Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 68 Entries. Sunday, January 1 View Page Since 2005 Monday, February 13 View Page We filled around 80 bubbles on Saturday for the members packages and auction winners during the MAGPG annual seed stuffing party. It was a lot of fun and a lot of hard work too. Thanks Jill for your unexpected assistance and to all of the participants that made it a success! Monday, March 26 View Page Soil test is back. 36 Timothy-L represents the new area of the patch dug last year. 36 Timothy-R represents the established patch area. Monday, April 9 View Page Here is my stand of winter rye, about 16-24 inches on average. Will start my seeds in about 2 weeks, and put this under within a week after sub soiling. Wednesday, April 18 View Page Winter Rye- I ripped the subsoiler through there and it's now ready for tilling. Thursday, April 19 View Page It took 8 passes with a 60 inch 3-point rototiller to put my rye under and now I find myself in trouble since it has to break down. So I guess the plan is to start seeds on April 22 and plant out somewhere around May 03 which puts me behind many growers in my area. Stupid but the additional OM from the rye will benefit me in the future. Thursday, April 19 View Page Here is the long patch where I will grow my field pumpkins and watermelons, and where Shane Miller grows his giant pumpkins and squash. Same deal, put the rye under yesterday afternoon. Sunday, April 22 View Page I got the hoop houses put up on Saturday. My season officially started at 3:35pm today. I filed the following seeds and put them on my heat mat using the paper towel and ziplock bag method: 1421.5 Stelts; 1725 Sweet; 1789 Wallace; 1486.6 Jarvis*; 1037.5 Jarvis*; 871 Gerhardt* (2); 1381 Checkon (2); 811 Gerhardt (6); 1332 Wolf. Wednesday, April 25 View Page Most of my seeds have germinated at this point except the 1725 Sweet and the 1421 Stelts which obviously are my most prized seeds. I am very concerned. As in years past I added more water to their paper towels and placed them back onto the heating mat. This is nothing new to me but I'm pretty worried with such high caliber seeds. Friday, April 27 View Page Every seed but 4 of the 6 811's have germinated at this point and have been moved to 4 inch pots. 1421.5 Stelts was last and had barely a radicle sticking out but I wanted it out of the possibly fungal contaminated environment of the paper towel ASAP. Soil temp in the pots is holding at 73°F. If I can find one more lamp, I think I can get it up another 5°F. Just got to make it to next Tuesday, when outside temps will reach 75°F+ and which will put my south facing deck at about 85°F. At that point the plants go out during the day and in at night, until ready for planting in the hoop houses. Monday, April 30 View Page The gang is catching some rays on the back porch today. I was blessed with 100% germination this year! Monday, May 7 View Page All plants were set out in the patch on Saturday May 05. All have 4x4 hoop houses except the second group of 811's which have no protection. If it frosts I will just throw a blanket over them. Thursday, May 10 View Page Each plant was watered in with 1 TBS Neptunes and 1 TBS Humic acid in 1 gallon of water when planted. On Tuesday I gave 1/8 TBS Merit and 1/2 TBS Bifen in 1 gallon to each plant for cucumber beetle and seed corn maggot protection. Thursday, May 17 View Page I took a trip down to Shane Miller's patch yesterday and his plants are kicking my ass. During my mini vacation the plants spent way to much time inside the semi-opaque plastic hoops without any water. I also hadn't fertilized since initial planting. So I gave each plant a top dressing of 5-4-5 Earthworks. 10% of the nitrogen is immediate release. I also watered in good with Neptune's and Humic acid. The hoops were removed permanantly on Tuesday May 15 in advance of a very nice forecast. I should have them on the ground and vining within 10 days. Thursday, May 31 View Page 1725 Sweet vs. 1381 Checkon... Winner: 1381 Checkon! Tough to pull a seed from a 1725 pound pumpkin but there was no question which one was growing better. Thursday, May 31 View Page 811 Gerhardt vs. 811 Gerhardt... Winner: 811 Gerhardt! No surprise there but of the two this one was dominating and is the second strongest in the patch, despite being the only start with no hoop house protection. Choosing the other winners is proving more difficult and will take some time. Due to the recent weather, I sprayed the plants for the first time this year with 1 TBS Daconil Ultrex and 1 TBS Bifenthrin in 1 gallon of water. I continue to feed each plant with 2 TBS Neptunes and 2 TBS Humic acid twice per week as a drench. Thursday, June 7 View Page Ok, recap: 811 Gerhardt vs. 1332 Wolf, winner: 1332 Wolf. 1421 Stelts vs. 1037.5* Jarvis, winner: 1421 Stelts. 1789 Wallace vs. 1381 Checkon, winner: 1381 Checkon. 811 Gerhardt vs. 811 Gerhardt, winner: 811 Gerhardt. 1486* Jarvis vs. 871* Gerhardt, winner: 1486* Jarvis. 1725 Sweet vs. 1381 Checkon, winner: 1381 Checkon. Thursday, June 7 View Page Field pumpkin: 81 Wolf planted out on May 27. Watermelon: 222 Hunt planted out on May 27. Monday, June 11 View Page 811 Gerhardt Monday, June 11 View Page 1332 Wolf Monday, June 11 View Page 1381 Checkon (left plant) Monday, June 11 View Page 1381 Checkon (right plant) Monday, June 11 View Page 1421 Stelts Monday, June 11 View Page 1486* Jarvis Tuesday, June 26 View Page I am down and out due to 3 broken ribs so I have been focusing much more on vine position and pruning vs. some of the heavier tasks lately. I took this pic of the 811 yesterday and pollinated it with the 1332 Wolf today. On Sunday 6/24 I crossed the 1381 Checkon (right plant) x sib. Yesterday 6/25 I crossed the 1332 Wolf x 1421 Stelts. Tuesday, June 26 View Page I am down and out due to 3 broken ribs so I have been focusing much more on vine position and pruning vs. some of the heavier tasks lately. I took this pic of the 811 yesterday and pollinated it with the 1332 Wolf today. On Sunday 6/24 I crossed the 1381 Checkon (right plant) x sib. Yesterday 6/25 I crossed the 1332 Wolf x 1421 Stelts. Wednesday, June 27 View Page Tim Rosa stopped by on Friday to help me get all of my vines buried. He was a life saver. This year's burying mix consists of: 50:50 mushroom soil to patch soil, plus myco, coffee grounds and 5-4-5 Earthworks fertilizer. This is a pic of the mixing process. Today I pollinated the 1486* Jarvis squash x 1246* Vincent. The 1246* is growing in Shane Miller's patch. Friday, June 29 View Page Today I crossed the 1381 Checkon (left plant) X 1421 Stelts. I also crossed the 1381 Checkon (right plant) x sib. Second pollination on the right plant. It's going to be 98°F today so I'm not sure if these will take. Sunday, July 1 View Page Yesterday June 30 I pollinated the 1421 Stelts x 1332 Wolf. (Second pumpkin, the first is open pollinated from last Monday). Today I pollinated the 1332 Wolf x 1421 Stelts (Second pollination on that plant). Monday, July 2 View Page Today I pollinated the 1468* Jarvis x 1246* Vincent (Second pollination for this plant). The plant is starting to come out of its funk and throw some decent secondaries. Monday, July 2 View Page I also want to add that I included Banner Max in my fungicide rotation this week. First time I ever sprayed with Banner. I did not mix it with any other chemicals and sprayed at 1 oz per gallon, using about 1 gallon to lightly cover all of my plants with the Stihl blower. Also, Aliette was incorporated into my Saturday mix of Bifen and Daconil. Monday, July 2 View Page My keys to the season this year are going to be # 1)frequent, light applications of several fungicides in rotation: Daconil, Eagle, Aliette, Banner, and Subdue. This will hopefully minimize damage/ aging to the leaves while giving me adequate protection for key # 2) Water like crazy. I have subsoiled my patch 2 years in a row and I can take a ton of water. With the current heat I've been watering in the neighborhood of 6-700 gallons every other day to my ~3000 square foot patch. This gets the water down deep and the leaves barely flag at all in the heat. This season is a bit odd in the sense that I only really have 1 true orange plant in the ground. The rest are big seeds which are not typical for me. By not growing exclusively orange I am putting my pumpkin sales in jeapardy so it is important to offset that by winning or at least placing high at some weighoffs with my big plants. Tuesday, July 3 View Page Today I crossed the 1381 Checkon (Left plant) x 1421 Stelts (Second pollination on that plant). I also crossed the 1421 Stelts x 1332 Wolf (3rd pollination on that plant including the first open pollination). Monday, July 9 View Page I decided to get a little insurance on my pollinations so today I crossed the 1332 x 1421 and the 811 x 1332. Sunday, July 15 View Page I saw some requests on the message board for growers to reveal more in their diary pics so here we go. I've never been one to keep too many secrets. Here is the 1332 Wolf. I don't have a good set on this plant yet, couple prospects but getting real late. If my main prospect aborts, all may be lost. Nice plant though. Sunday, July 15 View Page Here is my 1421 Stelts. There is a nice pumpkin set on it. Also in this pic you see the hub of my watering system, an Orbit four zone controller which supplies four overhead sprinklers. Honestly I cannot cover the whole patch with the current setup but considering that it is July 15 I am pot committed with this arangement for the season. Should be just enough to "get the job done". Sunday, July 15 View Page Here is the 1381 Checkon- right plant. Another big plant with no firm sets. Looks like an open one will have to do on this plant. There are several to choose from and it is too late to consider another controlled pollination at this point. Sunday, July 15 View Page Here is the 811 Gerhardt plant. I have a nice pumpkin set on this plant that will reach 20 days tomorrow. Short leaves made this plant very easy to work with and the pumpkin looks nothing short of amazing so far. Sunday, July 15 View Page Here is the 1486* Jarvis squash plant. This plant was a real pain in the ass to work with. Secondaries were slow and threw the whole timing off of vine burying with the rest of the patch. Hence, the vines get blown over and twisted during every single storm that passes. I have a squash that appears set around 15 days? maybe I didn't check. It sure ain't no looker but I don't care when it comes to the green ones. Sunday, July 15 View Page Here is the 1381 Checkon RIGHT plant. I believe I made an error in my earlier post- the other 1381 with no good set on it yet is the LEFT plant. Anyways, this has 2 good sets on it but is a very small plant. Not sure how much kick I can get on this one. The smaller set has been cut half thru the stem yesterday. I was going to cut the rest off today but big storms are coming so I'd like to allow the small one to take some of the massive water flow due from this rainfall. We sure haven't seen much of that and it could be an overdose for the pumpkins. Sunday, July 15 View Page This is my 1421 Stelts pumpkin on day 20. 77 inches in circumference. Sunday, July 15 View Page This is my 811 Gerhardt pumpkin on day 19. Day 20 circumference = ????? We'll find out tomorrow. Sunday, July 15 View Page Here is the 1381 Checkon- RIGHT plant pumpkin on day 21. Day 20 circumference was 66 inches. Not too bad with two sets on the plant and a tiny ass plant to begin with. Monday, July 16 View Page OK day 20 for my 811 Gerhardt: 81.5 inches circumference. I'm getting very excited about this pumpkin! Sunday, July 22 View Page I'm "all in" with this open pollination on my 1332 Wolf. Everything has aborted except this one. There are some issues with the plant now as well- oozing stump, sun burned or diseased leaves, etc. If this pumpkin fails the plant is almost definitely getting pulled. Sunday, July 22 View Page Crap here is the pic of the 1332. It taped 48 inches circ and I gave it gustimate age of 14 days just for the sake of tracking the daily growth from here out. Sunday, July 22 View Page Tim Rosa has affectionatly named my 1486* squash "Elephant Man". It measured 68 inches in circ today- day 20. Sunday, July 22 View Page I'm happy to finally have a pumpkin set on my 1381 Checkon plant on the left end. It is a large healthy plant and the pumpkin seems to be growing rapidly and with nice shape. This is an open pollination and for growth tracking the guesstimate on this one is day 19 with a circ of 61 inches. Missy named this one Cinderella. Sunday, July 22 View Page And here is the 811 which Missy has named Prince Charming. The prince measured 109 inches in circumference on day 27. Thursday, July 26 View Page Stem splits on Mike Tyson (1381R). Switched to OTT measurements today. Day 32 for Tyson- 254 OTT. Thursday, July 26 View Page Here is why he is called Mike Tyson. For the odd tatoos that developed on the side of his face. Thursday, July 26 View Page Prince Charming (811 Gerhardt) day 30- 272 OTT. Circ was 121. So far the 811 is doing everything it was designed to! Tuesday, August 7 View Page Here is the 811 Gerhardt on day 40 (Sunday). There will be no shortage of orange here. I haven't measured it since before my vacation last week. What will it tape? Come to the MAGPG patch tour and find out first hand when we measure it! Wednesday, August 15 View Page Unfortunately my 1486* squash might have to be ruled as a pumpkin at the weighoff. Hopefully it gets darker :( Thursday, August 16 View Page Day 50 for the 811 Gerhardt. 330.5 OTT with exactly 4 weeks till the first weighoff, 5 weeks to the second weighoff, and 6 weeks to the final weighoff. Wednesday, August 22 View Page 1468* Jarvis day 50. Getting more squashy. Friday, August 24 View Page This developed all along the blossom end of my pumpkin below the layer of sand that was pushed up as the pumpkin grew forward. The bumps are totally dry as far as I can tell. Has anyone seen this before- is it a sign of rot at the bottom of the pumpkin or maybe just scabbing from the abrasive sand??? thanks Friday, August 24 View Page Mike Tyson on day 60 measured 141-91-87, 319 OTT. No chance for 1000 in this one but not bad for a tiny plant and it thumps like a boulder. Friday, August 31 View Page 811 Gerhardt day 68 Friday, August 31 View Page 811 Gerhardt day 68 Wednesday, September 5 View Page 1486* Jarvis on Sat Sept 01--- still showing signs of growth due to various surface splitting despite the plant. The plant is about shot but its okay; I will probably be taking this one to the first weighoff on Sept 15. All the PA and southern NY guys are jostling for position trying to figure out where to take what. Well, here are my cards. So you guys can back off, or show up and crush me. I don't know how big any of the squash are round these parts. Thursday, September 13 View Page Ok here is my 1486* Jarvis ready to go to Roba Farms. I had it removed from the Howard Dill Club diary. It was posted on the wrong login by accident. Sorry for the confusion; Ken has removed the post. Tuesday, September 18 View Page Here is my 833.5* weighed at Roba Farms. The cross is 1486* Jarvis x 1248* Vincent. 2% heavy. Friday, September 21 View Page Cheers! Sunday, September 23 View Page My pumpkin off the 811 Gerhardt weighed 827.5 lbs and won the Howard dill award at Cooperstown! Unfortunately it went 10% light. Oh well I am still very happy. I crossed it back to the 1332 Wolf. Sunday, September 23 View Page The stem side of the 827.5 looked just as good as the blossom. Thursday, November 29 View Page Good news, got the seeds back from the 827.5 from the garden center and the counts look good initially. If your club has sent me a bubble and your auction date is early please let me know so we can make other arrangements for shipment. The seeds still have to dry. Thursday, December 27 View Page Here is a picture that Jerry Leonard sent me of the pumpkin he grew off a 811 Gerhardt this year. Est around 800 lbs. Unfortunately he wasn't able to attend any other weighoffs than Roba's, where he weighed a 1149 lb pumpkin. Congrats Jerry and thanks for the pic! Quick note, anyone who made a seed request from me that didn't involve sending me a bubble please drop me a reminder. I'll be dispatching all bubbles that I have received this week. Thanks and happy new year!