Grower Diaries

This winter, I’ve started a practice batch of watermelon grafting to improve my technique. I wanted to get a feel for the process before the main growing season begins.

First, I want to show the box I use to heal the grafts. It’s a simple wooden box that I’ve lined with aluminum, and I made an aluminum pan for the bottom.

Here is the box all set up with a glass top and removable insulated side panels

Inside the box, I have metal grates that sit above two germination mats. These mats provide gentle heat to help the grafts recover. I also use a small humidifier (not shown) to maintain the right humidity level. Both the heat and humidity are carefully controlled with an SHT 2000 controller, ensuring a stable environment for the grafts to heal successfully.

I thought I would start this diary to record the tomatoes that Elaine and I submit to the 2023 Mike Demars Memorial Tomato Contest.  

So far our tomatoes are not particularly large. I’m mostly doing this for transparency.

First here are Elaine’s entries for team 11

2.13 lbs

I thought I would start this diary exclusively for a watermelon scale project that I have started to work on. This will be an ongoing endeavor because I’m sort of making things up as I go. Last March, I watched Frank Mudd give a presentation to a group of giant watermelon growers down south. I found it very fascinating to hear that Frank (and other growers) use scales under their melons to monitor the growth. It seemed like an important tool, so that you can see what affects the growth of the melons throughout the season. I knew I couldn’t justify buying scales so I got thinking of ideas to make my own. After a lot of research I had an idea to build a scale using load cells. I don’t know if this has ever been done DIY before with watermelons. I do know that some beekeepers build these…