Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 118 Entries. Friday, January 1 View Page Keeping it orange since 2005. My parents found this pic of me taken October 1983. The big one looks to be about 15 pounds, a real whopper! Best of luck to all growers in 2010 young and old! Wednesday, January 6 View Page I grew up in the land of giants... summer 1983. Saturday, March 13 View Page My 923 is the strongest plant. I broke the first secondary early on so now I'm training the next seconary towards the back of the patch. About 9 feet long. The 1421.5 and 729 are next with good growth since the fert application. About 7 feet long. The 1236* hasn't gone back to its double vine ways although it is set back a bit while the plant was figuring out what to do. About 5.5 feet long. The 603.5 is layed down and vining nicely it is about 4.5 feet long. Wednesday, March 31 View Page Some might be wondering what the 603.5 pollinator to my 923 Gerhardt 09 produced. I grew this plant for multiple fruit production. These are 2 out of 7 pumpkins this 603.5 produced over 150 lbs, the biggest being around 350. Two I grew in cinderella fasion on their blossom ends like the lighter one in the pic and they turned out really cool. The color and shape of this "big" one here kinda makes me regret not going for a single mainvine pumpkin. I am gearing up to start the season and should have some real updates soon. Good weather for this holiday weekend will make for some serious progress. Monday, April 5 View Page I lost my usb cable for my brand new camera so I can't put any pic updates out right now. About a month ago I got approx 8 yards of "aged" cow manure however it was still really green. I got it all moved out and spread as good as can be and I'm now just letting it sit for about 1-2 more weeks. I want it to break down and wash out as much as possible before planting. I need a small bit of gypsum and then i'm done with patch ammendments. I miss the mushroom soil- and hope I made the right choice. Tuesday, April 6 View Page Fogot to mention- I hit the patch with some 24 hour compost tea on Sat. to help speed along the soil biology and manure breakdown. Sunday, April 11 View Page The fungicide and pesticides that we needed to replenish this year arrived for Tim and me. All of the Eagle 20 is mine and the merit is for Tim. Otherwise, we split 50/50. I also got us a 5.5 lb bag of Aliette, but Tim doesn't know it yet... Here are my essentials for this year: Feeding: Neptunes fish/seaweed, kelp, and humic acid. Compost tea: KIS brand tea bags for 5 gallon brewer. Pesticide: Bifen IT and Merit 75WP; Triazicide available but not likely needed. Fungicide: Eagle 20, Banner Maxx (generic), Aliette. Sunday, April 11 View Page Got the first till in today. Once over in forward tine rotation to break up the manure clumps on top, and then a second time in reverse tine to put it all under. I need to secure about 80 lbs gypsum just to refresh the patch and probably shoot for one more good till in about 2 weeks. I will try to post my seed line-up sometime this week. Wednesday, April 21 View Page Here's my 923 from last year all carved up by Patrick Moser, called "Seymore Grazoo". Tuesday, April 27 View Page Seed line up is as follows: 1421.5 Stelts, 1677.5 Hunt, 1236* Vincent-McGill 729 Rosa 923 Gerhardt 603.5 Muller (pollinator only) Tuesday, April 27 View Page Added 80 lbs gypsum to patch and tilled it under on Friday April 23. Set up hoop house skeletons for 5 plants on Sat. Started 4 x 729 Rosa and 3 x 923 Gerhardts at 11:40am Saturday April 24. 100% germination at 56 hours Monday April 26. Also got 2 more 729 Rosa's in 6 inch pots from Tim which germinated on Sat. Wednesday, April 28 View Page Started the following seeds yesterday at 6:30pm: 1421.5 Stelts, 1677.5 Hunt, 1236* Vincent-McGill, 603.5 Muller, 1059 Vincent-McGill. Seeds were at 83.8 degrees this morning; need to adjust heat upwards but was not comfortable adjusting when I had to be at work. I need to monitor the adjustment to ensure the seeds don't fry. I have a backup for all seeds this year except the 1677.5 and 603.5. Wednesday, April 28 View Page Pic of seed line up Wednesday, April 28 View Page Seed germination system. Seeds in wet paper towel/plastic ziploc bags. Regular heating pad for back pain from CVS, Walgreens etc. Digital thermometer (expensive one from my old laboratory). Adjust height of towels inbetween heat mat and seed bags to reach desired temperature. Wednesday, April 28 View Page Help us save the longwood weighoff! Email me if you live in eastern PA or just want to help. [email protected] Thursday, April 29 View Page At Longwood 2009 Tim's pumpkin went so far over the chart estimated weight that they turned the fountains on! What a show. Thursday, April 29 View Page Squashcarver.com and company put on a great display Thursday, April 29 View Page Main entrance to the gardens indoor area. I believe they have 4 acres of continuous indoor greenhouses. Then again I could be vastly underestimating it. Sunday, May 2 View Page Hoop houses are finished. Will keep plastic off of one plant in case disaster strikes. If we get a hard frost I can always throw it up quick. Sunday, May 2 View Page 1677.5 Never germinated and is starting to get that popcorn smell. I'll keep it a little longer. Everything else is coming along nicely. Sunday, May 9 View Page Strong winds blew all of my hoops over as I return from a 3 day trip to Maryland. Lost one 729 Rosa. Both 923s are still intact and one of them is looking really good. All of the important plants that are still in pots look great. Will put them in the ground tomorrow or the next day depending on the weather. Wednesday, May 12 View Page Planted 1421.5 Stelts with backup 923 Gerhardt in hoop #3. Planted 1236* Vincent-McGill with no backup in hoop #4. Planted 729 Rosa as backup to the existing 729 in hoop #2. Planted 603.5 Muller with very weak looking 729 as backup in spot #5. No hoop for this spot. 923 Gerhardts in hoop #1 look pretty good. Monday, May 24 View Page applied first serving of Neptunes and Humic acid yesterday. Hoops need to come down in the next few days. Wednesday, June 2 View Page I'm having trouble uploading with my home computer so here is a quick update w/out pics: Hoops removed Sat May 29th. Backup plants removed Monday May 31. Final cut = 1421.5 Stelts, 923 Gerhardt, 729 Rosa, 1236* Vincent McGill, 603.5 Muller. Planted 5 x 492.5 backups at opposite ends of each main planting site just in case. The 1236* is a double vine and going to be trouble, but it was my only squash. Broadcast 12 pounds bloodmeal over the 1600 square feet or so of patch that immediately surrounds the plants. That should take me thru June. Tuesday, June 8 View Page I weeded the entire patch today. My 1236* has grown out of the double vine. I spent some time cleaning up that mess (getting rid of extra vines and leaves) as well as pruning the stumps of the other 4 plants. I gave my first spray of the year using the Stihl; 1/4 teaspoon Merit 75WP, 1 tablespoon Bifen IT, and 1 tablespoon Eagle 20 all mixed up into 1.5 gallons of water which took care of all the 5 plants. I had about 1/2 the mixture left after thoroughly coating the leaves and stems so I doused the surrounding soil with the remainder of the tank. Friday, June 11 View Page Weekly application of fertilizer has begun. 1/8 cup Neptunes fish/seaweed, 1/8 cup Kelp and 1/8 cup Humic Acid in 10 liters (2.6 gallons) supplied to the plants as foliar with the Stihl. Tomatoes, peppers and fruit trees got the left overs. Sunday, June 13 View Page My goal this year is to focus on recording important details and less on the pictures. Pics say a lot so I do plan on getting some up soon. I look back on past diaries thinking I will find out what rates I applied certain fungicides, insecticides, fert etc. But the answers just aren't there. This years diary should contain all the details that I will need next year. Tuesday, June 15 View Page Applied a generic roundup to the open areas of the patch today; wind was non-existant. The plants are exploding with growth. The 603.5 and to some degree the 1236* are growing main vines straight up even at 6 or 7 feet. I have never had to deal with this before. I am just keeping them supported and hoping they continue to lay down as nature intends. Note: the roundup was applied way over the label rate. Like 4x. I just want to kill these damn weeds. Hopefully not the plants too. Tuesday, June 15 View Page Clarification: the tips of the mains are growing straight up, about the last 18 inches or so. Thursday, June 17 View Page 923 Gerhardt on June 17. I pruned 1 female already and have 1 ready to pollinate in about 3 days. Thursday, June 17 View Page 1421.5 Stelts in front, 923 Gerjardt in back. Focus this year is on big secondaries. All plants in the patch have room for 15 foot secondaries on each side. Thursday, June 17 View Page 603.5, furthest behind. Thursday, June 17 View Page 1236* started as a double vine, grew out of it. Left it a little bit behind after pruning all the waste off. Thursday, June 17 View Page 729 Rosa stretching out nicely. Thursday, June 17 View Page Stump of the 923! 6 weeks after transplant, it's almost as fat as a beer can. Tuesday, June 22 View Page Earliest pollination ever by far. Pollinated the 923 at around 11 feet with 603.5 Muller. Whatever this plant grows will have 3 generations of 603.5 pollinators in it. Tuesday, June 22 View Page The pollination at 11 feet on the 923 was done yesterday June 21 and had 4 lobes. Thursday, June 24 View Page yesterday June 23 I pollinated the first 729 x 923, it had 5 lobes and is probably around 8 or 9 feet out. I cut the main on the 603.5; it was cracked and was showing some double tendancies. There was a perfect secondary there so I went with it. Pulled all the backup plants yesterday and transplanted 2 of them to my neighbor Dave's house. Friday, June 25 View Page Tough break today. I went to pollinate the next one on the 923 which was in perfect position and found that my tie had been pushed off the flower so the pollination is open. I used 3 603.5 Muller males anyways. Then I went to the 603.5 Muller female and found that the flower didn't open and looks like it might be dying. Sunday, June 27 View Page Pollinated the first 1421.5 today x 603.5 Muller, 4 lobes. Sunday, June 27 View Page The 1421.5 was pollinated on Sat June 26. Sunday, June 27 View Page Today Sunday June 27 I pollinated 1236* x self, 5 lobes. Pollinated 603.5 Muller x 923 Gerhardt, 5 lobes (back right secondary). I will pollinate pumpkins on the 603.5 with the 1421.5, 729, and 923 over and over in hopes of having at least 1 male pollinator that goes huge. As usual I won't go for a single huge pumpkin on the 603.5. All sets will be kept unless unusual circumstances exist. Sunday, June 27 View Page Sprayed my first application of compost tea for this season. Finished weeding the 923, 1421.5 and half of the 729. Wednesday, June 30 View Page Running late on entries again... on June 29 (Tuesday) I pollinated the 729 x 923 it had 5 lobes. I terminated a bunch of secondaries on the 923 and 1421.5 that had reached a full 15 feet per side. I'm caught up on weeding for every plant except for the 603.5 Muller. Today I have a flower to pollinate on both the 923 and 1421.5 for which I've selected 6 males from the 603.5 Muller. Wednesday, June 30 View Page My back took a turn for the worse today and I had to leave work early. I felt it when I was pollinating this morning. I've definitely been overdoing it with the weeding the last 3 days. The patch was getting out of control and it was real hard work getting it caught up. The 603.5 will have to remain unweeded for the time being. After a string of hot temps (85-93) for the last week (or longer) we are in for a spell of 80° temps over the next several days. Still no rain in several weeks. Wednesday, June 30 View Page Pollinated both the 923 and the 1421.5 with the 603.5 Muller today (3 males for each). The 923 had 4 lobes and the 1421.5 had 5 lobes. They are both pretty far out on the mains, like 18 feet or so each. Wednesday, June 30 View Page 923 Gerhardt 06-30-10 Wednesday, June 30 View Page 1421.5 Stelts. The pumpkin on the end has perfect position. I hope it's the keeper. Wednesday, June 30 View Page 729 Rosa. I fixed that sprinkler head and moved the assembly much closer to the stump. I did the same thing with the 923 sprinkler. Wednesday, June 30 View Page 923 front and 1421.5 in back. The 1421.5 has trouble with its back secondaries rolling over. Wednesday, June 30 View Page This pumpkin on the 729 is the best early grower (not yet 10 days for any of my pumpkins) but it is close to the stump, about 8 feet. Thursday, July 1 View Page Pollinated the 1236* x self today, 5 lobes. Pollinated the 603.5 Muller x 1421.5 Stelts today, 5 lobes (middle left secondary). All pollinations are sequential along the main vine unless otherwise noted. Friday, July 2 View Page Sprayed Alliette for the first time last night. I used 3 tablespoons in 2.6 gallons of water (10 liters) and applied with the Stihl. I also managed to mangle the second set on the 923 with my loop hoe. The first one is not in good position either so that was a big mistake. Wednesday, July 7 View Page Yesterday July 6 pollinations: 1236* x self 5 lobes; 729 x 923 5 lobes. Today July 7 pollinations: 603.5 x 729 5 lobes (first one pollinated on main finally). 923 x 603.5 right side vine. Needed insurance policy in all this heat. It is possibly the hottest July on record so far, another consecutive 101° day today. Leaves on vine tips are frying, even with the water system is set to 20 min per plant 3 times a day. No pumpkins have aborted due to heat yet though. Wednesday, July 7 View Page today's 923 x 603.5 was 5 lobes. Wednesday, July 7 View Page 923 #1 day 17 46" CC. 729 #1 Day 14 48" CC. 1421.5 day 11 28" CC. 1236* #1 day 10 28" CC. All of the stems on the 1236* are 8 inches long or longer. What a difference to the short stubby crappers on the 923 and 729. They could be a real problem down the road. The 1236* stems are literally so long there is absolutely no reason to position the pumpkin. It could have grown back underneath the main by accident and still wouldn't matter by about 6 inches. Still no rain and barely a chance in the forecast. Temp hit 101 again today. Thursday, July 8 View Page Sprayed the second app of compost tea this growing season. Went out on a limb and cut the main at the pumpkin on the 923 tough call because it is only about 11-12 feet out. But I have secondaries to train up spider style into the area. Total plant removed was approx 50-75 square feet. I guess I better cross my fingers I haven't been able to set another pumpkin on this plant... have one pollinated on a secondary we'll see. Sunday, July 11 View Page 923 - stump Sunday, July 11 View Page A couple 1236* VM x self. Look at those stems! Sunday, July 11 View Page 729 Rosa, day 17- 63" CC Sunday, July 11 View Page 923 Gerhardt. I can't believe how long and low this thing has grown so far. I hope it lifts up some for a huge orange barrel shaped pumpkin. Day 20- 63" CC. Has caught up to the 729 (in measurement not time wise) hopefully it continues the pace. If I recall correctly none of my day 20 measurements from last year were much better. Sunday, July 11 View Page 923 day 21 67.5" 1421.5 #1 day 15 44.5" 1421.5 #2 day 11 22" 1236* #1 day 14 44" 1236* #2 day 10 33.5" 729 #1 day 18 68.5" Sprayed Alliette this time at 5 tablespoons in 10 liters (2.6 gallons). Wednesday, July 14 View Page (Updates are for Tuesday July 13, late as usual). Day 20 for the 729 Rosa: 77.5" circ; day 22 for the 923 Gerhardt: 75" circ; Other measurements: 1421.5 #1 54" circ; 1421.5 #2 aborted; 1236* #1 53.5" circ; 1236* #2 42" circ. Today I increased my fertilization rate, to 1/2 cup Neptunes, 1/4 cup Humic acid, and 1/4 cup kelp into 15 liters (4 gallons) of water. Sunday, July 18 View Page Daddy told us how much he loves us and built these nice new summer homes for us today. We have all the amenities including mill fabric, sand, and pool noodles for nice loose vines and stems. Our houses were built with tarp cut to size, 1/2 inch conduit in 5 foot lengths, and holes drilled with a press to tie thru the eye holes of the tarp with cable ties. They only cost $11 each and should last for years. Sunday, July 18 View Page The 1421.5 Stelts crossed with 603.5 Muller is looking like its going to go orange like the 1662 was. Which means if this one goes big it could be a really sought after orange cross. Sunday, July 18 View Page View from the hill, 45 ft x 60 ft with 5 plants, pretty much totally full. 1421.5 and 923 are on the left, and the 603.5, 1236* and 729 are on the right (listed from front to back). Vines are 95% terminated as well as all backups except 1 on the 729 which will go once the 729 approaches 30 days. Sunday, July 18 View Page The 923 is definitely going to be deep orange and is smooth and shiney so far. Day 27, 96" circ ~246 lbs. Sunday, July 18 View Page 729 day 25, 91" circ. It appears to be turning 1/3 orange lol. Well what do you expect, whatever it eventually grows will have Gerhardt attached to its name so it's gotta have at least some orange in it! Unless it's a squash! Sunday, July 18 View Page Speaking of squash her is my 1236* Vincent Mcgill x self, day 17 at 61" circ. The color looks a bit yellow in this picture but it is a nice lime grean. I cut a monster off this plant about 4 feet down (older) on the main vine. It was over 80" and had enormously thick walls. The one thing is it did have 2 pretty nice stem splits that upon internal inspection I saw could hav been disasterous. The remaining 1236* has a stem at least 8" long and no signs of splits so far. The vine has a lot of slack. I hope this one stays round. Sunday, July 18 View Page Can't forget about my 603.5's either. Everything aborted except for the x 923 cross on the back right secondary, and the x 1421.5 cross on the middle left secondary. This is the 603.5 x 1421.5 on day 17, 49" circ. Not sure about that little round lump on it, it isn't soft but I've just never seen that before. There are still quite a few open pollinated pumpkins on this plant that may or may not make it. I might decide to thin down to just these two anyways. After the drenching rains last weekend the weather in eastern PA has continued back into the high 80's to low/mid 90's all week. No pumpkins on the 603.5 will receive shade tarps, but the two crosses do have mill fabric and sand. Also, supreme vine slack on this one! Tuesday, July 20 View Page The final backup on the 729 was eliminated tonight. It was on the second or third secondary and I would guestimate its weight at around 55 lbs. Wednesday, July 21 View Page July 21 numbers: 923 day 30- 107" circ; 1421.5 day 25- 86" circ; 1236* day 20- 78" circ; 729 day 28- 98" circ. Saturday, July 24 View Page 1236* on day 22. I only measured the 729 today since it was day 30 for that pumpkin. Looks like I have another squash with a concave blossom again this year. This guy is really packing on the pounds. It also has possibly the tallest leaves I've ever seen on a pumpkin plant. They are waist high on me. Saturday, July 24 View Page Day 30 for the 729 Rosa: 102 circ, 72 ss, 67 ee, 241" OTT for 303 lbs. What a crazy looking pumpkin, with 1/4 slightly orange and smooth and the other 3/4 with skin that looks like the moon or something. And it also has a concave blossom. All my pumpkins except the 923 and 603s are like that. When you make the transition from circumference only measuring to full OTT, there really is no true means of measuring the growth over that time period. My new OTT measurement suggests bigger gains than if I only measured circumference. But either measurement you look at it doesn't seem that the 729 is growing all that fast and ... there is an issue with this pumpkin... Saturday, July 24 View Page Its funny I always thought that you actually had to have a stem in order to get stem splits. But not on this 729. It just has the worst vine positioning too but I couldn't get anything else set and even the open pollinated secondary pumpkins were splitting all of their stems at a much earlier age than this. Cutting the main at the pumpkin is out of the question unfortunately: this pumpkin is only about 7 feet out on the main. If anyone knows some place local where I can pick up some Captan let me know. I'm debating on putting a fan on this temporarily. I have some friends coming over tomorrow evening, and I might have some of the guys give me a hand trying to reposition it with the blossom down a bit. Saturday, July 24 View Page 923 Gerhardt crossed with the 603.5 Muller, on its way to the orange hall of fame, day 32. Saturday, July 24 View Page This is the 603.5 Muller crossed with the 1421.5 Stelts. It is going to be an absolute perfect orange pumpkin. I still just have the 2 pumpkins on this plant, and looks like I'll keep it that way. Monday, July 26 View Page Day 30 on the 1421.5 Stelts and the results are less than optimal. 101.5-76-70, 247.5 OTT = 327 lbs. 923 day 35 same deal 121.5-74-75, 270.5 OTT = 423 lbs. 729 Rosa day 33 108-77-71, 256 OTT = 361 lbs. Only good note is 1236* day 25 98.5-72-64, 234.5 OTT = 280 lbs. Sunday, August 1 View Page 923 Gerhardt: 133.5-80-81.5, 295 OTT. Average for the last 5 days is still at 26.4 lbs/day which has been the story since day 20. Sunday, August 1 View Page 1421.5 Stelts 115-85.5-79.5 this pumpkin is very tall. Sunday, August 1 View Page The best grower I have so far this year: 1236* VM. Day 31: 114-79.5-72. Sunday, August 1 View Page 603.5 #1 a perfect specimin. This is the one crossed with 1421.5 Stelts. Sunday, August 1 View Page 729 Rosa 115-80-76.5. I think I'm going to start calling this pumpkin Frankenstien. Sunday, August 8 View Page Our first patch tour ever was great! Mainly because I met a bunch of really cool people. And seeing four completely different approaches to growing the same giant pumpkins in the same afternoon was very interesting. I got a lot of really good advice and definitely plan on using it for next year... mainly on vine burying From Paul and Cheryl Fulk. We saw three 923 Gerhardts today including mine. They were all quite orange and smooth skinned. I think with time- over the next 6 weeks they'll darken up to a deep orange. Tim Rosa's and mine are a bit longer, while John Rauch's 923 is a pretty symmetrical orange globe. Tim's 923 continues to lead mine at 725lbs est or something compared to mine which is probably around 640. Alex had the biggest pumpkin that we saw today, amazingly all organically grown and just about 800lbs. His plants were in prime shape despite the lack of any fungicide or pesticide whatsoever. It seems I'd better step on the gas, so I fired up the Stihl and hit the patch hard. Hopefully the 8 Tbs 0-0-25, plus 6 Tbs Cax-Mag, plus 1/4 cup Neptunes, plus 1/4 cup humic acid in 4 gallons of water applied tonight will spike my plants into action. Sunday, August 8 View Page 729 Rosa (Frankenstein) continues to grow day 46: 125.5 - 85.5 - 79.5 - 290.5 OTT for 520lbs. The 1236* VM is 123.5 - 86 - 77.5 - 287 OTT for 502lbs. It is day 38 for this squash. Sunday, August 8 View Page I cut the 603.5 x 923 cross that I had going to give all of the juice towards the 603.5 x 1421.5 cross. Today it measured 100.5 - 62 - 64 - 226.5 OTT for 254lbs. The 1421.5 Stelts is 43 days old: 119.5 - 89 - 82.5 - 291 OTT for 523lbs. The 923 is 48 days old: 141.5 - 85 - 87.5 - 314 OTT for 653lbs. I'll get some pics up soon. Tuesday, August 17 View Page Here is my 923 Gerhardt with no flash around 7:45pm. Evening pics always seem to make them look more orange, but I promise this pumpkin really delivers in the smooth orange department. Tuesday, August 17 View Page Here is the same shot, with the flash on. This is more realistic of the actual color of the pumpkin on my 923 Gerhardt. My hope of breaking 1,000 pounds this year is hanging by a thread. This pumpkin averaged 15.5 pounds per day for the last 8 days. If this one keeps growing, 10 lbs./day for 2 weeks then the chances will be okay. Tuesday, August 17 View Page My giant squash on the 1236* Vincent-McGill continues to grow well. Not record numbers, but yesterday it was just short of the OTT estimate of my 668* pounder the day it was weighed. And I still have a month and a half before the weighoff. Tuesday, August 17 View Page 1421.5 Stelts. This one was a total crapper for me despite the huge healthy plant. At least it went orange, and the cross was to the 603.5 Muller. The stump is bigger than my oak tree's stump. Next year, I am burying vines. Tuesday, August 17 View Page This is the pumpkin on the 603.5 pollinator plant crossed with 1421.5 Stelts. It is extremely smooth and getting nice orange color but is a bit long in the front. It's going to be a really great looking pumpkin though. Monday, August 23 View Page 923 Gerhardt - stem side. Monday, August 23 View Page 1236* Vincent-McGill Sunday, August 29 View Page 923 Gerhardt 341 OTT - very slow growth 4.4 lbs/ day. I hope it's growing inside. Sunday, August 29 View Page The 1236* is 320 OTT which is now my PB measurement wise for squash. 691 lbs. is the estimate which is 10 lbs/ day for the last 5 days. Sunday, August 29 View Page Here's ol' Frankenstein at 305.5 OTT, 603 lbs. Saturday, September 4 View Page Here's the first picture I got of the 1095 Rauch 10 UOW. Thanks Carla!!! Grown from the 770.5 Eddy Z in Cinderella style. Thursday, September 23 View Page Pumpkin off the 603.5 Muller ready for Cooperstown Thursday, September 23 View Page Another look at the pumpkin off the 603.5 Muller: long, orange and glossy. I am guessing 465 lbs. Crossed with 1421.5 Stelts. This is the smallest pumpkin from my patch this year. Thursday, September 30 View Page Kevin Snyder's 1193 weighing in at Cooperstown Thursday, September 30 View Page The runt of my patch this year, 467.2 pounds off the 603.5 Muller. Thursday, September 30 View Page Here I am with Todd's puny little pumpkin. I drank my face off hanging out with Todd, Tom, Bill, Andy, and Scott on Friday night at the motel. I got 3 hours of sleep and almost didn't make it to the weighoff on time A) from almost oversleeping and B) due to probably still being a bit drunk driving the pumpkin in on Saturday morning lol. Meeting those guys made my trip and I wouldn't have traded it for first place. Monday, October 4 View Page Andy Box's HD award winner from the 218 Sandercock Thursday, October 14 View Page On the left the 921.5 Gerhardt 2010 which tied with Tim Rosa's 921.5 for 4th place. Both grown from the 923 Gerhardt 2009! On the right, the 766.5* Gerhardt 2010 1st place squash. The 921.5 Gerhardt is 923 Gerhardt x 603.5 Muller. How's that for some orange? The 766.5* is the 1236* WR x SELF. Thursday, October 14 View Page Left to right: 1418 Snyder, 921.5 Gerhardt, 766.5* Gerhardt, 921.5 Rosa! Thursday, October 14 View Page Alex Eyes the display as the 766.5* hits the scale while the dark orange 921.5 waits its turn in the distance behind. Thursday, October 14 View Page The Topton Halloween parade was awesome! I got a lot of publicity for the giant pumpkins. Thursday, October 14 View Page 921.5 Gerhardt on display along with the 766.5*. No that is not polish: it is the natural color of a 923 Gerhardt offspring! Thursday, November 4 View Page 12,000 pounds of mushroom soil Thursday, November 4 View Page Carving the 921.5 and retrieving the seeds Thursday, November 4 View Page My 766.5* went way heavy. Now you know why. Thursday, November 4 View Page Pumpkin off the 923 Gerhardt 09 grown by John Rauch. you know when a pumpkin can be transported on its stem side instead of the way it grew, that it is a flawless orange beast! 689 pounds. Thursday, November 4 View Page 689 Rauch being lifted into the hull of the USS Intrepid in preparation for carving. Awesome pumpkin. Thursday, November 4 View Page 467 Gerhardt 2010 is 603.5 Muller x 1421.5 Stelts. Who else made that cross?? Nobody that's who. This was a killer orange pumpkin that was so shiny and orange/red you could see your reflection in it! Seeds only available thru MAGPG membership/ seed drive. Details coming soon. Please support our club! Thursday, November 4 View Page Tip toe around these beasts and don't forget to be careful otherwise you end up like this! 766.5* Gerhardt 2010 grown from the still standing world record 1236* Vincent-Mcgill. Seeds available thru MAGPG membership and seed drive. Thursday, November 4 View Page I put some pumpkins in my front yard. All my neighbors and some folks from miles away stopped by to tell me how tiny they were. Thursday, November 4 View Page I am a lucky man Sunday, November 14 View Page Finally got the winter rye planted today. Better late than never. Also pulled a soil sample.