Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 109 Entries. Wednesday, March 13 View Page Hope Everyone has a great 2013 Season !! We have the pineapple express blowing in from Hawaii on our Coast right now and have mild temperatures and buckets upon buckets of heavy rain. Many great seeds to grow this year, 2 plants at home and 8 or 10 plants at a farm not too far from my home. 1421 Stelts and 1684.5 Delaney at the home patch and 1789 Wallace, 1872 Wallace, 1016 Daletas, 1544 Revier, 1306 Jutras, 1207 Young, 1236 Harp, 1684.5 Delaney, 848* MacKenzie and 1063.5* MacKenzie...and a couple to be decided at the farm. Sunday, March 31 View Page Wrapped and ready!! Got the large hoophouse installed and wrapped today and will put up the bones of the smaller hoophouse on the second patch later today. Taking advantage of this amazing weather we have right now and want to start heating up the soil for our later start this year than normal. We are heading to Maui for a couple of weeks and planting date has been pushed forward to May 3rd from our usual planting time about 1 week earlier. My good buddy and fellow grower Dave will be germinating and tending to all the seedlings this year, and I am extremely gratefull for that. Saturday, April 6 View Page Turning over and hand tilling in the remainder of rye grass and will give the entire interior area a good double dig before planting. Glad I am not using the rotovator as much this year...lots of worms in what I am turning over today!! Yes, the hoophouse gets a double seater every year as we enjoy sitting in there sometimes...and lets face it...when I am home I'll be out there every 12 minutres anyways...so it is nice to have a spot to sit and take it all in!! Monday, April 29 View Page OK, we slipped away to Maui to celebrate our 50th birthdays together. Friday, May 3 View Page Went to Dave and Janet's place to pick up seedlings immedialtely after our plane landed. Had a nice visit and raced home to plant the 1421.5 Stelts into the large hoophouse. Thursday, May 9 View Page Planted the 1684.5 Delaney on May 6th and used a 5 gallon bucket to cover at night as we have been having about a week of us-seasonably hot spring weather...breaking all sorts of ancient records all over the Pacific Northwest for the past 10 days. Put up the smaller hoophouse and the smaller heat lamp over the Delaney today...weather might change in the next few days. Thursday, May 9 View Page 1421.5 Stelts with its heating and cooling companions. I see that I am not the only grower that uses Vornado fans...they are simply the best!! I used to have 1500 watt heaters and have switched over to 175 Watt Infared heat lamps instead which seem to really do the job of keeping the plant and growing spot nicely warmed overnight. Thursday, May 9 View Page And I forgot to mention, that is slug bait around the seedling as slugs and snails are a bugger in this area if you dont plan right. I lost a plant once to a slug, won't happen again!! Once the plants are older and larger, slugs dont appear to be an issue. Wednesday, May 15 View Page 1421.5 Stelts is off and running. I have not added any co2, or liquid humic or fish or kelp or anything except for some warmed water for just the 2nd time today since being planted on May 3rd. Sunday, May 19 View Page For the first time in many years, I may not have to trim the 2nd true leaf off (kickstand leaf) in order for the main to settle down normally. I've pushed it off to the side with the stick and hope the weather continues good and the tip of the main should grow past it and out of the way. Wednesday, May 22 View Page Few days later, shove the leaf over a bit more and that will do the trick. 1421.5 Stelts doing well...figures and the weather has turned cool and rainy. Tuesday, May 28 View Page Despite the cold rainy West Coast weather right now, the 1421.5 Stelts is stretching out and reaching for more ground. I see another local guy posting a diary and am waiting for Chad to get things going up in hills, along with all those Island guys including you Michael over there in Canada's Banana Belt on Saltspring Island. At Aldor Acres (our weighoff site and sponsor) they are adding Atlantic Giant to the list of pumpkins that are grown on their farm, and I'm hoping they will start a diary soon too. Thursday, June 13 View Page 1421.5 Stelts going outside to play now, I see alot of pruning, burying, and sweating coming up in the next few weeks....love it!! Going out to Richmond Dave's patch for a visit today, taking my camera....I expect a few surprises!! Friday, June 14 View Page Went to Richmond Dave's patch yesterday and had a nice visit. He let me use his patent pending "Twincle Toes" patch shoes and have a good look at his plants. The 1789 Wallace is impressive and both the 1544 Revier and 1684 Delaney are growing like crazy as well. Dave made me a custom pair of patch shoes, these ones are made with bullet proof plastic, just have to get my shoes attached and I'll be good to go....thanks Dave!! Sunday, June 16 View Page Game on I hope, with this one. Second female out on the 1421.5 at 12 feet on the main. Richmond Dave better update his diary soon before I leak a picture or two that I took over there the other day... 1789 Wallace, 1544 Revier and 1684.5 Delaney in his patch. His area is a river delta and has very rich farm lands all around. Soil is much much different than mine with alot more clay and silt... Sunday, June 23 View Page Took the wrap and bones off the hoophouse today. Needed to bury a few vines and use bamboo stakes to steady the vines as it got its first taste of the wind today. Growing nicely and pollination should happen over the next 10 days or so. Sunday, June 23 View Page Not only the Provincial Pumpkin Champion in 2012, it appears that Chad Gilmore has other talents as well. Here is the Victory Lap!! They won 2 out of 3 heats and a 2nd in the one they didn't win....nicely done Chad!! Tuesday, June 25 View Page Are you kidding me? Worst week in awhile...Cole our beloved black bengal cat was hit by a car and killed...of course the squirrels are gonna move in and take over. Couldn't have just come in and experimented by chewing a secondary....nooooo gotta go for the main vine. This happened today, main vine on the 1421.5 Stelts...2 feet past what I am to pollinate in a day or two. Out come the protective baskets and traps... Wednesday, June 26 View Page 5 on 1 might be excessive, but with the squirrel chew further out, this is the only hope for main vine fruit. 1421.5 Stelts x 1789 Wallace Drove to Dave's this morning early before traffic, had a great visit...fresh scones right out of the oven (Dave's lovely wife Janet made) and a fresh cup of coffee before we went to harvest flowers for today's pollination. Could have had 1544 Revier, 1684.5 Delaney or 1789 Wallace flowers...all three of thier plants are in full mega-growth. Wednesday, June 26 View Page Umbrella back on and fingers crossed. Wednesday, June 26 View Page Also picked up my new patch shoes from Dave (thanks again) and my new pump for our holding tank/watering system. Dave and I both ordered the same pump, mine for attaching to my overhead system and Dave for attaching to his drip system. Many thanks to Jeff in Olympia for sending me the coupon for Harbor Freight Tools...worked great!! Works awesome, runs all 4 of my overhead sprinklers on the 2 plants...will drain the 270 gallon tank in about 11 minutes over both plants. Finally not going to be watering with 52 degree mountain reservoir water. Thursday, July 4 View Page 1684.5 Delaney x 1421.5 Stelts today on the main at 12 feet. This is a great day to pollinate...Happy 4th everyone!! I had swung the main vine away from the pumpkin over to the far side, and as you can see, the pumpkin actually seems to want to follow the vine over. In my attempt to get good pre-pollination fruit positioning, it did the reverse. In this picture, I have already adjusted the main vine back and if this is the chosen pumpkin, I will adjust the vine back to the opposite side and nudge the pumpkin over if necessary. Sunday, July 7 View Page Andrea and I put up our shade/water protection unit today. We are all in on the 1421.5 x 1789 and all systems appear to be "Go". Tuesday, July 9 View Page One pollinated on the 1684.5 Delaney x 1421.5 Stelts and one on deck under the basket for tomorrow morning. I'll decide in about 10 days after that which 1 to keep. Thursday, July 11 View Page Skunk cruised through the patch sometime last night, did a little digging...and buggered off...I hope. Did not try to eat or roll over the fruit, so happy about that. Going over to Richmond Dave's place again tomorrow...been a week since I was there last and our weather has been perfect. He had pumpkins set last week and is in selection mode now...he better hang on for the ride!! Tuesday, July 16 View Page Day 20 today for our 1421.5 Stelts x 1789 Wallace. Setting a moderate pace that we are happy with and is super shiny and comes in at 43 in. circ, and 109 OTT. Richmond Dave is 4 days behind me, and already his 1544 Revier is way ahead of ours...hope he posts in his diary today. Thursday, July 18 View Page Pumpkin starting to rise above the canopy from within it's shelter...I love this time of the year!! Friday, July 19 View Page Finally something photo worthy on the 1684. 5 Delaney...this one is on day 15, not setting the record books on fire but is growing at a nice pace and appears to be perfectly round so far. You can see the scratch marks and the blossom end nub missing, thanks to the skunk. Tuesday, July 23 View Page Will have to get some play sand under her tomorrow...sure starting to get wide now. Weather is perfect and looks to be more of it in store for another extended period of time... Sunday, July 28 View Page Stump Envy!! On the left is our 1421.5 and to the right is Richmond Dave's and the 1544 Revier... Sandy loam soil for me....Clay loam for Dave. Sunday, July 28 View Page 1421.5 Stelts had it's shelter moved and re-positioned (never get it right the first time....lol) We also pushed fruit forward and distributed sand accordingly to acheive a better postion and lower the stem and main vine back down towards the ground. This pumpkin has needed constant repositioning and is almost perfect now and most likely will just be allowed to grow, unless it raises the main vine up again, its getting too big to move...so we better have it right!! Its game on now, locally all the Boyz have pumpkins set and growing and the Island Boyz (and Girlz) better watch out for the Mainlanders again this year. Monday, August 5 View Page In the back is the 1421.5 Stelts and its final couple of secondaries growing into the 1684.5 Delaney's side of the patch. All secondaries will be terminated over the next 10 days or so...there is enough salad to last me till weighoff. Day 40 tomorrow on the 1421.5 and it has steadily increased its daily gains over the past 10 days and is gaining in the mid 20's now. Our weather has been amazing and I'd expect good things from alot of growers in our Province, Washington State, Oregon and California this year. Best of luck to everyone...it is pedal to the medal now!! Sunday, August 11 View Page The Delaney is very photo-worthy now and is referred to as "the pretty one" when we have patch visitors. The 1421.5 is also showing signs of wanting to be a nice orange too...but has more of a bean-bag chair look to it. Tuesday, August 13 View Page Another nice day, blanket slightly moist this morning, cool overnights and a bit of dew. Going to be vigilant watching for powdery mildew and aphids, and have pre-treated a couple of times. Richmond Dave is away for a week so there is likely a patch visit happening soon...and I'll take a few pictures and post in this diary...I bet the Island Boyz are having a good season but it seems most have gone into stealth mode or are flying under the radar. Wednesday, August 14 View Page 110 Mailey long gourd that is in absolute full growth mode. For some reason, was a late starter and is about 2 weeks into full flowering. I've got several good gourds set and hanging and will cull down most likely to 2 or 3. I'm going to let it grow down on the one side and over the water tote...perfect area for a bunch of leaves in the sun. Thursday, August 15 View Page Hopefully the gourds won't mind growing in September, I'm late with these this year even though we planted them when we planted the pumpkins... Thursday, August 15 View Page Last few pumpkins I've grown on this side of the patch have real booty to them. The 1421.5 Stelts is at day 50 today and cruising along at a good pace...totally grown over its blossom end now and reaching out for more room on the mat. Its been cloudy and warm for the last few days and the overnight lows are warmer than usual and the pumpkins seem to really like that... Saturday, August 17 View Page 1684 Delaney is also growing nicely and appears to be planted in side of the patch that grows the pretty pumpkins...that is OK with me. Only at day 44 today so has some potential to qualify for the big honours (Howard Dill Award) at the Aldor Acres weighoff... Monday, August 19 View Page Last night while admiring the long gourd plant, my wife and I noticed that there were a couple of gourds all curled up on the top of the structure. Out came the ladder and up I went to un-curl and let hang over the side. Once I got up there, I found the other one beside it, was alot easier getting the smaller one off the top than the one that was already 40" long. Friday, August 23 View Page 1421.5 Stelts x 1789 Wallace is growing nicely and still mostly smooth all over... Getting lumply bumpy in a few spots and looks to have lots of growth left in her. Friday, August 23 View Page She kept growing on the top and back end, and curled all the way down... Friday, August 23 View Page We've never had one grow over the blossom end like this before, so its been an interesting ride. Little bit more growth and its back down on the sand at that spot. We've had basically no rain since the end of June, and never bothered to fully rain-cover this pumpkin, I place a tarp over it when watering, but the full-time enclosure needs to be put up as September is near and sometimes that brings on the start of our rainy season... Friday, August 23 View Page The long gourds are fun!! 24 inches of length growth in 4 days... Better watch out Richmond Dave...We are both growing the 110 Mailey. First year we grew gourds we managed 2 that were 86" and 89" so we'd like to best that this year and have something nice to enter at the Aldor Acres Weighoff. Sunday, August 25 View Page 1684 Delaney x 1421.5 Stelts is still growing and starting to show some more of that orange colour that I was hoping for and expecting from this seed. Sunday, August 25 View Page And now to the sunflowers, this one is at the front of the house, spare plant, planted near the street. Tallest one of the bunch standing at 11 foot 2 inches to the top of the first flower. Has branched out, and will have multiple flowers to follow. Sunday, August 25 View Page All sunflowers grown this year are from our own saved seeds from the previous year. We grew multi head dark and light yellow along with purple headed giants. Well, they must have cross bred, as this is the assortment of big sunflowers we got this year. These ones must have crossed the purple into the light yellow and have so many branches and heads, it is amazing. Sunday, August 25 View Page There must be 50 flowers on each of these plants, and they stand about 8 to 10 feet tall. Monday, August 26 View Page Long gourd is keeping up the pace of 6" in length and is starting to thicken now too. Almost at 84" now and have a younger one beside it and one at the top at the very end. Tuesday, August 27 View Page My buddy Steve has a nice pumpkin on the 1037 Dixon going, this photo is from about a week ago. He had a real issue with squirrels that we will deal with ahead of time next year. Tuesday, August 27 View Page And then there is my other buddy Jeff that is also growing the 1037 Dixon this year, and does a masterfull job of training his vines up and down in his growing location. He is at the base of a local ski hill called Grouse Mountain and battles with not alot of sunshine combined with the extra altitude which has nights and mornings cooler for a longer period of time than us "down the hill" people. Tuesday, August 27 View Page This is Jeff's pumpkin on the 1037 Dixon, late pollination for him, had a few aborts and plant needed to get some size. He is about 10 days behind Steve, and the race to the finish could get interesting, Jeff's plant is very healthy and the pumpkin looks like it wants to do alot of growing, while Steve was grumbling that his daily gains were not what he was hoping for... Wednesday, August 28 View Page Well, it is clear that our 102" tall gourd trellis is not tall enough. New PB and possible new Provincial Record for long gourd. I need to MacGuyver some kind of system to clear the rock wall below, and down into the pumpkin patch...I've got another 20" I can grow until it hits the soil. Wednesday, August 28 View Page So, I put some thick bamboo into the ground and used garden tape to allow me to move the growing angle out and around the top of the rock wall. Now, what should I do to support the gourd as it grows down into the pumpkin patch? I'd be interested in hearing from other growers that have needed to provide support or some kind of growing ramp or other type of system that will allow me to let the gourd continue to grow. Thursday, August 29 View Page 62 glorious days without rain has ended as we get our first real rain in a long time! Hard to see but that is about an inch in 24 hours and more expected for today then back to sun!! I pre-watered the day before the weather change so that the plants would not be shocked with so much water...off to Richmond Dave's place. Thursday, August 29 View Page Nice tall sunflowers with mulit-heads at Dave and Janet's place. Full patch tour today, wow!! Friday, August 30 View Page Ah, the temperate rainforest of the Pacific Northwest!! 60mm or 2.5 inches of rain in 48 hours. 40mm or 2" of that just from last night!! We got up last night to watch, listen and marvel as mother nature unleashed about a 2 hour thunder storm on us. Almost everything survived the torrential rain, some sunflowers will need re-positioning and the bean trellis was blown over and a bunch of soil has washed off some of the covered vines...but everything else is OK. Blankets will get taken off today and dried out, my shelters are not 100% wind and water proof so might need some tightening up there too. I see Richmond Dave updated his diary...I like how he just rounds out his numbers...don't forget Dave, I was the one helping you with the taping and numbers yesterday. Better really hope my Delaney pumpkin is prettier than Chad's 1495 Stelts pumpkin cause looks like Howard Dill Award is about all Chad and I will be competing for this year. Sunday, September 1 View Page Back to sunflowers, here is the rusult of last years giant purple and giant yellow cross. These are beautifull big flowers and it also wukk have multiple flowers. Sunday, September 1 View Page Giant at the front has fully opened and gets lots of people stopping and looking. Sunday, September 1 View Page Sunflowers are always nice to grow... Sunday, September 1 View Page ...but these long gourds are something crazy!! I see an expanded, taller gourd trellis in our future...I better get the rest of the deck built first. I was able to angle the larger one down, past the wall and into the pumpkin patch below. Don't think the second one will get as big as the first, but glad to know my sling system worked if I need to tie up the other one. Tuesday, September 3 View Page Our daughter Sydney was in town for a day, and we needed to get our yearly shot of her with one of the pumpkins. She starts 4th year University next week so will be pretty busy...sure hope to see her at weighoff!! 1421.5 Stelts x 1789 Wallace on day 68 today. Tuesday, September 3 View Page I'll have to take back that post from only a couple days ago...not only is the largest one headed down towards the soil in the pumpkin patch, but I might have to angle this one out and around the rock wall as well. If you look to the far right, emerging from the foliage is another gourd...and it has picked up the pace as well and growing like it wants to hit the ground with the other two. Not only that but they are getting super thick. Friday, September 6 View Page Well, out and away from the wall as best I can. I'll be happy to dig out a hole if need be but it has slowed down considerably growing in length and is just thickening now I suppose. Friday, September 6 View Page All Organic in our Veggie garden. Nice bounty for making soup. Monday, September 9 View Page The 1421.5 x 1789 fruit continues to pack on a few lbs each day, we've got 8 or 10 days of nice sunny warm weather days coming, after that we will put up the tarp and wait for October 11th which should be harvest day. Last year our 1037 Dixon was still doing 5 lbs a day when we harvested, Chad got me by 7 lbs at the weighoff and I am still crying about it a little bit...This year the pumpkin is pollinated about a week to 10 days ahead of schedule so I am hoping that will help. Day 75 today and still doing 12-14 lbs per day. Still looks like a pumpkin from this angle... Monday, September 9 View Page ...and looks more like a rock from this angle... Monday, September 9 View Page ...and once again I've got some buddies questioning the math when it comes to getting this pumpkin our of the yard, and down beside the house to the front. Where there is a will, there is a way!! Thursday, September 12 View Page 1684.5 Delaney grew out a nice plant in the long run, after having an issue of budding out and stopping growing on 1/2 of the plant. Day 70 today and was a measure day, getting about 1 inch OTT every day...only 4 lbs per day but it has done that for the past 20 days. Last 10 days the circ increased by 6 inches. Should be somewhere between 400-500 lbs by the time weighoff rolls around. Saturday, September 14 View Page With no news from Chad except for the occasional jab in the message board, Dave and I felt we had no alternative than to do a little up country and check out the spud farmer. Wow!! Mr Dill....this one is for you!! Figures that Chad has a beauty on the 1495 Stelts and an even bigger one (not picture worthy) on the 1421.5 Stelts. Well done!! Saturday, September 14 View Page Another angle of the nice pumpkin Chad has on the 1495 Stelts... Saturday, September 14 View Page 1495 Stelts to the left, 1494 Bordsen in the middle with a few pumpkins on it, and 1421.5 Stelts way off to the right. Thursday, September 19 View Page A visit to Dave's house today, just as his wife's garden club was sitting down to lunch on the patio...of course I grabbed a plate, loaded up and joined in...nice group and great lunch. Then Dave and I wandered off down to the patch. His 1789 Wallace taping mid 900 and starting to show some orange on it where the sun warms her up during the day Under the shade canopy...yellow and smoooth. His 1544 Revier is so big and orange and round, I just can't post a picture of it here and make Chad nervous. We did not tape this one, and Dave "can't remember" the numbers so we will just have to wait and see. Thursday, September 19 View Page 1789 Wallace a litte more from the side. Thursday, September 19 View Page And the tall sunflowers at Dave and Janet's place are massive too. Must be 20 heads on the top of this one...very nice!! Thursday, September 19 View Page So, first thing I did when I got home from Dave's, was to mix humic acid and kelp into my tank, and gave both plants a good watering. By comparison, Dave's plants are a bit more beat and old looking than mine but he does have alot of 3rd stage growth, while my plants are still in really good shape. I have a few tertiary and secondary vines still growing but have no 3rd stage growth. We've been coasting with the plants over the past couple of weeks and have had some rain, so the tanks have not been used much. If the plants stay healthy and the gains stay the same...there is an outside shot that I can best all of the local boyz this year...or not. Tuesday, September 24 View Page Its tough at this time of the year, trying to make the measuring tape say what you want it to, and keep putting on the inches...even though it may be going slowly at best. Away goes the tape till weighoff, its gonna have to weigh heavy to go over 1000, but that will be the goal. North Shore News came over today to do the usual photo shoot and story so I took down the rain cover for that, then put it back up again. Tuesday, September 24 View Page And the Delaney plant still looks good and also growing about 1/2 inch OTT per day but we also have another pumpkin on this plant...way out on the first secondary and pollinated on August 31st...be a nice carver!! Some weighoff poker starting to happen now as I try and secure some numbers at our Aldor Acres Weighoff. Several growers have more than 1 pumpkin and are jockeying for position locally and then there is another weighoff in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, that some of us would love to attend and enter. That decision will play out on October 12th at Aldor Acres and we'll see if Dave, Chad or myself can resist putting everything up on the scale, or save a couple and do an Island day trip the next day... Thursday, October 3 View Page In the past 9 days we've had almost 5" of rain, but it is a sunny day today and time to get a couple things done in the garden while I can. Thursday, October 3 View Page I also, haven't looked at it except for the daily stem check and we have not taken the rain cover off in those 9 days. We are trying "Pemberton Style" with no blanket or sleeping bag over the pumpkins. Its been averaging 40 degrees overnight and maybe 60 degrees in the heat of the day, out of the wind and rain. Seems to have worked...sure looks bigger to me from this side. Thursday, October 3 View Page And I don't know what happened on this side, but it sure lumped out... Thursday, October 3 View Page 1684.5 Delaney pumpkin gets harvested today and goes to the West Vancouver PumpkinFest for a few days, then will find another spot to be displayed till she gets weighed and then carved. Thursday, October 3 View Page This will be a real nice carver or display pumpkin when stood up on its blossom end!! Thursday, October 3 View Page 33 day old pumpkin on the end of one of the first secondaries. I now beleive that pumpkins can and will continue to grow when the temperatures fall below 50 degrees at night. It has been considerably colder than 50 degrees for almost the entire month of September and all 3 of our pumpkins have continued to put on the inches. Friday, October 11 View Page Despite being harvest day, the 1421.5 plant still wants to produce flowers...amazing!! Friday, October 11 View Page Dave, getting the 1421.5 lifted while Jeff and I wait to put the plywood and pallet under the pumpkin. Friday, October 11 View Page Safely lifted and re-lowered down onto its pallet. We then pulled it over plywood and out to the front of the house where we re-assembled the tripod lifter. Friday, October 11 View Page Jeff and Dave re-hook up the lifting ring and we are ready to load onto the trailer. Friday, October 11 View Page And backed the truck under the tripod and lowered down the pumpkin... Friday, October 11 View Page I beleive that my 1421.5 looks significantly bigger than Dave's 1789 Wallace, however the tape tells a different story. Friday, October 11 View Page But then from this angle the 1789 looks like a beast, I am really hoping that Dave's weighs at least to chart and with a little luck even weigh a little heavy...he's worked hard and deserves some luck now too!! Friday, October 11 View Page ...and Chad's entries all loaded...what next Chad? You seem to have orange figured out...maybe some green next year? Now all the Boyz have to jockey for position and decide which pumpkins will be entered to compete on Saturday at Aldor, and do we save some for the next day over in Nanaimo. Saturday, October 12 View Page Part of the 17 entries in giant pumpkin this year at Aldor Acres. Sunday, October 13 View Page Andrea caught me watering in the freshly worked and winter rye planted pumpkin patch...in a t-shirt in mid October, in the sun...global warming? Monday, October 14 View Page 1076 Dixon dmg and 402 Dixon await their destiny as Jack-O-Lanterns on the front lawn to the delight of many that come by every year to see the big pumpkins. Sunday, October 20 View Page We had a really great turnout, including alot of press and media...it was also a beautifull sunny day!! Sunday, October 20 View Page Chad with his Howard Dill winning pumpkin off the 1495 Stelts... Sunday, October 20 View Page My grub off the 1421.5 Stelts gets lowered to the scale. On September 6th it suffered a pin hole which I filled with silicone and hoped it would scar over and heal. It continued to grow putting on over 200 lb more, but once the silicone came out it was clear that is was to be a DMG. 1076 Dixon dmg... Sunday, October 20 View Page Awaiting the weigh on Dave's 1789 Wallace...1043 Chan. A personal best for Dave and his first over 1K...way to go Dave!! Sunday, October 20 View Page And here's Dave with his GPC Trophy and one of the journalists doing an interview from atop his pumpkin!! Monday, October 28 View Page Great job Chris, awesome picture of you and your family in the Orange County Register. Your a classy guy and that is a very nice looking family photo... More to read at; http://www.ocregister.com/articles/pumpkin-533314-year-pound.html Thursday, October 31 View Page Did not carve the bigger one this year... Thursday, October 31 View Page Waiting for the trick or treaters.... Thursday, October 31 View Page 402 Dixon looks nice, Andrea always does a good job with the carving... Thursday, October 31 View Page The 853 Gilmore carved up real nice...great job Chad, can't wait to see a picture of it all light up!! Friday, November 1 View Page Looks great Chad, great picture!! Tuesday, December 10 View Page Didn't carve the 1076 dmg Dixon this year... First snowfall of the year, and pumpkin is frozen solid. We've had about a week of colder than normal temperatures so I should chop it up and get it to the composter before it turns into mush. Happy Holiday Season Everyone !! Friday, December 20 View Page Just in time, the snow covered up the sunken in and melting away pumpkin still on the front lawn. When I can see the lawn again, I will get rid of whats left of the pumpkin. Happy Holidays Everyone. Monday, December 23 View Page Snow has melted, rest of pumpkin moved from front to back...my wife is s trooper!! Very orange flesh... Monday, December 23 View Page 80 seeds harvested, a bit late to be harvesting seeds but I figured I'd give them a shot anyways. 1076 Dixon dmg (1421.5 Stelts x 1789 Wallace) Interestingly, the 1789 Wallace grew Dave Chan his 1043 Chan. Not only was it Dave's first over 1000 lbs, to my knowledge they are the only 2 pumpkins ever grown over 1000 lbs, the same year, in the lower mainland of Vancouver!! Go figure!! I was very lucky that Dave had all 3 of his plants in full bloom early in the year or pollination would have been an issue for me...thanks again Dave and Janet for opening your pumpkin patch to the guy from the North Shore!! I think this is a nice cross and I might have to grow it one year.