Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 77 Entries. Friday, January 25 View Page Frantz - Seals 07' seeds packaged and ready to go into bubbles. Friday, January 25 View Page Close up pic of the seeds that will be going out. 1176 (1370 Rose x 781 Frantz) 1155 (1010 Frantz x 1370 Rose) 1010 (1097 Beachy x 1450 Wallace) 965 (1097 Beachy x 1010 Frantz) 901 (1010 Frantz x 1450 Wallace) 716 (1028 F/S X 1010 Frantz 735 ( 1450 Wallace x 1010 Frantz) only had 50 seeds. Send us an email if you would like to grow one. The majority of the bubbles we received have been filled and sent out today. Thank you to everyone who traded with us this year. Saturday, March 1 View Page This has been one of the worst winters ever in my part of Iowa. Saturday, March 1 View Page All this snow might make it hard to start the early fair plants on time. Thursday, March 6 View Page We had a nice warm up and the snow is melting. Tuesday, April 1 View Page Updated patch pic. Keeping state fair planting hole dry and the heating cables are pluged in. Sunday, April 13 View Page Last of the manure added to the patch. Sunday, April 13 View Page New toy for the patch!!! Cant wait to try her out. Sunday, April 13 View Page Another pic of the John Deere tractor and the 1 btm plow. Every year I try to add something, do something better or different to improve my results. This is one of my ideas for this year. I hope to improve the soil by plowing deeper than I can get with the tiller and in general I hope this helps along with bringing some "virgin" soil up into the soil that I have been growing in for the past 7 years. Thursday, April 17 View Page I spent a couple hrs at a farm field practicing and adjusting the plow. I got it dialed in great and I used it in the patch today! It did everything I was hoping it would do. Here is a pic of the patch after plowing. Friday, April 18 View Page All amendments have been added, soil was shallow tilled to mix amendments, then it was plowed deep and now it has been all tilled up nice. I will pull another soil sample in the near future but im thinking this is the best my soil has ever been. Its time to GROW! PS a BIG thanks to Janyelle for all your soil advice!!! Friday, April 18 View Page Took down the patch border fence, made the patch 2' wider and added on to the north west side of the patch to allow for a 4th plant. Since I lost the field patch, my wife decided to allow me more room in the back yard to grow a 4th plant! Yeee Haaaa! Saturday, April 26 View Page Updated patch pic as of today. Wednesday, May 7 View Page Todays overhead patch picture. Wednesday, May 7 View Page 2- 1155's on the left and 2- 1207's on the right. Wednesday, May 7 View Page 998 on the left and its back up on the right. Wednesday, May 7 View Page 1566 Monday, May 19 View Page Overhead pic of the patch tonight. So far this month has been colder than normal and the early fair plants are way behind where I wanted them to be. This is how I tuck them in at night now. Lows in the 40's and they dont grow much at all if I dont warm them somehow. Even with these added efforts growth is still slow. Marty should be the guy to watch out for at the fair this year! Thursday, May 29 View Page Overhead shot today looking north. In the foreground (south end) you see 2- 1207 Young plants side by side. One will be culled soon. They are about the same and after they are all the way on the ground I will make my decission. I like the one on the right (east side) I think. This ones stump will also be furthest away from the stump of the 1155 Frantz plant behind it. The largest plant in the picture is the 998 Pukos, on the north end of the patch. The little plant on the north west side of the patch still protected in its personal wind break until it lays down is the 1566 Rodonais. Plants are very small for this time of the year. Thursday, May 29 View Page here is the 1155 (1010 Frantz x 1370 Rose) Frantz plant I am growing for the state fair. The main is growing long but its slow to put out the side vines. My original plan was to have a fruit set on this plant by now. As you can see I am a long way from that. Thursday, May 29 View Page Here is the 998 Pukos plant today. It is a week younger than the 1155 Plant and as you can see it is a much more agressive plant. The side vines on this one are filled in nice compared to those of the 1155. Originally this was intended to be a state fair plant also but I feel that would greatly reduce this plants potential. This plant is way to small and Im not going to grow a pumpkin on it that will be harvest in less than 60 days. I hope to set one about mid to late June regardless if I can find a contest to take it to or not. Sunday, June 1 View Page Well its been a tough cold May and the plants are about 2 weeks behind. Ill be lucky to get 60 day old fruit for the fairs. April 2007 April 2008 Avg High temp 60* Avg High temp 60* Avg Low temp 39* Avg Low temp 41* Rain total 2.25" Rain total 5.87" Kilocalories 374 Kilocalories 357 (Avg day sunlight measured in Kilocalories (over 500 is all day full sun for April)) May 2007 May 2008 Avg High temp 80* Avg High temp 73* Avg Low temp 57* Avg Low temp 48* Rain total 2.3" Rain total 6" Kilocalories 478 Kilocalories 431 (Avg day sunlight measured in Kilocalories (over 600 is all day full sun for May)) As you can see May was lacking heat and sun while we got hammered with rain. June will have to be perfect to have any kind of chance at a decent fruit this year. Monday, June 2 View Page On the plus side of things, my recent soil report looks very nice. I got to 397" OTT last yr in 48 days so who knows maybe 60 day old fair pumpkins will do it this year. I need perfect weather and luck from here on out. Best of luck everyone! Tuesday, June 10 View Page Recent overhead shot of the patch today. Bottom to top... 1207 Young, 1155 Frantz, 998 Pukos and 1566 Rodonais. Plants are still behind and we have had RAIN RAIN RAIN! Tuesday, June 24 View Page Overhead shot of the patch today. Plants are finally starting to fill out. I was hoping for a perfect June but so far we got so much rain that most of my part of Iowa is under major flooding. Plants are looking ok and though it may not be a perfect season it may still end up being ok. Plants did take a beating from a hail storm. I plan to pollinate on time but ill prob take the first set over 10' instead of waiting for 12' plus. Tuesday, June 24 View Page ok here is a pic of the 1207 today. Tuesday, June 24 View Page Picture of the 1207 plant from the side. Tuesday, June 24 View Page side pic of the 1566 today Tuesday, June 24 View Page 1566 from the front Tuesday, June 24 View Page 1155 state fair fruit with hail damage. So far shes growing pretty darn well. Tuesday, June 24 View Page 1155 plant today Tuesday, June 24 View Page 998 plant today Friday, July 4 View Page My annual 4th of July shot from the sky. Friday, July 4 View Page closest is the 1566 and behind it is the 998. Friday, July 4 View Page Here we got the 1155 and off to the right in the afternoon shade is the 1207. Friday, July 4 View Page Another view of the patch today. It wont be long and all the space will be filled up. Friday, July 4 View Page 1155 Fruit today Friday, July 4 View Page 998 Fruit today Friday, July 4 View Page 1207 Friday, July 4 View Page 1566 Wednesday, July 16 View Page CHEERS! Wednesday, July 16 View Page Anyone know what this is? Wednesday, July 16 View Page Closer pic of the affected leaves. I pulled this plant today. Fruit was only growing 10 lbs a day when it should have been doing atleast twice that. Thursday, July 31 View Page 1207 day 22 94.5, 65.5, 66.5 = 226.5" 250lbs doing 40lbs a day 1566 day 27 117.3, 72, 73.8 = 263" 380 lbs doing 45lbs a day 1155 day 51 175.5, 1??, 1?? = 3??" 1??? lbs doing 20 lbs a day (to close to the fair to give out all the info) ps, largest day 50 measurement I have ever had! Thursday, July 31 View Page Here is the foaming stump on the 1566. Thursday, July 31 View Page a closer pic Thursday, July 31 View Page yuck Thursday, July 31 View Page started cleaning it up Friday, August 1 View Page another Friday, August 1 View Page All cleaned out. I cut out all the bad and then irrigated it clean. Friday, August 1 View Page Ok one more picture after its all cleaned up. I then sprayed inside and out with bleach, dried it out with a hair dryer and then dusted everything with sulfer powder. Put a rain cover over it to keep it dry. Will see what it looks like tomorrow. Friday, August 1 View Page 24 hrs later and the stump still looks good i think. Friday, August 1 View Page close up Friday, August 1 View Page In the sun to help dry it out Friday, August 1 View Page I added a mirror to direct some sun inside. Dont know if it will help but doubt it can hurt. Friday, August 1 View Page 1207 day 23 295 lbs Friday, August 1 View Page 1207 stem side. Don I told you the stem was huge! Its about as big around as a pop can and 1 and a half times as long. Friday, August 1 View Page 1155 day 52 not sure where it got all the great color from. Friday, August 1 View Page side view Friday, August 1 View Page 1566 day 28 420 lbs Thursday, August 7 View Page 1207 still growing well. Not sure I like the looks of the rear end though. Thursday, August 7 View Page and the 1207 has 3 splits from rapid growth. Thursday, August 7 View Page 1207 side pic. Someone mentioned I should post my crosses also. This one is pollinated by the 1155 Frantz (1010 Frantz x 1370 Rose) The 1370 grew my 1176. Thursday, August 7 View Page 1566. Growing very fast. I pollinated this one with the 1207 Young (1370 x 1068) 1068 grew Dons 1662. Thursday, August 7 View Page todays pic of the foaming stump on the 1566. Had to do a little more cutting but over all I slowed the rot way down. I doubt the stump will last to much longer but every little bit counts. Thursday, August 7 View Page 1155 Frantz today. Still growing well. State fair is one week from today. This one was pollinated with the 998 Pukos Wednesday, August 13 View Page Loaded and ready to go to Iowa State Fair. Wednesday, August 13 View Page side shot Wednesday, August 13 View Page end shot. What will she weigh? Could be a new PB tomorrow but will be close. This pumpkin is 64 days old off my 1155 Frantz 07' seed. Thursday, August 14 View Page Me and my third place 995 # finish at the Iowa State Fair. The weight was a huge dissapointment as I expected it to be atleast 1100 lbs. Anything over 1000 would have been nice! Oh well not bad for a 64 day old fruit. Behind it you see the 1031 Seals that went WAY WAY heavy and was only 62 days old. 1031 Seals (1010 Seals (1097 x 1450)x 998 Pukos). Could be a nice seed?!?! Congrats to Dan Carlson and Marc Peterson with their 1238 lb 1st place monster. WOW! I believe it was only 64 days old and still growing well at harvest. Friday, August 22 View Page 1079 Frantz DMG 08' (1207 Young x 1155 Frantz) Split at Day 35 and quit growing and was harvest day 44. Friday, August 22 View Page 1079 side Friday, August 22 View Page 1079 side 2 Friday, August 22 View Page 1079 monster stem. Well I have seen bigger but im sure this is the biggest stem to come out of my patch. Don Young thanks for the seed, wish I could have done better with it. Very healthy and easy plant to take care of. Im expecting to see some BIG pumpkins off the 1207 this year and in future years. Sunday, September 7 View Page The kids and their pumpkin. Grown in the grass utility easement behind the house with very little care. Never figured it would get this huge! Still growing very well also. The only thing we have left. Sunday, September 7 View Page Another picture of the kids pumpkin. Grown on a very small plant (200 - 300 sq ft) in the grass. Genetics seed 07, (1097 x 1370) x 1450. We pollinated it with 1566 (1450 x 1231) Saturday, October 4 View Page 760 Frantz 08' (Frantz cross 07' x 1566 Rodonis) Frantz cross 07' (1097 Beachy x 1370 Rose) x 1450 Wallace I think this makes the 760 - 50% 1450 Wallace, 25% 1231 Pukos, 12.5% 1097 Beachy and 12.5% 1370 Rose. Cross looks nice on paper. Only down side was that I was expecting somewhat heavy but only went to chart or a tad under. I am considering crossing it with the 1031 Seals (1010 Seals x 998 Pukos) that went very very heavy... 14% I think. 1031 (1097 x 1450) x 998. That would make the resulting cross 09' ( 1450 Wallace 37.5%, 998 Pukos 25%, 1097 Beachy 18.75%, 1231 Pukos 12.5% and 1370 Rose 6.25%). HA! Great job Ashley and Austin!!! 11th place at Anamosa!