Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 134 Entries. Wednesday, February 2 View Page 44 years old yesterday and what did i get for a present, this 5.5' snow drift in my driveway....DOH!!!!! i got off work early and enjoyed myself thoroughly at bobby's tap and then came home and put on my ski gear and played with my dog in the thundersnow as she barked angrily at the sky. this was only my second experience with thundersnow....but by far this storm was cooler than the last one and the lightening cracks and eerie sky with sidways blinding snow and 65 mph gusts was SICK!!!!!! the streets in my subdivision still have over a foot of unplowed snow on them and i will not be going anywhere soon. and that is fine with me cuz no better way to ease off a hangover than with a lazy snow day on the couch. this was one birthday i will never forget!!!!!! Thursday, February 17 View Page as i turned 44 rears old earlier this month and have been reminiscing with friends from grade school via facebook, i figured i would throw out this 1979 pic of "The Shaz" shaking it up in the Homer Grade School swing choir when i was in seventh grade. oh yea...i still got the moves...lol. let the games begin georgie boy, gonna shake it up this year baby!!!!!!!!! Sunday, February 20 View Page good think margret is standing next to you in this picture georgie boy....cuz otherwise i would have suggested you pull those white pants and that black dago t out of the closet and take that look down to a bar called "The ManHole". lol. did i say out of the closet....lol....got to love those 80s...but then again...the previous post shows me in the swing choir in the 70s so i can't talk too much. you weren't flexing too much for this pic huh george? i think i just came up with a new nickname for georgie boy this year and with the belt on the line, this also has pro wresting sound to it....."Georgie Boy... The Macho Man....Janooooooooooowiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaak". Sunday, February 20 View Page Sounds like you been spreading some compost up there George and from my guess you been laying it on about a foot deep if ya get my jist...lol....keep yapping "Macho Boy"...tee hee hee Sunday, February 27 View Page one more order to make to greensmiths for patch ammendments including calcite calcium, k-mag, humic acid, and sulfur. the biota max and pumpkin pro myc fungi have been ordered along with, "thrive" (https://www.organic-gardening-shop.com/Agorganics/Product_Details.aspx?ProductID=646&ProductName=Vegetable Thrive) which i think will work nicely with the aerify plus and biota max for feeding the beneficials and adding more beneficials to the mix. the biochar will be coming soon to go along with the 300 lbs of zeolite i will be adding to the 2100 sq ft patch. i am hoping all these new beneficials will find nice homes inside all those microscopic channels in the zeolite and biochar. i already have all my other products i used last year on hand or ordered that i will be using including grandma enggy's foliar fulvic and grandma enggy's soluable humic for drench. also i have azos, co2 or cal carb, 3-18-18 and 0-0-25 from extremepumpkinstore.com either on hand or ordered. then the 15 yards of organimix "black gold" compost is going down with the kelp meal and corn meal sometime in late march along with the above listed patch ammendments from greensmiths. i will also do the early soil activation by heating it with my 6 x 10 feet greenhouses that are put together and stacked side by side in the garage. i will use 2 on the area i will put the shazzydome on after final ammendmending is completed and one on the other single planting spot. this should get the root systems of the cover crop to kick in gear right at planting spots and also kick everything in the soil food web in gear way early like i tried last year. greenhouses will come out this weekend which is the same as last year. they will be moved while doing ammnending and tilling and then put back into place and one put back in place and the other 2 removed and the shazzydome will go up. it is getting to be serious go time soon. Thursday, March 10 View Page the last of my soil ammendments arrived yesterday to add to the pile. and Oreo, my dog, almost gave the ups guy a heart attack. he didn't see her at first and then met her by the front gate... with her teeth showing and a her pattened lunge into the fence with a loud fierce deep barking growl combo to make as much noise as possible. she is fast for 100 plus pounds. that dude had to be thankful to be on the right side of the fence...the other side. good girl Oreo!!!!!!!! Saturday, April 9 View Page and the tomato line-up is set with successful germination of all the following 6 crosses. 7.33 hunt (5.0 timms self), 5.35 lyons (3.9 catapano self) , 5.18 lyons (7.18 harp self), 4.25 lyons (5.0 timm self) and 3.08 shenoha (5.58 timm 3rd generation) so far so good with the little ones that were started on saturday and all but 4 popped out of 72 pots. all pots except mine had only one seed per pot. my seeds were tripled up in each pot for insurance and the strongest wins the pot. i have already reduced the number of pots to 64. the weakest plants early out that can't even come close to shedding their little seed coats have been terminated. the seed coats on some promising sprouts need a little help with a spray bottle and tweezers to remove the coat. from these 64 i will reduce to 56 with the strongest getting transplanted into 5" pots with half patch soil/half juiced up mother earth's potting soil mix. from these 56 i will choose the most vigorous of each cross as my own. some of the other top genetics will go to other extreme gardeners like george janowiak and my work buddy mark mills. mark grew a 3.10 off a gordon graham i gave him last year and beat me by .02 in our bragging rights contest and he won 2nd place with a 2.73 pounder at pesche's garden center yearly tomato contest in mt. prospect. too bad we didn't find out about the contest until we already removed the seeds from my 3.08 and his 3.10 or we would have won first and second. this has earned him a 7.33 hunt and 5 of the others too. he will get the 2nd best of each plant cross and i expect some big things from him again this year. my parents and their neighbors will get some of my crosses for eaters. then the rest will be given away in the 2nd annual bobby's tap giant tomato contest. Saturday, April 9 View Page here are the sprouts 5 days after soaking the seeds and i raised the light to get a better pic and then lowered it back down to right above sprout tops. Saturday, April 9 View Page this is looking down the barrell of the set up with the mylar on the outside. this mylar is old and smooth mylar reflects the light better, but i wanted the slower starting plants on the outside and the strongest sprouts in the center so they do not keep bending dowards the center light. i will be culling the tripled up 3.08 shenoha plants to one per pot soon and the rest just have just one sprout per pot as i seeded only one seed per pot with the better genetic seeds. i have been turning the outside plants regularly to keep them straight as they want to grow more towards the center light bu;bs with the light this low right on top of the plants. but to avoid excessive legginess this has to be the way its done while using indoor flourescent. it will be warm enough soon in my solarium for them to get real sun in the day time. this mylar will help even out the light in the mean time over the next couple of days. Saturday, April 9 View Page this pic my be a re-peat but this is looking down at the set up from the angle where the fan sits. you can see the edge of the small fan in the foreground up high. it is set on low and just slightly rocks the plants back and forth. this is the same set up for my pumpkins as well which will not be too far off. i will start on saturday 4-23 this year since i pollinated about 5 days earlier than i wanted to last year which was june 12th. i like the sounds of june 17th and on more like it for first tries at 11' or 12'. i also have a space heater in this room downstairs while root development explodes with the small sprouts with the temps around 80. i will cool off the temps down to 70 in a few more days but like warm soil on small sprout roots in the initial development stage. Saturday, April 9 View Page looking out my window....left side of tilled in patch. all ammendments have been incorporated and recent soaking rains worked out nice to help that stirring up the juices and get that aerify plus soil loosener as deep as possible. greenhouse and shazzydome go up tomorrow. that will be 3 weeks prior to transplant day to help all seed corn maggots hatch and the soilfoodweb to get activated and in high gear. i still got some organimix compost to topdress and till in around the geenhouses once up. i will wait for the winter rye to try to re-root itself in spots and kill 2 birds with one stone in about a week when things dry up too. i will topdress the organimix inside the greenhouses and hand turn in an knock down and remove any rye grass inside the greenhouses that try to re-establish themselves. Sunday, April 10 View Page i forgot to mention the vigorous 4.04 Johnston/Butler sprouts that are showing so much early vigor and promise and a guaranteed spot on Tomato Row for sure for one of these girls. everyone of them sprouted and are agressive off the get go. it is a 5.58 timm x self which is as good as it gets from its track record in these parts last year. the igpga growers meeting was great and we all had fun talking up the pumpkins. the janowiaks again where the most gracious hosts....great people.....and we all had fun bouncing convo and talking pumpkins...and me and georgie boy talked a little trash too.....bring it macho boy, bring it! Wednesday, April 13 View Page 2 men enter, one man leaves. Welcome my friends to the ShazzyDome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! after further thought and discussion with georgie boy, i will be starting my seeds one week from tonight on 4-20. this is 2 days later than last year. but last year was warm so the plants got out quick and i pollinated ealier than i preferred which was june 12th. the neighbor's tree leaves in pictures are about 7 days behind last years pace. march was cold and we were still using blankets to cover concrete 2 weeks ago to avoid freezing at night. therefore i feel good about kicking it back a couple days and will probably need maybe 5 more days to catch last years growth rates. i see cooler temps predicted still with the 15 day forecasts at night. this will put me about 6-19 for first attempt pollinations at 11.5'+ on mains. tranplant date will be about 8 days after starting day, so the soil will have 2 weeks to toast up and hatch those dreaded corn seed maggots too. all i have left to do is water in some biologicals when the soil temps increase. tomorrow i will run 2 space heaters to each greenhouse, put up all perimeter walking boards, and i still will deep spade again the planting spots inside the greenhouses prior to transplant. exciting time of the year for sure. Sunday, April 17 View Page air temp outside right now is 39 degrees and windy. inside the greenhouses right now at 11 am is 73 degrees with cloudy conditions and burst of sunshine sporadically. i left the tomato sprouts in the dome all day yesterday while cloudy getting them use to true sun light and brought them inside last night. today i will transplant into 5" peat pots but waited until now so as not to over due with some bright sunshine popping out and hitting them too hard with bright sunshine so soon. once they are transplanted, they have to go into the dome due to 7 flats of 8 plants and that is too many for my lighting system in the basement. tomorrow will be cloudy all day and this will help them deal with the transplant shock better also. soil temps in the greenhouses are 58 degrees at 6" below the surface. soil temps outside the patch are 48 degrees at 6" below surface. i should pick up that 7 more degrees and reach that 65 degree soil temp mark at minus 6" that i am targeting for on transplant day about 4-27. air temps predicted for then are going to be in the 70s which means i can leave the vents wide open all day while at work and might have to actually mist them if needed. ordering some tubing today from dripworks so i will be prepared to mist if needed. Sunday, April 17 View Page success.....all 56 transplanted sprouts getting some true sun and will now have the nutrients in the soil also to help green them up and get them on their way. i have been using very light doses of soilless hydroponic solution for nutrients for the past 10 days as the sprouts developed their first true leaves. 80 degrees inside the dome right now at 3 pm with the door open and space heaters set at 80 degrees. when then sun gets brighter as the clouds part, the space heaters turn off, and when the clouds come out and the cool wind is still blowing, then the space heaters get it back up to 80. 4 space heaters running in the greenhouses and one in the basement germination room that will get kicked on when its pumpkin seed go time to keep the room temps at 87 along with the propagation mat set at 87. Com Ed loves the shaz. lol. the dome will be zipped up tight tonight as it will get down to 35 degrees outside, but will still be around 58 inside the dome. time to get out the high low thermometers and start monitoring high temps during the day and low temps at night so i will be ready for pumpkins when they get transplanted. i will start the 1605, 1725 harp, and 1161 along with five 1493 shenoha seeds and five 1209 shenoha seeds on 4-20. the best 1493s and 1209s will be backups and the others will be offered to other growers or get the whack. Tuesday, April 19 View Page pulled the trigger today on a rain day from work. seeds are soaking and seed starter mix is warmed to 88 degreee with myc fungi incorporated into it. they go into the mix in a few yours. five 1209s, five 1493s, one 1161, one 1725 harp, one 1605 sweet. if any of the top dogs do not kick then i will start the other 1725 harp or 1605 depending on which kicks or not. the 1161 is the only chance i have at that one. now its time to wait and see....wait and see....wait...wait...wait...lol. Thursday, April 21 View Page i always start a couple extra plants of my own as test pots so i can dig in to see how they are doing to make sure my system is working. the test 1209 seed had a strong radical about an inch long and so did the test 1493. they were carefully put back into the mix. now i hope the big dogs are following suit. if not, round 2 will start on friday. Saturday, April 23 View Page 13 for 13 is nice. all plants up and seed shells off with lights right down above plant level. the fan is set to strengthen them up and the mylar around the light was added like my tomato set up. all little ones look normal with 2 cots. the 1605 has a small split in the center of each cot similar to my 991 last year and the white color that surrounds these mini cot splits in the center of the leaves. never been a problem in the the past and it surely didn't hurt the 991 last year, so it looks like no need to start any more seeds for myself. if all goes well, plants will go in the ground wednesday afternoon. the tomato sprouts haven't seen clear sunlight in the shazzydome except for i think 1.5 days out of the last week. they look good but could use some bright sunshine to kick them in gear a bit. this weather has been junk. Saturday, April 23 View Page shazzydome temps at 76 degrees this morning inside at 8 am and the sprouts are actually gonna see some sunshine today. in the center is the most aggessive sprout of all 56, and that baby is mine. it's a 7.33 hunt. they are marked with yellow toothpicks with 2 black marker lines on it. the one right behind it is a 7.33 going to georgie boy, and to the left is a smaller 7.33 going to my buddy from work mark mills who grew over 3 lbs last year. the others in the left tray with plain yellow toothpicks are 5.35 lyons, and to the right with green toothpicks are the 5.18 lyons. all other sprouts including the 4.04 johnson/butlers, the 4.25 lyons, and 3.08 shenoha's are all the same size as these other sprouts. the sunshine today should perk them up nice and today they will get their first watering with warm water since transplant day which was last sunday. nice to see the corn seed maggot flies hatching in the greenhouses and flying about. once i see them little grayish flies that look similar to house flies but skinnier and smaller, then i know the soil has been warmed up to the point i need it to be and those critters are hatched and more worried about reproducing than they are about eating. Saturday, April 23 View Page this maybe a repeat, but oh well, had to get this freak in the diary. there are large pinky width holes all over the patch from the recent heavy rains as these bad boys had to surface or drown. not sure if they are snakes or night crawlers...lol. Saturday, April 23 View Page 5 hours after receiving their first taste of light without seed coats and the sprouts are greening up nicely. amazing how fast these things grow at this stage...or any stage that is...lol. that bad boy 3rd from the front on the left is the most aggressive out of the gate...its the 1161. and across from it is the third most aggressive sprout...it is the 1725 harp. and a couple of the 1209s are off to the races early too. but as i have found in the past, vigor is nice to see early, but it is not the tell all. the 991 was a slow starter last year and the fastest out of the gate last year ended up being a double trouble mutant. but all that being said, it is nice at this point on a lazy saturday morning to leisurely do the little things. tomato sprouts will get watered today and so will these little ones after a little while longer as i just removed the humidity domes this morning at 5 am and will let the plants and pots breath a bit before a nice slow bottom watering to wick up into the pots and mix. will get some root shield granules worked into the planting spots this weekend. the rest will get incorporated in the patch when things dry out. also gonna plop plop fizz some biota max, water in some "thrive" to get the beneficials in the business of benefitting. Sunday, April 24 View Page nice morning to make a birdhouse. i took a dried long neck swan gourd from last year and put the hole in and gutted it removing all seeds and inside dried material. then i got a piece of bamboo and made a perch. glued in place and poly urethene coating was sprayed to help it weather better. then galvanized wire was used to secure it in this nook from 4 different points using the fork in the branches to also help it sit securely. the pattern with the green and creme colored speckles still showing and mold patterns from the drying process helps it blend into the environment. i then direct seeded all the seeds in the area along the back fence that had compost added to it. out of that many seeds, i should see plenty of sprouters to choose from and cull the rest. these gourds were fun last year and figured why not let them do their thing again. a nice sunny easter morning was the perfect time to make a new home for a family. speaking of family, gonna see the Shenoha clan today at Cog Hill for easter brunch. i will not eat a thing all day....and then attack...lol. Monday, April 25 View Page Starting line up out getting some sun acclimation on a cloudy day inside the shazzydome. 1161 Rodonis on the upper left is a go getter early. The 2 next to it are 1209 Shenoha plants and also aggressive early. Bottom row to the left is the 1493 Shenoha, the 1605 Sweet in center, and the 1725 Harp bottom right. The carving I made 20 years ago is my annual voodoo blessing. It is a dung beetle on a dung ball and titled "It's a World of Shit, So Eat Up" which is appropo too these voracious plants. The 1605 has some severely twisted cot leaves, but the first true leaf looks normal. The 1209 that will go next to it will have plenty of time to prove itself as a possible spot winner, but the 1605 genetics are strong, and this ain't a sprout beauty contest. They will go in the ground tomorrow. Tuesday, April 26 View Page deepspaded the planting spots in the greenhouses this morning on a vacation day from work. the 16" tines sunk in like butter with one step. raked in some rootshield granular, dug my transplanting spots to proper depth, then let those fresh holes warm up at the minus 6 inch depth for 6 hours. then at 2 pm the plants went in nicely after i incorporated some pumpkin pro myc fungi into the areas. gonna be mostly cloudy tomorrow and the acclimation to true sun went pretty good with only the first true leaf of the 1725 getting a little toasty on the tip of the first true leaf. the roots were already exploding after exactly one week ago when i started to soak the seeds. crazy plants. weather looks lousey, but the ground in the huts was 66 degrees at transplant at minus 6". gonna go have some cold ones to watch our bullies and hawks do playoff battle. gonna be a silly high energy night at the Tap. go bulls and go hawks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it is GO TIME!!!!!!!!!! Wednesday, April 27 View Page so much for go time. lol. corn seed maggots took all but the 1725 harp down in a little over 24 hours since transplanting. i took a pic of the 1161 with at least 15 inside the chewed up stem and 10 on the outiside, but the pic didn't come out too good. it was a sickening feeling that i haven't had to feel before. so much for that vodoo blessing with my carving...lol. i have posted on the message board how i am trying to save the 1725 harp and i will treat all the soil in the greenhouses tomorrow with the products i detailed on the message board and will transplant 5 of my 1209 and 1493 backups in the treated soil tomorrow and backfill around the transplants with a sterile seed starter mix with all the products incorporated to act as a treated barrier for prevention and see how it works. if it doesn't work, the seeds i started tonight will go in. i started another 1725 harp that feels a little light and has just a slight hallow sound but i think is a good one along with another 1605 a 1286.5 daletas and 5 1209s and 5 1493s for round 2. if the system of prevention works on the 1725 in the ground and the backups i will transplant tomorrow, then i will be happier come next week when transplanting time comes again with round 2 of seeds. i will remove 2 of my backups if they survive with my treatments this week and grow the 1605 and 1725 if they germinate along with the other 1725 in the ground if it makes it. frustrating for sure, but not the end of the world. i am already over it some what, but that initial sighting on the 1161 and knowing all the potential was gone just like that with it filled with maggots, and then going plant to plant and dicovering them bastards was as bad as a feeling i have ever had in this hobby. so much for go time...lol. Saturday, April 30 View Page the one and only surviver of the corn seed maggot infestation was the 1725 harp and it looks strong still with no signs of any damage to the stem all the way to the top of the roots. thank God i noticed the 1161 limpiness signs last wednesday to check the base of the plants and pick the one corn seed maggot off the stem of the 1725 before it started eating. what are the odds of that. knock on wood and it survives, i have some big hopes from this girl. and speaking of the 1725 harp, she has a sister plant that has sprouted and pushed dirt today. nice. if it is a genetically sound sprout with no signs of doubling up, then it will go into the shazzydome this week and be 8 days behind her sister. this is the hottest part of the patch and the plants always grow the fastest in this honey hole. this should help catch her up in no time. and a little staggering might be good insurance for late season waiting until the weigh offs with hopes of one going a week early to milwaulkee. after typing that last line, i realize how my hopes and dreams have not been squashed by this early set back and i have a whole new callous and hard headed drive to do whatever it takes. i can take it. Saturday, April 30 View Page also, the transplanted backups are looking great so far with no signs of csm damage. again, knock on wood. the 1209s are beauties of plants too and very aggressive early on. one of them will get removed for the 1725 recent sprout if the1725 is genetically sound once i see it grow out a few days. this will give me the option to self the earlier 1725 plant and sib the second one. the 1209 will be tough to cull later, but proven genetics wins for the odds of it all if both are healthy. the 2 1493s backups transplanted in the smaller greenhouse look so much the same it is wild. hoping their selfed qualities of emerald rich green leaf color, a crazy root system, and vines as thick as my wrist qualities are present like their mama selfed 991. and a big long boat sized 1500+ lb pumpkin would be nice to see too. lol. the first true leaf looks exactly like last years 991 with it longer and sharp tooth like pattern edges. this changes in the second true leaf but looks cool early on. the root systems of the 1493 were exploding out the pots at transplant. i have to leave these 2 to compete with their earlier start because this area loses midday sun for a few hours more and more in the month of september due to trees so the earliest pollination is critical for this spot to put the weight on earlier when the sun is higher. so if all goes well, the new lineup will be a 4-19 started 1725 harp, a 4-28 started 1725 harp, and a 4-19 started 1493 shenoha. do i dare say it is GO TIME again? why not, i just said it. bring it georgie boy, i am back baby!!!!!! (until tomorrow that is...lol...anything can happen in this insane hobby. i love it. all part of the insanity) Sunday, May 1 View Page well the plans might be changing again depending on this second 1725 harp sprout. it was having a tough time shedding its seed coat. and then i found out why. the semi-light feel and the hollow sound just at the tips was due to under developed cots inside the seed. they are smaller than the actual seed coat and already have a transparent look in the centers that will most likely turn white and possibly turn into small holes from my past experience. for the first to push dirt, yet the last to shed its seed coat along with the smaller formed cots, i have to feel something is up with it. maybe just a little premie state, but the only seed i have had similar sounding and feeling and then showing the smaller cots was an 842 many moons ago. it was also the first to push dirt and last to shed its coat and needed help to do so before rotting inside the shell. but it had smaller developed cots then this 1725. these are about 3/4s size and the 842 back then was more like 2/3s the size of the actual shell. it may surprise me now that it has the seed coat off and gets some energy going. it will have a chance to prove itself out over the next 3 or 4 days to see what it can do. the 1209s are the 2 best looking plants in the patch right now and this sprout will have to make the grade before i even pull out one of the 1209s backups to put this one. this is my honey hole and i will be proud to prove out the 1209 if needed that was grown in the same exact spot last year. maybe another sign? maybe not? lol. time will tell. i am just happy to see the sun out for 2 days and both the pumpkin plants and tomato plants are plants loving it too. Sunday, May 1 View Page 7.33 hunt in the front center is the strongest tomato plant out of all 53 i have left and has been since out of the gate. also the 5.35 lyons on the left and 5.18 lyons to the right of the 7.33 and all other sprout are loving the sunshine the past 3 days. these plants are exactly 29 days old since soaking and sowing the seeds. mine will go in the ground around may 15th depending on night temps at that time. the bobby's tap annual giant tomato draft will be held rain or shine on friday 5-13th. i have the most fun sitting back watching my knucklehead friends pick to see who goes in what order and then watching the process unfold. i may have to video and youtube some of these crazy characters and the smile on their faces and all the bragging of who is gonna kick who's ass on the scale at mitchell's meat market. what have i started? lol. Sunday, May 1 View Page here are the 2 battling 1493s with their protective csm rings i made by cutting the tops of poly pots off and inserting them down an inch past intital root development level for prevention against lateral migration of csms. also you can see the styrofome balls in the high end potting soil that had the merit granules, bonide "eight" granules, and diatomaceous earth incorporated into it and was placed in holes so this mix is both under the plant and backfilled around it. my patch soil was treated the same way in these holes and around the plants before the mix and transplants went in too. and the soaking of warrior t around the plants about 8 to 10 inches away was the final protective step. also you can see slug and cutworm granules around the plants as well. so far so good for these plants that began their soaking and sowing on 4-19. Sunday, May 1 View Page battling identical 1209s in the shazzydome that were started on 4-19. the 1725 sprout in the basement started on 4-27 in going to have to prove itself hard to pull out one of these girls. i like a backup until i see the mains lay down. i will not have that luxury if i pull one of the 1209s and replace it with the later 1725. time will tell, but my gut says one of these girls will win the spot. i am still hoping the 1725 sprout that just came up will prove me wrong. Sunday, May 1 View Page and the last pic of the day on this bright sunny first day of may was going to be of the sole survivor of the original transplants....the 1725 harp. pics are not downloading for some reason so she will get a pic posted next week. (if it makes it that long...lol) she is looking strong still and has the thickest stem and the furthest development of the second true leaf of all 6 in the ground now. it is in the same spot i grew the 1493 last year off the 991. last year and this year are having some major similarities as the honey hole plant last year doubled up on me and the 873 grew the 1209 in that spot. now the 1209 is in that spot since the csms got the 1161 early on. weird how you plan and choose all winter and then mother nature flips everything around sometimes. last year turned out pretty good so que sera sera..whatever will be will be, the future's not ours to see...blah blah blah blah blah blah!!!!!!!!! time for some cold ones and some darts to take the mind off this silly silly week in shazzyland. Sunday, May 8 View Page here is the 1493 shenoha 2010 plant winning the spot so far against another 1493 right next to it that is about one day behind this one. the csm barriers have been removed to allow full lateral root development. there are tons of flies in the greenhouses which don't make me happy but at least i know i have reached the point when they are hatched and i should be between cycles. the sprouts are now plants that 16 days old since pushing dirt and should be losing their chemical sprout scent which the csm maggots are attracted to. i have back up plants in the shazzydome so if these csm adult flies chooses to lay eggs near the base of plants, hopefully they pick the backups to try on. these backups have treated seed soil mix with merit granules to see how it would work and they all look good so far too. 4 of them are going in a buddy of mine who is a joliet police officer's back yard tomorrow. i have another round of backups started yesterday for my buddy jerry bandura from elwood incase he has problems with germination. Sunday, May 8 View Page no, you are not seeing double. this is the 2 1209s that not only look exactly the same, both of them need sticks placed next to one of the cots at the same spot to stop them from both spinning in the wrong direction. last year my 991 did the same thing and needed to be kept in line. these 2 plants are looking nice at 16 days since shedding their seed coats and will get some time to battle it out. Sunday, May 8 View Page and the winner of this spot is the 1725 harp barring traqedy. i love its aggressiveness and it has the thickest mini stump of all plants and is already kicking out its 4th true leaf. it was also started on 4-19 like the other plants and shed its seed coat on 4-22. you see in the picture the beginning of a rear main/first secondary (whatever you want to call it) that will be removed in the not to distant future when the plant matures a little bit more. gonna get a little toasty in the shazzydome a couple days this week with mid 80s predicted tuesday wednesday and the misting heads on a timer basis will be used along with some fans placed in strategic locations to keep the plants cool. the mini shade clothes attached on rebar are already set up in the greenhouses to stretch tightly over the plants as well as shown in last years diary. very easy to just leave them off to the sides of the plants and then take two of the rebar pieces and pull them up and over to the other sides of the plants and push them in the soil. takes 2 minutes and helps keep the small plants from heat stressing and were also used for acclimation from 3 cloudy days to one clear bright day when the sprouts were smaller last week. Sunday, May 8 View Page mom will be happy to get these today. Sunday, May 8 View Page toasty warm in the shazzydome this morning on a sunny day. in the far back is the 1493 backup, and then the 1725 harp next to it. these are positioned to grow to the right. and then in the front is the 2 1209 shenohas positioned to grow to the left. instead of back to back, i go side by side this way to save a little more room for the mains to grow 2 more feet. i have about a one foot difference stagger of the 2 sets to allow a little more room for the first set of secondaries coming off each side and place an angled walking board between the 2 sets to have access to the stumps. a row of walking boards will then go between the first secondaries of the 2 keeper plants growing in opposite directions. the mains will be directed back to an imaginary line running let to right in this pic between the 2 sets of plants. i place my top dog selections in the center closer to this imaginary line to eliminate the angling of the main back to center i would have to do if i used both outside backup plants. this gives me 5-6' mains before i have to remove the 14' diameter greenhouse from running out of room. the shazzydome really gets these plants jumping compared to smaller greenhouse with 14' diameter of warmed soil retaining and holding heat better with the amount of surface area enclosed. the bobby's tap giant tomato draft is this friday and my 6 plants will go in the ground next weend. it is fun to nurse 7 flats of plants all the way to this stage, but i will be happy when i do not have so many plants to attend to. the 7.33 hunt plants are all almost twice as big as all the others and i will give georgie boy one of these and a 5.35 lyons this week. my buddy mark mills gets the other 7.33 hunt and one of each of the other tomatos in the lineup. Saturday, May 14 View Page and the heat was on....and now it is on....literally. yes the @ space heaters in each greenhouse or back to cranking out the heat after a week of 94, 91, and 90 degree days. and that temp is in the shade. the misting system was used on a 6' stake to not only cool the air, but cool the plants as well and water at the same time. the mini shade cloths were also draped over the plants in the greenhouses too. i have heat damage to only one leaf on one plant...and that is the 4th true leaf on one of the 1493s. the misting head clogged sometime in the day over that plant on the 94 degree day. air temps at plant level were held under 100 degrees on all 3 days and avergaged about 98 at the hottest parts of the day. unreal for this early. and now 40s and cold and doing the opposite in 24 hours time with the heaters. pruned tendrils off the 1725 and both 1209s already and those 3 already have bamboo in place and the soil under the second true leaf stalk has gradually been removed and dug deeper the past 2 days to start the easy lean in progression. the 1493s will be ready for bamboo by tomorrow night. all have taken the heat in stride and kicked into high gear. here are the 32 tomato plants that went to the draft selectors in the Bobby's Tap 2nd Annual Giant Tomato Contest. what a silly drunken day yesterday. wow! my tomato plants will go in the ground when the soil warms and dries back up at the end of the week. Saturday, May 14 View Page started 16 seeds for a commercial pumpkin grower in the area...hevin heap of heap's giant pumpkins in shorewood. six 929 kruegers (993 vincent mcgill x 988 janowiak), five 988 janowiaks (670 daigle x 1450 wallace), and five 1082 kruegers (1059 vincent mcgill x 988 janowiak). they should hopefully all throw orange shiney and big. the plants are free on me cuz i just want to selfishly see a field of giant shiney orange pumpkins. i might get a nice one for my mom at the end of the season if it works out right and that will be reward enough. i am hoping my germination success continues. i was 44 out of 44 last year. right now i have 8 plants for backups to give away tomorrow in the greenhouse, i gave away 13 last week, and with my intial plants makes 31 out of 31 this year. i have another round of 16 to go after these for another local commercial pumpkin growers. hopefully those all pop and then 8 more after that for friends and their kids. they pop in 3 to 4 days and immediately go into the greenhouses and the next round starts. i am very happy to learn that a pumpkin buddy jerry bandura from elwood went 8 for 8 also with the exact same system and techniques. he is thrilled to get off on a great start this year and it makes me happy to hear it in his voice. he has had a tough year personally and hope like hell he tops 1000 this year. all this is keeping me busy while there is not much to do at this stage excpept vent and un-vent greenhouses and turn on and off the misting systems or heater....what ever it takes. crazy spring. Tuesday, May 17 View Page watered in some azos yesterday and got a little on the one of the 1493 leaves. no biggie. watered in biota max last week along with some "thrive" (a liquid myc fungi product and these biologicals combinied: Bacillus subtillis, Pseudomonas aerugiensis, Bacillus thurngiensis, Pseudomonas fluourescens, Glomus intraradius, G. aggregatum, G. mossaae, G. etunicatum) these 1493s look a little ragged from the 94 degree day last week when the mister head clogged and wasn't misted until 3 pm when i got home. the one on the left completely tilted and laid down one night from the condensation dripping on the leaves and base of plant. the looser potting soil that i used to incorporate corn seed maggot defenses in with after losing the 1209 and 1605 in this greenhouse allowed the plant with the moisture from condensation to lean to the heavy side. this meant all the leaves were tilted also. so i propped up some of the leaves to keep them off the ground until they reached back for the sky. luckily the base of plant did not bend, kink or split while doing so. this now made the plant easily trainable to run horizontal. it has a 6" stubby main with the first tendril on it. it also has one burnt leaf from that hot day without the mister. same exact burnt 4th tru leaf as on the 991 last year at the same time. selfing weirdness. i had to remove the second true leaf after the tilt to allow the plant the ability to lay down. the 1493 to the right is same exact size with 6" stubby main with one tendril but sticking straight up with a very stout stem. so stout it did one of those early fissuring shallow surface verticle splits on the back side directly under the cots with rapid expansion and has since healed back up fine. they will get their time to prove the winner of the spot. Tuesday, May 17 View Page and here are the battling 1209s with a little over one foot mains. these 2 had second true leaves that both were impeding the law down process. they were left on to support during the early leaning process and slowly i dug a little deeper each day to allow the process to continue. then when i got into some shallow roots in the digging process i decided to give both the second true leaves on these 2 the whack to let them down nicely. some plants do not need this procedure, some do. these 2 had huge second true leaves laying with leaf surface directly on the soil. no way unless i kept digging through the shallow surface roots for more clearance for the 2nd true leaf stalks for the plants to lay down like i like them. they are both basically down and supported with bamboo over and under and will be completely down by tomorrow. won't be long before i make the culling decision and i am leaning on going with the one to the left based on its patch positioning and slightly stockier base of plant. not much difference in these 2 at all an am very happy so far with their vigor an ability to take the hellish heat thrown at them last week. these 2 were also started on 4-19 like the others and are 25 days old since the seed coat was shed. Tuesday, May 17 View Page and the sole survivor of the original corn seed maggot infestation is the 1725 harp. i still can't believe how i found the one maggot on the stem with it just getting ready to munch. and then i cleared all the soil down to the roots, left it alone and then raced to get to the store before it closed and get the diatomacous earth and merit granules and the bonide product "eight". and then after the final circle of warrior t death around the plants along with the csm collars made out of 6" diameter poly pot tops the next day. what a nightmare but the backups are doing great amd so far so good with the 1725. the second true leaf was exactly like the 1209s and needed removal after using it for a few days of support and digging a mini trench under the curved stalk of the second true leaf until i got into surface roots and dug no deeper and removed it. this main is about 18" long and completely down on the ground. this plant was started on 4-19 and is 25 days old since removing the seed coat. too bad i was so worried about the csm's that i put the best 1493 at that point next to the 1725s in my honey hole to make sure i had a good back up in the spot that i grew the 1493 in last year. the best 1493s of the original 5 started on 4-19 were used as backups and got eaten by the corn seed maggots on round one. the 2 1493s in the small greenhouse were the last to germinate and get going of all 5 started on 4-19, but that is the way it goes. they will catch up once the weather gets better. that older smaller greenhouse doesn't retain the heat at night as well as shazzydome does. the 1493 next to the 1725 in the dome is a beauty, laid down, about 14" long. too bad it will get the knife very soon but no way in hell i would dig it up and disturb the 1725 roots. that is the way it goes of the backup. it did its duty as insurance and its siblings are battling it out in the small green house and one 1493 will get its chance do show its stuff, so it is all good. Tuesday, May 17 View Page who is out of their gourds....I AM!!!!!!!!!!! i had to throw some row cover tied off to the fence the last 2 nights to avoid patchy frost. dipped down 38 two nights ago and 39 last night. close enough to cover these babies that sprouted in the heat last week. some damn animal ripped open the birdhouse i made to get to the eggs and ruined it. lesson, do not place a birdhouse in a tree close to where the garbage cans are cuz the varmints are already in the area. doh!!!!! with these sprouts, hopefully i will get many more chances. all i did was let them dry out in the gourd all winter and them remove them when i made the birdhouse. then into the soil along the fence that is juiced up with mostly organimix compost. they are silly fun plants to watch and the gourds are pretty green and white mottled colored and weird shape and hang from the fence and are maintenance free...except when they try to go on the roof of the house, the roof of the garage, the solarium roof (harvested 8 from on top of the solarium last year) up the ivy all the way to the roof with gourds hangin 15' in the air (7 taken from that area) up the tree (nipped those in the bud) and anywhere else they get there tendrils hooked onto. i put about 10 seeds in a hole staggered down the fence line, and from the looks of it, a good germiantion rate....lol. they will get thinned down by critters like earwigs under the deck and then by myself and the strongest will win the spots. Friday, May 20 View Page 15 plants for Kevin Heap who grows pumpkins commercially in the area. 929 krueger, 1082 krueger, and 988 janowiak sprouts were started on last saturday night and 5 days later looked like this last night when he brought me a case of cold budwesisers and talked pumpkins for an hour. he is a good dude. thanks for the cold ones kevin and a promise of a pumpkin for mom this fall. we as a club will also get some seeds hopefully from the selfed pumpkins from best for color and shine. with 15 plants and these genetics, one of them is bound to throw out similar to the 929 and 1010 last year. i got 15 more started last night to go to another commercial grower and so with 30 plants commercially, odds are in our favor to get a selfed beauty and repeat the process over the years and try to further isolate the genetics for consistancy. after these pop i will start 8 more to give to friends on memerial day weekend. Johnny Appleseed ain't got nothin' on Shazzy Pumpkinseed..lol. Friday, May 20 View Page this one is for dale in alaska. 90 degree temp high heat and quick accerlation of early plant growth in a greenhouse with no wind and i already have one elephant ear on my 1209 plant that succumbed to the weight of misted watered the first day. this ribboning line seen in this pic on the leaf stalk was similar to the 991 leaves last year on the plant that grew my 1493 in the first 5 or 6 feet on the main. they were the ones to buckle in the first high winds. they were within the first 6 feet of the plant and babied with no environmental stress early on. i called the plant duncan keith for the amount of leaves i lost on the main last year like he lost his teeth playing for the blackhawks. no harm no foul and that leaf is cut clean and the shazzysome will come off in less than 5 days cuz i might have 5' vines on both the 1725 and 1209 by then. Saturday, May 21 View Page Shenoha Tomato Row: left to right 4.04 Johnston/Butler, 5.35 Lyons, 7.33 Hunt, 5.18 Lyons, 4.25 Lyons, 3.08 Shenoha. Used the bohemeth deep spader to bust up subsoil for good drainage and then incorporated rootshield and pumpkin pro myc fungi. after transplanting on this cloudy warm day, the planting spots were watered in with the beneficial biologicals of both biota max and thrive. gonna get hot tomorrow and sunny. they will get a drink again tomorrow and this time azos will go in. neptunes seaweed and fish will be given to the plants in about a couple weeks to let them first recover from transplant shock and get some roots sunk into their new surroundings. the shazzydome will have to come down in 2 days as the 1725 is hitting 4' as well as the 1209. the 1493 small greenhouse will be left up with some cooler temps after tuesday to keep the warmth in with space heaters used still. the 1493s are about 18" and i haven't picked the winner. the other culls have already been meady in the shazzydome. it might be a good thing for acclimation out of the greenhouses for a few days of cooler temps for those plants to deal with full direct sun without the greenhouse. strong storms predicted tomorrow night otherwise i would take the dome down tomorrow with the upper 80s and bright sun predicted. i will be misting 5 minutes every half hour all day from 9:30 til 6 pm tomorrow to cool the air and to make sure the vine tips and tender new leaves forming on secondaries and the main vine tip stay cool enough. will also throw the mini shade cloth set up back over the plants inside the dome. exciting time of year. hoping for 4 lbs this year with the tomatoes. i will give it my best shot. threw up some rebar supports behind the fence after seeing this picture incase of wind storm damaging that fence that is getting replaced in a couple weeks. neo need for it to come loose and fall into the plants the neighbors should be happy about the new fence. lol. hillbilly shaz. Saturday, May 21 View Page oops...forgot the pic...doh!!!!!!!!!!!! Sunday, May 22 View Page 84 outside temp in the shade, 88 inside the shazzydome and climbing at 12:30. misting every 5 minutes every half hour. at least the wind is helping to exhaust the greenhouses. i also brought the hose out to the greenhouses and deep soaked every square inch inside and under the plants with cool tap water. this will help to keep the dry soil on the edges from reflecting heat and the evaporative cooling of the soil will also help. i did the same to all the tomatoes recently transplanted and hosed down the fence behind them too. from cloudy all day yesterday to bright windy sunshine today, i decided to place small patio tables over each of the 6 tomato plants from noon to 4 pm. i had to use 2 inch wide styrofome squares on each leg to raise the tables high enough so that the top of plants would not touch the plastic and then i put a brick on top of each one with the 30 mph wind gusts right now. this will work nice for todays acclimation. i have a feeling their is gonna be some wicked weather tonight. i will use the tables to protect the tomato plants against hail if i have to. gonna tie them to the stakes with ribbon too in case of 50 mph plus winds tonight. gonna be hot tomorrow, but not as warm and i will be at work, so the houses will get fully vented and the timer set for 15 minute watering and misting combined every 1.5 hours. i am keeping track of all this to fall back on next year to remember what worked and what didn't. gotta love the diaries for this. Thursday, May 26 View Page 1493 this morning with heater on as it is cold enough out to see my breath. survived the storms all week and got lucky no heavy winds or tornadoes hit the area. this plant is starting to gather steam and secondary training will be starting real soon. Thursday, May 26 View Page 1209 this morning in its new smaller greenhouse. the shazzydome had to come off yesterday between round one and 2 of storms. i took a vacation day and had friends carefully help me remove the shazzydome. it is more suspension supported so once all the bottom stakes and rope suspension ties are removed it gets more flimsy. the 1209 and 1725 were 6" from the edge and i still wanted good clearance to avoid damaging vine tips. then i put of the spare small greenhouses that were stacked up in the garage already. these had damaged zippers on the doors but some wire ties work just fine. back out went the space heaters this morning. i had to use a crooked alignment to get both greenhouses over each plant without damaging leaves or small secondaries. i pruned my first tertiary today off the 1209 which is throwing strong secondaries already and is a beauty of a plant so far. Thursday, May 26 View Page and the go getter of the patch without doubt is the 1725 harp. the first secondary on the right side in this picture came directly off the top of the vine and was shooting straight up. i could have trained it up and over as i have done in the past, but this had lead to trouble with fissures too close to the stump area for my liking so it got the whack. the next one down the line is looking a little goofy and is coming off the side but shot out a small true leaf real early at the junction and maybe a weirdo. the next one looks normal and if i have to, i will train it on an angle backwards and let some terts grow off it with a couple leaves to fill the gaps. the other side secondaries are normal right off the get go. i have seen this with my 1041 mckie that grew my 1147 some years back and should not be a problem...i hope. for now it is showing its muscle early. these small greenhouses will be down over all plants on saturday and up will go the silt fences and more misting heads attached for the clear sunny 85 degree days right around the corner. the tomato plants survived the pounding 3 inches of rain yesterday and this morning total and look good. removed a early flower on 3 different plants including the 7.33 hunt all all of them were fused blossoms. hopefully all the rest will be megablooms too once the plants get substantiated. Monday, May 30 View Page took the greenhouses down yesterday after the straight line bow echo storms with hail went through. then put up the silt fences. the plants had a nice breeze last night to get wind acclimated before todays gusty 30 mph hot winds. the misting system is being used for 5 minutes every half hour since 9 am since these leaves have never seen true sun except last night after 4 pm. i also threw up shade cloth over the plants high enough to allow better wind circulation and to avoid the misters from hitting them and then raining straight down without good coverage. 3 mister heads above each plant gives a nice coating on and around the plants to cool the silt fences and surrounding soil besides the plants. this will be the set up for the next 2 days. then i will ween the plants off the shade cloth, but will need the shade cloth again next friday and saturday as 95 degree temps will be back and i do not want to fry any tips or small females in the tips as some of those may be the first chance pollinations on the 1725 and 1209 plants. 1725 main is 8.5', 1209 is 7.5' and the 1493 is a little over 6'. Sunday, June 12 View Page crazy week of weather here as it has been for many everywhere. record breaking high heat, high winds, pounding rains, to cold and cloudy, to a nice day today to finally get in the patch. the 8 inches of rain in 2 days kept me to just walking perimeter boards to keep re-staking secondaries and mains and that was it. got all caught up and while doing so i noticed a split running with the main vine about 7' out from stump on the 1209. it must have happened a week or so ago when younger as the main is 14' long right now. it doesn't look severe enough to chop the main and retrain a secondary. after seeing chris stevens hail damage and what the 1161 still did, i think it will be fine. captan was applied and this section will get a little patio table to keep it dry. i can actally see inside the main as the vine grew thicker since it happended and the split widened a hair. it sucks but actually this is not too bad considering what we have had to deal with weather wise. i lost one leaf to the wind this weak, 2 leaves got burnt due to being on the outside edge of the misting zone and not getting full fully hit. also 2 secondaries on the 1725 stunted out a bit on just one side of the plant at 10 and 12 feet. thats a gap that will nedd some tertiary growth or sever angling training if these 2 stubbies do not jump start. the female on the 1725 at 9.5' was pinched, the 12' female fried in the heat even with a table cover and never fully formed. got a nice female at 13.5' on the 1725 looking good so far and am making a turn for her. it is about 7 days from opening...hopefully. the 1209 has a female on the wrong side of a leaf stalk and already forming directly on top of the vine. with the split found at 7' opening with vine growth, i will go with the female at 14' or even further out to get as much plant on this side of the small split and between the pumpkin. the 1493 is filling in and i got a nice female on it at 12.5' that i will pollinate in a week.... hopeyfully. Sunday, June 12 View Page 1493 tonight after spraying some light demand cs, grandma enggy's foliar fulvic, and 3-18-18. i know the heat this past week was hard on the small forming females followed by 8" of rain in 2 days. this was tough on the plants and the soil community. the 3-18-18 should help keep flowering stronger with these critical pollinations approaching after all that shock to the system. i will drench with seaweed, fish, grandma engys humic in the morning and that will be it on ferts until after sets take. now that the soil dried up, i can apply these nutrients to help the plants get back to consistant growth with the crazy hot then cold the sunny then cloudy to deluge inconsistancy they have been dealing with. after measuring again tonight the female on this plant is a little over 11.5'. she will get her chance to grow and i will set it, but as you can see there is one stunted secondary on this side a little slower than the others and another on the other side too. i will want more plant and have my heart set on 15 to 18 feet with this plant. it has the most room length wise for the main and i still have plenty of time to pick and choose the strongest with the right amount of plant. this plant reminds me so much of its mama 991 and is gathering steam the same way she did. Sunday, June 12 View Page 1209 tonight with a female at 12' that looks like it might be peetering out from the heat last week or the the crazy weather variations, temperature fluctuations, flooding rains, loss of some nutrients from the rains, lower P level...who knows. but this was why i brought out the 3-18-18 to mix in with demand cs when i sprayed. i will throw some in the drench too tomorrow morning too. nothing heavy with the ferts, half strength but total coverage under and over leaves as the svb and cukes should be arriving soon too. i looked at the split at 7' on the main very closely tonight again and will decide to leave things alone. it actually looks like an animal bite more than a split about one inch long and a 16th wide of an inch running with the main and a piece of curled up top green skin to the side of the wound like something was scraping its teeth along the main and stripping off a little at a time. it is uneven also and definately not a straight split. its new to me but i put captan on it and have a little table over it i set up after this picture was taken to keep dry. we will see what happens, but i would like to get more plant between that point and my pumpkin and think more on the lines of 16 feet or plus with this plant for that reason. if i wait until 20' then i will have 13' of established plant after the wound and i know from last year a wounded vine if treated right hurts a little i am sure, but not a destroyer. so i will still be getting the majority of the juices. the 1493 was grown on a main that had holes big enough i could reach my fingers into to treat them last year. still sort of sucks still cuz this plant is one of the nicest easiest plants i have ever grown....it just hit me...with all the rains this could be slug damage on the main. probably ate so much then died from the merit. this makes the most sense. Sunday, June 12 View Page 1725 harp tonight. you can see up the main to the right the 2 shorty stubby secondaries on this side that have not kicked in yet. they are not deformed, but another sign to me of a very stressful week on the plants and the soil community. another reason to drench in the morning now that the the patch is finally dry enough to water the products in. the female at 13.5' will be open in about a week...again i hope cuz i do not see another one in the cluster and the next chance might be out past 17' or so. the one at 12' never fully formed in the heat last week but the 13.5' one looks good so far and the weather in a week should be ideal for pollination. going further out this year and even up to 20 feet would not break my heart cuz i have always wanted to grow one that far out on a main. plus it is still very early for pollinations, but they all get set from here out and we will see how it plays out. Friday, June 17 View Page how many boxes of moth balls and gallons of rabbit repellent does it take to protect the 1209 from another bite. hopefully 8 boxes of moth balls and 2 gallons of rabbit repellent around the perimeter of the patch will work. at least i know now the last minor wound was a rabbit or other varmint. not a slug. the other minor damage that is 2" long by about a quarter inch wide now has healed. this wound on the other hand is considered major damage. if this female on the good side of chew mark takes, no harm no foul. otherwise i will take a secondary closest to the cut and train it out and be behind 2.5 to3 weeks on this plant. it should open sunday or possibly monday at latest. all females on all plants are healthy and strong and developing normal and i should be hitting the 1493 sunday with the 1725 and the 1209 with the 1493 if both females open the same day which looks to be the case. the female on the 1725 at 17.5' is developing and the female at 13.5' was toast like i thought it was from the heat. i have a secondary 1725 opening in the morning but not in a good location and i will do that route later out of necessity if it is the case. this picture was taken yesterday. how many budweisers do you think i drank yesterday? lol. it's over and let's hope the 14 footer on the 1209 takes. lots of patch work to do tomorrow and i will take out my frustration with busy work. Friday, June 17 View Page oh yea, forgot the pic. this is why i had the multiple budweisers yesterday. did i say multiple? too many to count. Sunday, June 19 View Page pollinated my one and only chance at 14' on the 1209 since the rabbit or other varmint damage is at 14'8". i have the fan with ice bottle between blossom and fan going and will leave the fan on it til it either sets or aborts. i am picking prime females on secondaries with good locations and letting them develope just in case and same with 1725 just in case. i have a nice secondary before the damgage that i will retrain into a main and whack everything after it and run it out and let some terts become secondaries if needed if this one aborts. but this one was a beauty five lober and hit her with 6 strong 1725 males. i added 20 more perimeter misting heads as i burnt about 6 leaves on all 3 plants total due not misting on an 83 degree n.e. wind. i should have known but the hazy sun and dry heat was like a burnt leaf/ozone damage perfect scenario. no biggie, but more heads will mean better coverage too as some outside leaves were barely in the misting zone. i also checked stumps and put small tables over them to keep them dry the rest of the season. i have a fan blowing on the 1493 at 11.5' and a table over it and it will open tomorrow and get the ice jug treatment too. 2 more following her right down the line are covered with the small tables. the 17.5' female on the 1725 is still looking good and should be open in about 4 days. next one is deep in the cluster and will be at 22' about so this 17.5' has a fan on her that will stay on her and covered with a table in the heat this week as i really need her to take. saw my first svb today and sprayed last sunday but will spray again tonight. Monday, June 20 View Page pollinated the 1493 at 11.5' with 9 1725 males this morning and she was a beautiful 5 lober. due to a severe storm rolling in and myself needing to leave work by 6:30, i decided to grab the males at 5:30 am and then peel the petals off even though not open yet and open the female carefully and use my fingers to slowly stretch the petals open with some tickling and fanagling and pollinated her at 5:40 am instead of when she would open in about a half hour. her petals were twisted and crimped on a crooked flower top that would have had to be pulled apart to let her open anyways. it is now raining cats and dogs and lightening heavy so the decision to carefully pollinate her this way was the decision i had to make. it was this or use the umbrella and wait for her to open in a half hour to 45 minutes with winds lightening and heavy rain to contend with and then trying to get to work. i chose the former and we will see how it plays out. i have had to do this before with success but if i had my druthers, i would have liked to wait for her to open. my alarm was set for 5:45 so thankfully my crazy dog heard the thunder and woke me up 15 minutes early to do the deed before the skies opend up. she is zipped tied up and coverded with a table and i will throw a bottle of ice between the fan and the female before hitting the road. crazy way to jump out of bed. lol. Monday, June 20 View Page work got cancelled so decided to get out the ladder on a rain day and take a picture of the patch. got lucky as the high winds and hail went south of us today. still got over an inch of rain or possibly 2 this morning. i would like a picture before tomorrow because it is gonna set up to be a wild weather day. will the I 80 corridor be the avenue to destruction like last year......i hope to hell not. but for now i have to be proud of where i have come so far in the hardest spring i have ever had growing these things. with the corn seed maggots wiping out 5 out of 6 plants my first day after transplant, to the high heat last week aborting prime female development, to the damn varmint that twice has eaten on my 1209 main vine....i will still take it. survive and adapt. the 1493 is in the foreground, the 1209 to the back left and the 1725 on the back right. also pictured is my 6 giant tomato plants along the back fence line that i will let start forming flowers now. the 1725 after looking again this morning has the nicely developing female at 18.5' out. hard to tell while making a turn for more room. the plant is a killer with a vine and stump already thick as can be. if i can hook this girl on with the amount of plant........well let's just make it through tomorrow before dreaming of glory. crazy crazy hobby!!!!! sprayed good coverage on every vine, leaf stalk, underside of leaves bigger than 8 inch diameter and on top of every leaf bigger than 8" thoroughly last night. with the first one and only sighting of the svb yesterday moving very slow and spraying now 2 sundays in a row has me feeling better this morning after seeing the enemy yesterday. why do we do this to ourselves? you know why. Monday, June 20 View Page and when all else fails, hopefully these freaks will keep me smiling all year. these are the long neck gourds i direct seeded with seeds from last years gourds. there are plenty of them competing for fence supremecy and at this stage they are running fast and will be down the fence in each direction, and allowed to grow directly on top of the solarium roof to the left of this pic and also up the ivy on the backside of the house and down the fence line to the right 30' and then they will take the corner another 15' to the garage. hopefully get many hanging in the phallic shape that are so much fun to bring up to the bar and harass the ladies with and are also good for making hanging birdhouses as my dad has 2 families of finches making homes in his 2 from last year. i also like the ones that hang slightly and grow down to the ground with the curved necks but a nice flat bottom so they stand on their own like swan. they are a beautiful green and beige gourd and these seeds were taken from the greenest of the green ones from last year. shits n giggle plants are great for when all else is going wrong to bring a whimsical smile to you face. Tuesday, June 21 View Page tornado sirens went off and me and my dog oreo went to the basement to wait it out. i was standing in my solarium watching when we had to duck and cover and thank God no tornado. i never saw my tree bend that far before and i have seen many a violent storm. also thank God no hail. wind on the other hand, not sure what the actual reading was but my guess is 75 mph plus. and it is official....time to actually get the new fence. lol. lost the whole north old rotted fence that was put back together so many times and is now temporarily held up with 10 6' pieces if rebar hammered into the ground. prior to the storm all secondaries and mains were staked tight at the end down with bamboo. multiple over and unders to cradle the mains. also packed wet soil over the main of the 1725 because it is making the turned i have lost mains in the past as this is an easier situation for them to roll. all 16 small tables were placed over main tips and all females on the mains of all plants and the stumps were covered too. lined up four of the tables over the last 5 feet of the 1725 main as it is still younger are more susceptable to hail stone damage. also i have a 5' chain link fence on the driveway side and this was turned into a wind break with the quick use of comforters i use for covering the pumpkins in the fall along with pallets up against them to keep from blowing into the patch. and mondays picture showed the strategic placement of the 42" silt fence in preparation for the storms. glad i took the picture. but actually, i faired much better than i thought as i road it out in the basement. it seems the high heat all day and right before the storm hit kept the leaf stalks supple and they got wind whipped like mad but didn't snap and the interior leaves had each other to lean and buffer against. my houses sits on an angle with the front facing n.w. the storms come out of the south with swirling winds i watched from in the house before running to the basement. Tuesday, June 21 View Page the 1725 was buffered from the high straight line winds and from what i can tell got maybe one bent leaf at the base. that is it. the 1209 has at least 4 snapped leaves at the base and had 4 semi rolled over vines that were propped back up. the 1493 took it the worst with 6 completely rolled over vines and 2 leaves on the main snapped and about 5 on secondaries. all secondaries were propped back up using 6' garden stakes on an acute angle with each one supporting at least 3' leaf stalks. this takes 2 stakes per rolled secondary. glad i have a barrel full from over the years. tomorrow i will put dirt back over any tap roots unrooted from the roll overs and back some soil over them to re-stabilize before next storms. i have much practice from these storms and new damn well yesterday that i was due as i been dodging hail storms within half miles of my house all spring. hopefully this is the one and last powerful punch of the season as far as storms go. yea right. lol. a season to remember for sure. Tuesday, June 21 View Page i imagine in 4 days you will barely be able to tell it happened minus a couple of gaps. all bent leaves that folded and snapped will get cut clean and captan will be applied. there are leaning disheveled leaves that are whipped up but not snapped or bent. with the walking boards strategically placed in between every 3rd secondary all the way to the main, i was able to get in and re-assemble many of these leaves and use the surrounding leaves to put them back in order. i use the leaf and the weight of a sturdy straight up one and move the leaves blown out of place next to them and then they are supported and back where they are supposed to be. also the walking boards let me get in easily to upright and stabilize the roll overs with the 6' and 8' garden stakes. i will get a look at the mains better in the morning, but from what i saw working in the drizzle at twilight, i think and hope just another punch that hasn't knocked me or the plants out yet. another feeling like steve mcqueen in papillon when he is floating on his raft made of coconuts in the middle of the ocean looking up at the sky yelling, "i am still here ya bastard!" Thursday, June 23 View Page 1725 harp x 1209 shenoha at 18.5' perfectly symetrical 5 lober this morning with 8 male 1209s. opposite of the 1209 x 1725 cross i attempted 4 days ago. i am hoping the 20% heavy genes in the 1209, the 200 inch circumference boat-like shell from my 991 urena last year crossed with the monster 1725 shell will be a recipie for monster huge and monster heavy cross. God i hope this 1725 female takes and it is a cloudy cool day with no stress on pumpkins or plants. no ice bottles needed. the 4 day old 1209 female might be on the ground by this evening and still has a nice healthy shine and increasing with size daily. the 1493 female that is 3 days old is also growing in size daily and still has a nice sheen to it. if i can get some get luck rolling my way, then it is possible that as of right now i might have a fish on the hook on all 3 plants. time will tell and i will keep pollinating down the mains. the female after the 1493 female at 11.5' has slowed in development in the cooler weather and the one in front of it stealing juices. there are 2 more after her also right down the line for insurance. the next 1725 attempt will not be until another 8-10 days at 24' and the 1209 main has been terminated at the pumpkin due to the rabbit bite so more more main chances there. so again lady luck if your are listening, please let these 3 be the ones....i am begging you! Wednesday, June 29 View Page say hello to my little friend....Pappy. Pappy is short for Papillon. for those who have read earlier posts, this beautiful plant's main vine got varmint bit not so bad at 7' one time and then hit hard right after this female so this is the one and only chance on the main and has survived the wicked spring to become the first member of the family. after a final official measurement on the main length and pumpkin Pappy is exactly 15' out and is 25" circ on day 10 this morning at 5:30 am. that is a 4" circ growth from yesterday morning so this one should be on its way. i pollinated the 18' female on the 1493 this morning with 9 1725 males. it was a five lober that looked like a star fish with wide spread out skinny lobes. not so pretty but hopefully she takes and competes against the one at 11.5' that is only 17" circ this morning at day 9. the females at 14 and 16' on the 1493 aborted during development during the cool, stormy, heavy rain period last week and never had a chance to get pollinated. with 7 out of last 10 days cloudy and the first 4 days of development in temps with highs about 70 i think the sets have been retarded and slowed down in initial development a tad. this is ok. the 10 day readings will not mean as much as long as they kick in gear with the approaching heat starting today with 83 and climbing to 95 by friday. more misting heads were added for the heat wave and good coverage has me ready to keep the patch and soil cool as possible to prevent aborts. the 1725 female at 18.5' is 6 days old and has been on the ground since late day 3 with a long stem. and is still developing and has a nice shine still. the 24' female will probably open on friday in the heat so i will use ice bottle, heavy misting all day, a fan, and also have a friend come by at 10 am and 2 pm with bags of ice for replacements for the ice bottle while i am at work. Thursday, June 30 View Page love the way the 1493 is gathering steam and becoming more aggressive every day. very similar plant to the 991 last year and this selfed cross has the emerald green leaves that will get huge on the ends of the secondaries like this one pictured. 25" long ways. salad picture i know, but this leaf needed to have a picture taken of it cuz it is just beautiful..... and impressive to say the least. Friday, July 1 View Page here is a pic from yesterday of the 1493 pumpkin at 11.5' that was 20.5" circ on day 10 morning. it looks very similar to last years 10 day pic of the actual 1493 and just 3 inches shorter in circ on day 10, but this was to be expected with cooler temps with highs in 60s and low 70s in the first 4 days of developement and night time lows in the 50s. the 75 mph wind storm and excessive rains also i am sure didn't help either, but this pumpkin put on 3.5" circ from morning of day 9 to day 10 so it should be on its way. good thing this one has a long stem cuz i didnt put too much of a curve as i wasnt expecting to keep this one. i wanted further out and the 14 an 16 foot females aborted during development from the whacky weather and the 11.5 footer stealing the juices. the 18' pollinated a couple days ago will still get a chance to compete with this one if it takes and would have more plant and the main would be terminated at the pumpkins since the main grew up and snapped one night on its own at 19'. the 991 pumpkin that grew the 1493 was 23.5" circ and a runt also and the plant is just amping itself to a new level so i will have to ponder over this decision heavily if they both look good and make it through todays heat. 5 fans running right now. on each pumpkin on each plant, one on the 2 day old set on the 1493, and one on the female at 24' on the 1725. the 18' female on the 1725 was 15" circ on day 7 so hopefully on its way too cuz it will be tough to pollinate the 24 footer in todays heat. ice jugs and multiple replacement of ice bags from a friend while at work will be needed to pull that off. Friday, July 1 View Page well the temps this afternoon have cooperated with the cloud cover keeping the 95 degree plus temps down in the 70s and am happy about less chance of losing pumpkins or sets to possible aborts. but the female on the 1725 at 24' was a 3 lober this morning and pollinated with the 1209. ouch. but good news is the 1725 at 18' grew 3" circ from day 7 to day 8 this morning and was 18" circ at 6 am. i will make a home for the 18' female with mill fabric tomorrow and dead head the main into the pumpkin. this will be done for 2 reasons. number one the female laid down late day 3 and was going to lay on top of the main. i used a piece of styrofome wedge to keep it off the vine and it has been there since nudging the pumpkin over as it grows. too bad this foam piece has left a scar on the lower half on that side but it seems all my pumpkins have scars by the end of the year and this ain't no beauty contest in my book. it still has a very accute angle. i have left the secondary on at the junction and have that curved back and then around the space for the pumpkin to grow and then will lead that back around for more juices. and number two because the main is curved and running parellel to the secondaries due to my growing rectangular with 17.5' secondaries on each side and only 21' from stump to sidewalk, the secondaries coming off the main far out would need to be pruned anyways to have room. so as of now, this 18' female is the keeper unless it aborts for some reason and then i would use the plant as a genetic plant and grow secondary pumpkins with multiple crosses and halloween pumpkins. or possibly still set a secondary pumpkin if the worse case scenario. so my decisions are neing made for me nicely and 2 plants have keepers at this point and the 3 day old and 11 day old pumpkins will still compete on the 1493. that is if the 18' female with the star fish like 5 lobes successfully takes. otherwise i am all set with what i got. Sunday, July 3 View Page and say hello to another one of my little friends.....this is Harpo at day 10 this morning and 25.5" circ at 18.5' out on the 1725 Harp. this is not a marx brothers reference, but just a simple "O" i like to throw on names like my buddy Steve-O or Mike-O. she will be called Harpo, the Harpster, the Harp-o-rama, Harpy, Harpditty, or Harpanova and hopefully she will be Harperrific and grow Harptastically to Harpmongous size. lol. this girl grew 4.5" circ since yesterday morning in the high heat and heavy misting so she should be on her way. this picture shows a little more yellow with the shine and to the naked eye she is more creme colored with that slightly dimpley looking textured skin i have seen before that looks like she will take expansion well...at least i hope so. and i had to get this angle picture to show off her crooked nub. believe it or not, this makes me smile and dream of glory even though it may be of concern later on. for those that have seen her mama, you know why the crooked nub and early color has me dreaming big. and she is crossed with the 1209 shenoha that was 20 percent heavy. and pappy on the the 1209 is crossed with the 1725 harp. and they both are on track as pappy is up to 5" circ per day on day 14 and is sitting 44.5" circ. and just about averaged 5" per day the past 4 days. these 2 reverse crosses might have to be crossed next year as (heavy x big) x (big x heavy). didn't i say they got me dreaming?.....just dreams at this point......long ways to go and if this season has taught me anything, look out for the curveball. it has a wicked hook. lol. go whitesox! Sunday, July 3 View Page just got done pruning all males flowers off all 3 plants. i also have mill fabric under clegg jr. #2 at 18' on the 1493 that is 5 days old and still off the ground and should be down later today with a shorter thick stem like last year still holding her up and a longer egg shape then clegg jr. #1 at 11.5'. clegg jr. #1 is starting to get going and put on 4" circ since yesterday and is almost at a nice 90 degrees from the main and will be there in a day or 2 of continual slow adjustments. i still have them covered with multilple small tables back to back for better protection from the sun. pappy and harpo already have their pemanent tarp shade structures up that were put up yesterday before the hot sun came out. clegg jr. #1 or clegg jr.# 2 will get a permanent shade tarp when the decison is made here shortly and the name will be reduced to just Junior. with a smaller start early, the longer i wait to remove one or another will slightly effect the other. i am leaning on going with #2 for shape and distance out and no vine clearance issues with the main terminated at the pumpkin. size at 10 days will be the final decison maker. won't be long before the patch is filled out. 2 more vine burying sessions and by next week the patch will be filled up. weekly sunday demand cs spraying will continue as i have done for the past 3 sundays. last week i used the fogger heavy and will do so again this week. Monday, July 4 View Page Pappy on the 1209 Shenoha 2010 crossed with the 1725 Harp at 15' on day 15 at 2 pm at 52" circ. perfect growing weather has arrived and the pumpkins and plants have responded accordingly. Monday, July 4 View Page discovered a nice approach for spraying tonight by accident. i sprayed demand cs and fulvic acid with the stihl fogger dropping the barrel below every row of secondaries from the outside in and also from behind the stump area to the center of the plant under the leaf canopy and up and down behind the plant shooting in and under. this gives great total coverage on all stalks vines and under side of leaves and this is my normal procedure to use 4 gallons total for the underside of all 3 plants or 1.3 gallons per underside of each plant at fine droplet setting. i up the dosage a bit for the underside of these more mature leaves gettting hit. then i ran out of gas when i began to do the top coverage. i was going to wait until tomorrow night but then thought it is gonna be hotter tomorrow night and the dog was going crazy from the fireworks, so i used the back pack pump sprayer for top coverage and liesurely sprayed for 45 minutes to the sound of fireworks, my dog barking like mad in the house, and looking up at all the beauty. God Bless America! and i figured while the stomata are wide open and i was spraying to the light of the garage flood light and corner street light at 9:30, why not, not throw in a light dose of 3-18-18 as i am just hitting the top of the plants where less stomata and this will be a nice way to slowly start the foliar fert program. from here out i will be using a light does of 3 18 18, fulvic acid when weekly spraying and up the the full dose of 3 18 18 in 2 weeks. fungicide will go in the mix next weekend. drench program of neptunes seaweed and fish, humic acid, and light 3 18 18 will begin on wed. and will be every wed. this week i will use the back pack pump sprayer for application of actinovate, biota max, and thrive and do this every 2 weeks the rest of the season on the underside of the the plants and soil. under 90 days til the weigh off. lol. Friday, July 8 View Page Harpo on the 1725 at 18.5' out on day 15 at 12:30 pm at 54" circ. you can see a little burn scar from a big drop of forehead sweat the landed smack dab on the girl on day 8 when i was putting mill fabric down and i forgot to get the water bottle to rinse it off. doh! that will be a nice size scar by the end of it all. no biggie...the harpster just got some early character. lol. this plant has been actively kicking out pop up terts everywhere since the main was dead headed at the pumpkin. that is ok as they get whacked as they show and also add a little shock absorber to the system as these plants have been seein a lot of water with the higher heat temps and bright sunny high uv skies with not much wind. misting heavily with heavier droplet mister heads to water and cool plants at same time to keep them leaves producing at high effeciency levels. Saturday, July 9 View Page pappy on the 1209 is 77.5" circ today on day 20 at 5:30 am and Clegg Jr. on the 1493 at 18' is 29" circ on day 10. the 18 footer was kept and the 11.5 footer was culled 3 days ago. i will take some pics after work. i still haven't started my drench program due to heavy misting in this heat and high uv days with little wind. i am already pushing the water a bit so no sense over doing it at this early stage with too many ferts also. i will wait until wednesday and then do it every wednesday with the 6' lightweight plastic tube and watering cans with the top removed and pour down tube and reach to the interior areas while on the walking boards. the boards are left in place all season all the way to the main every 3rd row of secondaries. biota max, thrive and actinovate will be spread tonight under the leaves and on soil with a direct stream spray with my pump back pack sprayer to reach interior good coverage. not many areas left to fill up patch. spidering remaining secondaries and i have about a pound left of the original 30 pounds of pumpkin pro for the year and one more vine burying session and all 2300 sq ft will be filled. with all mains for different reasons deadheaded at the pumpkin this year which is a first, i now have one at 18.5', one at 18', and one at 15' with all of them having their entire plots of plant in front of the pumpkin. minus the areas where the pumpkins sit and the surrounding edges for walking makes it about 675 sq ft of plant average before the pumpkins and zero after. i am all in. Sunday, July 10 View Page clegg jr. on the 1493 yesterday on day 10 Sunday, July 10 View Page this is a pic pappy on day 20 yesterday on the 1209. got the look of loose skin and i can see qualities mostly from the 873 naylor and a little elongation from the 991 last year. i just met a new future grower who drove by and walked up as i just got done measuring harpo on the 1725 twice cuz i was a little puzzled when i did the math. 13.5 circ inches in 48 hours on the nose is sick. and after seing one of georgies backups blew, the first "s" thought has creeped into the mind. hang on kids, we are going for a ride! so i explained to the guy all the method of the madness in a half hour patch tour and he is in...i can tell. a good ole retired mexican gentleman with plenty of time on his hands who said he has always dreamed of growing a giant pumpkin. so did i in 2002 and little did i know what i was in for. lol. he had that sparkle in his eye of disbelief and i got his address and will send him some seeds this winter and he is bringing his family to the weigh off. and then when he left i smiled and thought that growing these things are one thing, but growing the love of growing these things is for me what it is all about. Monday, July 11 View Page "I am still here ya bastard!" again quoting papillon. 70 mph winds this morning rolled through while as at work. when i saw the amount of construction debris flying around and the dust storm from the recent dry spell i knew i was in for some trouble. it was a wicked straight line bow echo front that punched out 600,000 people without power in chicagoland area. thankfully i still have power to keep the humidity down in the house and the 95 degree temps are staying at bay from the cloud cover. so i was listening to the radio and googling wind gusts on my smart phone and saw plainfield and crest hill had 70 to 75 mph winds. then i got free from my afternnon job due to rain and started home. branches off trees down rt 53. big branches. coming down theodore st. heading west branches down on almost every tree down the road. turn on to rt 30, more trees down. turn into subdivision. have to back up cuz whole tree crossing the road one block from my house....this is when my heart skipped a beat. pulling towards house and i have a 6" thick branch on my front tree snapped and hanging in the road....not a good sign. and to my amazement......i got lucky. i have always hated that neighbors tree to the west that shortens my evening sun. not today. good tree. 4 partially rolled over ends to secondaries on the 1725. no snapped leaves. 4 partial rolled over secondaries on the 1493, one snapped leaf. no damage to the 1209 at all as it was the most buffered from wind direction. it was the rolling backwards east wind in the rolling wall of wind the rolled them back towards the west which was the way the storm came from. i have seen this many a time with these storms. everything back in order and rolled overs propped up and reburied and secured with long garden stakes on the sides of the leaf stalks. Wednesday, July 13 View Page harpo on day 20 this morning at 6 am and checking in at 85" circ. that is an average of 5.95 inches per day the last 10 days and was hitting 6 to 6.75" per day during the recent 5 day hot spell. tongight with cooler temps i will do the weekly (7 to 10 days depending on temps at night) spray and will incorporate fungicide program along with insecticide, fulvic foliar and a light dose of 3-18-18 all mixed together. not going crazy on drenches or ferts yet as the temps are going back up to hot and watering and heat will be enough along with the light foliar to keep the levels of p and k equal and available in good amounts as these girls get ready to start putting on the fat fast. Thursday, July 14 View Page clegg jr. on the 1493 shenoha at 15 days and 52.5". its favorite consistent number is 4.5" per day. hopefully in the heat and after day 20 it kicks in high gear like mama did after day 20. looks like it might have some orange color to it as this one is the most yellow in the patch. it has a very thick stem already compared to the the other 2 pumpkins and this pumpkin is barrel shaped instead off the egg shape clegg sr. was last year. with this one at 52.5" circ on day 15 and the culled 11.5' pumpkin was at 40" circ on day 15, i am happy with my decision....so far that is. long way to go for clegg jr. i am very happy to have it crossed with the power of the 1725. Thursday, July 14 View Page pappy on the 1209 shenoha at 25 days and exactly 100" circ this morning at 6 am. it averaged 4.5" circ the past 5 days. Tuesday, July 19 View Page pappy on the 1209 made it to 30 days and hit 117" circ on day 30 and has averaged a little under 3.5" circ per day from day 25 to 30. i will do an ott too from here out later on and start tracking actual poundage. i haven't tracked any otts yet and usually wait til after day 30. yesterday harpo on the 1725 was 109.5 " circ at 6 am on day 25 and averaged 4.95" circ per day from day 20 to day 25. clegg jr. on the 1493 hit 5" circ average per day from day 15 to 20 and this morning on day 20 is 77.5" circ. Tuesday, July 19 View Page clegg jr. on day 20 on the 1493 shenoha (991 urena x self) and pollinated with the 1725 harp Tuesday, July 19 View Page clegg jr. on the 1493 shenoha day 20 Tuesday, July 19 View Page pappy on the 1209 shenoha on day 30 at 117-76.5-75 or 268.5" ott and estimated at 414 pounds. Saturday, July 23 View Page Harpo on day 30 this morning at 6 am and sitting 129.5-77-77 = 283.5" ott or estimate of 484 pounds. Saturday, July 23 View Page crazy growth in the heat and harpo has some stem side splits forming. somewhat shallow at this point and captan was applied after this pic this morning. my 1446 werner pumpkin had similar size and depth of splits along rib lines near the stem area in 2008 and that pumpkin made it to the show. will Harpo make it to the show....or will she blow? at least so far out of the entire Chicago area we have gotten the least amount of rain...maybe 1 or 1.5 inches the last 2 days combined. other areas have seen 7 inches in 3 hours....yikes.....i got lucky there. more on the way so hopefully i keep dodging the brunt of it cuz this girl needs no more pressure. if anything at all, i really want to hold this girl together for mature seeds cuz i really like the cross. i am glad if i have to contend with splits, they are on this side of the pumpkin. fan is blowing and there is no weeping at this point. thanks for the curveball mother nature....you always have to keep my mind a frettin'. lol. chalk this up to one of the whackier seasons i have ever grown in. Saturday, July 23 View Page this pic was taken at work yesterday....wicked green colors and heavy rotation.....chicago weather has been nuts this year. Sunday, July 24 View Page and i thought it rained hard last night at midnight with 2 inches total......i am looking out the window at a deluge............wow! flash flood warning going and it was our turn down south that we missed up north yesterday. record flood in one day up north in chicago. it has rained buckets for over a half hour straight and at 3 inches per hour....well let's just say those stem splits on Harpo are getting the mother load of stress. i am still optimistic at this point because i have battled stem side splits on the rib lines and into the stem with wide open triangular cavities all season....but this ain't helping my optimism. the splits this morning again look superficial along the rib line and are dry. it's the upper split in yesterdays pic forming a little deeper into the stem and will probably gap open. i need to get a turkey baster for when and if the split opens into the stem deep enough to expose the space between the pumpkin and the stem. i use the turkey baster and a folded piece of paper to blow captan powder into the cavity to help prevent rot from forming where i can't see it or treat it. this kind of rain event is when the weeds below the canopy help absorb the water pressure and help hold my soil structure in place better. and the crown in the patch...it is doing its job as best as it can. still raining just as hard as it was now 45 minutes straight. it ain't ever easy is it....lol......and it never will be. so tomorrow night needless to say is heavy fungicide coverage time on the coolest day predicted for the past 8 days and for the next week. and that is 88 degrees. lol. Monday, July 25 View Page didn't go into the patch yesterday at all except along the sidewalk to check out the stem side dry splits on the rib lines of Harpo on the 1725. the intial ones are still superficial and not deep at all and there was one new one yesterday and another new one today, all on rib lines. funny thing is after looking at pics of the 1725 harp pumpkin from the stem end i see brown healed ribline splits at the stem end in almost the identical rib lines. weird. also my bud J.T. (jason traylor) sent me some reassurance emails about his 1449.5 stem side rib splits with the same 1385 genetics that held together. thanks J.T. i always talk a big game about taking it all in stride, but trust me, my mind gets spinning like everyone elses especially when you got a good grower going early on. the last 2 days with 4 to 5 inches of rain have weighed on me a bit....pun intended. hopefully she will be fine cuz it is probably going to be my only chance at a new personal best this year. Pappy on the 1209 is growing nicely, but like the 1209 last year it starts slowing on outside numbers as hopefully the inside walls are growing to 20% heavy again. it also has the healed varmint wound on the main that has healed good but still lost some flow. Pappy is doing a little over 25 lbs a day and is sitting 131.5-84.5-83 = 299.0 ott or 566 lbs on day 36. clegg jr. on the 1493 isn't going crazy but is a nice pumpkin so far and is sitting 101-63-66 = 230" ott or 265 lbs on day 26. Thursday, July 28 View Page Big Bottom Girl Harpo on day 35. nice ass!!!!!!!!! Hippy Harpo. this girl is a Dead Head like papa shaz back in the day seeing and listening to Jerry and the boys do their magic on the stage. got lucky enough to see the grateful dead about 40 or so times before Jerry took the big dirt nap. those days were too much fun for one human being to have. in fact all of my pumpkins are dead heads this year as they are all deadheaded at the pumpkin. blocking is essential in a different way to keep the main from wanting to fold or kink where the straight-in-main attaches to the stem. as the pumpkin grows taller, if the main is not raised and blocked accordingly, a small bend forms underneath that will lead to a big kink eventually if the stress is not released and elevated more parellel to the stem. learned that the hard way some years back. some wait as long as possible to cut taps and release. i now do them all immediately when very young even with adjoining secondaries as needed so the plant never misses that source of water intake and then do not miss it after the pumpkin is growing nice and you severe later. and i would rather stay ahead of stress instead of waiting until almost the symptoms appear and its too late. works for me but just had this discussion recently and thought i would share my opinion. Harpo's dry rib splits are healing nicely and more have appreared on other rib lines in the same area, but none seem to be wanting to go into the stem which makes me feel better. this morning the Harpmeister is sitting at 144.5-83-83 = 310.5" ott or 632 pounds on day 35. Thursday, July 28 View Page tonight i will use back pack pump sprayer and send a stream of actinovate, biota max, and thrive under the leaf canopy of the plants. i will also drench with cal mag, 3-18-18, and begin a light dose of 0-0-25 and then mix it half strength this sunday with 3-18-18 along with fungicide and insecticide mix with the fogger. this will slowly add more k to go along with the 3-18-18 to keep adequately supplying what the plants need for consistant growth going into the second halves of the fruits developmental period. 9 weeks left to concentrate. Friday, July 29 View Page Pappy on day 40 on the 1209 is 139-89-87 = 315" ott or 659 lbs. it is doing a little over 23 pounds per day. i did not measure Harpo this morning, but as of today based on yesterdays measurements and growth rate, Harpo has caught Pappy for patch supremcy in ott size eventhough it is 4 days younger. with the smooth ribless skin like last years 1209 at this stage, i would have to bet that if they were on the scale today Pappy with hopefully its thicker walls would weigh more. i just hope they both make it to the scales and let the chips fall where they may. they are both nice pumpkins at this stage and both plants are crossed with the other. clegg jr on the 1493 is not doing anything spectacular, but i am going to everything i can to try to get her to 1000 lbs. this included a little heavier on the ferts for this one with my drenching yesterday which also included seaweed and fish with the other products mentioned yesterday. also did the bioata, thrive, actinovate beneficials application yesterday for the 3rd time this season now. found 3 older main vine junctions with minor rot forming in small fissures closer to the stump side on the 1493 that were scraped clean, cleaned with bleach, captan placed and a fan with 3 tables lined up and covered then with a tarp. it was a good move before last nights rain. 80 dew points is potential rot city and all mains and stumps will be inspected more frequently as these 3 areas showed in less than 3 days time. the fungus and rot spores are now out popping big time and fungicides will be applied every 7 days religously. Saturday, July 30 View Page closely inspected each main vine union this morning using the walking boards and found a fourth union on the 1493 where the leaf was still healthy but a fissure formed from past wind storms. all four have the same fissures on top that have collected water and rot spores that set up in a prime condition for development closest to the interior flesh of the vine in the cracks. all were cleaned of rot and the leaves were old and removed and trimmed close so no pooling water in stalks bases against the main. diluted bleach rub with napkin and captan applied and the will have a nice day of 90 degree waterless weather with lower humidity to heal. nothing on the 1209 or 1725 mains, but the three oldest main vine unions got a nice covering with captan as preventative maintenance. gave the grass weeds that popped above leaf canopy a hair cut today and got more airflow around the mains. this will help when i blast fungicide heavy down the mains with the fogger. i do not pull any weeds from here on out and havent done so for 2 weeks. i try to avoid disturbing any roots at all for the final second half push and feel all that interior work pulling weeds is sacrificing more with the damage from intertwined roots and compaction of soil. round up is not to my liking and i do not mind under canopy weeds. it is an economic of choices decision. for the small amount of nutrients i am losing to the weeds, i feel the benefits of them in a rain period like the past 2 weeks helps burden the load on the soil structure and soil food web community and help transpire some of that ground water more quickly. it is almost a symbiotic relationship as long as they do not get above the canopy and steal light. this is where the scissors and haircut come in. they are all mostly just rye grass or other grasses and even when poking above the canopy between weekly haircuts, they aint stealing much of any light at all. patch work is done for the day...going to the bar. Monday, August 1 View Page after a hellish high heat and humidity day at work and a worse scenario of high humidity and heat tomorrow set up for a day that i will be in full sun, hard hat, jeans, safety vest, in a trench doing footing undercuts with no wind...............this made me smile very big and for longer than anything in a while. it's my first long neck swan gourd that has finally taken in this extreme weather. must have been the cloudy days cuz i have a total of 50 aborts easy on the first ones. i gave them a good dose of 3-18-18 and cal mag about a week ago also and hopefully i can get some more sets. this plant at this time proves to me the stress levels on all the plants. my fellow growers who have had aborts and still trying to get sets on AGs must not give up. a pumpkin set in early august can still do 250 on a secondary easy and maybe finsish 600 or 700 come weigh off and then some. hoping for many more sets on the long neck speckled swan gourds so i can make a bunch of birdhouses this winter. did i ever mention i may be a little out of my gourd. lol. budweisers taste so much better when this armpit weather is on us. going back outside to watch the team of 12 or so 4 winged 6" long dragon flies patrol the patch and pick off everything at dusk. its so cool to watch them quit flying and grab hold of the prey with in a couple feet of your head and see them secure the catch and then re-right them selves as another comes right over your head. around and around the patch these 12 go every night and everynight i say, "get em". the are black and one made its way into my house and as i cradled it in a hat that writhing torse freaked me out. i know they are not a scorpion, but get a live one in your hand that looks prehistoric and you might flinch. life is good. Monday, August 1 View Page i just cleaned out my george castanza 3 inch thick black wallet and found some good luck tokens of happen stance i have kept in one of the back flaps for a while now. each has its own meaning and crack me up. will they help me battle the severe storms tomorrow night? ...................i sure the hell hope so! i most likely just threw my self under the proverbial mother nature bus.....but still worth a try. lol. Tuesday, August 2 View Page Harpo on day 40 is 156.5-89-87.5 = 333 " ott amd estimated at 777 lbs. it averaged 28.6 lbs per day the past 5 days and is a very consistent grower as it has done 28 to 30 for the last 15 days. hoping to hit 1000 estimate in 8 to 9 days. stem side rib splits are still shallow and healed and none have weeped. there is one at almost every rib valley but one or 2 now. i think these stretch marks are just the way this girl grow....at least i hope so. i continually address with captan and areas have never seen water and have a fan running continuously on them since they showed. 100 degrees on the bank thermometer down the road. wicked hot today and windy equalled watering in the form of 2 hours rain tower sprinkler 4 to 6 am. then switched hoses, set timer and went to work and watered on and off with heavy droplet misting system all day, and back to the rain tower for 2 hours to cool down from 4 to 6 pm the plants, the tarp tops, the surrounding brick house gathering and retaining heat, the driveway, the fence...and myself and oreo my dog of course. she loves to bark and jump each times it comes around like a nutball. like owner like dog. Saturday, August 6 View Page same exact weekend last year when i noticed the first small blotches of powdery mildew show. every leaf on all three plants were inspected and the 10 or so leaves all together were hit individually with stylet oil in a jet stream blast cleaning the fuzz off the infected leaves. i added some actinovate and not sure if it will work mixed with the stylet oil, but it couldn't hurt in my mind. so all the surrounding leaves near the affected ones were sprayed with the stylet above and below. this was done in the cloudy morning when first noticed today as i was pruning some pop up terts and giving the weeds a haircut to keep them below the leaf canopy. tonight i hit the plants with a good dosing of quintec fith the stihl fogger at 3/4 to 1 tsp per gallon along with some 3-18-18 and a lite 0-0-25 mix along with some fulvic acid. i will foliar every 4 to 5 days from here on out and go heavier with the 0-0-25 after day 55 of the pumpkins and at that time do equal portions of both 3-18-18 mixed together. tomorrow i will take some measurements and pics. also have now 5 long neck swan gourds that have taken and 3 nice fused tomatoes going with the first one getting close to being ready for the scale on the 4.04 butler that was 19.25" circ a few days ago and no signs of ripening yet. it is by my guess about 3 lbs right now and rounder besides being wide. hard to tell how many fused inside a tomatoe that looks like one, but the bottom shows the truth with maybe 4 or 5 chambers. Sunday, August 7 View Page this tomato is on the 4.04 johnston/butler plant and was 19.75" circ this morning and still growing. i also have a 19" circ tomato still growing on the 4.25 lyons that is harder to get a pic of. i have a double banger siamese on the 5.18 lyons that is younger and at 16" circ. 2 other very younger recent megabloom sets on the the 5.35 lyons and 3.08 shenoha. i lost a nice one one the 3.08 to an oozing rotted split on a slightly calcium defcient tomato with a minor case of BER that healed but then split later in the area. very happy to be at this point with the hot summer. i used a heavy mulch around the bases of the plants in early july to help retain water more evenly as this area is very hot with reflecting sun off the new fence. the 7.33 never threw my a fused and after waiting til 6 feet tall i went with a single that isn't doing much. that plant is about 8' tall now and all have been topped and pruned at deifferent stages when i decided i would go with my keepers. Sunday, August 7 View Page this is clegg jr. on the 1493 on day 39 looking nothing like its momma at this point. lol. with its baboon ass blossom and big butt and more narrow shoulders, it is almost the reverse shape. this shape reminds me of my 1147 grown off the 1041 that went 15.4% heavy. i am hoping this girl picked up some of those heavy 991 genes that are normal and more consistent with most other 991 progeny with many going 20 percent heavy. i will get 40 day measurements tomorrow. Sunday, August 7 View Page Pappy this morning on day 49 on the 1209 shenoha. i will get numbers on day 50 tomorrow. Sunday, August 7 View Page and here is Harpo on the 1725 at 45 days old. i will wait until day 50 for numbers. Monday, August 8 View Page ok....for lack of better words or the most coherrent words...(i swear to god as i typed this my dog oreo cut a loud ass dog fart).... i won more games then lost tonight at darts which meant more than one or 6 jagerbombs along with my regular budweiser intake.....and then i came home. let the crazy bitch oreo out to pee...and while trying to teach my mom how to send videos or pics through text messaging.....out of no where comes the download of the "real american heroes giant pumpkin guy" clip that i have downloaded on the phone but have no idea where it is or how to find it....and it popped up and i let it play and laughed my ass off.....then played it over again....and kept laughing. then i settled down to type this nonsense....but very weird....even by my standards Tuesday, August 9 View Page pappy on day 51 this morning is 153 95 93 or 354" ott and estimated at 833 lbs. not a world shaker but average 15 pounds per day over the last 11 days and hoping to get her above the 1000 estimate and then hope her genetics take her past 1200 with wall thickness. day 41 for clegg jr and this one will have to go heavy to reach 1000 lbs and is 134 84 83 or 301" ott or estimate of 577 lbs. and harpo averaged about 22 lbs the last 7 days and is sitting 167-95-92 or 354 ott" on day 47 and estimated at 933 lbs. at this rate, i am hoping to clear 400 ott with harpo. the 4.04 johnston butler tomato is still growing and is sitting 20.25" circ and the 4.25 lyons tomato is sitting 19.5" circ and both with no color changes yet. Sunday, August 14 View Page 2.94 shenoha 2011 off the 4.04 johnston/butler. reminds me of a bear paw. Sunday, August 14 View Page 2.94 shenoha 2011 to the left, 2.70 shenoha 2011 to the right off the 4.25 lyons, and my good friend Mr. Budweiser caught in the middle of this beautiful 3 way.....sexy. Sunday, August 14 View Page harpo on day 52 tonight was 172.5-98-95 = 365.5" ott or estimate of 1023 lbs. doing a little over 1" a day still circ and about 17 per day poundage. started to train some pop up terts to fill in areas around the main in the first 7 feet of each plant where old tired leaves were removed. plant and stump are still very healthy with no issues of rot on the main at this point. the quintec ans spot hitting with stylet oil in conjunction with actinovate and other fungicides in rotation have kept the powdery mildew in check the best i have ever done at the middle of august. also began using cal carb last week when the heat and humidity broke. got a nice 3/4 inches of rain yesterday for a good deep soaking. foliar dertilizing about every 4 to 5 days and included another tablet of biota max also in the last hit. hopefully i can coast her in to the 400 + ott range with long term growth. Tuesday, August 16 View Page made a mistake on pappy 7 days ago and put the wrong final ott but the right estimated weight. 7 days ago it was estimated at 833 lbs and 7.5 days later it is estimated tonight on day 58 at 159.5-99-97 = 355.5 ott or 942 lbs and still averaging 14.5 per day the last 7.5 days and staying steady which is very cool. if and when she gets to 1000 lb estimate, it will be the first time a Shenoha seed hit 1000 lb estimate or better. she is thumping like a rock like her 20 percent heavy momma and figure she is already at 1000 if it hit the scale and then some. getting gnarley looking with more cantaloping and bulging. i will get a pic on day 60. my last big chance at a personal best tomato split and rotted on the underside fusing point and is done. so the tomatoes are pretty well done with the stragglers very small and on late sucker shoots. was still a very good year with the 2 big'ns posted already and am looking forward to trying again last year. nothing like the thrill of the weigh off and walking into the butchers with a smile on your fice ear to ear and everyone asking what is it and can't believe they are tomatoes at first. 2 tomatoes at 20" circ was not to shabby and should be enough to win the bobby's tap tomato contest and 50 bucks. never know though a couple friends still with potential and having a blast trying their hand at monster gardening. Friday, August 19 View Page Pappy on the 1209 shenoha on day 60 and should see the 1000 lb est. tomorrow on day 62 and still steadily growing about 14 per day. the cantaloping and bulging is getting more pronounced which is cool to watch them morph into the beasts they become. Friday, August 19 View Page and here is an overhead side view. the pumpkin is dead headed at the kin and that skinny little vine is the secondary kept at the union and raised along with the main. glad to see this one is forming a hump and is pushing up with a nice big bulge on top forming. Humpback Pappy. that has a nice ring to it. Saturday, August 20 View Page we are getting a gully washer right now. i will guess 2"-3" in an hour by the time it stops. i watered thoroughly yesterday morning and then from 3 to 6 pm last night and again this morning leading into the storms to slowly saturate the ground prior to the this mornings rains over the course of the last 24 hours in intervals. last thing i need is a big push on 58 and 62 day old pumpkins. i think they will be fine and a good soaker at this stage to set up 2 or 3 more weeks of good growth will work nicely. a little nitrogen from the abundance of lightening for the new tert growth i am letting happen is good too. this is when having the grass weeds chopped off below the leaf canopy help to take the pressure off the plant and soil community from these types of pounding rains and will help hold the soil structure better and then also help transpire the excess water faster. and its times like these that the crown in the middle of the patch is critical. Sunday, August 21 View Page harpo has been a joy to grow in a season of hellish temps, high humidity, violent storms, record july rains and heat. and 4 months ago when the other 5 out of 6 transplanted sprouts had 10 to 20 corn seed maggots take them down in 24 hours including an 1161, this girl survived. upon inspection of the stem all the way to root level on that miserable day it had one single corn seed maggot with its head barely attached to the stem when it was removed and i had to leave it propped up with a small bamboo stick and rush to get supplies at the garden shop before i would backfill any dirt back around the stem........it is just plain silly to think about. the odds just to get this one to this size in this "f"ed up year....definately a long shot. i hope i can just get her in one piece to the scale. and to make it even sillier, as i was taping her this morning i saw a mouse run out from under a board near the pumpkin that i have purposely placed on the side of my house that i have decon under so only mice can get to the poison. it made me feel good that the mouse was eating the poison under the boards. it didn't make me feel good when i scared it and it went right to a rib line groove and under the pumpkin. i had a family living under the 1493 last year in the same exact spot with a nest and tunnels under the mill fabric and they actually pulled weeds under the pumpkin on top of the mill fabric and nested there a bit too with no harm. that still doesn't make me feel much better though....lol.....gotta love this hobby! harpo is sitting at exactly 1100 estimate this morning on day 59. Sunday, August 21 View Page top view of harpo as she has decided to start tunring a salmon/orange color. this picture and the low light of sunrise has her looking darker in the pic than to the naked eye, but the coloring is happening and some minor cantaloping as this girl is pushing in one major direction....wider... down low as it fans out on the sides. with another drop in daily gains to 12 lbs per day, i will be very happy if i can get her to 400 ott. good weather and a relatively healthy plant for this later stage will hopefully keep her creeping along for 41 more days until picking. 6 weeks from today is the 2nd Annual Monsters of the Midway Weigh-Off and if she make it in one piece to the scale, i am hoping to have plenty of competition from the other growers from Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Kentucky, Iowa, Ohio and beyond to battle it out for the IGPGA Belt and $5000, $2000, $1000, $800, $700, $600, $500, $400, $300, and $200 for first through 10th place along with $100 for the prettiest and $100 for the ugliest pumpkins. We are hoping for another good turnout and welcome all with Big'ns and those with anything at all of any size that made it through this whacky season to come share the day with us fellow gluttons for punishment and let the chips fall where they may. and tailgaiting will be encouraged!!!!!!!! Sunday, August 21 View Page top view of harpo as she has decided to start tunring a salmon/orange color. this picture and the low light of sunrise has her looking darker in the pic than to the naked eye, but the coloring is happening and some minor cantaloping as this girl is pushing in one major direction....wider... down low as it fans out on the sides. with another drop in daily gains to 12 lbs per day, i will be very happy if i can get her to 400 ott. good weather and a relatively healthy plant for this later stage will hopefully keep her creeping along for 41 more days until picking. 6 weeks from today is the 2nd Annual Monsters of the Midway Weigh-Off and if she make it in one piece to the scale, i am hoping to have plenty of competition from the other growers from Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Kentucky, Iowa, Ohio and beyond to battle it out for the IGPGA Belt and $5000, $2000, $1000, $800, $700, $600, $500, $400, $300, and $200 for first through 10th place along with $100 for the prettiest and $100 for the ugliest pumpkins. We are hoping for another good turnout and welcome all with Big'ns and those with anything at all of any size that made it through this whacky season to come share the day with us fellow gluttons for punishment and let the chips fall where they may. and tailgaiting will be encouraged!!!!!!!! Sunday, August 21 View Page and this side view pic has my back literally to the wall and leaning on the ivy covered brick wall of the house with the camara held out sideways to try to fit it all in. not the best pic, but a good side view i haven't pictured yet. you can see the row cover fabric i have removed for the pic that i use on the backside hanging off the tarp structure. i have elevated the tarp to keep it higher away from the pumpkin for heat purposes especially with the proximity to the brown brick house. and the row fabric attached to tthe sides blocks sidways sunlight for a high tarp structure while still allowing good airflow that a tarp all the way down further would trap. first time i have did this out of necessity with the high heat this year and anything i was able to do to keep the air temp around the pumpkin cooler was done. this included keeping the fan blowing over the stem side rib splits since day 30 that have shown and healed and are still showing and healing and the fan is tilted and positioned to blow up over the dry splits and over the pumpkin. this expels the trapped hot air under the silver sun reflecting tarps out the other side that has no row cover since no sun can hit that side. i should have cleaned up the weeds that grew in the corner of the tarped areas shown in this pic, but i will get those tomorrow with the weekly weed haircut i do before fungicide spraying with the fogger. not going in the patch at all today to let things dry out. 1.75" in the rain gauge yesterday wasn't as bad as i thought it would be, but for today i will let things dry out on a beautiful 80 degree low humidity brilliant sunshiney day. nice day to go spend in the bar. lol. Monday, August 22 View Page the weekends rain screwed up my jobsite for the day which i really didn't mind. a beautiful late august day. the lower angle of the sun means the house is blocking many of the youngest best looking leaves more towards the pumpkin of the 1725 until after 11 am. nothing i can do about that. also the tree by the garage now takes out sunlight to the 1493 plant for mid day hours from 11 am until 3 or 4. if i had a monster this year on that plant, i was going to top off the tree again as it hasn't been done in 4 years and much has grown back. i have grown 1125 in that spot so i know it can produce, but again not this year. clegg jr. in this picture on the 1493 ain't doing a real lot but is still gonna make a nice halloween party pumpkin at a big outdoor party if it stays in one piece. sitting a little over 700 lb estimate on day 54. i am glad to see Gene from Connecticut giving my 1493 a nice run. i am rooting him on as his pumpkin is a nice grower and his plant reminds me exactly of what my 991 looked like last year as far as leaf size and emerald green beautiful leaves. my 1493 looks pretty ragged right now with possibly a downy mildew and or alterntia (spelling) working its way slowly around. it is harder to tell old age leaves from diseased leaves, but patterns in areas give me signs there are something doing and some of it has reached the adjoing side by the 1209 plant. i will hit with some immunox tonight. the 1493 i have sort of let go to the weeds also as i am concentrtating my efforts on the 2 with better chances. it still gets all the same sprays, just not the drenches (rationing for the other 2 plants) and no more weed trimming below the canopy to avoid walking into that plant and carrying disease to the others. today i thoroughly drenched every area and down the main vine of the 1209 and the 1725 with full dosage 0-0-25, half 3-18-18 dosage, and full cal-mag dosage. Wednesday, August 31 View Page i was wondering why the big drop from 14 pounds to 7 pounds per day last week was...aphids. i got a late season aphid infestation that is in full force along with possible diseases that come with them. next year more systemic late season besides just contact. 2 weeks ago i sprayed a good dose of demand cs (same as warrior) but didn't do it weekly like normal as it is getting later in the season and less coatings on old leaves i thought might be better off. wrong. i got some spider mites tryiong to set up camp also and today at work i was next to a farm field and saw a ton of spotted cukes as they were landing on my yellow cylinder molds from work and you can see them flying through the air all day. i still have many nice leaves on the 1725 and they will be coated above and below heavy tonight and hopefully the disease the aphids bring besides the leaf damage will not take down the pumpkins before the weigh off. i think i should be fine, but have lost some poundage for sure. i was sitting about 380 ott on day 66 when measure 3 days ago for harpo on the 1725 and about 365 ott for pappy on the 1209. i will be very happy with 10 more inches ott on harpo as she still grew 3" circ last week. but pappy has come to a very slow crawl and hope to see maybe 1050 estimate when all is said and done. i good lesson learned the hard way and i am glad i can save some of the 1725 harp leaves for more slow growth this last 4 weeks. at least i know what the hell was going on during a very nice growing week weather wise besides blaming it on the cooler nights. this is the front of an infected looking leaf with the discoloration and some aphids on the top side. Wednesday, August 31 View Page and this is the back side of the same leaf. as you can see from the previous pic, the majority of the leaf is still green with the discoloration just starting. but its obvious by the backside that the damage is done and this leaf will soon be toast and the edges will brown and then the leaf will completely shrivel up brown within a week. i just got done spraying. heavily....so heavy i probably did more damage than good...lol. not sure if aphids overwinter in the ground so i would like to kill as many adults and eggs as possible. time to do some research. never had aphids ever before. chalk it up to an "E" season, all of the above. corn seed maggots right out of the gate, then squirrel or rabbits eating the 1209 main, then the extreme heat and humidity, then the violent storms, then the record july rains and 4th wettest august, then the slow recent disease onset, and the aphids on top make a perfect "f"d up season. but now that i think of it, getting over 1000 estimate on a main vine with a chunk eaten out of the top of it at 7' is something to be proud of. and harpo...i love her big ass. and i took a good long look at clegg jr. tonight as it is turning a nice orange yellow with no cantaloping and smooth skin knowing if it makes the distance, eventhough smaller in size, it is gonna look damn cool at the big halloween party all carved up. hell yes! the battle has been fierce this year and i am sure there will be more curveballs before, or more like if, all 3 make it to scale. i still have a chance of getting my personal best of combined weight of all 3 plants. i have a chance at growing 3 plants in the toughest year ever and getting a combined weight over 3000 lbs. this would be a first for me as one pumpkin or plant usually takes a dump on me. not literally thank God. figuratively. lol. Thursday, September 1 View Page for those that ever grew long neck swan gourds, you will know they open both male and female flowers at dusk until the a.m. tonight i got a first hand glance of how they have beeen getting pollinated. hummingbirds. i just watched my dog oreo try to chase ghosts....where the hummingbird was just a second ago....maybe one of the funniest things i have ever seen was to watch a 120 lb dog periouette and try its best to catch a ghost. i love mother nature....except for aphids. lol. Saturday, September 3 View Page stylet oil was also used on every lowerside and upperside of the leaves last night. after the heavy duty blasting of 16 gallons of mix with the stihl fogger 2 nights ago and then the stylet oil last night i brought out the magnifying glass to look for any signs of life on some selected pruned damaged leaves. hundreds on each leaf of every stage of development. winged ones, babies, momma wingedless. fascinating creatures i must say. and they are all now dead. i also had a little merit left over and did a drench this morning on the roots of the healthiest section of leaves left on the 1725 harp. 4 weeks from tomorrow will be the big show. The Second Annual Monsters of the Midway Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off at Bengston's Farm in Homer Glen, Illinois. It will be a very interesting weigh off with the tough conditions this year. who knows who has what and how many will travel for the chance at some very nice size prizes for their effort. we encourage all growers with pumpkins big or small to come get them officially weighed and compete against each other and their own personal bests. bring a cooler with what ever beverage of choice and come tailgate before hand and then feel free to go back to your cooler and pour your beverages into large coffeee cups to continue your beverage intake during the show. this is how we have been doing it for years. lol. and its cheaper this way. lol. anyone coming to watch the show does not have to pay to get into the farm. it is free. and for all particiapnts, you will get a family pass of 4 tickets to go into the nicest halloween set up in the entire Chicago land area with pig races, a pumpkin cannon launcher, hayrides, animitronic robots all over for the kids...you name it. top notch set up with the finest people you will ever meet hosting the event. looking forward to the big day. Sunday, September 4 View Page Gene Lariviere from Connecticut made me a proud Papa this week. This was the first 4 digit pumpkin grown off one of my seeds. It's a beauty Geno and a lot prettier than its Mama was, lol. Congrats again on winning first place in a very tough season and getting your new personal best and topping 1000 lbs. Thanks for giving it a run! the cross is the 1493 Shenoha 2010 (991 Urena x self) x 1610 Lieber (1161 Rodonis x self) Sunday, September 4 View Page scrreeeeeeeeeccchhhhhhhhhhh.....that is the sound of all the pumpkins coming to a grinding halt. 10 lbs this week ain't gonna cut it. lol. and it was hot in the 90s three days and hitting 98 degrees 2 days ago and now cool and gonna stay cool with lows in the low 50s. i have to believe with the record hot temps of june and july and hot early august and then that first cool down into the lower 50s mid august gave them the sign to finish. that is when the colors of the pumpkins changed within a week and drops in daily weights dropped significantly and then curved downward fast. i think the entire maturation and growing process was sped up a bit this year similar to like grwoing down south. it will be interesting to see how others in the midwest do with late season growth of older pumpkins and how the summer heat affected maturation process or faster development. 381 ott and that will be the last time i measure harpo before the weigh off. she is pretty well set and changing some colors with some green starting to show on the lower sides and definately some more bulging in areas not getting covered in the taping areas which are signs of slow growth. if she grows more, great. if not. oh well. the tricky thing will be deciding which to choose as official entry in 4 weeks. a 365 ott pumpkin with 20% heavy genes or a 381 ott which i think should go right to the chart. if they both make it to the weigh off then i will decide, until then, got a long 4 weeks to go. see ya all in 4 weeks come weigh off time and hope we get many of you from illinois and beyond to come to a Sunday event and bring your pumpkins to compete in the big show, or just come to hang out and enjoy a good time to be had by all. Sunday, September 18 View Page here is an interesting pic i took today of the varmint damage on the 1209 main vine at 7' from the stump. the pumpkin is set at 15'. i had to decide back then to either leave the main with the damage grow or chop and train the closest secondary to be the new main. after seeing Chris Stevens' hail damage that healed on his main last year, i decided to leave it be and protect it. it was an approximate 3" long bite running with the vine about a quarter to a third inch wide at the time of damage. if you see the june post with more severe damage, it looked like that with just nibbling on the very top in a thin straight line. captan was applied to the wound and a small table with a small silver piece of tarp over it with a brick on top was used to never allow any water inside the exposed opened up top of main. and now the pumpkin is estimated at 1050 pounds and still slowly adding a few pounds with only about 20 very poor looking older leaves and some new recent growth still kicking out. pretty neat how these things can heal with these bigger contusion tumor like woody growth, similar to a knot in a tree. i might have got one bigger on a retrained secondary, but by the time i would have waited for that, i would have been trying to set in higher 95 + heat that soon followed. i am glad i let it play out and appreciate the input from Chris' diary last year. Monday, October 3 View Page 11 am and i just woke up...nice!!!!!! what a great day yesterday was that went late into the evening as shazzy shazanova had his dancing shoes on last night, shaking it up at bobby's tap after the most fun i have ever had at a weighoff all day and night. wow what a beautiful blue skied 66 degree windless day we were blessed to have at Bengtson's Farms yesterday and had the priviliege to watch "the Godfather" Don Van Houtte win the event with a new PB and hold the the IGPGA belt held high while wearing an orange pumpkin cape too. my crazy friend Danny Flanagan was Mcee and his mother in law made a pumpkin cape and he made all the growers wear the cape after official weighing for pictures. so last night at the bar i am running around with the cape on dancing and bouncing around like a lunatic, and on the TV i see the Godfather on the news wearing the belt and the cape and we turned off the music and turned up the TV and watched and then there was a big roar and the party continued. God i love Joliet Ilinois and my Joliet peeps, my IGPGA brothers and sisters, Don and Ken Sweet, the Bengtsons and this insane pumpkin thing we do!!!! pictures will come soon as i shake off this wicked hangover. i signed my prize money check over to Bobby last night to square my bar tab and let the drinks flow all night long. wow what a day and night!!!!!!!! and oh yea, i picked the wrong pumpkin and the big girl went light and the 1209 pumpkin went heavy and georgie boy beat me by one friggin pound.....DOH!!! i will never hear the end of this one and more on this story to come. time to eat. Tuesday, October 4 View Page 1097 shenoha 2011 off the 1725 harp swinging into place on loading day Tuesday, October 4 View Page 1097 SHENOHA 2011 to the left (1725 Harp x 1209 Shenoha) at 6% light, 1156 SHENOHA 2011 center (1209 Shenoha x 1725 Harp) at 10% heavy, 906 SHENOHA 2011 to the right (1493 Shenoha x 1725 Harp) at 18% heavy which was a shocker for the nice color. i love this pic and i loved the glory ride to Bengstons. We were stopping traffic and almost causing accidents as people were video taping with their cell phones along side with thumbs up signs. that has to be one of the giddiest feelings us crazies have in this hobby....THE GLORY RIDE ROCKS!!!!!! 3 pumpkins, 3,159 pounds going down the road.......cool like Fonzi cool!!!!!!!!!! Tuesday, October 4 View Page 1097 and me at the show Sunday, October 9 View Page George Janowiak, me, Tyson Naylor and Greg Sliwka enjoying a cold one at our weighoff last weekend. after the Illinois heat this year, we deserved a cold one or two or three or...lol. Sunday, October 9 View Page here is a nice group shot at the weigh-off by the scale. Congrats Godfather, you deserved it!!!!!!!!! Tuesday, October 25 View Page last signs of the 2011 growing season....wow what a miserable growing year she was weather wise, but a great year of fun battling everything mother nature threw at me. i felt i adjusted well and definately learned a bunch in the process. i grew my first 1000+ pound pumpkin off one of my own seeds which was the 1156 off the 1209. also i was proud of the 2 900+ pounders grown off my seeds by tyson naylor, the 700+ threw 200 pounders by fellow illinois growers, and gene larviere who grew the 1047.5 off the 1493 shenoha that was a very pretty pumpkin too. these are things i will always take away from 2011 and when i go back and read my diary in 10 years (God willing), and i will laugh at the struggle of growing 3 plants in miserable conditions and still somehow getting 3 to scale. and eventhough Georgie Boy beat me by one pound, i had to remind him i was still number one in Illinois this year with the 1156 and snuck one onto the top ten list to boot. lol. yep, you got it, it still stings...lol. damn you Georgie Goy...look out for Fat Shaz in 2012, i am bringing it in a BIG way!!!!! Tuesday, October 25 View Page and on to 2012!!!!!! i decided to leave the soil food web alone and intact and do a no-till this fall and immediately get a deep rooting cover crop sprouted to help break up my subsoil. the winter rye from holland's sprouted very fast and is a lush green already and still filling in nicely. i haven't had my soil tested in 4 years now. i have been working on soil structure with the zeolite and biochar for nice coral reef like microscopic homes for the beneficials and will let them continue to work in conjunction with the cover crop roots to keep the soil active and strong all fall and early spring. i will then weed wack the grass in early spring and just rake it off. i will not use it as green manure due to this years corn seed maggots and there affinity to the clumps of nut fully decomposed rye grass clumps as i found last year. i will then ammend my soil as my spring soil test reads and start dialing in my levels now that i am happy with the structure. with the amounts of additives and shredded leaves the past falls and the 100 yards of compost added in the last 8 years combined has the top 16" of texture very nice. the original grass was in poor shape with little to no black dirt on top of a hard fat clay base built on top of buried flagstone. they built the original half lot i grow on up with fill in the 1920s with falgstone and clay. Much of the flagstone was removed 9 years ago, but the under lying clay still sucks and needs fracturing with the behmoth deep spader this spring. this is why i wanted the early jump with a double thick planting of rye. the patch was cleared on oct 3rds and the seed went down oct. 4th. i am hoping to get those extensive deep penetrating roots firmly in place to help create drainage channels once the plant is whacked and killed and the roots die. the roots are then more food for the soil food web this spring. and the cycle of critters eating and shitting continues... Tuesday, October 25 View Page so i got one pumpkin getting carved in front of a bar tomorrow, one pumpkin getting carved at a church this week, and this pumpkin has had literally tens of thousands of little feet on it all october long. and nothing could make me happier than seeing the abuse she has taken for the joy she has brought to so many. this is my buddy J-Dog and his boy Troy at Bengtson's Farm the other day with the 1097 shenoha. the pumpkin is still sound although beaten up heavily and my superintendent from work said kids were lined up for pics and then using it as a slide. that is what it is all about!!!!!!!!! and for all the yelling at the heavens i did this year, i hope The Big Guy above shines a little light on me for the pretty 906 getting carved at the church. and my 1156 which was named Pappy gets to hang out and get carved tomorrow with the seedy Joliet crew....pun intended....seedy...lol.....nice!!!!!! Thursday, October 27 View Page there are some things in life that make me proud.....i gave my dog oreo a bisket this morning before work...i was having a smoke and saw where she put it and with out her knowing i watched her cover it with leaves and the dirt she dug out of the hole. and then tonight after a night of silliness and shocktober fun at bobby's tap when it took 4 tries to get this 1156 girl upright with just human strength, i came home to my good girl Oreo, my dog, with some left over pizza on hand, and then i watched her go sniff....and look at me...and sniff...and then look at me again. so i said to her out loud, "you know and i know you saw me watching you bury your bisket, so you might as well take it now while the getting is good." and she did...and she waited til i laid down on the couch and laid the dirty bisket on my belly...and i said..."good girl, it is all yours." life is a gift.