Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 40 Entries. Monday, April 27 View Page Hello, I am excited about starting this pumpkin growing season and the potential that I can expect out of my plants. I expanded my growing area to about 3,000 square feet, so I am hoping to grow at least 5 or 6 pumpkin plants. This first picture is of my cover crops that I planted last October after I rototilled the area. This picture was taken in mid March. I planted a combination of Winter Peas and Crimson Clover to fix some nitrogen in the soil, and to crowd out the weeds that usually fill in the whole area before the pumpkin plants get established. The Winter Peas are in the rows running to the picture, and the clover is in rows at an angle in this picture. Monday, April 27 View Page This picture is a close up of the winter peas . I plan on cutting the cover crops back when I plant the pumpkins, and cut down all of the peas and crimson clover later in May. I will leave the plants on the patch as a mulch to suppress the weeds. I did some research on how much nitrogen is fixed by the cover crop, and the nutrient requirements are needed for pumpkins. The Virginia Cooperative Extension reports that pumpkins need N-P-K in the following amounts: 2 lb Nitrogen – 3 lb Phosphorous (P2O2) – 6 lb Potash (K2O) per 1,000 sq ft. The recommended nitrogen applications for pumpkins is 60 lbs per acre which works out to 1.39 lbs/1,000 square feet. I think some nitrogen may be needed when the plant is vining too. Winter Peas fix about 90 lbs of N per acre, and Crimson Clover fix about 80 lb per acre which works out to be an average of 85 lb/acre or 1.95 lb per 1,000 square feet. This should be right where I want it to be. Tuesday, April 28 View Page This is a picture of the cover crops today, and you can see how much they have grown in the last month. The plants are above my knee. Tuesday, April 28 View Page Here is a table of my soil test results including the sample taken three years ago. Tuesday, April 28 View Page My seed line up is the 08 Valentour 216 (Bosworth 1402.5 selfed)(1068 Wallace selfed) 07 Valentour 610 (Bosworth 604 selfed)(1068 Wallace x 1369 Checkon) 08 Price 796 07 Layton 1138 Virginia State Record All seeds were started on April 19, and all were put in pots on April 22. I started a few more as back ups just to be safe. Friday, June 12 View Page My five plants are: The 2008 Valentour 216 - I have two plants The 2007 Valentour 610 The 2008 Price 796 and the 2007 Layton 1138 Friday, June 12 View Page I went out of town for a few days, and the plants put on a lot of growth. The only disapointing thing is that I saw cucumber beetles, and squash bug eggs, so I applied Talstar and Alaska Bloom 0-10-10 at the recommended rates. The Valentour 610 is the smallest of the plants that I have growing right now. It's total length is 8 ft 5 inches. Friday, June 12 View Page Here is one of the two 216 Valentour plants that seem to be setting the pase for fast growth. In the picture it is 10 ft long. The plants have taken a beating with all the storms that we have had recently. Friday, June 12 View Page Here is the 796 Price plant. It is 10 ft. long, and looking healthy. Friday, June 12 View Page The 1138 Layton is in good shape. The label is 8.5 inches wide, so you can see how healthy the leaves look. Friday, June 12 View Page My 216 plant is out performing the rest of the plants by a good margin. This plant is 10 ft 6 inches, and has secondaries that are 5 feet long. Friday, June 12 View Page The 216 even has two female blooms on it that will be ready to polinate soon. Monday, June 15 View Page I just got back to town today, and pollinated the two females on the 216 plant. I hope that they take! Thursday, July 9 View Page All the rain that we had in June caused all the plants to grow much faster than in years past. This pumpkin is from one of my two Valentour 216 plants. It was pollinated on 6/24, and today's measurements are 29 ss - 33.5 FB - 48 cir. It is one of my larger pumpkins with a good shape and fast growth, but it has a split 3/4 of the way through it on the main vine. Thursday, July 9 View Page The seed from the 07 Valentour 610 has not produced much so far. The plant and pumpkin are smaller than the others, but I do like the pear shape. Thursday, July 9 View Page Dustin Price's 796 seed has grown a healthy looking plant, with this pollination from 6/26. Today's measurements have it weighing in at 20 pounds. There is another pollinated fruit a few feet down the main, so I will wait and see if one needs to be removed. Thursday, July 9 View Page My second 08 Valentour 216 is the largest plant, and the largest pumpkin so far. It was polinated on 6/22, and today it has a circumference of 52 inches, and a weight of 42 pounds. Thursday, July 9 View Page Good look at my patch with 3 of my 5 plants. Friday, July 31 View Page I was out of town last week, so I got a little behind in weeding. The 08 Valentour 216A put on 30 pounds this week, but is one of my slower growers. It currently is 110 pounds. Friday, July 31 View Page My 07 Valentour 610 looks like a gourd, and is also growing slowly. It's OTT is 168.75 and its estimated weight is 106 lbs. Friday, July 31 View Page My 796 Price plant and pumpkin are putting on the most weight this week. It gained 50 pounds this week, and has been consistant with the weight gains over the last two weeks. It is currently my biggest at 170 pounds. Friday, July 31 View Page This is my other 08 Valentour 216. The plant is in bad shape, and the pumpkin is only putting on a few pounds a day. I am hoping it can still put on weight, but I don't think that this one will go to the state fair. It is at 130 pounds as of today. Friday, July 31 View Page The Layton 1130 pumpkin is looking nice, and added 50 pounds this week. It is at 161 lbs, so it is my second biggest pumpkin in the patch. It has the best color of the group. Saturday, September 5 View Page It has been a while since I updated things, but I have not had much going on. The plants have all been hit with powdery mildew, or just failed completely. Here is a picture of the 08 Valentour 216. Both 216 pumpkins are white, and this is very long. Saturday, September 5 View Page This is the Valentour 610 and it has a large gap at the bottom, so I know it hast to be ligher than the estimate the spreadsheet gives me. The OTT total is 192, and the estimated weight is 152. Saturday, September 5 View Page Here is the Price 796, and it is my second largest. It is still growing, but it has really slowed down. The plant only has one or two whole leaves, and I expect to stop growing altogether. The color and shape are nice though, and I am hoping the color evens out over the whole pumpkin. Saturday, September 5 View Page This is the Layton 1138, and has a nice color. It is my largest right now at 270. I am hoping it breaks 300 before the Virginia State Fair Saturday, September 5 View Page Here is a good shot of three of my pumpkins in the patch, and the shape of my poor plants. I also got a delivery of Livingston's Blend Compost last week that I moved into the spot of the plant I removed. This is a very good product, and I have used it for several years. Saturday, September 5 View Page Since I was entering the daily growth measurements into an Excel spreadsheet, I decided to make a graph comparing the growth of all five pumpkins. Sometime around August 10th the growth of all the pumpkins began to level out. I had been out of town the week before so I am not sure if it was a watering issue, or an insect issue, or a fertilizer issue. The State fair is September 26th, so I will post some pictures of the pumpkin lifting party, and VASF around then. Friday, September 25 View Page I was so busy loading the pumpkins with all my friends, I did not get any pictures until they were on the truck. Saturday, September 26 View Page I had some serious competition at the VA State Fair this year. Twenty pumpkins were entered. My two are at the right in this picture. Wednesday, October 7 View Page The two pumpkins had weights of 330 pounds for the large one, and 232 pounds for my son's pumpkin. That was good enough for 13th place and 19th place. I really enjoyed talking with all the growers, and handing out information and seeds at the Virginia Giant Vegetable Growers Association table. Wednesday, October 7 View Page Well all the folks at work were impressed, and the local newspaper had a story about my pumpkins and the state fair. http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/102009/10062009/497479 Monday, October 12 View Page Happy Columbus Day! I got the two pumpkins back from the State Fair last Monday, and set up the display in my front yard. Monday, October 12 View Page I have been working hard on my pumpkin patch since I dropped the pumpkins off at the state fair on September 26th. I removed all the old plants except for the one pepper plant in this picture. I spread out the compost, lightly rototilled the area to expand the planting area. I also put down about 50 pounds of charcoal, and planted my cover crops of Austrian winter peas and crimson clover. I marked the areas that I spread the charcoal, so I am hoping to see a difference in the growth of the cover crops. Friday, October 30 View Page Carving Carving Carving! Saturday, October 31 View Page It is starting to shape up. Saturday, October 31 View Page It is starting to shape up. Saturday, October 31 View Page Ahh-all done. Now I just need to wait for the Trick - o - Treaters to show up. Saturday, October 31 View Page I added this sign to go with the presentation.