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:o :odo you eat the marrows/ squash?
Quote from: thifasmom on November 09, 2009, 18:06:31 :o :odo you eat the marrows/ squash? Most years I eat them, but this year I didn't. I just saved them all for seeds.
the varieties that you grow are they also good eaters then? you saved the seeds this year but was the flesh not still edible or had it sort of gone past its best?and what do your feed your plants with, i was always of the assumption that monster veg used such a high amount of man made fertilisers that it made the vegetables produced inedible due to chemical build up.did you also save the seeds of the sunflowers? i would love to grow sunflowers that big, i like to save the heads for the birds in the winter. how tall did the plants grow to produce flower heads that big. and was there only one flower per plant?sorry about the 20 questions but monster veg growers always fascinated me, as i grow to eat i can never quite get my head around the concept of concentrating on the size issue to the 'detriment' of all else iykwim.i have a couple more questions but I'll let you answer these first ;) :D. hope you are having a great day.thanks in advance for the replies.
thanks for clarifying for me, i did have other questions but now i can't remember them ::) go figure. so what's your goals for next year?
My goal is the same every year. BIGGER! ;D I want to get my world record back for giant amaranth. I had the world record at 23 feet 2 inches, but it was broken by someone I gave seed to. The new record is 27 feet 10 inches. I had one this year at 24 feet 4 inches. I'm getting closer! I also want the corn record, which is 31 feet tall (held by Dan Radda, Iowa since 1946). I've trialed many races of tropical corn and I've narrowed it down to a few that I think will get there. Next year my entire garden will be filled with them. Another goal is a 20+ feet tall sunflower. I'm usually against poison, but I've started to use systemic poison for the sunflowers to stop the borers. They really keep me limited to the 14-16 feet range. You want the secret to giant vegetables? The biggest secret is finding the variety that grows the largest. Sure, you have to take care of it, but you can give plant minimal care and still grow giants. I had a 22 feet tall amaranth this year without giving it any care at all. I grew at my garden plot at work and left it growing in the weeds. Most of my time is spent researching on the internet. I'm always looking for some clue for a new race of tropical maize or some news story about some person growing a giant sunflower somewhere. I trial many different varieties and select the best ones. I then experiment with hybrids between different giant types as well. For example, I have tidalmarsh X giant amaranth hybrids that are much faster growing then a giant amaranth, but they don't get quite as tall. I've also created a sterile hybrid between a A. hybridus and a giant amaranth that I consistently get near 20 feet tall. I had two this year at 22 feet tall. My main focus is growing things for height. My garden staples are corn, amaranth, and sunflowers. I also grow pearl millet and sorghum as well. I actually created a tall purple millet from a cross between that commercial purple majesty and my giant african millet (12-14 feet). I now have them producing 8-9 feet tall purple millets. I keep saving the seeds to the tallest and trying to push them even taller. Quote from: thifasmom on November 11, 2009, 23:16:32thanks for clarifying for me, i did have other questions but now i can't remember them ::) go figure. so what's your goals for next year?
and what do your feed your plants with, i was always of the assumption that monster veg used such a high amount of man made fertilisers that it made the vegetables produced inedible due to chemical build up.*S*N*I*P*sorry about the 20 questions but monster veg growers always fascinated me, as i grow to eat i can never quite get my head around the concept of concentrating on the size issue to the 'detriment' of all else