Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 191 Entries. Sunday, January 27 View Page Time to start the 2008 diary. I still think I need to prove that i'm a redneck! 2 squash going in again this year. Our own 995.5* (848* Mackenzie X 898* Vincent), and 1055 Pitura* (848 Mackenzie X Self). Sunday, March 16 View Page My name is John Vincent. I grow together with my neighbour, Brian McGill (Bubba). Here is a map showing our location. We live in beautiful Prince Edward County in East Central Ontario. Our proximity to Lake Ontario, makes this a great place to grow pumpkins. We live in Northport on the north end of the county. We are about 60 miles west of Kingston. Monday, March 17 View Page This is Brian with our patch best in 2006 the 943 Vincent-McGill 06. It was grown from the 518 McGill 05 est (982 Greer X 1016 Daletas) X 500 Northrup. We grew it in 07 and it produced our patch best 966.9 Vincent-McGill. We will definatly be growing the 943 again on 08! Monday, March 17 View Page And here is our the 966.9 Vincent-McGill 07, our patch best pumpkin last year. It was 9.8% heavy and a beautiful mottled orange. It was corss with the 845 Bobier. Monday, March 17 View Page Also in our line up this year will be our 995.5 Vincent-McGill Squash (+3%) from last year. It was 848* Mackenzie x 898* Vincent-McGill-06. Thursday, March 20 View Page Also in our line up for this year is the 998 Pukos, 1041 McKie, 772 Poirier and the 1055* Pitura. Planed crosses are 998 Pukos X 1041 McKie and reverse 772 Poirier x 943 Vincent-McGill and reverse 995* Vincent-McGill x 1055* Pitura and reverse We are reducing the plant count to 6 and increasing the plant size from 500 ft2 to 750 ft2. We also plan to grow Long Gourds, giant tomato's and giant cabbage. Saturday, April 12 View Page I popped the Long Gourd seeds that we plan to grow in the freezer last night. This includes 1 x 127 Urena, 1 x 126 Jutras, 3 x 116 Lyons, 1 x 114 McGregor and 1 x 104 Eaton. We are hoping for 3 good plants. Also the into the freezer went the 1041 McKie pumpkin seed. We plan to start most of our seeds around the 23rd-25th of April. As the season seems a little backwards we may hold off a few more days than we had planned. All snow is gone now. The patch is very wet but no water is ponding and the tile are running. The winter wheat and rye came threw the winter well. I still undecided weather to till under the rye or burn down the rye and leave it on top for multch. I plan to start the seeds aprox april 23rd Friday, April 25 View Page Pumpkin starting tonight. Starting 998 Pukos, 1041 McKie, 3 x 943 Vincent-McGill 06, and 772 Poirier. Seeds were filed and will be soaked overnight. Friday, April 25 View Page Also starting Squash including 824* Brunst, 898* Vincent 06, 995* Vincent-McGill 07, and 1055* Pitura. Friday, April 25 View Page And Long Gourds, 127 Urena, 116 Lyons, 104 Eaton, and 126 Jutras. Long Gourd seeds were filed, given the "Clarance Koch Bite" and will be soaked for 24 hrs. Sunday, April 27 View Page 998 Pukos was sprouted at 24 hrs in the paper towel. This picture was at 36 hrs. I potted all 3 943's, all 3 995's*, 824*, 1055*, and 1 of the 898's*. The 1041 and the 772 haven't sprouted yet. Back in the germinator they go. Fingures are crossed. Sunday, April 27 View Page Coco pots are filled with moistened Promix BX, pre-innoculated with Myke and additional BioGrow-Endo Plus and Jump Start added. Peat pots are placed in zip loc baggies to help retain moisture. Lighting tubes are gro lights. Bottom heat will be applied until seedlings are fully emerged. Sunday, April 27 View Page Another view from above. Soil thermometer monitoring soil temp! Lights will be set on 12 hrs on, 12 hrs off. Wednesday, April 30 View Page The 772 Poirier sprouted a couple days ago and is now potted. The 1041 finally sprouted this morning after 96 hrs. I have to say I was a little suprised. It will be potted tonight. Also all three of three of the 116 lyons LG's sprouted and were potted last night. No sign of life yet on the others. The other pumpkins that were potted earlier in the week are now hooking through the dirt! The 998 Pukos is still below the surface, but has roots growing out of the coco pot! Sunday, May 4 View Page Pumpkins and squash under the lights this morning Sunday, May 4 View Page Here is one of the better seedlings, a 995 Vincent McGill Squash, ready for transplant into a larger pot! Sunday, May 4 View Page One of the more average seedlings, a 943 Vincent McGill Sunday, May 4 View Page Pulling up the rear, the 1041 McKie. She is a little sluggish after its slow start, but improving. Cots are a little yellow Sunday, May 4 View Page Re-potted most of the seedlings tonight, all except the 1041 McKie. The curley cotted seedling in front is the 998 Pukos. The root ball pretty well desintigrated during repotting on the 998. Hopefully it wont slow it down too much! The 1041 looks much better tonight. It has greend up a lot. We are using 1.5 gal pots, filled with Promix BX and innoculated with Biogrow endo Plus and Jumpstart. So far I havn't added any fertilizer of any kind. Wednesday, May 7 View Page I got our soil test results back a few days ago. Looks like everything is in pretty good shape. We could add a bit more magnesium, but I think the k will come down with plant removal, fixing the ratio. I am a little disappointed that the Ph is still where it is. We have added a huge amount of Sulfur over the last few years and it should be a lot lower. I'm a little concerned about the P level being this high as it may suppress the Mycorrhizae. We will be adding kelp and humic acid. I may add some ammonium sulfate at vining. Saturday, May 10 View Page Finally some good weather 80F is the sun here today! I seized the day and got the patch prepaired. The main patch is roughly 60' x 70'. Plus, there is a dog leg of about 25' x 35'. In that area we applied about 180 lbs of kelp meal and 80 lbs of humic acid. The whole area was worked over with the cultivator several times then roto tilled over once. Saturday, May 10 View Page Brian works nights, but was able o join in the fun by mid afternoon. Just in time to help with the site prep. Saturday, May 10 View Page Brian's boys Noah left and Josh right were a big help. Sites were prepared by digging a pit about a foot or so deep by 30-36" in diameter, then back filling with a mixture of 10 year old sheep manure, peat moss and amended top soil and mounding up about a foot or so above grade and sloping outwards about 4ft in diameter. The mounds are covered with black plastic before erecting the hoop houses, each mound got a couple pounds of kelp meal and about a half pound of humic acid. Saturday, May 10 View Page This was the first decent day to strat hardening off the seedlings. They were placed outside all day with this piece of lattas over top to difuse the wind and the sun. Overall the seedlings all look good except for a bit of drawstringing on some of the first leaves. I'm not sure what causes this. I think it may have something to do with the grow lights. Anyway, I have seen this before and its not really an issue. The two best plants are the 1055 Pitura and the one of the 943's Tuesday, May 13 View Page Yesterday was planting day, or last night after work anyway. The weather here is pretty good for setting out right now. All plants went in the ground. 998 Pukos, 1041 McKie, 772 Poirier, 943 Vincent-McGill, 1055* pitura, 995* Vincent-McGill and 824 Brunst. All plants look excellent. The 722* has slightly odd growth at the growing point. It may develope into a ribbon. It is still very cold at nights here. The temp inside the hoops got down to 45F last night. The soil temp got down to 58F. The planting holes were treated with a handful each of Biogro Endo plus, Jumpstart, Humic Acid and a couple hands full of Kelp. After planting the seedlings were drenched with 2 L each of 1% fish solution. The 824 Brunst is a very nice plant, but is planted in a very poor spot. This spot has never been amended. I added about 2 yards of composted sheep manure this spring along with the same humic acid and kelp treatments as the other areas. When we dug the planting pit, we hit hard platy clay at about 8". We dug it all out, down about a foot and replaced with a nice mixture of good top soil, manure and peat moss. I fear this plant will suffer greatly from the conditions. I really wanted the 824 for genetics anyway. I don't really expect great things from her. Sunday, May 18 View Page Things are progressing well with obvious growth on all plants. I watered each plant last night with 3L of 1% Neptune’s sea weed and 1% Neptune’s fish. This morning the whole patch got a feeding of molasses. I applied about 1.25L to the whole planting area. Here is a roof shot showing 6 of the 7 planting areas. We are using lights for heat in the hoops. Night time temps are still going down into the low 40’s every night, but the black plastic is allowing us to keep the soil temp in the +60F area. This is a long weekend here in Canada; celebrating the birth of Queen Victoria (they do not celebrate this in the UK). It is affectionately called the May 2-4 referencing a case of 24 Beer. This is a very important Canadian holiday Monday, May 19 View Page Cold and windy here today. Its very hard to regulate the temp inside the hoops on a day like this. Cloudy and overcast. Sun comes out for 10 Minutes, temps spike up over 100F, just like that. Good thing I am home today to monitor! Friday, May 23 View Page The 998 Pukos is doing very well considering all the cold weather. I have positioned a couple sand bags up againts the main and am moving away a little each day. Temps are much warmer today and tonight. It is suposed to be much warmer the rest of the week. The plants are all behind last year, but doing well. Sunday, May 25 View Page The 1055 Pitura, taken this morning. The plants are all doing well. I was a little concerned this one might double vine, but seems ok now. All plants got a dring yesterday of 3L 1%fish, 1% sea weed solution Sunday, May 25 View Page The 1041 McKie, a little behind the others, but it was 3 or 4 days later germinating. The plant seems to be taking off now. Sunday, May 25 View Page The 943 Vincent-McGill. One of the better looking plants. Sunday, May 25 View Page The 772 Poirier, also a little behind most, but catching up. This one was also a little slower to geriminate. Sunday, May 25 View Page The 995* Vincent-McGill. Doing very well. Sunday, May 25 View Page And finally the 824* Brunst. It also is doing well. I have compared our plant size to last year at the same time, and I can see that we are a little behind, I would say about a week at the most with the largest plants and equal to or a little ahead with the smallest plants. This is not bad considering I started all the seeds a few days later and set out a few days later than last year, beacause of the cold backward spring. All things considered, I thing we will be good for late June, early July pollinations. Tuesday, May 27 View Page Tonight we planted out the long gourds. Here Ryan digs a planting hole in the prepared area. Tuesday, May 27 View Page Planting holes were prepared in a similar manner to the pumpkins, including humic acid, kelp meal, Jump Start and BioGro Endo Plus. Here Ryan seperates the split pot on the 116 Lyons plant. Tuesday, May 27 View Page In the ground are the 125 Urena, 125.75 Urena and a 116 Lyons. All are planted in a 12' long green house. All plants were watered with 2L of 1% sea weed solution. Tuesday, May 27 View Page Here is another shot showing more of the green house, with trellis in the background. It still needs some repairs. Tuesday, May 27 View Page And....closed for the night! Trouble light for heat tonight, going down to 39F. Friday, May 30 View Page Just a little year over year comparison. The plant on the left is the 998 Pukos taken today. The plant on the right is the 1180 Daletas plant taken on May 30th last year. The 998 is our largest today and the 1180 was the largest last year. The 1180 looks a little larger, but the main on the 998 is longer. Saturday, May 31 View Page It has been a great day here. Warmest day yet...80F and humid. The plants love this. Rain this morning and a big thunder storm blew threw this afternoon with marble sized hail. No damage that I can see. Nearly 2" of rain. 998 touchdown this morning. Others arn't far behind. I had intended to get the rest of the giant veggies in this weekend, but with this rain we will have to wait a few more days. Frank Penner from Napanee stopped in this morning and picked up 4 plants, as he had germination problems. He got a 966, 804, 943 and 995*. He also made a nice donation to the 4-H club. Thanks Frank. Frank is not a well know grower, but has been growing for nearly 20 years. He may be a stop on the summer patch tour. The plants all got a 3L drink of fish/sea weed this morning and a foliar spray of sea weed tonight. Monday, June 2 View Page The first casualty of the season, the 116 Lyons Long Gourd. We came home tonight and it was "broken off". I assumed at first it must be wind damage, however upon further inspection we found that it was chewed at the soil surface and upon further inspection Ryan found this little critter. A black cut worm. We dug out the corps and replanted a 118 Lyons 4-H plant. We then sprayed a liberal dose of Cypermethrin around the base of the plants and the closest AG plant. We then ringed the LG's with a plastic ring (Half of a gallon ice cream container). Hopefully this will be the end of this BS. Saturday, June 7 View Page Extream heat and humidity the last two days. I removed all the black plastic last night. Soil temp last night inside the hoops is 80F. 90F outside mid day today. Pumpkins are gowing fast, with the 998 leading the way with the main at around 4' and right at the door of the hoop. All plants flagging badly today in this heat. I decided to shade all plants with tarps. Plants are too small to remove hoops as they need the wind protection. I have all the materials to set up a misting system, but I haven't had time to do it yet. Heavy thunderstorms moved threw the night before last, leaving two inches of rain. This is turing out to be one of the wettest years since we have been here. I still haven't been able to plant the rest of the giant veggies, tomato's, watermellons, cabbage and kohlrabi. Getting very late but still too wet to work the ground Sunday, June 8 View Page Today is tea day. Here is my Thad Starr Model tea brewer Sunday, June 8 View Page We are using a 45 gal (205L) drum, a 25ft soaker hose for the aerator, and and active aqua 110L/m air pump. I am using a large paint strainer bag and the "tea bag". It is fastened to a clip on the pvc hold downs at the bottom. Sunday, June 8 View Page I am having a hard time getting fresh worm castings, so I made the first batch with some of the 10 year old sheep composted manure. The recipe is: 25 gals warm water 10 cups compost 5 cups Alfalfa Pellets 2.5 Cups kelp meal 1/2 cup granular humic acid 2 Cups Molasses 2.5 Cups Neptune's sea weed extract. Looks like we are getting losts of active aeration Sunday, June 8 View Page Its very hot again today. Up in the 90's. Installed misters on the 4 largest plants and have been manually running them for about 15 minutes every hour this afternoon. I need to get a timer and some more emmiter tubing Sunday, June 8 View Page The ground was finally dry enough tonight to work up. Ryan and I went to work and planted, 235 Donkers and 193 Mitchel watermelon, 4 giant cabbage, 2 giant kohlrabi, 4 tall sunflowers and two Jalla Maize tall corn plants. Planting areas were prepared in a similar manner to the pumpkins. Tuesday, June 10 View Page Last night I applied my first batch of tea. I sprayed about 15 gals over the whole patch, with a extra heavy application on and around the plants. I then drenched each plant with about 4L (1 gal) each. I even had enough left over to water moms flowers! After the tea application, I closed the hoops and sprayed Roundup over the entire patch. This morning I removed all the plastic from the hoops and replaced the blue tarp shade structures over the growing points. The 998 Pukos has well over a 5' main now, followed closely by the 1041 McKie, the 943 Vincent-McGill and the 1055 Pitura. The 824 Brunst would be in 6th place with about a 2 ft main and bringing up the rear is the 772 Poirier. I am a little dissapointed with this plant so far. It just lacks vigor. The main is still up in the air at about 12". Hopefully it will kick in to gear soon. It is still very hot and humid. They are calling for thunder storms all day. Then cooler tomorrow. Tuesday, June 10 View Page 998 Pukos Tuesday, June 10 View Page 1041 Mckie Tuesday, June 10 View Page 943 Vincent-McGill Tuesday, June 10 View Page 824 Brunst Tuesday, June 10 View Page 995 Vincent-McGill Wednesday, June 11 View Page 1055 Pitura Wednesday, June 11 View Page 772 Poirier Wednesday, June 11 View Page Cooler and windy last night and today. It has caused some leaf damage. I guess, I should have left the hoops a couple more days. Hopefully all is well. Monday, June 16 View Page Ryans long gourds are doing nicely Monday, June 16 View Page The 998 Pukos continues to be the most agressive plant. It had a male flower open on Friday and it has a small female at about 8ft. I started vine burying yesterday. Using a mixture of composted sheep manure and peat moss. Monday, June 16 View Page 1041 Mckie, not far behind. Small female on the tip as well. I started laying out the T-tape yesterday. I got it about half done Monday, June 16 View Page The 1055* is also doing very well. The weather has been near perfect for growing the last few days. It was a little hot yesterday with a high near 90F. Things are getting a little dry. There have been thunderstorms all around us, but no rain here yet. Tuesday, June 17 View Page I applied about 10 lbs of Ammonium Sulfate around the plants tonight. I would normally use a little more but it is getting closer to pollination time and I'm a little nervous about having too much Nitrogen. Wednesday, June 18 View Page The 998 has 8 good sets of side vines behind the first developeing female. I suspect that this flower will open in about 5-7 days. More males opening daley on this plant. The 1041 McKie only has about 6 sets of side vines behind the first developeing female, however this female will likly open before the one on the 998 and is likely too early and too close. I set up three Wizzer sprinkler nozzels and applied 30 gals of compost tea through them on Monday night. I'm still using the manure compost as I haven't got worm castings yet. I am using a 1/2 hp sprinkler jet pump to apply the tea. I'm a little dissapoited in the coverage area with the three nozzels. I amy have to buy more! Its been cooler here again the last couple nights, getting down to 10C last night. The plants are a little pale green and the leaves are not as large as I would like. We had 3/10" of rain yesterday. This will help to activate the AMS applied yesterday. Wednesday, June 18 View Page Hail!.....!@#$%^&*()P_ This is the 1041 Mckie....I could cry Wednesday, June 18 View Page A close up! Wednesday, June 18 View Page The 998 Pukos! All the plants have some damage like this. I expect it will slow us down a little. Wednesday, June 18 View Page And a close up. We also got another 1 1/4" rain, plus its still raining. Sunday, June 22 View Page Giant sunflowers, kohlrabi and cabbage. The giant corn is slow going. I trandplsnted out some more sunflower plants left over from the 4-H club, at the end of the patch. You can see the cover crop of wheat in the back ground. Sunday, June 22 View Page 1st female on the 1041 McKie. I bypassed this little lady this morning, too early and too close at about 7ft! Sunday, June 22 View Page For a seed that just about didn't germinate, the 1041 has really made a come back...Its fate I think! Sunday, June 22 View Page The 998 continues to lead the pack. The side vines are very slow developeing on the north side of the plant. although they are there. Spent some time last night and today, trenching, innoculating each node with Mychorhize and burying. Notice the new growth on the secondarys in the forground without the hail damage. This give you an idea how hast this thing is growing Also notice how I carefully omit the pics of the poorer doing plants...(Russ, I hope that makes you feel better)... 772 Poirier is still bringing up the rear with a main out about 7-8ft and 1ft side vines. All others are in various stages in between. I notice a substantial increase in the amount of earth worm burrows in the patch than in past years. The soil amendments are working! Monday, June 23 View Page More rain here this morning! Thankfully I got caught up all the vine maintanence last night. I did a foliar spray of Fish /sea weed, Matador (Warrior T) and a new product we are trying this year called pHortress. pHortress is a foliar fertilizer, which contains the ingrediant potassium phosphite. This material is known to help inhibit powdery mildew, by boosting the plants immune system. pHortress is also a high P foliar fert. This should help stimulate flower production as well. I sprayed a soil application of Admire (Merit) as well last night. Good timing, just before this rain. I was also able to get some more t-tape laid out yesterday afternoon, with a little help from Ryan. No need to irrigate here yet. Moisture levels are near perfect. I transplanted out 5 giant tomato plants on Saturday as well. Thursday, June 26 View Page I was away in the US for the last three days. Brian pollinated a nice female on the 998 this morning and I see there will be females open on the 1041 and 1055* in the morning. The plants have grown a lot in the last week. The first side vines on the 998 have reached the edge of their patch. The pumpkins got a drench of sea weed and half strength fish tonight, about 4L per plant. All the rest of the garden got a little as well. Full strength fish on the sunflowers, watermelons, cabbage, kohlrabi and tomato's. The tomato's also got 2L each of 10-52-10 solution. There has been good moisture levels here and no additional irrigation is required at this stage on the pumpkins. Temps have returned to more normal levels, with a high today of 31C. The humidity is fairly high as well, and I'm thinking hard about applying a fungicide. The pHortress is suposed to provide some control and may be all I need at this stage. Friday, June 27 View Page Pollinated this nice 5 lobe female this morning, on the 1041 Mckie, with the 998 Pukos. The female is out about 10ft and perfectly shaped. I also had 3 good males to use. As always, both males and females are protected the night before with zip loc baggies and the females are tied with string after pollination. Friday, June 27 View Page I also pollinated this 5 lobe female on the 1055* Pitura this morning. Unfortunatly, I only had one male available from the 824* Brunst. I really want to make this cross, we will likely get another chance in a few days. Saturday, June 28 View Page Light showers here this morning. I pollinated a 5 lobe female on the 943 Vincent-McGill with the 998 Pukos. The female is only out about 7-8ft but the next one could be a week or more away so..... Wednesday, July 2 View Page The 1055* Pitura. Main vine is out 15+ft. Plant is now over 300ft2 with two pollinations. Wednesday, July 2 View Page 998 Pukos plant also at about 300ft2. Running hard to keep up with the plants now. Continuing to burry with compost/peatmoss mixture. I terminated the first side vines on this plant yesterday. Monday night, compost tea overhead application. Tuesday night, foliar pHortress + Matador + Headline fungicide. I am doing an experiment on the 824 Brunst, only applying the pHortress to see if it will give adiquate PM control without the addition of a fungicide. Stay tuned! No fish now for a couple weeks. Holding off until pumpkins set on all plants. Sunday, July 6 View Page The first pollination on the 998 Pukos at 10 Days, 26" circ! Sunday, July 6 View Page Time for a roof shot. I can't get the whole patch in, but you cant get the idea. Big day today. Got caught up on vine burying. Hoter the last few days. The plants are flaging towards the end of the main vines where there is less root developement. Fired up the misters today. Sunday, July 6 View Page The long gourds are doing well. Both the Urena plants have reached the top of the trellis. I think we will have a much better LG year this year. Monday, July 7 View Page 1st pollination on the 1041 Mckie, 27" at day 10! This one is about 9ft out, but the surface of the pumpkin got all pock marked and won't be pretty. 1st pollination on the 1055* Pitura, 26" at day 10! This one is a real nice shape and has a nice long stem, but is only about 8ft out. No more pollinations for 6 or 7ft. This is always the delema with these early pollinations....do they stay or do they go. They are hitting the bench marks, but will a later pollination be even better? I sent a tissue sample this morning to A&L London. Should have the results in a couple days Friday, July 11 View Page I got my tissue test back the other day and we were really suprised to find a Calcium deficiency. Given our high soil Ca an high free Calcium Carbonate levels, i'm not sure what is causing this other than the high soil pH. We will begin the Dr. Linderman cocktail, this week! I also see we have low levels of Manganese. I am concerned about this and will begin using a foliar manganese suplement this week as well. I expected to see the low Mn because of our high pH, high OM soils. We are already applying some foliar K on a weekly basis with the pHortress. The Calcimax and the Manganese suplement both have K as well so I don't think I will add any addional K at this time. Plants are doing well. We have had showers and cooler mid week. Early in the week it was very warm and I was running the misters from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm daily. The plants really seemed to like this. Saturday, July 12 View Page Here is the keeper on the 998 Pukos. A five lober pollinated with the 1041 McKie on June 26th at 9ft out. Its going hard and sucked all the life out of all others that came after it! Day 16 today and 57" circ! Saturday, July 12 View Page A tough decision here with the 1041 Mckie. Both 5 lobers and both pollinated with the 998 Pukos. The 1st pollination on the right at day 15 today and 51.5". The second pollination on the left yesterday 30" on day 11...wow! Brian and I debated over this for quite a while, and I finally decided to remove the first one! I will take it in three cuts, first one I made this afternoon. No guts....no glory! Saturday, July 12 View Page The first pollination on the 1055* Pitura, 9ft out and pollinated with the 824* Brunst. It is 15 days old today and 50.5". It got a little sunburn on the top as I wasn't covering it yet. The next pollination is quite a bit further out and pretty well stopped growing, so I guess she's a keeper. Saturday, July 12 View Page Another tough choice with the 824* Brunst! 10 Days today and 31"...holy crap! You can see there is a split on the blossom end that has healed and another on the stem. You can see the next pollination past this one. She is 7 days old and relly rocking. Both are 5 lobers and crossed with the 1055*. I like the shape of the first one a little better, but we are worried about the cracks. If anyone has a comment please e-mail me. Saturday, July 12 View Page Ryan's long gourds are doing fantastic. All three plants have reached the top of the trellis and are moving across the top. I had a big afternoon here as I spent most of it in the patch, weeding, trenching, burying etc. It has been hot here again tha last couple days and I have been running the misters. I have two 6 gal/hr misting nozzels on each plant, set to mist for 5 minutes out of 15 from 11:00am to 5:00pm. The plants are showing no signs of hest stress now. I am really impressed with the roots I am finding ahead of the vines. Lots of them pokeing threw the surface between the vines. I pollinated a female on the 235 Donkers watermelon this moring at about 6ft out. Sunday, July 13 View Page I changed the configeration of the overheads today. Each plant now has its own wizzer nozzel set up similar to Sam Lovelace and Tom Privitera's. I am brewing about 30 gals in a batch and taking out about 10 gals to drench the other veggies first. The remaing 20 or so gals is brodcast over the 'kins threw the wizzers. Tonight I added 100 mls (3oz) Calcimax, just before application. The hope is the humic acid in the tea will chelate the Calcium and carry it into the plant. Another 1/2" rain last nigh. Still no need to do any watering Wednesday, July 16 View Page Day 20 for the 998 Pukos fruit: 74+ 52.5+52= 178.5" Day 20, 1200 lb benchmark is 158".....woohoo! Hang on there baby, we're goin for a ride! Friday, July 18 View Page Weeding, trenching, burying, spraying! Wife is starting to complain! Lots to do, never enough time! Took the afternoon off work and hooked up water system. Will start irrigation tomorrow. Down to keepers on all plants, will post pics soon. Mains are all at the edge of the patch. Will termiate soon. We are hosting the GVGO patch tour in August. Its amazing what a motivater this can be. We should have the patch tour here every year....lol Sunday, July 20 View Page With much protest, I am posting a pic of my 998 (Don't want to jinx it), Day 25, 91.5+63+62= 216.5 OTT= 223.5 lbs! Sorry the pic's are a little dark, It rained here all day and its a little overcast Sunday, July 20 View Page The 1041 McKie fruit, crossed with the 998, Day 20 yesterday, OTT= 68+46.5+47.5=162" and picking up steam. Under 1200 benchmark for CC but over for total OTT. Nice shape on this fruit. Sunday, July 20 View Page The 1055 Pitura* crossed with the 824 Brunst*. Day 20 on July 17th, OTT=72+48+48=168", also over the 1200 lb benchmark for ott. Sunday, July 20 View Page 995 Vincent*, a little lighter colour than I like. We will see what happens by fall. Day 17 today, missed day 15 measurements. 29" circ on day 10! Sunday, July 20 View Page 824 Brunst* x 1055 Pitura*, day 15 on July 17th, ott=51+35+36= 122", trending ahead of the benchmark, not to sure about this blossom end, nice colour and shape otherwise. Sunday, July 20 View Page 772 Poirier x 998 Pukos, Day 15 on July 17th, ott=43+34+32=109", pretty medeocre numbers. Sunday, July 20 View Page 943 Vincent-McGill x 998 Pukos, Day 20 on July 18th, ott= 58+39.5+43=140.5, well under the benchmark. This fruit is real nobby and its going to be real orange! (heavy and orange, I like it!), This green blossom end is a little weird. Our 943 fruit last year was only 137" at day 20 and ended up at 966 lbs. There will likely be lots of late season growth in this baby. Sunday, July 20 View Page Here's a look down the row of "other stuff" Sunday, July 20 View Page One of our Northern Giant, Giant Cabbage, just starting to heart up! Sunday, July 20 View Page Yes I know, I took a lot of pictures today...lol. Here is the watermelon I pollinated last saterday (day 8 today) on the 235 Donkers (x 193 Mitchel). Sunday, July 20 View Page We had a good all day rain today, but only about a half inch in accumulation. Took a drive up to Peterborough area yesterday and had a visit with Gery Cavanagh and his wife, and then over the Kirk Chenier and his wife. Also in attendance for the mini tour were Phil Joynson and the Pres., Phil Hunt and his lovely wife Jane! The Chenier's hosted us with a wonderful BBQ supper! Now it's a little cooler back there and the pumpkins are a little behind us southerners, but these two guys are going to be a force! Immaculate patches and amazing looking plants. The cool nights make for late pollinations, but these guys have beautiful loamy soil and the plants are pumpkin factories! Thanks for the great tour Kirk and Gerry! Sunday, July 20 View Page Woops...I got may days screwed up! Today is only day 24 for the 998. I will measure again tomorrow. The 1041 Mckie was actually day 20 today. Measured tonight ott=74+51=51=176". 6" gain in circ since yesterday morning! Did a seaweed/fish drench tonight, and a foliar fish +5%manganese treatment. I also added 15-3-6 Crop booster on the 1041, 772 and 943. Dead headed main on the 1055* Monday, July 21 View Page Ok..new day 25 numbers for the 998 x 1041. ott=96+66+64.5=226.5 and 254 lbs. Thats 30.5 lb gain in 24 hrs!.....rock and roll Tuesday, July 22 View Page I did the 20 day measurements this morning on the 772 Poirier, and I just about fell over. ott= 72+52.5+49=173.5". The 1200 lb benchmark is 158". After some real medeocre early numbers, this thing has really picked up steam! It will also be nice and orange. 20 day on the 825 Brunst* ott=74+49.5+50=173.5", also above the chart for ott. A total of 9/10" of rain between Sunday and Monday here. Cooler today. I won't need to mist or water for a couple days. Thursday, July 24 View Page Day 20 today for the 995 Vincent-McGill*. ott= 77+57.5+54= 188.5"....Best day 20 measurements ever! The thing is still light green in colour. This is coming from the 898 Vincent*, pollinator of the 995 ). It was farily light green(The 898 fruit have been dark green, go figure. I just hope it darkens up by weigh off time. I did a sneak measurement on the 998 Pukos fruit last night and I think it will still be above the benchmark by day 30 (Saturday). Another 3/4" rain yesterday. We missed another big rain, all around us 2-3" and some hail to the north west yesterday. Its too wet to do much in the patch. Thankfully our weeding was pretty well under control prior to this wet spell. We may have some stress over the next 10 days, when the sun comes out and all the fruit round the 30 day mark! Saturday, July 26 View Page Day 30 today for the 998 x 1041. Ott= 112+75+73=260"=377 lbs estimated weight. 30 day ott bench mark for 1200 is 251". Gains have slowed the last few days with the cool wet weather. Gaining about 25 lbs/day. Noah and Josh McGill were anxious to pose with the big pumpkin. Got a couple hours in the patch this morning, before another big rain. It has rained steady here for the last hour and a half. No need to irrigate at least for another week now Sunday, July 27 View Page A little better pic of the 998 Monday, July 28 View Page Here is a better pic of the 998 x 1041 Monday, July 28 View Page The 772 Poirier has been the suprise of the year. 25 day ott= 219". Monday, July 28 View Page The 995 Vincent-McGill* x 824 Brunst*. Day 20 ott= 188.5", best numbers in the patch! (Day 25 tomorrow) Too light coloured for me. Still hopeing it will darken as it matures Monday, July 28 View Page The 824 Brunst* x 1055 Pitura*, Day 25 ott=204", respectable! Nice shape and colour. Monday, July 28 View Page The 1055* x 824*, slowing a bit, Day 30 ott=243" Monday, July 28 View Page The 1041 Mckie x 998 Pukos, also slowing a bit. Day 25 ott=210.5". Looks like it will be a decent colour. Monday, July 28 View Page The 943 Vincent-McGill x 998 Pukos. I'm really dissapointed in this pumpkin. It has slowed way down and has developed a Dill ring. Day 30 today ott= 205.5". This seed produced our patch best last year of 966. The 966 was slow out of the gate and so was the 943 it self, they did all their gains, late in the season, so we will see. This pumpkin will be real orange and it looks very heavy. Wednesday, July 30 View Page Going with advice from Tom Privitera and Don Young, I have increased the amount of Molassas in our tea to 4 cups in 30 gals and increased the brewing time to 3 days. The last batch of tea came out much thicker than before and had a slimey texture! (Slime usually means bacteria) I had a friend that works in a lab, take a sample to work to have a look at it under the microscope. She says we have lots of bacterial activity so I guess the process is working! I'm a little concerned with the brewing time being too long though and our disolved oxygen levels getting to low. I need to find a way to test this. Day 30 today for the 1041 McKie x 998. OTT= 239" Unremarkable, but larger than most of my 30 day numbers from last year! We pollinated our first Long Gourd last night. 125 Urena 07 x 118 Lyons 07. Ther have been a few open pollinations. We are watching very closely for flowers now. Sprayed the Tomatoes, watermelons and LG's with 1% solution 6-18-6 Performance Booster, hopefully to boost flower production. I also drenched the tomatoes on Monday night with 2L each 10-52-10 water soluable solution. Sprayed Pumpkins, squash, melons, cabbage, and LG's with Calcium, Humic Acid cocktail at 1% solution along with a half percent Potassium Carbonate. Friday, August 1 View Page 998 gaining 30 lbs a day at day 36, I'm ok with that. The rest of the fruit have slowed down and I'm a little frustrated. we are getting 15-20 lbs/day on most, but nothing to write home about! Plants look pretty good. We have had lots of rain, but likely too much. It has been colder than normal and I guess I figure that is the problem. Friday, August 1 View Page The 998, taken tonight. It was 294" ott, 539 lbs estimated this morning. Friday, August 1 View Page The 772 Poirier at day 30 today. OTT= 253.5", just over the 1200 lb benchmark Friday, August 1 View Page The 1055 Pitura, day 35 today, 262" OTT, off the 1200 bench mark now, but could still easily break the 1000 mark. Friday, August 1 View Page I took half a day off work today to work in the patch. Good thing I did. I just got finished working on the 998 and we had a halh hour down pour and about 1.5" of rain. I won't be able to get back in now for a while. Sunday, August 3 View Page Beauty and the beast! 588 lbs this morning Sunday, August 3 View Page Thought it was a good time for a roof shot. The 998 is in the lower left hand corner. The previous picture was with my daughter Amanda Sunday, August 3 View Page Here is a good shout of Ryans Long Gourd trellis from the roof. We have an open pollinated gourd about 24" long. We have pollinated several others on the 125 Urena. Thursday, August 7 View Page I came home tonight and one of my 28' Craven sunflowers was snapped off at the top. The plant was over 10' and likely wouldn't be a realy giant anyway but I'm still dissapointed.!@#$%^&*() Thursday, August 7 View Page On the lighter side, my 235 Donkers Watermelon is doing ok. Today, day 26 ott= 58+27+38.5=123.5"=62lbs. This thing has picked up a bit in the last few days and is gaining about 4 lbs/day. It continues cool and damp here. Rain on and off the last few days, about 1" in total. Soil is moist and no irrigation required at all. Other than misting on about 9 or 10 days, we have only applied about 500 gals of water to the entire patch. 998 Pukos pumpkin rounds the 700 lb mark tonight. Gains have dropped off a bit with the weather and the age. Thursday, August 7 View Page Here is my son Ryan with an open pollinated gourd on the 125 Urena. It is at 64". We think it was pollinated around the 24th of July. Its growing very fast. Saturday, August 9 View Page Down goes the 824 Brunst* to BES (Sorry G) . (I didn't want Russ to feel lonely). Final OTT=116+72+74=262"=386 lbs at Day 38. The squash wasn't real aggressive the last couple weeks and had developed two Dill rings. I haven't decided whether I'm going to save the seeds, although I suspect they are mature. It was crossed with the 1055 Pitura*. We had a real nice warm sunny day here today. This may have contributed. I have been concerned about this blossom end for a while as it was growing over on itself. Saturday, August 9 View Page This year I have been testing a potassium phosphite based product called pHortress as a powdery mildew control. The 824 Brunst* has only had pHortress and no other fungicide products and so far it is PM free. I may not pull the plant until after the patch tour to demonstarate its effectivness. Sunday, August 10 View Page Brian and I decided to cut up and weigh the 824* Brunst squash on the bathroom scales. It weighed 469 lbs... It was 21% heavey...wow! The two dill rings were deep internal cracks. The fruit would have likely failed later on anyway. I had planted this plant in this spot as a genetics plant only amd I was a little excited as the fruit took off early in the season. The planting site was basically unamended, other than a planting pit and some composted manure just before planting. We did decide to save seeds, if any one wants some, just let me know. The squash will be known as the: 469* Vincent-McGill 08 UOW +21% f)824 Brunst x M) 1055 Pitura Monday, August 18 View Page I have had several requests for a diary update. I have decided that there will be no further updates until after the GVGO patch tour this Sunday! There needs to some element of suspence, don't you think? All I can say is things are going well here. Other than the 3" of rain we have recieved in the last 4 days. Monday, August 18 View Page A typical day here in east central Ontario Monday, August 18 View Page Oh...and now the sunny side of the house. Dosn't the horse look impressed? Monday, August 25 View Page The patch tour went real well. We saw lots of big pumpkins and several different patches. We had around 50 people at our place for lunch. Monday, August 25 View Page Today is a special day for us. This morning our 998 taped 362.5". I had hoped to get a pic with Brian and myself to comemorate the moment, but we were just to busy tonight. The pumpkin has picked up again in the last 48 hours and is back on 15 lbs per day. It could make 1200 yet. The pumpkin is near perfect shape and decent orange colour too. Tuesday, August 26 View Page This is the 772 Poirier fruit, pollinated with the 998. At day 55 the fruit measures 329.5" this morning or 753 lbs and gaining 11 lbs per day, last 5 days. This fruit should make it to 1000 lbs Both this picture and the one of the 998 were taken by Bob Mackenzie on the patch tour on Sunday. Thanks Bob Tuesday, August 26 View Page Here is Ryan with our long gourd on the 125 Urena. The gourd measures 118 1/4" tonight. It is still growing about 1/3" per day. We are hoping for a couple mor inches before she stops. Thursday, August 28 View Page Here is our 995* Vincent-McGill Squash, aproaching 800 lbs this morning. Growth has slowed with some cool nights, but I expect 1000+ is still possible with this squash. Thursday, August 28 View Page This is our 943 Vincent-McGill pumpkin, right around 700 lbs. This seed produced our patch best pumpkin last year at 966.9lbs. The 943 tend to give a lot of late gains and also go heavy, so I also believe 1000 is possible with this one. Tuesday, September 9 View Page Day 75 today for the 998. OTT: 375", estimated weight 1104 lbs. Still gaining 6 lbs /day. This pumpkin is flawless. Tuesday, September 9 View Page Day 75 today for the 998. OTT: 375", estimated weight 1104 lbs, and still gaining 6 lbs/day. This pumpkin is flawless Wednesday, September 10 View Page Our largest Northern Giant Cabbage Wednesday, September 10 View Page The 235 Donkers Watermelon. OTT 178, estimated weight 162.5 lbs, still gaining over 2 lbs/ day Wednesday, September 10 View Page A Lyon's strain "Big Zac" Tomato Wednesday, September 10 View Page Our tallest sunflower Wednesday, September 10 View Page We lost the 1041 McKie, last week. It stoped growing about a week ago and I discovered a pool of yellow ooze last thursday night. The pumpkin was removed from the patch and the seeds saved, 516 in total. The pumpkin was rotten on the bottom. I couldn't tell where or why it failed. Final ott: 139+87+85.5=311.5"= 638 lbs estimated weight. The pumpkin will be known as the 638 Vincent-McGill 08 est. The cross is 1041 McKie x 998 Pukos Sunday, September 14 View Page Our 2lb 10.4 oz Tomato, Harvested today Sunday, September 14 View Page The 'big' gourd is now 123"...woohoo. Potentially a new Canadian Record if we can get her to a weigh off site. Heavy rain last night has left the pits under the gourds full of water. I have bailed them out twice today. More rain forcast tonight ans hurricain Ivan roars through. Warm, humid weather has spured on the growth in the pumpkin patch the last few days. The 998, day 80 today, OTT: 383"= 1175 lbs estimated weight. Brian and I both measured the beast this morning so I am confidant in the measurements. Sunny and warm all this week, should take us well over the 1200 mark. Now we will have to see if she weighs light or heavy. All things considered its been a hell of a ride. The local bench marks are Bill Greer's best 1172 and Arnold Vaders best 1193. It looks like we will beat both of these this year. Arnold has a great one going so the race is on for the County Record! I have been very busy and was late with the last application of fungicide (18 days). There is a little PM showing up on a couple plants. Hopefully I can get it back under control. Starting to run out of ingrediants for the compost tea (also missed the last app). No Kelp or Sea weed left, so the recipe is getting very basic. Wednesday, September 17 View Page We harvested the 'big' gourd tonight as it hadn't grown for any for the last 4 days and we were concerned about rot. I just hope we can hold it for an official weigh off. You will have to wait for the official measurement, but lest just say its over the official Canadian Record. The cross is 125 Urena x open. Thanks to Brian for helping with the harvest and the photography Thursday, September 18 View Page Here is a pic of the stem on the 772 Poirier. It has had some soft spots in it for a couple weeks. I had tried coating with fungicide paste and using a fan, but it really wasn't drying it up. With some advice from a few guys here on BP, I scraped the stem, applied alcohol, put the fan on it for about a half hour, then applied dry Captan powder, then restarted the fan and covered the whole thing with a tarp. The fan has been going for over 24 hours now. The stem tonight seems to be drying out. Hopefully we have saved the pumpkin. Thanks to Dan Bowles, Sam Lovlace and Tom Privitera. Saturday, September 20 View Page Big and Orange and still growin! Wednesday, October 1 View Page It got Quiet......very Quiet Monday, October 6 View Page Preparing to harvest the 998 Pukos fruit for Port Elgin Monday, October 6 View Page ok...looks good! Monday, October 6 View Page slowly, carefully Monday, October 6 View Page set'er down easy! Monday, October 6 View Page ok...now for the squash Monday, October 6 View Page The bottom is great! Monday, October 6 View Page Ready to load Monday, October 6 View Page Getting ready to weigh the 998 Pukos fruit Monday, October 6 View Page A new patch best. Introducing the 1170 Vincent- McGill 08 (998 Pukos X 1041 McKie) Monday, October 6 View Page Unfortunatly, the judges ruled the fruit as a pumpkin! Because we already had a pumpkin entry, we withdrew the fruit from competition. We weighed it anyway for an official weight of 1132 lbs. (Current Canadian record squash 1131 lbs, held by Brant Timm) Monday, October 6 View Page Brant gives me a big congratualtions! Monday, October 6 View Page On Sunday morning at a friends house. Monday, October 6 View Page Our 125 Urena x open Long Gourd, shrunk significantly since it was harvested. Rot set in on the tip, likley due to the gourd being submurged in water so many times. It origionally measued 123" for us. The official measurement at Port Elgin was 119". It placed 4th. Sorry, no picture. Ours didn't turn out. Friday, October 17 View Page Well...all loaded up for Wellington weigh off, tomorrow! Thursday, October 23 View Page Here is Josh McGill and his 136.4 lb squash entry at Wellington. This was an open pollinated fruit on our 824 Brunst plant Thursday, October 23 View Page Here is Noah's 189.6 lb entry, grown off the same plant Thursday, October 23 View Page Brian and I had 1st place squash with 811.6 lbs. This squash is 1055 Pitura X 824 Brunst. Thursday, October 23 View Page The 772 Poirier fruit weighed 993.2 and was 5th place. Doh...just missed the 1K mark! It also won the Howard Dill award. This was a very popular pumpkin for pictures. It is 772 Poirier X 998 Pukos Thursday, October 23 View Page Another shot of the 993.2 with Brian and I and our Howard Dill Award. Thursday, October 23 View Page This is Brian's wife Jen, with the fruit off the 943 Vincent-McGill 06. It weighed 788.6 lbs and was 10th place. It was also crossed with the 998 Pukos. This pumpkin was picked two weeks early and had been on display. Thursday, October 23 View Page Hers's a group shot with harley Sproole's winning 1343.4 lb pumpkin. Thursday, October 23 View Page Here's a shot of the crowd Thursday, October 23 View Page This is the North Port Pumpkin Growers Guild parade float! Friday, October 24 View Page Loaded for Cornerstone Sunday, November 2 View Page A side shot of the 993. We sold the pumpkin to our good cudtomer in Kingston. He has bought a pumpkin from us 3 years in a row. We went doen on Wednesday to retrieve the seeds. Sunday, November 2 View Page A shot of the 811* carved on halloween night. Ya I know, not the most creative job! Sunday, November 2 View Page Time to do some sub-soiling. This antique JD sub-soiler is borrowed from my wifes brother. Sunday, November 2 View Page The sub-soiler runs about 24" deep, sattering the "plow pan" and allowing for better aeration and drainage. I ripped every 3 feet or so across the patch and cross ways about every 6 feet Sunday, November 2 View Page This can be difficult using "field sized" tools in the small space of the garden Sunday, November 2 View Page hard work!....I need a beer. Sunday, November 2 View Page Here is the 1132* prior to carving on October 30th. You can clearly see the lighter coloured areas that were so contriversial. The squash has lightened considerably since Port Elgin. Sunday, November 2 View Page A side view Sunday, November 2 View Page Noah, Brian and Josh behind the 788. Thursday, November 6 View Page I took the afternoon off work to do a little patch prep. Pictured here is 50 yards of mushroom compost (two tri-axel dump truck loads) and 100 bags of leaves. All the leaves and about 35 yards of compost were spread this afternoon. I set aside about 15 yards for next spring planting mounds, vine covering etc. The plan is to mold board plow the whole thing under in the next couple days. The mushroom compost is aged several years. We have used this material before. It does an excellent job of conditioning the soil. Thursday, November 6 View Page Another view of the carnage! Thursday, November 6 View Page A new personal best giant tomato. 3 lbs 0.2 oz. This one was harvested on October 21st. No seeds were kept. Monday, November 10 View Page I like big butts and I can not lie! I cut up the 1132* tonight and the stem end of this puppy was 15" thick! I just had to take a pic. hauled about 3000 lbs of fruit to the goats tonight....yum yum Tuesday, November 11 View Page My new Patch best 28.8 lb Kohlrabi, Tied for third at the Royal Argicultural Winter fair in Toronto, last Saturday Tuesday, December 16 View Page I finally got the patch plowed on Sunday. I did kind of a hack job as there was a fair bit of frost. I'm not very happy with the patch conditions. I have been working on preparing seeds to be sent out. I have a big box of bubbles from all over the world. I hope to have them all filled and in the mail prior to Christmas. I am really impressed, I got bubbles from the US with Canadian stamps on the return bubble. I also got one from France, with Canadian Stamps...holy crap!... I have been packing seeds for the GPC sale, the PECPG sale, the GVGO seed distribution and my own seed exchange. I will also be packing seeds later for the 4-H club. I'm beginning to see zip-loc baggies in my sleep. I got my baggies in bulk this year....5000 to start!