Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 29 Entries. Tuesday, June 18 View Page Forgive me for starting my grower diary so late; I'm just starting to figure this website out. A little background before I begin posting: This is my first attempt at growing giant pumpkins. I recieved seeds and books on the subject at our most recent Christmas. Because of this, I wasn't able to start work on a patch until April 2013, right before planting. I live on a small farm so I have access to well-aged manure and I also have access to a high volume of coffee grounds to add to my compost/patch. I have been in contact with Team Pumpkin members who have been very helpful in my first season :) I started my seeds on May 1st due to the cold spring. I started them in the house under a regular shop light. I had 100% germination on my first try with 3 seeds. My seedlings popped up around Day 2. The photo shows all 3 of my seedlings on Day 1 (3 days after putting them in the starter-soil) when they came out of the soil. From left to right is: a 969 Gansert 11 then a 1131 Gansert 10 and then a 859 Gansert 11 Tuesday, June 18 View Page This was my seedlings from Day 3 into Day 4. Doing well and growing very strong. They were doubling in size about every day. Very please, and excited!, at this point. The 1131 Gansert10 is the most rigorous of the bunch at this point. Still in the house at this point as the weather was still chilly. This was about the first week of May. Tuesday, June 18 View Page This is the most aggressive Seedling from the start. This is Day 4 for this seedling (day 6 since starting seedlings). Had some severe cracking around one of the leaves but it didn't seem to bother it much. True Leaf is starting to form here. At this point, I was finishing final prep on my patch (adding manure, tilling virgin earth, etc). The weather was still rather cold still, I built 2 very sturdy hoop houses for these plants to go out in but I had no further heat source out in the patch. At this point I transplanted the seedlings into larger pots to keep them inside for longer. On the warm days, they were put out on the porch for sunlight. Tuesday, June 18 View Page One of the three Seedlings on Day 5 or 6 (8 days from starting of seeds). Well formed true leaf and doing well. I didn't have a regular grow-light for these plants but they did really well under a regular shop light. Tuesday, June 18 View Page I put my seedlings out in my patch (protected) around Mid-May. Within a few days they started to wilt really bad, the stems started to yellow and rot. I was very disappointed and pulled up 2 of the plants when there was no hope for them. I lost the 969 Gansert 11 and the 859 Gansert 11 to corn seed maggots. My 1131 Gansert 10 was always the biggest and most rigorous of the bunch. It still didn't look good but it was hanging on. I bought some Sevin and went to work on the planting-sites for the seedlings. At this point I started 2 new seeds at the end of May when I knew I was going to lose most or all of my original seedlings. Tuesday, June 18 View Page I successfully germinated both of my new seeds. Picture above is one of them on Day 2/3. I started treating these new seedlings with insecticide from Day 1. It helped and it worked. The corn seed maggots were getting to my seedlings fast and early and although I didnt want to have to use insecticide, I was going to have to do something about it. Photo above is one of the newest plants. My 1131 Gansert 10 was still holding on. It lost both cot leaves from the maggot rot and was holding on by it's 1 true leaf. It was stunted for 2-3 weeks but somehow it held on. I was nurturing it as much as I could to get it to survive. Tuesday, June 18 View Page This photo is day 5 or 6 for my 2 new seedlings. True leaf is very developed. Plant is strong and healthy. I put these 2 seedlings out in the patch on Day 4 or 5. They were exposed to sunlight all day on the back porch since they first exposed themselves from the soil. I wanted them to get a good start and by now, the weather was warm enough. This is around the final week of May/very early June. The 1131 Gansert10 from the first round is still holding on at this point. Has not grown much, still very stunted for being a month into it. Tuesday, June 18 View Page This is my most recent update from June 18th. We've had around 13 inches of rain since June 1st. Very, very wet. My plants are still small enough that I can put the hoop houses over them to protect them from severe weather and too much water. The rest of the patch is so wet at this point that you can't even walk out there. It's been cold and wet...two things you do not want for giant pumpkins. Despite the weather, they still look good. The 1131 Gansert 10 (original survivor) has come back to life and it is thriving. I'm glad I didn't pull it up when it really wasn't looking good. I still do not have a main vine but the leaves are getting bigger and bigger by the day. I'm adding new leaves to my plants every day. The weather has finally hit the 80's this week and we have warmed up! The plants seem to be enjoying it but we are still getting heavy rain and storms everyday :( . Photo attached is of the 1131 Gansert 10 from the original germination on May 1st. Tuesday, June 18 View Page Another photo of the 1131 Gansert 10 Tuesday, June 18 View Page This is one of the plants from the germination I started at the end of May. It is about the size of the 1131 Gansert. Lots of leaves growing, still no main vine. It's really come alive with this most recent warm weather. I'm hoping that by the weekend it really starts to look good. That's all for now. More updates to come in the upcoming weeks. Happy growing everyone! I will be lucky if I get any pumpkins this year! Tuesday, June 18 View Page for some reason all of my entries were lost...but one. Ill make an attempt to fix it :) Tuesday, June 18 View Page Ok, lets try this again. This is my first year attempting to grow Giant Pumpkins. I recieved the seeds and the literature as a Christmas gift this year so my patch was started this spring, unfortunately. I've been working very hard. I started my seeds on May 1st and had a 100% success rate on my first try. i did nothing special. Filed seeds, soaked them in paper towels and then planted in starter pots under a regular shop light. Within 36 hours I had new life. The attached photo is on day one. Seeds from left to right are: 969 Gansert 11, 1131 Gansert 10, 859 Gansert 11. 1131 Gansert was the most rigorous out of this bunch. very strong, fast growing, healthy plant. Tuesday, June 18 View Page Apparently when I try and upload images with my posts; my diary entry wont appear. All are small image sizes too ?? Wednesday, June 19 View Page Well, it's only in the low 70's and sunny today. Will be in the 30's tonight. This is just crazy weather. Put the hoop houses over the plants today and pulled up the sides. Figured it would help build some soil heat for the cold night ahead. One of my plants has small ants in the mound. Sevin doesn't seem to bother them. Guess I need to think of a plan to kill them off. Wish my plants were bigger at this point, I was hoping to have a vine by now...but nothing. Good news is the next 3-4 days look warm and sunny. Friday, June 28 View Page Well here is the Gansert as of last night. Lots of vining occuring. It's very humid and hot but looks to be cloudy for the next few days. Hoping the plant doesn't mind too much. We've had crazy storms everynight and I'm thankful that this plant is just small enough to still fit under a big hoop house. One of my other plants has started to take off in this warmer weather also. I realize I'm pretty far behind but I consider it a success to still have plants that are alive :) Friday, June 28 View Page One more photo of it. Wednesday, July 24 View Page I am so jelous of everyones photos of their pumpkins on the vine. I've got nothing. Still peddaling along on this adventure. My struggling gansert plant is still hanging on. It's still putting on growth and new leaves that look pretty normal now. With that being said, it's growing very oddly and its putting off new growth in all different directions unlike the other plants. My smallest plant out of the 3 had some bug damage. Not sure what chowed a few leaves but I have never seen an insect on or around that plant. I sprayed it last night to help prevent any further damage. My biggest plant is another Gansert and it was one of the late starters. It is pictured with this post. It's very large and tall and it is growing extremely fast. I have yet to see any baby kin on the vine of this plant so I'm not sure if I'm going to get anything from it. The plant is about 10 - 15 feet in length and the leaves look pretty healthy (a few brown spots on some of the oldest leaves) Monday, July 29 View Page view of my favorite plant in the patch right now. It had one baby-kin about 20 feet out on the main until a chipmunk ate it yesterday. I put some red pepper around the other baby-kin to try and deter them. Have had some cucumber bettles around the plants but not much damage. This plant is about 22 feet long now with lots of blossoming male flowers but not much for baby-kin. Monday, July 29 View Page this is my sick plant that is coming back to life. Too much nitrogen almost did it in. It's still growing, lots of male flowers. Not much for baby-kin but it's about 20 feet in length. Monday, July 29 View Page sick plant in the foreground and my smallest plant in the background. Ironically, that smallest plant has 3 baby kin on it that should be opening in the next day or so. They are huge. It's kind of aggravating when the smallest, sickliest plant has giant baby-kin on it and the biggest, healthiest plant in the patch still doesnt have much to offer yet :) Tuesday, July 30 View Page checked on the patch this morning. Lacking some rain here so the plants have had the sprinkler on every evening. They seem to like it because they add lots of growth every morning! The smallest plant has a baby-kin on it that is going to open tonight or tomorrow! Very excited to have something!!! Wednesday, July 31 View Page female opened on the smallest plant today. Pollinated it with the biggest Gansert plant in the patch. I am SO EXCITED!! Wednesday, July 31 View Page this was the kin last night. Thursday, August 1 View Page pollinated a kin on the main vine of the smallest plant. it's about 12 feet out. pollinated it with the original surviving Gansert from the first week of May. Surprisingly it has come back to life for the second time and looks great Friday, August 2 View Page everything looked good yesterday morning. Went out as soon as I returned from work to find both of my baby-kin on the plant damaged by chipmunks or maybe birds. Frustrated is an understatement. Tuesday, August 6 View Page This is the biggest plant in the patch as of last night. If growing these giants has taught me anything: it's that you can do anything if you really want to. I never thought my plants would look this good my first year. I finally was able to put the silt fence up last weekend and this plant is already almost too big for it's area. It's been very cold at night here, about 48 degrees but that plant is still putting on growth and seems to be handling it just fine. Tuesday, August 6 View Page the is a pumpkin on that large plant I just posted a photo of. It's not on the main but it's on the longest, healthiset vine on the plant and it is looking very promising. I took this photo yesterday and as of this morning it is double the size it was in this photo. Even if it's not on the main, it's my best hope right now and it looks great. I do have a small baby kin on the main of this plant but it is not ready to blossom yet. I'll hold onto this one for now, just in case Friday, August 9 View Page here is the pumpkin on the big healthy plant. picture taken last night. I checked on it this morning and it is already quite a bit bigger than this photo. I pollinated a kin on the main vine of this plant yesterday and there are 2 more pumpkins on this plant which are growing extremely well. I am going to cull those other 2 this weekend. It's going to be a hard decision on what to keep in the end: the one on the main vine which will be about a week behind this one in the photo, or keep this one and cull the one on the main vine. I guess we will see how the one on the main vine is looking by the end of the weekend. Good news is, this plant grew about another 5 feet in the last few days despite the cold weather and it's now loving the hot and humid weather. The 2 pumpkins on the smallest plant that were damaged by birds are still alive and growing pretty nicely. The hole left by the birds is actually on the bottom side of the pumpkin so it's not visible. Maybe there will turn out ok. Monday, August 12 View Page Photo attached is my pumpkin at officially 1 week old. Growing like crazy, I'm very excited. Plant is loving this weather. I also have 1 pumpkin on the main of this plant that took to pollination over the weekend and is already a good size as of this morning. It is a solid week behind the pumpkin that is pictured though, so it's going to be hard deciding what to keep. There is also a 3rd pumpkin on the side vine of this plant that is about 5 days old and BIG also. I'm going to cull it off but it's growing so well. I'm beyond excited. I'm not sure how many pounds this pumpkin is but it's BIG for 7 days old