Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 178 Entries. Tuesday, January 11 View Page life is good. my seeds have arrived. i hope 2005 is a good year for myself and all the good people on this site who are willing to put so much energy into this insane hobby/sport/hobby/sport...which is it? Friday, January 14 View Page decisions to make with too much winter time to think can lead to indecision, and ultimately towards insanity. so here is my 2005 line up if all germinate successfully. the 1st seed to be germinated will be the 735 Pukos with hopes for state fair weigh offs around the 3rd week in august and also the sandwich fair about sept 9th. it is the only seed i am planning on selfing, so starting 3 weeks early will be fine for male flower availability. germinating on 4-10 will give me 70-75 days of growth by 8-21 if i can get one pollinated on the main before 6-12. if it is still growing after 70 days i will leave it until the sandwich fair and give it another 2 weeks to finish off. the portable greenhouse will be used in the corner by the fences that is the warmest spot in the patch. 3 portable heaters are available incase of sub freezing temps. black plastic bags filled with water and one 55 black gallon tank filled with water will also help keep the temps higher at night. the 2nd and 3rd seeds will be started on 5-1 and these 2 get the prime patch spots for good ventilation and air flow, both started in the middle of the patch growing towards the house. 25'x 25' sections for each of the 842 Eaton and the 1446 Eaton. and the 4th seed will be the 1247 Handy to be started 5-8 to even the chances of hitting at least one pumpkin in a beautiful stretch of growing weather from days 25-35 of growth. intitial crossing plans are 735 selfed, 842 x 1247, 1247 x 842, and 1446 x 842. i wanted to get this all down and put it to rest. my early game plan is set, but many things will alter this plan like successful germinations, healthy sprouts, male flower availability, svb's. pm, mice, hail, tornadoes, bad luck and most of all---my own stupidity. hoping to keep the homer simpson "DOH"s to a minimum this year. Sunday, February 6 View Page here is my attempt at computer art for the gpc logo contest. hopefully it converted right from the bmp to jpg and looks right. what the hell, and 869.5 and 1370 would be sweet. Tuesday, February 8 View Page well i just got the P&P seed catalogue, and i see a fellow Illinois grower, Joe Richards, has his 1139 seeds available. damn that thing was a wheel. nice picture. also, i noticed the WPC logo is pretty much the same thing i put together for the gpc logo contest, with the world map on a pumpkin. i never noticed it until yesterday when seeing the hat in their catalogue. i am sure the gpc doesn't want to copycat or have a similar logo, so my first attempt was pretty much pointless. oh well, i will try to come up with something else tomorrow at work during a slow concrete pour. i have decided to move my early plant's germination day to 4-1 with the hopes of pollinating one on the main around 6-1. this will be my one chance to bring something to the Indiana state fair. if i have trouble with this early plant, i can always pull it out and grow one in its place for the Didier weigh off Friday, February 18 View Page gonna change my early plant to the 1247 handy. i purchased another 1247 from the CWPA silent auction and will now have one to spare incase i run into problems with the April weather or the plant itself. i really want to use the 1247 as a male pollinater later on especially with it 801.5 stelts genes. the 1247 itself was very long and orange with green patches. its only sizable offspring i know of, the 1109 larue, was the identical shape along with one that coondog from this site grew too. i am hoping this long and tall tendency along with the 801.5 genes will cross nicely with the 842 eaton with its thick wall traits and its 846 genes. and the 735 pukos x 1247 will hopefully produce large orange long kins and and reintroduce more 801.5 genes. i am done with saying my line up is set, because the closer planting season comes, the more i think, (trouble), and the more i change my mind. i am gonna buy some soil heating cables to help keep the early plant on track and will experiment with them later under a pumpkin itself, with the cables under the styrofome to help keep consistent 70 degree temp warmth to work along with blankets. this experiment will be done on one kin only. i will at least put it in place to use only if we have another cold spell in the summer, but i would really prefer to leave it on during the entire fruit growth stage to see the positive or negative effects. getting up the nerve to try it the whole fruit growth period is hard since i plan on growing 4 plants, with one pumpkin per plant. Saturday, February 19 View Page ...and the changes continue. it will be all proven seeds this year if my first choices all germinate successfully, being the 842 eaton, the 735 pukos, the 1247 handy, and the newly acquired 1225 jutras. the 1225 did great last year and has the long and orange tendencies like the 1247. my 1446 eaton will wait til next year when it is proven. i will still be able to accomplish the 1446 f. x 842 m. cross with my buddy Timmer's plants grown on the other half of my yard. he is growing a 1446, a 920 handy, and a 966 holland. so now the excitement and anticipation builds to a higher degree. i will have to admit, just knowing the potential of these seeds is putting the pressure on me to get my shit together, and keep it together. it ain't time for messing around. discipline will be my motto for 2005. no slacking jack, except for the slack in my vine to prevent stem stress that is. lol. Sunday, February 27 View Page i learned something very valuable about myself in the last 2 days....i am a jackass. i took advantage of the open forum provided on this site and resentfully opened my trap and let some built up emotions come out in language that should stay on the construction site and off bp.com. i let my emotions get the better of me as they tend to do from time to time. after inserting both of my feet into my big mouth, i made some room for some humble pie. live and learn. humility is the lesson to be learned. my apologies to the bp community. on a warmer note, i have some 48' soil heating cables coming along with some cheleated calcium. hopefully the ground thaws completely soon and dries up enough to get a tiller to mix in the 4" of mushroom compost that has been curing all winter, and leaching excess salts. for my early plant, i am going to hand turn over a 10'x 10' area where the planting spot will be, break it up nicely, and get the soil heating cables in to start the soil activity. and the 6'x10' greenhouse will go up at the same time. gonna do some test experiments with one, two, and three space heaters to see what the optimum amount of heaters are needed depending on the low and high temps in the next 4 weeks. the rest of the patch will be tilled asap and a soil sample will be sent in for some late adjustments needed like ph or npk and mag ratios. Sunday, March 6 View Page the first Illinois Giant Pumpkin Growers Association meeting was held yesterday and it was exciting to meet and b.s. with people who are as addicted to this sport as i am. i left the meeting with a sense of pride knowing that this was the first step towards many good things to come for AGs and giant vegetable growing in the state of Illinois. my thanks goes out to george j for initiating the meeting, providing the meeting place, and even going out of his way to make sure i had some cold budweisers. kudos to george and his wife. the meeting started at 3pm and before you know it it was after 7. george's wife thought it was funny to see and hear people so passionate about anything as much as we were about pumpkins. great conversations were flying back and forth and it sounded more like my local tavern with 4 different convos going at once, but somehow you were involved in each one. we already have a great bunch of guys and everyone had good ideas and input to get the ball rolling. with some hard work and a team effort, i see nothing but great things to come. after the meeting, i went to bobby's tap and talked with my buddy scotty who is willing and excited about helping us put together some ideas for the logo. he is 100% committed to helping us put together, design, and print our newsletters too. after the adreniline from the creative juices wore off a bit, i sat down to some texas holdem and ended up winning a little dough too, which is nice. what a fine day indeed. Monday, March 28 View Page MARCH MADNESS!!!!! the Illini are in the final four with a win yesterday over arizona that might have been the best comeback game i have ever witnessed. YEA BABYYYYYYYY!!! unreal, surreal, damn right silly...whatever you want to call it, it was a game for the ages. it was nice to see the family at easter brunch today. once again, great food at cog hill. this week my big zac seeds should arrive and i will start them indoors asap with hopes of a big'n or 2 for the fall weigh offs. i am off to a late start compared to many, but oh well, i am a newbie to the giant tomato thing and this year will be a learning process with hopes of producing a 3 pounder. the soil temp inside my 6' x 10' greenhouse is at 65 degrees at 6 inches down. 14 inches under the the soil surface is a 48 foot soil heating cable. one space heater on high held temps over 60 degrees air temp on a 36 degree night. today with sunlight and the sapce heater, it reached 95 on a 50 degree sunny day. i will adjust the thermostat at a different position and monitor high low temps all this week. the warmed soil in the greenhouse has the weeds starting to sprout, which is a great sign. and next satuday i will start one 1247 handy seed and 5 885 shenoha seeds. if i have a problem with the 1247 germinating, i will start my other 1247 seed 4 days later. the best 885 will go side by side to the 1247 for backup. one week and the pumpkin madness begins. gotta love it. Friday, April 1 View Page picture time. here is the first of four greenhouses that will be in my patch. this greenhouse is for the early plant which i started the seeds for tonight. this greenhouse has been up for 2 weeks and has weeds sprouting in it already. the soil temp 6" below surface level is a constant 68 degrees. the seeds got a 4 hour soak after filing, and then were placed into 85 degree starter mix in 4" peat pots which are in a humidity dome placed over my propagation mat. this entire procedure is detailed in my 2004 diary. the only difference is that i placed a half inch of saturated seed starter mix over the complete plastic tray bottom and the filled peat pots sit on top of this layer. i can regulate temps easier with the buffer layer and cool things off if needed by adding cooler water to this layer of seed stating mix. i have 2 thermometers at seed level in the peat pots. the seeds got a dust of captan before going into the mix. also the bottom of the peat pots are cut with only minimal areas left to hold them on. the bottoms are then completely removed when the seed pushes up dirt and transplanted to the 12" transplant containers filled with a half potting soil-half patch soil mix that has been warming in my solarium this past week. tonight the containers are filled and inside on my kitchen table to keep the soil warmed to room temperature and ready for when the sprouts push dirt. so i am hoping all goes well with the 1247 germination, and if not, i will try the best of my 885 shenoha sprouts to keep for my early plant. 2 will go side by side in the greenhouse, hopefully being the 1247 and my best 885. Thursday, April 7 View Page well, the fighting ILLINI gave it a nice run this year, but couldn't hit the 3 pointers when it counted the most against NC. they lived and died all season with shootings 3's, and in the end, they couldn't hit the shots. oh well, so now its baseball season and the whitesox won their first 2 games in dramatic fashion, but let todays game get away from them in the 9th. 2-1 against the Tribe is ok with me to start the year. should be an interesting season and i have high hopes for the playoffs come october. here is my 1247 handy sprout at 6 days from starting the night of april 1st. all of my first batch of seeds got a slower start due to the soil starting mix being too wet. this caused my anxiety level to kick up a notch higher than it already normally runs. i started 4 more seeds on april 4th just in case when i didn't see any dirt pushing up on day 3 for the first batch. with a better moisture level in my mix, the second batch are all up today above ground on day 3 with only one left to shed its shell. so 10 for 10 is good, but i only need the 1247 and one other planted backup for myself. tonight i started a 1446 eaton for my buddy Timmer's early plant now that he also wants to have a state fair plant. he can put one of the other backups side by side to the 1446 if it successfully germinates. the leftover sprouts will be held onto a minimum of 3 days as backups in their 12" by 6" transplant containers and then terminated. no sense putting in root bound backup plants if i have trouble with my early plants. if i have any doubts about my keeper early plant's progress come may 1st, i will rip it out and put a fall weighoff plant in that spot. hoping the 1446 goes well for Timmer because i will use it as a male pollinator for the 1247. jack larues 1109 grown from the 1247 was almost 20% heavy, and the 1446 was 20% heavy, so this might be a heavy duty cross in theory. Saturday, April 9 View Page here are the state fair plants getting acclimated to the sun in my solarium. i have them sitting ontop of sun-warmed transplanting soil in my wheelbarrow. no sense placing them on the cool tile. the bigger one in the middle is the 1247 handy and sprouted 2 days before the other two in the pic. today it is 8 days old from seed filing, and 3.5 days old since breaking ground. the transplant containers are 6" wide by 12" deep, so each cot is about 3 inches in length already. the other 2 are the 818 andrews on the left and the 885 shenoha on the right. the 818 will be a backup to the other two incase there is a problem during the transplanting process or tragedy strikes one of them within the first 3 days. realistically, the 1247 will be the sole survivor of the 3 plants in the end for my one plant plot for state fair competition. today i weeded inside the portable greenhouse and watered the soil thoroughly. some of the weeds were already going on 3 inches tall and they were plentiful. normally this would piss me off, but not at this time of the year when there is barely a weed sprouted in the entire rest of the patch. i have left the heater running continuously on high for the last ten days with all vents closed and some of the high temps have reached 119 degrees on 70 degree sunny days. so there is no doubt the soil is active and ready for the sprouts to be transplanted tomorrow evening. today i will present the rough draft of the first IGPGA newsletter, 2005 SPRING EDITION, that will be going out the first week of may. also i will present 2 logo designs that i designed and had a graphic artist clean up. today we will critique the logos, and i will encourage all members to add suggestions for me to give to the graphic artist for a finalized design. Sunday, April 10 View Page the little ones are in the ground. its probably too dark to see the plants in the foreground on this picture, but to the left is the 1247 handy and to the right is the 818 andrews. i choose the 818 over my own 885 due to the first true leaf on my 885 was folded funny in the initial growth stage, and the 818 is a perfect looking sprout that is beautiful like the 1247 in all aspects. too bad the 818 will most likely get the scissors in a couple weeks, but you never know. it is survival of the fittest and we will see when that time comes. the transplant went without a hitch. i figured out last year if i water the plants in their transplant containers the night before transplanting, then the soil will hold its form like a sand castle, and you wont have loose soil and exposed roots or damaged roots. just don't overkill on the waterng the night before, just a medium to light watering. tonight is a perfect night with a low going only to 57 tonight. also the soil heating cables are 2 inches below the 12 inches of soil that was in the transplanting container, so the roots will adjust nicely to their new environment. it is supposed to get cooler this week which i am happy about, because with highs in the lower 60s and lows in the 40s, i can create a more consistant air temp day and night utilizing vents in the day and the heater at night. too hot will be the only problem in there when temps get over 80 outside. the misting system will be used if we get a crazy hot spell this early spring. Tuesday, April 12 View Page yesterday it was 80 degrees when the weather man said it was only supposed to reach the lower 70s. if i knew we were going to get that warm of temps, i would have waited one more day to transplant the little ones into the patch. the temperature in the greenhouse with all vents open reached the lower 90s by the time i got home from work. that was too hot for freshly transplanted sprouts that broke ground only 4 days prior. they still looked fine yesterday, just a little droopy and i misted them by hand and they perked right up. this morning i see that the bottom of the first true leaf of the 1247 got just a tad fried. nothing serious, just a little crispified along the bottom edge of both sides of the leaf. the top of the leaf looks fine, and the second true leaf if forming and shows no sign of trouble. i would be worried if the second true leaf got burnt because it is basically the beginning of the main. but all in all for how hot it got on their first day in the ground, it wasn't too bad. the 818 andrews shows no signs of heat or sun damage, and might prove to be a better heat resistant plant. yet, if all goes well from here on out, the proven 1247 will most likely be the keeper. both plants were acclimated to the sun in my solarium for 7 hours for 2 days prior to transplant, so i think it was a combination of the heat and the full day of sun that affected the 1247's first true leaf. i have seen worse transplant shock after that first full day of sun to past plants that were not affected in the long run whatsoever. but it still pisses me off that #1, i didn't have my misting system set up for the babies or #2, that i should have waited one more day to transplant, and #3 that all the damn weather people were wrong by 8 to 10 degrees for their forecasted high temps. but that is all part of the game. live and learn. today it is 43 degrees out, but 75 in greenhouse. Tuesday, April 12 View Page here is a pic of the 1247's semi-toasted 1st true leaf. notice the wrinkled damage to the lower portion. Tuesday, April 12 View Page on the left is the 818 andrews at 5 days since pushing up dirt. on the right is the 1247 at 7 days from pushing dirt. Thursday, April 14 View Page well the second true leaf on the 1247 got a bit of the burn too, this time on top of the leaf. from what i can see, the small 3rd true leaf looks fine, but we will see when it gets a little bigger. seeing that the 818 shows no signs of burn, i am not sure if it was the transplant shock into the unexpected 95 degree temps that caused this burnt wrinkled look on the leaves. during the transplant process last sunday, a big drop of sweat fell off my forehead with a direct shot onto the center of plant. i grabbed a spray bottle and rinsed off the 1247 immediately after that happened. i remember reading a post last year about sweat dripping on to plants and causing burn marks on leaves, so i knew to rinse it off. i never thought twice about it again until 2 nights ago when i noticed the burn damage to the second true leaf as well as the first. these 2 leaves were the only 2 on the plant when the sweat dripped on them, and i am thinking maybe i did not rinse them off enough. who knows, but next year i will wear a head band if i am sweating during the transplanting into the patch. i just got done tilling the entire later season patch that night i transplanted and was a sweaty pig dripping sweat profusely. so its either the heat burn theory or the sweat theory or a combination of them both that has affected the first two 1247 leaves. but once again, i am not too worried as long as the the plant corrects itself over the next 2 weeks. if it doesn't, the 818 will get its shot to do its thing. unproven yes, but the 818 is a 735 pukos f. x the 935 lloyd m. and has the genetic potential to grow a monster. time will tell which will be the keeper. Sunday, April 17 View Page got down and dirty today as me and Timmer went to the horse farm and each got a full truck load of some of the oldest finest aged manure that you ever saw. Timmer put me on a spot that was about 9 years old. it was only 12 inches deep and you wouldn't even now it was there unless you knew where it was. i pulled of some small weeds to see the blackest richest stuff i have ever seen. light, fluffy, easy to dig, with great texture. so i dug out 10'x 10' x 10" planting spots and threw off the dirt to the side. then i deep tilled the underlying layer and spread 8" of the black gold and mixed those two together and then raked the dug out soil back on top while mixing some manure to this top layer as well. i also put 4 wheelbarrows of it in my giant tomato area, which are sprouted and getting nice sun in my solarium in transplant containers. i put 3 wheelbarrows of it for my best 5 tall corn plants which are being started indoors already along with some giant sunflowers. i should see them sprouting by next weekend. tomorrow i will have a break in the day and hand mist my plants if they need a little cool down. it is going to be 82 so it should hit 95 in the greenhouse if there is no breeze. when i get home from work, the misting system will go up so i can cool both the air temps and the plants 4 times during the hot days. my other 2 greenhouses went up today and it is starting to look like a mad science project back there. lol. i love it. the 1247 has a pinky sized stem that is nice and stout. the third leaf looks to be healthy, but it is small enough and thin enough that tomorrows heat might give it a little sunburn too. the 818 still shows no sign of weakness and is giving the 1247 a run for its money, but burn or no burn, i can tell the 1247 is an aggressive plant. Saturday, April 23 View Page its going down to 26 degrees tonight with 30 mph gust winds. two space heaters have been used set on high today with the highest reading reaching 81 degrees, when the sun came out for an hour. right now at 9pm (i just ran out in bare feet on cold walking boards...brrrrrr..) it is 71 degrees and my high low themometer will record the lowest it reaches in there, which i figure will be in the low to mid 60s. my space heaters work on time pulses, which means i have to monitor them with temps to adjust when to leave on full or medium or low. pain in the butt. so at the advice of joe richards, i have purchased 4 pelonis ceramic heaters on line tonight which are thermostatically controlled. it will make it much easier to just set the temp at night to 65 and change to 80 in the morning and know that my only concern with temperatures will occur when temps get too high. at that point the misting system will again be used and the space heaters will be removed. its funny that i had to mist for two days last week, and now i have two 1500 watt space heaters cranking on high. but so far so good and the plants are looking great. the 1247 has a very stout stump already and i can tell it is going to have thick thick vines. it has its 5th true leaf forming and all leaves look good except the first 2 that got burned on the first day in the ground. the second true burnt leaf is over 14 inches. the 818 is a sweet plant too and is doing great, but it will get the scissors soon unless tragedy strikes the 1247. my big zac tomato plants are sitting in transplant containers inside the heated greenhouse too and are also starting to kick in nicely. also i started some tall corn indoors and some giant sunflowers also for test germaintion practices. they are also now in transplant containers and i will try some early with this method and direct plant some as well later on when the soil heats up a bit and the last freezes and frosts are out of sight. Sunday, April 24 View Page here is a picture of the 3 greenhouses already up and today the 4th and final one will go up. the misting system half inch hose winds around to the front entrance of every greenhouse and then all i do is tap into the half inch hose with quarter inch transfer barbs that hook up to spaghetti tubing that is zipped tied to a stake with the misting head attached to the end of the spaghetti tubing. i use 5' stakes so the air gets misted for cool down along with the plants. today at 45 degrees and sunny, the misting system is not needed, but 2 vents are barely cracked and the temps are at 77 today. last night was the 2 space heater on high night and this morning it was 64 inside until the sun came out and it went to 87 by 9 am. this is when the heaters went off and then vents were slowly opened. tomorrow with a work day, i won't be home to monitor, so the heater will be turned off at 6:30 when i leave and the 2 vents will be opened also. the plants will be chilly a bit until the sun gets up high. if it gets cloudy during the day, then my temps will drop drastically and be closer to the actual air temps. at 60 tomorrow this is no big deal. i am glad this crazy cold spell the last 2 days fell on a weekend so i got to monitor and fool around with various vent openings and heater settings. Sunday, April 24 View Page here is a pic of all my big zac sprouts, my tall corn sprouts, and my giant sunflower sprouts staying warm in the greenhouse. i am only keeping the best 3 big zacs and giving the rest away to friends who are going to try their hands at growing giant veggies. the tall corn has 2 spouts per pot to be culled to one, and i started 4 giant sunflowers and put in pots to be transplanted into their spot in about 10 days. direct seeded tall corn and sunflowers will be put in the ground the same time i transplant these babies to see which method produces larger by seasons end. Sunday, April 24 View Page here is the 1247 handy to the left and the 818 andrews back up plant to the right. the 1247 sprouted 2 days before the 818. Sunday, April 24 View Page here is a closer look at the 1247 handy at 19 days since pushing up dirt. it is a grower for sure. the 818 andrews to the right is a beauty too, and it will hurt me to give her the snip soon, but that is the way it goes in the life of an unproven backup. she did her job, and hopefully anyone reading or seeing this post will give her a shot this season knowing ahead of time she is a beauty in the early stages of veg growth. gave them some light 20-20-20 today with their watering. i warm up the water in sprinkling cans sitting in the greenhouse before circle drenching around the plants. i used a cold budweiser as a size reference, but left the cap on and put it bag in the fridge seeing that it was 9 am when i took the picture. too much left to do to today before i open that baby up. lol. Wednesday, April 27 View Page disappointment. today is supposed to be my happy day when i start my top notch seeds. well my 842 eaton seed i paid 300 bucks for sounds as hollow as a drum when i drop tested it. i never opened the package until today when i went to file it. if i ever do purchase another seed from an auction, i will open the contents immediately, check the seed, and then secure it back up until the season starts. hopefully its just partially hollow and it still germinates. it is hard for me to fathom a club auctioning off an 842 eaton seed that is hollow with out checking it first. i cannot say enough how much i was looking forward to growing an 842 eaton. i will get over it. what else can i do except put another plant in the spot that i put my heart and soul into preparing for the 842. it still feels like i got punched in the nuts though. Sunday, May 1 View Page well i have run the full cycle of emotions over the past 3 days from dissappointment to embarrassmnet to joy to humility and to a deep sense of commraderie and friendship. the 842 eaton sprouted, and the reason it sounded hollow was due to the fact it was an underdeveloped premi baby. it shed its shell tonight. here is a pic of the shell next to the sprout. i think it will be just fine once it gets going like most human premies do once they get a chance to get going and growing. all other 15 seeds are sprouted as well. they are now in their transplant containers and under the lights. so now let the fun begin. i have a pelonis space heater with temperature control in each green house that will make a world of difference for climate control. thanks joe richards for steering me in the right direction with space heaters. Monday, May 2 View Page here are the top dogs sitting under their flourescent lights. i bought a high reflective chrome coated 4 foot shop light and bought the indoor plant or aquarium bulbs they sell at home depot. Monday, May 2 View Page and here are my backup plants and some to be given away to new growers. these are under my old 4 foot shop light with just regular flourescent bulbs that always worked just fine. but i needed another one for all of the 16 plants i sprouted so i decided to try the high reflective light with the reddish color indoor plant bulbs to compare the differences if any between the two. in 3 days they will start their greenhouse acclimation where i will give them 3 hours direct sunlight one day, then 6 hours the next, 9 hours the next and go in the ground on that 9 hour night. its easy to carry the transplants in and out of the house from flourescent light to the real thing in these transplant containers. in 6 days the roots will fill the 12" long by 6" wide containers to the bottom. at transplanting they get some mycch fungi as well. one week later they get a very light dose of 20-20-20 ground drench to get them in gear. Sunday, May 8 View Page here are the little ones getting acclimated to the sun in my solarium with the help of a shade cloth to prevent sunburn on this 82 degree day. Sunday, May 8 View Page here are my tall corn sprouts, giant sunflowers, and big zac tomato plants. they are going into the ground tomorrow after the storms pass. Sunday, May 8 View Page here are some horseshoes and an animal skull that me and Timmer found while loading horse manure this spring. hopefully the upward pointing horseshoes will bring us some luck this year and the skull will frighten away evil spirits. ya, whatever. lol. they do look cool though and we will continue to add to our patch museum exhibit as years go by. Sunday, May 8 View Page leave it to Timmer to make do with what is free. this is his makeshift greenhouse with windows from the garbage nailed to 4 by 4 posts. it has worked better than my store bought greenhouses at keeping temperatures steady both at night and during the day. we have a digital thermometer in all our greenhouses with a sensor that hangs directly above the plants to get accurate readings at plant level as opposed to the hot air readings towards the ceiling level. Sunday, May 8 View Page the last picture was a side view of Timmers greenhouse with the 1446 eaton in it. here is a front view. he created the nose on it for a place to put a space heater and directly above the plant is a misting head for warm days. i have to give him credit because it has worked like a charm this early spring with temperatures ranging from 28 to 85 degrees and the plant is doing great. Sunday, May 8 View Page today it was a scorcher in the greenhouse and the misting system was used to keep the 1247 from toasting. it got another burnt leaf yesterday when the misting system was not used. it was 76 degrees but my high low thermometer showed it reached 95 degrees in there while i was at work. no big deal because the vine is laid down and running and is exactly 3' long tonight. this picture was taken yesterday and you can see the over and under crossed bamboo stakes training the vine to stay down and straight. the leaves are over 20 inches already and it is a mad grower. it will have to be closely monitored all year for heat since it has now twice showed a tendency to burn leaves if temps get above 90 in the greenhouse. Wednesday, May 11 View Page silly weather conditions so far this spring. yesterday it was 82 degrees with clear blue skies and the temps in the greenhouses reached into the high 90s while I was at work getting fried by the sun. the misting system was used to keep the plants cool. i have realized that one of my green houses somewhat blocks the other from wind and both of the plants got a little bit of burn in that one yesterday. nothing serious, about the same as my 1247 state fair plant that got toasted when it was first transplanted. it is not affected at all right now so i am not too concerned. here is a picture of my 885 shenoha backup to the left and the 735 pukos to the right. neither of these plants were affected by the high temps at all. today it dropped to 48 degrees and it will be going down to 42 degrees tonight. i had a rain day today, so i put the space heaters back out and have them set in all 4 greenhouses to 80 degrees with the upper vents remaining open. after a 2 hour period i checked the high-low thermometers to find temps at 78-82 in the greenhouses. tonight the greenhouses will be zipped up and the heaters set at 65 degrees. Wednesday, May 11 View Page here are the plants that got just a little fried yesterday. a 885 shenoha back up plant is to the left and the 846 jutras is to the right. the 885s second true leaf got scorched the worst. the 846 jutras' second true leaf got a little burn to the top, and a little crinkle on the first true leaf. both show no damage at all to the mini third true leafs. Wednesday, May 11 View Page here are the 1016 ailts backup to the left next to the 905 ailts to the right. both are aggressive growers for sure, but the 905 has a stockier base and better symetry in the leaves and will most likely be the keeper of the two. all of these 6 plants posted today are 10 days old since sprouting. Wednesday, May 11 View Page the 842 eaton never really kicked in and has a very slender stem. it is leggy, pale, and sickly looking and needed a stick to keep it upright for a few days. i am trying to keep it alive and letting it strengthen up some before going into the ground. it has lost its spot in the patch, and will go behind the garage to be used as a male pollinator later down the road. i am even weary of using it for pollination reasons due to its condition. i am not certain if a half developed embryo seed that sprouts into a slow growing sickly looking sprout will have genetically potnent pollen. i will do some research on that subject before i use its male flowers for pollination. hopefully it will get stronger and be used strictly for a genetics pumpkin and a male pollinator. the area behind the garage gets full sun, but is narrow and long. a semi-snake pattern will be used with mini 2' secondaries to get some extra leaves on it. it can grow 25 long in total. Wednesday, May 11 View Page here is the 1247 handy plant that is 36 days old today from sprouting. it has a couple of burnt leaf edges from excessive heat conditions when temps got into the high 90s in the greenhouse. and today i noticed one slug cut leaf on a small tender one. besides that it is gowing like crazy and tomorrow i will have to remove the greenhouse and put up a silt fence around it. the overhead sprinkling system and shade cloth hail protector system can not go up until the other 3 greenhouses are removed on june 1st. i will use as many misters as needed to keep it cool if we get some silly 90 degree days prior to that. also i will take an extra piece of temporary shade cloth and have it rolled up along the fence line to be attached to the 4 x 4 posts and strung over the plant if violent spring storms with hail procucing possibilities come rolling in. once the other three greenhouses are removed june 1st, the entire patch shade cloth/hail protection system will be rolled up and in place to be stretched across all 4 keeper plants, over the steel rope support system that will be set up june 1st as well. the 1247's main vine today is exactly 5' and i am beginning to train the secondaries as well. Wednesday, May 11 View Page i know i am not growing salad, but i still like to document leaf sizes to later see which plants react to heat and over all pumpkin growth in comparison to plant and leaf growth. this leaf on the 1247 measures exactly 23 inches across. Wednesday, May 11 View Page here are my giant sunflowers that were started indoors and kept in transplant containers before going into the ground over last weekend. they are looking good and will get some 15-30-15 ground drench ferts starting this week. i will direct plants some seeds into the ground also once the temperatures climb back up. its gonna be cold for the next week so i will wait until the next warm spell to do so. Wednesday, May 11 View Page here are the tall corn plants at one feet tall. i transplanted these 5 indoor started plants and will direct seed some more next week after the cold weather passes. one of the plants took a hit during transplant when i impatiently started to remove the container, disturbing the soil and damaging most of the nicely developed root system. after that mess, all the other sunflowers and tall corn plants got a watering prior to transplanting to keep the soil and roots from crumbling apart. its just one tall corn plant, but i was still pissed at myself for hurrying the transplant process and not taking my time to do it smoothly. all the rest went in without a hitch. Wednesday, May 11 View Page here are my 3 best of 13 big zac tomato plants. these 3 will each get a 5' tall wire mesh cage to grow in. i have already given away 5 of them to friends to try their luck at growing giant vegetables, and the rest will be given away this weekend. my 3 are gonna sit tight in my warm solarium and get transplanted next week when the temps warm up. Saturday, May 14 View Page enough about pumpkins for a change. lets talk Chicago White Sox baseball. best record in the bigs to start the season. here is a group of my jerk friends in a limo on the way to the game last night. the skies cleared just in time for a comeback victory 5-3 over Baltimore. Paulie Konerko to the rescue again. what a game and what a crazy night. Saturday, May 14 View Page here is the skies clearing from our seats, which we ended up sitting in for only one inning. good seats, but nothing beats watching the game from the centerfield party deck. from that angle up top and center, you can watch every pitch perfectly. Saturday, May 14 View Page here is a pic of the from the centerfield party deck Saturday, May 14 View Page here a couple girls we hung out with at the party deck. Saturday, May 14 View Page and here is the limo trip home. can you say "Loaded?" Saturday, May 14 View Page and when we arrived home back to the infamous bobby's tap, the celebrating continued until closing time. i have a certain seat i always sit in like Norm from Cheers, which is the far seat to the right. everyone knows that this is my seat and usually give it up respectedly when i come in. i have definately paid my dues to earn the seat. i am so bad with spending money, that every time i go to bobby's i never bring money because no matter how much i bring, it will all be gone in the morning. so everything goes on a tab basis, including beers, tips, pizzas, a 20 spot for a little texas hold em, whatever i need it for. then i pay off my tab once a month like an electric bill. so anyways, we get back from the game, and who do i find sitting in my seat....these 2 cuties doing more justice to the corner then i ever could. so i graciously let them have my spot (not a tough decision to make) and we laughed at the pictures on my digital camera from the ballgame. i had them giggling silly and its nice to hear them say they will be coming back. they can sit in my seat anytime they want....wink wink. Tuesday, May 17 View Page the 842 dud is dead. laid down like a wet noodle and never did get going. a good leason to be learned is a hollow sounding seed is not to be trusted, even if it does sprout. Tuesday, May 17 View Page no more baseball pics with the cuties, my upcoming bobby's tap fishing derby pics will not be posted, nor will i post pics not related to pumpkins. the site is running out of server space and is cracking down on non-related pumpkin pics. so check back in october and i will post pics of my pumpkins. see ya in the fall, shazzy Thursday, May 19 View Page "i am back baby", like george castanza from seinfeld would say. fall sure came early, huh? that day i posted i would wait until fall was probably the worst day of work i could possibly have and i had to verbally MF a guy at work that was trying to belittle me, my reputation, and my work knowledge in front of our client. it got ugly, but when push comes to shove, i will run you over like a train. i am glad i could at leat keep enough composure and keep my hands in my pockets instead of launching fists. everything is cool now and he apologized and now understands where i am coming from and the superintendent on the project knows that the quality control on his project will be top notch. you do not sacrifice quality for timeliness and you do not waste money by having to do things twice. so anyways, i will continue to post what ever i feel like posting pictures of and if they get censored, so be it. i am not changing my style for anyone. i feel that some non related pumpkin pictures are necessary to show who we are. there is more to life than just pumpkins. i know that this is a pumpkin growing website, but it would be awefully dry and boring if there is not a little off topic fun. i will try not to abuse the privilege by going crazy with off topic pictures. but i never felt that i went too far overboard to start with. i will continue my grower diaries in the same fashion i have for the past 4 years. if you don't like reading some off topic stuff or see a few pictures here and there that are not pumpkin related, then don't waste your time reading my diary. simple as that. if i get censored, and some pics don't make it, boo hoo. Thursday, May 19 View Page the last picture was the 1247 handy at 43 days since sprouting with its main about 7'. i lost one secondary on a chilly morning adjusting bamboo stakes and it snapped like celery. glad it wasn't the main. remember, wait until the plant and temps warm up before putting any downward pressure on the main or secondaries. i was going to hold off pruning every other secondary on my early plant so i can get as many leaves and growth before setting a kin. but this boo boo took care of the pruning all by itself. i just angled the surrounding secondaries towards each other a bit to fill the gap. this picture is the shade cloth i threw over the plant just about 2 hours ago. we had some wicked storms approaching with hail producing history. so up went the shade cloth in just the nick of time. and we did get hail and there is not a single bit of damage to the plant. it is the first time i got to see it work. me and Timmer stood in my solarium drinking beers as the tornado sirens were going off and listening to the hail hit the glass solarium windows. we were laughing our asses off at how silly we are. Timmer was a Bobby's tap when he say the weather channel, and everyone got a kick out of how fast he drained his full beer and then raced out of the bar and over to the patch. they all think we are crazy, and they are right. it was quite the adrenaline rush though i will have to say. Monday, May 23 View Page its a new week and so far so good. couldn't have had a worse one than last week. everything is cool. everything at work is back on track and now me and the guy that blew up at each other are like best friends. i got caught in the middle of a misunderstanding here last week and now i have a better handle of how and why i got there, and now i have to figure out a way to not get back there again. its probably best if i just shut up and concentrate on the plants. lol. its never a dull moment in my head i will tell you. all i can do is shake my head and smile. the 1247 reached 10 feet today and is growing like mad. hoping to see a female showing up soon. all the other plants are looking great too. i might have a tough time when it comes to choose between my 885 and the 846 jutras. my 885 is the best looking plant in my patch, and i am not just being partial. i will wait a bit, but that decision will be approaching very soon. Thursday, May 26 View Page first female has shown on the 1247 and will fall about 12 ft-13 ft by the time it unstretches from main tip. its yella and made me smile big for the first time in awhile. all plants look great and i am most likely going to grow my own 885 over the 846 jutras. yes unproven, and probably will not have the chance at the deep orange color of the 846. but thats the way it goes in the culling process. i still have availability for the color gene from Timmer's 604 jutras he went with along with the 1225. baring tragedy to any of my small plants in the next 2 days, the official line up in my patch is the 1247 handy, the 735 pukos, the 905 ailts, and the 885 shenoha. Timmer took the snip to his backups and his plants are the 1446 eaton with a female at 8' already for his early plant and the 604 and 1225 jutras. from the seven plants we will have some nice crosses. also without me knowing, Timmer took the severly wilted wet noodle of the 842 and put it behind my garage 6 days ago. it is still alive with less than a pencil size bent stem at 25 days since sprouting, but he did somehow keep it alive. it is now his baby, and he is hoping to at least get some flowers off of it for pollinating. i am still unsure if the pollen will be pure strong 842 genes if it makes it. i will take a picture of it along with the others this weekend. all of our other late plants that sprouted may 1st have about one foot vines that all are getting ready to lay down nicely tomorrow or friday. Friday, May 27 View Page here was a picture of the 735 pukos to the left and my 885 to the right. i was just telling a fellow grower last night that is hard to cull my own backup plants when they are doing better than the proven seeds. well good old Mother Nature made this tough decision for me. it was time to decide which ones to keep, so i got down and closely examined all plants before doing the deed. no brainer for the 905 as a keeper, beautiful and aggressive and no cracks or splits on the stem or the 1.5' main. the 1016 got whacked. then i went to the 735 and my 885 in the other greenhouse. i moved a little dirt from the base of the 735 where the stem meets the main vine. and thats when i saw the color brown. the 735 stem had 2 mini splits, one in the front and one in the back. couldn't have been wind cuz they are in greenhouses. might have been the squirrel that Timmer saw scampering out the greenhouse door 2 days ago. maybe it got freaked out feeling trapped and jumped on the plant or something when Timmer walked by. or it was just a case of the splits from rapid growth. who knows, but i will say i am happy as hell to have made sure to move a little dirt away from all the stems for close inspection before deciding which to snip. i put some captan on the splits last night and this morning they were still oozing. too deep for its size to bank on, so the 735 got snipped and i will get a chance to finally see what one of my own plants can do. Friday, May 27 View Page here is the 905 ailts at 27 days old since sprouting. its main is about 1.5' and has just about laid all the way down. i have some bamboo under and over to gradually lay her all the way down without kinking the stem. it is a beautiful plant and as aggressive as can be. Friday, May 27 View Page here is the 846 jutras to the left and an 885 to the right. this is the only greenhouse now that still has 2 plants. the 846 is at about a 1' main that is very blocky and stout. the 885 in this greenhouse is my most aggressive of all my may 1st sprouts. it is already laid down and its main is almost 2' tonight and looking like its getting ready to run. very thick main vine already. everything in my heart says keep this 885 too, but the color the 846 jutras produces has my mind bent. i do like the thought of sibbing one of my own 885s and selfing the other. then again, i like the thought of adding the 846 to the 885. i know a friend has another 846 to try next year if i decided to snip it this year. i will just wait and see and make this decision when the 846 also lays down securely. the culling process can be brutal on the brain, but seeing the case of the split 735 stem, there is no doubt that same-age-back-up-plants that are planted side by side are essential for increasing your odds. Friday, May 27 View Page my 4 early indoor started sunflowers are kicking butt, and the tall corn and big zacs are looking good too. the sunflowers are on average 26 inches tall with the tallest one at 30 inches already. the 4 indoor started tall corn plants are all exactly 24" tall tonight, and all 3 big zac plants are 18" tall tonight. its fun to see other things growing in the patch this year and am thankful for the free seeds given to me by other growers at our first IGPGA meeting. Friday, May 27 View Page it was a pleasant surprise to see 2 male flowers open up this morning on the 1247. its been a while since i had the priviliege to smell that sweet scent. should be about 8 days before the female opens since it is right now between pea size and marble size. if Timmer's 1446 has enough male flowers come that time, then i will use the 1446 to pollinate the 1247. otherwise i should have plenty of males on the 1247 in 8 days, or at least i hope so. the main vine tonight measured exactly 11'9" so the blossum should extend to around 12 or maybe 12.5' which is nice. a 6-4 pollination would fall on a weekend and give me 76 solid growth days by august 19th. the first two secondaries on each side are about 7' long and i will begin terminating secondaries about the time of pollination which i have read to be the desired scenario. it does make perfect sense to keep moving the source/sink relationship forward to your pumpkins as the pumpkin first starts to grow. every snip of a terminated secondary takes all that energy used to grow those vine tips and sends it forward to the kin. its getting pretty cool when you see male flowers opening and a female out past 10'. go time for the 1247 is right around the corner. Friday, May 27 View Page front view of the 1247. tonight i gave it the first light foliar feed of neptunes seaweed and fish and will give it a foliar of cheleated calcium in 4 days, and then give it nothing until after fruit set. the only other ferts used on this plant was a circle drench of 15-30-15 when it was about 2 weeks old and a circle drench of neptunes at about 4 weeks old. this weekend its time to get the weeds back in order. haven't weeded or hoed since last weekend. its not my favorite thing to do, but when i have the time, it has be done, especially when they are small and aren't deep rooted yet. Friday, May 27 View Page here is Timmer's 1446 at about 46 days since sprouting. the main is sitting almost at 9'. it is looking great and he removed the side pannel windows down low to let the secondaries run. i am not sure when he plans to remove all the top windows, but for now they help to generate a little heat still in the day time with these cooler temps we have had lately. it protected his plant from the hail last week which was cool. i have to give him credit again for making due with free material. it would have taken over 75 mph winds to even shake that homemade greenhouse this spring. it worked like a charm keeping the heat regulated with use of venting and misting in the day and space heaters at night throughout this entire spring. Friday, May 27 View Page here is a 1446 female blossum pic. yellow and long shaped. he is going to pollinate it for sure, and when the next one comes down the line he will pollinate it as well and go with the best one. he too is hoping for a state fair pumpkin, so he is leaning towards going with this one that will be at 9' when the tip stretches out. also he can have one to pollinate about the same time as my 1247 and then the bullshit will really get going when the race is on. so far he hasn't had much to say lately with the Cubs playing like crap, and the Whitesox leading the bigs in victories. its still very early in both baseball and pumpkin seasons, so if i have learned anything in the past week, i should just shut my trap and let it play out as it may. anyone who knows me well enough would laugh loudly at that thought because they know i am an idiot and can't help myself. but they also know that i would do anything for them in a heartbeat if they ask. i said earlier in the year in my diary that i would try to keep my homer simpson, DOHS!!!!, to a minimum this year. well that hasn't happened yet, so maybe it would be fitting to name my first pumpkin HOMER. it's sort of fitting since i lived in a township called Homer and played on the Homer Mustangs basketball team. Ron Coomer who played in the bigs and even played with the Cubbies was on my team. So the first keeper on the 1247 will be called Homer when that time comes. Tuesday, May 31 View Page it is supposed to get to 86 by the end of the week, so i decided to remove the greenhouses and slowly mist the plants to get them acclimated before thursday. all is well and i still have to choose between the 846 and my 885. never mind, i trained the 846 main down safely today and i will grow it and use it as a male pollinator for both my 885 and the 905 ailts. big and orange. tomorrow the 885 will get the snip. here is a roof top shot of my plants today. Tuesday, May 31 View Page just to clarify that last bit of drivle or dribble or whatever, the keepers are the 905 Ailts, the 885 Shenoha and the 846 Jutras, along with the state fair 1247 which should be pollinated if all goes well this weekend at 13'. Thursday, June 2 View Page never did take the snip to my 885 next to the 846 jutras. the 885 was already over 1' ahead of the 846, and my 846 seemed to want to reach for the sky the past 3 days of intense sunlight while the 885 runs out straight out along the ground nicely and is very easy to train. i know i can grow another 846 next year with a seed from a friend. what it really came down to was i just couldn't snip the best looking plant of all my fall weigh-off plants. it was the toughest decision i had to make of them all, and it wasn't easy to do. so the official line after the culling process that cannot be changed now is the 1247 handy, the 905 ailts, and 2 of my 885 shenoha plants. all are very healthy looking with thick vines that are all over 3' at this time. that is besides the 1247 that is at 14.5' with one female at exactly 13' that will be opening in about 3 days and another on the tip that will be opening in 9 days or so. i will go with the 13' if it takes and reaches 20" plus at day 10. i will still pollinate the next one down the line and take measurements before sticking to the 13 footer. the sooner the better for the state fair weighoff, but i will not blink an eye to let the next one down the line be the one if it is a faster grower and forget about a state fair pumpkin. even if the 13 footer is still growing good after 70 plus days, then it will stay on the plant until i feel it is done growing and bring it to the sandwich fair in september, and then also to the fall weigh off if it holds up that long. i am just hoping like hell that i will have enough male flowers on the 1247 the day the female opens. there have been 2 every day for three days in a row which is plenty. 1 will have to do if this is all i got, and hopefully Timmer's 1446 female doesn't fall on the same day as my 1247 female. it looks like his will open one day prior to mine and he might have some 1446 males opening by the time my female opens. Sunday, June 5 View Page we had some crazy weather here yesterday while i was at a wedding. the lights flickered in the church but the power never went off. 75 mph winds knocked over many trees here in Joliet. i got home from the wedding and was just going to drop off my truck when i noticed one of my greenhouses that were on the back porch was missing. they have been off the plants for over a week now and i was waiting for a friend to move his belongings out of my garage before putting them away for the year. guess who didn't anchor them down? yep i thought they were wedged in so tight that they wouldn't go anywhere. dumb assumption. one of them lifted up and over my neighbors 6' fence and wiped out 3 birdhouses and a squirrel feeder. they were on vacation, so i lifted the gate latch, to see the damage. well i had a suit and tie on, so i changed out of my clothes into shorts, got the greenhouse out of their lawn, and left them a note with a 200 dollar check. then i showered up and got snazzied back up and had a good ass time with a clear conscience. i was even dancing to "Do the Humpty Hump" by Digital Underground. tonight my neighbor gave me the check back and we had a good laugh over the story. he said he got those birdhouses free so not to worry. good dude. the plants survived nicely and the only damage was one lost secondary that snapped and some leaves that got beat up on the 1247 and had there support veins snapped and folded the leaves over. here is the 1247 today at over 15' with a female opening tomorrow at 13' and another female 2' down the line at 15 that will open in a week. its hard to fit the whole plant in the pic, so here is most of it. Sunday, June 5 View Page we had chances for violent thunderstorms again today with hail producing history. up went the circus tent. the aluminet 30% shade cloth is up and will remain up until this early heat wave ends in a week. pretty much gonna be 90 or higher all week. the plants were misted yesterday and still had a little flagging in between cycles. with the high temps and humid hot nights in the upper 60s, i want to lay off the misting and let the soil dry out a bit after the 3/4 inch of rain yestereday. wet soil and humid nights is a bad combo for ealy powdery mildew or fungus set up. so the shade cloth will help keep the plants comfortable this week and there was no flagging today. this is good because i will be pollinating tomorrow morning, and i don't need stressed leaves not producing the essential sugars in the critical early growth stage. the aluminet also helps reflect the 30 percent blocked sun rays sideways and down too to maximize light and yet it also reflects some upward away from the plants to help keep the temps under it down as well. it pricey, but i like it better than heat absorbing black or dark green. tonight i will spray a talstar one/daconil combo to fight the cuke beetle invasion to happen any day now. Sunday, June 5 View Page here is my shade set up over my female blossum. 4 dobie bricks for the clothes basket to sit on without putting pressure on the main, and a heavy brick paver on top to stop it from blowing in the wind. with these hot temps, no sense taking a chance on the one i want to go with to start the state fair pumpkin. Sunday, June 5 View Page here is the female at 13' on the 1247. she is a beauty with nice positioning on the side of the vine. hope she takes. tonight i will cover her up along with 5 males that will be ready in the morning to do the deed. the clothes basket was over it the last 2 hot and sunny days, and tomorrow a styrofome cooler with small dime sized holes punched into it will be placed on the dobies over the pollinated female with a big frozen water filled laundry detergent bottle about 10 inches away from the blossum. the holes will let some warm and cool air transfer in and out and being on the dobies will allow some more air to run under and out the holes. i want to cool the air to about 70 under the styrofome cooler and that is it. not too hot, but not too cold to help insure a better chance of getting a successful set on a 90 degree day. the alarm is set early and the plastic baggies with small holes in them are going over the female and the 5 male flowers in about an hour. 1247 x self will be its cross. Sunday, June 5 View Page here is a pic of my best 885 shenoha that won its spot over the 846 jutras. it is taking off very fast and has a 4.5' main already with some secondaries already being trained. easily trainable plant so far with always running out instead of up. Sunday, June 5 View Page here is my other 885 shenoha that is at 4' and looking very nice. identical almost to the other one. you can see that tomorrow night i will need to get some weeding done again. the weeds also love the misting they get. today i spent all day putting up the shade cloth, burying vines, and getting my overhead sprinkler system ready to go up this week some time over my 4 plants. Sunday, June 5 View Page and here is the 905 ailts at just about 4' with small secondaries starting to grow. it is also a beauty of a plant that runs out instead of up and is easily trained. so this weeks schedule is spray talstar one/daconil this evening, cover the females and males for tomorrows pollination, weeding tomorrow, and a calcium spray in 3 days since i just hit them with calcium 2 days ago foliar. should be a great week of growth with the warm sunny days and the shade cloth keeping those leaves producing. Monday, June 6 View Page i put up my overhead sprinkling system but the water pressure is too low for the ein dor heads. i am going to get some heavy droplet mister heads and put them in instead. in the mean time i am using a rain tower to do the job in this hot spell. plants looks great and almost all 3 fall plants grew one foot since yesterday in all directions. all 3 are over 5' and i already have a female on the 905 that will be pruned. nice round and yella. pollinated the 1247 this morning with the 5 males from the 1247, and put an ice jug under the styrofome cooler with holes in it, then replaced the ice jug at lunch at 1 pm and will do the dame tomorrrow with 92 degree temps. no need to abort now. the next one down the line looks to be at 6 days. this mornings pollination was a nice 6 lober. yesterday Timmer pollinated a 1446 female with my 1247 handy and 9.5'. his next one down the line is at 11.5 and another one at 14'. he is gonna try them all in this heat to make sure one of them sets. he can always cull and will make sure the next ones set before culling this one. the 1446 is a beauty of a plant and the blossum is nice and yellow with a good stem length forming already. i am hoping both set and we start to see the craziness begin. Saturday, June 11 View Page both enemies arrived this week. the cuke beetle on 6-7 and the svb today on 6-11. i sprayed last weekend with talstar one but the fall weigh off plants have grown over 3' this week in every direction, so tonight the demand cs is coming out along with a merit drench. i pollinated the second one out at 15' on the 1247 on 6-10 with 6 males from the 1247. Timmer pollinated his 1446 second one out at 12' with the 1247 males. when burying his vines, he went a little deep and covered all male blossums, which took a little longer to pop through the soil and open. hoping his third one down the line at 15' will have plenty of 1446 males when it opens in about 3 days. he wants to self the keeper 1446 and he is really liking the positioning of the blossum and the length out on the vine. i am hoping either of my first 2 pollinations on the 1247 take because i noticed a small healed crack right after the second blossum on the main. my third one out at 18' will be after that crack and will open in about 4 days. the 1247 main vine is already the thickest main i have yet to seen in my 4 years. i will get pictures this evening. because i am not sure if the first 2 females are completely set in this high heat, i have let this plant take up much of the 905 ailts' area. i have curved the main towards my fence and will snip off secondaries out this far, but the 905 will have about 450 sq ft at most to grow in. i am working at training the vines on both plants right to make the 2 head to head growing x mas trees squeeze together in there rectangular shaped area. Saturday, June 11 View Page only saw the one svb and worked in the patch all day and until past twilight. and Timmer killed the only one we saw. it was moving real slow and i think it got a taste of the talstar one we sprayed last week. but after finding 2 cuke beetles doing it doggystyle (or should i say from behind beetle style) on my sunflower leaves, i decided to bring out the demand cs tonight and sprayed every vine, leaf stalk, underside of leaves, on top of leaves where little pools of the mix run down the funnel leaf covering that leaf stalk and the vine where the stalk connects, which is them bastards svb's favorite hidding spot, where they back that red ass up to and lay there eggs. well i will sleep good tonight knowing i am protected on all growth up to this point (except vine tips and young tender leaves) for both insects and disease as i added daconil to the mix. i placed bamboo stakes at current sprayed areas where i stopped spraying to avoid vine tips and small developing leaves. i will spray these new growth vines and leaves about every 3 days until the patch fills out to maximum. i will spray the entire plants every 10 days with daconil and demand cs. this might but a little overkill because the product lasts for up to 3 weeks. but having lost great growing pumpkins 2 years ago to svb's to not having any svb damage last year, i am playing it more safe than sorry. last year i went heavy just because of paranoia from the year before and the plants can handle it every 10 days no problem. i will leave up the shade cloth for 3 more days and the temperatures are supposed to drop big time on tuesday or wednesday. it has worked great and all plants have grown a foot per day for the past 4 days. the 5 day old pumpkin on the 1247 might lay down tomorrow. its still in the air with a long stem that is very thick already. Sunday, June 12 View Page my 885 shenoha #1 plant at 44 days old since sprouting. it is 10' exactly this morning with a female at 9' that will get pinched and another in the tip. the one in the tip should fall at 11' and will get pollinated in about 11-12 days along with every one on th main after that. Sunday, June 12 View Page here is my 885 #2 plant that is also at 10' with a female to be pinched at 9' and another in the vine tip that will most likely fall at 11' to be pollinated along with every female down the line on the main. i am hoping the pumpkins are like its mama the 1301.5 eaton which produced long in shape last year. OKpunkingrower(Jon)'s diary shows his 885 pumpkin to be long in shape and it reminds me of the 885 from last year already. its is looking nice and i am having fun watching him grow pumpkins already on my 505 shenoha and 885 shenoha plants that are growing well for him. Sunday, June 12 View Page here is a pic of the 905 ailts on day 44 sitting at 9'. its doing great and is probably happy it is going to get a little more room cuz i blew out 3 secondary tips on the 1247 on the side closest to the 905. too much watering, pruning, weeding, and insecticide spraying couldn't have helped. no big loss because they were to be terminated in 2 days anyway, but i am not happy with myself at all for failing to remember not push a well established plant to hard on any one given day. better to drill this into my head again before i get fast growing pumpkins on the plant. i am real happy that all my other plants are fine and i didn't lose the main on the 1247 yet, even though it needs to be whacked cuz its intruding into the 905s space. i am just making sure to get a nice one set on the 1247 before terminating the main. the last picture of the 885 #2 plant has a nice view of the 1247 behind it. Sunday, June 12 View Page here is the pumpkin that was pollinated 6-6 making it 6 days old this morning. long thick stem has kept it upright and i would think it will lay down today. looks nice but i am not sure if it will make 20" on day 10. i will wait until day 10 to take a measurement. today i removed the secondary next to it and applied captan. it wasn't a tough decision to do because this seconday was one of the blowouts anyways that snapped off last night. it's funny how mother nature took care of all my pruning decisions for me last night. hopefully this is the last time she gets a say on when i should prune or not prune. Sunday, June 12 View Page here is my 6-10 pollination at 15' and 2 days old. nice looking 5 lober this one was, and the other at 13' was a 6 lober. the next chance at 18' will be in 2 or 3 days. i can tell already the 801.5 stelts gene is present in color cuz these things look like bright yellow lemons which i have found leads to nice orangies down the road. Sunday, June 12 View Page here are my sunflowers with two peeking over the 6' fence already. looking good for blowing over in the storm last weekend and having to tie back up. they are tied off nice and i will remember to tie them to the fence next year starting after 3 feet tall for wind protection. the 4 tall corn plants are 4 feet tall. i never did direct seed any other corn or sunflowers. i gave them away to friends so these are my chances to get my personal bests for height of corn stalk and head size of sunflower. its fun watching them grow too and pretty cool to watch the progress. Sunday, June 12 View Page here are my 3 big zac tomato plants with one at 4' already in these 5' tall tomato cages. i have been removing all suckers and flowers until july 1st when i will let 3 clusters of 3 pruduce 9 tomatoes per plant, culling to one tomato per cluster and just 3 tomatoes per plant. calcium sprays will continue weekly and when fruit sets, every 2 days calcium will be sprayed on both the plants and tomatoes. Monday, June 13 View Page monday the 13th. what a shitty day. woke up to see if my 7 day old pumpkin grew any and realized it hasn't and now i see a change in color and it has lost its luster. aborted in the heat wave. so then i looked down the line at the 15' female to find a 1 inch stem split at the base of the stem about an inch away from the main running with the stem, but not all the way to the pumpkin. i dressed it with captan and it looks to have healed up nice today, but it is not to be trusted as the keeper. and then the next female down the line looks a little pale today with some minor luster gone and some little dimpling. i expected it to be ready for pollination tomorrow, but it has stopped growing and also probably got fried. so the one at 21 feet won't be ready for over another week, which puts this plant in no mans land for a weigh off. and not only that, it is now growing further than expected and is taking away valuable space for my 905 ailts plant. at this point i will try the 21 footer and that is all the room it has. if that one doesn't take, the plant will be pulled and the 905 will take up all of its space. a lot of work for an early state fair plant that has gone for naught. damn silly hobby got me good today. and then to top it off Timmer's 1446 went sky high today and grew too fast and snapped off, luckily after his third pollination attempt this morning. hopefully it takes, cuz his first 2 like my first one aborted in the heat. we tried the coolers with ice during pollination and they grew for 5 days and quit. its not the end of the world, but a frustrating day for sure. so we drank some beer, and got it out of our system, and will take our punches, lick our wounds (so to speak) and keep fighting the good fight. i forgot how much pain this hobby can deliver. but that is all part of the game. there is no crying in giant pumpkin growing, but you should have heard my filthy cussing mouth this morning. lol. Thursday, June 16 View Page damn what a week. high winds snapped off the 1247 main and the 905 main along with a couple secondaries. wind breaks and bamboo stakes didn't keep away the blues. both my 885s survived nicely with some beat of leaves and that is about it. 40 mph sustained winds for all day with some gusts close to 50 are not good. i was not alone in this wind beating i see from other posts on the message board. i will try on secondaries on the 1247 if my pollination on a sickly looking 4 lober doesn't take that was pollinated yesterday morning. the split stem 15' set is still growing a little. the splits healed so maybe it will do something. the 905 will not even have a main vine chance. it will be a secondary set only after i train the closest secondary to the snap as the new main. if either of these plants do not have anything really chugging on them this year, i will grow 2 or 3 on each one all with different crosses and treat them as genetics plants and halloween pumpkin plants. i am getting good at taking the wrath of Mother Nature. bring it on Lady, i am not gonna give up. Saturday, June 18 View Page both the 885 plants are doing great. i will be pollinating a female on 885 #2 plant probably monday morning at 11'. i will be pollinating the 885 #1 plant female in about 3 or 4 days. both will have to endure high heat again. this time i will be placing a laundry detergent frozen water filled bottle next too, but not touching, each set female every day while temps are above 88 degrees until cooler temps come back. no more aborts needed here. each plant has another down the line about 3 feet just in case they don't take or are slower growers. all main females are going to be pollinated from this stage on. good timing as i have already been terminating secondaries on both plants the entire patch will be filled to the max in about 2 weeks or less. the overhead heavy droplet red tornado misters were put into place yesterday and work great. i can use them both to water the entire patch evenly with a slow soak and i can still use the misting system in the day time to cool the plants in the entire patch. things have turned for the better lately, knock on wood, so that scares me cuz i know the roller coaster will come back down the hill sooner or later, and that is as certain as death and taxes. Saturday, June 18 View Page my pumpkin on the 1247 with the healed split stem is now named Ol' Crackey. it measures 17.5' around tonight on day 8 and looks to be able to make the 20" mark by the morning of day 10 if all continues to go well. the torpedo shaped female at 18' is still growing and has a crazy long stem them is sticking the female straight up. this time i placed some small styrofome blocks under it and will let it slowly lay down without the stress on the stem to avoid having Ol' Crackey Sr. and Ol' Crackey Jr. if this odd shaped small pumpkin makes it through, it will be called Homer and Crackey and Homer will compete to see who wins the chance to grow to fruition. i might have a state fair pumpkin after all. Crackey will have 70 days and Homer will have 65 before having to cut and load. if either is a good one still growing nice at that time, then they will be Sandwich Fair Pumpkins and possibley Didier Farm pumpkins too. the 905 has a female on a nice secondary that will be pollinated in about 8 days. if this one takes, then it will become the new main extended out. i have left 4 secondaries before the snap off point and will let each one with a female grow around an out and set them all before picking which secondary with the nicely set pumpkin on it to keep as the new extended main and whack the other ones off and let the new main keep running out where the old main would have been growing. Sunday, June 19 View Page here is a pic of Ole' Crackey at 6:30 am on the exact 9 days since pollination at 18.5" in circumference, not including the blossum bulge knob at the end. it grew 1" from 6:30pm last night in cold low 50 degree temps. so 2 inches per day will put it at over 20" on day 10 morning if all goes well. that is not too bad of growth for the cold nights we had the past 5 nights. my 695 handy pumkin last year was ecxactly 20 inches at day 10 and and took off like a race horse after day 20. i hope Ole' Crackey doesn't meet the same fate with a blossum end split though. hopefully the Crackster can keep them Splittsville Blues away and has gotten its cracking and healing out of the way early with its early stem splits. like everything else, time will tell. Sunday, June 19 View Page here i am enjoying a smoke after vine burying this morning. hey Gene McMullen, you like my shirt? yep the bet is still on brother. Did you happen to see Pierzynski's walk off home run last night to sweep the Dodgers? how about them Chicagoooooooooo Whiiiiiiiiite Sssssoooooooooox! Monday, June 20 View Page my mistake, i made the last post saying aj pierzyinski hit a walk off home run to sweep the series last night. it should have read that he won the series. tonight we actually got the sweep. my bust. plus i won at texas hol em big time, what time is it anywayts, i have tyo be up at 530 am. Monday, June 20 View Page man i have to start proofreading and check spelling in entries before sending them. ugly. tomorrow i will be pollinating the 11' female on 885 #2 plant with 5 flowers from 885 #1 plant. gonna be hot so out comes the frozen jug and styrfome cooler trick. it got Ole' Crackey pollinated on a 90 degree day so i will have to do it tomorrow and most likely wednesday too. a fresh jug will go out every day this week and when it hits 96 on thursday, they will both get 2 jugs of ice a piece laying next to them about 3 inches away from the blossum and covered with a styrofome cooler sitting on top of 4 dobie bricks so there is no pressure on the main. i do not have to be at work until 9:30 am tomorrow so i will be putting up a shade tarp over all female blossums on both 885 plants' mains to prevent them from cooking. i have the shade cloth over the patch and the misting system set all week. i read a post by joe pukos about continuous wet soggy female flower petals that never get a chance to dry in hot humid conditions can lead to abort problems. so i will keep the females dry with the tarps over them and still be able to mist this week. Ole' Crackey is gonna be my only good chance on the 1247 because at day 5 the deformed 4 lober is not doing all that much, but is getting bigger. the Crackster was exactly 21" circ. this morning at 6:30 on his 10 day mark and was 23" tonight at 8 pm. with this hot weather, i am hoping for over 60" in 10 days. aj piezynskin just hit a bloop single to put the White Sox up 10-8. YESSSSSSSSS! Tuesday, June 21 View Page nice 5 lober this morning on the 885 #2 at 11'. with the temps hitting the high 80s and soon to go up 95 plus by the end of the week. here is a shade tarp i put over this mornings pollinated female, the next two down the line, and the main tip also. probably overkill, but i would rather be safe than sorry. the shade cloth over the whole patch is seen here along with my overhead misting/watering system with heavy droplet red tornado misters on it. the ice jug and styrofome cooler is going out in 10 minutes before i go to work cuz when they say 88 for a high, it usually means ad 2 or 3 degrees so today will probably be 90 plus. Tuesday, June 21 View Page here is another shot from inside my house looking out the window. this plant is the 885 #1 plant with one female to open tomorrow or thursday and 2 more down the line and the main tip all covered up. won't be long til the entire patch is filled up. i need to catch up on some weeding again since i have been using the overhead misting system daily to keep the plants cooled down. them weeds love the misting too. sprayed calcium and fish/seaweed last night on each plant thoroughly along with my big zacs and gave each all pumpkin plants and tomato plants a nice circle drench around the stumps with fish/seaweed. circle drenched all 4 sunflowers (8' tall) and each of the four tall corn (5.5') tall corn with fish/seaweed. Thursday, June 23 View Page pollinated a nice 5 lober on the 885 #1 plant with itself at 12' this morning. might have one on the 885# 2 plant tomorrow morning at 14' and this is the one i want to go with, but tomorrow will be 96 and i hope it takes. if not i have another at 17' which will open in cooler temps, and by that i mean the high 80s next week. Ole' Crackey is growing, not rapidly, but growing and is 31" on day 13 and has put on 10", in 3 days. it will need to start going at 4"-5" per day after day 15 to have a chance to reach 60" on day 20. Homer is 8 days old and is sitting at 17.5" on day 8, so it is growing at the same pace as Crackey. i will check progress on both kins and cull one sometime in the next 2 weeks. Timmers 1446 pumpkin is 10 days old today, self pollinated, and is 21.5", so it is on its way too. this is my favorite time of the year with early a.m. pollinations and measuring growth on developing pumpkins. the females on the 885 plants are nice and yellow with long stems. hoping for big things from these 2 plants, literally. Saturday, June 25 View Page damn it was hot yesterday. had 2 pollinations both at 14' that i will be amazed if they take. it was 98 yesterday and 94 already today. the 885 #1 plant at 14' was pollinated with the 1225.4 jutras on 6-24 and was a nice 5 lober. the 885 #2 plant at 14' was self pollinated and also a nice 5 lober on 6-24. ice jugs were used and are still being used next to all 885 blossums pollinated this week. Ole' Crackey is growing and might be one of the ugliest small pumpkins i have ever seen. its texture is all lumpy and its shape is more gourdish. it is 40" today at 2 p.m. on day 15 and is growing at a decent pace and should make 60" by day 20. down the line is Homer at 10 days old today and is 22.5 inches and looks smoother in texture and again long. i will have to make a decision soon on which to keep and cull. i will get some pics this afternoon. Saturday, June 25 View Page the 1247 stump area remained a little to soggy for the past week from the heavier droplet misters i am using to beat the heat and use for my watering system also. today i checked all stump areas to see the conditions. all were fine but the 1247 had some definate moisture with minor rot conditions setting up. i got out 10% bleach water and cleaned the stump thoroughly after removing all wet soil away from it. i got a fan on it all day now and it looks to be fine and i got it in the nick of time. no soft spots or oozing on any stump area, it just had a brownish slime layer forming on the surface of the stump where saturated soil was up against it. captan will be placed on the entire stump surface tonight after it completely dries out, which it almost already has. a mini tarp went over all stump areas to keep them dry from here on out. i am not using the mist system and will let the entire patch dry out nicely to avoid any buried vines from having the same problems. i will leave the entire patch shade cloth up until after tuesday's 98 degree temps, and by then the patch will be mostly filled in and i will let full sun get the little ones going. hoping my next pollinations on my 885 plants will take place before or after the 98 degree day. i have 2 more down the line on each one at about 17' and the next ones at about 20'. out of both pollinated females on each main, hopefully at least one of them will set in this heat. 2 more chances is all i have on each main as they will be soon running out of room. worst case scenario if i am still having problems getting a set in this heat, i will curve the mains all the way back around to give them more room for females to form on the mains. the newly trained secondary that is closest to the snapped off main on my 905 ailts has a female that showed and will be pollinated in about 8 days. some secondary pollinations for insurance reasons will take place in about 5 or 6 days. Saturday, June 25 View Page here is a pic of the 1247 stump after cleaning with 10% bleach water. the fan has it looking so much better right now and it is almost completely dried off and hardened up on itsexterior surface. its a nice size stump that i surely do not want to lose. i am keeping a close eye on it, i have it covered so no more moisture will hit it, and the fan will remain on it until this evening when i go to bed incase a thunderstorm pops up. it will be dressed with captan tonight and the fan goes back on tomorrow morning and all day, and every day that rain is not forecasted on while i am at work. Saturday, June 25 View Page here is a lumpy-and-bumby-and maybe an early dill ring forming on- Ole' Crackey at 15 days at 40". like i said, pretty ugly looking pumpkin so far. with confidence, i will say Ole' Crackey is gonna get the chop unless Homer takes a crap on me. this culling decision will put me out of the state fair competition because Homer will only have 65 days to grow and i will not chop it off that early unless it completely has stopped growing. next year, i am starting my state fair plant even earlier, about march 15th. i am also going back to just 3 plants. 4 is a hand full and with my space it is too crowded. i am going to have more room in the patch by moving my fence on the north side out closer to the street by 15'. this will give my plenty of room for 3 big plants, along with room for big zac tomatoes and maybe some other giant veggies. Also Timmer will get more room in the patch to compete against me fairly with room for 3 nice sized plants also. his side is really cramped with his 3 plants right now and needs more room next year. Saturday, June 25 View Page here is Homer and the likely sole survivor on the 1247 at 19' out and is 22" circ. today. the culling decision was just made in my mind after seeing the pics again. Ole Crackey is gonna get a one third cut in its stem tomorrow morning and slowly be taken off completely in 3 days. Saturday, June 25 View Page here is a 4 day old female at 11' on 885 #2 plant. Saturday, June 25 View Page is this the one? i have a good feeling about this one at 12' on the 885 #1 plant. here it is at 2 days old. got the ice jugs downwind from them to help prevent aborts in this crazy heat. Saturday, June 25 View Page here is Timmer's 1446 pumpkin at 12 days old at about 17' out. its a beauty and he is walking tall and talking shit already. but onething he is not talking about is the pounding the WhiteSox gave the Cubbies yesterday 12-2. time to go to Bobby's tap for game 2 of the crosstown series. i could use some cold beer after sweating my fat ass off all day in the heat. i said it once and i will say it again, "Humidity is a fat man's nightmare!" go whitesox!!!!!!!!! Sunday, June 26 View Page put the cut into ole crackey's stem today. 3 more cuts and it will be the end of its brief life. the stump on the 1247 handy has healed up and hardened up on its surface completely. tomorrow i will have a pollination on the 885 # 2 plant on another brutally hot day. this time along with some ice jugs i will put a fan on it after pollination too at the advice of dick wallace. there is a chance for thundersorms tomorrow, so i will have to call a friend to pull the fan if storms approach. i do not think the first pollinated female took on the 885 #2 and the second pollination was on the 98 degree day and i am no too confident it that one taking. this will be the third attempt and the 4th attempt will be in about 6 days when hopefully i will get one day under 90 degrees to try pollination on this plant. the 885 #1 12' looks to be set and growing nicely for only 3 days old. hoping for some cooler temps after tomorrow, and by that i mean 90 or lower. night time lows in the middle 70s with high humidity has me wanting to bring out the banner maxx to fight against early powdery possibilities, but i need to wait until all fruit are set before using it. in the mean time, weekly daconil and no misting will be all i can do to keep the conditions in check. after tomorrow's heat, the entire patch shade cloth is coming down. Monday, June 27 View Page damn cubbies. got to say mark prior looked awesome for them yesterday. so the series this year was split 3 games a piece. good time was had by all this weekend, but i am glad its over with and my brain can get a nice rest from the insanity that this series brings here to chicago. its like new years eve every day for 3 days in a row. pollinated the 3rd one out at 17' on 885 #2 plant with 6 males from the 1446 eaton. i hope this one takes cuz i love the cross. the 885 is the 1301 eaton f x the 695 handy m so the 1446 with the 842 f. x the 1301 m. will work nicely i would think. Timmer's 1446 pumpkin x itself will be another great cross and it is growing nicely and is 39" this morning on day 14 and has put on 4.5 inches per day over the past 2 days. old crackey is hanging by a thread and will get taken off tomorrow completely. tomorrow i will pollinate the 3rd one out on 885 #1 plant in nicer temps. i have to say i am 80% sure the 12' female is set and growing nicely for 4 days old. i will pollinate a 905 ailt side genetic pumpkin by itself and then hopefully get a 905 x a 1446 and 905 x the 1225 jutras. this would make 3 nice genetic crosses for sure on that plant. Homer is still growing but not too fast yet. 30" at 13 days which should improve greatly now that ole crackey is being culled. Homer is the 1247 handy x the 1446 eaton and will be a nice cross even if it is not a monster. Timmer pollinated his 604 Jutras yesterday but i forgot to ask him with what plant he crossed it with. i think it was the 1446 or the 1225 but will find out for sure today. Tuesday, June 28 View Page the first 885 # 2 female never took and was chopped today with definate shriveling and loss of luster. captan was applied on the cut with it 79 degrees and humid as hell at 6 a.m. today. pollinated a nice 5 lober on the 905 ailts right secondary with the 1446 eaton. will have another one on the secondary next to it tomorrow. all females that have room to grow in will get pollinated and the best 3 that take will get to do their thing and if one shows great promise then the other 2 will be culled. pollinated the 3rd one out on the 885 #1 plant with the 1446 eaton and it was a 4 lober. another 95 degree day today means out go the ice bottles, but no fan today with chances of thunderstorms while i am at work. i have the main tips of the 885 plants curving towards each other now that they have run out of room. this will give me 2 or 3 more tries on each main and that is it. with lower temps forecasted after wednesday, this will make for some better set odds. i have left the shade cloth up until after the 95 plus temps go away. this weather sucks for working outdoors in and when i get home, the last thing i feel like doing is continue to stay outside. weeds have got a hold in many areas in the patch and are too big to pull now and will be left alone to avoid disturbing the pumpkin root system. sooner or later, this heat has to give. Thursday, June 30 View Page rain. we actually got some rain. and a nice amount about 3/4 of an inch this morning. with it came some wind and i had only 1 secondary rolled over that got propped back up with bamboo stakes. my 10' tall sunflowers bent over some above 6 feet where they are attached to the fence, but have popped back up a bit today in the 90 and sunny temps. with the minor rot that has since healed on the 1247 stump, i stopped burying vines so i do not get rot conditions on them over this past 10 day heat wave where middle 70s at night with high humidity does not dry out the soil enough for my liking with having to water every 2 days. tonight goes on some daconil and demand cs. Timmer's 1446 x self is 50" today on day 17 and looking good. Homer on my 1247 is growing slowly and taking on a weird asymetrical long shape. its 38" on day 15 today and doesn't look to do any thing huge in size at this point. but jack larue's 1109 grown from it went 21 percent heavy so maybe this one grows internally more then externally. the stem is nice and thick so we will see what happens with time. the heat wave is breaking after today, so maybe when i remove the 30 percent shade cloth it will get going at a better pace. but the best news of all is i have 2 sets on my 885 #1 plant. the first at 12' is 21" today at 3pm on day 7. it grew 3.5 inches since yesterday at the same time and has my hopes back up in this ungodly heat wave we have had. the next one at 14' looks also to have taken is growing nicely too. got another pollination at 21' tomorrow a.m. on the 885 #2 plant that is critical cuz the 11' and 14' never took or aborted in the heat, and the 17' is growing a little but to early to tell if it set. gonna be nice day in the high 70's so it should set just fine. gonna go with the 1446 again to pollinate it with, or maybe use the 885 #1 plant to sib it. Friday, July 1 View Page i have read that segments have nothing to do with pumpkin size. well, how about a 3 lober? first one i have ever seen on a main vine that i need to take a chance on. it is the 885 #2 plant at 21' and was sibbed with the 885 #1 plant. it is a nice cool morning for a change and the highs will be in the upper 70's. still not sure if the last one took, but i have a feeling that at 4 days old now it should be bigger than it is so i doubt it. we will see. i have curved the main so that it can cut in front of 885#1 plant for another 15' so sooner or later i will get one set on this plant, even if its 35' out. no secondaries have room from here on out, so it will just be the main that will grow that long until one gets going on it. here is a pic of Homer on the 1247 x 1446 at 16 days and 41" circ. at this pace Homer will be maybe 90 inches circ by day 30. Friday, July 1 View Page this little one is now called "Noah" cuz it rhymes with my last name and it is on my 885 Shenoha. Timmer says that its a corney name, so that made it official...Noah it is. then i told him if it gets big enough to make a pumpkin boat out of, i will call the pumpkin boat "Shenoha's Ark". that made him laugh sarcastically so loud that i knew i picked the right name. shits-n-giggles is my philosophy in life. when all else fails, shits-n-giggles will get you through. Noah brought a nice big smile to my fat face this morning checking in at 24.5" circ. on the morning of day 8 meaning it grew 3.5 inches circ. in 15 hours. i hope it can hold on cuz the brakes just came off the patch. i removed the whole patch 30 percent shade cloth this morning now that cooler temps have arrived and the patch is just about filled all the way up. got maybe 4 secondaries left to terminate on the 885 plants and then the patch has reached its max. Saturday, July 2 View Page Noah got a blanket last night as it dipped into the high 40s and i want to keep the growth consistant on this young'n that is chuggin'. 29.5" circ. today at 1pm on day 9. the leaves look great today with the recent rain, the shade cloth removal, and lower temps. the leaves that i burned a bit with a foliar phosphorus mixed with a calcium chelate (i read the instructions after application and burn) that i applied early on 3 weeks ago on a cloudy 3:30pm turning bright sunny at 4pm day are now pretty toasty. but all the other leaves look fantastic. tonight the plants will get a foliar of calcium/neptunes seaweed and fish. i almost have Noah on a perfect 90 to the main and it will be there in 2 more days of adjusting. Noah is the fastest growing small pumpkin i have ever had and hope it can maintain this growth and stay in tact. it is yellowing up nicely already and has a great shape and stem length. the 885 #2 plant's 5 day old set seems to be growing and has not lost its luster yet, but is not growing that much at all and i wouldn't be surprised if i didn't take on that 95 degree day. Homer on the 1247 is not doing much and is 43.5"+31"+26"=100.5"OTT or about 27 pounds on day 17. very long in shape already and will be a cool odd looking pumpkin that will make a nice tall halloween carver with a long facial expression. that is all i can truly expect from Homer at this point. Timmer's 1446 has not grown that fast lately and will be about 58" circ. tomorrow on day 20, but it is a nice size good looking kin and the only one he has going so far. hopefully his 2 remaining chances on the 1225.4 will take in the cooler temps. hopefully i can get one set on the 905 because the 2 i tried in the heat aborted. 3 more tries on this plant is all i have and otherwise it will become a halloween pumpkin plant if i can't get any set and will let the tertiaries throw out as many as it wants and let the bees take over. Sunday, July 3 View Page Noah at 10 days old this morning at 33" circumference exactly. took the measurement 5 times cuz it is hard to believe. re-read my diary and pulled out my pollination notes to make sure i didn't have an error on the pollination date. it was pollinated on june 23rd with itself which makes it correctly dated and measured today on day 10. it picked up the pace to 5 inches of growth yesterday. i could barely sleep last night while still crunching numbers while dozing off. i know anything can happen and it is a long way off, but to dream and ponder of a 1000 pound chance makes it all worth it. hoping and praying all continues to go well with this chugger. in the heat of the day, i will adjust it again to just about make the 90 to the main. Sunday, July 3 View Page here is my big zac tomato plants with flowers left on now. this plant is just above 6' tall and one is at 6' exactly and one is at 5.5' tall. the thickness of the vines or stalks, whatever you call them is crazy. i will have to research how to help support them when the fruit gets heavy. i am thinking along the lines of panty hose hammocks but will find out the best methods since this is my first try at giant tomatoes. Sunday, July 3 View Page here are my 4 tall corn ranging from 7' to 9' tall and starting to tassle. i am not sure if that is a good height prior to tassling or not, but they are cool to look at popping over the 6' fence. in the background you can see the 4 sunflowers ranging from 9 foot to one just over 11'. we are getting some storms tonight into tomorrow morning so i hooked up some stakes to my fence to give them support all the way up to the newly forming heads. Sunday, July 3 View Page here is a sunflower stalk thickness at 4' off the ground. the base thickness is like a mini tree trunk. thanks to a fellow IGPGA grower Phil Timm for the free seeds at our first meeting. he is also known as "Out of my Gourd" here. he said they were from 21 inch heads, so hoping for the best from these babies. Sunday, July 3 View Page and here is a nice pic looking up at the 11' sunflower. it has been a lovely morning and i pollinated the 885 #1 plant at 25' for insurance reasons incase Noah blows from growing so fast. i will have one more pollination after that at 28' just in case also. it looks like the 22' set and if so, then it will hang around as a backup and a shock absorber for Noah. The 905 females look to have aborted prior to even opening and am hoping to get one set at least on this plant. The 885 #2 plant looks to have a 6 day old kin still keeping its luster and growing. the 3 lober pollinated 3 days ago seems to be ok for now too. got another try at 25 or 26 feet coming up with another at about 29' curled up in the tip. went Dr. Frankenshazzy on the 1247 plant hoping to either get Homer to pick up its pace or blow up. put 200 mls in 2 separate 2 gallon watering cans of a liquid 0-5-4 general hydroponics bloom formula as a drench around the stump area. this is 10 times the recommended usage. its lumpy textured skin looks like it can handle some pushing, so i will keep records on the success or failures of going high on phosphates and potassium at 18 day old fruiting stage. Homer has grown 3 inches per day and is at 46" this a.m. so i will see if that pace picks up any. i will put the same 10 times strong application every 7 days and see the results. Muuuuuuwwwaaaahaaaahaaaahaaaa!!!!! the evil scientist is back in business. (that smells of trouble already. lol) Monday, July 4 View Page had a severe storm cell approaching so i put up the shade cloth as a hail protector. the cell fizzled out a bit but we still got close to a half inch of rain today in my rain gauge. then i proceeded to take the shade cloth back down again after the storms passed. a good thorough soaking was nice to see. hoping that Noah will handle it in stride and continue plotting along at 5" per day like the last 2 in a row. this is a pic of Noah from the side view tonight on day 11 at 40.4" circumference. i have nice slack on the main already and i slowly moved noah away from the vine to give more room for future shoulders. it is at a 90 with a nice long stem so this is the last time i will be sliding Noah. it is a nerve wracking thing to mess around with one showing so much early promise, but if i don't do it now, i will be sorry later. now all i will do is monitor stem stress and vine stress as the pumkpin grows with its positioning set. i have found that by taking careful measurements daily, i have a nice calm while working around the pumpkin because i am more familiar with its surroundings. after taking measurements every day, i check the blossum end and the stem ends and inspect the vine and stress. also which secondaries to watch out for future growth consideration when it grows towards them along with any possible leaves close to the skin to avoid scratching the pumpkin on windy days. i used to just wait every 5 days and try to stay away from it in between, but with the split problems last year, a daily ispection along with a measurement is good training for me to keep an early eye open for any sign of a problem and attend to it quickly. Tuesday, July 5 View Page Homer continues at 3" per day and is getting uglier as time goes on. the center of the pumpkin is all lumpy like the previous culled kin. i beileve at this rate it is going to look like a big peanut. at only 52" on day 20, it can do what it wants and get as ugly as it can. the freakier the better. looks more like a big gourd than a pumpkin. lol. found some dripped off solidified goo coming off a blossum crack on the 5 day old 885 #2 plant. i have seen weeping from minor splits at that spot on small developing kins that healed fine and never had a problem with them later. but seeing this was a 3 lober, and the set before it is only 15" on day 8, i will continue pollinating all females down the line which continues tomorrow morning on a nice cool forecasted day (the first for trying to set one on this plant). with the vine now curving around the front of the 885 #1 plant, it is hard to judge how far these blossums are out, but tomorrows is at least 25' out and looks healthy. hoping for at least 4 lobes this time or better. Noah is pushing past the 5" a day mark now and was 43.5" circ. this morning at 12 days. nice growing days ahead forecasted this week. i will lay off watering for at least 2 days with the rains from yesterday and then just a light watering to keep things consistant and back to my every 2 day schedule of watering in the morning. calcium spray tomorrow at just 2 tablespoons per gallon and every 5 days from here on out. saw some slow moving svbs yesterday and actually swatted one on a leaf with my hand cuz it was sick on demand cs for sure. gonna spray again tomorrow along with daconil even though it has only been a week. going to concentrate heavily on the leaf stalks and exposed vines in case those sick svbs pumped out a few eggs before dying. the merit is in the plant, so even if the grubs do hatch they do not stand much of a chance. haven't seen a cucumber beetle around the patch in weeks, tha is except dead ones. Friday, July 8 View Page well i finally got one to take on the 885 #2 and at 7.5 days old it is 20.5" in circ and was pollinated on 7-1. it is now known as "Tre'" cuz it was only a three lober. it is the 885 #2 x the 885 #1 plant, so it is a sibbed 885. i pollinated the last remaining female on the new main, (the secondary closest to the broken main) on the 905 ailts plant with itself. the plant is out of room so the ice bottles will go next to it tomorrow and all weekend and beginning of next week in the upcoming heat to help give it a chance to do its thing. Friday, July 8 View Page here is a picture of Tre' at 7.5 days old and its 21' out. the 905 ailts last pollination attempt was yesterday on 7-7 and is the 905 x self for documentation purposes Friday, July 8 View Page here is a picure tonight looking out my window at a high powered stand up kitchen fan that i have set up. it is directly in front of Tre's shade tarp and directed towards Noah and his shade tarp area as both are side by side. it is not directed at the pumpkins themselves, but up higher to blow out any accumulating heat under the shade tarps with some of the lesser force deflected winds cooling the pumpkins also. i have not used it yet, but the next 3 or 4 days will all by in the 90s and my pumpkins are only 10 to 15 feet away from my solid brown brick house that blocks some wind and radiates heat in the day as well. so i am trying with all wits to keep these 2 pumpkins that are set and growing nicely from aborting. maybe again overkill, but i do not think it will do them any harm. i got underneath the tarps and turned on the fan tonight to test it out and it works nice. ice bottles will go in front of Tre' so the fan will blow some coolness across it, seeing that Tre' is so young and very suseptible to aborting at this age. Noah should be fine with just the fan helping out, and the entire patch will be misted at 10 minute intervals 4 times a day to also keep the plants cool. the fan is set on my sidewalk in front of Tre's area and no water reaches that area so the fan will be fine running while the misters are running. Friday, July 8 View Page nice side view of Noah at 15 days old. 58.5" circ this morning at 6 a.m. and tonight at 6pm it is 61"+43"+43"= 147 OTT and 76 pounds. 5" per day the last 6 days has got me both excited and nervous as shit. Friday, July 8 View Page front view of Noah. it is a pretty pumpkin with nice shape and color for 15 days old. Saturday, July 9 View Page more pollination updates. Timmer pollinated a nice one on the 1225.4 Jutras by the 604 Jutras on 7-3 that looks good so far on day 6 and still has its luster and has grown nicely. the next one down on the 1225 was pollinated on 7-5 with the 1446 Eaton. his 604 Jutras on a strong secondary was pollinated 7-8 with my 885 shenoha #1 plant and a 604 on his main was pollinated today 7-9 also with my 885 #1 plant. speaking of the 885 #1 plant, pictures of Noah on day 15 will be popping up after review some time today. this morning it is 64" circ. on day 16 at 6 am and continues over the 5" a day for 7 days in a row now. will hit all plants with a light calcium and neptunes spray again as i did 7 days ago and stay consistant with it like i have stayed consistant on the watering. Friday, July 15 View Page noah at 22.5 days old this evening is 96+63.5+61=220.5 OTT or estimated at 233 lbs. this morning was the first time in 13 days that it did not grow over 5 inches in one day, but it did grow 4.5 inches. so it made a very nice 5 inch a day run and has built itself a solid foundation with a protruded lower ass forming too. now i hope i can keep it continually growing strong and steady and in tact. it has some minor surface weeping along small surface splits at the newly forming rib lines. these heal up quickly and dry up just like its mama last year. with humid conditions right now, i still take a smooth papered instruction booklet and place captan on the middle pages and then use a turkey baster to blow a fine powder captan covering over this sap to prevent any rot spores from catching hold on the minute surface weeping areas. speaking of hot and humid, i will be getting out the banner baxx systemic fungicide this weekend now that the pumpkins are over 2 weeks old. this is powdery mildew weather approaching for certain. Friday, July 15 View Page blossum end pic of noah tonight at 22.5 days old. Yep, i am nervous. fingers crossed, knocking on wood, being polite, keeping my cool, avoiding busting balls as much as i can help myself, offering to help friends move in 90 degree and humid as hell days, and over all trying not to be the regular jerk that i am to keep my luck going. lol. besides that, i am watering consistantly every 2 days and spraying calcium and a light neptunes and seaweed combo once every week. stem stress is monitored everyday along with a stem side inspection and blossum end inspection to catch any possible splits as soon as i can. Friday, July 15 View Page here is Tre', the 3 lober on the 885 #2 plant, that has grown 5 inches per day for the past 5 days and was 51" this morning at 6 am on exactly 14 days old. it looks more like its mama my 885 shenoha 2004 estimate on my 1301.5 plant last year with the long shape. it is outgowing mama at this stage last year by about 4" circ., and it is only 2.5" circumference smaller than Noah at the same age, so hopefully Tre' and Noah can both hold together and give me better odds of having one go big and still stay in tact come october. Tre' had some minor stem splits this week in the middle of the stem running along the stem from rapid growth. it got a fan on it the last 2 humid days just for insurance with the humid conditions from the reminants of Hurricane Dennis. the splits were addressed with captan also and have healed fine and are very minor, but better safe than sorry. this weekend with extreme 95 degree heat forecasted, the big high powered stand up kitchen fan will again be used as shown in last week's diary posts. it works real nice at keeping the air temps under the tarps cool on days without wind and didn't effect the pumpkin growth at all when used 3 days in a row last week in the heat. Friday, July 15 View Page sprayed banner maxx tonight and feel good about it cuz it is so hot and humid that i was covered in sweat from just spraying all four plants. tertiaries have been popping like mad due to my overcrowded growing. i have let the 905 and the 1247 go crazy since neither has a fruit on a main or even a secondary that has promise. i take that back, there is a 8 day old on the new main on the 905, but it has had serious stem split issues that are hopefully healed but not to be trused. cleaning with bleachwater tomorrow and put captan and a fan on it. but otherwise, i will let all tertiaries pop and wait and get 5 or 6 pumpkins on each of those 2 plants that show promise over the next month and at least and hack some area for them to develope into halloweenies. Friday, July 15 View Page i have tried to keep all tertiaries in check on both 885 plants, but it is those pesky guadraries and pentararies, if those are words, that come from pop up tertiaries that were somehow missed in pruning and then snipped at the tops when they show. but then there are some of their own side vines down low that i missed by just snipping off their tops. this is also why it was a must to get the systemic fungicide in the plant with even more reduced air flow. so the patch that once looked completely in control is looking a little helter skelter. that is ok. more damage would be done trying to get in there and remove some longer tertiary vines that have already crossed my secondaries and have become intertwined with them. i would be snapping and rolling some leaves in the process for sure. so all i can do is continue to deadhead them when i see them pop up and try better to get any new growing ones in order early. on the other hand, if i can keep the diseases away i should have plenty of new leaves to replace the old ones that will now last 60 more days and might extend the growing season longer. this is my way of rationalizing my lack of effort to diligently keep track of all tertiaries through out the season. lol. next year i will not let my plants get out of control and i will make sure to put a walking board between every secondary vine and leave it in place the whole growing season. i have one tall corn that is at 10' already with ears forming and tassling occurring and the shortest stockiest 10' tall sunflower has a 8" head that opened about 6 days ago or so and the other tall ones are about 13' tall and their heads just flowered open and showed yellow today. got big zac tomatoes forming and culled a few in bad places and have some nice little ones growing that are about racquetball size. Saturday, July 16 View Page finished all patch work this morning before it gets too hot, but that still didn't stop me from thoroughly soaking every inch of my shorts and t shirt cuz the humidity is sick. cleaned the stem split on the 905 ailts pumpkin with 10 percent bleach water toothbrush. the split is where the stem meets the vine, and for how bad it was oozing 2 days ago and dripping onto the styrofome with a brownish rot situation developing, i think it looks pretty good and will heal up fine. i have a fan on it and took off the lawn chair that has been its shade and moisture protector, and put up a shade tarp over it. after the bleach water and wound dried up for a bit, i dusted captan over the wound and i am quite pleased with the save. hope it continues to heal up good. the fan will stay on it all weekend with the 95 degree temps with high humidity approaching again. it's name is now Lucky because it is the last chance i had to get one on the new main that was trained after the snap of the true main. Lucky is 27" circ this morning at 1030am on day 9. i have pruned all pop up tertiaries at this point on it now that Lucky looks to be on its way and will only allow the one pumpkin on this plant. so both the 885 plants and the 905 are down to just one pumpkin per plant. i am pleased to have 3 nice ones going at this point to say the least. both Noah and Tre' grew 5" circ. yesterday so all is well in the growth. Noah is 99" circ. today on day 23 and Tre' is 56" today on day 15. Monday, July 18 View Page foliar fed with calcium and neptunes seaweed and fish tonight and circle drenched the base of each plant with a healthy amount of neptunes. Noah was 106" circ. today on day 25 and has slowed down on circ. now as to be expected and has put on 3.5 inches both yesterday and today. it was 97 here yesterday and i left the high powered stand up kitchen fan placed behind Tre' and directed towards Noah too to help keep them and the area under their tarps as cool as possible. Tre' has stepped it up to 5.5" circ and was 66.5" circ this morning on day 17 so the race between the 2 is on. with the higher heat back, i have stepped up the watering amount to account for evaporation and also to help keep the soil temperatures down. but i still water only every other day to keep the roots healthy and fungus and rot problems to a minimum. Tuesday, July 19 View Page too high of temps last night at 7 pm when i sprayed neptunes/calcium combo cuz i see many of my old leaves with burned spots today. it is not a disaster, but doesn't make me feel good either. these leaves will be swiss cheese in 3 days so i am now glad that i have had plenty of pop up tertiary leaves to help fill in the soon to bee gaps. its funny how the younger leaves show no spots or barely a burn spot here or there, but the older ones couldn't take it. normally it is the other way around when burning leaves with insecticide. live and learn is all i can do and hopefully it doesn't slow down the pumpkins any cuz they are still chugging along. 110" circ today for Noah on day 26, 71.5" circ for Tre' on day 18, and 40" circ today on day 12 for Lucky. Thursday, July 21 View Page 3/4" of rain overnight is a good thing. first real good rain of the summer. we definately needed it more for the farmers than myself. we are in s severe drought and my county has been declared as drought disaster status and the farmers will get federal help for crops with over 50 percent expected lower yields. i just hope the surge is not too great from real rain water soaking deep into the soil. i watered yesterday morning thoroughly before last nights rain, so the patch is definately saturated now and i am hoping for a dry day today with maybe another shower tomorrow. we had a big storm go north of us today and was relieved that it didn't hit here. i do not need too much of a good thing at this point. its been so hot that after today i will start watering everyday that doesn't rain to keep the soil temps down and the plants growing consistently. with a 100 degree temp forecasted this weekend i will be misting on and off all day with my large droplet tornado misters that also are used for irrigation. Noah has slowed down to about 23 lbs per day for the past 2 days and is sitting at 117 circ. + 74.5 s-s + 71.5 s-b = 263 OTT on day 28 at 1 pm and estimated at 390 lbs. Tre' is a long pumpkin and 81.5 circ. + 49 s-s + 48 s-b = 183.5 OTT on day 20 at 1 pm and estimated at 141 lbs and has grown 18 lbs per day for the past 2 days. Lucky on the 905 ailts was 50" circ. this morning at 6 am on day 14. Thursday, July 21 View Page correction on Tre' as i typed the numbers wrong. Tre' is 81.5 circ.,49 s-s, 53 s-b with Ott 183.5 or 141 lbs today on day 20 based on the 2005 charts. Friday, July 22 View Page Lucky on the 905 Ailts on day 15 with a healed stem split. Friday, July 22 View Page here are 3 of my sunflowers with the tallest one at 14' and developing heads about 10" in diameter so far. Friday, July 22 View Page here is the first sunflower to bloom with a 14" diameter head so far. the neighbors gotta love my shirtless sweaty fat ass on a ladder to get this picture. lol. Friday, July 22 View Page here is my 885 Shenoha 2004 est. #2 plant pumpkin, aka Tre' (the 3 lober), at 21 days old. Friday, July 22 View Page Tre's blossum end view Friday, July 22 View Page This is the 885 Shenoha 2004 est. #1 plant pumpkin, aka Noah, that is 29 days old today and sitting at 413 lbs estimate. i am glad i used my own seeds for backup plants cuz it sure has been fun watching Tre' and Noah grow on one of my own crosses. things all work out for a reason. initially i intended to have a 735 pukos and an 842 eaton growing in these spots. go figure. i am just hoping for the best and will not push these babies too hard. we actually got 2" of rain here 2 days ago in Joliet total and i am hoping the pumpkins take it in stride. gonna spray tonight cuz i saw a few japanese beetles today in the patch and it has been just about 2 weeks since the last spray. gonna switch over to talstar one tonight to mix it up a bit and give them some daconil with the hot and humid conditions. glad the banner maxx is in the system now. the leaves that got burnt from spraying clacium/neptunes when the leaves were still too hot at 7 pm this past week are fewer in number affected than i thought. the ones that got affected are toast, but only about 10 leaves took it the worst. besides that some of them are just a little spotty now and look to be fine. Friday, July 22 View Page side view of Noah on day 29. Friday, July 22 View Page blossum end view of Noah at 29 days old. Saturday, July 23 View Page 104 degree heat predicted here in Joliet tomorrow. today was supposed to be close to 90, but cloud cover has kept it in the low 80s all day. with this soon to be drastic temperature change that will last 2 days, i decided the overall best thing to do was to water thoroughly today to get the ground saturated to help keep soil temps down. i just got done putting the 30 percent shade cloth over the entire patch tonight and will leave it up until monday evening at dusk when the mini heat wave is supposed to pass. i will also put large stand up fans on both Noah and Tre' since they are closer to my house and the brown brick is sure to absorb and radiate heat also. the fan on Noah will be within the overhead watering system range, so i will have to remove the fan all day back and forth as i intend to water for five minutes every half hour from 10:30am until the sun goes down. the heat monday is supposed to be closer to 98 but i will be at work. my 4 setting water timer will cool the plants down 4 times during the day for 20 minute watering intervals. the high powered stand up fan will be cranking on high monday all day from behind Tre' and blowing towards Noah. i have been using it all last week as it was about 90 every day. it really works nice at keeping the temps below the tarps down and also the air blowing across the pumpkins should help keep their internal temperatures in a safe zone. this fan can be set up outside of the watering sytem reach on my sidewalk near the house so the watering system can be used while running it. a lot of this is probably overkill, but i am glad the 104 degree day is falling on a sunday so i can do what ever i can from cooking my pumpkins. Sunday, July 24 View Page 102 and climbing. plants look great. i think we will max out at about 3 pm at maybe 104 degrees like predicted. built a mini shade tarp over my other fan so now i can set it and forget it tomorrow and leave the fans on high all day on the pumpkins and run the misters with out worry. i am so glad i put up the shade cloth yesterday night. i also took an extra piece of shade cloth and tied it onto the edge of the whole patch pieces so i could cover all of the 885# 1 plants' leaves that that are exposed along the south edge. this picture is from out my window inside in the nice cool a/c. you can see Tre' in the front to the right with a fan on it and Noah to the left with a fan too. the misters are running in this picture too. last night i whooped it up big time at good ole' bobby's tap so today i am just laying on the couch watching the weather channel, whitesox baseball, the pocono 500, andy griffith, more weather channel, back to the whitesox...etc. just kickin' back and eating large. started at 10:30 am with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and 2 tall glasses of ice cold milk, brought out some nachos with cheese sauce at 12:30pm and will advance to bologna and cheese sandwiches with mayo and dill pickle slices also served up with some tall glasses of milk. it feels like i am back in college with this menu. LOL. gluttony is one of my finer qualities. Wednesday, July 27 View Page this hobby is nothing but a damn roller coaster for sure. lol. when you are up, no doubt about it you will be coming back down. it seems the high heat and big numbers early are leading to an earlier than normal maturity and slower growth as of late. i am getting cantaloping on Noah at day 34 which seems awefully early. besides that all pumpkins in my patch and my buddy Timmers patch have slowed down to rates that are slower than rates last year at equal days of growth. we both started out quickly, but have also dropped off considerably over the past week. 14 lbs a day on Noah over the past 5 days are not gonna get me to that elusive 1000 pound mark. we have had 3 of these days to be completely cloudy, one of them hit 104 degrees, and then 2 of them combined for a total rainfall of about 3" of rain. not the best of growing conditions, but to go from a consistent 25+ gain a day average to 14 lbs per day with the early cantaloping showing smells of early maturation in my mind. i really can't complain cuz at least i have some set and growing when so many others out there have had troubles just getting them to set. i am still hoping for my personal best and will be very happy to get one above my estimate of 885 pounds last year and hopefully get it to the scale without splitting. dissappointing for sure, but boo hoo, whatcha ya gonna do. today on day 34 Noah is 285 ott and estimated 490 lbs. 10-20 days it grew 5.1" circumference per day. days 20-30 it grew 3.6 inches average per day. days 30-34 it has grown 1.9 inches per day. Tre' grew 4.95 inches per day from 10-20, and has fallen to 3.1 per day over the past 6 days and is sitting at 99.5" circumference on day 26. Lucky is 67" circ on day 20. tonight i will continues with the neptunes and calcium and will lower the application rates but hit the plants every 3 days to see if i can get them back on track. i am not gonna push them, just nudge them a bit. Wednesday, July 27 View Page tonight instead of circle drenching stump area because of saturated soil from yesterdays heavy downpours, i went heavy on neptunes seaweed and fish in a jet spray down low under the leaf canopy. i opened my pump sprayer nozzle to shoot a direct stream and basically circled every plant and shot neptunes back and forth under the leaves to cover the entire plants soil surface. by heavy i mean about 10-15 tablespoons for a 2 and a half gallon tank and sprayed at least 1.5 gallons of this mix per plant only under the leaf canopy. then i went to a light mix of 1 tablespoon per gallon of neptunes and 2 tablespoons per gallon calcium and sprayed the topside of all leaves. i will continue the light mix on top of the leaves every 3 days and do circle drenches around the stump area with neptunes every week and a heavy jet stream of neptunes under the leaf canopy once a week also. basically i will alternate a circle drench and a jet stream soil covering every 3 or 4 days. tonight seeing that it is going down to 54 degrees, i blanketed the pumpkins to help keep the internal temps up a bit. funny how 3 days ago it was 104 and tonight it will be 54 making a 50 degree swing in temps. go figure. Saturday, July 30 View Page good news on Noah is that even with cool nights the growth picked up a little to average 17 lbs per day over the last 3 days and is 132+82.5+80=294.5 ott for estimated weight of 542 pounds today on day 37. it is now gaining more side to side and stem to blossum than circumference. bad news is that Tre' has slowed down some more and so has Lucky. Tre' had some brownish sap near its stem end about 6 days ago that i thought was just surface splitting. when i got down to take a close look 2 days ago i see 2 splits, one directly under the stem on the pumpkin and one at about 10 o'clock on the pumpkin. neither goes all the way into the cavity and by the time i noticed them they were already healed up, but i still put some captan on them along with a fan to help them heal if the splits continue to run and open back up again. last year my buddy Timmer had similar splits that looked a hell of a lot worse that were deep and wide at the same area that continued to open and heal all season and never brought down the pumpkin. i am hoping the same for Tre' so at least i can get the seeds to maturity. at 29 days Tre' is 104+68+64=236 ott and estimated at 286 pounds. Lucky at 23 days is a beautiful pumpkin with great shape and color. i don't think it will get anything more than 500 pounds if i am lucky especially cuz the secondary vine that became its new main is so small in diameter that i don't think it can chug that fast. but i do like the 905 x self cross in it and hope it makes it to maturity. it is 73+49+47=169 ott or estimated at 113 pounds at 23 days. i will take some pics later when my batteries charge back up. Sunday, July 31 View Page here is Timmer's 1446 eaton pumpkin at 48 days old. its a wheel with a big bubble butt and odd tall shape that is hard to get a good estimate on. its somewhere about 550 pounds estimate. Sunday, July 31 View Page here is a better view of the oddness in shape of the 1446 pumpkin. Sunday, July 31 View Page i had to get a picture of this stem on his 1446 pumpkin. the stem was so short to start with that he cut the main off right at the pumpkin early on and spun the pumpkin around a bit for good vine clearance. the stem looks like a damn tree trunk. lol. Sunday, July 31 View Page here is Lucky on day 24. it won't win any weight awards, but it sure is a pretty pumpkin so far. Sunday, July 31 View Page here is Tre' the 3 lober on day 30. it is getting uglier by the day with some weird bulges forming and getting taller at the blossum end but still sort of narrow by the stem end. i like this oddball and hopefully it will hold together and keep growing too. it is only going 2" per day circ. and is 106" circ. on day 30 and a little over 300 pounds. the splits on the stem end of the pumpkin are still healed and have not developed any further at this point. the fan remains on the stem end to heal any new split as quickly as it can. Sunday, July 31 View Page side view of Tre' at 30 days old. Sunday, July 31 View Page here are Timmer's 604 jutras pumpkins. he has decided to keep all 3 for genetic pumpkins and halloweenies. this is the plant that he couldn't get one set on with the heat and we laid down thick shag carpeting from the garbage directly on the driveway. we covered the carpeting with 8 inches of manure and let the plant grow out and all 3 of these pumpkins are in the middle of my backup area on the driveway. i can not tell him what to do and he wants to keep all 3 on this plant and is not worried about weight. they are all identical in shape and color and should be nice and orange when mature. one is the 604 x 1225.4 and the other 2 are crossed with my 885 shenoha #1 plant which Noah is on. I like the crosses for orange x big. if we can get all pumpkins to maturity our crosses this year will be the 1446 eaton x self, 1225.4 jutras x 604 jutras, the 604 jutras x the 1225.4 jutras, the 885 shenoha #1 x self, the shenoha 885 #2 sibbed, 2 of the 604 jutras x 885 shenoha #1, and the 905 ailts x self. Sunday, July 31 View Page 21 pounds since yesterday is more like it and Noah today on day 38 is 563 pounds estimate. the pumpkin continues to push ass end out first and then the rest of the top continues to catch up and then boom out goes the ass again and so on. i am beginning to see some height growth now as the pumpkin fills out more. it blobbed out and threw on some saddle bags early on and this seems to be a nice foundation for it to grow on and now get taller too. the blossum end has just enough upward tilt to hopefully keep the pressure from building on it. nice warm days and nights all week are forecasted and i hope Noah will continue chugging along. Sunday, July 31 View Page Noah's blossum end shot at 38 days old. Sunday, July 31 View Page sprayed demand cs tonight along with some daconil cuz a powerful wave of cuke beetles has arrived since the recent rains. i haven't seen them in my patch, but at work we are using a yellow plastic vapor barrier under the floor slabs and the damn cukes are everywhere when they lay it out and are attracted to the bright yellow color. got to keep out the powdery mildew that is prone to set up at this time of the year along with diseases too that the cukes bring with them. haven't seen a svb in quite a while which is nice. the demand cs alternated with talstar one has really kept my bug problems in check nicely this year. i will hit the plants with banner max again on august 14th for systemic control of powdery mildew. i think i might have been overwatering a bit in that last heat wave which might have contributed to some slower growth. no more misting and just watering thoroughly every other day from here on out. i think the under the leaf spraying of neptunes with higher application rates, along with the light rate of foliar feed neptunes/calcium has contributed to the increased weight gains in Noah along with better weather too. 2 months from tomorrow is the weigh off and i hope Noah can make it safely until then and continue growing nicely in the meantime. Tuesday, August 2 View Page noah on day 40 is 137+86+82=305 OTT and estimated at exactly 600 lbs on the 2005 chart. tre' on day 32 is 110+68+72.5=250.5 and estimated at 339 lbs. lucky is still growing but slowly and is 80+52+52=184 OTT and estimated at 142 lbs. on day 26 and getting prettier every day. here is a picture of my biggest tomato so far. each plant has about 4 good ones growing and i have culled all other tomatoes off each plant and will continue to do so from here on out. the plants are 8.5' tall and i think this should be plenty of plant to push these babies into nice big ones and i will now terminate the tops and prune off new growth. and yep, i am a freak and this tomato has a nickname. Timmer has named all his pumpkins after regulars at Bobby's Tap and a friend of ours said, "What, no pumpkins named after me?" and i said, "There are no more pumpkins left to be named, but i do have a fat round tomato growing that sort of resembles you." my friend's nickname is Chunk, so i said, "My biggest fattest round tomato i have going will now be called "Chunk". he smiled and everyone at the bar had a good laugh. so this is a picture of Chunk, my biggest nicest shaped tomato i have so far. Tuesday, August 2 View Page that picture of "chunk" turned out a little dark. that is a tennis ball i am holding next to it. gonna be another scorcher out there tomorrow and then the heat will give way. the plants looked good without misting on this 94 degree day. hoping to get some rain tomorrow night but i have been watering every other day consistently. i applied some 10-10-10 fertilizer in a jet spray covering the entire soil area and vines and leaf stalks underneath all of the plants yesterday. nothing heavy, just want to keep the leaves, roots, and pumpkin getting enough of the nutrients they need in the later stages. i am not risking burning the leaves in this heat by foliar feeding tonight. its still 90 at 830 pm. tomorrow night i will hit with neptunes and calcium as a foliar on both the pumpkins and tomatoes. this has been one damn hot and dry summer. Saturday, August 6 View Page last 3 days have been cloudy and it showed in growth. back with full bright sun today which is nice. 12 pounds a day only for Noah and it is estimated at 647 pounds on day 44. to get another 353 pounds from here on out will tough, especially if this present growth rate continues. tonight i am bringing out the 20-20-20 and seeing if i can get the every day gains up at least to 15 pounds per day. tre' today on day 36 is estimated at 394 lbs and lucky is going slowly and is 174 lbs on day 30. Monday, August 8 View Page not much going in the growth department for noah, about 10 pounds per day 316 ott estimated at 666 pounds on day 46. tre' is 272 ott for an estimate of 430 pounds on day 38 and is still going at 18 pounds per day. at this rate, i am just hoping for a personal best beating my 885 estimate from last year. 1000 lbs is unrealistice at this point with this growth rate, so now i will just concentrate at getting them to the scale safe and sound. i will continue to do as normal with fungicides and insecticides and give them a weekly 20-20-20 spray for health and vigor reasons along with calcium and neptunes as well. hitting the wall is like...hitting the wall. its a tough time on the psyche. boo hoo, whatcha gonna do. still got them whitesox to root for and hope these puppies stay healthy and grow a little in the process before the weigh off. Saturday, August 13 View Page the wall has been officially hit by noah. 4" ott in 5 days. that equals an estimate weight of 691 lbs with only 5 pounds per day average over the past 5 days. Timmer's pumpkin on his 1446 is somewhere in the 630 pound range estimate and it looks to go heavy if you ask me. he is not happy that i have stalled, but he is getting excited about the weigh off when we will put them on the scales and see who is the king of the patch this year. we have been laughing our asses off coming up with ideas to make a crown to be worn by the king of the patch and the winner will hold the crown until it is taken from him in years to come. his pumpkin is still growing slowly too and might have a better chance at putting on additional pounds before the weigh off since i have a lession that has formed on noah's stem that is oozing. i have cleaned it with bleach water, applied captan and have a fan on it, but the rainy conditions and 100 percent humidity are not helping it heal up and i am afraid it is not just a superficial external problem. it might be the reason the pumpkin slowed so much recently. it started with a darker spot on the stem that has grown slowly the past 3 days and is about the size of a dime right now. hopefully i will get it in check and dried off and healed before too long when the humidity breaks on monday. the stem end splitting problems on tre' that healed 2 weeks ago have now started back up again and now i have some splits on the stems too. the cracks go from the stem into the pumpkin this time, none all the way into the cavity, but they are weeping pretty bad and have also been treated with captan and a fan. tre' is estimated at 502 pounds today on day 43 and still growing 14 pounds per day. Friday, August 19 View Page well, that dark spot that seemed to have healed on noah's stem opened back up and ran the entire length of the upper surface of stem about 1/3" deep. all rot was removed, cleaned with bleach water, dried, and captan and a fan are all being used to save the stem as long as possible. noah averaged 8 lbs per day for the last 6 days and is 327.5 ott or 740 pounds est. on day 57. the stem splits that lead into the pumpkin on tre' have healed. a piece of straw will go into the splits on the stem and disappear into the pumpkin area around the stem, but stop at about 1 and a half inches. Timmer's pumpkin had this last year way worse than mine and healed up good, and was still fine after cutting off and lasted all the way to halloween and never rotted in that area. it is still growing at 10 pounds average per day and is estimated at 560 pounds on day 49. hoping to get them both to the weigh off in tact and maybe have one over the 700 pound mark and one over the 800 mark. Monday, August 22 View Page got the stem dried and healed on noah. lost about 10 percent of the total stem but it seems in check for now and at day 60 it is 329.5 ott and estimated at 749 pounds and growing very slowly now. 4 days of weeping and bleaching and drying and healing of the stem couldn't have helped in the weight department much, but i am just hoping to keep the stem healthy to keep the pumpkin healthy and last for another 39 days for the weigh off. hoping to break the 800 mark with noah which will not be a personal best, but it will be a personal best on a pumpkin grown from my own seed crosses. i am hoping that tre' will continue on to make a race of it maybe cuz it has put on 13 pounds a day for the last 3 and is at 304" ott and estimated at 594 lbs on day 52. not bad so far for a 3 lober. its stem splits are fine and in check also. i have to say one thing for sure, i am a big fan of the fan. on a side note, got the monkey off our backs in the 4th inning against the yankees yesterday while hitting back to back to back homeruns followed by 2 singles and another jack off randy johnson to wake the whitesox up from this 7 game losing streak. can't anything ever be easy?....but how interesting or fun would that be....not much....but a lot easier on my nerves and temper. lol. there is no crying in baseball or pumpkin growing!!!!!!!!! Thursday, September 1 View Page one month to the weigh off and both of my kins are still in tact and i seem to once again have the stem on noah healed over and it is dry again after a continuous battle. it is 332" ott today on day 70 and estimated at 770 by this years charts, but looking at it i would guess more like 740 lbs and has completely quit growing. it sure started out like a rocket but slowed down almost just as fast. its not my biggest ever, but am proud of it for the tough season we had and especially cuz it came off one of my own crosses. just hoping it tops Timmer's 1446 pumpkin once it hits the scales. Thursday, September 1 View Page here is Timmer's 1446 pumpkin that is a wheel and hard to measure and is estimated about 660 but to me it looks to go heavy. i might grow one of these seeds next year being a 1446 x self. it was a trouble free plant all year for him too. Thursday, September 1 View Page here is Tre', the crazy looking 3 lober that is shaped like a tilted triangular blob with big bulging sections where i believe the chambers are located. it is estimated at 630 pounds and i think will go heavy based on its rock like thumping sound and all that meat in the bulging sections. we will find out in a month. it is 62 days old and 310 ott today. Thursday, September 1 View Page here is a side view of tre'. it is not growing much anymore, but it continues to get weirder looking day by day. Thursday, September 1 View Page here is a nice shot of Timmer's 3 secondary vine 604 jutras pumpkins that are as pretty as a pumpkin can be. beauties in shape and color although not all that big. gonna make great carvers for sure. Saturday, September 10 View Page took a tape to both pumpkins today for shits-n-giggles. each one gained a little bit but not much. noah is 335" ott and about 790 lbs estimate and tre' is 313" or about 640 lbs. both pumpkins started out fast this year and slowed down fast too. as quickly as the heat accelarated the vegetative cycle, i have to believe the fruit maturation cycle was sped up this year too. it was the earliest i have ever seen my fruits cantalope for sure. all in all, the struggle just to beat the heat will make this a season never to be forgotten. note to self....self....next year i am going to prune every other secondary. i wanted to this year but couldn't get my courage up to do it. i believe i lost considerable poundage due to excess tertiary development that got out of control from over crowded conditions. wasted energy into multiple mini sinks. 3 plants only next year, and all 3 will be better maintained. and i know i am late to the game on soil testing after growing AGs now for 4 seasons, but it needs to be done to get everything in proper balance. i have done pretty decent without ever having my soil tested, but this fall is time to test, get it balanced properly, and go crazy on leaves and manure. i am hoping to aquire some quality seeds that are proven producers in the offseason and maybe grow 2 proven and one of Timmer's 1446 x self seeds from his pumpkin this year. i will use my own crosses from this year as backups for next year cuz if tragedy strikes the proven plants, growing my own seeds was a damn fun alternative. getting close to the weigh off now and am looking forward to putting them on the scales. Saturday, October 8 View Page well, with the chicago whitesox's sweep over the redsox, i have had quite a week of excitement following the weigh off last weekend. what a crazy week. starting from last friday night on loading day until right now has been the first time i have had a chance to relax and get on the computer. i have to say the weigh off at didier farms was awesome. we had perfect weather, giant pumpkins, great commroderie, and just an all around kick ass day that went well into the night for me and my buddy Timmer. here is a nice shot looking out across the 31 pumpkins entered. Saturday, October 8 View Page and here is a great view from the podium with greg sliwka (in orange) doing a great job as the MC. george j. and the didier's sure know how to run an event, and the barenie family from Indiana helped save our backs this year with the lifting ring and their expertise getting the pumpkins on and off the scale. thanks again all for your fine work. Saturday, October 8 View Page noah was a great pumpkin and i had a blast watching it grow this year. i knew it would go light based on cutting it from the vine 3 weeks early due to severe stem problems that i feared would make its way into the pumpkin. my guess before it hit the scale was 735 pounds eventhough it was estimated at 780. it was ranked visually as the 6th biggest before hitting the scales, and greg the MC said over the intercom that i was being prety modest with my guess on the weight, but when it hit the scale, i knew the stem problems that showed after day 55 may have shut down the wall thickness growth more than i thought. so the final weight for noah was 693 pounds. tre', which was 23" ott smaller than noah was right to the charts and gave noah a run for the money for heaviest pumpkin this year in my patch, weighing in at an even 650 lbs. here is noah at the weigh off...one thing i forgot to do was wash off the stem area from the daconil and captan. Saturday, October 8 View Page here is a pic of tre' being used as the guinnea pig pumpkin with the lifting ring. it sure saved many a back that day. one funny note on tre', i guessed it would weigh 650 pounds, and when it hit the scales i could see the read out saying 648, so i said to the kid holding the broken off stem in his hand (thanx to timmer)to make sure to put the stem on top of the pumpkin...and then greg the MC asked again to build excitement, "what was your guess again shazzy?", and i repeated 650 pounds, to which it was 650 on the nose and the crowd got a good laugh out of it. later in a drunken stupor at bobby's tap, Timmer ended up winging that stem across the parking lot. more on that story in a couple frames. Saturday, October 8 View Page here is Timmer's pumpkin going to the scales...it went a little light and ended up at 624 pounds....making me king of the patch. he took the result graciously at first..but later at bobby's tap was another story. both tre' and noah topped his pumpkin. because his was taller in height and closer to people's view in our patch when it was still on the vine, he was still convinced he had me this year and many others also thought the same thing...which had me worried a bit...more like a lot cuz i didn't want to hear it all year long. but i thought i beat him for sure when the lifting crew said that noah felt the heaviest when loading and i felt food at the weigh off that i would beat him. pretty damn close though with only 69 lbs between them. i may not have won any trophy's or prize money, and i was dissappointed at noah not even clearing 700 pounds, but i will tell you what, when the bullshitting stopped and our moving van gate was dropped, and my weight was higher than his, i got a huge smile that started deep in my fat belly with satisfaction and made its way to my chipmunk cheeks and never left my face for the whole evening. this slowly grew on him over the coarse of the night and many beers that followed. Saturday, October 8 View Page here is a pic of george j.'s 868. nice job george taking 3rd place and getting your new PB. i would think if you made a pumpkin boat with that beauty you could do have a good chance of winning, cuz ith as long as that sucker is, it would be more like a pumpkin canoe than a pumpkin boat. maybe next year we will consider trying to float a couple and have our first ever Illinois Pumpkin Regatta. that would be some silly fun for sure. Saturday, October 8 View Page here is a pic of joe richard's beauty 939 (or close to that weight) that took second place. he grew it off his own 664 richards 2004 seed. so joe grew a 1046, a 939, and a 859 dmg this year, each on the only 3 plants he grew in his backyard. that is a damn great year here in illinois Joe. Joe has now claimed 1st, 2nd, and the 4th heaviest pumpkins ever grown in Illinois. way to go Joe and it was a pleasure hanging out with you and your family at the weigh off. you are good people for sure. Saturday, October 8 View Page and the winner is topping 1000 pounds for the first time in his life was...GENE MCMULLEN at 1032 lbs!!!!!!!!!! i have only met gene in person 4 times now; twice at the weigh offs, once at the first IGPGA meeting, and last year he came to Joliet to watch a Chicago Bears game at Bobby's Tap. we have emailed numerous times over the past 4 years also and have a yearly Cubs vs Whitesox best record bet. but i have to admit for knowing someone for so little period of time, i was proud as hell to be present when his pumpkin topped the 1000 pound mark. i know how long he has been growing these things and how hard he has worked to get to this point. and to see close up the expression on his face, the fist pumping in the air, and a big ole' hollar that he yelled when he heard the 4 digits, was truly one of the most exciting things i have ever seen. i still have goose bumps thinkinging about it. i know that sounds as corney as hell, but i can't help saying that it has only inpired me to try to reach that mark some day too. great job Gene. and oh yea. how about them whitesox? lol. Saturday, October 8 View Page and later that night after the weigh-off, we unloaded the pumpkins and put them out in front of Bobby's Tap, (with out his permission). we knew he wouldn't care and he loved it when he came in the next day and saw them out front. so later that night, around 1 a.m. we got all the people in the bar out front around them for a group photo, and some of the young hotties were asking "who's pumpkin is bigger, mine or Timmers'?" to which i responded, mine of course knowing that Timmer was listening behind me. i said both of them weighed more at the weigh off than his and that i am king of the patch. lol. i was goating him for sure and put my arms up in the air which prompted him to pick up the stem that he sanpped off my pumpkin by accident the day before, and whipped it across the parking lot in disgust and started shouting, "You got lucky you fat piece of shit" and everone had a big laugh. lol. everyone knows we go at all the time and neither one of us really meant it. i will post the group pic when my friend scotty gives it to me. it was silly fun like that all night long as you will see in the next picture. Saturday, October 8 View Page after Timmer whipped my stem across the lot, i ran in the bar and grabbed one of the goofy pumpkin heads we made and then i proceeded to run around the parking lot and inside the bar doing my victory dance. here i am with it on before he came up from behind me and whacked the plastic head off my head with one clean slap sending the pumpkin head flying into a table full of people and drinks and my eye glasses flew across the bar. lol. everyone was bellied over laughing after that. but i got the last laugh of the night when i had to help walk him to someone's car for a ride home cuz he could barely stand by closing time. we left the moving truck at bobby's and i walked home giggling the whole 3 blocks home. neither one of us were laughing with the hangovers we had at 7 am the next day cuz we had to get the truck back by 8 am. but it was well worth it for the good time we had. we were still ribbing each other that next morning and i know his fall prep work will be extensive cuz he is aiming to take me down next year for sure. but until october of next year, i will hold the King of the Patch title and use it to my benefit when he talks smack all year long. lol. Saturday, October 29 View Page You Can Put It On The Board........... YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SOX WIN! SOX WIN! SOX WIN!