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[email protected]

Of the 540 seeds we packed & handed out to my son's school's pupils & faculty, we decided to plant the one he received here at home. It is the open pollinated 194 Chapel '03 which is the 444 Derosier x open. No one has seen pictures of this little item since it got a very late start & hasn't done a thing to impress us.

First it produced a flat vine. The flatty then split into a double. No problem. Stephen & I cut off the weaker of the two mains & figured all would be well. The fool thing hasn't grown 2 feet since then & that was 4 weeks ago. LOL

Is this common behavior for flat vines or are we just blessed with a loser plant?

Also worth mentions; It is growing in the remains of our former compost pile & has virtually no mineral soil in the root zone. I never nutrient tested the area, but it is as close to 100% organic matter as possible. This may have something to do with it, but the weeds back there grow very well so it's not likely to be lacking.

Pics will have to wait until I install the software for our new camera.

7/14/2004 10:24:02 PM

Hudsonville, Michigan ([email protected])

Steve:
I had virtually the same thing happen to my 992 Bobier....It went flat then double, then I trimmed the weaker and finally terminated the main entirely and went with a secondary. No growth - I mean zero- for 10 days and it looked so stunted and sickly that I finally yanked it last weekend. A backup plant is now taking that soil and growing 12 to 16" a day. I think the problem was in the genes, though my high pH may have played a factor ... the new plant in that soil appears Mg deficient.
Good luck with it...
Frank

7/14/2004 10:43:39 PM

Ohio

Tremor, you sure that new camera isnt mine?, I sent my camera back to dell like a month ago Maybe they sent it to your address instead,,,Hmmmmmmmmm. Im still waiting for them to SEND IT BACK!!,lol

7/15/2004 7:53:15 AM

Kenyon, Mn.

The 747.2 Hunt went flat for about a foot, went twins,equal length,both Vibant and healthy, held breath "WHACK" Remaining now at 16' Picking up speed, How about sub soil Tremor? An advantage to this one plant is that it is growing in a section of my Regular garden, that has been ammended every year and cared for organically for 8 years

7/15/2004 9:15:38 AM

[email protected]

No soil prep at all. I started dumping leaves & grass clippings there when I bought the place 10 years ago. Last fall we used a backhoe to pull the majority of the "black gold" out into the main patch where it's been tilled in.

The last 8-10 inches remains on top of the unamended native soil & this is all the poor thing is growing in. I really never expected Stephen to want to grow this seed & hadn't planned for it.

It's no great loss really. But he'd have been excited to have one plant that Dad didn't help him with (much ;o). We still have the school plants plus he has some Long Gourds going. And he is also my highly skilled & diligent tendril picher extraorinaire, so all of our growing efforts include him.

7/15/2004 9:30:57 AM