Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 106 Entries. Sunday, February 3 View Page opened up the wallet this birthday weekend of mine and purchased some nice chances to get over that 1000 lb hump. 997 lbs last year left me with a little chip on my shoulder and has added a drive that i haven't felt in a couple of years. and with the future closing of my favorite watering hole, "bobby's tap", i see no excuse or magic magnetic pull that would steer my away from the patch all too often when things needed to be done. shits 'n' giggles time is over in 2008. if i do not reach 1000 lbs in 2008, there will be no excuses due to lack of effort. 2008 main line up if successful germinations will be the 1041.5, 904, 1446.5, and the 1385.5 some alternates if some the above 4 do not take will be the 1306, 1556.5., and 1363. with that said, time to go whoop it up and play some texas hold em prior to the superbowl bash. salute 2008, i am raising one high to this season!!!!! Saturday, April 19 View Page seeds are soaking and will be put in their pots this afternoon. my basement germination room has the space heaters going set at 85 degrees. the grow mat with thermostat is set at 85 degrees as well and the temperature sensor will be placed at seed level in one of the pots. this combo of 85 degrees below the pots as well as 85 degree air temp has given me the most consistent 85 degree temps in the pots at all time. a thermometer will be placed at seed level in 2 pots just so i can monitor exact temps at seed level. the patch is done in each growing area except a last shot of molasses, seaweed, and agro k nutrients before transplanting the plants in the patch. increased 2 planting spots to 600 sq ft and will have 2 spots with 400 sq ft. this fills up the entire patch. the only other patch work to be done is to place 6 more yards of compost around the outside edges of the patch with some gypsum as well. the 15 yards i placed already in the center of the patch has the soil looking great. if any of my main line up plants do not germinate, i will be starting some other proven seeds in 5 days. if all goes well, the line up is the same as mentioned in the above post. Thursday, April 24 View Page 15 out of 16 germinations with the only one not to pop is the 1385. it's too bad cuz that seed has super potential in my eyes. still giving it time, but no signs of life in it yet. all the others pushed dirt in 2.5 days and all are now completely up and have the seed shell removed and look good. i started a 1306 that was going to be given away if i wasn't going to use it, but now it has moved into the line up. it was the first up and is a vigorous grower already with all super-power 1068 genetics. all 6 of my 997 shenoha 2007 (1173 x self) seeds popped and 4 will be used as back ups next to my 1041.5, 904, 1306, and 1446 plants. the rest will be given away to rookie growers including a nice healthy 700 est shenoha 2007. i didn't bring the 700 est. to the weigh off, but should have. the walls were over a foot thick all the way around, and it came off the 1119 McMullen crossed with the 1173. hopefully a rookie will get it to pumpkin stage and see what it can do as well as the extra 997s. my 8 plants will be going into the greenhouses this weekend even though it is gonna get chilly a couple of nights over the next 4 days. the space heaters will be running on high, so not to worry. it is an exciting time of the year, and all the double digging, deep tilling, and 21 yards of compost moved with a wheelbarrow will hopefully be well worth the effort. Monday, April 28 View Page plants went in the ground yesterday with all going well. space heaters and partial sun had the temps in the 80s in the day and last night it hit 35, but my greenhouse temps at 6 am were at 53 degrees. tonight it will get to about 30 which means the greenhouse temps should be about 45 which is fine. i am still going to throw my spare space heater in the greenhouse with the 1041 and 1446 back to back, just in case something happened to one heater in the middle of the night. with 2 set at 57 degrees, i should be able to hold that temp or close to it and still have the insurance incase one went down for some crazy reason. better safe than sorry. will double check all plastic at the bases of the greenhouses to make sure after todays rains that plenty of soil is mounded against the plastic for a snug draft free insulation. plants look nice today and at 37 degrees outside, the inside temp is in the high 70s with mininum sunlight and heaters set on 85. put some plastic over plug and extension cord connections. the cool air outside and warm temps inside causes condensation drip and i do not want to trip off the heaters in any way. i contemplated waiting until after tuesday to get plants into the ground, but i decided i would rather go the extra mile now than having to transplant into my larger containers and then transplanting again. i believe there is less shock on the plants one time transplanting as long as i have the ability to sustain the temps i have been able to achieve. what a difference a year makes. last year it was so warm already that i didn't even use the greenhouses. Monday, May 12 View Page 2 for the price of one is not always a bargain. the 904 has doubled up vine wise, and most likely the back up 997 shenoha 2007 plant that is right next to it will get the 600 sq ft section of the patch. i have plenty of time to do surgery on the 904 and see if it works itself out of doubling up, but i have seen first hand on my buddy Timmer's plants what a double viner is like. it is a first for me, and i am going to treat it as an experiment and do my best to straighten it out. but i am already committed to the 997 in the back of my mind and am now somewhat excited to prove out one of my own seeds. the 997 was about 9 percent heavy, and the 1173 that she was self crossed with was a beauty of a plant. so the final line up has most likely changed again. it sucks to see a healthy young plant with great potential double up, but i am happy that i choose to double up on plants just in case this scenario arises. i will always go with back ups side by side because this hobby can throw a lot of curveballs at you. Monday, May 12 View Page after a little more research on double vines, i am not as committed to going with my back up 997 as i was about 15 minutes ago. i see that that trait most likely came from the 1370. someone else had their 1370 double straighten itself on its own. i have plenty of time to make the decision to let it try on its own to work itself out or do the surgery. one of the lucky things that happened after planting it was the fact that it was one of those twisters-- the plants when you put them in straight and 2 days after planting they twist in a different direction. it twisted opposite of the back up plant about an 1/8th of a circle. this will give me that much more time to let it grow out or perform the surgery. i will start taking some pics and i am going out to give it a good steady long soaking. from what i have read, this works in some cases for some weird reason. i got plenty of time and a back up, so what the hell. Thursday, May 29 View Page record low at the Joliet airport last night of 37 degrees. the space heaters have been working overtime this week during the night and some days when needed. updates on the patch. the 904 double viner has flattened out and is also throwing doubles at the secondaries. i am not dealing with it all season when i have a 997 shenoha 2008 (1173 x self) right next to it that is a beauty and has already laid down just like its mama last year. the 1173 was an easily trainable plant that doesn't have a tendency to reach up. i haven't done the whacking yet, but the 904 will go saturday when the greenhouses come off. we have a potential for hail and strong winds tomorrow, so i will leave them protected eventhough it might get a little toasty inside the greenhouses with 80 degree temps tomorrow. and the 1306 was a plant that i believe i watered too much and stunted it because every leaf pic i could find for diseases or problems with pumpkin plants points to cold wet soil. it is very weird because right next to it 2.5' away is a perfect 997 backup that has also laid down its main nicely. the 1306 has some yellowing leaves and is way behind the 997 backup and just seems stunted. the new leaves are looking normal so i will give it a chance for a while, but with the plants behind a bit from the crappy cloudy cold spring, i will not wait that long before giving it the whack if it doesn't snap out of it within the next week of great temps expected. the 1446 werner is the beauty of the patch so far. it has also laid down and should begin running quickly this week. the 997 backup next to it will get the whack saturday. the 1041 seems to be about 5 days behind the rest of the plants. its main should hit the ground in about 3 days. it will get the spot no matter what and the 997 back up next to it will get the whack saturday. so i will be growing the 1041, 1446, and 2 of my 997s unless the 1306 shows me it will pull out of its stunted start. Sunday, June 1 View Page greenhouses are down and the plants got their first taste of strong sun with barely a cloud in the sky today and temps at 80 degrees. waited until 2 pm so they got a half day acclimated before a full day of sun tomorrow and 85 degree temps. the misting system has been set up as well as the sprinklers. tomorrow they will get misted while at work to help them deal with the hot dry sunshiney day. all backup plants and the 904 double-flat viner were whacked, except the 1306 and 997 backup are still side by side. the 1306 looks a lot better with 2 nice days of weather, but still has yellowing right at the very tip of the new leaves. i think it will be fine and i still have time to let it prove itself out as the possible winner of that spot. the 997 backup right next to it has about a 3' main and the 1306 hasn't even laid down yet, so we will see. gonna be a tough call. the 1446 main tip has been wanting to twist on me and i have to keep adjusting the bamboo sticks to keep it in line. the 997 for sure keeper kicked ass in the last 2 days and has about a 3' main as well with big ole' leaves. the 1041 kicked in gear and should be laid down completely by tuesday. silt fences will go up tomorrow night before possible storms. i wanted to get as much breeze on the plants as possible tomorrow with the heat to help them adjust to the sun. only 5 to 10 mph winds predicted like today and the yard is completely fenced in anyways, so they will be fine wind wise and all vines are anchored above and below with bamboo. with this heat finally arriving, it will be go time now with burying vines with mych fungi at each leaf node. merit is already in the plants, but it won't be long before insecticide program starts. they will probably get their first hit of insecticide in about 7 to 10 days, or whenever the enemies arrive. Wednesday, June 4 View Page picture time on a rain day. 1.5" of rain yesterday flooded out my job site. first taste of rain these plants have had which is cool by me cuz it was a good deep soaker. hopefully we do not get whacked that hard today with chances of strong storms. knocking on wood as i type. i got the silt fences tight around the plants to prevent possible wind damage and i'll put some plastic lawn chairs over the plants if a storm cell which has a history of producing hail approaches today or tonight. the plants are still small enough that the lawn chairs will work. 2 chairs per plant will be needed now that they are starting to run. here is the 997 #1 plant. the first 2 secondaries should be trainable and laid down with bamboo stakes tomorrow in the warm temps. Wednesday, June 4 View Page here is the 997 #2 plant on the left and the early stunted 1306 on the right. the 1306 still has yellow tips on the new leaves and you can see some of the early nitrogen deficiences from cold wet soil conditions in some of the first true leaves. still giving the 1306 a chance, but leaning in the direction of the 997 since they are both unproven seeds. i will train the 997 secondary closeset to the 1306 around the back of the 1306 to give it more time to prove itself. the 997 #2 plant is such a beauty and a vigorous grower, but like dick wallace says again and again, "we ain't growin' salad." and the 1306 is 100% 1068 wallace which is as good as it gets genetically. i already have the chance to prove out a 997 so i will give the 1306 at least some more time before whacking time comes. Wednesday, June 4 View Page here is the 1041 that is starting to get in gear. it also got a little bit of yellowing on some early true leaves from cold wet soil, but not near as bad as the 1306. the warm temps have helped this plant considerably and i am hoping for some big things from this plant. Wednesday, June 4 View Page and the 1446 is a go getter for sure. this plant will also have its first 2 sets of secondaries down in one or 2 days and i got the early twisting of the main in control. i had to put a small 's' curve in the main to let it go one way first, establish itself a bit, and then train it back to the direction i wanted it to go. at one point the main twisted completely around to where the draping end was pointed skywards. she is back on track and starting to run quickly as well. Saturday, June 7 View Page just got done whacking a beautiful plant, and it was 997 shenoha #2. the 1306 won the spot by almost catching up 2 feet in vine length in 3 days. she ain't stunted no more. wow. so the line up is set finally and the plants are looking pretty good. lost one leaf on the 1446 from the hellacious winds all day yesterday. in snapped off and has been removed. a couple of leaves on almost every plant lost some backbones for lack of better words. they got beat up in the wind and fold over basically but are still ok. they just lost their ability from here on out to cup upwards to the sky. no biggie cuz i am just glad they didn't roll on me. took off the compost from the vines today at the advice of a solid bro grower named "the boz". thanks brooks for the heads up on the advice on the damage that straight compost can do to the vines. never tried it before this year but i had some left over in a pile and figured it would be a good thing. the boz saved me a major headache and disappointment for this season and i owe him big time. i won an 805 in a drawing this spring after the season started and i know he loves the 805, so now you have another 805 coming your way this winter boz. grow it, trade it, use it in a seed auction if you want, but the season saving advice is worth more that any seed in my eyes. thanks again, and everyone out east of illinois, watch out for this crazy wind coming your way. Wednesday, June 11 View Page since i had no pics in last years diary of the 997 shenoha 2007, i figured i would show her off since i am growing one of her babies this year. and bobby's tap never did close down this year which should make my fellow illinois competitors happy since i am prone to stop in once and a while. sheeeeeeiiiiit. lol. but so far this year i am not neglecting my work in the patch from that magnetic pull at on route 30. Wednesday, June 11 View Page and here is her baby. this 997 is a tad under 10' long tonight and i pruned her first female yesterday. it was long and light yellow like mamas was. the 997 has now moved into the top spot for salad growing at this stage. 5 inches of rain in my rain gauge in 6 days last week. i guess the rain just mixed up all that kelp meal and humic acid along with all the other goodies cuz the main grew almost 6' in 7 days. no foliar with that amount of rain, no need to push. more rain tomorrow. plants are too big now to protect from hail, so worse case i can cover the main tips with lawn chairs when tomorrows crazy storms are supposed to hit. i am doing the opposite like geoge castanza from seinfeld, i am saying things like this hoping the opposite will come true. last year i had the 4 by 4 s and the overhead cables with overhead misting that would support a shade cloth. the outside earthanchors are still in place and i still have the 4 by 4s. i could still easily grab the post hole digger, throw up 4 strategically placed 4 by 4s, run the cables, clamp them to the earth anchors, and throw up the shade cloth if i really had to with a window of time about 2 hours. a lot of work but i am crazy enough to do so if a line of storms had the history of golf ball size or better when it hits the quad cities and does not look to be weakening. most likely it will be roll the dice and cover the tips at the least. come on CASTANZA!!!!!! Wednesday, June 11 View Page here is the 1446 at just about 9 feet and i pruned her first female today. round and brighter yellow than the 997. this plant is looking good. one of the secondaries doubled up, the one on the right in this picture is the one that has doubled and it is taking a lot of energy from the next secondary in line. i will leave it alone and get extra roots and leaves and have the room to train her backward a bit to make more room for the next secondary. never seen a secondary double up after 3 feet of normal growth. hope this doesn't happen to the main. it got me to thinking that maybe like some diseases in humans, stress will trigger the effect if the trait is present lying dormant. i would imagine 5 inches of rain in 6 days and crazy high sustained winds for 3 days is stressful. who knows. the plants have held up well though and are growing like mad in this heat. 2 days with no rain means tomorrow they will get some goodies in a root drench. foliar feeding fill begin in 3 days. i do not like to foliar feed immature leaves cuz i have messed them up too many times in the past. the big older leaves are established and are ready for the scheduling foliar feeding to begin. Wednesday, June 11 View Page making a nice recovery is the 1306. once one the chopping block with the ax held high, it has taken off nicely now and is getting stronger every day. i had to go with the genetics since i already had the other 997 doing so well. the whacking of the backup 997 was tough, but thats what backup are for. would of, could of, should of...i will never no what the 997 backup could have done. i am happy with my decision to keep the 1306. Wednesday, June 11 View Page i tried to get a pick of the 1041 in as well, but i think too many people are submitting pics tonight and the system wouldn't let it in after a couple tries. it is about the same as the 1306 pic and is qaining some steam as well with the heat. it was slower to start from the get go but looks healthier and stronger day by day. Friday, June 13 View Page tried out the new backback sprayer last night while hitting the plants with some vcp to help the flowering stage. i felt like bill murray in ghostbusters and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, laughing at myself while thinking what the new neighbors across the street must think of me if looking out the window at 8:30 at night. "Look at that crazy fat guy tiptoeing around on boards in his garden with that big ass jet pack on his back" are the kind of thoughts and conversations i envisioned them having last night. i love it and will give them another showing tonight when i spray for bugs after seeing my first cuke beetle of the season. all the old neighbors already know i am crazy so these new ones are just getting a taste of "shazziness". (third person references, especially with nicknames, are so lame. this is why i do it so often. my big party years back with a live band and free booze and food was called "SHAZFEST". can ya believe the ego on this shaz dude.) i saw an aborted female on the 1446 less than pea size at 9.5 feet. not sure if it fried or stress or lack of phosphorus intake will all the rain. needed to start the foliar schedule anyways. got a female at about 12 feet on the 997. it will be over a week before my first pollination attempt and temps look nice at that future time. the first male opened today on the 997. its a beautiful smelling flower these plants produce and was a nice sight to see this morning. got another good 6 tenths of rain last night. plants seem to love it, and yes the "Costanza" talk worked cuz my co-worker got hail 2 miles away but yet i stayed hail free. that a boy georgie, do the opposite and say what you have to say regardless of thinking you will jinx yourself. it is what it is anyways. Saturday, June 21 View Page here is a look at the entire patch, all four plants with the 997 in front running left, the 1306 next running right, the 1041 running left and the 1446 in the back running right. the 997 4 lobe symetrical female at 12' was pollinated this am with 2 males from the 1446. it opened at 6:17. this is good cuz i think monday i will pollinate the 1446 at 13' and still make it to work on time. if i am late, so be it. maybe it will open tuesday, but i am getting better at knowing the shape and color of the females petals to guess 3 days prior to the opening day and plan accordingly. my bet looking today the 1446 will open monday. i plan on selfing it cuz the 1041 is a nice plant, but not that strong on throwing out its secondaries and is still the slowest of all plants. i will go with what ever is available though and will go with self, 997, 1306 and 1041 in that order if i have my choice. got another chair over the next female in line on the 997 which is at 15' and will be open in about 5 to 6 days. the misters were on in this pic. i have a 4' rain tower sprinkler you can see on one side up front, another 4' rain tower in the back left corner, and a six footer in the center. i run the back right one first at 5 am for 30 minutes since it is only a quarter turn. the one up front in this pic is almost a half turn and i switch hoses at the spicket and run for 45 minutes from 5:30 to 6:15 am. then right before leaving for work i set the timer for 60 minutes for the center tower that over laps the other 2 patterns and goes a full 360 degrees without back clicking. this covers the patch nicely and i water every 2 days unless it rains. if hotter i will adjust, and if i need to mist also, i have to get up early and move the whole cycle back an hour so i can connect the misting set up hose to the spicket with the timer. compost tea went on the plants wednesday and tonight i will hit them with talstar one tonight with all the new growth since spraying friday of last week. Saturday, June 21 View Page here is a pic of the 1446 werner with the female at 13'. you can see i have began hooking may mains on a curve after 15'. this is because my growing spots are only 22' long. this one is 24' wide by hooking the mains towards the center, i will give myself more opportunities at pollination in case of aborts or bad 10 day numbers on the early ones. since spraying vcp and 9-18-9 along with my other agro k schedule, all flowers male and female are strong. also cover main females with chairs and had no more early aborts. getting a female at the tip of many secondaries on all plants. they love that vcp. got a couple of brown leaf burn spots on a couple older leaves on some of the plants. i figure it is the fish and will reduce down to 1/2 oz per gallon foliar and use it in a root drench as well. tonight the plants will get a molasses root drench. Saturday, June 21 View Page here is the 1306 that should have a female open at 14' in about 6 days. pruned females at 9' and 11' and the plant will have some good secondaries established by then and will be terminating the first secondaries about pollination day or sooner. the first 4 left secondaries i am letting grow out to about 17'-18' behind the extra room of the 997. this set up was planned because this growing spot is my smallest at 20 wide and i shifted the plant over to get 12' secondaries on the right side, 8' on the left, with the first 4 left ones making up the difference on the 8 footers for leaves and energy. this plant i shifted back a bit to actually give it 25' lengthiwise to grow. the 997 secondaries i trained forward a bit and will wrap around the back of the 1306. the 997 has room for 14' secondaries and the first one on the left side was a strong fast grower that was terminated at 14' today. Saturday, June 21 View Page here is the 1041. you can see in all 4 new pics i have to catch up on my weeding this weekend. not out of control, but have had a busy work week this week and have not weeded since last sunday. got all weekend to catch up. also haven't buried vines and added mych since tuesday night. that will happen tonight as well. the females on the 1041 were pinched at 9' and 12' to let the plant get more established before pollinating. got one in the cluster that should fall at about 16'. it ain't easy snipping a female at 12' but it needed to be done. that plant is gaining energy every day and the new secondaries are stronger ones. i needed more plant to get the critical 10 day pumpkin measurement respectable. the plant had a tendencey to have every other secondary stunted to start with. i just angled all good secondaries backwards to make up the spaces and have the new ones angling back as well. after hooking the main to the center of the patch after 15' to give myself more room before the plant hits the fence, the secondaries on the right side by angling backwards will have plenty of room as i make the curve. when i hook the mains at the ends like this, the secondaries normally get stacked close side by side due to the inside area of the curve shortening their gaps. so actually, the stunted secondaries that were worse on the right side of the plant gave me room to make all the secondaries fit in on that side of the plant with the curve. the female is still very small in the cluster and should open about july 2nd. hopefully that one takes or otherwise this plant won't have a pumpkin pollinated until about july 7th or 8th otherwise. that is not terribly late, but i have never had to go past the 4th of july for pollinations in the past. Tuesday, June 24 View Page on 6-23, pollinated the 1446 x self with 5 males. nice cool morning. getting out the fans and ice bottles on 6-26 for a 88-90 pollination on the 997 at 15'. the 997 12' is growing and still has a nice shine and color to it. same with the 6-23 pollination on the 1446. fingers are crossed. sox got swept by the cubs. ouch. ugly series by ozzie and the team. hope to get em on the south side to even it up with a 3 game sweep. otherwise gene mcmullen will get 2 cases of beer at the weigh off cuz i still owe him for last years series, and a 20 spot for best record last year. still in first right now though...barely. Wednesday, June 25 View Page started out my fungicide program tonight now that getting hot and sticky again in illinois. it was that time of the year anyways. used eagle above and below all leaves. added more mister points now that the plants are getting bigger. will be misting tomorrow with 90 temps after a 75 degree cloudy rain day today. got over a 1/3 of an inch which was nice. got the electric cord out to the 997 for the fan and ice bottle set up after pollinating in the morning. gonna go with the 1306 as i have 4 males covered and ready for the morning. got some tea brewing for tomorrow night. my schedules are now set with fungicide wed. nites, insecticides sunday nights, and tea foliar thursday nights. going on a perch charter on lake michigan sunday morning. gotta leave at 3:30 am as the boat goes at at 5. got my first 1306 pollination coming about that time. hopefully it will be sat am, or monday am. otherwise i am going to have to have a friend do it for me. either that or i do an early morning force open. i have read others have done this in the past. i am hoping the heat and rain will speed it up to saturday. Saturday, June 28 View Page good news and bad news. good news is the 1306 at 14'opened this morning and was pollinated with five flowers from the 1446. the 1446 pumpkin is 5 days old and has laid down nicely. bad news, the 997 at 12' didn't take. the next one down the line at 15' was a deformed 4 lober with one segment stunted and small and also seeds in the blossum. it was pinched. the 1041 at 15' should open monday or tuesday and the 997 at 17' should open also monday or tuesday. the 1446 second female will be open pollinated tomorrow as i will be on lake michigan fishing by 5 am. i will add more pollen to make sure at noon when i get home. hopefully the 13' 5 days old will be the keeper and i don't even need the open pollinated female. Sunday, June 29 View Page how sweep it is!!!! sox at least saved face with a come back sweep over the baby bears. nice!!! fishing was off due to a rough lake michigan with north winds this morning. self pollinated the 1446 number 2 pollination with 5 flowers and tomorrow will be the 997 at 17 to 18 feet. hard to tell length out at this stage with hooking main, but really need this one to take. only gonna be 80 for a high so fingers are crossed. the 1041 will be tuesday. if the 1306 takes from yesterday and these next 2 take, i could be on my way for the season on all plants. the 1446 6 day old this am at 5:30 was 13 circ. inches and will check progress again tomorrow a.m. nice shape and color at this stage. i am hoping she hits about 25 plus on day 10 which is a keeper in my book unless the next one down the line tops that. plants are huge and have terminated the first secondaries on all plants and the first 2 on both sides of the 997 which are 14' to 15'. bright sunshine tomorrow with low humidity after a cool cloudy day today means i will mist lightly tomorrow while at work. tomorrow will catch up on vine burying with mych fungi. Monday, June 30 View Page 997 at 17.5 feet with 5 1446s this mornin. got the 1041 female at 16' bagged along with 6 male 1041s bagged and 5 male 1446s bagged. gonna wait till the morning to decide to self or cross with the 1446. Tuesday, July 1 View Page hind sight is 20/20. eventhough i didn't have a lot of plant behind a 12' female due a lot of stunted secondaries, i still should have allowed that female at 12' to have let it matured and pollinated it knowing that the plant in a 7 day period would catch up to pollination time. so this mornin i pollinated the 1041 at 16' with 6 male 1041 flowers, but the problem was the female was a 5 lober (i think) scrambled eggs blossom. i still put a fan and frozen bottle next to it as it hit the high 80s and close to 90 degrees today. the next one down the line is deep in the cluster and will be at about 21' in about 9 days or about the 10th of july. oh well, live and learn. the 1446 was at 17 inches at 8 days, and based on past experience i would bet it to be 20 tomorrow and maybe 24 on 10 days. not bad with the record low set at the joliet airport today at 50 degrees and 3 nights prior in the low 50s. the 1306 still looks good and is growing at 3 days old and hopefully the 997 took as well. i put a big ass detergent bottle full of ice next to it today as well hoping she will take. tomorrow the fan on the 1041 will be left in place along with another ice bottle and the 1306 and the 997 will have ice bottles next to them too as it might hit 90 tomorrow. i really need them 3 to take completely. cool temps on the horizon after tomorrow and all the next ones down the line will be pollinated for insurance. Wednesday, July 2 View Page the 997 at 18' was a nice 4 lober for the record. the 1306 has laid down and still looks good. the 1446 was 21 inches at 5:30 am today...that means it went 4 inches from the day before and is on its way. mill fabric will be place under it tomorrow. i will go fabric only, no sand. the chair over it will come off and a white tee shirt will do until it's big enough for a sheet.. the next 1446 laid looks good so far as well. will monitor it's growth before choosing the one. big storms missed again, thank God, and i will water in the morning. the next 997 and 1446 will be in about a week and the next 1306 and 1446s will be sooner. Wednesday, July 2 View Page correction. the next 1041 and 997 will be in a week or so, the next 1446 and 1306s will be sooner. and my dog just cut the loudest dog fart i have ever heard. must have been the pizza i gave her earlier. lol. Thursday, July 3 View Page 25 inches circ. at 10 days this morning at 5:30 for the 1446 number one pollination at 13'. not bad with every day cooler than normal except 2 out of 10. number 2 looks to have taken and will pollinate number 3 tomorrow morning. number 2 on the 1306 will be on the 5th. number one is a little slow at 5 days but still looks shiney. started stump pruning of some older leaves, the first 2 true leaves on some plants were just about done and getting mushy at the stems. letting the fresh cuts dry completely and will throw on some captan. need to get some bleach and get ready to start spraying a 10 percent solution after all future collapse leave removals as the season progresses. plants are really filling out the patch and dead heading secondaries day by day. got lucky and missed a major hail storm that missed north of chicago. hopefully no one got a direct hit up that way. Friday, July 4 View Page another cool night and another record low at joliet airport last night. but the 1446 still grew 4" and was 29" circ. this morning on day 11. i decided not to pollinate the 4 lober this mornin and will go with this one unless the second one down the line tops it in the next week. no sense spreading the juices out too much with 3 kins competeing with each other on the same vine this early on. this one has a longer stem and i have the pumpkin secondary trained out and around for clearence and the next secondary down the line also trained out and around the opposite way for future clearance. its got a nice shape and the warmer temps predicted for this week will hopefully kick it up to 4.5 to 5 inches a day. watered all plants thoroughly this morning as we have not had a good soaking rain in a while. the scrambled eggs 1041 is growing along with all other pollinations, but still way too early to early to tell if they all took completely. the 1306 at 6 days doesn't look to promising yet and is 11" but is still growing. at that rate it might hit 22" by day 10. the next one down the line is at 18' and will be pollinated tomorrow with the 1446. the 18' has a better position and a better s curve, so not too dissappointed by the other 1306. if the 18' takes, it will have warmer temps to get going early on in. i am hoping to hit 25" or above at 10 days on all keepers if possible. i have had 20 inchers on day 10 go over 65" on day 20, but would still prefer 25 or above if i have my choice. the mill fabric will be adjusted tomorrow cuz i can see in this pic it is a little cockeyed, but i have moved the pumpkin enough today and will let it rest and not do something stupid and snap the stem. wouldn't be the first time but hopefully it won't happen again. like bill murrey says in "what about bob"....baby steps. Saturday, July 5 View Page 52 degrees this mornin and the 1306 is gonna take a little longer to open up, so i figured i would blab a little while waiting. i know i am good at yacking, just ask all my idiot friends who say, "won't you ever shut up?" or "damn you love to hear yourself talk". all true. you should be at our house on a holiday. we are all loud and yack constantly, except my dad who just shakes his head in silence, and endures the bombastic barrage of nothingness. he must be a saint. anywho, i took off the shade chairs over my little ones at 4 pm and let them get some sun to warm them up a bit prior to going into the evening and i will leave them off until they warm back up this afternoon about 11 am. the small 5 to 7 day old sets were not blanketed last night cuz they do not have enough mass to retain heat. but the 1446 was coverer at 7 pm with a fleece lined jacket snuggly wrapped around it to retain as much heat as possible after i let it warm in the sun for 3 hours in the not-so-direct- sunlight. wish i thought of it the 2 days before, but hopefully i will re-read my diary in the future and do this again early on day 8 plus small pumpkins when it is chilly. the 1306 will be pollinated this morning with the 6 bagged males from the 1446. gonna let them warm up a bit and pollinate about 7:30 am. gonna give the plants my soil drench cocktail of molasses, neptunes seaweed and fish, and symbex after pollination. then i will add more misting points to my system with the plants growing beyond the range of the last set points. will do this until the patch is full to have a complete coverage when the hot temps arrive again. weirdest thing is i get my most burnt leaves on small developing leaves on these windless low humidity 75-80 degree days in brilliant sunlight. and the ones affected the most are near the fences or the driveway from reflected or absorbed heat. done yacking, and will go cocktail drench while waiting to pollinate. Saturday, July 5 View Page 1306 number 2 was a nice 5 lober this morning. Monday, July 7 View Page salad is just that...salad. my 997 reminds me of the best salad plant i ever had, the 1247 handy that never produced a normal pumpkin except some long warty freaks that never made it to fruition. the 997 has the biggest stump i have ever seen already, but the 12' aborted, the 15' was a deformed 4 lober that was pinched, the 18' is 7 days old and may have quit on me, and the 24' to open tomorrow is half orange leaves on one side and the other half green leaves like it is not sure if it will open tomorow or not. i believe it is a freak of a plant that has female issues. i will try it tomorrow and will let the main go a bit and try again in 7 days. a little late at that point and most likely i will let the plant grow wild and trim it from encrouching the other plants and let it grow multiple pop up tertiary or multiple secondary kins. i am still giving it a chance, but a dissappointment for such a great salad plant. i got some end leaves on secondaries well over 28" across. baybe it is the spot high on nitrogen and not the plant alone, but we will see. on the bright side, i will get some numbers...10 day on the 1306, 15 day on the 1446 #1, and a 7 day on the 1041 scrambled eggs blossum which is a pretty good grower right off the get go. watching the radar close tonight as a front is moving in. i will throw a comforter over the 1446 with a t shirt over it to protect from hail if necessary, and all other females have lawn chairs over them. damn the 997 is such a beauty of a plant. what a shame. i am going to hit it with extra vcp and 9-18-9 until the next female is ready to pollinate to see if i can straighten it out. Tuesday, July 8 View Page cut the number 2 stem on the 1446 half way through cuz i have made my choice on the 1446. 48" circ on day 15 means it has bumped up to 4.75" per day which is way cool. the 1306 10 day old was only 20" so hopefully the one pollinated sunday will do better than that. the 997 8 day old is barely growing and is 15" at day 8 so also just might make 20 by day 10. the other nice news of the morning is the 1041 scrambled eggs 5 lober is 19.5" today on day 7. Wednesday, July 9 View Page the 1446 main was dead headed along with more secondaries. i completed the cut on the number 2 pumpkin and now all the energy is going to the one. tomorrow morning it gets a white sheet cuz it has outgrown the 3x white t shirt. the 997 at 24' didn't want to open due to its weird leaves sort of stuck together. not a good sign. it was forced open yesterday on july 8th before work and pollinated with the 1041. last chance for another pollination will be in about 9 days which is the 18th and it will be at plus 30'. now i have to let some secondary flowers mature to maybe grow multilple halloweenies or give a good secondary kin a chance. tomorrow will be the 20' kin 10 day measurement if it has even grown. it might make 18" is my guess, but for one day older than the 1041 8 day old kin, it is hard to tell if it is just the fast paced 1041 or the slow paced 997 that has me so dissappointed in it. most likely the combo of the 2. the 1306 number one looks to be improving a bit with the warmer temps, but my bet will be on the 1306 number 2 to win the spot, that is if it takes completely. got one more pollination on the 1041 tomorrow just to make sure the the scrambled eggs fast grower will be the one or not. the 1041 main was dead headed along with the 1306. one main left growing is the 997 wrapped way around and running the fence line. the patch should be filled out completely in a less than a week. could use some more rain here and there. got some the last couple days, but the job site is dusty as hell already. been watering thoroughly, and the entire patch misting system with tornado heads helps out as well as i set it for 20 minutes 4 times a day at work on days 80 and above. my fenced in yard, plus the brick house, and the adjacent blacktop driveway increases the temps by about 5 degrees easy in some areas of the patch. Thursday, July 10 View Page dodged another bullet...big storms tonight with a wicked black line front coming in at dusk. no hail. some strong gusty winds probably 35 to 40 mph and a pounding rain...but thank God no hail. i might have some roll overs to correct in the morning, and when then rain finishes up tonight i will replace the wet t shirts and sheets with dry ones. but not too bad especially as wicked as the storm looked coming in. pollinated the number 2 1041 with 6 1041 males this morning and it was a perfect 5 lober. it will be a tough call if it takes...do i go with a scrambled eggs 5 lober that was 28.5" this morning on day nine and most likely at least 33" tomorrow on day 10, or go with the symetrical five lober if it has smaller gains as the second kin hits day 10. i am gonna set the mill fabric up under the number one 1041 tomorrow with plans on it being the one. and then keep a close eye on number 2 if it takes. the 997 at 10 days old i think has aborted. it only grew an inch over night and was 16" this am. a dud. we will see if the forced entry female takes at 24', and will still try the 30 plus for the hell of it, but i am thinking with many females at tips in good open secondary areas, it will be a halloweenie plant. the 1306 is only putting on 3 inches a day and is 26" on day 12. i made a mistake and left the female petals on for 4 days on the 1306 number 2, and with my misting i had some very soft lobes on the verge of rotting. the mushy lobes were cut off clean half way through the nub this am, treated with captan, and dried with a fan. nick of time i hope and this one will get better numbers at 10 days. the 17 day old 1446 was 58.5 this am and hitting 5 inches per day the last 2 days. hopefully this inch plus of rain tonight will not be too much for both her and the 1041 9 day old to handle. Saturday, July 12 View Page 33.5" circ. on day 10 of the 1041 yesterday morning. fastest grower in 10 days ever in my patch. hope she contniues to chug without blowing out. the number 2 pollination will be kept on until 10 days or more. will get measurements and compare the 2, but i am pretty much committed to the number 1 with this fast growth rate eventhough the female blossum was scrambled pretty bad. got the mill fabric under number one and will take some pics tomorrow of the 1041, 1446, and 1306. the 1446 will be at 20 days tomorrow. she is no beauty with a cream color and a nice scar from early leaf rubbing while she was under the chair. but she is a nice grower. already seeing the blossum end will be concave inward and the blossum will become hidden more and more as the season progresses. i might have to put a tent over her if the bellybuttoning blossum end is pointing skyward with a tendency to collect water like i have seen in the past. i can tell already it will be one that will make me nervous all season for blossum end splits. i think i screwed up the 1306 number 2 by leaving the petals on too long cuz i think she did not take or aborted. not much growth out of it in the past 2 days. i only left the petals on for 4 days, but the blossum ends were already goo by that point. the cut, clean, captan, and a fan dried it up, but still a mistake on my part. another lesson the hard way. the 1306 number one will now be the one and gets mill fabric tonight after the rains. subdue was applied this week and will hit with eagle tonight after all this rain and humidity lately. not sure if the forced open 997 took, and will have the last chance at 31' in 3 or 4 days. compost tea will be applied every 5 days for the next 2 months along with agro k products on a daily basis and a once a week root drench with my molasses, neptunes, and symbex cocktail. Sunday, July 13 View Page looking back i said "hindsight is 20/20" when snipping off the 12' female on the 1041. well, it might have been the best decision i have ever made to give the plants secondary growth time to catch up from the early stunted missing ones before pollination. the runt plant of the patch early on has now the fastest growing pumpkin on it that measured in at 44" circ this morning at 5:30 am on day 12. if it holds together and doesn't blow and continues to grow nice all season, it will give me a chance to finally reach 4 digits and maybe thensome. i can only begin to dream big and crunch numbers, but still a long season a head. i have had seasons where all big ones have split and i look to gene mcmullen for the way he handled his losses last year as a class act dude with the attitude of a champ. you never know with this hobby, but dreaming big is what it is all about. at 5.25" per day, it could hit over 85" on day 20. ok enough brain. and many talk about not talking about a potential big'n cuz you will jinx yourself, i say to that, "I will do the opposite" like george castanza. it has worked so far with hail, so what the hail. i have quit naming my pumpkins over the past 2 years, but this one seems fit to be called "georgie". and i might as well name the 1446 "cosmo" after cosmo kramer. cosmo has impressed me as well hitting 76" circ. today on day 20. 2 plants producing great so far out of 4. and those 2 are proven top notch seeds. a lesson for next year...all proven seeds. i will let someone else prove mine out if they want and will use them for backups, but proven has proved out to be the way to go. the 1306 is only 36" on day 15, and now it will be called "newman". might as well stay on the seinfeld theme. i know its seem ridiculous and silly to some to name your pumpkins, but i am a silly many in a silly world with this silly hobby. shits-n-giggles baby. Monday, July 14 View Page blankets, jackets, and fresh dry sheets...it is gonna get chilly tonight to 55 degrees. gotta keep consistancy. Tuesday, July 15 View Page last chance this morning on the 997. going to cross with 7 1041 males bagged for the pollination at 6:15 before heading to work. i do not even care if has seeds in the blossum or deformed lobes, cuz this is the last chance and the main has been terminated for lack of space. the forced open female at 24 is 7 days old and not that impressive of a grower and may abort like the last one at day 8 or 9, so this is it. come on baby take. 2 big frozen bottles of ice will be placed around her with a fan blowing the cool air towards her. gonna get to 90 today. had to blanket all pumpkins a couple nights ago due to another record low at the joliet airport when it 55 degrees. i put them on again last night but the temps never did dip below 60 like forecasted. misters will be running all week for it is gonna be a cooker. got them set for 30 minute intervals at 10:30, 12, 1:30, and 3. when i get home at 4:30 i will kick it on again for a half hour. next year i will get a timer with more than 4 on/off settings. i am going to go buy a stilh blower tonight after work cuz i have been inspecting the undersides of many leaves checking for the onset of powdery mildew and have found a couple along my fence line with some minor patches setting in. got to take care of it now and the backbpack sprayer apparantly has not been been the answer and i need better coverage. also got some clearys being delivered today and will throw it in the rotation. the two leaves found with it do not get much airlfow by the fence. i will also use it for insecticides as i have seen more svbs lately and swatted one yesterday. the blower will easy my mind with insecticides covering all lower vines for svbs and getting better under the leaf coverage for powdery mildew. and besides that, just another toy i needed to buy anyways. Wednesday, July 16 View Page georgie is 61" circ. this morning on day 15. scary. Friday, July 18 View Page georgie is scarying me. 74" circ. this morning at 5:30 on day 17. that is 6.5" per day the last 2 days. freaky. cosmo is 101" on day 25 this a.m. and has hit 5" per day from day 10 to day 25. newman who i used to walk up to and say its name like jerry says newman in seinfeld, received a different tone of voice this morning. it was more like how i talk to my dog when she listens once in a blue moon. GOOOOOD NEWMAN. it hit 63" on day 20 so has jumped to an average of 5.4 inches a day over the last 5 days when it only grew 3.2 inches a day from day 10 to day 15. and my 997 at 24' hit 19" on day 10 and appears to be growing still. not a good number, but it has at least made it to 10 days. the last chance pollination at 31' is a long mother that was a perfect 5 lober. maybe the vcp and high phos fert made a difference, maybe dumb luck. but i hope that one takes and has had a fan on it since pollinated and still looks to be growing at a very early stage. pictures will be this weekend when i get some more batteries. the patch has also been secured with a chain link fence that separates the patch from my dog and the rest of my property from the neighbors kids. they could still hop the fence any time they want, but seeing my dog is now off a chain, that would be a mistake to be fenced in an area with her if you are not me. everyone in the hood knows she is psycho. she thinks she is a wolf and is a mean bitch to all in this world but my dumbass. but she was a rescued abused dog and has right to hate. for some reason she loves me. its the whole-double-cheesburger-tossed-in-the-air-to-her-kind of love at dinner time. Saturday, July 19 View Page did the scariest deed of them all.....the shoulder clearance slide. the mill fabric makes it so much easier than styrofome. loosened up all tap roots on main and opposite side secondaries, and gave all 3 a good slide back. i have nice s curves in all 3, but i always know if i can make a lttle more room now when i can still move them, the better clearance i will have come 20 days from now. cosmo was the toughest cuz he is too big to reach around with arms and pull back. i had to get on top and wiggle him a little left and back and then right and back and repeat the process. gained at least 2 inches clearance on all 3 pumpkins without hiccups. it is nerve wracking indeed, but with more experience it becomes less and less freaky. clearance on cosmo will be the most needed seeing its a blocky mofo and wider than longer. georgie and newman are longer than wider as of now. day 4 on the 5 lober at 31' on the 997 looks promising. today i put mill fabric under it and hopefully it will get the hint and abide my wishful thinking. if she makes it past basketball size without aborting, she will be called "elaine" for this plant with female issues. this would complete the cast and i would become jerry. "Why do people keep asking, do you turn or roll your pumpkins when obviously they are to big to turn? What is the deal with that? And what about steriods? How many people are going to say, what do you feed that thing, steriods? Like my pumpkins are like bucket head barry bonds. And what is the deal with milk and pumpkins? Why do people always tell you to feed them milk? Do i tell them to give fish emulsion and seaweed extract to their damn kids? I tell ya." Monday, July 21 View Page 20 day mark this morning on georgie(1041) at 5:30 am was 89.5" circ. it is back on the 5" a day range which makes more sense going on day 20. hopes for 30 day mark would then be anything over 128 which is awesome. good news bad news on the 997. bad first is the 24' aborted like i thought it was doing. good news is the 31' at 6 days is 16" and might give me a fourth chance this year to get my pb if it doesn't abort like every other one on the plant so far. if it can hang on it has 600 sq ft of killer plant with a stump as wide as a softball. today i will get the batteries after work and get some pics of all 4 kins and the massive 997 stump. if this 997 x 1041 cross comes through, i might be breeding the biggest leaved and stumped salad with plant(997) with a fast producing fruit and not so hot to start with salad plant(1041). the combo might be nice. or it could be a dud. "ya never know. even when you think you know, ya never know"...from the movie "let it ride" when trotter meets of this the race fixers after the first race of a very good day. Monday, July 21 View Page got stump? this pic of the 997 stump doesn't even do it justice. right after the rains and cloudy out. it is exactly two budweiser bottles wide. the brown spot was where i removed a little dirt and let it dry out a bit and put some captan on it later. it just keeps getting bigger every week. now only if its pumpkin will stop aborting. one last chance. Monday, July 21 View Page here is elaine which will now be called laney cuz i like to end most names in y if possible. informal approach. this is laney (997) on day 6 at 16" circ. hard to measure the long small ones at this stage, but i have to keep track of daily growths on this plant so i know which ones abort or keep growing. come on laney and please be the one. very late at a july 15th pollination and the main is snipped right at the pumpkin. but i need all the pumpkins i can get to have something make it to the show. seeing they are all staggered from june 23 to this one on july 15th, i hope to have some better odds at bringing one of these fish into the boat and on the scale. if laney aborts, the plant becomes a halloweenie plant with as many pop up tert pumpkins it wants to throw in its allotted space. Monday, July 21 View Page here is georgie on the 1041 at 89.5" circ this morning. a little more sunlight might have helped it look better, but it is pale white and will probably be a very light shade of yellow or orange. that doesn't mean a thing for me cuz beauty is not my ultimate goal. Monday, July 21 View Page newman is still going at 5" per day the past 3 days and is 79" circ on day 23. smallest grower of the patch early on but has stayed with impressive numbers even though heavy cloud coverage 2 out of the last 3 days. hopefully it will continue to be the long slow steady chugging pumpkin. and it is a pretty kin at this point and will probably be a nice looker but maybe ribby which could cause it to go light. Monday, July 21 View Page and last but not least is cosmo (1446 werner) which is a perfect name. cosmo kramer looks like a freak on seifeld and my cosmo is blobbing out with that nasty looking scar which came from either the leaf edge of most likely the corner of a shade chair when small at about day 11. no worries, cuz looks shmooks. i am looking for weight and the 1446 has proven to do that. cosmo is the seconde fastest growing kin to georgie and is 113" circ. on day 28, but the ott might be another story with the high and wide qualities it is already showing. i haven't even't done an ott this year and will not do it cuz the whole daily weight gain game blows my mind and sends it into a rollercoaster ride. by just tracking the circs, i can monitor growth enough. the otts come after day 50 for me cuz i do not want to get too excited or dissappointed. usually my blowouts and splits come before day 50, so i will wait until then to get some weight ideas. at least the sun came back out now and fresh sheets went out on dry pumpkins. a good soaking rain today. the root systems are silly right now cuz i can see big thick white roots even popping out of the ground everywhere. tonight the plants get a compost tea foliar, tomorrow a fungicide mist from the stihl blower, and calcium on wed. compost tea foliar every 4 days for the next 6 weeks besides agro k schedule. tomorrow will be a root drench cocktail of molasses, seaweed and fish, and symbex. Monday, July 21 View Page and last but not least is cosmo (1446 werner) which is a perfect name. cosmo kramer looks like a freak on seifeld and my cosmo is blobbing out with that nasty looking scar which came from either the leaf edge of most likely the corner of a shade chair when small at about day 11. no worries, cuz looks shmooks. i am looking for weight and the 1446 has proven to do that. cosmo is the seconde fastest growing kin to georgie and is 113" circ. on day 28, but the ott might be another story with the high and wide qualities it is already showing. i haven't even't done an ott this year and will not do it cuz the whole daily weight gain game blows my mind and sends it into a rollercoaster ride. by just tracking the circs, i can monitor growth enough. the otts come after day 50 for me cuz i do not want to get too excited or dissappointed. usually my blowouts and splits come before day 50, so i will wait until then to get some weight ideas. at least the sun came back out now and fresh sheets went out on dry pumpkins. a good soaking rain today. the root systems are silly right now cuz i can see big thick white roots even popping out of the ground everywhere. tonight the plants get a compost tea foliar, tomorrow a fungicide mist from the stihl blower, and calcium on wed. compost tea foliar every 4 days for the next 6 weeks besides agro k schedule. tomorrow will be a root drench cocktail of molasses, seaweed and fish, and symbex. Monday, July 21 View Page oops. forgot the pic. so here is the long winded diary entry again to try to make sense and keep new entries with pic in order. and last but not least is cosmo (1446 werner) which is a perfect name. cosmo kramer looks like a freak on seifeld and my cosmo is blobbing out with that nasty looking scar which came from either the leaf edge of most likely the corner of a shade chair when small at about day 11. no worries, cuz looks shmooks. i am looking for weight and the 1446 has proven to do that. cosmo is the seconde fastest growing kin to georgie and is 113" circ. on day 28, but the ott might be another story with the high and wide qualities it is already showing. i haven't even't done an ott this year and will not do it cuz the whole daily weight gain game blows my mind and sends it into a rollercoaster ride. by just tracking the circs, i can monitor growth enough. the otts come after day 50 for me cuz i do not want to get too excited or dissappointed. usually my blowouts and splits come before day 50, so i will wait until then to get some weight ideas. at least the sun came back out now and fresh sheets went out on dry pumpkins. a good soaking rain today. the root systems are silly right now cuz i can see big thick white roots even popping out of the ground everywhere. tonight the plants get a compost tea foliar, tomorrow a fungicide mist from the stihl blower, and calcium on wed. compost tea foliar every 4 days for the next 6 weeks besides agro k schedule. tomorrow will be a root drench cocktail of molasses, seaweed and fish, and symbex. Tuesday, July 22 View Page love the stihl blower...i am sure the neighbors love it as well...lol. loud in a residential area. cosmo has some stretch marks that needed addressing on the stem end. seems ok for now and i am glad some cooler temps and clouds hit at the right time. no sense blowing up a good thing. definately the heat got them going crazy and a brake period will help. all stem stress has been relieved with styrofome square propping blocks on all 3 bigins and hopefully all is well. Wednesday, July 23 View Page cosmo (1446) at 30 days was 119" circ. this morning and the 28 day measurement was 113" at 11:30 am so a little over 3" per day rate on a cool 56 degree night last night and a cloudy cooler day yesterday. held off watering today and misting to let the splits get some healing time. not too deep, between an 1/8th and 1/4" deep and 2 of them about 2 inches long. all have have stopped weeping and should be fine. i have seen much worse heal over in the same areas stem side. neither split goes into the stem and both are packed with captan. more surface than anything along with a couple other minor surface cracking that happens naturally . it will have to be monitred closely cuz this is one of those deep receeding stems, or more like shoulders that grow out towards the main. with as hot as it was and then the 2 inches of rain, i was lucky it wasn't a complete bust-blow out. i am not out of the woods yet and am knocking on wood and actually showing off pictures of the pumpkin on my digital camara at work to the guys who know i am nuts. still doing the opposite and talking them up instead of being hush hush. it is what is anyways so either way, what the hell. other good news, laney (997) is 20" inches today on day 8 and still growing and getting rounder now. will she abort like all the other 997s, only time will tell. Wednesday, July 23 View Page forgot to mention, i bought 4 white king size comforters on sale today and will blanket the kins tonight to keep things even keel. gonna hit 55 tomight and i do not want too many swings for both growth weight consistency and split tendencies. they will come in handy come late august and into september. hopefully tonight will be the last time needed until them and the night time temps stay over 63. if not, blankets go on and come off every night. Saturday, July 26 View Page newman(1306) had some blossum rot that has been addressed. i had to remove the nub flush to the pumpkin and used a tooth brush to remove all remaining goo, put a fan on it for an entire day and dusted it with captan. day 2 packed it with captan after completely dry, and left fan on for 2 more days and it looks good today. the stem end splits on cosmo (1446) have widened a little but have not lengthened or gotten deeper by any considerable amount. there is one bigger one 2 inches long and two smaller ones about an inch and a half. the fan has been on it and there is no signs of rotting. i can tell the widening a bit by the dried captan showing a little fissure in the powder. its still chugging along and hopefully they were just stress relievers and do not ever cause it to go down. keeping a careful eye on the area every day. all else is well in the patch and laney (the last chance 997) was 24" on day 10 and is still growing and is one weird shaped pumpkin at this point. it was long to start with and is now filling out more on the blossum end than the stem end and the stem end is a little lumpy and wrinkley looking. i will take a pic of all pumpkins tomorrow and show the blossum end splits on cosmo and the healed nub blossum on newman in case others are experiencing similar situations. Saturday, July 26 View Page decided to take some pics on a sunny day today. this is laney (997) on day 11. i removed the leaf in the pic next to the stem as you can see some stress from the laying sideways leaf caused a little stem split that was treated after the pic with captan. 29" at 3pm means it is also on its way now. the vine is terminated right at the kin for lack of room next to the 1041 plant. at 30 plus feet, it is the furthest out kin ever in my growing. Saturday, July 26 View Page newman on day 28. the addressed blossum rot and nub removal pic didn't take so well. still got the fan on it and it looks to have healed well to this point. didn't take a measurement but today but will get one on day 30. anything over 100" circ. at day 30 for this slower one out of the gate would make me happy. Saturday, July 26 View Page mixed emotions about georgie. it has slowed from its crazy pace which is good so it doesn't start getting some splits like cosmo. but then again, it has slowed from its crazy pace which is less exciting on measurement day. all in all i have nothing to complain about with this kin as it is 109.5" in circ on day 25 at 3 pm today. that means it has grown at about 3.7" per day circ. over that time. i expect to see about 122" circ on day 30. Saturday, July 26 View Page mixed emotions about georgie. it has slowed from its crazy pace which is good so it doesn't start getting some splits like cosmo. but then again, it has slowed from its crazy pace which is less exciting on measurement day. all in all i have nothing to complain about with this kin as it is 109.5" in circ on day 25 at 3 pm today. that means it has grown at about 3.7" per day circ. that past 5.4 days. Saturday, July 26 View Page here is a pic of the stem end splits on cosmo (1446 werner). fan is blowing as i type. just enough trouble to keep my silly mind busy. who knows if it will blow or make it to the show, it is all part of the game. Sunday, July 27 View Page having some troubles with my submittals. some go through and i can't tell if they did and some don't. it is my dinosaur dial up system. some day i will get with the times. sorry for the repeats. anyways, here is cosmo yesterday on day 33. i will get a measurement on day 35. hopefully it grows and doesn't blow and makes it to show. only time will tell. Sunday, July 27 View Page ass end view of cosmo day 33. Monday, July 28 View Page cosmo still holding together. cool nights 2 of the last 5 days down to 55 and 3 cloudy days have held it together by slowing down the growth a bit. i am hoping with the return of the heat this week it picks back up a bit, but not too fast to cause more splitting in the stem area. no more oozing or splitting for over 5 days now is a good sign. in that 5 days it has slowed down to 2.2" per day and is 130" circ on day 35. newman made it past the 100" circ mark and is 102" on day 30. that is 4" per day over the past 10. the blossum has healed up and still looks good. i have left the fan on cosmo's healed stem end splits, newman's healed blossum rot, and laneys' small little stem split and take them off when watering and back on each area when done watering. i would like to see all 4 make it to scale if i can do everything in my power to help nurse them along. the rest in mother natures hands. Tuesday, July 29 View Page so it is 12:30 am and i am having a smoke on my patio swing chair, and i see a critter walking the new chain link fence line. now i have had a couple beers tonight, maybe 3, and i go to investigate. i am thinking with its size it might be a groundhog----wood chuck...whatever. so i get right next to it and it is the biggest damn skunk i have ever seen. a God damn bear skunk...the size of a mother racoon for Christs sake...luckily my crazy ass dog was taking a crap on the other side of the fenced in area, and i retreated in the nick of time before a campbell tomato soup bath. mother nature is a bitch i tell ya. i got lucky and my crazy dog got lucky that we did not both sleep out in the patch tonight. Thursday, July 31 View Page hot and sticky temps are here to stay for a while which hopefully will keeps things growing at a good steady pace. the 997 stump is oozing and has been treated but looks to be going down. treating with captan and keeping it dry and have a fan on it, but when the green snot ooze starts to appear, it is usually a little late at that point. but i do have 15' secondaries in both directions and all secondaries are almost as thick as the main. there is a lot of plant regardless of the stump and i think i might still get something decent out of the plant. laney was 46" circ on day 15 yesterday and up to 5" per day. this pumpkin will get a tarp[ over it. the small stem split where the stem meets the vine has healed but will always pool water. the sheets are so easy, but this one needs the tarp. got the pop up terts in order this year with continual pruning when they appear. got some weeds that are getting taller and will be trimmed but not pulled. no sense messing up my root systems. i do not get in there after a certain point and weed the patch and keep compacting soil and damaging roots. i just keep them below the leaf level canopy and try not to let them seed. georgie (1041) was 122.5" on day 30 this morning and is hitting just under 3" per day right now. cosmo is getting some signs of maturing with hardening skin and ribs forming more. so far so good at this point. would like to see more rain, but watering thoroughly in this heat to keep them chugging. burned some leaves from something. not too bad, but foliar feeding even at night in this heat can be tough on some leaves. the 10-8-8 agro k with calcium added will be going on in light doses every 3 days. from here on out until later on with the switch to the 2-2-12 i believe it is. Saturday, August 2 View Page this is the time of the year when peeking under the sheets is a daily nail biting experience. today i found a stem side split on newman (1306) that will probably take the pumpking down. it is on the outside edge of a bulging rib section that will in my mind grow deeper quickly. fan is running on it and addressed with captan. who knows, the flesh is very thick in that area and we will see what happens. i will try to nurse it along as best as possible. i might try some surgery on it and cut the split out if it gets worse. never tried it before, but might try it on this one. i heard of it being done and will make that decision in the next week. and i got the fan running on cosmo (1446) stem side again. this is one of those stem splits where the stem meets the pumpkin and you can see into the stem. not a cavity breacher and i have seen these in the past. no harm no foul if you keep the rot out. blew some captan into the opening and fan 24-7 from here on out. this will require a shade tent now which goes up tonight to keep the stem completely dry and fan protected. took my first ott measurement on day 40 on cosmo and has him sitting at 641 pounds on day 40. 140-85-87. a steady 2 circ per day the past 5. it still has not showing signs of fast maturing which is a good thing for now. laney is growing good and georgie shows no signs of trouble at this point. georgie is a low wide mama that is starting to get a shoulder hump across the mid section a little more towards the stem side. stem stress and stumps inspected and no trouble sings except the rotted 997 stump. now that the old leaves have been remove around all stumps, i am going to place white laundry baskets elevated on styrofome blocks over the stumps to keep the dry but having wind access. Saturday, August 9 View Page laney is done. blossum rot after the big rains earlier in the week. tried to save her, but the rot made it too deep. so the 997 plant is free to do its own thing without encroaching on its neighbors. how newman (1306 is holding up i have no idea. multiple big stem side cracks that ooze then heal. deep and wide but not cavity breachers yet that i am aware of. it was never gonna go big but still would like to see it make it through to be a nice carver. so 2 chances for 1000 pounds left. cooler nights have things slowing down a bit. georgie(1041) today on day 39 is 138 84 82 and just about 600 pounds. cosmo (1446) is 148 92 90 and about 756 on day 47. cosmo is down to an average of 16 lbs a day for the past 7. this will be cutting it close in my mind. i need 250 more pounds and would love to see another 350 to make sure with wall thickness. it will be an interesting final push. they still both have a nice chance to make it to 1000 and the stem looks good on cosmo with no more splitting. both have no real signs of cantaloping skin or deeping of ribs yet so hopefully they will be long range growers beyond 80 days and both make it to the weigh off. Sunday, August 10 View Page here is a sideview of georgie (1041 identification in case the sarcastic grower who deems it scientifically immoral <scientifically immoral is an oxymoron for a moron, just kidding, i am being sarcastic> to call a pumpkin some silly name like that from a tv show). this is my boy georgie "can'tstandja" costanza at 40 days. i don't like the chances of stem rot or blossum rot since losing "laney" and the tarp went up as well as a white sheet. this will keep the bottom of the pumpkin dry now too as it starts heading home. also, have had 2 comforters over the bigger kins on the cool nights. 50 at this time of year and growth stage warrants the concern. Sunday, August 10 View Page georgie boy's ass end. can't get directly behind it cuz of the fence proximity. if this one makes it to the show, access will be easier with that section of fence coming down and the truck backed up right to it. i am hoping this big heart shaped ass will be as thick as the stem side walls in the end and add some extra weight. about 610 pounds on day 40. Sunday, August 10 View Page here is cosmo kramer (1446 werner) from the side view. still got the fan on the stem split that has completely healed up. i still take a turkey baster and a foldded sheet of paper and blow captan in the stem opening that i can see into. the split never went to the flesh and i just want to keep it nice and dry and fungus free in that area between the stem and the pumpkin. so far so good. got some powdery mildew popping up and will hit every 7 days from here on out instead of the 10-14 like i have been doing. nothing severe, but it is present and needs to be controlled with these heavy cool night time dews. same with the insecticides. just saw my first cuke beetle in a long time and had some aphids on a pop up tert. flower on the free running 997 plant. tonight i will mix eagle and talstar one a kill 2 birds with one stone. Sunday, August 10 View Page cosmo's ass end shot. just started getting some color which doesn't really excite me too much. it is a maturing sign for me and hopefully when the cool nights are over in a couple days it will pick up some more pace and get me over the 1000 pound hump. it is sitting at about 770 pounds this morning at 48 days. Saturday, August 16 View Page day 54 for cosmo (1446 werner) and has averaged 12.5 pounds the past 7 days and is 153.5 96 93 and approximately 843 pounds. i need to coax about 157 more pounds to be an estimated 1000. if i can average 8 pounds for the next 20 days it could be done. day 46 for georgie on the 1041 mckie is sitting at 147 88 88 and approximately 710 pounds. it is averaging a little over 16 pounds per day over the past 7. i am hoping this one comes in heavy by its genetics and anything near 950 would get me over the 1000 pound hump. the cool weather has kept them slow and steady and warm weather is around the corner. i am hoping that the cool weather hasn't started the shut down process and has just stalled them into a longer growing cycle. wishful thinking on my part. 53 degrees last night and is feeling very much like fall. no matter what, if i can get these 2 to the weigh off, i will be happy in such a crazy growing year. if i hit 1000 it will be icing on the cake. and if i can beat george j. by one pound, i will never put this silly sitcom to rest. the question will be if i get both to the show, which one do i pick? that was george's predicament last year. he picked wrong and his 1066 was entered as an exhibition and his 988 lost to my 997 for the 3rd place and spot up by the podium. on the way pulling out of the weigh off last year, i thanked him sarcastically again for the 3rd place plack and ribbon and the extra hundo i made up in cash prizes to make up for the hundo i bet and lost to him for the first to break 1000 lbs. it is all part of the game. i still would rather have been in his shoes and had one get to 4 digits. that is the ultimate prize in my book. best of luck to ya georgie boy, and hopefully the best man will win....and we know which man i am speaking of, the fat, loud and obnoxious freak of a human being....me. Friday, August 22 View Page boys are still growing steady and are starting to get a gnarley look to them. i will get some pics tomorrow and take off the tarps to try to show the pinkish yellow and white color they are both getting. no beauties for sure, but getting a nasty solid look to them. cantoloped skin with more cantaloping each day as the rib lines deepen and shoulders and asses getting bigger. widest points of both pumpkins are closer to the ground which is nice for possible heavy. more meat on the saddlebags the better. both are dropping in daily gains as to be expected as the maturing process is kicking in. i believe both have some good growth left in them with warm temps in mid to high 80s predicted every day for the next 10 except one cooler day. just need to squeeze out an estimate of 93 more lbs for cosmo (1446 werner) to hit 1000 as the 60 day numbers are 157 99 95 for or 351"ott and estimate of 907 pounds. that is an average of 10.6 lbs.per day for the past 6 days. georgie boy is plugging along nicely too at a 12.5 pound pace the past 6 days and is 153 91 90 or 334" ott and estimate of 783 pounds at 52 days old. that means georgie boy is behind overall in growth by about 40 pounds if both were the same age. i think georgie will be about 865 pounds on day 60. 2 chances for 1000 lbs still looking good at this point with cosmo leading the race. Saturday, August 23 View Page cosmo on day 61 Saturday, August 23 View Page side view of cosmo at 61 days Saturday, August 23 View Page georgie can'tstandja" costanza on the 1041 at 53 days Saturday, August 23 View Page rear view of georgie boy. getting closer to the fence and harder to get ass shot. Saturday, August 23 View Page holding camara over head shot of georgie on day 53. Wednesday, August 27 View Page well, it is that time to hit plants with 2-12-12 for sure now. they can use a jump start after the cool nights. took measurments after another 5 days and to my dismay, cosmo on the 1446 has shut er down for the season at 915 lbs. on day 65. either it gained an inch in circumference or i just measured at a different spot, but the side to side and the stem to blossum haven't budged. so either it gained 8 pounds in 5 days or nothing, in which either case has me hoping the insides are thickening up and she will go heavy for my chance at 1000. i won't go crazy on the 2-12-12 for splitting chances, but what the hell, i need to try. and georgie on the 1041 has dropped to 10 pounds a day and is sitting at 840 on day 58 and is 157-93-92. but seein it is so heart shaped with narrow shoulders, it has me thinking even if it has thick walls, it my just might make the chart weight due to weird shape. either way, they will have to go heavy for me to see 1000 this year. still a lot of time for the weigh off and once they are done growing, they will be going backwards in weight. maybe the 2-12-12 will kick em with warmer nights ahead. i was afraid to use it earlier for splitting sake, but now i have to try it out. Sunday, August 31 View Page slowing down and the k and calcium has been delivered root drench style. leaves are getting brittle and no sense crispifying them any more right now with foliar feeding. i am letting all pop up terts grow some new leaves right now as i will balance between losing energy on new growth but creating more long term energy to last through out september with new leaves producing more energy in the long run. the patch looks a mess with the 997 running free and the 1306 jutras running free. i have left the tarp and sheet off newman on the 1306 and it sits about 600 lbs and still has not splits running into the cavity. amazing how it made it this long with as deep and wide as the shoulder splits were that have all healed up. gonna let him orange up for a carver and have been letting all new growth give me some chances for halloweenies for give aways. the 997 plant has pop up terts shooting 5' in the air and it looks like a jungle with all new growth laying on old growth. i am hoping any newly pollinated females which are everywhere get some weight and slowly sink to the earth upright for nicely shaped carvers. i am still leaving white sheets over cosmo (1446) and georgie (1041) to prolong final maturation as long as possible. still trying to squeak out some pounds on both with georgie sitting at 870 on day 61 and still growing about 8 pounds per day and cosmo still filling out in places not measured by my widest points. the front shoulders and ass end seem to be blocking up still on the for top corners which really don't get counted in my measurements. i will continue to water regularly and let the chips fall where they may. thicken up babies, thicken up heavy. damn i hope my 1041 goes 15% heavy and the 1446 goes about 7% heavy like their siblings did last year. no more measurements until oct. 3rd. when they sit on pallets. Friday, September 5 View Page well i lied and said no more checking measurements. went out today to see how conditions were with gustav's 3 inches of rain delivered yesterday. i decided to bring the tape along. 352.5 ott for 920 pound estimate for cosmo on the 1446 on day 74 and not budging. same exact measurements as last year's 997 shenoha so i am hoping it goes 3 pounds heavier than that to hit 4 digits. and georgie on the 1041 is sitting 350 ott or 900 lbs estimate on day 66 and has grown 6 pounds per day over the past 5 days. both should end up about the same size ott and put the dilema on which to choose for the official entry at weigh off. since georgie is a low wide long mama with a crazy heavy genetic predisposition, i will most likely be entering it as my official entry. most low wide mamas im my patch have gone heavier than taller rounder ones. either way, without going heavy, i will have to keep the fingers crossed come weigh off to pass the 1000 pound mark for the first time. 2 chances still at this point with 2 sound pumpkins in a wacky weather season is still something i am proud of. now they got to just make it 29 days to hit the scale. Saturday, September 13 View Page all the potassium added and gustav's rain definately helped and i threw the tape on the pumpkins on 9-11 and was pleasantly surprised to see a little more growth out of cosmo on the 1446 which was at 356.5" ott and estimated about 950 lbs on day 80. georgie on the 1041 also has slowly added some growth and was at 354" ott and about 930 pounds on day 72. i took a chance on 9-3 and added heavy on the k with about a pound of 5-10-40 fert thrown directly under the canopy around the stumps and along the main before the pumpkins. gustav's rains washed it in the soil nicely. also heavy doses of 2-12-12, heavy doses of calcium, and my remaining gallon of neptunes seaweed and fish along with molasses and symbex were apllied in the same areas applying with 2 gallon watering cans. i figured lots of new leaves from pop up tertiary growth will hopefully help the pumpkins slowly grow some more until the weigh off and the new growth should also take some of the new energy from all the ferts. today the plants have a lot of new leaves and it is nice to see some fresh green color to the patch. it's a balancing act of energy and growth with out blowing them up. it has worked somewhat with no tragedies yet. but the 3"-4" of rain from yesterday and today along with ike's 2"-3" we are supposed to get tomorrow will be the ultimate test. with 2 pumpkins close to the same weight, i figured both of them won't split....right? we will see after 4 days of sunshine this week following all the rain. for once in my life i am actually glad there is some nice mixture of weeds to help keep the soil in place with the flooding rains and also help buffer the energy. with all the rain i have yet to see any standing water in the patch and the pumpkins are tarped and on mill fabric, so hopefully bottom of pumpkin rot will not be an issue. Sunday, September 14 View Page the rain gauge filled over the top, and i had to backup at taco bell this afternoon cuz the drivethrough speaker area was flooded. boo hoo, no taco supremes and nachos bell grande for me today. i went to arby's instead, grabbed some beer, and sat down for an excellent growers chat and auction today. hats off to dave stelts, russ landry, andy wolf, steve jespen, and eddy z. nice auction too and i picked up some quality seeds for 2009 at a discount price. my 1385 didn't germinate this year, so i will try it again in 2009. also picked up a 1010 daletas, 901 hunt, and 1225 jutras. that is a nice early start to deciding on next years line up. still need to have final 2008 results for all pumpkins to decide the line up along with more purchases to be made at future auctions. as of right now, i am most excitied by the 901 hunt. blankets will be going on cosmo and georgie tonight and the overhead tarps will be removed to allow as much sun and wind to circulate around the pumpkins to dry up the soil. with 5 days of sunshine predicted and 70 temps in the day time and 40s and 50s at night, i will be leaving 2 white king size comforters on both kins to keep temps as consistant as possible for the next 5 days. the energy level will be strong in the plants, and splitting is more of a concern than anything. after 5 days i will begin to allow the pumpkins to get warmed by the sun in the day and blanketed at night. the tarp structures will be removed from here on out and tarps will be put directly over the comforters each night to prevent dew absorbtion by the comforters. Monday, September 15 View Page cosmo on the 1446 werner stem side. big ass vine, great plant. that split has had a fan on it since it opened up over 30 days ago and got bigger as the season progresses. it doesn't go into the pumpkin and is healed fine. the dark spots around the stem are fine too and are healed. i do have some slight oozing from where the stem meets the vine on the right side in this pic. it was cleaned and captan is on it. it's a slight vine/stem split that has been addressed for last 2 weeks. sitting 357" ott or 954 pounds. Monday, September 15 View Page close up of vine on 1446 werner where it meets the pumpkin. thickest i have ever had at that area. Monday, September 15 View Page sideview of cosmo at 84 days Monday, September 15 View Page ass end of cosmo at 84 days Monday, September 15 View Page the new king of the patch is georgie on the 1041 mckie at 357.5" ott or 958 lbs and still growing slowly. 165" circ is biggest circ. ever for me and 357.5" is a new pb ott for me. hopefully it will continue to grow and go heavy too and top my 997 pb on the scales. Monday, September 15 View Page top view of georgie standing on a chair Monday, September 15 View Page stem on georgie is a nice one. this 1041 x self pumpkin will hopefully produce some good seeds and the 1446 was selfed as well. Saturday, September 27 View Page the kins are still creeping along in weight as the weigh off is officially one week away. i have used blankets with tarps on the cool dewy evenings and have now let the pumpkins warm in the sun all day for the last 2 days with the cooler nights. i will keep this combo until they are cut and loaded on oct 3rd. got the lifting party set and the trucks lined up. all i need now is for them to stay in tact and be solid on lifting day. bottom rot or internal rot is the only anxiety left to deal with. cosmo on the 1446 is sitting about 965 lbs estimate with a 358.5 ott today with duct tape holding the tape outside of rib lines at the widest points. georgie on the 1041 is sitting at 360.5" ott or about 980 lbs estimate. not expecting much growth this week as temps will fall on tuesday with nights in lower 40s. any little bit will help and i am still watering regularly and applied more potassium in root drench 4 days ago. this will be an interesting weigh off for myself to say the least and 1000 lbs might still be in range. think heavy pumpkins...think heavy. see ya illinois growers next weekend. Saturday, September 27 View Page here is a pic today of my ugly ass with cosmo on the 1446 est. at 965 lbs Saturday, September 27 View Page and me and georgie today on the 1041 at estimated 982 lbs. Tuesday, September 30 View Page 3 days to grow one inch ott. that is where i am sitting to get to 363 or over 1000 lbs estimate on georgie on the 1041. the added potassium last week and warm weather were kind to growth along with a good deal of watering. 167-98-97 are the numbers. funny thing is if you do the widest side by side towards the back of the widest part pumpkin it shows 98 which would give me the 363" ott. but the soil has a slight depression in that area which accounts for the extra inch. i want so bad to just call it a 1000 lbs estimate but the majority of the soil in that widest point area is at the higher soil level. so i have to go with that number leaving me one inch short. still got 3 days but with clouds and cooler temps, we will see what happerns. i just can't believe it is still slowly growing. the cantaloping is heavy and this will be the first year i hook bags of water to the vines to help elininate weight loss. after 997 lbs last year, it definately can't hurt. i just hope with the continued slow growth outside is meaning the kin is getting thicker walls inside. at this point, 1% heavy is all i need. Sunday, October 5 View Page cosmo on the 1446 werner weighed 954. about 1.5 % light. but old georgie boy did what 1041 mckie seeds do.....go heavy. i am talking 15% heavy....woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo weee! 1147 lbs!!!!!!!!!! my 4 digit goal for this season has been achieved and then some. what a great day in illinois yesterday was at didier farms. good time....great people....sunshine and big pumpkins...it is what it is all about. new goal for next year had been set...1200 lbs. i got some work to do, but for now...i like the sound of the 1147 shenoha 2008. and the 954 shenoha 2008 is way cool too with both sitting side by side in front of bobby's tap. i will get some pics today. Sunday, October 5 View Page here are the kins side by side. 2,125 pounds...one ton of pumpkins in front of the tap,,,, life is good.. 10-4 Saturday, October 11 View Page here is a pic i stole from george j.'s diary. before the weight i told george that if this pumpkin weighed 999 lbs i was going to pick him up and throw him in the nearby pig pen. so you see i am clapping in his direction as the final trashing talking of the season was put to rest. come chase me now georgie boy...you need 81 lbs to catch me and 82 to pass me and i see ya in my reaview mirror!!!!! welcome to my silly sitcom world of hell. i will take that bet...$100 signed by the loser to winner for the first one between us to hit 1200 lbs. you got some work to do just clibing from 1066 to 1147 before you can even smell the slightest scent of what 1200 smells like. best of luck in 2009 buddy...you are going to need it. lol. i just drew the line in the sand georgie, better get that thinking cap on. it will be a long winter ahead while you can ponder and mull over this thought "How do i shut that fat f@#$ up!!!! tee hee. Saturday, October 11 View Page and here is another pic i stole from george' diary. it is me and the enemy at the weigh off. and yes...like george stated in his diary, i am the puffed up bloated guy with the glasses....puffy with pride from shutting you up!!!!! lol. bring it. Saturday, November 1 View Page here is a pick of tony kaluza (bobby's dad) with my 1147 shenoha 2008 on the left and 954 shenoha 2008 on the right. he is a good ole dude who can garden with the best of them. Saturday, November 1 View Page got 1041.5 mckie? geeeeeez! 15.4% heavy means not much cavity, but plenty of big ass beautiful seeds. 485 solid tan seeds. only 20 seeds with a little bit of white tips without the fully formed outer tan seed coat. opened her up this morning. the marks in the top flesh were from prying it open after sawing it in half. thickest wall measurement was 13" at one of the bottom stem side corners. average bottom and top thickness about 9-10". blossum end was thick too averaging 8" except right near the actual blossum. only 4" thick right at the blossum itself. smallest cavity of any pumpkin i have ever grown. Saturday, November 1 View Page and the seeds are now drying on a house screen. hopefully these are 485 self pollinated seeds genetically similar to the plant that it was grown, and has the success of the original 1041.5 itself. i have never seen the outside 4 inches of pumpkin flesh with a wall density so compact and tight like a rock. i used a soil testing device called a pocket penetrometer to measure the firmness of this outer 4 inches and had readings consistently above 8000 pounds per square foot. you can build a building on 3000 psf. amazinginly dense like a hard wood tree compared to balsa wood. these type of density genetics will be the only way 2000 lbs will ever be topped in the future. am i happy i paid $325 for the 1041.5 seed that grew the 1147 shenoha 2008? yep! Saturday, November 1 View Page and the seeds are now drying on a house screen. hopefully these are 485 self pollinated seeds genetically similar to the plant that it was grown, and has the success of the original 1041.5 itself. i have never seen the outside 4 inches of pumpkin flesh with a wall density so compact and tight like a rock. i used a soil testing device called a pocket penetrometer to measure the firmness of this outer 4 inches and had readings consistently above 8000 pounds per square foot. you can build a building on 3000 psf. amazinginly dense like a hard wood tree compared to balsa wood. these type of density genetics will be the only way 2000 lbs will ever be topped in the future. am i happy i paid $325 for the 1041.5 seed that grew the 1147 shenoha 2008? yep! Wednesday, December 31 View Page well, 2008 is over and i must say it has been a fine year indeed. finally getting over the 1000 lb hump was a nice weight to be lifted off my shoulders. it ain't easy carrying around a 1000lb chip on your shoulder. lol. got some good seeds lined up for 2009 and 2010. hoping i can get the 1385 x 1161 cross made successfully both ways. best cross on paper in my eyes for both big and heavy potential. gonna try a new soil additive this year, activated biochar. purchased some to throw in the soil this spring when final tweaking is done. biochar results might not be seen in the first year of use, but i love the science and have to give it a try. fall additions included 250 lbs of kelp meal, 100 lbs humic acid, 100 lbs of calcite calcium, 100 lbs of k mag and 100 lbs of sulfur. these numbers are heavy on the amount side because anothe 20 yards of specialty composted cow crap will be added as well this spring. more gypsum and molasses and agro k products this spring as well and the final addition of the activated biochar. the greenhouses will then be place over the planting spots 3 weeks early to get the soil activated. here is an old pick i found recently of my 805 from 2006. my buddy Will on the left carved it. he is a tatoo artist and did a fine job on both the design and execution. happy new years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!