Washington Update
The plants are moving along under and out from under the cloches in the
patch next to the Rio Verde. Culls have been made and hopes are high for
another personal record this year. Culled on 6-8 was the 862.5 Hester*
plant. It was double planted with the 720.5 Welty, reason being the Welty
plant went for a romp around the yard with our 1 year old chocolate lab pup.
It being my best bet for a green squash I really wanted it in the patch, but
after its little play period with the pup it had a split stem lengthwise
from the soil level up about 3" and the peat pot was torn off completley. I
planted it anyway with the 862.5 and it recovered well and grew well.
Meanwhile the 862.5 gave me a flat vine with no sign of recovery. The main
was at 4' when I culled it and growing wider. It looks like I have a good
shot for a big green one with the main on the 720.5 at 6'4" yesterday with
two foot long secondaries. I poured 2¼" of water out of the rain guage in
the patch that had accumulated from Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday's showers
and downpours. Some of the other plants in the garden showed some hail
damage as well but the pumpkins were safe in the cloches. The 723 Bobier
has a 6' main with secondaries at 2' as well and is still the smallest plant
in the patch. Leaf size on this one is smaller than the others too.
The big boy in the patch is the 871 Richart. 7' main vine with
secondaries out to 4' and exiting the sides of the cloche. The double main
divided and is being trained as a secondary on one side and main on the
other. Big leaves very healthy looking this one looks to be a winner. The
835 McIntyre and 940 Mombert were double planted simply because I was
indecisive. Well the McIntyre made the decision for me. 6½' main vine with
3½' secondaries big leaves and very healthy looking. The 940 Mombert was
culled and moved to an unrented plot in the community gardens in which I
grow. It has wilted some of the larger leaves that it had as it lost some
of its roots when I pulled it from the patch, but the growing ends of the
vines look fine. This baby is on it's own and will be growing out in the
tall ryegrass in this plot as long as it remains unused. I'm not going to
do anything with it except possibly use some of the males for pollination.
It will interesting to see what it can do on it's own as an untended plant.
Still no sign of females forming on these plants, but they should be showing
up soon. No signs of insects or disease yet either, so I'm not using any
insecticides or fungicides. That's not to say I'm not using preventive
measures, but what I have is new and expensive so I'm not going to be
broadcasting to the list until I have given it a fair evaluation.
The month of May gave us an early taste of summer, June rolled in with a
return of early spring like weather, very cool, cloudy and wet. The
unusually warm May got this region off to a good start and even though
conditions aren't as good now, the plants have hit that stage of rapid
growth and haven't slowed down much with the poor weather. I should be on
schedule to start pollinating fruit the first week of July. So that's the
story in Western Washington. From the banks of the Rio Verde.....(that's
Green River for those who don't know spanish, I just think it sounds better
in spanish.)
Chris Michalec
Covington, WA
P.S. A neighbor in the P-patch has an 850.5 Hester that I gave him as a
seedling and a 508 Michalec growing in his patch, both under cloches and
look to be doing well. The Hester plant looks to be a real monster and will
soon outgrow his smaller cloche. I may have to plant that one again next
year and grow it myself.
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