Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 84 Entries. Saturday, March 28 View Page With March coming to a close it is time to put the snow shovel away and start getting serious about pumpkin growing. It has been a long winter here in Northeastern PA. First on the agenda is getting the new patch in shape. Last season I let it get away from me and the best I could do was 458 pounds which made a great boat at the NYGPGA weigh off in Cooperstown. I made some calls to add all of the local composted manure I could find. Nothing like a big dump truck to save some back pain. The farmer said this stuff was about 30 years old!!! Saturday, March 28 View Page Black gold is what I call it. I dropped off a 300 pound pumpkin for his porch last year and this bartering was the deal we made. Sounds like a good deal to me. Saturday, March 28 View Page A good friend of mine offered to bring his Kubota over to help till the patch and while he was here we decided to expand things a little bit. The only thing better than good friends are good friends with tractors. Saturday, March 28 View Page Tim is a pumpkin tilling maniac. He calls himself a doctor but I am not sure about that. I don't think I will rush into the office of a guy who is called Dr. Jellyfinger! I do appreciate all of his hard work and believe I owe him several Captain Morgans. Saturday, March 28 View Page I hope this is the year that I finally am able to get the monkey off of my back and join the 1000 pound club. My good buddy Andy Box had to humble me by beating me there with his impressive 1067 last year. Now there is only my challenge with Rocky. I was a bit of a slacker last season but I am starting to get the bug again. My off season newly improved PGPGA titanium total hip replacement has me ready to race through the patch at full steam ahead. Watch out Sayre, watch out Rocky this monkey is going to fly off of my back this year!! Game on. Monday, April 20 View Page April 19th and happy birthday to me. It has always been the traditional day for me to start my first batch of seeds. The selection process is a grueling one with so many great seeds out there. I had a relaxing day at our cabin with the family as I made the final decisions for the lineup. I won't post yet until I see if they germinate as a couple of the seeds seemed like they may be hollow. Time will tell. I see Rocky did not take my advice on the use of soil heating cables. After I researched extensively on their use in Northeastern Pa. I discovered that using them in combination with molasses and kelp meal will be like ringing the dinner bell for all of the moles in the area to come bask in the heated soil and feast on the fresh roots. It can ruin a season in a hurry. Oh well, Rocky won't listen....he is a stubborn one,...whatever. Thursday, April 23 View Page I wanted to post a picture of what a pumpkin does when it is left in your yard all year. Who needs expensive fertilizers to green up the grass. It appears that all of the hidden nutrients are very good for the grass. Maybe I can drag this "pumpkin mat" around to improve the rest of my lawn. Thursday, April 23 View Page Once the 692 Sandercock 2008; now a fertilizing "pumpkin mat". Thursday, April 23 View Page In what may be the quickest germinations that I have ever had the peat pots are showing signs of life after only 3 days. That can only be good news for Ned and bad news for Rocky. Two of the seeds that were on my short list were 2 of the first out of the gates. After seeing Quinns 1521 and 1483 from 2008 and the Perham 1467 on the AGGC site I had to plant these. They are some of the best looking pumpkins I have ever seen and crossing these 2 should make for some good genetic power in years to come. Thursday, May 14 View Page In what is to be the year that I shed the monkey from my back and join the "half ton club" I selected an all star lineup to get the job done. Leading the pack, on top of my list and getting my prime spot is everyones favorite this year, the 1385 Jutras. The 1385 was the first to germinate and was looking good. Then disaster set in. A routine check of the hoop house revealed a 1385 that was weak and shriveled more than Rocky after he exits the river on one of his annual Polar Bear Club outings. It was a reminder of how fragile these young plants are. The following day after this photo was taken the plant was toast and out of the race. RIP 1385. Another one of my plants lost a Cot leaf after pushing through the soil but I am not giving up on it yet. So.. out of 5 all star plants there are 3 remaining that are at full strength. Their names have not been released to protect their identity until I am sure they are safe. With the loss of the 1385 it looks like Rocky has beaten me for another year. Congratulations Rock. You da man. Thursday, May 14 View Page After a close inspection of my fallen 1385 Jutras I discovered the culprit lurking inside the mushy seedling. A trip to our extension office confirmed my worse fears. The 1385 was brought down by a "Sayre" corn maggot. Not native to Wayne County it is believed that the tiny terrorist had to have been delivered and planted from the Sayre area. I am checking the security cameras to see if the vandal was caught on tape. Game on Mr. Rockwell, the gloves are off. Saturday, May 16 View Page We all know that the longer you grow these giant pumpkins the more likely you are to encounter its difficulties. Trouble has struck again in my main patch. I lost the 1385 Jutras to a white maggot of somekind now my second choice in my best patch has gone down too. This type of disaster is a first for me. After a long winter of narrowing down the seed selections number 2 on my all star lineup was the 1566 Radonis. It was doing great with more than 3 true leaves and a stocky stem. I first noticed it doing the "Rocky Shrivel" yesterday and today it looked horrible. I scraped the soil away from the stem and discovered its mushy texture. I yanked it out and found that nearly all of the roots had been eaten and the stem was loaded with a couple dozen of the corn Sayre Maggots. That Rocky does not know when to stop. I had put my 834 and 826 in as backups but I am fearful that they too are going to be eaten as they are less than a foot from the original plants and I did not add any protection to the soil. It does not look good. In the photo it is hard to see the clump of the tiny terrorists at the top of the stem. Friday, May 22 View Page With Memorial Day here it is a reminder of how far behind I am already. With me feeding the maggots at my main patch I definately will need a late rally to produce something big this year. Hopefully their cycle will be up soon and I can get a few back ups going. Rocky will be way out in front no doubt this season. I gave the monkey a little exercise as he took time to check out a plant at my new patch. It is doing ok but with a new patch I don't expect anything spectacular. At least there does not seem to be any Sayre Corn Maggots here. Thank you Rock for sparing me. Monday, June 1 View Page We spent the weekend in Cooperstown as our teener league baseball team had a chance to play 2 games on Doubleday field. It was a great experience for everyone. As I checked the forecast I saw that there was a frost/freeze warning for the Northern Tier on Sunday night. I wanted to let Rocky know. Hey Rocky there is a frost/freeze warning in the Northern Tier for last night. Thursday, June 11 View Page My miniature plants are maybe thinking about starting to vine out. At least the recent rise in temperatures have them greening up a bit and looking healthier. The year of the "maggot" has put me way behind in my main patch. It looks like another year of having to listen to Rocky boast of his huge plants and early sets. Now he is posting about all of his "wind breaking" skills. Whats next! At least I will be testing a lot of my own crosses. Maybe that will be a good thing. Saturday, June 20 View Page With another 1 plus of rain expected over the next 2 days the pumpkin patch is suffering with soggy soil and weeds everywhere. It needs to dry out before I can get in to do some work. The new patch does not have the soil depth to allow good drainage so the plants are sitting in the cool wet soil doing a "LOT" of nothing. I took the monkey for a walk to check things out. Saturday, June 20 View Page I have great genetics in this years plants at my new patch but being June 20th I am quickly falling way behind schedule for hitting an early July pollination. The plants have thin vines, small stumps and are barely chugging along. Three foot vines are the norm. Here is a photo of my **** ******* which is known to throw big heavy pumpkins. Come on Mother Nature and give us some heat. Saturday, June 20 View Page I thought this may be the year to get off to an early start and give myself a legitimate chance at hitting 4 digits and getting the monkey off of my back. I know this plant has the potential to throw huge pumpkins as I have seen to many of them to not give the seed a try. I was lucky to get it to germinate for me. The first cot was broken off when it broke the soil but I stuck with it. It looks like I am spotting my "Wind Breaking Expert in Sayre opponent," a huge lead this spring once again. Go easy on me Rocky, slow down a bit will ya? Here is a photo of my **** ********* with the monkey hanging around. I think he is starting to like me. The plant looks healthy.... just too small for this time of year. Wednesday, July 1 View Page July 1 and now I know I am way behind. My plants at the new site look stunted with hardly any action. My best plant had about an 8 foot vine and looked healthy. Yesterday morning I discovered that the end of the main vine was missing. It seems something got in and chewed it off. It may have been a deer or else Rocky got hungry. The season of setbacks gets another one. Things at my main patch are looking ok. The plants are young but looking like they want to take off if mother nature would ever get it together. Wednesday, July 15 View Page No good news here. Its been a tough couple of weeks. I lost a good friend. In my new patch the weeds have taken over, the tiller broke, my lawn mower wont' start and a psychotic deer has decided my patch is his favorite restaurant. I need to call Brad Paisley, there are plenty of lyrics there for a country and western song. My plants were small and stunted from all of the cold weather but the buck decided to snap the main vines off of the 1272 Hilstosky and the 1161 Radonis and prune the secondary's for me as well. I planned on suprising Rocky with some positive news on a 1502 Wallace that I had growing when "Bullwinkle" decided to prune that too and yanked so hard the main is 75 percent broken through. UGHHHH. I have it fenced in but he flies right over it. I am about ready to go "Pumpkinbrat" and turn it over for next year. The main patch at my moms is a little better but the maggots have me behind schedule too. I pollinated one at about 10 feet on my 834 a couple of days ago so I will have to wait and see if it takes and my 992 looks healthy but won't have a female ready for a few days yet. We are going to need a great fall season with perfect weather for me to get something respectable. The Dyberry patch guy has things looking better so if Honesdale is going to defeat Sayre it may have to come from Andy's patch. Wednesday, July 22 View Page While Rocky is away at the cub scout jamboree donning his knee highs and lecturing the youngsters of America on the health benefits of daily Michael Jackson moon walks, I figured it was a good time to post some photos as I am sure he does not have computer access. With Mother Nature finally turning up the heat a "little bit" the Honesdale patches are starting to show a glimmer of hope. The plants are probably 2 to 3 weeks behind in what would be a banner season but we have to take what we get. I took a walk this morning to check out the Dyberry Patch guys plants and things are looking good. The star of the patch looks like one on the Sandercock 834. It has a great shape and Andy has the patch looking well groomed with plenty of room for it to roam. Wednesday, July 22 View Page We are thinking this little guy is going to be a candidate for a Howard Dill award somewhere. We are calling it the 218 Sandercock and it was grown for genetics on my 689.5 which was crossed with the 670 Daigle. Andy grew it last year and the plan worked as the pumpkin had a great shape and was flame orange. This plant is huge with lots of room to roam so the potential is there. Time will tell. Wednesday, July 22 View Page We in Honesdale love doing battle with our Sayre counterparts. Andy being a postal worker has a special dual going on with the Rockwells. Andy has a "Sambo" of his own so is not opposed to throwing a little Green their way. He is not going to sit back and let the young Rockwell walk away with a squash award anytime soon. I don't know how many two state first place squash award winners are out there but I know of one. Take that Sambo, there is a couple of green ones lurking in Dyberry. Wednesday, July 22 View Page In my world at the new home site I best show a photo to prove I am not Sandercockbagging. This is what happens to a promising patch when your tiller breaks, a whitetail buck makes your patch his favorite dining spot and the desire to pull weeds by hand leaves the grower. I had big hopes for this 1502 Wallace which now has hardly any secondary vines and a cracked main. Wednesday, July 22 View Page I was really hoping to grow something huge on the 1272 Hilstosky until the deer decided otherwise. The best I can hope for is the tiller gets repaired soon, the deer moves on and I can get something decent for the porch and halloween. The PGPGA patch tour is coming a little further East this year. I am glad that we did not plan for them to come this far East. How embarrasing Wednesday, July 22 View Page The good news is I still have some hope at my main patch. Even though I had an early setback with the Sayre Corn Maggots things aren't looking too bad. The plants are still small but moving fast now and I have 2 seeds of my own growing which will be fun to watch. The leaves and vines are some of the biggest and thickest I have seen. My 992 is looking strong but females are hard to come by. I am letting the first secondaries train back in hopes of squeezing as much square footage as I can for this one. I think the 992 will be the one to challenge Rocky this year. Wednesday, July 22 View Page I am hoping a July 17th pollination has taken. It is about 11 feet out on the main. I crossed it with the 1161 Radonis. There will not be another female ready for a few days so I hope it takes. I am running out of prime time. Wednesday, July 22 View Page My other plant is my 834 from last year. It too is looking very healthy. I have to do some creative pruning to allow the vines to fit in a smaller space. I like the shape of this July 13th pollination. It is in a great location and position to be stress free. It is only out about 9 feet but it is my earlies set. Wednesday, July 22 View Page I do have a second pollination on the 834 which I hope has taken. It was on July 20th and I crossed it with the 964 Wolf. Wednesday, July 22 View Page I planted one of my 826's in a corner in hopes of an early pumpkin for our local Wayne county fair. The plant is throwing lots of females. I may just do some heavy pruning and leave a few on for Halloween pumpkins. The 826 is the 898 Knauss x self. I did not give the 826 a lot of attention or buried the vines very well. Maybe I should have. Wednesday, July 22 View Page Enough information for Rocky to absorb. Its going to be a challenge growing in PA again this year. Mother nature has not been kind so far but maybe there is still hope. Whether I can shed the monkey from my back and hit 1000 pounds this year I don't know. With these late pollinations I need for a lot of good things to happen down the road. As we leave the Honesdale patch tour Andy does is traditional salute, points North and blows a kiss Rocky's way. Good luck Sayre.... the BS stops when the tailgate drops. Wednesday, August 5 View Page The season that has been behind schedule all year continues in the same pattern. I am down to one patch to try and get a decent pumpkin this year. The good news is the plants look healthy and the weather is improving a "little" bit. Our wacky weather man here at WNEP TV 16; Joe Snedeker, says its the "year without a summer", and he may be right. I have set up the sprinklers at the patch just in case it ever dries out and I gave them a dose of kelp to wake them up. Wednesday, August 5 View Page Without any pumpkins at my new patch I may let all of them grow on my 826 Sandercock that I wedged into a corner. The 898 Knauss x self is throwing out some very orange looking fruit. Wednesday, August 5 View Page I am giving the 992 Sandercock the most room to roam in the patch but it is also the youngest fruit I have pollinated on July 19th. I think it may be to late and the plant may be to small to get something huge but I will give it my best. That monkey may be part of my family for quite some time. Wednesday, August 5 View Page Locally the Dyberry Patch guy is way ahead of me and I am starting to worry about Rocky my Sayre challenger. I hope he did not get a tummy ache from eating to many smores at his Boy Scout Jamboree. Last I knew he was busy perverting the BP Posts by pulling his plants down. Hope all is well Rock. Not sure what our challenge was this year but I think one was who can grow the biggest fruit on our own seed. HMMMM this beauty is one on my 692. It is a project with an 8 foot vine, one secondary of 8 feet and that is it. I am also growing it on its blossom end to think it may be the winner!!! Life is Good! Wednesday, August 5 View Page My other big plant, which is really not going to have as much space as I would like is the 834 Sandercock. It is my earliest pollination but late at July 13th. I like the shape and the condition of the plant so time will tell. I am down to one pumpkin so it is all or nothing. The fruit hit 62" at the 20 day mark. Not great but not to bad considering what we have been through in Northeastern Pa. this year. Wednesday, August 12 View Page The heat is finally on but I am afraid it may be to little to late here in NE Pennsylvania. Just when I think the pumpkins are starting to look good and there is a glimmer of hope for a monster I am reminded where the calender is at and how small my fruit are for this time of year. Once again I am chasing Rocky. Although I appreciate his "Ned is the Man" comment I know that he defeated me soundly in Cooperstown last year and his 919 outdistanced my 834 by a hefty margin. It is an uphill battle again for my late pollinated fruit. The 834 continues its nice shape. Wednesday, August 12 View Page The younger of my two pumpkins is the 992 Sandercock. It is looking promising and putting on bigger gains than the 834. We shall see. Tuesday, August 18 View Page The heat is on in Northeastern Pa. and the pumpkins are loving it. Albeit a bit late but still it is good to finally see some bigger daily gains. The 834 continues its nice shape with some developing ribbing and maintaining a pale color. It seems that both of my plants got their color genetics from their fathers. The 834 was grown on the 998 Pukos and was a beautiful deep orange while its father the 1423 Wallace was lighter. The numbers are not great for the July 13th pollination and the plant size is small so I am thinking this may be weighed in Cooperstown and then put out to sea in the Regatta. The 834 is a little over 300 pounds. Tuesday, August 18 View Page The 992 Sandercock is giving me a little more excitement with last weeks daily gains being some of the biggest that I have ever had. If it could last for about a month that would be ok with me. The July 19th pollination is late and I will have to play catch up for the entire season. Rocky is ahead of me but this thing is charging hard. I thought it was going to be a high pumpkin when it was young but now it is widening out and its butt is sagging big time. Not sure of a name yet but "Rocky" comes to mind. Locally the Dyberry patch guy lost a good one on his Bayly plant to a blossom split but now also has a late charging monster on one of his favorite New York seeds. Its a long way to the finish line so lets hope mother nature cooperates. Here is a picture of my 992 hitting the 30 day mark today. 104-68-67; There are your numbers Rock. Saturday, August 22 View Page I spotted a couple of SVB's on Friday so had to do a quick application of Talstar. With more and more rain falling here and the warm temperatures it was bound to happen. A morning check on the patch revealed a splitting stem on my 992. I dusted it with Captan, improved the tarp on top and put a fan on. Its out of my hands now. I have been down this road before. Hopefully I can head off a season ending disaster in a already dismal season. Tuesday, September 1 View Page No great news in the patch... but why should that be any different than the rest of my diary this year. The stem issues on my 992 at least appear to be healing. The area is drying. I do believe that a lot of energy is lost with 2 big holes in the stem. At least my pumpkins are still chugging along. The growth has slowed down. There will be no personal bests coming out of the patch this year. In front is the 992 and the back is the 834. Tuesday, September 1 View Page My 834 does have a great shape. The small plant is limited as to how much weight it can put on. Early plans are to get a weight on it in Cooperstown but as always subject to change. Tuesday, September 1 View Page The 992 has a lot of plant behind it but the numbers are not there. The odd shape does make it hard to measure so maybe there will be a suprise in store but I believe it is only around the 500 pound mark. Tuesday, September 1 View Page A sad phone call from fellow grower, the Dyberry patch guy as his big one went down to a blossom end crack. That is his second biggest one to go down. It has been a tough year for the Honesdale area gang. His 964 Wolf was really taking off and looks like it had a great chance to hit 4 digits. It was a beast and still very young. Tuesday, September 1 View Page Andy cut open the monster so we could retrieve some seeds. The walls on this animal were very thick and even and looked a lot like the walls of Andy's 1067 from last year that he grew on the 964. There was a very small area through the blossom that caused the problem. Tuesday, September 1 View Page No doubt that this pumpkin was going to weigh very heavy! Tuesday, September 1 View Page A depressed grower here, Andy cut the beast into chunks and spread out to let it find its way back to the soil. It looks like those Rockwells have the upperhand on us now. Monday, September 14 View Page "Genetic Success". A couple of years ago I crossed my very bright orange 689.5 with a 670 Daigle hoping to pass on the bright orange trait of both parents. The results are a success in a couple of pumpkins grown by the Dyberry patch guy. The color is fantastic. Monday, September 14 View Page Another orange one from the 218 Sandercock. Monday, September 14 View Page With the sun shining here I decided to take the tarps off of my pumpkins to get a little sunshine and a photo shoot. Here is my 834 Sandercock from last year which is throwing a bright white pumpkin. The growth has stalled and it is sitting at the 500 pound plus range. Monday, September 14 View Page My biggest, which is not very big pumpkin is on my 992 seed. Its short, and round with the butt growing over itself making it impossible to get accurate measurements by myself. Monday, September 14 View Page The stem is barely hanging on with huge cracks in it. I have had a fan and light on it 24/7 for the past few weeks. I even have a zip tie around the stem to help keep it from cracking even more. It seems to have dried so time will tell if it will hold together long enough to make a weigh off. Monday, September 14 View Page It certainly has been a dissapointing season. I am now left with one butt ugly pumpkin with a crack stem grown on my own seed to try and compete with Rocky and his world class Young genetic packed fruit. I suppose the beauty of a pumpkin lies in the eyes of the beholder and afterall it is a weigh off. As Mrs. Rockwell once said on that balmy July 4th 1964 morning, over the snickers of the maternity ward wing at Sayre memorial when young Lyle entered this world, "looks arent everything". He has been very quiet up there. Maybe mine will go heavy but I am not counting on it. Thursday, September 24 View Page With Rocky cutting his pumpkins from their vines early and allowing them to lose weight as you read this, it is now time for phase 3. This latest surge of warm weather should pack on a few extra pounds on our young fruit in the Honesdale area so we will continue with our feeding program to try and cross the finish line first. I was a bit surprised that Rocky wasn't saving one of their monsters for a second weigh off. I think we need to congratulate Sam with his big squash. There is nothing in Honesdale to compete with those numbers. Unfortunately the Honesdale gang is going to miss Cooperstown this year. The daughter of my good friend who passed away this summer, is getting married on Saturday and I feel I should be at the wedding. SOOOOOOO another head to head match up with the Rockwells will be missed. It looks like we will head to Altoona for a official weight and then either to Elmira or Longwood for the other pumpkins. I have not taped my odd shaped fruit in awhile but I don't think it has near the numbers of Rocky's and my second pumpkin is sitting around the 600-650 pound mark. He may very well defeat me for the second year in a row. Time will tell. My seed does have the 898 Knauss as the pollinator so maybe it will go heavy. On a positive note the Dyberry patch guy has a good long gourd going and he has a couple of pumpkins off of my 218 seed that should challenge for a "Howard Dill" award. They are bright orange with a nice shape. Thursday, October 1 View Page We picked a couple of pumpkins for our annual trip to Altoona. I am taking my biggest one and Dyberry patch Andy is taking a squash, a howard dill contender and a rather long gourd. It should be fun. I did not get any final numbers for you Rocky but I don't think the numbers are there to catch you, although it felt like those Knauss genes were in there. Its all about the camera angle but the 992 Sandercock has thrown what looks like it may be a heavy pumpkin. Thursday, October 1 View Page Here is my mug in between my twins Alex and Lauren and this years entry for Altoona. Tuesday, October 6 View Page The gang from Honesdale made their annual trip to Altoona to get a weight on some pumpkins and to see some old friends and meet some new ones. A good time was had by all and my 992 weighed true to the chart and came in at 730 pounds. With Rocky weighing it at 808 in Cooperstown, although the photo he posted clearly goes against the sign he is holding, as the scale reads 807 behind him.... but whatever,he got me this year. With the early maggot trouble I had and the cool, wet weather I am happy with the 730. Its cross with the 1161 Radonis should have good potential. Here is a picture of our pumpkin load with a nice orange one that weighed heavy at 458 lbs for Andy off of my 218 Sandercock. The middle is Andys squash which came in at 657 pounds and also heavy and in the truck is my 730 and Rocky, no sorry Rocky wasn't there. Tuesday, October 6 View Page There were some Monsters there this year. Some grown by the normal PGPGA heavy weights and some by some breakthrough growers. Here is Gerry Checkons monster 1434 waiting to hit the scale. Tuesday, October 6 View Page Nicole Hilstosky, the champ for the past two years did not dissapoint with a beautiful 1135 pound pumpkin and the legendary Lew "Joe" Yohe broke through the top 5 with a 1162 pound wide body. Rocky Rockwell is in the background... no sorry Rocky was not there. Tuesday, October 6 View Page My twins Alex and Lauren posing next to Nicole's 1135. Tuesday, October 6 View Page One of the backbones of the PGPGA is Marv Hicks who posed with Joe Yohe for a shot of Joe's big pumpkin. Tuesday, October 6 View Page Back on their game is Gerry and Larry Checkon. With the weather in PA being less than perfect this year they brought two more than respectable pumpkins. A 1434 and a 1208 is quite impressive. Next to Larry is Rocky Rockwell.... no wait Rocky was not there this year. Tuesday, October 6 View Page My 730 sitting all lumpy on the right was just another face in the crowd. Tuesday, October 6 View Page Another emerging pumpkin growing legend is Keith "Burrhead" Barrett who made the longer than Rocky has to travel journey to see some old friends. Sorry we did not get time to chat Keith. I looked around and you were outta there. Tuesday, October 6 View Page These 3 pumpkins aroused some curiosity. They were grown on a AG plant that had its normal looking main fruit go down. The grower let these 3 late sets develop and look what grew. There was a lot of controversy as to what happened. Personally I think there is a radioactive dumping ground somewhere near the patch. Rocky really liked them.... no wait Rocky wasn't there this year. Tuesday, October 6 View Page The long gourd competition was a furious one this year. Honesdale's own Andy Box took on past big vegetable grower Mike Lehman in the finals with Mike edging out Andy 109 to 109.25. Andys long one was grown on the 79 Sandercock. Nice! Tuesday, October 6 View Page I hope to have left Altoona with a few tips in hopes of improving on my results and one day sheding the monkey from my back and joining the half ton club. With Rocky a no show.... AGAIN I may have absorbed enough tips to pull it off next year. Lew Joe Yohe shared his years of research with me and explained his hypothesis on calculating current and potential density in relation to moisture levels, wall thickness and elevation levels all coming from pie. HMMMMMM He had the ear of myself and John Hilstosky. Joe can be confusing but when he showed up with 2 beautiful fruit it is hard not to believe him. I am in next year. He also told me how he designed "hootch houses and uses "jumpkin hootch house" as the season goes on... You are so gonna get stomped on next year Rock. Tuesday, October 6 View Page Since Rocky was ill and couldn't come I will post a picture of John Hilstosky's impressive squash off of the 1177 Haist that I know Sam is counting on in Sayre. You may just get there Sam and kick your fathers butt in your Rookie Season... Go Sam Go. The Haist was Rock solid and did go heavy. Here is the 946 Hilstosky squash and the 657* Box. Tuesday, October 6 View Page Since Rocky was kind enough to have spies lurking in Altoona to photograph me and Andy I had to call on a nurse friend of mine in Robert Packer to verify that Rocky indeed was there resting from his Swine Flu symptoms. I thought he was kidding when he told me the sad story of how he may be one of the first in his area to come down with it. I found it hard to believe. But thanks to the powers of camera cell phones I did get verification. Sorry for doubting you Rocky... get better. Drink lots of fluids, try some airborne or something... good god it can only get better. Maybe we will see you in Elmira. Monday, October 12 View Page The Honesdale gang decided to take a ride to Elmira, get some pumpkins weighed and network with some of the growers from the NYSGPGA. It was a beautiful day for a ride. We took Andy's new Toyota and the bed looked good with 2 fruit from my 218 plant. The yellow one was just a younger fruit but the bigger one was flame orange. Andy was eyeing down a possible Howard Dill award this year. Monday, October 12 View Page We even strapped the monkey to the pumpkin off of my 834 from last season. It was uncomfortable riding with him on my back and I thought the fresh air would do him good. Monday, October 12 View Page He looked comfortable. Monday, October 12 View Page Elmira is a small weighoff but there were plenty of big names there and they brought some huge pumpkins with them. Amongst the contenders there were some big names in attendance like.. Matt Teeter, Randy and Deb Sundstrom, Joe Pukos, Matt Verschneider, Andy Wolf, John and Christian Hilstosky... oh yeah.. Sam Rockwell and he brought his dad along as well. Here Randy gives some free advice to the group. Monday, October 12 View Page There were some big fruit there and a nice lineup was put together. Monday, October 12 View Page The last picture was of Randy and Deb Sundstroms 1015 pound fruit. That had the thickest vine I had ever seen. Here is another picture of it with 2 fruit that the Hilstosky gang delivered one weighed 1039 and the other 1099.5. Nice pumpkins. Monday, October 12 View Page The better half of the Rockwell team weighed in an impressive 915 pound squash. Congratulations Sam for kicking your dads butt this year. Keep up the good work. He even qualified for a big smack from Randy! Monday, October 12 View Page Andy's dream of a Howard Dill award became reality as our genetic experiment has turned out to be a success with my 218 Sandercock. The 689.5 Sandercock crossed with the 670 Daigle does throw some bright orange, nice shaped fruit. I am sure Howard would be proud. Monday, October 12 View Page The Howard Dill winner is now the 373 Box. She was pretty. Monday, October 12 View Page Andy has collected a lot of bling this year, with awards for Long Gourds and squash in Altoona and now a Howard Dill in Elmira.. I am sure his wife Kelly will love the new decorations around the Box household. Monday, October 12 View Page I have to admit Rocky did a great job with the Microphone. Maybe he should give up growing and look at a possible career change! Here he fantasized about one day wearing the highly desirable 1400 pound club jacket that is given to growers who earned the award.... In the meantime he had to swipe Randy Sundstroms while he was not looking.... I don't think you look very good in it Rock... Keep Dreamin' Monday, October 12 View Page This years Champ..... Matt Teeter weighed in a heavy pumpkin at 1302. Congratulations Matt. Monday, October 12 View Page With the season starting to wind down the Honesdale gang packed up and headed back home. One last photo of me and my arch enemy Rocky Rockwell. That damn monkey is on both of our backs...... one of these years we will figure this hobby out and get a 1000 pound pumpkin. In all honesty.... I really hope it is me before Rocky. Saturday, November 21 View Page I had some sad news in my pumpkin world here in Honesdale. My very first diary photo in 2009 was of a local farmer and pumpkin enthusiast unloading a mega load of 30 year old compost. We had bartered the compost for a big pumpkin for his front porch. This year I dropped off my 603 pound pumpkin in exchange for a deep plowing of my patch and more compost. Bill made the trip over and dug deep in the patch in hopes it will loosen up the soil and it will drain better. Unfortunately a few days later he had a massive heart attack while driving his dump truck and he never recovered. Rest in Peace farmer Bill. I spread winter rye on the patch with s few maple leaves and now we are all resting until next year. Here the monkey inspects the patch. Hopefully 2010 I can get this damn monkey off of my back, hit a 4 digit pumpkin and send his hairy butt to Sayre where he belongs.