Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 111 Entries. Sunday, April 19 View Page I don't know how current this diary will be but I'll try to keep it somewhat current. I have a 16 month old son so I did not grow pumpkins last year. A few months back a neighbor asked me to "help" him grow pumpkins this year. I took him up on the offer. This "new" patch consists of two differnt areas. One is a little more then 2,000 sq. feet and the other is about 500 sq. feet. Here is a picture looking left to right of the larger of the two. Sunday, April 19 View Page Here's the same patch looking right to left. We amended the soil based on the soil report we received about a month and a half ago. 10 yards of compost, blood meal, kelp, sulfer, humic acid, gypsum and a few other items were added and tilled in a couple times. Here is a picture looking right to left of the main patch. Most of it will get full sun throughout the day. Sunday, April 19 View Page I'm hoping that this situation will work out well. In addition to my 16 month old son I have a 5 year old daughter. My pumpkin mate's name is Del. He's 77 years old but you would not know it by watching him work in the patch. I'm going to teach him everything I know about growing pumpkins and hopefully I will not have to spend so much time tending to them. Here is a picture of the smaller of the two patches. We will be growing 5 plants so I started 9 seeds last night. We have a few more things to do before we can transplant but most of the "hard" work is finished. Friday, April 24 View Page Here are 5 that are just coming up under the T-5 grow lights. I bet you've never seen anything like it... Friday, April 24 View Page Rebar is in the ground for the hoop house and the T-tape has been laid and covered. Here are the seeds I've started: Weight Year Grower 1502 2006 Wallace 1370 2007 Daletas 1353 2008 DeBacco 1301 2008 Miller 1092 2006 Martin 1055 2008 Jutras 1032 2007 Daletas 1005 2004 Miller 991 2005 Urena It looks like the 1005 is not coming up. The others are up and growing. I'm growing 5 of the above. The for sure growers are the 1502, 1092, 1055 and 991. Any thoughts? Maybe I'll flip a coin for the 5th and final spot. I did not think I would the success I did with the germination process. I may start a few more seeds in the next couple days just in case something bad happends during or after transplanting. Like most growers I have WAY too many seeds. Any that I can't give away I'll probably take to the local Nursery and ask them to give it to interested growers. Monday, April 27 View Page T-tape is down and buried, hoop houses are up and the seedlings are in. That is, all except for one is in. Monday, April 27 View Page Here's the 1092 Martin before planting. I cut the pots in half and taped them back together before putting in the seed mix and seed. The seedling proves to be easy to remove and plant. If you look in the hole to the right of the plant you see RTI's Pumpkin Pro scattered around. Monday, April 27 View Page This is the 1,055 Jutras. Roots and stem all appear to be healthy. Monday, April 27 View Page I double planted a couple houses. This one is the 1032 Daletas on the left and the 1,055 Jutras on the right. The temperature all day was in the low 60's. The temperature in the hoop house was mid 80. Tuesday, April 28 View Page The last two went into the ground. The 1502 Wallace is on the right and the 1370.5 Daletas is on the left. I double planted 3 hoop houses. The back up in these 3 are the 2007 1032 Daletas and the 2007 1370.5 Daletas. I was doing some research on the aggc and both these seeds went almost 20% heavy and both the mother and father seeds were both heavy to the charts. I actually planted two of the 1032's as backups. The 1032 is the same cross as the 1308.5 McKie (1139 Sherwood '04 x 1370 Rose '03) which has 8 offspring registered in the aggc, seven of which were over 1,000 (largest 1556.5) and the 8th was the 943 Pukos. Sunday, May 10 View Page In the patch on it's own are the 1502 W. and 1370.5 D. This is the 1370.5 D. Sunday, May 10 View Page Here is the 1502 in the same hoop house. Sunday, May 10 View Page In the lower patch where we'll be growing 4 pumpkins the first hoop house has the 1353 DeBacco and the 1032 Daletas. This is the 1032 which is not growing as well as the 1353. Sunday, May 10 View Page Here is the 1353. Sunday, May 10 View Page The next hoop house over has one plant in it, the 1092 Martin. Sunday, May 10 View Page The third hoop house has only one in it as well, the 991 Urena. Sunday, May 10 View Page The fourth house has two plants in it, a 1032 Daletas and the 1055 Jutras. Here is the 1032 Sunday, May 10 View Page Here's the 1055 Jutras. A couple plants were a bit leggy so I mounded some dirt under them. Gophers are one of the main concers that I have this year. We're doing what we can to combat them but I know they will cause some problems this year. Sunday, May 17 View Page Here is my weekly update. The 1502 Sunday, May 17 View Page 1370.5 - this is in the same hoop as the 1502. As long as the 1502 does not have a flat vine or something happens to it I'll cull the 1370.5. Sunday, May 17 View Page 1353 Debacco Sunday, May 17 View Page Another of the 1353 DeBacco Sunday, May 17 View Page 1092 Martin Sunday, May 17 View Page 991 Urena Sunday, May 17 View Page 1032 Daletas This is in with the 1055 - As long as the 1055 does not have any issues it will be the plant I keep. Monday, May 18 View Page 1055 Jutras Monday, May 25 View Page 1502 - it got a little warmer today than I thought it was going to. The 1502 was a little wilted from the heat. Monday, May 25 View Page 1353 from the front - the vine is going sidways and is currently on its way to the ground. Monday, May 25 View Page 1353 from the back. This hoop is still double planted. As soon as the 1353 hits the ground the other plant is coming out. Monday, May 25 View Page 1092 Martin from the back. Monday, May 25 View Page 1092 from the front - the vine is still on its way down. Monday, May 25 View Page 991 Urena - you can see the vine just to the left of center making its way down. Monday, May 25 View Page 1055 Jutras from the back. Its vine it on its way to the ground too. Monday, May 25 View Page 1055 - the last picture was actually from the front, this is the 1055 from the back. You can see the vine growing to the right. As soon as it hits the ground the plant that is also growing in this house is coming out. Sunday, June 7 View Page All 5 plants look pretty much the same. The mains are about 7 feet out on each and growing pretty well. This is the 991 Urena and the 1055 Jutras. It's obvious that I have not had time to pull weeds. I'm hoping they will be out this week. Sunday, June 21 View Page 4 of the 5 plants are doing well. We learned that no matter how careful you are round up around the patch is bad. The 4 plants in the main patch did not really get hit but the 1502 is not doing real well. All 4 plants in the main patch are 12-16 feet and each has had a female open around the 10-13 foot mark. None of these will be kept. I had planned on taking off the hoop houses this weekend but it has been windy here so I decided to wait a few days. All vines have been buried and a generous amount of RTI pumpkin pro has been applied to each leaf axle. Here is the 1055 Jutras - behind it is the 991 Urena. Sunday, June 21 View Page 991 Urena Sunday, June 21 View Page 1092 Martin with the 1353 Debacco behind. Sunday, June 21 View Page 1353 DeBacco Sunday, June 21 View Page Now for the poor 1502. Sunday, June 28 View Page Open pollination of this 991 Urena 3 lobe female today. Sunday, June 28 View Page Another open pollination today - this time a 5 lober on the 1055 Jutras. Sunday, June 28 View Page This is a shot of the 1055 pollinated today. Sunday, June 28 View Page A shot of the patch. The 1353 DeBacco is the closest. There is a female that will be ready for pollination on Tuesday. Sunday, June 28 View Page Here's the 1092 Martin - there should have been a female pollinated today but Del accidently kicked it and it broke off. There is another a few feet out that should be ready at the end of the week. Sunday, June 28 View Page 991 Urena - Nice trouble free plant. Sunday, June 28 View Page Here is the distance between the 1092 and the 991. Once the pumpkins are growing - I'm hoping each will be on the opposite side of each other (it looks like they will be) I'll simply grow each in a flag pattern to the side of the pumpkin. I like to bury the T-tape but I had run out and put these in late. They are shorter than they should be but they are better than nothing. Sunday, June 28 View Page 1055 Jutras - I'm sorry to say that a gopher has taken a liking to this plant and we've not been able to get him yet. The gopher had taken off one vine and actually came up about 6 inches from the stump. I'm assuming the worse but I'm sure we'll get him soon and there are plenty of roots that have developed from the vines (how's that for a good attitude). Sunday, June 28 View Page Here's Del and the 1502. He is taking care of this plant and I'm caring for the other 4. I think at this point our best bet for this plant is to grow one off a side vine. We'll see what comes of it. Monday, June 29 View Page A side shot of today's 991 Urena pollination. Wednesday, July 1 View Page Open pollinated a 5 lobed female about 13 feet out on the 1353 DeBacco - 7/1. A female about 16 feet out on the 1092 should open up in 4-5 days. The females on the 991 and 1055 that were pollinated a few days ago are 13-14 feet out. I thought they were further out but an approximate measurement proved otherwise. Saturday, July 4 View Page 991 Urena 5 lobe pollinated 7/4 Sunday, July 5 View Page 1092 Martin 5 lobes open pollinated 7/5 Sunday, July 5 View Page Picture of the 1353 DeBacco open pollinated on 7/1 Sunday, July 5 View Page Picture of the patch - 1353 DeBacco in the front Sunday, July 5 View Page 991 Urena in the front and the 1055 Jutras behind. Unless one aborts I think we're done pollinating for the year. Each plant has a few open pollinations on a side vine and each plant has one or two already pollinated on the main. All vines are currently buried. I think I have used about 16 pounds of RTI's pumpkin pro mycorrhizae so far. I had a gopher chew 2 side vines off the Urena plant and 1 off the Jutras plant. I don't know what kind of damage he did below the surface. Del had been trying to trap and bait him without any luck. I went and bought more traps last night and found a tunnel on the outside of the fence leading into the patch and set two traps and caught him. I'm sure there are more but it's nice to get one. Sunday, July 12 View Page Here's the 1502 - the main was terminated after the pumpkin. Sunday, July 12 View Page Another shot of the 1502. Sunday, July 12 View Page A shot of the lower 4 plants. The first is the 1353 DeBacco. Sunday, July 12 View Page DeBacco pumpkin Sunday, July 12 View Page The sun is going down so the picture is not as clear as I would like. This is the 1092 Martin plant. Sunday, July 12 View Page 1092 Martin pumpkin. Sunday, July 12 View Page Picture of the patch looking the other way. This is the 1055 Jutras in the front. You can't tell where it begins in this picture but the 991 Urena is right behind. Sunday, July 12 View Page 1055 Jutras plant and pumpkin at the end. Sunday, July 12 View Page 1055 Jutras pumpkin. It's been a nice plant the only complaint so far is that the stems on the pumpkins are TINY - almost non existent. Sunday, July 12 View Page The 1055 Jutras is running out of room. Since the stem is so short I'm starting to consider terminating the vine after the pumpkin and letting the last secondaries shoot their 3rd vines out like a pitchfork. I'm still debating this... Sunday, July 12 View Page Another shot of the 1092 Martin plant. The 1353 is behind it growing the opposite direction. Sunday, July 12 View Page Here's the 991 Urena plant. You can see the pumpkin I think we're going to go with near the bottom right hand corner. Sunday, July 12 View Page 991 Urena pumpkin. Sunday, July 12 View Page Here's a pumpkin I culled yesterday off the 1055 Jutras. Sunday, July 12 View Page My wife and 5 year old daughter visted my sister-in-law this past weekend in Santa Barbara. Here's my sister-in-law. She feels and looks great after a 2,000 mile trip! Saturday, July 18 View Page 1502 - Due to the roundup issue with the plant, I'm not sure what the pollination date is on this one. It's not one we planned on keeping but it's on the main vine and we terminated the vine after it. Saturday, July 18 View Page 1055 Jutras - Day 20. Due to the short stem we terminated the vine after the pumpkin. Saturday, July 18 View Page 1353 DeBacco - Day 17 for this guy. Saturday, August 1 View Page 1353 DeBacco - day 31 at approximately 225 lbs. Saturday, August 1 View Page Bad news to report on the 1092 Martin pumpkin. About 2-3 feet from the pumpkin a gopher ate through the main. It was the second best pumpkin growing in the patch. We're going to line the patch with wire next year to keep the gophers out. Perhaps we'll rescue a couple cats from the shelter to protect them as well. Saturday, August 1 View Page This is the 991 Urena at day 28. It's only measuring about 135 pounds so nothing to brag about. It is a nice shape and is almost white. The pumpkin we had growing on the 1092 is in the background. Saturday, August 1 View Page This is the 1055 Jutras. It is the largest we have growing and at day 34 is almost 400 lbs. It will not break any records but will hopefully go over 1000 lbs for us. It is a little wider towards the blossom than the stem which may indicate that it will go light. Saturday, August 1 View Page A picture of the short stem on the 1055. The main was cut after the pumpkin - this is how it turned out. Saturday, August 1 View Page Another shot of the 1055. It is also a really light color and is a little wider on the right side compared to the left. Sunday, August 2 View Page Another shot of the 1353. It is growing over blossom end. Sunday, August 9 View Page 1353 DeBacco - day 39 - 116.5, 72, 72 - est. 380 lbs. Sunday, August 9 View Page Stem side of the 1353 Sunday, August 9 View Page 991 Urena - day 36 - 102, 70, 67 - 300 lbs. Sunday, August 9 View Page 991 stem side. Sunday, August 9 View Page 1055 Jutras - day 42 - 126, 82, 83 (circ, s-s, f-b) - 525 lbs. No records are going to come out of the patch this year. I honestly think the gophers have taken a large toll on the roots. We also have some mildew on the leaves that is not going to help. We're learning a lot this year about the new patch, soil and how to better tend and protect the plants in the future. One thing we will change for next year is to only plant 3 plants in the lower area, squeezing 4 has not worked. Sunday, August 9 View Page 1055 Blossom of the 1055 that I'm hoping will not become a future problem. Sunday, August 9 View Page Top view of the 1055. Monday, September 7 View Page 1353 DeBacco - 142, 85, 83 (circ, s-s, f-b) est. 632 lbs. Monday, September 7 View Page Another shot of the DeBacco Monday, September 7 View Page 991 Urena - 139, 88.5, 87.5 - est. 660 lbs. Monday, September 7 View Page Another 991 Monday, September 7 View Page Yet another 991 shot. Monday, September 7 View Page 1055 Jutras - 149, 93, 94.5 - est. 800 lbs. Monday, September 7 View Page Side shot of the 1055. Sunday, October 11 View Page 991 Urena - taping to 325 inches. Sunday, October 11 View Page 991 Urena from the front. Sunday, October 11 View Page 1055 Jutras - Me and the kids - 6 yrs and almost 2 years. The pumpkin is taping to 345. Sunday, October 11 View Page 1055 Jutras - We moved it once but the pumpkin really wanted to grow from the front putting the kink in the vine. Del will be weighing this one at Borchard Farms on the 17th. Friday, October 16 View Page Up, up and away... Saturday, October 17 View Page Borchard Farms weigh-off was today. Here I am with the 991 Urena. Measurements were 146.5, 90, 94 (measured by Pete Glasier and Jose Ceja after being weighed) an estimate weight of 760 lbs. I was hoping it would go heavy and exceed 800. Actual weight was 914 lbs, 20.34% over the chart. Needless to say, I was excited! Saturday, October 17 View Page Here's Del next to the 1055 Jutras just after it was weighed. Measurements were 155, 97, 96 for a total of 348 and an estimate of 884 lbs. Actual weight was 1,029 lbs - 16.35% heavy. Del was posing for the picture but when the weight was announced his smile was ear to ear. Saturday, October 17 View Page Here is the Borchard Farms winner - Leonardo Urena with his winning pumpkin - 1,242. Leonardo weighed in 2nd to last, just before Gary Miller. I did not hear what Gary's measurements were but the pumpkin looked like it would measure out to at least 1,300 lbs. When it hit the scale and the strap was removed it was announced at 1,238, just 4 lbs behind Leonardo's. Leonardo's was grown off a 991 Urena and he told me it was crossed with a 1041 Mckie. He shared that it measured to 1,027 lbs so it went 21% heavy. That I know of, there were 5 991's entered in today's contest. Here were the weights and % heavy to the chart (yes I did get an estimated weight or actual measurement). Actual weight - % heavy: 1)1,242 lbs 21% heavy 2)1,088 lbs 10% heavy 3)1,040 lbs I did not get the measurements 4) 914 lbs 15% heavy 5) 914 lbs 20% heavy My pumpkin was one of the 914's. The 991 Urena's have done pretty well this year (and in the past). Leonardo told me that he does not have many 991's left. He did share that when he was in Niagra (this year or last I'm not sure) he was playing pumpkin poker and lost a lot 991's. He also told me that he has given many out. If anyone wants one they shouldn't be too hard to find. However, once you find one the owner may not be willing to part with it. Wednesday, December 2 View Page Here's another pic of the 1055 that weighed in at 1029 lbs. Wednesday, December 2 View Page Here it is again last night in the back of the pick-up when we were disposing of it. Wednesday, December 2 View Page I've always liked to see pictures of half the pumpkin so the next couple are my 1/2 shots. Wednesday, December 2 View Page If I remember correctly, the pumpkin went 16% heavy, here's the inside shot. The stem is on the left side. Friday, December 4 View Page Here's the 991 as of today. It has colored up over the past month and a half. Friday, December 4 View Page Here's the inside shot. This pumpkin weighed in at 914 lbs, 20.4% heavy. There was a lot of weight in the shoulders as it was very dense. There were some areas that could be of some concern as you can see but there is still 4 inches to go before any damage could have occurred. Friday, December 4 View Page One more shot off angle. Sunday, December 6 View Page Over the last couple weeks we finally did some work in the patch. We cleaned it out, tilled and raked in some winter rye and some "cover crop grade" mycorrhiza from RTI. It should rain tomorrow and the next week so hopefully everything comes up and we don't have to do much else for a few months. In the upper left corner are the pumpkins cut up and buried. Just beyond that we extended the patch 4-5 feet in width and another 3-4 feet in length. You can see that the kids were playing electronic "paint ball" in the park next to the patch. I'll try to post again towards the end of the month. Hopefully the rye has come up by then.