick this one I will try to get a picture of the root system. It is a big ball in the middle with the the bottom sides and top of the container covered with roots. Due to lighting I can not get a good picture right now. Another couple of months of growing, I would have a 13 gallon fluff ball of roots.   Thursday, February 1 View Page I have blossoms on all 7 of my Jan 1st starts. Unfortunately none of them are special. Looks like the majority are doubles and maybe even a couple that could be singles. Inducing flowering at 4 inches of plant height is probably not the best approach for heavy. This planting was for a time deadline though...still will be trying for 2+ pounds to be able to tell growers than Jan 1st might not be too late. I gave up on the foliar nutrient blast to cause ribbon megas. I think that the leaves would burn way before the needed quantity of nutrients would be absorbed into the plant. Hydro or Aeroponic might be the only methods where the nutrient blast could work. The abililty to completely change the nutrient levels at the roots in 10 minutes is a great advantage. What you put into the soil is going to be there for a long time.   Saturday, February 3 View Page Don't trust everything you read on the internet. I keep finding sites that are saying my daytime temp is too hot for blossoms to set on my bell pepper plant. Obviously this plant can't read. It keeps setting fruit and I keep cutting them off. The bell pepper expert just replied to my email and answered two questions I had. He said that he thinks about 60-70 DAP for a fully ripe pepper and that they are probably heaviest fully ripe. Thank you John for the quick response. I started this seed Dec 9th. With a start in October there is enough time to have a Winter Bell Pepper challenge. I should have seeds to share next fall.   Saturday, February 3 View Page The first of the Jan 1st starts to open a blossom. It is dropping pollen lightly. I am going to miss planned pollination date probably by two days but still more than enough time for it to reach full size by first day of spring. It is doubtful that it will be the biggest in this years competition (blossom is too small) but it should prove that January 1st is not too late to start.   Sunday, February 4 View Page This tomato measures my biggest. 18.5 inches at 27 DAP. It is going to measure light though. In the past week it has started growing funny..check out all the airspace on the bottom. It might become the ugliest tomato I have ever grown.   Sunday, February 4 View Page My best hope is this one. It is my aeroponic plant. 29 DAP now, It has grown just over 5 inches in the past 14 days. It needs to keep growing for about another week for me to have a chance of PB indoor tomato.   Sunday, February 4 View Page I think I will pull this plant today. The blossom looked good but it just hasn't grown as fast as I had hoped. It is at 15.5 inches 24 DAP. It might reach 17 but I could use the LED light better for my late starts. Only soil tomato that will be left..the super mega clone. So for a recap..what I have left will be two 18+ cc tomatoes, one in hydro and one aero. And seven Jan 1st hydro starts in flowering stage. My chance for 3 pounds keeps going down.   Sunday, February 4 View Page I had to make a trip to the big box store. I am going to have multiple plants flowering at the same time. I needed a different brush for each plant to avoid cross pollination. Wonder what the cashier was thinking when an old guy comes in and buys 7 makeup smudge brushes. First plant is dropping pollen heavy. Did a complete reservoir change today on it. I really like the ability to completely change what the roots are exposed to in a matter of minutes.With that plant I changed from a flowering ratio to what seems to be working for the aeroponic plant, but at twice the EC. These ratios are way different than what nutrient companies are suggesting. Tomatoes are not cannabis. This will be the next flower to open, probably tomorrow.Will keep trying different mixtures to see what the plants react to the best.   Tuesday, February 6 View Page Yep...it looks like the next world record heavy carrot to me. Going to have to try something different. How about the blue light special. Another month or so all my LED lights will be free. The first time I tried growing carrots..it went to seed soon but before then the more light I gave it the faster it grew.Wonder if exposed to nearly all blue spectrum but at the same intensity it will grow as fast but not go to seed. Congratulations Farmer Brown..your 11.18 oz indoor tomato beat my first year indoor tomato that was 8.05 oz. Lucky Qtip managed to squeak out a 12.8 the same season in his first year of indoor. I think I will beat him this year..he is going to run out time on that kracken.   Thursday, February 8 View Page Here you go Austin. It seems a bit better this morning than yesterday. I have never grown bell peppers before. The skin on this one is not smooth and shiny like the ones I am familiar with in the store. I am wondering if the dimples were a result of the calcium chloride I sprayed or something natural that is observed in a young fruit. Hope it isn't bacterial spot like in the link you posted.   Thursday, February 8 View Page My goals for this winter..1st grow an aeroponic tomato that weighs at least 1/2 pound. Goal met. 2nd goal...grow a tomato over my indoor personal best of 2.51 pounds. I think I am getting close here. My hope for the winter was to break into the indoor three pound club. Will this aero plant keep going long enough to meet all two goals and the one hope? Looking forward to see what yours weighs this weekend Dan. Thanks for showing what is possible.   Thursday, February 8 View Page 40 days to go until the end of the winter grow. I might have to weigh my Jan 1st starts early...I never get that much time before they flash. Will get a tomato with this start date..but will it be competive?   Thursday, February 8 View Page I couldnt stop myself. After deciding the foliar was not going to have the effect I wanted, I went for the root level blast. All I had to do was convince myself that these plants were not going to survive anyway in their warm DWC buckets. I hit all four with my new ratio. Both 4.38's responded pushing out ribbon megas and the two 2.73 (6.88 maccoy) did not. I have two 4.38 on the other side that with gentler feeding grew normal megas. I have curled the new growth on the blasted plants. Now I have to decide when to start the recovery solution. At first sign of effect or after blossom set? These blossoms are going to be set too late for the spring deadline. This is not a very clear picture..another few days should be able to see it better.   Friday, February 9 View Page Uh oh...read that the F1 of this pepper can grow to be 6 inches long. Am I going to need to get a spoon to dig the dirt out so it has some place to grow. Hopefully I will have a reason to.   Friday, February 9 View Page Dale , I see you are having BER issues just like the rest of us. I have been really looking for a solution. I have been studying Mulder's chart that show interaction of nutrients. I have looked at my outdoor soil tests. Calculating the K-Ca ratio of three different companies of hydro nutrients, they all have higher K-Ca than my outdoor soil. For example general hydroponic flora series at flower level with recommended Cal-Mag added comes out to a just about a 2-1 ratio (19 k to 10 ca).I know that much of my outdoor Ca is locked up but my last outdoor soil test had one section at a 1-10 ratio.On a few of my remaining hydro plants I am trying to raise the calcium in the K-Ca ratio to 1-1. I may go higher.Not much left in soil in my indoor garden but I looked at 4 of the Saturated Media Method tests I have had done in the past two years. Average of the tests was about 1-2 K-Ca ratio. I am wondering if we just do an extreme boost to our Ca levels if alot of these problems will go away. BER indoors will get solved.   Monday, February 12 View Page My onions are not liking me. Maybe if they would get a bit bigger, I could see them and would remember to water them.   Monday, February 12 View Page It is really hard to get a picture of what I am seeing. This plant has one big ribbon blossom coming out. The point of the pen shows where the flower starts. I am thinking this blossom is going to be difficult to get set. Leaf and vine growth is very deformed.   Monday, February 12 View Page The other plant that showed a response is this one. Not quite the same size ribbon but appears to have a nice mega in a bad spot and pointed the wrong way. This picture does not show it very clearly. I pulled two of the New Year starts. They looked too normal.   Tuesday, February 13 View Page My first aeroponic grow is getting close to the end. The tomato is starting to turn. I have mixed emotions. It will be a relief to have this one on the scale. But at the same time, I am getting a cc measurement of 19 5/8 inches. I usually go Mfactor light. My indoor PB is 2.51.Wonder what nutrient mixture I should give it for final finish.   Tuesday, February 13 View Page The .87 in DWC hydro is also flashing. It is also measuring over 19 inches. I can weigh the aero-hydro comparison on the same day.   Tuesday, February 13 View Page This is a picture of the average roots that I see at first truss blossom. I cut it just below the net pot. You can see that the larger roots that are were in air and then the mass that shows where the nutrient level was. Hmmm...washing machine ...lots of water.I wonder if my wife would say anything if.......   Saturday, February 17 View Page On Tuesday, Dan Sutherland emailed me his entry for this years Winter Indoor Challenge. He continues to set the bar high for the rest of us. It weighed 3.06 pounds (49 oz) and measures 20.12 x 18.5 x 13 for an Mfactor of .00064 . I have discussed with him why his Mfactor is so high as compared to mine. He is not sure. We have narrowed it down..it is not genetics. His best guess right now is it might be biological activity. Great job Dan..I am still working on catching up. Current leader board: Dan Sutherland 3.06 pounds, Robert Borgers 1.67 pounds, Chris Brown .70 pounds (11.18 oz) with hopefully many more tomatoes yet to be weighed. 31 days left to go.   Saturday, February 17 View Page Indoor garden rearrangement today. First thing to do...pick my early entries. The first on the scale was the aeroponic tomato. I was hopefull..it measures nearly the same as Dan's three pounder at 20 1/8 x18 x 14. The scale weight wasn't the same. 2.47 pounds for an Mfactor of .00049 . Still for first try at aeroponics I have to be satisfied.   Saturday, February 17 View Page Next was the .87 in DWC hydro. I thought this one would be lighter but was wrong. 2.65 pounds for my new Indoor PB. It has such a funny shape that I am not going to try to get a three way measurement from. It's cc is 20 3/8. I still have 3 Jan 1st starts left to go. Updated leader board Dan Sutherland 3.06 pounds, Robert Borgers 2.65 pounds, Chris Brown .70 pounds.   Saturday, February 17 View Page The aeroponic root system. You can see how the roots grew until they hit the bottom of the 13 gallon container and intertangled . I combed some of the roots out..they are well over 6 ft long. Also noticed there are no really thick feeder sections.   Saturday, February 17 View Page This picture is try to show how the roots flattened against the silk screen barrier. I was probably running the mist on/off cycle a bit too wet. I see very little sign of trichoblasts. It was an error on the side of caution. Slightly too wet is safer than too dry. One leads to less weight the other to plant death. Next winter will be making changes and trying to fine tune the system. At least I know now, aeroponics has potential.   Sunday, February 18 View Page My oldest set of the three remaining Jan 1st starts. 10 3/4ths inches at 10 DAP. It is from my 3.48 seed which was grown from the 4.57 MacCoy. 30 days left..I think that the competition could be in doubt until the last day.   Monday, February 19 View Page Since I am going to be melon grower next year, maybe I should do a bit of practice germination. I did grab a few seeds out of my neighbors watermelon. I think these are 251 Kent genetics.   Monday, February 19 View Page My indoor pepper keeps getting bigger. What an easy plant to grow inside. Next winter I think I will definitely add a pepper category to the indoor challenge. Still should have about 40 days before harvest time.   Tuesday, February 20 View Page I have had a few emails discussing why indoor weights do not equal outdoor weights. The only reason I can think of is the advantage of the sun. Light penetration is so much greater outdoors. As you can see, I am contemplating adding side lighting to increase saturation of the leaves. Next winter's competition might have to divide it into classes. If I start to push 1200 watts of lighting into one plant it is not fair to the growers that are growing under 200 watts or less of light per plant. I don't want to restrict myself. Next year I may be the only entry in the open class but hopefully someone will eventually join me.   Thursday, February 22 View Page Jan 1st start ..14 DAP at 13.5 inches. How big do I have to grow it to prove a New Years Day start is not too late. Earlier this winter growers were asking if Thanksgiving or even mid November was too late. 25 days to go to spring. I have two other Jan 1 starts that are a bit younger in sets but growing at equal rate. Hoping for 2+ pounds from all of them.   Friday, February 23 View Page Time for a reservoir recharge. Mixed up a new ratio. Ooops, I see a slight problem. Time to recalculate.   Friday, February 23 View Page I double checked my numbers..they look good to me. I only added half my mixture which dillutes it to 1/4 strength. I wonder if this will be the newest hydro technique...growing in foaming bubbles.....   Friday, February 23 View Page Wow, watermelon seeds germinate quickly. I only started soaking these seeds two days ago. 6 for 6 for germination. I am not ready for them yet. They will have stay in the paper towel until tomorrow when I can set up a hydro tank for them.   Saturday, February 24 View Page I would like to say welcome and thank you to Ecogarden Supply, St Paul Mn as a new sponsor for the Gale Woods Farm weigh off. This years tomato prize fund will be at least equal to last years.   Saturday, February 24 View Page Ecogarden carries many products that could be beneficial to the growers in the area. Stop by and let Zowie what you would like stocked locally for the upcoming season. He would like to be the go to store for the extreme growers in the area.   Saturday, February 24 View Page This is the best stocked garden specialty store that I have found in the Twin City area. Mention Gale Woods for a 10% discount on your first purchase. You can visit their website at https://ecogardensupply.com   Saturday, February 24 View Page I even found a light that I really like...it is a white light LED. It puts out the same PAR as my Ceramic Metal Halide with much less heat. By next winter maybe I will start to exchange my purple LED lights for these grower friendly lights.   Sunday, February 25 View Page Austin, you may have terp tea but I have something else. I picked up this sample of Recharge coming out of Fort Collins,Co. I think the sample packaging in a Winchester 12 ga shotgun shell casing is rather interesting. Brewing soon.   Sunday, February 25 View Page There may be hope yet for the BER problems. My youngest Jan 1st set is looking good to me. No sign of BER yet. Nutrient levels appear to be about where I want them. Bottom leaf curl, tops look good. Changing 1/4 of the solution every day. Thinking maybe I should kick up the N a bit. Upper leaves are a bit too small but from this point will be making only small changes to the ratio at a time. I did add 300 watts of side lighting to go along with 300 over the top for 600 total on this one plant. 4 more 150 watt LED's ordered. Next year will be at 900 watts on a few plants.   Monday, February 26 View Page My second biggest Jan 1st start. I am guessing it is about 15 DAP. Measuring about 15 inches but that is a false number...notice the air gap towards the bottom of the set. I have healthier leaves on the three plants at this stage of growth than I have ever had before. Wish I had some bigger guns Austin...Not much time to try to catch Dan S. His Mfactor is hard to overcome.   Tuesday, February 27 View Page This is by far my favorite plant that I still have growing. It is my youngest set..about 13 DAP. Measuring about 13.5 inches. By the first day of spring (21 days) it will have not reached full weight. I may not pick it unless it has a chance for first place. The plant has not been topped yet. I can't go for normal nipple high indoors..the top of the plant would be cooking in the light. If it stays healthy I might take a page out of the cannabis growers book of techniques and employ a modified scrog setup. Grow the top horizontally into the next light source. I have never had a indoor plant stay healthy enough to try to set on higher trusses...maybe this will be the one.   Wednesday, February 28 View Page My oldest set on a NYD start. It is at 20 DAP and measuring 16 inches. Looking at plant health I am predicting spring deadline (20 days to go) weight of somewhere over 2 pounds with 3 doubtful. I am expecting my 3 day younger set to be bigger than this one soon. My biggest might come from the youngest set. I will be measuring them at 20 DAP also.   Wednesday, February 28 View Page My youngest set is becoming the guinea pig. Since it probably does not have enough time to reach full size before spring deadline I am going to see what the max I can push it at. Tonight switched formulas from 12-8-25 14 Ca at 3.2 EC to 12-8-50 19 Ca at 4.0 EC. The next few days will be interesting..either the plant will start to die or will see daily gains of 3/4ths of an inch per day. I have started tieing down the top. If it survives the plant will be grown horizontally.   Friday, March 2 View Page My indoor hydro watermelon test grow is coming along well. Soaked 6 seeds all 6 germinated. Only had room for four of them in my starter bucket so two went away. Will be deciding this weekend which of the four remaining will get moved to a 3 ft x 3 ft tank. It will be something to keep me entertained until spring seed starting time.   Saturday, March 3 View Page 2nd oldest set. It is 1/2 inch bigger at 20 DAP than my oldest set was. With only 17 days to go it will be close if it can make up for the 3 days less of time. This one has gained 1 1/2 inches in the last 5 days. I am hoping both 1 and 2 will be over 20 inches by deadline. At my mFactor they might have to get over 21 inches for a chance to weigh over Dan's 3.06 pounds. My 3rd set is not in the running for first..but it might make it over 2 pounds.   Saturday, March 3 View Page Have made progress in the past two weeks in solving problems that have haunted me in the past two years of winter grows. It might be too late for this year but I am already making plans for next. This is a hint of what next year will be like. Planning on 300 watts over the top, 600 watts of side lighting per plant. In addition will have CO2 on at least one plant. I am liking my nutrient ratio's..I am thinking I am getting close. I suggested dividing the competition into classes but that was shot down. Maybe after next year it will be reconsidered.   Sunday, March 4 View Page Carrots and onions. I don't expect anything big from these but it will fun to dig down in the fall to see what is there. Both started way too late to challenge any records other than my PB.   Tuesday, March 6 View Page I haven't moved my the watermelon seedlings yet. This is the most agressive grower. It has twice the root structure as the next best grower. I am wondering if I am pushing too much light. I am at only 600 uMols of PAR light at canopy level but it is already forming it's 4th true leaf at 2 1/2 inches of plant height. At this rate I might have a 6 inch bush. Internodal length of 1/8 of inch can't be good...   Wednesday, March 7 View Page 13 days to go ...I have two sets that are measuring 18 inches cc and are gaining 1/4 inch+ per day. Both had early BER which will reduce their weight to volume somewhat. I have placed lighting to deliver about 1000 uMols of light on 2/3rds of the canopy...300 watts over the top and 300 watts of side lighting. I should have taken a picture..could have shown you a leaf that is suffering from light toxicity. Instead I just cut the affected leaves for the benefit of the leaves in the middle. I have sent pictures of where I am at to Dan...3.06 pounds could be within reach. Can't let him think he has it wrapped up a month before the contest is over.   Friday, March 9 View Page I never get any size from my indoor clones. Good thing all I care about is getting seeds for the genetics. This tomato is from a clone from the plant that I had the 7 fused superblossom earlier this winter. I am hoping for many seeds. I have decided that I will keep 3 hydro buckets going over the summer with LED lighting for reduced temp so as not to overtax my house air conditioner. A few things I want to improve upon..increasing root mass in early seedling stage, pushing the nutrients at blossom time to form the supermegas and maintaining plant health after set. Hoping for 100 sacrificial seeds from this tomato to get ready for next winter. 11 days left for this years winter grow challenge.   Saturday, March 10 View Page I had to send an email to Dan S. 10 days to go in the competition. This one is measuring 18.5 inches at 27 DAP. It has gained 2 inches in the past 7 days. I am thinking at about 21 inches cc it could be close to Dan's numbers. Ribbons have arrived. Hoping to send Dan the second place ribbon.   Saturday, March 10 View Page This is what this years ribbons will look like. The ribbon company reversed the green and red from last year. Too late now..I will go with it...every year might have to make a subtle change.   Sunday, March 11 View Page I am trying to push my last three tomatoes just as hard as I can. Calculated ppm ratios (50 % EC meter) comes out to ppms of 291 N, 109 P, 609 K, 544 Ca and 169 Mg. With micro's I am at about 1800 ppm (3.6 EC). Obviously the random new shoots growing are coming out deformed but the fruits are growing well. Overall the plants are healthier now than I have had in the past at this stage but much more tweaking of nutrients ratios will be needed to get to the next stage.   Tuesday, March 13 View Page My biggest tomato is starting to flash on one of the smaller sections. It is only at 30 DAP. I had high hopes for this one. It was still gaining 1/4 inch per day. I will hold off on picking it as long as I can. Don't think it will reach 3 pounds with it turning already.   Wednesday, March 14 View Page Indoor pepper..I have no idea how much this one weighs. It just slowly keeps getting bigger. Whatever it weighs will be my PB.   Wednesday, March 14 View Page This is the whole pepper plant. About 24 inches tall now. Blossoms and more blossoms. I have a feeling my family is going to be tired of bell pepper by the middle of the summer.   Thursday, March 15 View Page With 5 days to go in the Winter Competition am doing the last 1/2 reservoir change tonight. In my new ratio I have backed off potassium from 435 ppm to 380 ppm. This tomato is the earliest I have ever had one flash DAP. I also dropped lighting intensity. I am going to have to calculate DLI days and degree growing days to find a better number. Wondering if I give it less daylight hours if I can get more days of growth. I an not expecting to catch Dan S this year, but I still think there is a chance that I may break my indoor PB. Tomato is measuring 19 1/4 inches on main section with an additional section that I am estimating just under 1/4 pound that is flashing. Looking forward to Tuesday.   Saturday, March 17 View Page No need to get worried yet Qtip, I am sure you carrot WR is safe....at least until tomorrow. Snow on the outdoor patch..nothing to do on the indoor tomatoes with competition ending in three days. Guess I have to assemble my best try at an indoor carrot.   Sunday, March 18 View Page Looks like we might be very close Wixom. I started about the same time you did..this is my best carrot and onion.   Sunday, March 18 View Page Here is my newest indoor baby. Carrot in 65 gallons coco predominant mix. I will have to think of a name...The last carrot that occupied this spot, Carina was doing really good until she decided to become a momma. Most important change to delay flowering, 2 custom ordered 300 watt LED's with a veg spectrum array (blue light)on all switches. The second plan has been delayed. I tried running 100 feet of stainless tubing around the inside of the pot. The plan was to pump cool water thru the tube to cool the root zone. Unfortunately the tube kinked on me. I will add the cooling tube later on the outside.   Monday, March 19 View Page My funny shaped tomato wants to get into the winter challenge. I don't care if it is turning red...it is not going to count for the tomato challenge.I think I will keep a few of the future sets on. Have time to get a few eating bell peppers before spring transplant time. I have been picking off about 1/2 dozen small sets every week.   Tuesday, March 20 View Page Today is the day. Trying to guess if tomatoes weigh more in the morning or evening. I decided to pick them when I woke up. First off the vine was this one. Weighed 2.29 pounds, measures 19.5 x 17.75 x 14 for an mFactor of .00047. Right about my normal.   Tuesday, March 20 View Page The second I picked was worried that it wasn't going to get over 2 pounds. It was the youngest set..at only 34 DAP. This tomato never had BER. That might be why it came in with an mFactor of .0005, weight of 2.05 pounds.   Tuesday, March 20 View Page The last I picked was my best hope. I had given up on catching Dan S when this one flashed early. I still had hope that it could beat my indoor PB. Did not happen...only 2.53 pounds. Too strange shaped to get a good mFactor measurement. I am satisfied with my Jan 1st seed starts. With three tomatoes over 2 pounds I think that it is still possible to be competive with the late start.   Friday, March 23 View Page Rick, you might have the most pampered carrot in the west but maybe not in the nation. This little baby might be. It is in 65 gallons of coco blend, 600 watts of LED blue spectrum, soil charged with 4 gallons of compost tea, fed daily with an organic nutrient mix and by this this weekend cooled with a 100 foot stainless water chilled tube. A little over a month it will be the only indoor plant for me to wake up with. Do you think Qtip is getting nervous yet. We are crazy growers.   Friday, March 23 View Page My bell pepper is slowly changing colors. Since this one is not going to be WR size I have let other blossoms set. They each have their own individual shape. I am thinking that future grows might have to let a few blossoms set and then make determination on which on to go with based on shape and placement. I will probably have eaten 10 peppers from this plant even before it is transplanted.   Friday, March 23 View Page I think I will have to do some onion transplanting this weekend. These pots are looking way too small for how tall these plants are. I am not very good with onions right now.   Sunday, March 25 View Page My first ever indoor bell pepper weighs 246 grams. I will try to improve on that next winter.   Monday, March 26 View Page Wow, porkchop you are way behind. I just did the second transplant of the onions this past weekend. I still think I suck at onions but maybe I can get 2 pounds to go for the triple crown. It is painful to look at Giant Veg's diary (Peter Glazebrook). He is definitely the master of root vegetables.   Monday, March 26 View Page Iphone sucks. Trying to get a picture of 600 watts of veg spectrum over my indoor carrot. I can't get a good picture of what I see. Going to give it a few weeks and then start to boost it with side lighting. Right now foliage is running at about 1000 uMols of predominent blue spectrum. If I don't go to seed in June I will be ahead of my PB from 2016.   Monday, March 26 View Page It has been less than a week and I already have over twenty peppers set on this plant and more set every day. Considering the pot is only 15 gallons it will be interesting what this plant does when it is transplanted outside and has more room for root growth. Hitting this plant hard with organics and microbiology. This might be my 2018 plan of attack.   Tuesday, March 27 View Page My future outdoor carrots. I put into use three 300 watt LEDs that i am only running the Veg switch on, so each plant is under about 150 watts of blue spectrum. About 500 uMols on each of these plants as compared to the over 1000 uMols on my 65 gallon indoor crazyiness. Need some heat outside..I am getting impatient.   Saturday, March 31 View Page This is my second year attempting giant carrots. One observation that I can make is: with New Red Intermediate seeds the plants can exhibit one of two characteristics. About 1/2 of the plants will drop their foliage at a certain height while the other 1/2 will keep a tight vertical group. I do not know which is preferable. This year I have two of each. The foliage spreaders seem to have the best form for utilization of light. My best from 2 years ago was from a spreader. I will have a better idea next fall which form leads to bigger carrots.   Saturday, March 31 View Page Top view. I am guessing that there is about equal amount of foliage on these two plants. They are in the same mix and have had the same nutrient feeding. One has a 12 inch diameter top and the other has a 24 inch. I think the difference will be the amount of light new leaves will get from the spread pattern as compared to the tight vertical. I am going to make an early prediction: the spreading foliage carrots will lead to the alien root structure..many branches. The verticle pattern will have a much longer carrot. This is just a guess..october will see if I predicted correctly.   Tuesday, April 3 View Page I counted them up...I have about 40 green peppers set on this plant. I like this, first try to grow the biggest indoor pepper, then get a bunch of good eaters. Then transplant outside to aim for world record and then maybe more eaters. Another few weeks and I will be dining well. Finally growing something I like to eat.   Tuesday, April 3 View Page Qtip sent me a picture of his WR carrot at day 40. It appears that it was an upright foliage carrot. My indoor carrot is an upright but at day 60 it is about even to his day 40. I think I can make up ground. It is in Royal Gold Tupur media. This media is mixed for heavy feeding. I am giving it a lot of organic liquid nutrients with gallons of bacterial/fungal compost tea. The advantage of tupur...excess water drains to waste maintaining oxygen levels. Hoping that the heavy feeding helps and also that I can avoid flowering. Qtips flowered first season. Not a lot info out there for npk ratio's for giant carrots. Will have to wing it. No matter the result, I am having fun, that is the reason to grow.   Thursday, April 5 View Page I see all these nicely tilled patches in diaries. I have show where my 150 sq ft pumpkin is going to go. I had heard that wood mulch could be beneficial...bigger is better right :). Forecast for this weekend is another 6 inches of snow. No problem..I am experienced at May starts. By June this will look completely different.   Wednesday, April 11 View Page Yep , my 150 patch is looking much better. Too bad we have a forecast for another 16 inches of snow this weekend. I am wondering if my tiller can handle tilling my wood mulch in...at least i will have more sunshine this year.   Friday, April 13 View Page One sign of an obsessed grower..Talking to your plants every morning..."Good morning carrots...no,the tall cannabis tubular grow bags haven't arrived from Spain yet. If they don't get here soon I will have to put you in some doubled five gallon buckets. It looks like your roots are getting a wee bit cramped."...   Friday, April 13 View Page Onions are almost starting to look like onions. With frozen ground outside,another transplant is going to happen this weekend..probably in the middle of a double digit snowstorm. Latest spring that I can ever remember.   Monday, April 16 View Page Pepper problem. I have so many flowers set on each branch that as the fruit grows the branch can not support the weight. I am not concerned, all that matters is the plant still has spark of life when it goes outside.   Sunday, April 22 View Page Saving electricity, my carrot and 3 onions are going to spend their first night in the great outdoors. Sometime this week hope to find time to transpant the carrot into a 55 gallon drum and the onions into 40 gallon pots.   Sunday, April 22 View Page I wonder if my indoor carrot will miss his friends. Doing well in the 65 gallon pot.   Sunday, April 29 View Page Transplanted the first onion into a 40 gallon pot. The grow media is VermiFire. According to my friend Zowie at Ecogardens, this is the hottest mixture they sell. It is the only soilless media I have ever seen that lists npk. It doesnt seem so hot to me npk- .17 .11 .14 . These ratios seem correct to me for giant onions. Hope it grows big...i need a picture for GiantOnion.com .   Monday, April 30 View Page I transplanted my other two onions tonight. This one has been my favorite for a long time. It is now in a 40 gallon pot with 2 year old soilless media, probably a mix of Ocean Forest, Happy Frog and Roots Organic. I recharged it with excess amounts of alfalfa meal, blood meal, fish bone meal and langbeinite. I also added earth worm castings, alaskan humus and more Great White microbials than really needed. Getting rid of my winter grow supplies. Going all organic with these plants the rest of the summer. Two days will be starting a super potent compost tea. i don't have many plants started right now..just a couple of carrots and these onions. Still debating if I will start a pumpkin..probably will have to make a decision soon. I figure that I still have a month to decide about how many tomato plants.   Monday, April 30 View Page My indoor carrot is miles ahead of my outdoor carrot. Hoping the blue spectrum will keep it from going to seed. 5 months to go until fall weighoffs. Thinking about boosting the 600 watts of LED veg spectrum with another 600 watts of side lighting. I am getting shadows at the base of the plant. It is fun to try to grow extreme.   Monday, April 30 View Page The base of the indoor carrot. Looking at the way the bottom of the foliage is developing I am quite sure this carrot has forked multiple times. Heavy organic feeding..running a nutrient ratio that reduces to about 1-1-2 . I think I need to mix up another super compost tea brew. Not going to tell you..it is my secret sauce.   Tuesday, May 1 View Page I think I will start my tomato plants about May 15th. Wonder if i can grow 4000 seeds this summer. If so maybe can put out 5000 competitive seedlings next spring..that is only 100 per state. Maybe if I am lucky one of my starts this year could compete for Gale Woods first saturday in October. Next year might have to start earlier to grow for first saturday in September.   Thursday, May 3 View Page Running now 900 watts of blue veg spectrum lights over the indoor carrot. Looking good so far, I can see the top of the carrot starting to form..it might be big.   Sunday, May 6 View Page Finally got the outdoor carrot transplanted into a 55 gallon drum today. I am sure it has been rootbound for the past 3 weeks in a 6 inch by 16 inch pvc tube. It also was not getting watered very well. It should start to pick up but it is very doubtful that it will catch up to indoor carrot. The indoor carrot is looking like it is going to be a monster. Watch out qtip, both Dan and myself might take down your record. We have the same genetics you had.   Sunday, May 6 View Page Finally started to start some seeds today. For myself I have 3 1109's soaking and one 2118 Justras. For my company annual giant competition I am soaking 25 pumpkin seeds, 25 watermelon seeds, 45 giant bell pepper seeds and 45 giant tomato seeds. With how fast my plants were claimed last year, I am convinced that a high percentage of hobby growers would attempt the giants if the genetics were easier to obtain. Weird Wint, I am not planning on starting 4000 seeds, I wanted to harvest 4000 seeds. That number has gone up. I would like to harvest 10,000 seeds this summer. About 1/2 of my garden will be devoted to seed production not growing for top weight. I think I have one of the most diverse collections of giant tomato genetics...hoping in 2019 to put those genetics into the hands of average joe hobby grower.   Wednesday, May 9 View Page Last night moved from paper towel to soil all my pumpkin and watermelon seeds. For pumpkins 2 out 3 1109's showed root and the 2118 Jutras showed root. For my company competition..23 of 25(356 Borgers,parent of 1109) sprouted. I kind of regret giving away almost all of my 1109 seeds. I have only 4 left. Trying to decide if I will really try to grow it out again this year. I need 50,000 tomato seeds by next spring. If I only grow one pumpkin/squash it will probably be the 1109. I am probably the only grower in the nation that would chose the 1109 over the 2118. Give it a week..i will have made a decision.   Tuesday, May 22 View Page 50 cu yards of top soil brought in today. I have had a soil expert working on mixing the perfect blend for the past two months. He has reviewed all the soil samples from this site, been given a copy of Joe Ailts book, not to mention his education and years of experience. Preliminary test look good..nice sandy loam, 12.8 om, 6.7 ph very high in p and k. Tomorrow will send in a sample to western labs to see what needs to be tweaked. No more trying to grow competitive in 6 to 7 inches of alkaline top soil over pure sand for me. If everything tests out good I might bring in another 50 cu yds next october. That would give about 20 inches of depth. I may not grow big this year but I am excited about next year.   Wednesday, May 23 View Page 24 pumpkin plants delivered to my company today. All were claimed. i am going to start a posting on the company bulletin board explaining how I grow giant pumpkins. We have engineers, finance and floor workers trying it this year. Hopefully a few will find success in growing something respectable. Tomorrow, Giant Watermelons will be delivered. I expect all 18 plants to be claimed quickly. These are genetics 1 generation from the 251 Kent. Tuesday, Giant Tomato plants will be delivered. That will be genetics from the 6.83 Fulk delicious. It is proving my theory..if the genetics are easily available, amateur gardeners will snap them up.   Friday, May 25 View Page First plant is in this years garden, my 1109 seed. A little bit late but still should grow pretty. Wonder which minnesota weighoff it will challenge for the HD award. Shannon and Tony, remember we have competiton going for the prettiest pumpkin in the area.   Sunday, May 27 View Page 150 contest..i pulled out last years boundary that was untested due to hail. Ooops...how do these go together. Good thing I have last years diary to refer to. I am not going to repost my dimensions they will be the same as last year..unless Flatnorm emails me and tells me it is required for this year. It is going to be a challenging year..4 week late start, 150 sq ft and the chosen worst seedling of 24 plants. I still bet I win my companies pumpkin challenge.   Sunday, May 27 View Page 150 sq ft plant is in the ground. I may have to lift the border after I get soil test results back to ammend but this will be my entry for this year. No backups in my possesion. The area looks really different than it did a month ago. The shed is gone and the logs are gone. Have 3300 sq ft of garden area this year. 7 years ago I started with 350 sq ft.   Thursday, May 31 View Page I have no idea how this year is going for giant onion. Older leaves turn yellow and new leaves start growing in the middle. Since I have never grown one of these before..I have no past experience to compare with. If I can find the time, will be doing a bit more research for next year. After tomato website development during the winter of 2018,the next year (winter 2019) will probably be either carrot,onion or bellpepper website. At one per year I can get them all developed by the time I am 90.   Thursday, May 31 View Page Indoor carrot is way ahead of outdoor carrot. This is foliage on the plant. It is definitaly equal to the one I had two years ago.   Thursday, May 31 View Page The crown of the indoor carrot. I can see orange in a five inch diameter. I don't know how deep this goes but i am hopeful. This plant has not been given top level care. I have been drenching it with liquid organics at a ratio of 6-9-15 every three days with the addition of micros and molasses. I backed the light off from 900 watts led blue back to 600 watts blue led. 900 was causing light toxicity. I should really pay more attention to this plant..it should be my personal best.   Saturday, June 2 View Page Tomato seed starting day. I need to choose which 120 seeds to soak. With 80% germination I would have 100 plants. I have about 1600 sq ft planned for tomato plants. About 1/2 of that space is not ideal environment. The plants in those areas will be grown for seeds.   Sunday, June 3 View Page 200 tomato seeds soaked yesterday..moved to moist paper towel baggies today. The top 100 will be in the garden. All the non big zacs will be grown for size. The size of the first truss blossom will determine if a big zac plant is grown for seed (multiple fruit) or size (single fruit). To make it simple,all the seeds I grow this year for mass distribution will be big zac. I am still a few days ahead of last year.   Sunday, June 3 View Page I have to wonder how long this carrot will grow before going to seed. About 6 inches of crown showing. I am dreaming that it will keep going until October. It is starting to get more of my attention again.   Sunday, June 3 View Page This has been my view of life for the past 6 weeks. I am making progress though. Have a VPS host package now with reseller option. I now can set up a separate cpanel for anyone that wants to develop a giant(site). One ambitious individual has already volunteered. Been slow progress..jumping into intermediate+ levels before I even start the beginner level. That is how I started growing also. 1st page of GT is up. Will be modified much in the next year but at least it has original content now. I invite the tomato growers to check time to time. Feel free to send me your comments.   Wednesday, June 6 View Page I don't think you have to worry Doug14. My 1109 is so young that I might not be pollinating until the end of July. I received the soil test results today of the 50 cu yds that I had brought. After a few hours playing with Bry's soil ammender, I came up with for 3000 sq ft adding: 540 pounds of gypsum, 20 pounds of bone meal,25 pounds of sulfate of potash, 12 pounds of manganese sulfate, 1 pound copper sulfate and 1 pound of solubar. This was as close to perfect balance as I could get. High zinc and iron levels messed up the ratios. Next year should be able to tweak them closer.   Wednesday, June 6 View Page Only 6 tomato plants in my garden right now. These are my fun plants. They are in the worst section..about 60% shade. All from 6.83 Fulk delicious genetics. The winner of these 6 will be bred over the winter with the next diary entry.   Wednesday, June 6 View Page My weekend starts have sprouted. The winner of 5 plants (6.13 Zappa, Brutus Magnum) will be a focus for next winter. Future cross for the F1 DelBrut. I think I can see the current leader.   Thursday, June 7 View Page New camera for taking pictures for my websites. Wont be usable for Bigpumpkins though..takes pictures at 24mp. I need more time...big manual. My plants might be full grown by the time I figure out how to get a super macro image. Good thing there is always next year.   Monday, June 11 View Page It is my one year anniversary of being wiped out by hail. Last year, after the storm I started 72 tomato plants. This year I am a few days ahead. Looks like I have about 160 seeds that germinated. This tray is looking like 48 out of 50. My seed that I think has the best potential the 4.38 germinated about 40 plants started from either the original 4.38 or the 4.38 winter super mega clone. I am going to have only room for about 100 plants in my garden and 6 spots are already taken by delicious future breeders. Decision and transplanting maybe as early as Sunday. I like tomatoes..can start in June and still have a chance to grow big.   Tuesday, June 12 View Page 150 tomato plants transplanted to 3/4 gallon pots. I think I will give them about two weeks before choosing which 100 go into my garden. If I can average 500 seeds per plant I will hit my goal of 50,000 seeds grown with the genetic history of a 6 pound or bigger tomato. I would like to distribute 1000 seedlings into just the minneapolis area. No guarantees but i will be trying to make the connections to make it happen over the winter. I hope my plans are not shredded by hail. So short of time...hail net is not in the plans for this year.   Wednesday, June 13 View Page Of my 150 seed starts this one has caught my eye. It is way more agressive than any seedling that I have. It is from the 6.13 Zappa Brutus Magnum. It is 4 times the size of the rest of the seedlings including 4 of its siblings. If it can grow a decent mega...it will be the chosen mama of the the DelBrut. Going into top position in the garden.   Wednesday, June 20 View Page There is definitely a difference a seed vigor from seedlings from the same seed. If you only have one or two seeds from a genetic line you won't notice it as much. Start many seeds of the same genetics and it is really obvious. Overall, the 6.13 Zappa Brutus Magnum is by far the most aggressive seedling I have started. 4 of my top 5 are BM's . Willie you better take good care of your BM. The best that i have that is not a BM is a shock..qtips 7.07. I so much want my 4.38 to weigh higher than the 7.07. Early growth may not be a good indicator of potential. Will know in October.   Wednesday, June 20 View Page Six tomato plants in my garden so far, tucked into a shady corner..I might have weed one of these weeks. I am handicaping myself in the company competition.   Wednesday, June 20 View Page All six plants are showing a first truss mega. With the genetics I grow, I am getting nearly 90% first truss megas. These plants are 2nd generation from the 6.83 Fulk Delicious. I do not expect anything bigger than the 3 pound range considering the lack of care they will get. I will have to decide what quality will be chosen for the winter cross. I already have a favorite momma.   Wednesday, June 20 View Page Parts are arriving. Setting up a server computer. Going to be running a supermicro motherboard x9dri-ln4f, with twin intel e5-2630's, 32gb ram, 2 tb sata 3 ssd's (4 x 500 gb) on probably an ubuntu os. It blows away the hardware that my cloud vps is running on. It is a learning computer for the next two 1/2 years until my current hosting package expires. My home connection is limited to 5 mbps upload speed. Come on US Internet..stop expanding south of downtown and go north. I am interested in your 1000mbps fiber line. I don't want to rent an office to hold my server.I am into it for life, might as well go for the gusto.   Friday, June 22 View Page I pulled out my stash of carrot seeds. Thinking about it, i sent an email off to Aphis, USDA to inquire when I will receive my seeds from last year. For all I know they are still playing ping pong between Opa Locka and Miami. Tentative launch of GiantCarrot.com is winter of 2019/2020. I will need seeds for this. As biennial plant will have to start them this year. I have both Fortey and Medwyn seeds from multiple years, including sister seeds of the current world record. I am not going to keep them separate..all the same variety. Planning on starting 150 plants...top 50 will be vernalized. Trying to pick start date...If I start now..could have 5 pound carrots to store by fall, not enough cooler space for that. Maybe it will be a 4th of July start.   Friday, June 22 View Page I do like carrot growing. Would do a lot better if I didnt forget about them for a few days at a time. Indoor carrot keeps getting bigger. Someday, I will have one in DWC hydro.   Saturday, June 23 View Page I am reading about all the growers that have a pumpkin already pollinated. Good thing pretty is not under such a time crunch. I am expecting pollination about mid July. I have heard rumours that there might be a head-to-head regional competition of HD winners from more than one weighoff. Totally non gpc. I could be competing against my own seed..I know of at least 4 growers in the area that have 1109 plants growing. I am hoping for the color density that the 555 Haan showed last year with my weight goal of 1000 pounds. Yes, I will self mine to the next generation.   Monday, June 25 View Page First female spotted on my 1109. Not enough plant behind it that I am comfortable with going with it but also short of time. Hmmm, how far out was the 1725 grown on..have a bit of time to make the decision.   Wednesday, June 27 View Page Finished putting the last 130 tomato plants in the ground today. Will try for size on only about 10 of them. I am sure this will be the winner of the ZacHeart competition...it has to be..it is my only one. The two strongest in my garden continue to be one of the Brutus Magnum's and grrrr...the 7.07.   Wednesday, June 27 View Page I think my soil is quite potent this year. All six delicious breeder plants are tossing ribbon megas. From my winter grow experience I am guessing am very slightly too high in P and K. Getting a bit of curly topping but not fatal. I think the ideal is ribbon megas without curly topping. I haven't added any feedings other than mixing the soil the best I could. It will be interesting to see in about a month what the remaining 124 plants show first truss. Nothing added into the planting holes...my whole garden is nutrient rich.   Thursday, June 28 View Page Dreaming it was June 1st not June 28th.....Some year I might get started in April and have a full growing season. I think my keeper female has appeared..It will be about 13 ft out, hoping for a five lober. 4 lobes gives these genetics a square shape. I should not be too far off my normal 4th of July pollination. Watch out Shannon, Tony, Joe and Doug...prettiest in the neighborhood might be off from this plant.   Friday, June 29 View Page Todd, congrats on your first diary post. Next year will be easier with what you learn this year. This is my 356 Borgers in the 150 sq ft competition. First female has appeared two feet before my planned target zone. I will wait for the next one. It takes me twice as long to take care of this plant than my full size one. Vine manipulation is time consuming. Goal is still 500 pounds HD competitive pumpkin to take to a fall weighoff.   Friday, June 29 View Page What a conundrum. My last years most difficult competition gives me a seed that is number two in my garden this year. The only way to solve it is to consider that the genetics go way back to MacCoy seeds. Thanks Dan. Seriously Qtip, this is an interesting plant..way more agressive than the other 7.07 and also the two 4.63's that I have. i hope it can toss a good mega. I am about a week ahead of last year.. I might be able to go with a second truss. I have more qtip plants growing than I have 5.24's. Hope your 5.24 gets big..I think wixom would like if the megamutt D keeps going. Don't take any offense..you are great in my book..but we need to have some friendly competition.   Friday, June 29 View Page I have 4 plants growing from the 6.13 Zappa Brutus Magnum. All 4 plants are in my top 5 for early seedling aggressiveness. I am wondering if anyone else are trying Lee's seeds besides myself. Really happy with first impression. Will have to watch the characteristics to decide what would be best to cross with. Might do more than a delbrut this winter..imagine a nipple high super mega in 45 days.....these 6.13 bm's are stronger than the the mega-crosses. And the mega crosses blow away the big zacs for plant vigor. What a fun hobby.   Saturday, June 30 View Page Out of 6 delicious plants I have growing,5 have tossed a ribbon mega. So far I have sets on three of them. I am 95% convinced this is a trait that can be enhanced with nutritional ratios. My ratio is a bit high...all of these make a 360 degree ribbon loop. I also had to top all but one plant...curly topping way too much. Hope the sets can grow big enough from the first truss.   Saturday, June 30 View Page Here is one yet to be set. Good size flower...a monster hose to feed the fruit. At this rate it will be all or nothing on these plants. Hoping my 100+ plants do not react the same way. I can't take nutrients out of the soil and this will not be good for multiple tomatoes per plant. If they do show the first truss, extreme nutrient ribbons..i might have to reevaluate my plans. What is worth more..thousands of seeds or a few really big tomatoes..   Monday, July 2 View Page 150 sq ft patch...so far going good. I am getting about 75 to 80 percent of the secondaries on one side to make the cross over the main. I left myself enough room to run one of the last secondaries right down the edge of the boundary. Vine spacing on the grow side will be about 6 inches..good thing I am skinny. Burying the nodes on the crossed vines is difficult because they are about 3 feet shorter than normal grow side. As this grows I am doing a lot of planning which way to route the growth. I have a female that is short of target zone. Not even going to bother with it. Planned pollination is 3 feet into target zone and on the correct side of the vine. If this one sets I can loop the last secondary around the pumpkin for a vine length of about 10 feet. If everything goes as planned I will have 14 secondaries at an average of 10 feet long to feed the pumpkin. The vines closest to the set will be about 13 feet long.With an internodal length of 6 inches plus main will give me about 300+ root nodes. Should have started this plant 3 weeks earlier...   Friday, July 6 View Page Sigh, I saw qtips post of a patch protecting dog. My golden retriever has other ideas. Yesterday he discovered this bunny nest. They are still there. Every time he goes out he has to run and check to see that they are still ok. He seems quite the protective dad dog...of garden eating furry critters. Maybe he needs some real puppies.   Sunday, July 8 View Page Today was the day to pollinate my 1109 plant. I checked my diary from 2016. The 1109 was set on July 2nd so I am only 6 days behind. To offset those few days, this plant has more growth to push the fruit ( I lost 1/4 the of the plant in 2016 due to 2-4-D ). 8 males for a nice 5 lober female. Selfed for the next generation.   Sunday, July 8 View Page While waiting for the blossom to open, I prepared the growing platform. Dug down a few inches in a 5 foot circle. Base of weed fabric, then a few inches of sand, then two layers of mill fabric. The weed fabric is something new. Hopefully it will make it easier to dig out the sand at the end of the season.   Monday, July 9 View Page 150 sq foot contest. Tomorrow is the big day. The female at the ideal spot will open. High is suppose to be about 90 degrees. Hopefully can get her set. About 90% of the secondaries have been terminated. Another week and all I will have to do to this plant is watch the pumpkin grow. Maybe I should start to feed it a hydro diet..will have to think about it.   Monday, July 9 View Page Ok, Garden Rebel, I am going to follow your lead. This morning a saw two flowers on my indoor carrot. Two years ago I pulled the plant at first sign of flower. This year, I cut the stems of the flowers. I am going to give it a heavy dose of nitrogen. Hoping the plant will decide it is grow time..instead of seed time.   Wednesday, July 11 View Page Lee, I have 2 of 4 Brutus Magnums with first truss megas. Overall, my first truss mega rate is low. A few triples and a lot of doubles. This is to be expected since I have contentrated my time for the past month on the pumpkins. With the lack of watering and lack of feeding that I have given the tomatoes..should have deep roots. Depending on rain, in the next week I will give the plants a winter bnot super solution. Hoping with depth of roots and nutrient overload can push the 2nd truss to a weirdness level that Austin would approve of. Third truss will be questionable for fall weighoffs. By mid august blossoms have to be set.   Sunday, July 15 View Page I spent all day weeding,pruning and tying the tomatoes. This is about 1/2 of them. You have to be crazy to grow this many plants.   Sunday, July 15 View Page In the past few days I have been noticing more 1st truss triples+. Check this one on the 7.07. Gnarly looking..I like it. Now to grow the golden 7.07 to 7.08. It is way better than my other 7.07 or the two 4.63’s that I have growing.   Sunday, July 15 View Page Yesterday I worked on the pumpkin plants. I think will have a chance at an orange pb. Plants are looking good to me.   Sunday, July 15 View Page It looks like the chosen blossom on both plants have taken. Good thing..I am out of room on the 150 sq foot plant. Two more vines left to terminate then I will just watch the pumpkin grow.   Sunday, July 15 View Page Indoor carrot. Every few days I have to pick off a blossom but am still getting much new growth. The rate of new seed flowers forming seems to be slowing. I think I will stick with the current nutrient ratio for awhile and see how long I can keep this baby going. My outdoor carrot has root rot. Indoor will be my only hope.   Tuesday, July 17 View Page Outdoor carrot still has a chance. I dug a bit of the dirt away from where I was noticing rot. In the past two days it has dried up nicely. I havent given it any extra nutrients since transplanting it into this 55 gallon drum. I think I will try feeding it..as soon as I can decide on the menu. Lesson learned from indoor..don’t neglect the N.   Tuesday, July 17 View Page Started to buzz the first of the megablossoms. I really need days to be about 3 hours longer. Hoping this weekend for the chance to put in my irrigation system. Tomatoes have been running dry since I transplanted them...that may not be a bad thing. I need a method to feed them now..with deep roots. I am betting I can keep the title Mr 3 pounder.   Wednesday, July 18 View Page 150 sq ft plant..8 DAP. I am liking the numbers they are equal to better than full size. Now to figure out how to get it to grow big with a small root area...hmmm..if it is possible to grow a 2.5 pound tomato in a 5 gallon hydro bucket indoors what is possible for a pumpkin outdoors in 1300 gallons (150 sq ft x 14 inches deep). Forget 500 pound goal...I need to get creative to have fun. Something will be tried this weekend..just not sure what yet.   Wednesday, July 18 View Page I think I have picked the female genetics for my planned winter cross. Choosing the best of four Zappa brutus magnums. This one has a ribbon flower truss with a fused 3+ blossom. Total of about 10 flowers on this ribbon. I have another that I am considering. None of my delicious plants are telling me choose me. Unfortunately I messed up some of my early sets on these. May have to go blind for the male..or start many.   Sunday, July 22 View Page If size was my number one goal this year I would be dissappointed in my maters. I have some good triple(+’s) but overall not as good of formation as I was hoping. I am guessing that winter nutritional focus on a few plants makes a big difference as compared to 100+ plants with no added nutrient boosts. I think my best chance is either this 8.36 Boudyo with a nice ribbon blossom...   Sunday, July 22 View Page Or this monster from qtip’s 7.07. I really hope it sets fully...thinking it could have a lot of fused sections. Two days of rain did not help with pollination.   Monday, July 23 View Page I have a couple of small doubles set on the Zacheart. These won’t win the competion. 2nd truss is all singles. This is not a seed plant..what to do. I think it will be a bnot experiment. What to drench the plant with to send the plant into haywire. Have 24 hours to decide my formula..nothing to lose knowledge to gain.   Tuesday, July 24 View Page 150 sq ft pumpkin. Today is 14 DAP. Tomorrow it is suppose to rain so will not be able to get a picture. Day 14 measuring 45” cc. Daily gains are good..all vines terminated. I am thinking this 356 will grow to a bright orange ball between 500 and 700 pounds based on pollination date and grow area restriction. My biggest pumpkin will go to Gale Woods on Oct 6th. Will have to decide where this one will go for a chance to win an HD award. Will be looking for the ticket(plaque) for a chance at the Stillwater HD showdown.   Tuesday, July 24 View Page Sorry Garden Rebel..your fine zacheart seed has been sacrificed to science. The plant received 1 gallon of death tonight. Think hydro cannabis bloom ratio x 3 + extras. I am also risking my three best sets which are within 4 feet of this plant. Can’t learn how to grow extreme unless you try to grow extreme. Will give an update in one week.   Wednesday, July 25 View Page My two babies..at the rate things are growing my 150 sq ft plant is soon going to be ahead of my 600 sq ft plant even though it is a 2 day younger pollination. The last pick of the litter might surprise my coworkers.   Thursday, July 26 View Page The 7.07 is set. It looks to me like a 6 to 7 fused. It needs to get bigger so can verify the top section is joined. Unfortunately doing the math..it might be too early for Gale Woods. I also have 2 four-fused just set in the past two days. Hoping in the next 2 weeks that a few more will be set.   Saturday, July 28 View Page This is the picture of Dan Sutherlands 8.48 Very nice looking.   Saturday, July 28 View Page Spent all day working on the tomatoes pruning and weeding. Also marked each plant with a color ribbon. The color chosen was made by my evaluation of blossoms and sets. The best are the red ones..triple or better pointed in the right direction. The yellow ribbon..still too early to decide. Blues are a strong double or weak triple. Blues will be ignored the rest of the year..seed harvest. Twenty plants were pulled that didnt make the cut. Right now I have about 20 reds. That number may go up or down. Much more manageable than 120 plants. Started the first compost brew of the year. 40 gallons for the 20 plants. Time to try to grow some big ones.   Saturday, July 28 View Page This F3 wixom slammer received the red ribbon. It is from my 3.02 tomato that was grown in a 40 gallon pot. This year these genetics have a much better spot.   Saturday, July 28 View Page I was so busy with the tomatoes that I almost forgot to measure my pumpkins. 20 DAP on my 1109 67x49x46 (162 ott) for 2018 gpc weight estimate of right about 100 pounds. Note to self..to grow for beauty skip the deformed 5th lobe and go with the one 4 days later. This pumpkin is going to be bright orange but not the shape I desire.   Saturday, July 28 View Page This is nasty looking stuff after two hours. Running 80 lpm air into this 55 gallon drum. Going to have only a 24 hour brew this time. Should be bacterial predominate. Next batch will push fungal. With the 17% om in my garden the plants will have lots to eat.   Sunday, July 29 View Page This is the picture of the new world record...Way to go Dan...Slow down...I am never going to catch up at this rate.   Sunday, July 29 View Page Watering is too much work..I need to get an irrigation system put together..maybe next year. 50 gallons of black gold spread thru the garden..1 gallon at a time. This 8.36 with a nice ribbon blossom received a bit extra.   Sunday, July 29 View Page This is the planned momma for my winter cross. Nice 1st truss ribbon set. It is growing from the 6.13 Zappa Brutus Magnum seed.   Monday, July 30 View Page I need a refresher winter grow course. Looks like I did not get this 6 fused blossom fully set. I am going to remove the red ribbon from this 7.07, but still am going to grow out the remaining double for seeds. Sorry qtip.   Tuesday, July 31 View Page I am good at bell pepper growing. Look how big they are :) This is my winter plant that I took outside and didnt look at again until today. Maybe I should water it. I think I will harvest some seeds in case someone else wants to try a winter bellpepper and are desperate for seeds.   Tuesday, July 31 View Page Mr Zacheart plant..I have yet to meet a plant that I can’t curl/kill. Here is your medicine for tonight..it is KMMP+-3X . The oxheart in you must be very strong. Now Hayden has taken the lead with one of your siblings. Those two set lower doubles are not going to be enough.   Wednesday, August 1 View Page I like the shape of this set. It is from my 3.97. I have been looking at my rag tag garden..it would take much time and effort to bring it up to top level. I don’t see it happening for a very long time. Retirement is only 12 years away.   Sunday, August 5 View Page Since i now own the megamuttD (thanks wixom even though the price was rather high :)),I thought I should take a picture of a MegamuttD. I think I read somewhere that tomatoes are not good companion plants with pumpkins. Oops, maybe this 5.24 might be bit too close. Can’t change it now.   Sunday, August 5 View Page Are these eaton seeds legit? www.bigpumpkins.com/MsgBoard/ViewThread.asp?b=1&p=640854   Sunday, August 5 View Page I am actually very happy with the 50 cu yds of soil I brought in. I have yet to use this year any fungicide. So far I am not seeing any sign of disease. That worried me. I wonder if one of my two oranges can receive the ticket for entry to the Stillwater Showdown. Maybe still a chance.   Saturday, August 11 View Page My two orange babies are doing fine. The bigger plant is gaining 28 pounds per day. The 150 plant I have never measured. So far this year they have received one application of merit 75 and one application of eagle 20. They are doing well for the lack of time spent on them.   Saturday, August 11 View Page The megamuttD agrees with me. This one of my best sets..even if it shares a very close boundary with the pumpkin. I don’t know why this variety does so well in my garden.   Sunday, August 12 View Page Seed factory doing ok. Tends to run a bit dry..no irrigation, having a few issues with aphids..no pesticide, showing a bit of blight..no fungicide. But in spite of all this should harvest many thousands of seeds. I do not expect to break 4 pounds this year.   Sunday, August 12 View Page Is this going to be the last original 7.33 Hunt Delicious seed ever grown? Nah...I still have one seed left.   Sunday, August 12 View Page I surrendered to the mighty zacheart. No matter what I tossed at it, it didnt budge from what it wanted to do. Going to leave two tomatoes on this plant..this lower double and a double a few trusses higher.   Monday, August 13 View Page This year is a lesson in how to not win the stillwater showdown. My 1109 at 35 dap, 294 ott, 587 est pounds. Not enough time to take proper care of this plant. Never has had a sheet covering...will it be canteloped? 1/3 of the vines are not buried..no foliar feeding. Some year I will grow this genetic line to it’s potential..just not this year.   Tuesday, August 14 View Page 150 sq ft pumpkin. Measuring mid 400’s right now. Not impressed with color development. Debating between 6 weighoff locations for my two pumpkins. This will be a non winner at all of them. Too small and not HD. Good thing can still have fun.   Tuesday, August 14 View Page 120 tomato plants..I have megas everywhere. I have triple doubles on the same truss, have double triples combined with single on other plants. Most of the triples are not hammocked. Very few plants pruned to grow big. Next year need to find a minnesota hobby farmer to grow seeds so I can concentrate on growing big. Minnesota growers..if you know of a possibility get them in contact with me.   Friday, August 17 View Page My 1109 at 40 dap. Measuring about 700 pounds. I am going to start weekly cleaning with a soft rag. If it gets dq’d for looking too shiny orange that not my problem. Goal is 1000 pounds by Sept 1st. I am ahead of 1109 growth by date..I think good chance of new pb coming from this many generation selfed line.   Saturday, August 18 View Page There are only about 4 tomato plants that I am spending any time with. I do have to try to grow an entry for Gale Woods. I am worried that I am pollinated about a week too early. Lets hope for some cool weather.   Sunday, August 19 View Page I love wixom’s crosses. Wondering if this will be the biggest wixom slammer ever grown. It is wixom slammer-3.77 borgers-3.02 borgers-... taping 21 inches with weeks to grow. Anyone else growing out the F generations besides myself?   Monday, August 20 View Page MegamuttD..I am guessing about 3 weeks after pollination. Measuring not quite 22 inches. If I was a good grower I would know what to feed her..I have not curled the leaves yet. Maybe I will stick with the current routine...drink a beer and watch her grow. If can get another 25 days of growth..Gale Woods here I come with the second megamuttD. If this one follows the momma...blight will not be it’s downfall.   Wednesday, August 22 View Page In the next three weeks you might get tired of pictures from my megamuttD. My best guess is this tomato was pollinated right about August 1st. Its measurements on day 22 are 23x20x18, which multiplies out to 8280. Using an mFactor of .00048 gives an estimated weight of 3.974. This is the fastest growing tomato I have ever had. This weekend will be wanting to mix up a special brew of compost tea just for this plant. I have pulled some of the competing tomato plants next to this one. Debating about taking out one of the pumpkin secondaries..why did I plant so close...Next measurement will be on sunday, will have a better idea of its potential after that.   Thursday, August 23 View Page MegamuttD keeps getting more space to herself. This weekend depending on measurements will determine if a few secondaries disappear from the pumpkin plant. What is the trade off of 50 pounds less weight on a 1200 pound pumkin as compared to a potential 1 pound bigger tomato. Fungicide this evening, rain tomorrow, super compost tea brew started tomorrow night. I am finally getting excited about growing this season. Shutting 90% of the computer projects down has helped me rediscover the passion.   Friday, August 24 View Page We are ready for Gale Woods. Had my scale recalibrated and certified for this year. It held quite stable for the past year. It was off 2 grams at the high range of 10000 grams (22 pounds). It was recalibrated to show the right number. I think I have a good scale...only .02 % off at the high extreme range after one year. How many years before tomatoes are out of the range of my scale?   Saturday, August 25 View Page The 1109 at 48 DAP. 338” OTT for an estimated weight of 887. Averaging a bit over 20 pounds per day now. A lot of rain forecast for the next 10 days...hope she doesnt split.   Sunday, August 26 View Page Unsure if my 150 plant will survive until weigh off. She was taping a bit over 600 pounds at about day 45. The heavy rain on friday did not agree with the pumpkin. Small split by the stem on saturday..bigger today. It is not thru yet but we have more rain forecast. Who would have thought it was possible to blow up a pumpkin in only 150 sq ft.   Sunday, August 26 View Page Seed factory is doing what it is suppose to he doing...putting out lots of tomatoes. Been a bit negligent in weeding and tying up the plants but it is all good. Should be harvesting thousands of seeds.   Sunday, August 26 View Page I ran out of hammocks. I know I have triples that are just hanging on a single stem. Some trusses are going to be way overloaded. Losing a few tomatoes even if they are big triples wont be the end of the season for me.   Sunday, August 26 View Page Still trying to time my super tea around predicted rainfall. 55 gallon drum bubbling nicely. Going with 3 airpumps on it. No way do I want to be dropping anaroebic microbiology on my prize plants. Going to incubate the tea bag for 24 to 48 hours before the actual brew to push fungal formation. I have to wonder if I have read too much or not enough.   Sunday, August 26 View Page Yesterday the megamutt 3 way measurements were just about equal to 5 pounds using .00048 as the multiplier. I am not going to use foliar nutrients. I feel that September is hard enough on the leaves that I want them as healthy as I can keep them. Trying to be careful and still get most of the potential from this plant.   Wednesday, August 29 View Page MegamuttD..day 29..measurements 25x23x20 using .00048 as mFactor gives estimated weight of pb of 5.50 pounds. Come on baby..stay green for another 17 days for the trip to Gale Woods.   Wednesday, August 29 View Page 1109, still gaining 26 pounds per day even with the 50 degree nights we have been having. Taping 348 for est weight of 963. Decided today that she is headed to Stillwater. 45 days left to grow.   Wednesday, August 29 View Page Started the super brew last night. Went way heavy with ingredient levels. With the low temps from last night I am thinking it might not be prime yet. Going to let it go another day to 48 hours. Not lacking oxygen..pumping 110 lpm (3.88 cfm) into 40 gallons. I am thinking this will be the final brew of the season.   Friday, August 31 View Page My big megamutt ribboned right before first truss. 1/2 of the ribbon went to the mega cluster. The other grew normally to the higher levels. I expected the ribbon split to go kracken but it stayed fused to the main and only grew out a few inches to support the tomato. Strength of this growth pattern is good. I can remove the hammocks and the estimated weight 5.75 (as of this morning) doesnt sag. Fingers crossed...only about 1/2 pound to go to become the biggest wixom’s crosses ever grown. Hoping to go over that milestone sometime next week. It is fun when something big grows.   Friday, August 31 View Page My biggest besides the megamutt is this f3 wixom slammer. Best guess is it is about 4 pounds. I think the biggest wixom slammer ever grown is 4.8 so there is still a chance of becoming the biggest.   Friday, August 31 View Page After the first two...I have quite a few young three pounders. Most of these won’t reach there potential because of multiple fruit on the vine and lack of pruning. I am still watching how they develop to make choices for next years plants. This is one from the 8.36 Boudyo.   Friday, August 31 View Page Noticed today, my second megamutt plants wants some attention. This higher set might have a chance to go to Stillwater..Oct 13th. I probably should cull the lower three pounder off soon to give this one a chance.   Saturday, September 1 View Page I picked the lower zacheart tomato this morning. The one remaining fruit on the plant will now hopefully start to grow faster.   Saturday, September 1 View Page Giving daughter of persistance a bit of sunshine. Hoping to deepen the orange a bit and smooth out the lighter spots. She is taping over 1000 pounds eighteen days before her momma. I think I will name her...hmmm where is my baby name book....   Sunday, September 2 View Page Third tomato in my garden to reach 4 pound est weight is this Brutus Magnum. Current bnot garden standings 1-MegamuttD, 2-Wixom Slammer, 3-Brutus Magnum. Considering 90% of the seeds of my 120 plants were Big Zacs,it is surprising that no Big Zac is in the top three. The next that might reach the 4 pound est weight could be the 7.33 Hunt Delicious.   Sunday, September 2 View Page I spent Friday at Ecogarden talking with Zowie and coming up with the prizes for the Gales Woods "Guess the winning weight contest". http://www.bigpumpkins.com/msgboard/ViewThread.asp?b=33&p=641655 Some of these products I have never tried...wish I had guessed a higher number. Still plenty of time to enter your guess. Thank you Zowie for your assistance.   Monday, September 3 View Page Blight is starting to hit hard in the seed patch. I took a walk around with my measuring tape and found four more tomatoes that tape over 4 pounds for a total of 7.Maybe can get one to last until Gale Woods. Made the decision to be lazy in seed harvesting. Since all if the seed plants are big zac, unless the fruit measures over 4 pounds the seeds will be harvested together. The genetics are close enough that the intended target growers for distribution won’t be concerned if the seed comes from the 7.19 line or the 8.36 line. If they get hooked with giant growing in future years they can seek out pedigreed seeds.   Monday, September 3 View Page I sent this picture to Eddy yesterday. At 33 DAP the megamutt is measuring 26x23x21 for an estimated weight of right about 6 pounds. 12 days to stay green for a long shot to make it to the fall weighoffs. Night temps for the next 10 days will be consistently in the 50’s. That should slow down ripening.   Monday, September 3 View Page I haven’t given up on the zacheart competition yet. Going to be hard to grow 4 with just a double..but at least it is nipple high.   Tuesday, September 4 View Page My hopes for a really big tomato are not to be. I see the first sign of color today. I did not expect this..it was still gaining 1/4 inch per day.I have a feeling will have to go for early tomato. Still will be pb.   Wednesday, September 5 View Page Since there has been discussion of crosses on the tomato board, I thought I would show the parents of my planned cross. This tomato is currently weighing about 4 1/2 pounds. It is from the 6.13 Zappa Brutus Magnum. Notice the unique shape of the fruit. This is consistent on all 3 of the Brutus Magnums I have. Foliage has thinner leaves and almost a willowy appearance. It will be crossed with...see next post...   Wednesday, September 5 View Page The second parent will probably be from this one. It is growing from a 7.33 Hunt Delicious seed. Currently weighing about 4 pounds. Much different fruit shape and foliage characteristics. Both good megablossoms. I think it could really be interesting to see what the f1 does and even more important what will be the best f2. I think breeding for the recessive good could be beneficial.   Wednesday, September 5 View Page The F3 Wixom Slammer also started flashing yesterday. Measuring 25 1/2 inches in this direction but using 3 way measurements and subtracting for the air gap at the top, I am guessing it will weigh between 4 and 4 1/2 pounds. Megamutt still grew even after the first blush. Hope the red comes slow. Slow enough and I might try to push the 3 week storage window to 3 1/2 weeks.   Wednesday, September 5 View Page My 150 sq ft plant was a disappointment in the pursuit of orange. It is slowly gaining some color but still no HD candidate. Measurements 140,89,86 for an ott of 315 and est weight of 720 pounds. I keep changing my mind as to where my two pumpkins are going to be weighed.   Friday, September 7 View Page My timing for Gale Woods is all off. My biggest tomatoes are flashing a week to two weeks too early. My later higher sets will probably be too young. Going to sacrifice a few seed plants to see what I can get for late season. This is one of them..It is from my 4.38 clone that tossed the big mega last winter.   Friday, September 7 View Page Still chosing my late sets for Gales Woods. So far 5.24 megamuttD plant two, 4.38 clone and now this one. It is from the 3.64 plant that I traded Wile Coyote for this spring. Going to be some hard choices to be made on this one. I have about a four pounder set down below..do I cull a four pounder for a better chance at the fall weighoffs?   Saturday, September 8 View Page I am in pb territory now. Dauper is now taping the same as her momma’s final weight. Still about a month to go until weighoffs. Her coloration is much better in sunshine than sunset. Still trying to decide which weighoff. If I don’t get my tractor fixed in time it may be none.   Sunday, September 9 View Page This is why the megamuttD started flashing early. In the rain last week the tomato started to separate from the main vine even though it was double hammocked. Next year will use a different style. It will be weighed in a little over two hours. Meeting Wile Coyote at the grow store for an early weigh off. Hope it goes heavy.   Sunday, September 9 View Page Had an enjoyable time weighing tomatoes with Wile Coyote. The first one I weighed was an F3 Wixom Slammer grown from my 3.02. It came in a bit heavier than I expected at 4.80 pounds. I am guessing the next generation will be in my garden again next summer.   Sunday, September 9 View Page The other that I brought to weigh was my megamuttD. I can’t complain about the weight 6.32 pounds but my pb is damaged. It had a soft spot right where the tomato was growing against the support stake. Something to correct next season.   Sunday, September 9 View Page Bottom side of the 6.32 . I will be harvesting seeds from this one soon . Now to find a tomato to take to Gale Woods.   Tuesday, September 11 View Page It is September and I am getting really lazy. My grower technique now is sit on the deck and admire the orange glow coming from the garden. Does it matter at these low weights if I am gaining 5 pounds or 7 pounds per day. Watering backed way off..just cruising to a healthy finish.   Wednesday, September 12 View Page Still looking for my Gale Woods tomato. Maybe this will be the one? No sandbagging here.   Wednesday, September 12 View Page Or maybe it will be this one....   Wednesday, September 12 View Page This one is good size but flashing a bit too early...timing is difficult.   Wednesday, September 12 View Page Seed harvesting cart keeps getting fuller...I still have about 400-500 tomatoes on the vine to pick. The green ones on the cart were to give a plant a chance to produce a big one for Gale Woods. Guesstimation..will have 50,000 seeds that are big zac grown from genetics from a 6 pound or better tomato. This winter my challenge will be to see how many of these seeds I can get sprouted in all 50 states.   Thursday, September 13 View Page If wile is doubling manufacturers recomendations for nutrients I better kick up my game. Greg, after you left on Sunday I found this...wonder how it compares to Dunkels. If you are going for 26 inches, I have to go for 26.5 I think the only plant I have that could reach it is the 3.64 that you traded to me this spring. It sucks that next week we are dropping to nighttime temps of high 40’s low 50’s. Wonder if I could find the time on Sunday to build a mini-greenhouse.   Friday, September 14 View Page Still might have a chance at the Zacheart competition if Garden Rebel takes himself out. Tomato is still green and still growing. Only about 3 more days before everything shuts down because of cold. Long shot to gain 1/2 inch in 3 days but anything is possible.   Saturday, September 15 View Page Picked some more tomatoes for seed harvest today. Seed extraction from about 40 tomatoes today. I have a five gallon bucket of tomato mush now. Had a surprise..found a tomato that grew bigger than it’s parent even though it had no care and multiple fruit growing at the same time. It is 4.09 pounds grown from my 4.01 which was my first ever 4 pound tomato from the 6.83 Boudyo. I think I will harvest seeds separately from this one.   Saturday, September 15 View Page Don’t look Greg..I think I have a plan. Last Spring we tossed out a worn out grow tent, but I kept the frame. Will save time now, I won’t have to build the frame. Now to figure out cooling before duct taping the plastic on...yes duct tape for the win!   Sunday, September 16 View Page I think my wife will be happy when the weighoffs are over. 3 tomatoes in the fridge now but I am guessing none will survive the 3 weeks. I still have a bigger one on the vine.   Sunday, September 16 View Page I am a little bit behind on mini greenhouse construction. 4 hours per day seed harvesting is not helping. I do have a fan now. Special price from the grow store for customer loyalty points and the promise to bring in 6.32 seeds. This baby is going to move some air. Wonder which direction I should hook it up..push or pull. One direction I will probably implode the greenhouse and the other will probably explode it. New toys are fun.   Sunday, September 16 View Page MegamuttD plant 2 timing is all wrong. This year’s grow season is not going to extend to Nov 1st. What a waste of a superblossom.   Monday, September 17 View Page Picked my biggest tomato that I have left. With already about an inch of rain and more forecast for the next 4 days I did not want to take a chance with damaged. Unless one of my younger sets picks up the pace this one will be my Gale Woods entry...if she survives 2 weeks 5 days in the refrigerator.   Tuesday, September 18 View Page Look at what popped up tonight. I decided to do things the easy way and spend $42 on amazon. It should be interesting to compare the growth between this temp controlled plant and the other 5 sets that are about the same age. Not a completely accurate comparison..this one is already 2 inches ahead of the rest.   Tuesday, September 18 View Page The seed harvest cart gets filled up everyday. I remember a few years ago when I was excited about a 3 pound tomato. Now unless I feel they have a chance to go four..i dont even weigh them. Only about one more month of this work.   Wednesday, September 19 View Page Going to find out storage length this year. These tomatoes vary between 1 1/2 weeks to a few days in storage. I shouldn’t be giving my competitors ideas but I am rotating the tomatoes daily. What was on the bottom becomes what is on top. On saturday will try the Konieczny recharge on at least one of these. One more hint...the front left is the 4.80 wixom slammer from my 3.02 that Wile witnessed being weighed.   Thursday, September 20 View Page I am regretting going to 17% OM in the soil. Retains moisture much more than when I was growing in pure sand. I feel sorry for any grower in the area that is on clay. Bad time of the year to be getting a multi-day drench.   Friday, September 21 View Page I picked my final zacheart tomato tonight. It measured 22 1/4 inches cc. As you can see the double fused nicely. 4.19 pounds for weight.   Friday, September 21 View Page The top side is ugly. All the flesh is dry and it not leaking. I call it sound but it would not win any Alexander Livingston award.   Friday, September 21 View Page Per GPC early entry suggestions I tried to use a flashlight to highlight some of the crevices on top. The angle and distance that camera and flashlight are placed can really change the image. I might try this later this season to see the effect of light on a tomato I would considered damaged. I think witnesses is still the best validity.   Saturday, September 22 View Page Second wagon load of seeds today. The rain has put my harvesting behind. At the estimate of 3000 seeds per wagon load, I should reach my first goal easily. Second goal will be more difficult..getting the seeds planted next spring.   Saturday, September 22 View Page Another 5 gallons of seed mush. Estimating about 8000 seeds per bucket. I am using the fermentation method. I was concerned about odor but it is not so bad. I let them ferment outdoors.   Sunday, September 23 View Page My 4.8 f3 wixom slammer only survived 2 weeks in storage before leaking. Uh oh...my biggest need to go 2 1/2 weeks.   Sunday, September 23 View Page I think my orange will survive 3 days of heavy rain. One new stem split but sealing up nicely. Six days and she is headed towards Rapid City. Bring in a prettier orange..I would be happy to lose if I can bring a better looking one to the stillwater showdown. Colorado and Utah..do you have one to beat this.   Monday, September 24 View Page My second biggest is not going to survive storage. It weighed 5.08 off the vine from my 4.38 seed. I had doubts about it making it because of the bruise from the stake. I see the bruise spot going soft...time to harvest some seeds before it starts leaking. At this rate I might be down to 3 pounders by the time Gale Woods arrives.   Monday, September 24 View Page Trying the soak for the first time. Using my new second best for the test. If this works will drop my biggest into the bath next. Going to keep it in fridge. No temperature fluctuation.   Monday, September 24 View Page Temp controlled outdoor tomato is still doing fine. Gaining a solid 1/2 inch+ per day. 12 days will probably be too early for max size. Hoping that my biggest refrigerated tomato can hold on for Gale Woods and this one can go to Stillwater.   Tuesday, September 25 View Page Tonight I cut open to harvest seeds my 3.80 Brutus Magnum from the 6.13 Zappa . It has the most air gaps inside that I have seen. Planned to be crossed with the next entry.   Tuesday, September 25 View Page My 3.82 from the 7.33 Hunt delicious shows much different inside appearance. Neither plant was in a prime spot. Hoping that the winter cross can be successful and will be able to observe how two different plant foliages and fruit structures can blend together.   Friday, September 28 View Page Loaded with a little bobcat. Go west old man.   Friday, September 28 View Page Nothing to look at back there. It is good to see lots of orange.   Friday, September 28 View Page Have reached the South Dakota border. Wonder how many pictures have been taken already. Going to be a long night to get to the other side of the state.   Saturday, September 29 View Page Rapid City, Sd..second place at the weighoff with my now 1211 Borgers. Congrats Kevin Marsh with the win. The important thing..I was awarded the HD award. Stillwater here I come.   Monday, October 1 View Page Another refrigerated tomato is going soft. This was a 4.87 off the vine. I am down to one in storage. Fortunately it is my biggest. It has been stored for two weeks now..will it survive another 5 days.   Monday, October 1 View Page I am disapointed in myself. I just lost 10,000 seeds. Extracted the seeds the day I was road tripping to a weighoff and in the rush did not get them spread thin enough to dry quickly. Checked them tonight..they have sprouted. 100 tomatoes and about 8 hours of harvesting labor lost. Next year..no seed growing for me..there has to be another option.   Friday, October 5 View Page One day to go...I think it might survive the almost 3 weeks of storage.   Friday, October 5 View Page Pumpkin from the 150 sq ft plant gets weighed tomorrow.It is a muddy mess back in the garden. Had trouble with my 4x4 truck getting stuck until I had the weight of the pumpkin in it. Good luck to everyone this weekend.   Friday, October 5 View Page Received a tripod top from Steve Handy today. Excellent craftsmanship. Thanks Steve. I should have the steel pipe by next weekend. This is going to be so much more manageable than 4x4 wooden beams.   Saturday, October 6 View Page Had an enjoyable day at Gale Woods. My official weight for my 150 sq ft plant came in a few pounds under chart at 797. Still my PB in the 150 contest.   Saturday, October 6 View Page Here is the Larry Hill with his winning tomato at 7.66 pounds. It was grown on his 5.175 seed which was from the 5.30 MacCoy. I think he should look happier with going home with a thousand dollar check. It was great to see you Larry..hope we have many more years of friendly tomato competition.   Saturday, October 6 View Page I left this morning with one pumpkin and came back with two ...hmmm, what is up with that? Oh, remember the HD challenge at Stillwater.. I have Doug Wallace’s HD winner from Gale Woods. What a beautiful solid orange color. Looks like I will be transporting two pumpkins to Stillwater next week..both grown from my 1109 seed. So far it has grown 3 HD winners. Hope to see many other HD winners there. This is the event for the orange growers.   Sunday, October 7 View Page At the Anoka weighoff..look at all the orange. Going to be difficult choice to pick the HD winner   Wednesday, October 10 View Page Finding a tomato for Gale Woods and Anoka was difficult. Stillwater is worse. 4 weeks of clouds, rain, cold and blight have really slowed things down. Many green tomatoes still on the vine growing not at all..can I find a three pounder? What does qtip still have left..3 days until our Stillwater rematch.   Friday, October 12 View Page Ready for the orange lineup at Stillwater. Truck is very close to it’s rated payload capacity..Hope adding a tomato tomorrow morning doesn’t put it over.   Friday, October 12 View Page My green pepper plant is almost one year old. I started it last winter had two crops indoors, ignored it outside all summer and had a third crop. Months of not watering really shrunk the plant down. Surprise it is getting new growth low on the plant. With last night low temp of 29 degrees I brought it back inside. Wonder how it will do with a tree trunk for a stem and some good hydro nutrients indoors this winter. Going to start out with keeping only one set for this next round. Maybe I will be over my pb set last winter.   Sunday, October 14 View Page Weigh offs are done..back to seed harvesting. I probably only have about 150 more tomatoes on vine, still green yet to harvest. Hoping to about to wrap it up next weekend. As I sit thru the hours of scooping the seeds out, I daydream. What would it mean to the tomato world if 20,000 seedlings of world record potential were available at walmarts next spring. I am trying to plan my moves. No guarantees but I will have the seeds that could do it.   Monday, October 15 View Page I am starting to get quite a few seed requests. All my biggest are getting close to dry. What I will be sending will be 6.32 Dmg MegamuttD, 5.60 Big Zac, 5.08 Big Zac, 4.87 Big Zac,4.80 Wixom Slammer, 4.19 Zacheart and 4.09 Big Zac. Yes, Garden Rebel, I expect the Zacheart to go another generation. I have enough seeds to probably satisfy about 15 more requests. After that I will be down to my 20,000 unknown genetic link big zac seed stock. Those may not be too bad either..genetics from the 8.61,8.41 and 8.38 are in there.   Saturday, October 20 View Page I stopped at Ecogarden to get supplies to start my winter grow. Looks like they are a little bit ahead. This is their MegamuttD (from my 5.24) in hydro. I checked it out carefully. The foliage looks really healthy. First blossoms are just starting to form. I think they need to start to do more pruning. I am going to soak breeder seeds today..Brutus Magnum and Delicious. These will go into four 15 gallon pots..2 of each. Maybe tomorrow (possibly today) will start a couple of hydro plants. Thinking I will try the 6.32 Megamutt and my 5.08 Big Zac from the 4.38. I have a feeling I will have a full grow room again before January.   Sunday, October 21 View Page I have my breeder pots ready to go. The mixture will never be duplicated, I used up old supplies. 3 different brands of potting soil, 2 different brands of earthworm castings, a bit of alaskan humus, 2 different composts,lots of gypsum(going to fight BER from day one), lots of epsom salt to offset the gypsum, and a hodge podge of other ingredients. Had just enough leftover supplies to fill the pots. Guess I will have no choice but to grow the next ones hydro.   Sunday, October 28 View Page All nine of my winter breeder seeds have sprouted. I have moved the top 4 to bigger pots and the other 5 to 3/4 gallon pots as backup. Hope the crossing is succesful. Will the DelBrut be able to keep up with the other new crosses. Wixom, the crossing master, kick it up a gear. Invest in a heater..tomatoes don’t grow very fast at 50 degrees.   Thursday, November 1 View Page Zacheart prize arrived today. Thank you Rick. I love the paperweight. It will probably be on my desk forever. I wish I could grow tomatoes to this density.   Thursday, November 1 View Page I am all set to capture the beauty of the megablossoms. Canon 80d body, 100 mm F2.8 macro lens and a macroflash unit. Come on winter plants, get a little bit bigger..the start of your modeling career is soon.   Tuesday, November 13 View Page My winter grow is not going well. Hayden is showing beautiful 2 week old plants and this is what I have after a month. I think some family issues might be interfering. Good thing the season can always start the next day. i might have to restart in December.   Tuesday, November 20 View Page Winter tomato plants are looking a little bit better. Remembering to water them on occasion and turn on the lights. Growing projects are at a stand still. I am expecting to be growing in new dirt next summer. Thanks for emails everyone..things should work out fine, just need to get over a life hump.   Wednesday, November 21 View Page The brutus magnum plants handle harsh environments better than the hunt delicious genetics. I am still choosing the plants to cross. This is the leader of the delicious parent. DelBrut by spring.   Saturday, November 24 View Page Hayden, I think we have some competition this winter. I stopped by and saw Zowie at Ecogarden. He is growing my 5.24 megamutt in a 4x4 tent. The plant looks really healthy growing SOG method. As you can see he has not pruned very much.   Saturday, November 24 View Page Zowie already has three megas set. He has more coming. I gave him what little knowledge that I had but expect to be asking for his expertise shortly. Decades of involvement in indoor growing is showing.   Saturday, November 24 View Page This is the setup he is using. All the roots are in a 6 inch block that is being fed from a nutrient tank. I did not expect such a big plant could come from such a small root area. Quick calculation a 6 inch block is equal to about a gallon.   Sunday, November 25 View Page You might have to pick new colors Hayden. You can’t take yourself out of the prize pool. I have already committed to providing ribbons again for this years competition. I think they are just as nice as the GPC ones.   Monday, November 26 View Page My three breeder plants that i have left (one brutus magnum and two delicious)..are all showing their first blossoms. This is at least a triple on this delicious. If i can move pollen from this plant into the brutus magnum I might try to grow this one out for size. I have had good luck with the delicious variety indoors.   Friday, December 14 View Page I should really remember to water and vibrate my winter plants. Too busy figuring out where I am going to be growing next summer. Looking at a house tomorrow that is on a 1 acre property in Andover, Mn. I am expecting to be making an offer on it. I started giant growing with 350 sq ft. 10,000 sq ft might be possible in 4 months.   Thursday, December 20 View Page Surprise..I have a set. Nice mega set on the hunt delicious genetic plant. Unfortunately the brutus magnum is not looking so good. Hoping to start round two over the holidays.   Thursday, December 20 View Page Indoor bell pepper keeps growing also. Maybe this should be my new technique..ignore the plants and let the genetics show their capability.   Tuesday, December 25 View Page I spent Christmas afternoon cleaning the grow room. I am down to two delicious plants in soil right now. Not to fear...New Years is not here. Last year I grew 2.51 lbs before spring with a Jan 1st start. Going to try to be bigger this year.   Friday, December 28 View Page First hydro tank. Testing the pumps and connections. It is getting close to start time. Checked on Zowie yesterday. He has one starting to flash on his massive plant. I am guessing it should be a bit over a pound. He has some other mega sets..on clones from the massive megamutt. I have never had a mega on a clone. Looking at his cloning setup..he is using an aeroponic cloner...getting very strong roots. Watch out Henry and Hayden..there are few hydro growers this winter.   Friday, December 28 View Page All three hydro tanks are running a cleaning solution. Each plant will be in a 13 gallon DWC container and will have it’s own chiller, air pump and 315 watt ceramic metal halide light. Same set up as I finished last winter with. I do not expect to change much this year. Next year should be more interesting with new grow room.   Friday, December 28 View Page Have picked this winter’s competition seeds. The 5.08 is probably not going to survive..I am curious if I can duplicate the ribbon mega from last December. Rockwool is soaking in conditioner. Seeds will be soaked tonight. Yes I am starting 3 days earlier. I am excited about thinking about growing for the next few months.   Friday, December 28 View Page I forgot to post a picture of my soil tomato. Fighting off signs of early BER. Notice the brown spots. Spraying the fruit 3 times a day with RotStop. It appears to be turning the corner. This is at least an 8 fused. I havent topped this plant. I am going to pull the other delicious that is tossing singles with a few doubles and start a replacement Brutus Magnum. Still have the rest of winter to try to make my cross.   Sunday, December 30 View Page Now that the tanks are clean, I can think about nutrients. I am going to run a different solution in each tank and compare results. First tank will get the General Hydroponics three part formula. I have used this for the past two years. I don’t follow the recommended feeding schedule but feel comfortable with the product. The next bucket is going to have Canna Aqua nutrients in it. I have never used this product so it should be interesting to see the results. Third bucket is going to be my play bucket. I have liquid organic N,P and K. Should be able to dial in any ratio I want. I have been warned that the organic is going to gunk up the system much quicker, so I will have to set up a holding bucket for cleaning the main tank. All tanks should also be getting CalMg, Potassium Silicate and MicroBlast. It is possible that I might be adding rooting enhancer, willow extract, kelp extract etc to the tanks as i get bored. A collection of 3 years of nutrients gives me many choices. Come on seeds...I am ready to grow.   Sunday, December 30 View Page I like the directions on Canna nutients. It is not just how many ml/gallon. I like the way it states the strength in EC. PPM is meter dependent..EC is same for all meters. Veg formula works out to a 1 to 1 mix ratio of 5-3-6. Flower is 3-4-9. This is not far off from what I have been using. Still have to do some calculations of the micro’s. I think the megamutt 6.32 will be the seed in Canna.