Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 73 Entries. Thursday, January 21 View Page Hi all and happy new year!!! This being my first post I want to say that I hope everyone has great weather and even better luck for this coming growing season. I'm already laying out a diagram for my garden's MASSIVE expansion in order to accommdate for the pumpkin fever that hooked me last year!! More posts and pics to come soon!!! Thursday, January 21 View Page Got out there today and took my measurements for my garden expansion. I'm looking at 28 feet wide by 60 feet long for a total of 1680 sq. feet. Next up will be to get my supplies for the soaker system i want to lay out. GOTTA DO SOMETHING!! getting cabin fever here dreamin about spring!! Saturday, January 23 View Page ......Almost forgot, need to remove juniper bush from the equation (as shown in last photo) Friday, February 19 View Page Well....Today I got my grow light setup in place. I went with the 48 inch Agrosun fluorescent fixtures and upgraded the ballast to a high efficiency Magnatek model. Also bought the heat pad about a week ago so I guess ill be ready for some test germinations soon. Also wondering about the pros and cons of a germination type chamber that I've seen some people using. Any ideas or experiences with them would be GREATLY appreciated if you had the time to share them with me. My email is [email protected] Friday, February 26 View Page Got the test germinations going today at about 7:00 p.m. Constructed a styrofoam chamber to help keep the heat more consistent. My fluke multimeter has a temperature function on it with a thermocouple probe and is pretty darn accurate. My question for anyone that is reading this is i need to get the temp up to preferably 80 - 85 degrees and i'm wondering what I can do to get the temp up to this range. I've got the heat pad going and with the light going i can't get past the temp on the fluke. help anyone!! Friday, February 26 View Page Another pic of my grow germination area/chamber..........I think i shall call it.........THE BATCAVE!! Wednesday, March 3 View Page Well......planted my test germs on Fri. Feb. 26 at 7:00 P.M. and this is what I have as of Tues. March 2 at 7:00 P.M.(4 days later) all 4 have taken off really well(this being the best one). This is the temp. that I've maintained for this timeframe (Too HIGH too LOW....I'm not sure but they took off good and i'm actually gonna try to get that temp down a little more closer to 85 degrees though. Thanks out to Wayne for the advice on gettin the temps up too!! Went out and bought styrofoam sheets and made an enclosure and it worked GREAT. Also got bored Friday night at work and got online on craigslist and found someone selling 150 foot of soaker hose for 20 BUCKS!!!!!!!Went and picked it up Sat. afternoon!!GREAT DEAL!!THANKS CRAIGSLIST!! Saturday, March 20 View Page Been CRAZY warm here in michigan the last 4 days. I plan on playing hooky from work on monday and tuesday and getting the new patch tilled up and ammended. Possibly get my hoophouses at least started. I wanna be ready!! Sunday, May 2 View Page Well 11 seeds were filed and soaked on April 29 for 4 to 5 hours and then put in small cups at 6 p.m and labeled. Man I really hoped that I did this right!!! This is what they looked like as of this morning on May 2. HOOO DOGGY!! I've got 9 of the 11 germed and poked through the top of the soil. The leader of the pack so far being the 1266 Van Hook as seen in the middle(man this fella shot up FAST!)I think with this one being the big chief so far I'm gonna name him Capone. My complete list of seeds planted now are as follows: 1059 Vincent-Mcgill (2) 1127 Vincent-Mcgill 1339.5 Vincent-Mcgill 1250 Vincent-Mcgill 1145 Van Hook 1266 Van Hook (Capone!) 1145.5 Van Hook (2) 1054.5 Van Hook 893 Vincent-Mcgill Time will tell about the 2 that haven't shown yet and who will get the prized spots in this years patch!! Tuesday, May 4 View Page Well as of monday morning when I got home from work all 11 of the 11 seedlings started out have sprouted up through the dirt so I mustve done something right. The leader of the pack still being the 1266 Van Hook which is visibly a more agressive grower than the rest. I had to transplant today to the 1.5 gallon coffee containers cause the roots were screamin for room! Thanks again to John Vincent for the seeds!! Also thanks to the kentucky growers And Van Hook for the awesome seeds as well. The pic is of "Capone" the 1266 Van Hook. Wednesday, May 5 View Page Another shot of the 1266 and 1145 Van Hooks at 6 days old. MAN these Rodonis/Wallace crosses are doing awesome so far! Can't wait to get them out in the patch in another week or so and let them loose. They're like caged tigers right now but they will have to wait a little longer though. I've got the spots in the patch covered with black visqueen to warm them up and one hoophouse left to build this coming weekend. I feel like a kid at christmas waiting to get this party started. Gonna start to harden them off outside gradually starting tommorrow for a little while and more as each day follows. Thursday, May 6 View Page Well today the boys and girls got a taste of real sunlight and a light spring breeze on their leaves for the first time. Gave them about 2 to 3 hours of this and then brought them back in for the evening. Plan on doing this up until they go into the hoophouses next week. Man the tension has been building everyday hoping that I've done everything right and hoping that they take off like "little bandits." Thursday, May 6 View Page Well today the boys and girls got a taste of real sunlight and a light spring breeze on their leaves for the first time. Gave them about 2 to 3 hours of this and then brought them back in for the evening. Plan on doing this up until they go into the hoophouses next week. Man the tension has been building everyday hoping that I've done everything right and hoping that they take off like "little bandits." Sunday, May 16 View Page Well... 14 days old and got em in the ground as of today in the middle hoop house. The closer one being the 1339.5 Vincent-McGill and the back one being the 1127 Vincent-McGill. Got them acclimated as best I could and now it's time for do or die!!!COME ON LIL BANDITS!!! Sunday, May 16 View Page Made the mistake on the last post about the location. These plants are located in the FIRST hoop house and not the middle hoophouse. I have the 1145.5 Van Hook on the NORTH side of the middle house and the 1054.5 Van Hook on the SOUTH side of the middle house. The pic is another shot of the first house with the 1339.5 Vincent-McGill and the 1127 Vincent-McGill. Pics to come for the middle house.....camera died!! Thursday, May 20 View Page Well here's a north eastern view of the patch which will HOPEFULLY be known as the Whittaker wonder by the end of the season! (Ha-ha). The first house has the 1127 vincent mcgill and the 1339.5 vincent mcgill. The middle house(which is a smaller one I made) has the 1054.5 van hook and the 1145.5 van hook. The last house has the 1266 van hook and the 1059 vincent mcgill. My vegetable garden is the fenced in area right next to it in the pic. They have all been slow growing so far but I think because of the cooler weather but sunny days are comin so I have my fingers crossed!! Thursday, May 20 View Page Another shot from the rooftop of the veggie garden to the left and to the right is "pumpkinland". I got the bales of straw free from my farmer neighbor down the road and thought they would work good to keep that pesky westerly wind from whippin on my plants and hoophouses. Also in the foreground we've been burnin down some tree stumps so we can put in our new pool in that general area. How SWEET it'll be to be floatin around on a raft and watchin those LIL BANDITS gettin bigger out in the patch!! Thursday, May 27 View Page 1339.5 Vincent McGill coming right along and wanting to start to lay down a bit. Thursday, May 27 View Page 1054 Van Hook moving right along also Thursday, May 27 View Page here is the 1059 Vincent McGill. I dont know why but I really have been pullin for this one the most because I think it has great potential. It's doing great and I think it will make the cut!!! Thursday, May 27 View Page heres a shot of the 1145.5 van hook that will more than likely be the one getting culled from the middle hoop. Anyone know what the heck is up with a pic of this leaf on it?? I'd really like to know what caused this leaf to start yellowing like this?? Monday, May 31 View Page 1266 van hook on the left and 1059 vincent mcgill on the right.....both doing awesome....need to cull one soon...............WHICH ONE..........HOW DO YOU GUYS AND GALS DECIDE!!!! Sunday, June 6 View Page DISASTER has struck the Bandit patch!!!! Bad storms blowing through the area Sat. Night with the touchdown of a tornado 10 min. South of us in Dundee have caused numerous tree and limb blowdowns throughout the area and I was not spared...My middle hoop which the 1054 van hook was in was knocked apart by a tree limb and landing on my plant has caused some damage. 6 of my leaf stalks were broke (flattened) by the limb splitting them down the sides. Have propped them back up but don't know if they are ok!! My first hoop plant (1339 vincent mcgill) and my third hoop plant (the 1059 vincent mcgill which ended up being my secret favorite but didn't want to tell anyone) are ok and safe. Man I hope that 1054 pulls through.. Sunday, June 13 View Page First post in a while..the 1339 vincent mcgill at 5'4"...weeded and newer windbreak put up Sunday, June 13 View Page The 1054 van hook at 7 foot long today weeded and newer wind break up also Sunday, June 13 View Page The 1059 vincent mcgill at 6'4" long weeded and newer break put up today also. Sunday, June 13 View Page Back shot of the patch looking up towards my house Sunday, June 13 View Page pic of my front yard....looking good in the country!! Friday, June 25 View Page Gotta get better at the posts so i got good info for next year.....1339 vincent mcgill is out 12 foot 6 inches now and looking good...handles heat real well! longest 2nds are out about 5 foot on each side now and still going albeit slowly. The 1054 van hook is growing like a darn weed!! the main is out 14 foot 6 inches now with 3 1/2 foot 2nds. first female out at 11 1/2 feet and will open soon. The 1059 vincent mcgill is 13 feet out but only with 2 foot 2nds and im hoping itll start going soon. It has a big female on it at the 12 foot mark...hopin shes the one!! All 3 plants got sevin today and each also got a drink of some fish and seaweed. Sunday, June 27 View Page The 1059 vincent mcgill was pollinated with 3 males from the 1054 van hook this morning at 6 am june 26. She was a pretty 4 lober that was 12 ft out on the 1059. We'll see what she does in the next few days!! Monday, June 28 View Page Running behind with the pollination posts but better late than never!! Sunday may 27 the first female out 12 ft. On the 1339 vincent mcgill was pollinated with 4 males off of the 1054 van hook. It LOOKED like a 5 lobe and was pollinated at 730 am and tied off. We soon shall see!!! Already see 2 more females on the main tip with should pop out around the 16 foot mark and these will be pollinated as well. Tuesday, June 29 View Page Applying a foliar feed today and to what do my eyes discover!!! You are back my enemy and we will do battle once again... Tuesday, June 29 View Page female on the 1054 van hook will be opened up by morning and ready to be pollinated. she's out at the 15 foot mark. hopefully this will be the sweet spot for this plant. i may self this female..but not sure yet...we'll see. Wednesday, June 30 View Page Pollinated the 1054 van hook today with 4 males from the 1339 vincent mcgill. Another 4 lobe that was out 14 ft on the main vine and was ready for the deed at 730 this mornin. Wednesday, June 30 View Page the little bandit on the 1059 got a new little bed of sand to lay on. And for my reward he gave me a bud light!!!....he knows i like em in bottles!! day 4 with a 8" circ. Tuesday, July 6 View Page Super hot here the last few days but enough watering is keeping them from flagging and their doing good. 2ndary growth still going but still is slow. The first fruit on the 1059 is officially at 20 inches for day 10. Not quite as much as I hoped but slow and steady wins the race...hopefully! I missed an open female on the 1059 yesterday and its starting to grow so the bees beat me to the punch on that one..dang! The 1st fruit on the 1339 v/m is taped at 19 inches for day 8 and is gaining good. Will probably pass the 1059 soon. Pollinated 2nd 4 lobe female on the 1339 this mornin out 16 1/2 to 17 feet with 5 males from its self. Let's see what that will give us in the next day or 2. Haven't had the heart to terminate the main yet on the 1054 van hook..I keep seein more baby females in the tip bundle so I don't do it...I need to though to get better 2ndary growth though Friday, July 9 View Page Day 9 for the 1339 vincent mcgill fruit...27 1/2 circ. Another pollination also on the 1054 van hook this mornin at 20 feet out on the main. Nice 5 lober pollinated with 5 males from the 1339 vincent mcgill..man it would be sweet if this one takes!! Sunday, July 11 View Page 1054 van hook fruit at 14 ft. Day 11 circ. 20 inches. Thursday, July 15 View Page Here is the 1054 fruit on day 14 with a 30 inch circ. I'm likin this one so far! Thursday, July 15 View Page "Chubber" bandit on the 1054 van hook is at 32 1/2" circ. for day 15. It may be growing slow but the plant looks crazy healthy and the fruit is doing well so i'll take it!! Thursday, July 15 View Page The fruit on the 1339 vincent mcgill is doing good also with a 46 1/2 inch circ. for day 18....keep on growing "Ellen" Thursday, July 15 View Page On a side note...The wifes "bird house" bottle gourds seem to be doing great after a shot of fish and seaweed drench they got a few days ago....I thinks that next year I may take a stab at growing some long gourds if any of my friends here have any extra seeds to spare come fall :) Monday, July 26 View Page 1339 vincent mcgill fruit day 28 with an ott of 186. this one lookin like a real good orange one this fall. Monday, July 26 View Page Here's the 1054 Van Hook fruit. Chubber has been the darkhorse this season and is really takin off hard now. The ott for day 25 is 198 and has been going strong. Main vine has been propped up even higher now to alleviate the "inny" belly its got and keep it from going "hard birdbath" on me. Any insight from anybody seein this beside me would be great. P.S. yes it has a weird spot that is kinda flat on top but it seems to be ok though Monday, August 2 View Page Elsewhere in the garden...the birdhouse bottle gourds are still growing like gangbusters...this one for reference is about 8 pounds and I don't know how its still hanging there!! Monday, August 2 View Page Shoot...wrong pic in the last post..that was the pic of more birdhouses on the way..This is the pic of the 8 pounder next to a water bottle for reference. Monday, August 2 View Page Chubber Bandit on the 1054 van hook is 233 ott for day 31 and starting to get some light orange hues to it. Put more sand under him and gave both plants a full foliar feed today and trimmed up some secondaries and terteraries that keep popping back up out of the ground. Growth has been the same all along..slow but steady and with the weather we been having I hope that I've got a lot more days ahead of me for more growth. Thursday, August 5 View Page 1054.5 van hook fruit day 35 is at 242 ott and still slow but steady growth.PM is starting to rear its ugly head on a few leaves so trimming was done and daconil applied. Keep on chuggin Chubber!!! Thursday, August 5 View Page Pic from the back of the patch looking up towards the house. That's my new pole barn being put up...HOO DOGGY!! Thursday, August 5 View Page Pic from the back of the patch looking up towards the house. That's my new pole barn being put up...HOO DOGGY!! Friday, August 13 View Page Gave the leaves on both plants (1339 vincent mcgill and 1054.5 van hook) their weekly spray of sevin and daconil. Growth has slowed a bit(in the teens) but still is steady for chubber bandit and Ellen (that is my wifes middle name and she has staked her claim on the 1339 vincent mcgill fruit. Lol). Also gave both plants some 0-0-30 go-go juice tonite before coming in to work. Every time I think the growth is starting to slow I go home in the morning and measure and they bounce back up into the 20's again so I'm takin all the gains I can get. Hopefully have another 30 days of growing and that would be sweet! Also sprayed the leaves with 30 percent skim milk and water the other day with the intent of staving off powdery mildew before it gets a foothold on the plant. Funny dream I had last night was growing a don young plant next year and beating the michigan record in 2011...hey a guy can dream can't he!! Sunday, August 15 View Page Upon my morning patch inspection before laying down for bed my wandering ears picked up a faint calling in the back 9 area of the 1054 van hook plant and here is what I found. Man what am I gonna do with you little guy. Should I cull him or give him a shot!! Especially with that cute little moustache he has! Monday, August 16 View Page Chubber bandit chuggin along with the gains. Day 44 and taped at 272 (420's or 430's lbs.) Got slow towards friday but gave it a shot of 0-0-30 put it back up in the high teens as of sunday. P.M seems to have slowed down dramatically. Man I'm so close to that magic number 287 ott I can taste it!! Chubs is ribbing out nicely and has a very good look to him with the light orange hues he's beginning to get. On another note...that's my hunting blind in the background and the deer better stay out of my patch or were gonna have issues!!haha Wednesday, August 18 View Page With the unusually high amount of bugs this season I have enlisted the services of Greenie the watchfrog. With his assistance we have been hitting the cuke beetles and mosquitos right between the eyes as they come at us!! He stands like a sentinel perched atop chubber with one directive......seek and destroy!! Thursday, August 19 View Page All the leaves for the 1339 and 1054 plants got their weekly foliar spray of fish doo-doo and a little extra spike of 0-0-30 in the mix as well. Also gave both main vines a drench of the gogo juice again also. Try to do this only once a week to get the gains back up again and it worked last week so what the heck...go with what works right! My MAIN focus primarily is leaf and vine health and by doing this the rest takes care of itself........in theory!! Sunday, August 22 View Page chubs is still gainin although small but still gainin!! 282 OTT as of today. Ellen (the vincent mcgill fruit) is at 249 OTT and is still going as well...By the way....what the heck are the green streaks growin on chubber??? other than light PM that has started to show, the plant and vines are still relatively healthy. maybe its nuttin.....hopefully! Wednesday, August 25 View Page ....And during the still of that late August Wedsnesday of 2010 my fat little Chubber surpassed the 287 OTT mark and made me verry proud!! His growth has been slowing down steadily but he achieved the directive given to him back on July 1st....hit 500 lb. For me buddy and you will make me happy!! He has achieved this and my cup runneth over!!! HOOOOOOOO DOGGGGGGY!!! Thank you all for your help and support..I couldn't have done this without all my friends here!!! Monday, August 30 View Page Havrnt measured chubber lately because I stopped measuring right after he hit 290 OTT. Just gonna let the rest be a suprise until the weighoff. I'm kinda diggin the green streaks he's got(makes him look like some kind of tough guy!!haha) he is still growing but a lot slower so I just let him do what he wants!! Monday, August 30 View Page And this rascal on the same 1054.5 van hook plant has taken off outta nowhere. He is about as big as a basketball now and I'm just gonna let him go and see what he gives before halloween comes. I introduce to you chubbers little brother CHUNK! Friday, September 3 View Page I THINK chubber is still slow gainin but no more measuring until I cut him from the vine. Also in the lower left of the pic...THE VINE STILL GROWS!! Friday, September 3 View Page Another pic of the late season boy Chunk. Open pollinated and I don't know the day or the ott or nothin. He's gonna be a porch decoration. He's got one big ole stem on him and he's growin great. Hopefully the storms were predicted to get tonite don't beat my vines and leaves up too much!! Sunday, September 5 View Page What does one do when funding is low and you need a lifting ring for your pumpkin..... You add an acetylene torch and 1 inch cold roll steel rod and make your own at work! Tuesday, September 7 View Page Well the shop built lift ring was completed and its trial run was to lift a 2700 lb. Bundle of steel wire to a height of 10 feet. it was successful 3 times with no problems so it should have no probs. With my punkins. Having access to raw steel and welders is definitely a plus where I work. Tuesday, September 7 View Page Today is quotable quote of the day provided by one of our countries founding fathers and it is SO true! Haha! Thursday, September 9 View Page Gonna put up one of my coldframes again here soon and have started a few test germinations on some extra seeds I had to test a few new ideas out that me and my chemist cousin have been talking about. Once they get in the coldframes I've got a few experiments were gonna try out to see what kind of growth we get....details to follow!! Monday, September 13 View Page Here's another shot of Chubber looking over the gable end of my pole barn as I was finishing up siding it way up on the peak. Like to look out at them while I'm working!!haha!! New patch for next year is back in the distance in the pic but don't think you can see it. Got a guy delivering me 10 yards of llama crap this week for the great cost of...FREE! Gonna get him a 12 pack for his troubles though, he's a great guy that lives near the Harnica farms weigh off. Monday, September 20 View Page Loaded up the 1339 fruit (ellen) yesterday to take her into work and get her weighed up. I sat there and snickered like a little school girl thinkin how friggin sweet my truck looks with a big ole fat punkin stickin up out the back of it :) Monday, September 20 View Page Got the 1339 vincent/mcgill fruit (Ellen) loaded up today to be weighed up in the materials dept scales at work. I sat there and snickered like a school for a minute thinking how friggin sweet a big ole punkin looks sticking out the back of my truck..I love fall! Thursday, September 23 View Page Got the 1339 vincent/mcgill fruit to work the other day safely and got ole Ellen on our receiving scales and the unofficial weight was.... Thursday, September 23 View Page 396 lbs. And she went 7.2 percent heavy...HOOO DOGGY! Ellen is now the 396 Faulkner!! Sunday, September 26 View Page FINALLY able to put another diary entry in and it has been a while been doing alot of work on our house and we just got done stripping and reshingling our house. Well here she is everybody my 2010 patch and i'm ready and excited about getting this party started. My patch area is 23 x 70 and I want to know what everyone thinks about how many plants i should try out ( 2, 3, or 4) im not sure. Any help would be appreciated!! Tuesday, September 28 View Page Well the Harnica farms weigh-off is just 5 days away and starting to get excited about what's coming!! Chubber bandit(the 1054 van hook x 1339 vincent/mcgill fruit) is still on the vine but the leaves have been withering away. The vine is still stable so I decided to leave him on as long as I could. I know he's not a beast but he's my first year pride and joy and he's held together nicely with no splits or cracks so I can't ask for much more. Next year will be the 1K year for me hopefully. Just me here ranting cause I'm gettin nervous about sat. So we'll see how it goes and ill have plenty of pics of the loading and of the weighoff itself. Just like a kid at christmas my wife said....and I said...yep! Monday, November 1 View Page Birdhouse bottle gourds still drying out so I can get the seeds. This is a pic of 1 of the bigger ones next to a dew 2 liter bottle. Soon as I can find my sd card I'm gonna post the harnica farms pics I got. These gourds were super easy to grow and very hearty growers. Definitely will be doing more next year!!!