Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 68 Entries. Thursday, January 18 View Page OK, finally starting my diary. Officially started soaking at 8 PM on 17 Jan 07. Feels good to get going although my patch is not done. I am going to try Duster's 754 Fredericks 06 which is an 1180 Daletas X Self. It went heavy by 18%. As backups and as plants to generate foliar samples, I am going to use my 219 from last year, 861 again and the 440 George. I gotta give these unknowns a shot. Should all be heat resistant. In a week I plan to start my pollinator which will be my 219 Buchsieb 06 EST. This plant is heat and salt resistant so it will make a good cross for me for the future. Thursday, January 18 View Page Here is my latest soil analysis (in PPM): Ph: 6.8 (it took 15 lb of sulfur on my 200 SF to get down to this) Ca: 5800 Mg: 420 Na: 210 (for some reason it went down) K: 370 Fe: 69 Zn: 16 Mn: 9 Cu: 4 EC: 2.4 N: 26 P: 210 S: 200 B: 1.3 Sunday, January 21 View Page Well, I will be the one again this year to start the "seedling pictures" we all get tired of. This is the 754. It was impressively showing a root in under 24 hours. Now on the 4th day, it has been up a day when nothing else is showing movement. Impressive! I hope to be planting soon but the weather is terrible out there (in the 50's) and I need to finish putting in my watering system as well as heating up the soil a bit ahead of time. Will shoot for Wed. to plant outdoors. Wednesday, January 24 View Page 7 DAP. Plants are in the hothouse and looking good. Temps inside are in the 80's during the day and with the heater, it stays above 60 at night. When this pic was taken, the dirt was 69 F about 6" deep. I planted the 440 in the upper right, the 861 in the lower right, my 219 in the lower left and the 754 in the middle. As you can see the 754 seems to want to get a jumpstart on the rest. Let's hope that can equate to the fruit also. Thursday, February 1 View Page 15 DAP. These plants are faster growing than in all previous years but also I have more N than I had before. Keeping the soil consistently around 70 F with the air temp around 60-85 inside the hothouse. My only concern here is that the leaves are not as big as in prior years but I am willing to give it another week or so before I start worrying. Thursday, February 1 View Page this is the 754. Is this the start of a double? Odd looking internode also all bumpy and stuff. Thursday, February 1 View Page Here is my 219. It is growing well but the 754 is still leading the pack for size. Wednesday, February 7 View Page Here is my hothouse with heater inside. Just wanted to give everyone an idea of what my setup consisted of. Wednesday, February 7 View Page 21 DAP all are doing well. No foliar sprays as of yet and only some Ca Nitrate and B in the soil once. Wednesday, February 7 View Page 440 George is growing the best. Just putting out it's 5th leaf. I will have to decide here within a week which one I am keeping. Wednesday, February 7 View Page 754 Fredericks is still doing well but it's 2nd internode leaves look like a double. It could be something that happened such as the weather or water that shortened the internode but it doesn't matter because the 440 looks so much better with every internode evenly spaced. 3 days ago I took the plants off of Reverse Osmosis water and put them on our terrible municipal water source. All the plants produced wilt from this as they were not used to bad water. They needed a few days to recover but the 440 seemed to have recovered the best. Not even my 219 fared as well but I am transplanting that soon to make a pollinator. Friday, February 16 View Page 30 DAP. This is the 754. 9th leaf is out. The 440 will be cut out tomorrow. Both plants are growing strong but I like the potential of the 754 more. As far as compared to last year, I am at least 10 days ahead in growth. One thing I learned is these plants like N. I have been very hesitant to give it to them because of stories told but now I realize that I was being too cautious. With just a bit of Ca nitrate put down, these plants exploded in growth. Friday, February 16 View Page only foliar of very dilute potassium silicate and manganese sulfate along with about 4 PPM of GA3. I am using the GA3 to help reduce sodium uptake however I have no doubt it is helping growth. I don't want to go any stronger than this because I am not looking for it to be a growth promoter but a stress eliminator. Friday, February 16 View Page Another thing I learned is to keep these plants as warm as possible. with the heater, they don't see below 60 F at night and it has made a difference. The hothouse will stay on the plant for as long as I can expand it. I think maybe 3 weeks is the max I can get out of this hothouse, with expansions, before I have to let it out into the night cold. Hopefully by then we will have consistent nights in the 50's. If all goes well, I could be pollinating by the end of March. Saturday, February 24 View Page 38 DAP. Growing about 4-5 inches per 24 hours on the main and the secondaries are finally coming in well. I had to uncover the 754 for the first time so I could expand the hothouse. Direct exposure to sunlight is the only thing I can think that would cause excessive flagging to occur. No foliar sprays and no fertilizers for a few days so the only variable is direct sunlight. It is a bit distressing to see the clorophyll in the leaves disappear between veins. However, I have decided NOT to worry about anything this year. Last year, I worried over everything and now, I am just letting it do what is it supposed to. Needless to say, I am much happier. Saturday, February 24 View Page Expanded hothouse. I hope it can stay underneath for at least 2 more weeks. After that, this plant is on it's own. Wish me luck for mid March pollination. Sunday, March 4 View Page 45 DAP. I didn't want to fully uncover the plant because of the wind. We have been very windy and below average here for the month of Feb and into Mar. I hope to have the plant uncovered on its own within a week. Just don't want to expand the hothouse anymore but if the temps stay cool, then it will slow growth. Still doing 5-6" per day but I have it covered so it is not getting full energy. Sunday, March 4 View Page 1st female getting ready. No idea if it will be my keeper but I am going to pollinate all females that I can. Last year, the first female was my one and only that actually set. I doubt I will have those problems this year but you never know. Friday, March 9 View Page 51 DAP. We are finally seeing nice March weather so I went and took of the hothouse. It was outgrowing it anyway and would have been impossible to keep underneath in 2 days. Still only 4 inches of growth a day on the main. I have put more calcium nitrate down because the plant was slowing to a crawl. I put the fertilizer on and it picked back up. My only concern now is keeping it moderated for pollination time. I am hoping to be pollinating in the next 2 weeks. Friday, March 9 View Page 1st female about to pop. Friday, March 9 View Page Some people have asked about my backyard. Here is the lake we are on...all manmade but a lake nontheless. No I cannot use this as a water source as it is about a PH of 9 and has a very high salt content. However, the tilapia love it along with the catfish. Saturday, March 17 View Page 59 DAP. Plant is chugging along. Barely any calcium nitrate as a soil drench as well as foliar. Noticed that the plant only wants to do 4 inches on the main a day and no more. Saturday, March 17 View Page Burnin' in the record temps we have had. Hit 95 yesterday and matched or made a record...something hot happened. This plant just was not prepared for it. Interesting as in the day it did not grow much from the heat but at night, it took off. Exact opposite of what I have seen in the prior weeks. Saturday, March 17 View Page 4 days after pollination about 8 ft out. Since I am unsure of today's pollination in the heat, I need to keep this one for a while but obviously it is not on "record setting" pace. This is a selfed 754. Saturday, March 17 View Page Pollinated this morning with my 219 (861 Fredricks/George (950 Boyton X 731 Stucker)). I hope it sets as I want it to be my keeper. 10 ft out. Also pollinated another on a side vine this morning as a self. Saturday, March 17 View Page My 219 from last year as a pollinator. Planted at same time as the 754. I did nothing with this guy and as you can tell, the growth is way behind. It is only after it started to warm up in the last few weeks that it even began to grow again. Moral of the story: keep your plants warm...especially heat loving types like this 219. Wednesday, March 21 View Page 63 DAP. The 754 is growing well. Finally seeing teriary growth in some areas so I know the plant has much more energy than last year. Wednesday, March 21 View Page 4 days after pollination. This is my hoped-for cross of 754 X 219. 10 ft out. The selfed fruit at 8 ft was culled today. At 9 days, it was 14.5 inches in diameter so it was WAAAY off in growth that I am looking for. I didn't want it sapping more energy from my fruit at 10 ft. Wednesday, March 21 View Page Here is my 219 pollinator. It is really taking off now but is soon to get in the way of the 754. It has about a week of usefulness left. There are 2 more females at about 12 and 14 ft that I want to pollinate in the coming days and then it will get pulled. Wednesday, March 28 View Page 70 DAP. Wind storm came through and did a number on my leaves. Foliar test done showed the following: Brix: 3.6% N: 5.7% P: .68% K: 3.9% Ca: 2.5% This is ugly and have started aggressive chelate foliar campaign Mg: .47 S: .32% Na: .04% Fe: 94 ppm Zn: 40 ppm Mn: 24 ppm The lowest I have ever seen it so also foliar. Cu: 13 ppm B: 38 ppm Lowest I have ever seen. Now I can see where I am losing energy. Also including a bit of molasses in my foliar. Plant is responding. Wednesday, March 28 View Page This taken 11 DA pollination. Day 10 measurement was 18.5" circumference. Well off of a pace that I want but I am just now figuring out my problems. Just today it started gaining weight faster than prior days. Wednesday, March 28 View Page OK, I have gone all out and gotten myself not just an RO unit but a DI unit. This thing takes EVERTHING out of the water and I can add in what I want. The reason I am doing this: Na in the water is affecting the uptake of other nutrients more than I thought it would. Na on the leaves, was figured out last year and have corrected that problem but now I have to treat the water going to my roots. This is excessive but I have to do it in order to grow the biggies and compete with you snow-loving personages. Wednesday, March 28 View Page Here is my DI water holding tank. After I set it up this weekend, I will take pics of it working...we all hope. Tuesday, April 3 View Page 76 DAP. Plant is growing much slower than before the fruit was set. Foliar applications being done however initial amounts were a bit high and I got some fertilizer burn. High 80s F are back and with it I have more leaf sun damage. This is a unique situation that I will explain in the next post. Tuesday, April 3 View Page 17 DA pollination. 35.25" circumference. My foot is my reference for size since I didn't have a bottle of beer available. I have been doing measurements daily and have charted them with daily high temperatures. There is an exact correlation between temperature and daily fruit growth. Higher the temperature, the more the growth. Best growth seems to happen above 80 F. This is odd since above 85 F or so, the plant tends to get leaf burn on new leaves. In the end, I guess all that matters is that it grows. Saturday, April 7 View Page 80 DAP. The plant is dying much faster than it should. No idea why. Keeping up with foliar sprays. Saturday, April 7 View Page Sorry. Prior pic was from a few posts ago. This is the REAL 80 DAP pic. finally the fruit is big enough that it deserves its own house. Saturday, April 7 View Page 21 DA pollination. 50.5" circumference. We have had great weather here this last week and the fruit has responded with great growth of about 3.5" increases in cicumference per day. This is good for me and am on track for a PB if this baby can stay together. Finally able to fully utilize my RO system so I will see over the coming days if it makes a difference in daily increases. If so, I will go all-out with RO but if not, I will have to rethink. Saturday, April 14 View Page 87 DAP. Plant has leveled off in death rate. No doubt a foliar spray that was a bit stronger than expected helped kill the older leaves quicker. Secondaries are being pruned and pulling all males off. The back side of the plant is growing well now in addition to the main since I started using the RO more consistently. Consistent spray of Ca, Mg, B, molasses daily. Saturday, April 14 View Page Day 28. 73.5" circumference or about 125 lb. Well above last year and hoping the 11 lb/day it's eeking out will last for at least another month. Saturday, April 14 View Page Stem side of things. Here is my sock-pile I am using to try and help push up the stem to reduce the downturn I am getting. Almost at the limit of being able to move it for better vine positioning but I have a feeling I don't need to worry about that too much. Saturday, April 14 View Page Here is my 55 gal. drum I use for the RO water. From here, I add in my ferts. I need about triple the output of the current RO which is about 50 gallons per 24hrs. Friday, April 20 View Page 93 DAP. Plant is dying faster now but fruit growth is consistent still. RO water is being used on the far 1/2 patch only. I am not producing enough to do the whole patch. New RO will be purchased shortly. Friday, April 20 View Page Day 34. 87" circumference so about 195 lb. Knowing my PB is 219, I hope to top it in a few days. This fruit has been consistently giving 11-12 lb increases per day for the last 10. Maybe one day it did 13 but probably that was me measuring wrong ;) Friday, April 20 View Page Here is my dieback looking from the stump towards the fruit at 10 ft out. The other leaves that are only a month old are getting margin burn. I have a few theories but my strongest is that the fruit is pulling Ca away from the leaves because it is not getting it from the soil. I have been feeding Ca/Mg/B supplementation because these are the things I am deficient on. Friday, April 20 View Page I gave myself a few SF to do a summer patch. Intend to germinate next week and have new plants in the ground by beginning of May. I need a test bed for the summer to see which plants are most heat tolerant. Summer lineup: 219 Buchsieb 06 (mine from last year), 440 George and the 1032 Urena 05. Hopefully I am able to keep the 1032 Urena because it grew a 25% over the chart fruit last year for Leonardo. Only the June/July heat will tell who survives! Thursday, April 26 View Page 99 DAP. Dieback is slow and steady with some new growth happening in the area with the most shade. Interesting. Thursday, April 26 View Page Day 40. CC=97.75" with an OTT of 230" so about 265 lb per the OTT charts. She has been slow and steady with about 11-12 lb/day for about 15 days prior and just in the last 3, she has slowed to 10 lb/day. Can only hope for a gradual decline. Slight cantalouping at the stem and blossom end. Thursday, April 26 View Page Another view. Just starting to give a bit of color now. Thursday, May 3 View Page 106 DAP. You can see the dieback is steady. However, I did stop foliar feeding molasses and that helped slow it. The big thing I did was get a new RO unit that could put out twice what the old one did and now I can water the whole patch easily. This made a HUGE difference to the plant growth after the fruit. I will go RO all the way from now on. Thursday, May 3 View Page Day 47. CC yesterday was 104.5" so today it brobably is about 310 lb. This has been slow and steady with growth now down to 8 lb/day. This fruit does not fluctuate at all. Just keeps chugging along at a consistent pace no matter what I do. Only some foliar Ca and Mg as well as some K in the water. Color is coming in very slowly and looks to be salmon...I had that last year. Cantalouping is increasing. Thursday, May 3 View Page My summer crop I started 5 days ago, so 5 DAP now. These are my 219's from last year. I have changed my mind and have decided to start my real summer crop in late June. If I do this and can keep the plant alive in 105 F weather, I can pollinate in early September and grow them out for November harvest. This way I have a better chance at acclimated seeds for next year. My two seeds for the summer are the 1127 Glasier 2005 (845 X 898) and the 1032 Urena 2005 (1446 X 1420). Would be a nice cross to have ready to plant next year I think. Wish me luck on keeping them alive. Friday, May 11 View Page 114 DAP for the plant. Dieback is consistent but no major issues with disease. A touch of either PM or downy is seen but is not spreading. Had our first 100 F day for '07. It got to 103 F yesterday. Leaf burn is still happening on the newer leaves. Friday, May 11 View Page Day 55. 265.5 OTT = 400 lb. This fruit is still putting on 8 lb/day. For the last 35 days, this fruit has never done less than 8 lb/day or more than 13 lb/day. Extremely consistent growth! Just a bit more color is coming in but very slowly. I only have to try and keep it together until I officially weigh it and then... The Alaskan Amber bottle is used out of respect for the other extreme grower out there: J.D. Pat and Dave, if you are reading this I must ask: who has the obsession ;) Friday, May 11 View Page 13 DAP for my 219. I will probably till it under to prepare for a late June planting. Saturday, May 19 View Page 122 DAP. Every day has been 100 F or above since I posted 8 days ago. Dieback does not look as bad from this pic as when you are close up. It is bad. Foliar results indicated I was low on Ca and Mg so I watered in and had immediate results of new growth coming in. Saturday, May 19 View Page Day 63. Est. at 450 lb. My 2 measurements since the last post indicated I averaged 7.5 lb/day for 4 days and then 5 lb/day for 4 days. growth is slowing faster than I want but it is still growing. Color is barely coming in and cantalouping does not seem to be increasing. Saturday, May 19 View Page Rear end shot. Saturday, May 19 View Page Here is my 219 at day 21. I have totally ignored it and you can see the encroachment of the 754 that I don't want to stop. I will till it under when I am done growing around the 1st of June. Saturday, May 19 View Page Final foliar test results for the 754 taken with the fruit at day 55 or so: N: 5.4% P: 0.71% K: 3.4% Ca: 1.8% Mg: 0.35% S: 0.36% Na: 0.02% Fe: 210 ppm Mn: 22 ppm Zn: 44 ppm Cu: 16 ppm B: 53 ppm Sunday, May 27 View Page 130 DAP. Nothing more to report other than dieback is reduced I assume because the fruit is not pulling as much of the nurients away as it used to. Did some light calium nitrate and watering at 2X my norm. Stump is starting to rot. I doubt if that end of the plant is giving much energy to the fruit. Sunday, May 27 View Page Day 71. 480 lb est. Measured twice since the last posting and each time averaged 4 lb/day. I thought this think would be done growing by now. You cannot see well in the pic, but it is coloring up. Very light salmon. Just another week and it is over...I will weigh it. Saturday, June 2 View Page Final weight: 469 lb. A new Arizona State Record!! My weigh-in party was great fun! I want to thank everyone who helped. It is fun to see people entertained by a huge pumpkin. Saturday, June 2 View Page OK, it went VERY light. 291.5" OTT = 525 lb so it went 10.7% light. Sad but maybe a bit enlightening with our temps for the last month in the mid 90's but especially our humidity at 10-15%. This made me think that very likely low humidity very well could have an effect upon weight. Just something more to ponder for the future... Saturday, June 2 View Page Some friends just had to show up in "proper" attire. Today made the whole 5 months of growing this monster worth it. What great fun. We had 2 teams of reporters out and I will be posting the websites when they get them updated. Saturday, June 2 View Page Just to make things as official as possible, here is the "Certificate of Calibration" for the scale I rented. These certified scales are not cheap to rent! Monday, June 18 View Page I finally broke open the 469 Buchsieb 07. I estimate I got 200 seeds from it. The walls were 6" thick at the stem and 4" at the blossom end. There were a few cracks on the inside and where perpendicular to the ribbing. No risk of them getting to the outside. I did some reading up on humidity and found that it has a significant effect upon yield. I can now see where our 15% humidity can draw water away from the fruit while it is growing. There are plans in the works for next year to overcome this. Monday, June 18 View Page In order to make this as formal as possible, I am showing my certificate from the County Extension Agent. She was kind enough to come out during the weigh-in and confirm it was a pumpkin and that it was a solid fruit. I think when it comes to pumpkin records, this is about as formal as I can get.