FieldEffect's 2024 "Field of Dreams"

Any pics of the giant watermelons?

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Unfortunately, they were in my old phone . His best Watermelon was 175Lbs. But he has grown bigger in previous years. He also grew a 6lb tomato, apparently the Great Grandson of PT Barnum is one of the best for large tomatoes. He grew an 11 lb one , according to my buddy.

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That’s crazy the size of those fruit and vegetables.

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My wife had these @Tejas This Watermelon was about 120.

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Holy Toledo!

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Keeeyawwww. Thats huge.

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@stiffy you’ll see it happen, good bad whatever occurs I’ll update here. I’m thinking pumpkin DWC is going to maximize my yield without having to grow less of my other veggies. I’m also hoping that the burial will solve the heat issue. I can’t imagine doing much better without a water chiller or in-ground insulation. Also stoked to try the C99

Interesting technique. Get the roots spread out over the whole garden that way. Was planning to only have one pumpkin, placed on a pallet. I’ve got carpet remnants that’s a great tidbit. Tent is also possible.

My main question, when do you let that main fruit set? My vine is already about 3’ long and has been flowering inside, I’ve been amputing side shoots and flowers. My goal is to just have a bare vine over the foam platform, so I can lift it to work on the stuff inside the tank easily.

I’d imagine you want that initial fruit set to happen early, say June, and cut all other flowers as the season progresses and the primary fruit grows.

Holy fuck. Maybe I get to that level in a few years. I’d be over the moon with 200lbs.

thats-what-she-said-michael-scott

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I would judge when to set fruit by the size of the rootball if in dwc

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Here’s the seedlings. MDS x Oaxaca are 3/3 @PineTarBastard :sunglasses::cowboy_hat_face:

We’ll keep an eye on it then. Are the giant fruits typically at the root side of the vine or the long end?

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:partying_face:

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My friend mentioned a “superbloom” to be left to form. I’m assuming it’s a double fruit like you have on squash occasionally. I will stop in and confirm ,if I see him around.

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That’d be awesome. Just want to have a game plan ready.

There will be hydropumpkin updates today. The vine was acclimatizing yesterday, it’s ready to take a bath today. So I’ll be filling the res sometime this AM. :cowboy_hat_face:

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This is a great thread, you go and snap out awesome grows outside and then inside as well. Now a Super Swamp Pumpkin! Careful as Vining plants have a tendency towards powdery mildew. You are in a very dry area , so your results may vary.

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The vine I’ve been growing inside for a few weeks in a 4" rockwool cube, and feeding Megacrop 2-part at 1.5 EC. Put a layer of washed hydroton on the bottom, add cube and fill around and on top.

Final layer of clay pebbles.

Here’s the setup filled. 60 gallons of water, just tap. I’m not going to wait a day to fill it with RO, nor am I in a mood to explain why there’s a hose going from our laudry room to the pumpkin outside. Obviously, she tolerates it, but sometimes I want to appear somewhat sane.

120g of Megacrop A and B. Puts us at 7.7pH and 1.5mS. Jeez, I am spoiled with the RO inside. Added pH down in 50mL increments until we got below 6.5 (150mL). We’ll see how it stabilizes. Ignore the Amsoil dirt bike oil, my daughter brought it over thinking it was plant “vitamins.” She’s very bright, it’ll be trouble once she turns rebellious.

The hose sticking up got pushed into the hydroton to wet down the top of the cube periodically. It’s supported by a wire I can hold it in place.

I’ll make a mylar bubble cover for the hydroton in the basket to avoid algae.

Let’s see how it goes!

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Definitely got my :eyes: on this pumpkin project!

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This is going to cool to watch thanks for sharing all this FieldEffect.

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Here’s the state of the reservoir after 2 full days in operation.

69F pretty easy to keep the pH in line but I’m going to need a bigger jug pH down :rofl:

Seedlings are coming along, veggie and cannabis. Out on the patio enjoying the weather :cowboy_hat_face:

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Pumpkin is good. Getting roots out the net pot. Good sign I hope, we’re way ahead of last year just in terms of the vine being 3-4’ long already. About 3-4’ ahead :rofl:

Lightly turned over the two veggie beds. Ammended with some gypsum and feather meal, I’m chronically low on N and calcium sulfate isn’t going to hurt my high pH and high salts. Native soil here is really high in Na and K. I ammended a month ago with some blood meal and have just been gauging the consistency of the soil with the decision to add gypsum. I’m not going all neurotic with soil tests this year. Last year I learned a lot, mostly that I can trust the plants I don’t need to obsess over it as much. It’s a slow improvement, but what a difference compared to last year. We’re well-established already, 2 years down, many more to go.

Here’s the weedlings:

Cheers and happy Cinco de Mayo!

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Been about a week since I pH’d hydropumpkin

Topped off with tap water maybe 5 gallons, and a dash of pH down. Little heavy handed on that but 5.6 should be OK. It had drifted up to 6.7, so maybe I’ll be closer to the sweet spot through the week now.

Lots of long roots now, she’s starting to move. Water temperature is already up to 75. I need to get moving on the mylar bubble upper reflector/insulator.

Braced the vine with some bricks it’s windy AF.

Got a micro pumpkin forming at the tip of the vine. Any word from your neighbor about when to set the pumpkin fruit for a pallet-sized behemoth @Hashpants?

Btw the vine is entering the flat area where I can easily place the pallet

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He said do what feels right. I would think the closer to the supply would be better. We are both soil guys though. Bs answer, I know.

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