The 2006 Season ............
Again I start with several yards of leaf
compost. It's my alternative to manure which is hard for me to get.
Most of it has been spread in the patches but I will keep some for use in covering the vines as they grow. Two weeks to go until I start my seeds for this year.
29 April....This year I'm going to try something a little different with one plant. I'm going to put soil heating cables in the 905 patch to see if warmer soil will help get some early growth.
9 May.... The seeds have germinated and its time to get them in the patch. My 905 was quick as expected but the 748* Koch was slow to germinate. Now it's time to get them outsde in the patch before they get to big for the pots.
(left 905Toftness, right 748*Koch)
21 May....The plants have been out almost 2 weeks now but don't look much different. The leaves are still small. The picture of the 748* patch shows most of the area covered with plastic to prevent weeds. In the background is the 5 x 5 hut covering the 748*Koch plant. In the foreground is a sawhorse with plastic covering 2 more plants. One is another 905 which will be used for male flowers if needed and then removed. The other plant is from a pumpkin which was culled last year from the 707 plant when the fruit was only 20 days old. After 43 days the seeds were harvested. The cross was 707Toftness01 x 851Reynolds04. The 851 was the Ct. state record at the time so it was an interesting cross to make. With the seeds being only 20 days they were hard to germinate. My plan is to self pollinate it and get mature seeds.
(left 905Toftness, right 748*Koch)
6 June....Time to open up the 905 plant and let it out. As you can see in the picture below it has run out of room to grow. Seems like it rains every day so it's easy to see the footprint of the house. I use bamboo stakes to train the vine and support the leaves while the plant is small and has not developed enough roots to hold it in place. The silt fence is an inexpensive and reusable windbreak. It comes in 100 foot rolls and I expand the enclosed area as the plant grows. When I'm out of fence the plant is well established and the fence is no longer needed until next year. The 748* is slower so it has room to grow in its house for a while.
(905Toftness)
10 June....Time to get the 748*Koch out. At least one of its leaves is to tall and broke its stem so I can't wait any longer.
(748*Koch)
16 June....Warm weather has finally arrived. What a difference the temperature makes and the plants respond. Temperature in the high 80's today and a promise of a heat wave for the weekend!!
(left 905Toftness, right 748*Koch)
17 June.....The weather people lied again, so much for the heatwave. Yesterday they told us it would be in the 90's for 3 days. My pumpkins were excited but what do I find today........overcast with temperatures in the 70's for the weekend. Ever wonder how they can be so wrong and still get paid? On the up side I guess, at least the young plants won't be at risk of wilting due to high temperatures and not enough root structure to support them yet.
24 June.....This has been a nice week with warm temperatures and only 5 days of rain. Already 2 inches today and rain expected every day for the next 5 days. Whats with the weather. Plants are doing well in spite of the weather. The secondary vines are starting to run and the first females appeared this week. They will be to close to pollinate so I will wait for later ones.
(left 905Toftness, right 748*Koch)
1 July....The weather has improved, only 4 days of rain this week and only one of those was over 2". Both plants responded with good growth but all the females due to open have rotted befor opening. The 905 has one more new female to go and after that it will be out of the patch. The 748* is a little better off only because its a slower plant with room to grow in the patch. It's a good looking plant just a bit slow.
(left 905Toftness, right 748*Koch)
End of 2006…..To make a long story short….the 748* refused to
set any fruit so that plant was wasted space.
The 905 finally set a fruit at the edge of the patch and it grew very
rapidly. Well at least up to day 30 when
it stopped growing and finally rotted.
Very disappointing year but I’ll be back to try again next year.