Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 110 Entries. Friday, February 8 View Page All of this snow has me antsy to get started growing. To start off my 2008 diary, I have an aerial photo of our acreage near Anamosa. Our 12 acres are outlined in yellow, with my gardens in smaller yellow shapes. With all of the timber in the neighborhood, you can see why I have problems with deer and other critters. The larger creek bottom patch is 50' lower elevation than the house, 100' lower than our east fence, and 150' lower than the ridge top to the east. That is why I have reduced morning and evening sunlight and why cool air sinks in there in the evening. Still it is very fertile alluvial soil. Our flooding problems have been greatly reduced since our neighbors built a large pond upstream. Still we have to take our chances. The rest of our ground is just too steep for growing pumpkins. Friday, February 8 View Page Here is a sketch of our main garden. Our goal is to get a rotation set up so we have only have pumpkins in the same spot every other year or every third year. We dug some drainage ditches last fall and will have more to dig in the spring. The soil itself is well drained, but the reduced sunlight, protection from drying winds and humidity keep it fairly damp. We hope to prevent some of the disease problems tht hit the past 2 years. We will have 6 pumpkin plants for October, maybe a couple for the state fair, as well as a lot of other plants. We grow watermelons and long gourds for Pumpkinfest, and Jacob wants to enter some stuff in the FFA division at the state fair. The upper patches will have the long gourds, state fair watermelons and some tomatoes. Sunday, March 2 View Page It has been an interesting winter so far. The closest official weather station in Cedar Rapids has had nearly 5' of snow for the winter, 4th highest on record with over a month to go in snow season. Here in Anamosa, we have had at least one foot more than Cedar Rapids. We also had 3 ice storms totalling at least 1" of ice. I cringed at the sound of some of my trees crashing to the ground after the worst ice. School has been called off 6 times, with several other late starts or early releases due to weather. It got warm today, mid 50's. About dark the heavy thunderstorms hit. We are now under a flash flood watch and a winter weather advisory at the same time. We are expecting 2-4" of snow by morning. I expect the drive to work tomorrow will be very interesting. The gravel road ditches are full of snow and piled up about 4' higher than the road surface. The runoff is all going down the road, so it will likely be badly eroded under the snow. The pumpkin patch is under about 2' of hard packed snow and ice. If we get any flooding, I hope we get it while the soil is protected that way. I don't want all of my fall patch preparation to go down the creek. In a couple more weeks we will be starting some seeds. Jacob is going to raise a bunch of things for the FFA division at state fair, as well as to sell at the farmers market. We will have 6 pumpkin plants for October, as well as long gourds and watermelons. I may even try to raise something for the state fair, if things warm up in time. Thursday, March 27 View Page The snow finally retreated from my patch 2 days ago, and now this! Cedar Rapids was just 2.5" short of the all time record snowfall, and they should be getting at least this much. Here in Anamosa we have received at least 15 or 20 inches more. So I guess it is safe to say this has been the snowiest winter ever. This is why I usually don't get too excited about starting things too soon. Hopefully this won't last long. Thursday, April 3 View Page This is NOT a picture from a week ago. It snowed again here this afternoon. It stopped about 7PM but not before turning everything white. This is really messing up plans for growing watermelons and pumpkins for state fair. I sure hope it improves soon. The forecast for the next week is about half sunny, half rainy, highs in upper 40's to upper 50's, lows 30 to 38. Tuesday, April 8 View Page I was hoping it would start to warm up with a couple of days around 60 over the weekend. Then it started SNOWING around 11 AM today. This spring is starting out real ugly. Thursday, April 10 View Page I'm sitting here listening to the rain beat down on the roof, the wind howl and the thunder rumble. The ground was already super-saturated yesterday. We had a fairly steady light to moderate rain though the day with heavy storms after dark. Wh well, this is Iowa and the weather will soon change. The forecast for tonight and tomorrow is SNOW! Jacob is getting anxious to start some field pumpkins, squash and gourds for state fair, but it might be 2 weeks or more before we can get into the garden. Sunday, April 20 View Page It has been a rough few days. Early turkey season went by without a bird for the oven. Weather has been unusually cool and wet. Heavy rain on Friday, cloudy and misty Saturday. The ground is beyond total saturation, with puddles in low spots. There won't be any garden work for at least a week. Forecast for next 7 days includes 4 days with a chance of rain, Sunday and Monday with highs in the 70's with a cool down into the upper 50's to low 60's for the end of the week. Then to top it off we have been sharing a nasty virus. Not flu but nearly as bad. Jacob is the only one to escape it so far. Jacob did get some gourds, squash, melons and jack-o-lanterns started for the state fair. Normally I would be about a week away from starting Atlantic Giants for fall, but they may have to wait a week or so. I have the best seed lineup I ever have and I don't want to lose any to a late frost or cold, wet soil problems. Wednesday, April 23 View Page Still haven't been able to get into the garden at all. It was nice yesterday and should be today, then we are due for 2 days of rain. Forecast for Monday and Tuesday is morning FROST. I might have to fill the spryer with roundup and at least knock down the weeds. Even the weeds aren't too bad yet due to cold soil temperatures. I normally would be starting pumpkins by now, but I think I better hold off for at least a week. Thursday, April 24 View Page I got an old willow tree cut down close to the patch last night, and the soil was just about dry enough to till for the first time. I woke up at 4AM this morning to the sound of rain and thunder. It is back to soggy conditions again. On the bright side, the forecast for Sunday evening, Monday morning is rain mixed with snow. Maybe I will have the patch started by the 4th of July. Friday, April 25 View Page The skies broke open in Anamosa this morning. This is a shot of my garden after the creek went down. Luckily just the lower parts of the garden, where the creek used to run 40 years ago, were innundated. Still the rest is just mush. It will take well over a week of warm sunny windy weather before we can get into the garden with a tiller. This wasn't the bad part: our little greenhouse on the deck was blown over by high winds, wresking a lot of our tomato and pepper seedlings. It is hard to tell what we will be able to save there. All of eastern Iowa got pounded by rain, and flood warnings out. The Wapsipinicon River at Anamosa is forecast to crest at the second highest level ever by Monday morning. So, if anyone wants to say that the Iowa growers are sandbagging, well go ahead. It is true this time! Monday, April 28 View Page SNOW FLURRIES this morning. Forecast for tomorrow is for record low temp: 27 in Cedar Rapids. If winds die down my valley should hit 25 or 24. River at Anamosa is supposed to crest tomorrow at all time record high. There are still puddles in the low areas around my pumpkin patch, and the soil is still soggy. Maybe I will start seeds on May 1, latest start ever. I just hope it dries out and warms up enough to be able to plant them. Hopefully the rest of the season will be better: it can't get much worse than it is now. Thursday, May 1 View Page The patch is just starting to dry out, and we have more rain coming in. I will wait until this evening ot see just how heavy it will be. If it doesn't look too bad, I will start the pumpkin seeds. It bugs me that it is getting so late, but I can't plant into soup. Our disease problems the past coule of years has been caused by excess moisture, and I sure don't want to start out that way. I may have to buy some dry bagged topsoil to put into the planting holes to get started. I have such good seeds that I don't want to waste them in wet soil. I bet that in a month or so we will be dry and praying for rain. Sunday, May 4 View Page It rained most of the day Friday, and all morning Saturday. Friday evening we saw the last remnants of a huge snowdrift in a road ditch about 20 miles to the north. Saturday afternoon was windy and started drying. Sunday morning was cool with a little frost on the windshield of the van. It warmed up, sunny and light breeze. The patch is still too wet to work, but might be OK in a couple of days if the weather holds. The pumpkins will get started this evening. We can't wait any longer. Hopefully we will avoid the problems we have had with spring frosts and pumpkins maturing too soon. Now we just need to get the soil dried out to help with the disease problems. Sunday, May 4 View Page I started the pumpkin seeds for this year. Our top 6 are: 1207 Young, 801.4 Young, 1068 Papez, 1096.5 Privitera,893 Privitera, and 689 McWilliams. Backups are 947.5 Privitera and 104 Grimes. If all the main seeds germinate, then the backups will find their own spot in the patch. If I run into germination problems, I may start some later. I had planned on growing some green squash that I got from Longmont Pete and the Wiz, but the spots I had planned for them got flooded and are still very soggy. I will save those seeds for next year so they get a decent chance to grow big. As the pumpkin seeds germinate and leave the germination chamber, I will start some long gourd seeds. Weather forecast for tomorrow is great, so I MIGHT be able to do some patch work, finally!. Wednesday, May 7 View Page I got the pumpkin patches tilled Monday evening. Tuesday evening I got some work done on changes to the electric fence. Then a big storm came through. Tornado warning, multiple funnel cloud sightings in the area but no touch downs, and 1.5" of un-needed rain. I will have to limit patch work to the fence and some glyphosate spraying around the edges for a couple of days. Seeds have been in Jiffy mix 2.5 days, so we should be seeing some germination soon. The 15 watt bulb is keeping temps in the cooler around 85-87 degrees. Thursday, May 8 View Page After just 3 1/2 days, all of my pumpkin seeds except the 104 Grimes have popped up. I will give that one a few more days before starting something else. They are under grow lights now. Too cool to set them outside. Forecast for next 2 days is low 60's, then just 50's for the weekend. Hopefully it will warm up soon. Tonight I will try to get the electric fence back in operation and start some long gourds. Thursday, May 8 View Page I moved some corner posts for the electric fence this evening after mushroom hunting. Not very successful with mushrooms, it has been too cold. The 104 Grimes sprouted, so we are 100% on pumpkin seeds this year. The long gourds go in the cooler tomorrow morning. Sunday, May 11 View Page We got 2 inches of rain last night. The creek didn't flood, but there are puddles in the patch and the drainage ditches were full of water. At least we found some high spots to dig out to get better drainage. It was a cool, sunny windy day on Sunday. Monday is supposed to be nice, then 2 more days of rain. Forecast for next week is highs in low 60's to low 70's and lows around 40. That means a chance of frost in my valley. No plants in the ground yet: I hope it warms up and dries out soon. Tuesday, May 13 View Page 3 plants are outside hardening off, but we have rain coming in this evening. They will need to hit the dirt ASAP, so I hope we don't get too much rain. Still cloudy and cool; we need sun and heat. Wednesday, May 14 View Page Tuesday's rain was just light mist for a couple of hours, and now it is bright and sunny. Hopefully at least 4 plants will hit the dirt this evening. Wednesday, May 14 View Page 4 plants went into the patch this evening. All 3 Privitera plants and the 1068 Papez. We put up low plastic wind screens for protection. I have to remember to sprinkle some garlic powder on them tomorrow morning to ward off the dreaded cucumber beetles. Then I have to get the electric fence finished. I hope we are safe from frost: Cedar Rapids TV says 44 degrees and Waterloo says 42. We will probably hit 30 to 40. We also got our long gourd trellis assembled. We hope to give Petersen & Carlson from Clinton good competiton with the gourds this year. We have a new planting site with better sunlight and much better soil. Friday, May 23 View Page The last of the plants were put in the garden last evening. Still WAY behind schedule, growing very slowly. I had a hard time telling where the first leaves were coming out on the 1207 and 801.4 Young plants. WE got rain this morning, sun this afternoon. Forecast is for a great day Saturday, with storms on Sunday and Monday. I am really not thrilled about the possibility of heavy rains and flash flooding, or hail. At least the rain shoud get the sweetcorn popping out of the ground. Monday, May 26 View Page We dodged the big storm again last night. The huge tornado that ripped up several towns and killed 6 was just about 25 miles to the north. Later, after dark we had a tornado warning, but it didn't touch down. That was a good thing, because the TV radar showed it just south of us and I could see the low wall cloud during lightning flashes. We just heavy rain and tremendous lightning, the winds were dead calm. Our best pumpkins have the second true leaf but have been growing very slowly. The weather finally is warming up, so maybe they will catch up. I am just hoping for a warm June to get the growth back on tract and a cool July for pollination. Wednesday, May 28 View Page I got the long gourds set in the patch last night. They were started in 5" peat pots. When I checked on them this morning, one had been dug up by a critter. Luckily it was not damaged, so I replanted it. Tonight they will get their own electric fence wires. It was likely a raccoon: they have been visiting our garbage cans and harassing the outside cats. One got a good scare from my .22 revolver last night. Temp this morning was just 44. Forecast for next 3 days is heavy rain, with up to 3" to 5". I guess I should have concentrated on bulding an ark this year. Monday, June 2 View Page No photos to post yet: everything is still to small to show up on a photo. The 1068 Papex and the Privitera pumpkins are looking OK but small. The Young pumpkins are really small, nearly a month behind now due to the cold May. The 104 Grimes and 689 McWilliams are also very small but hanging in there. Weather forecast is not good: looks like rain most of the week. This year is shaping up to be a rerun of 1993. Rain, rain, rain. Sunday, June 8 View Page 1993 all over again, just a month earlier. Our creek is running bank full, low spots in the garden are staniding water. The plants are barely growing. May was so cold, that some of the pumpkins first true leaves are smaller than a dime. June so far has been hot, but cloudy and rainy. It will take a miracle at this rate to get much of a pumpkin. Monday, June 9 View Page My 689 McWilliams will be gone now. The first true leaf was only the size of a dime, and it has been under water for over 24 hours. Forecast is for a couple of dry days, then more rain. Rivers in the area are forecast for near record floods to way over the records. Just like 1993, only it is a month earlier and the storms are much more destructive. Tuesday, June 10 View Page Rain AGAIN Tuesday morning. Where my patch isn't a soupy swamp it is packed hard by the heavy rains. My drainage ditches are being tested, and they are helping some. I have never seen pumpkins growing so slowly. I guess the rain has leached out most of the nitrogen. If I get home from work before the rain tomorrow, I may sprinkle some water soluable fertilizer around the plants to give them a jump start. I might put a little Merit around them to get watered in by the rain. Garlic repellant, surface sprays and dusts are worthless when they get washed off every other day, or sometimes 6 days in a row. My main fear is that the next heavy rain on super saturated ground will flood the creek and wipe everything out totally. Still, I have to be thankful. We haven't been hit nearly as bad as some other towns in Iowa. Friday, June 13 View Page This is a day that will never be forgotten in this area. The Cedar River is ripping the guts out of Cedar Rapids. The river now is 18' above flood stage, , 10 ' higher than the previous record flood, 3.5' higher than the 500 year flood level, and still has 2' more to go. My daughter worked 8 hours at her job at one of the hospitals there and is now sanbagging to try to save the hospital. I couldn't get in there to help; the city is pretty much shut down. The Wapsipinicon River at Anamosa is 2' higher than the record flood and the levee just burst. Iowa City is bracing for a new record flood, way higher than 1993. Somehow my creek never flooded, but part of the garden is under water just from the rain. The rest is a sogggy mess. We might be able to salvage something, and I will be happy if we get even a 300# pumpkin this year. Only our long gourds still have a decent chance, as they are growing up on the hill. Sunday, June 15 View Page Maybe soon I can post some pictures. I have avoided the patch for the past week as it has been so wet. Jacob went to inventory the damage tonight. Most of the jack-o-lanterns are gone, along with some sweetcorn, peppers and other plants. The weeds are growing like crazy. The 689 McWilliams and 104 Grimes are lost at sea. One of the Young pumpkins is not growing and the other is still tiny. The 1068 Papez and 2 of the Privitera pumpkins have main vines down now. The 3rd Privitera is close to vining. They won't be any watermelons this year, and nothing will be ready for state fair. The long gourds are up on the hill in a raised bed with decent drainage and still have a fair chance to do good by October. I can't believe that the creek flooded just once this year. It has been bankfull several times. We are very fortunate, considering how bad things are around the state. We are not giving up; we will salvage what we can of this year. Jacob is already making plans for next year's garden, and I am making plans for an improved drainage system and maybe a mini greenhouse up by the house. The forecast is for sun the next 5 days, so maybe by late in the week I can get the tiller out for cultivating. Monday, June 23 View Page i haven't been in the patch too much due to all of the rain. We have one plant doing OK, the 1068 Papez. It has first female blossom, but only 4' from the stump. Very few male blossoms yet so it probably won't get pollinated. Weeds are everywhere. I will probably gie up on the Young pumpkins; they are now nearly 6 weeks behind in growth, and just sitting there with litle growth. No worry, just wait until next year I guess. Thursday, June 26 View Page The garden has finally dried our enough to get into it to weed, and storms are moving in. We have 4 plants with the potential to gorw a pumpkin: 1068 Papez and the 3 Privitera pumpkins. I'm afraid the plants growing from Don and Julie Young's seeds won't make it. The leaves are only the size of a quarter after being in the patch for close to 6 weeks. Just too much cold, cloudy rainy weather. The watermelons are gone: too much water. At least the long gourds have a chance. Only 2 gourd plants left. Something braved the electric fence to eat one. No phots yet. I just can't get the ambition to put a lot of extra effort into it, knowing that then next rain on the super-saturated soil could wipe everything out. Saturday, July 5 View Page The monsoons seem to be over. We are getting female blossoms on the 1068 Papez and 1096.5 Privitera. There still should be time to hit the 1000# plateau if the weather holds and we don't get the disease that usually hits after the pumpkins set. This morning I applied Merit, Alliette and daconil to try to keep the bugs and disease at bay. Jacob did a lot of weeding. Tomorrow I will use some permetrhin dust to keep the bugs off until the Merit can start working. Critters and damping off have thinned our long gourd patch down to just one plant. Maybe I can get some pictures posted soon. Monday, July 7 View Page Not that the weather has straightened out, the rabbits are attacking. They ate off s small female blossom about 7' out on the 1068 Papez. The nipped one secondary on the 1068 and a couple on the best of the Privitera plants. Groundhogs are showing up again, but I need to improve my aim. So far I have only scared them off temporarily. Jacob and I did a lot of weed control, and I put on some fertilizer. I wanted to keep fertilizer to a minimum and rely on the manure I applied last fall, but all of the rain and weeds changed my mind. I hope it cools off, as we finally have some females at a decent distance from the stump ready to pollinate in a couple of days. Wednesday, July 9 View Page 7 July 2008. This is the 1068 Papez. It is the best plant in the patch, but it is still way behind due to the cold May and wet June weather. Wednesday, July 9 View Page 7 Jult 2008. I'm starting a curve in the main for a female blossom at about 11' out from the stump. Hopefully we can get this one pollinated and growing. Even though it is beind, it still has time to get a decent size. Wednesday, July 9 View Page 7 July 2008. This is the 1097.5 Privitera. We plan to cross this one with the 1068 Papez, and make the reverse cross. Wednesday, July 9 View Page 7 July 2008. This is the 947.5 Privitera. It is way behind where it should be. Wednesday, July 9 View Page 7 July 2008. This is the 893 Privitera. Another one way behind, but you ani't seen nothhing yet. Wednesday, July 9 View Page 7 July 2008. This is the 1207 Young. It makes me sick to see what the weather has done to this plant. Some of it might be grower error also. More bad stuff to come. Wednesday, July 9 View Page 7 July 2008. This is the 801.4 Julie Young. I had high hopes for the brilliant orange pumpkin that was pollinated by the monster 1662. Maybe it will come out of it, we have a late frost and I can something to save those great genetics. Wednesday, July 9 View Page 7 July 2008. This is the 104 Grimes. I wanted to grow a good pumpkin from a small one with great genetics. Unfortunately, this one spent several days under water - twice. I thought for sure that it was dead but it still is hanging in there. Wednesday, July 9 View Page This post will show up before the next ones with the pictures. It will make more sense after you see the photos. I think I have an explanation for the wide differene in plant sizes. The 1068 Papez and 1097.5 Privitera were planted in one bed that had heavy manure application along with grass clippings and a fall cover crop of dwarf essex rape. The previous year it was in pumpkins that were dead by the first of August. The other Privitera pumpkins were in a similar bed next to the first. Instead of the rape cover crop, I tilled in extra grass clippings. All grass clippings were chemical free. The bed for the the Young pumpkins was a little sandier, which should have had better drainage with all of our rain. Last year it was in sweet corn and had an extra heavy grass clipping application. These plants were also the last to germinate, and after they did we had an unusually cold 2 weeks in which they grew very little. The 104 Grimes was planted in a spot that usually does well, but it is a few inches lower and has been a swamp for most of the growing season. I has planted a 689 McWilliams, but it didn't survive being submerged for a week. I think that the grass clippings may have tied up some nitrogen in the soil, and combined with the cold and rain it really stunted things. Everything has received a shot of 10-10-10 surface applied so the rains will start working some down into the soil. I guess you learn something every year. Wednesday, July 9 View Page I gave the plants a good dusting with Bonide Eight (permetrhin). Hopefully the Merit will be getting into the plants about now. So far no bug problems and no sign of cucumber beetles. Biggest problem has been the rainy weather and not being able to keep ahead of the weeds. The 1068 Papez has a lot of roots starting to break the ground surface: it must really be wet below. The 1097.5 Privitera has had a couple of females open pollinated, but we will try a planned cross in the next couple of days. Even if just the open pollinated females are the only ones to grow, it will still be OK as everything blooming now is great genetics. Thursday, July 10 View Page I learned the secret to making it rain. Go out and dust the garden. I imagine that everything I put on last evening got washed off this morning. I guess we are still in the rain cycle. Sunday, July 13 View Page Pollination day, finally. I pollinated a 1068 Papez 12 out from the stump with the 1097.5 Privitera. The 1097.5 had 2 females open about 8" apart, 12' out from the stump. It was pollinated with the 1068. It is a nice day, forecast high is just 81, so hopefully the pollinations will take. All were 5 lobe females. It will be at least a week or two before the other Privitera plants are ready to pollinate. The are only about 8' long with very few short secondaries. Wednesday, July 16 View Page Monday evening I did a little hoeing in the patch. I had some micorhizzae capsules, so I tossed them on the exposed roots under the leaves and covered them with a bit of soil. I hope that helps. I sprayed the stumps and any suspicious leaves with Daconil. I dusted the plants with a mix of Sevin and Eight. I want to get anything bad that my be crawling around there. Tuesday evening I did a little tilling to stay ahead of the plants. I don't till close to the plants to avoid any root damage. Close to the plants I use the hoe. I did a little vine training, and removed some females from secondaries. I terminated a couple of tertiary vines. I am letting some tertiary vines go a little way behind the back secondary to fill in the patch. They will get terminated at about 3'. I am allowing about 800 sq. ft. per plant of growing space. Thursday, July 17 View Page I took a vacation day today to do some work around the house. I did pollinate a 4 lobe female on the 1096.5 Privitera. The 1068 Papez and one of the other Priviteras will open in a day ot two. No sign of the disease problem from last year: it would hit with wet soil and high temperatures. So far the ground surface is drying out, except for under the pumpkin leaves. The hottest temps so far have been upper 80's, and last year we had a lot of 90's in June. I will give them another booster shot of Aliette and Merit. No bad bugs have been seen, also no bees either. I don't thnk that open pollinations would work this year. The only bugs in abundance are the skeeters, and they will carry you away at times. I think I am doing a better job of training and pruning the vines this year. I am keeping up with the tertiaries, and directing the direction of the secondaries. I hope to have at least 600 sq. ft. of plant behind the pumpkin and around 200 sq. ft. ahead of it. So far the July 13 pollinations are growing, so I hope they will take. Friday, July 18 View Page I got a light foliar application of Aliette on the pumpkins yesterday; the preious application was more of a drench due to sprayer problems. I also got another light shot of Merit on a couple hours before rain hit. I have another female to pollinate on the 1068 Papez. I really hope the July 13 pollinations take. The seem to be growing so they may be on their way. I did have some heat stress for the first time yesterday on a few young leaves. We are in for a few cooler (low 80's) days with scattered showers. Friday, July 18 View Page It was really wet in the patch when I pollinated the 1068 Papez, a 4 lobe female. We had at least 1/2" of rain last night. A 5 lobe female that I missed removing on the 1097.5 Privitera back secondary bloomed, so I selfed it. It it grows and I get one on the main, I might just sever this vine near the stump and grow it on a reduced plant for the genetics. I also selfed a 4 lobe female on the 947.5 Privitera. The plant is still pretty small, but we need to get something going on it soon. Sunday, July 20 View Page About 1" rain on Thursday night. 2" rain on Friday night. Another heavy rain on Saturdy night. I haven't looked to see if the creek flooded, as it was very high Saturday afternoon. Anyway I expect to see some puddling in lower parts of the garden. We just can't seem to get out of the rain/flood cycle. I just hope the Aliette applications will prevent any root rot, now that the weather has warmed up. I definitely won't be getting into the patch until we get a couple of sunny, dry days. I guess I should have planted rice this year. Monday, July 21 View Page Rain AGAIN, Sunday night & Monday morning. That makes 4 days in a row with very significant rains. At least the forecast for the next week is for mostly dry weather and not too hot. Tuesday, July 22 View Page Finally an evening without rain. I checked the patch early this morning. It is very wet, and my drainage ditches have water in them. Time to spray some more fungicide to prevent potential problems. Weeds are getting out of control again, but not much can be done when it is so wet. Lots of roots are showing at the surface. It appears that the July 13 pollinations were successful. All are bigger than softballs now. Big problem will be making a decision on which one to keep on 1096.5 Privitera. The one with best vine position is the smallest. At least the stems are nice and long. Will try to get pics this afternoon. Tuesday, July 22 View Page Finally an evening without rain. I checked the patch early this morning. It is very wet, and my drainage ditches have water in them. Time to spray some more fungicide to prevent potential problems. Weeds are getting out of control again, but not much can be done when it is so wet. Lots of roots are showing at the surface. It appears that the July 13 pollinations were successful. All are bigger than softballs now. Big problem will be making a decision on which one to keep on 1096.5 Privitera. The one with best vine position is the smallest. At least the stems are nice and long. Will try to get pics this afternoon. Tuesday, July 22 View Page Finally an evening without rain. I checked the patch early this morning. It is very wet, and my drainage ditches have water in them. Time to spray some more fungicide to prevent potential problems. Weeds are getting out of control again, but not much can be done when it is so wet. Lots of roots are showing at the surface. It appears that the July 13 pollinations were successful. All are bigger than softballs now. Big problem will be making a decision on which one to keep on 1096.5 Privitera. The one with best vine position is the smallest. At least the stems are nice and long. Will try to get pics this afternoon. Monday, July 28 View Page I took the family for a 3 day trip into Wisconsin. Just long enough for the weeds to grow up, short out the electric fence and let the groundhogs in. They did their worst to the 1096.5 Privitera. They ate off 4 pumpkins on the main, including the one we were going to keep. They also ate off the end of the main and a lot of leaves. They did leave one female on the main that opened today, so I pollinated. it. They also left the one that I polinated on one of the rear secondaries, so that will probably end up being the keeper for that plant. On the 1068 Papez, they nipped a few leaves and barely nibbled the pumpkin. I think it will make it. Jacob is out now clearing the weeds, and he has orders to shoot groundhogs on site. No messing around with the pellet gun, we are getting out the 12 ga. shotgu with heavy turkey loads. Monday, July 28 View Page Jacob cleaned the weeds and grass off the electric fence and found a broken wire. Those sneaky groundhogs must be carrying wire cutters now. Soon they will be carrying lead, if my aim is good. Tuesday, July 29 View Page We fixed the broken wire, but something is still sorting out the fence some. They can be real tough to keep at full power. I painted some daconil on the shallow wounds on the 1068 Papez, Jacob got us some fox urine and we sprayed that around to help chase the critters away. It has worked well in the past. Wednesday, July 30 View Page The fox uring is keeping the ground hogs out for now. I think the 1068 Papez will heal over. The pumpkin on the 1096.5 Papez side vine is growing well. The other 2 Privitera poumkins are now finally getting good vine growth and have pumpkins set. The Young pumpkins are still very small but vining out. The 801.4 had a thick double vine. Need to give them another shot of Alliette in another day ot two. The hot humid conditions are right for causing problems. Thursday, July 31 View Page Applied Alliette again. So far no disease problems. 1068 Papez seems to have survived the ground hog attack is is growing fast. I'm not going to make myself crazy with daily measurments this year. It looks to be around 80 pounds now. If I get good growth it should make a very nice size by October. All of the Privitera plants are looking better. Sunday, August 3 View Page The 1068 Papez is 21 days old now. First measurements Cir. 69, s-s 54 e-e 52 175" total est. 124#. Not a great start, but it still has 2 months to grow. it has really picked up the past couple of days. The groundhog damages seems to have healed over. The 1096.5 Privitera on the back secondary is about 40# now. That plant was really set back by the groundhogs, not to mention the wet weather. The plants are looking a little yellow, so they will get a shot of fertilizer. I am making my first batch of compost tea, to be applied tomorrow. Weather report for tomorrow is terrible; high humidity, temp. around 95, heat index aroun 115. The patch is starting to dry out (finally) so it will be a test of the plants root systems. Tuesday, August 5 View Page I checked the patch and found the first cucumber beetle of season. I also found that the 893 Privitera, which had been neglected some due to slow growth, has a decent pumpkin on it. I filled the sprayer with insecticide to get the bugs, and half way through it broke down. So I decided to pull a few weeds and found vine borer damage to the 893 stump. I pulled out one that was coming out the base of a leaf. I showed Jacob what was going on and how to treat it. I used a wire with a bent end and fished another borer out of the stump. I cleared it out as good as I could and poured it full of straight Daconil. The leaves and weeds are pulled back so the stump can get full sun. I guess this one should have gotten Merit like the others. The damage wasn't severe and it should surive. It took both of us to slide a double layer of weed fabric and sand under the 893. The 1068 Papez is slightly ahead of my personal best pace, and I hope it really takes off and grows. I am still hoping that it will make 1000# by October. Wednesday, August 6 View Page I measured the 1068 Papez tonight, day 24: Cir. 81", s-s 63", e-e 60" total 204" est. 189#. That is a 65# gain in 3 days, not to shabby. If it can average that for the rest of August, and half that rate for September it has a chance to top 1000#. No other females left on this plant, I removed one volleyball tonight. It was cut half way yesterday. Some of the secondary vines have been terminated, as are all tertiaries. The plant has nearly filled up its alloted 800 square feet. I did have a too close encounter witht he electric fence and It nearly knocked me off my feet. I sure hope a certain groundhog gets tangled up in it and fries. Saturday, August 9 View Page Day 27 for 1068 Papez. 225" OTT for estimated weight of 249#. That is 60# gain in 3 days. Not bad, but I hope it picks up some soon. Still it is on a track to make a personal best. The 893 Privitera has now overtaken the 1096.5 Privitera, on a smaller plantr and later pollination. The 1096.5 is looking a little light green, so I think we need to give it some more fertilizer. Long gourd finally has one set and growing. Sunday, August 10 View Page We had a nice rain come through Saturday afternoon. It was welcome, as we were starting to get just a little dry. Still I have not had to water the plants once for the season. Hopefully this will kick the pumpkins into high gear. Second batch of compost tea started brewing yeaterday. Jacob is going to have some arthroscopic work done on his knee this week, so he will be out of the patch for a while. I get a chance to pay him back for the help he gave a couple of years ago when I had my shoulder surgery. Tuesday, August 12 View Page It has been unusually cool the past few days, and pumpkin growth has slowed. 1068 Papez at day 30: Cir 99, s-s 76, e-e 73 total 248" est. 329 pounds. Just 40# in 3 days. Hopefully the weather will warm up, growth will pick up, everything holds together and it can make 1000#. Measurements on the Privitera plants: 1096.5= 169" 113#, 947.5= 159" 95#, 893=178" 130#. The first long gourd is 22". It set low to the ground, so I will have to grow it on a slanted board to keep it straight. Thursday, August 14 View Page It has been closer to 80 the past 2 days, but spotty showers keep missing us. Subsoil is moist but top is just a little dry. 1068 Papez now estimated 361#, 16# per day gain. Better than the previous 12# per day. Privitera plants: 1096.5 is 128# (8# per day) 893 is 153# (8# per day) 947.5 is 111# (8# per day). Forecast is a couple of nice days around 89, then a few days in 70's with chance of rain. I sure would like 85 days and 65 nights, but will take what we can get. Long gourd in now 29", just 7" growth in 2 days. I am doing light foilar feedings every other day with compost tea on the 2 best pumpkins and the long gourds every other day. Saturday, August 16 View Page Jacob had a successful knee surgery yesterday. The doctor removed the piece of torn miniscus that was giving him problems. After a few weeks he will be as good as new. This means I get to do some of his pumpkin chores for a few weeks. Just payback for the time he helped me after my shoulder surgery. 1068 Papez measured 106-82-77 total of 265" estimated 398 pounds. 37 pounds in 2 days, so it is picking up speed. It is way ahead of my personal best from 2006. I am just worried about a potential problem. My neighbor was just out spraying Canada thistles (way too late since the seeds are already blowing around). I just hope it isn't something that will drift and kill my pumpkins. The winds are light and swirling in the valley. The long gourd is 36", but only 18" from the ground. I will have to get out a board to place on a slant to grow it on soon. No others going yet. Hopefully something will take off soon towards the top and make a decent gourd. Tuesday, August 19 View Page 1068 Papez is now estimated 448#, gaining 17 per day. Just a slight increase in growth rate. It has just one shallow 1" long split along side the stem, but it shouldn't be a problem. I went to fertilize all the pumpkins, but decided to hold off on the 1068; I don't want to blow it up. It looks to be a big, ugly white wheel. Not on any kind of a record growth pace, but it is ahead of my personal best. Long gourd still growing very slowly. I hand polinated one very early this AM, so I will see if that takes. I heard from a couple of local growers. One is having very poor success, another has vine borer problems. Combined with all the rain it has been a tough year. Friday, August 22 View Page Day 40 for 1068 Papez. 288: OTT 507#. Rate of gain has kicked up to 20#/day. Way ahead of my personal best. I'm noticing a few mini cracks on the stem emd oozing a little clear sap. Nothing to worry about but I won't be pushing this plant. If it keeps this pace for the next 2 weeks and then just half that until October I have a chance at 1000#. I'm not getting my hopes up, as I have had too many disasters in the last week of September. We had about 1/2" of rain in an all day soaker yesterday. 893 Privitera is now 252# on a small plant with vine borer damage at the stump. At least it is a very nice orange color. I was just bragging to another grower today that I had only seen 3 cucumber beetles all year. I saw about 15 tonight. They got a shot of bifenthrin. Also gave the plants another dose of Alliette and some daconil. A little powdery mildew showing up on the oldest leaves. I will start the every other night treatment of mild and molasses tomorrow. Forecast for newt week is great: highs in low 80's lows around 60. The long gourd has reached the ground and now needs the slant board. I don't think I could dig a deep enough hole to keep it going straight down. Wednesday, August 27 View Page Weather has cooled off. Daytime highs in mid 70's night time lows in low 50's. The 1068 Papez has still averaged 19# per day for last 4 days, taping out at 583# Monday evening. If it warms up again as it should, it still has potential for decent size. I need to charge come camera batteries and get some pictures. It started out as a wheel, and now the base is widening out into a flat tire. Ugly white color with an awful scar from the groundhog attack. The 893 Privitera is filling out nicely with great orange color. It taped out at 289#, averaging 10# per day. Hopefully it will pick up and finish in the 500-600# range. I rescued a long gourd that got curled up on top of the trellis. It is straightening out and growing fast. It should easliy beat the first one tht has stalled out in the 50's. The plant is getting a daily 5 gallon watering with soulable fertilizer. Thursday, August 28 View Page I got concerned when checking my 1068 Papez last evening. There was a small swarm of fruit flies around it, the kind you see when a pumpkin splits and starts to rot. That shouldn't be the case as it has been growing well. There was a little more of the clear sap oozing around the mini cracks by the stem. Maybe that was what drew them in or maybe they were just getting under the tarp ahead of the rain. We had a nice shower this AM and more on the way. I hope it isn't too much. I gave some of the secondary vines a shot of 24-8-16 (generic Miracle-Gro) last night. Some vines that received the fertilizer a couple days earlier were looking a healther green, so I treated the ones that were looking a little yellow. Overall the plant looks fantastic, much better than I could have hoped for with all of the early rains. The 893 Privitera is filling out, getting a more rounded shape. The color is fantastic, weight around 300. We hope it hangs in there. The 947.5 Privitera seems to be going downhill and the small white pumpkin has slowed down. The 1096.5 Privitera is looking sick at the back end, and the fruit on the back secondary is slowing down. The fruit at the end of the main is growing much faster. I had to cut a secondary and some roots to prevent stem stress. The long gourd that I rescued is straightening out and growing fast. Must be the nightly water/fertilizer applications. Sounds like I need something real big to compete with the 11"+ of Marty Schnicker, and the Carlson-Petersen team and Dick Stivers always have big gourds too. Thursday, August 28 View Page The 1068 Papez. According to the measurements, it only grew 28# in past 2 days. But there were a lot of small "micro-cracks" on the skin that were leaking little bits of clear ooze. It must be growing, I just hope the rain this morning won't break it. You can see the pale color. Thursday, August 28 View Page View of the ground hog scar on the 1068 Papez. It really looks ugly, and if it didn't grow extra on the inside I bet it costs me at least 5 pounds. Thursday, August 28 View Page The 893 Privitera. Measurements indicate it gained 30# in 2 days, now at 318#. I think it has upper 500's potential. Very nice color too. It just needs to fill out a little more on one side to have a perfect shape. Too bad the plant was such a slow starter and has tremendous weed competition due to the cold wet spring. We just couldn't do any weeding without seriously packing the soil and doing more damage. Thursday, August 28 View Page Stem end of the 893 Privitera. Nice ribbing getting started. Was crossed with 947.5 Privitera, so the seeds should have good genetics. Saturday, August 30 View Page We have seen a couple of cool nights, lows near 50. The pumpkins are slowing down as well. 1068 Papez is down to 12# per day. It is oozing all over the shoulders, so maybe there is growth that isn't showing up on the tape. Some stem stress was showing up, so I had to cut another main vine root and adjust the styrofoam block holding it up. No stress now. The 893 Privitera is down to just 6 pounds per day, but I think there is still some growth left in it. I saw a few cucumber beetles, so the insecticide and garlic will be used this evening. The first long gourd stopped growing at a measly 56". Another one was already 45" and still very skinny yesterday. It should get much longer than the first. Jacob's knee is healing up nicely, and he should be able to get back to his patch chores in a week or so. Monday, September 1 View Page It has been warm since the last rain. High now is near 90. The long gourd leaves are wilting in the heat. The pumpkins are loving it. 893 Privitera went from a measly 11 pounds in 2 days to 32 pounds in the last 2 days. Now taping 361#. 1068 Papez had been down to 24 pounds in 2 days, now it grew 56 pounds in 2 days. Now taping at 691#. The pumpkin on the 1096.5 Privitera back secondary has really slowed down, but the late pollination way ont on the main is growing fast, now taping 303#. Half of the 1096.5 plant looks terrible, the rest looks good. Wednesday, September 3 View Page 3 September 2008. This is the 1096.5 Privitera X 1068 Papez. Late polination growing about 20' out on the main. It is really growing fast, and it is sitting on the blossom end. Impossible to get the circumfrence without diggin under the pumpkin. I had to do some root pruning and blocking with styrofoam to prevent stem stress. The 1068 has slowed down to 12#/day. It was hot yesterday until the cold front hit about 7:00 PM. We got about a half inch of rain overnight, and today was cloudy and high around 69. Forecast for next few dyas is highs around 70, lows around 50. Sounds like we could get heavy rain tomorrow, mositure from the gulf being pushed up by Gustav remnants to hit the Canadian cold air. Wednesday, September 3 View Page 3 September 2008. 1096.5 Privitera X self. This one tried growing on the stem, just the opposite of the one on the main. It is on a back secondary that is looking really sick. It isn't growing much now, so we took off the shade cloth so it can color up in the sun, if we ever get any. This plant could have done much better if the groundhog hadn't ruined the fruits on the main 13' and 14' out. Wednesday, September 3 View Page 3 September 2008. 893 Privitera X 947 Privitera. We are real pleased with the orange color. Growth slowed to 8#/day due to cold weather. Current estimate is 377#. With 30 days to go to weighoff, we hope it will make at least 500#. Wednesday, September 3 View Page 3 September 2008. These are the Rock Mountain High sunflowers that we got from The Wiz. They were planted in the part of the garden that was submerged in rain puddles a couple of times for almost a week at a time. They were in wet muck for nearly 2 months with very little weed control. Still they managed close to 10' high. We definitely will keep some seeds to grow next year. Thanks, Wiz!! Friday, September 5 View Page Cold and wet. Yesterday was mid 60's light rain courtesy of Gustav. Low last night around 50. Today was sunny, uypper 60's but now it is misting again. Forecast for next week is 60's to 70's for highs, 40's to 50's for lows. Pumpkins are slowing down. 1068 Papez showed no growth for past 2 days, but some might be in the measurements. It is only 54 days past pollination, so it should grow more if weather warms up. Vines are very healthy. It has a minor, 1" long, 1/8" deep slpit by stem, so it should heal up. 893 Privitera added 11 pounds in 2 days, looking good. 1096.5 Privitera is growing amazingly fast. Hard to measure but today's estimate is 219#. Sunday, September 7 View Page Nice day today, sunny and low 70's. 893 Privitera is gaining about 5# per day, just under 400 now. It might still make 500. I remeasured the 1068 Papez and it showed a 38# gain over 4 days, now at 749. Hopefully it can make 900 and then go heavy. Yesterday I found a couple of small pumpkins that pollinated under the leaves and were around 10#. They aren't taking anything away from the big one now. It is starting to get a little pink color and come cantalouping is showing up on the skin. A little powdery mildew is showing up on the 893. First time I have had much of this on AG's, but decorative gourds seem to be covered with it. I will treat with milk and daconil. Weather forecast for next three days is not too good; highs in low 60's and lows in 40's, maybe more rain. We have plent of moisture now, and we need heat. Wednesday, September 10 View Page The weather has been COLD. Monday high of 54, Tuesday morning low of 38. Tuesday got into the 60's. I'm just hoping it doesn't get too cold this morning. Forecast is for a warmup which we need, and rain which we don't need. Pumpkins have been plodding along at 7#/day. If they continue at this pace, they might hit around 930 and 560. Friday, September 12 View Page The weather in Iowa has turned wet again. We had 2" yesterday morning. Forecast is for 2-3" tonight and another 1-2" tomorrow. Moisture is being pushed up from the Gulf ahead of Ike. Hopefully it won't pop the pumpkins. They have really slowed down with the cool air and clouds, going just 3-5 pounds per day. The soil has been moist to soggy all year so the plants should be ready for the rain. I'm mainly worried about the 1068 Papez as it keeps getting slight surface cracks that ooze. It is really growing at the stem end, in areas that don't show up too much on the measurements. Hopefully it will hold together and go heavy. I just hope it doesn't get so wet that we can't get them out of the garden. Saturday, September 13 View Page Lots of rain and better heat. The 1096.5 developed a split near the stem. It is not into the cavity, but it is holding water and hard to get at due to the angle of the stem. This won't be a competition pumpkin anyway. The 893 is growing faster, adding 10# per day the past 4 days. It is now at 453# with a shot at making 600. The 1068 grew some more and is oozing from several places. It added 9# per day and now is at estimated 790#. Hopefully it can make 900#. Big problem is the wet ground. I might have trouble getting it loaded and up the big grassy hill if it doesn't dry out. Tuesday, September 16 View Page Sioce my last post, we have had 2 cool wet days followed by sun and low 70's today. Pumpkins slowed down to just 5# per day. Forecast for next week is sunny, upper 70's for highs and low 50's for morning lows. The shade tarps have come off to get the pumpkins warmed in the day and blankets go on to hold in the heat at night. If the keep the 5# pace up they could hit 900 & 530. I'm hoping they speed up just a little and weigh heavy. I'm not going to add any fertilizer now. I don't want to take a chance of blowing them up. Thursday, September 18 View Page 3 consecutive days of beautiful weather and the forecast looks good. The soil has plenty of moisture to finish filling out the pumpkins, but a little rain now and then won't hurt. The 2 best plants are still healthy and no signs of bug problems. I still need to put put a little more mouse bait just in case. Next item on the agenda is assembling the tripod to load the "babies" for Pumpkinfest. Friday, September 19 View Page Pumpkins are still holding at 5 pounds per day with 2 weeks to go. Est. 819# and 463#. Something is going on with the long gourds. Leaves are getting brown spots and brown edges. Some leaves are wilting and some small gourds are turning brown. I need to give them a good shot of fertilizer to get what I can out of them while there still is time. No fertilizer for the pumpkins; we don't need any blowups this close to Pumpkinfest. Sunday, September 21 View Page The warm weather contiues. The plants are still looking good, but the gourds are still a couple of inches shorter than last year's. I find it hard to believe that I have seen less than a dozen cucumber beetles all year. In past years they have invaded by the hundreds amd thousands. The pumpkins will be personal bests for both of us if they hold up just 13 more days. I bought the 16' 4x4's for building a lifting tripod. I already have the straps and a very large tractor clevis to use as the ring. They have been used in the past sucessfully with a skid loader doing the lifting. Now all I need is the hoist, a threaded rod, washers and nuts and a chain for attaching the hoist. A friend of mine has some pumpkins going, so we hope to give the tripod a good workout this fall. Jacob just got back to normal after his knee surgery, and now the other knee went out. We see the doctor tomorrow and hope to get another surgery scheduled. It seems to be the same problem and if so he will be ready for action on the wrestling mat this winter. I don't mind doing some of his patch chores, as he really helped me out when I had my shoulder surgeries a couple of years ago. Monday, September 22 View Page The weather is fine but the pumpkins are slowing way down. 1068 Papez is at estimated 826# , gaining 4 per day. It will have to speed up a little or go heavy if it is to make 900# by weighoff. Still this is uncharted territory for us. It is now measuring larger than the one that split for Jacob a week ahead of weighoff in 2005. I bet this one would have gone much bigger if we had decent weather in May and June. 893 Privitera is estimated 472#, gaining 3 per day. It might just make 500#. Jacob has his second knee scope on Friday, so he will be gimping around on crutches for Pumpkinfest. Still he pulled his weight in the patch this year. Hopefully he has a shot at the pretty pumpkin award, as it is the best looking one we have ever grown. Wednesday, September 24 View Page 24 September 2008 - 1096.5 Privitera X 1068 Papez pollinted in early August. Too bad the groundhogs wrecked the July pollinations, as they could have gone big. I guess this is around 280 to 300 pounds. When I saw this plant wasn't going to make a decent pumpkin I stopped the Alliette applications. It shows as the leaves are dying off and a later open pollination has already rotted. Wednesday, September 24 View Page 24 September 2008. Big split in the 1096.5 Privitera. It does not go to the cavity, so we will keep this as long as we can to get viable seeds. It is an excellent cross to plant next year. Wednesday, September 24 View Page 24 September 2008 1068 Papez X 1096.5 Privitera. Taped 340" this evening, 829# est. I hope it holds up for a new personal best. I am thrilled it did so well, considering how bad the weather has been this year. The tarp has gone back over it. Growth is down to a crawl so I want to keep it cooler for less chance of rot starting. Also we had rain last night and maybe some more next week. I like to keep the pumpkins sitting on nice dry sand. Wednesday, September 24 View Page Side view of the 1068. It is gettng some light green color mixed in with the white and pink. The stem is is quite scarred up from the surface cracks and is even uglier than this view. Wednesday, September 24 View Page 24 September 2008. Jacob's 893 Privitera x 947 Privitera. It taped 286" this evening, est. 497#. It is growing faster than the 1068 and should easliy top 500#. A new personal best for Jacob if it holds up. You can see why I like this one. This plant was very small, maybe 400 sq. ft. It just didn't want to grow in May and June. I tried to get Jacob in the picture but he is a little camera shy. Friday, September 26 View Page Jacob's knee surgery went well today. A copy of the other knee. He may be on crutches for Pumpkinfest, but he will be ready for action come wrestling season. While I had some time to kill before the surgery, I put the final touches on the pumpkin lifting tripod. Just one week to grow. Good luck to everyone. I will have pictures from Anamosa Pumpkinfest in about 8 days. Monday, September 29 View Page It is a good thing that Pumpkinfest is this Saturday. The 1068 has stopped growth, except for a few small surface cracks oozing a little sap. The leaves are showing signs of the disease problem from the last 2 years. I had stopped the Alliette applications in August when it was so dry, then we got a fair amount of rain in September. We even had a thunderstorm before sunrise this morning. I quit terminating tertiary vines a couple weeks ago, so there are lots of new shoots sticking up all over. I also let a couple of small pumpkins grow once the big one slowed down to use as shock absorbers in case of heavy rains. Jacob's 893 is looking great and still growing a little. The best looking pumpkin we have ever grown. The long gourd plants are looking ratty. Lots of leaves dying off. Most of the trees and shrubs in our valley have leaf diseases and are dropping leaves early because of this year's excessive moisture. In the next couple of days I will put the finishing touches on the lifting tripod and do some testing. I sure hope it works like everyone says they do. Jacob is getting along extremely well after his surgery and may be off the crutches by Saturday. Good luck to everyone this weekend!! Sunday, October 5 View Page 2008 Pumpkinfest went better than I had imagined. My pumpkin was a personal best 841# and placed 8th overall. I also took the first place award for the Jones County growers. Jacob's pumpkin, an orange 547# personal best, took 20th overall and was 4th in the County. Jacob and I also took 2nd and 3rd for county long gourds, but finished way back in the overall. I will post pictures in my photo diary. Monday, October 6 View Page This is me with my new personal best. 841 McWilliams 08. It was grown from a 1068 Papez 07 seed (1068 Wallace X sibb.) and pollinated with a 1096.5 Privitera (1068 Wallace X 998 Pukos). I will definitely be planting seeds from this one next year, if I get some good ones. Tuesday, October 7 View Page This is Ralph Trumm's back-uo entry. He had one taping within 1/2 inch of mine, but when he lifted it he found a split in the bottom. Ralph and I agree that it is time for a Jones County grower to win next year. Ralph is the only local grower to win at Anamosa, with his 1200# in 2005. Tuesday, October 7 View Page The Jones County long gourd winners: Richard Stivers 1st place, Jacob McWilliams 2nd place, Mark McWilliams 3rd place. Richard had the longest gourd ever grown in Jones County, and Marty Schnicker was the overall winner with an Iowa record 107". Look out, the Iowa growers are shooting for a world record gourd as well as a world record pumpkin. Tuesday, October 7 View Page The 2008 Jones County pumpkin award winnwer. At the left are John and Jill Parham, founders of J&P Cycles, who sponsor the Jones County awards. 6th place 12 year old Vince Yario (3rd year grower), 5th place Darcy Sunlin (won Pretiest Pumpkin), 4th place Jacob McWilliams, 3rd place winner Ralph Trumm, 2nd place winner Dave Sunlin, 1st place winner Mark McWilliams. A big thanks goes to the Parhams for their long standing support of our weighoff. Tuesday, October 7 View Page Julie Young's spot at the front of the float which lead the parade through Anamosa. Tuesday, October 7 View Page From left to right on the float: 4th Place Mckenzie Ruff (that's her bewteen Mom Utoni and Dad Bob) 3rd Place Don young, and 2nd place John Barlow. Tuesday, October 7 View Page Sarah Palin and John McCain (or at least very good look-alikes) rode in the Republican Party's antique Chevy pickup. I guess it is just equal time, since Hillary Clinton had a rally at the community the day after last year's weighoff. This campaign has been going on over a year and there still is a month left!!! Tuesday, October 7 View Page This is my son Jacob with his personal best 547# orange beauty. He has been growing with me since 2004 when he was 13. In 2005 he had an 800# plus pumpkin split 1 week before the weighoff. I'm sure he will give me and the rest of the growers competition next year. Tuesday, October 7 View Page Well, another season has come to an end. The rest of the fall we still have chores on our acreage: mowing down weeds, spreading and incorporating fertilizer, manure and other organic amendments, improving our drainage ditch system, and controlling the deer population. Our patch will be moved over next year and this years spots given a rest. I didn't meet my goals this year: 100# watermelon, 100" gourd and 1000# pumpkin. The rainy cold weather prevented that, but I still feel blessed. We didn't get flood damage like so many of our neighbors did this year. We didn't have any close calls with tornadoes as in past years. Jacob had 2 knee surgeries, but he is nearly back to normal. My wife has a great new job. Our daughter had a tough year, with her apartment flooded by broken plumbing and her employer flooded by the Cedar River. But she has come though much more mature and is making her parents real proud. We already have our goals for next year. We will try our best to win next year's weighoff. Richard Stivers, Marty Schnicker and I plan to improve our gourd patches and bring that world record to Anamosa. I'm going to help a couple more growers next year to make our weighoff even better. Good luck to the rest of the growers who still have fruits to weigh. Just remember that next year, your most determined growers will be from the Midwest Pumpkin Growers Association.