Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 62 Entries. Saturday, March 14 View Page Well - time to get things started. The cover crop didn't do as well as I hoped this winter. We usually have super mild winters that allow growth, but we had some cold temps this this winter and it froze pretty hard for a couple weeks. Saturday, March 14 View Page It was 60 degrees and dry yesterday. I tilled about 800sq feet of my 2000sq ft patch. I hope i can get the soil numbers just right this year. In the fall I added 8yds of very fresh dairy manure, 4yards of composted dairy manure, and 4 yards of composted chicken manure. Today, prior to tilling, I added 40 pounds of feather meal, 20 pounds of kelp meal, and 40 pounds of alfalfa meal. That should push the nitrogen levels up and give lots of growth hormones. Monday, March 16 View Page Starting to set up my bottom boards for one of the two hoophouses I will put up. Each of them will be 12'x24' and will house two plants each. Monday, March 16 View Page Here is a look at one of the end walls. This is looking at the inside wall. It gives a good view of how it was put together. Monday, March 16 View Page Here is a look at the outside of the end wall. (showing the door open). I made four of these end walls, two with doors like this - and two others with vents. Tuesday, March 31 View Page Well...they are up. I will have the vents and doors proped open for a few days to try and dry them out a bit. The ground is really wet. They measure 6ft high 12 feet wide and 24 feet long. Tuesday, March 31 View Page A view from the other end. Soil heating coils, heaters, and fans go in this week. Friday, April 17 View Page Went 10 for 10 with Germination. Used the paper towel method at about 95 degrees. Culled one that had broken cots. Have to get down to four of these eventually. Ok... The Line-up....drum-roll please. From left to right... Raunig 1220, Werner 1556.5, Rodonis 1161, Raunig 1106, Starr 1350, Rodonis 1566, Raunig 1106, Gibson 1462, Raunig 1106...can you tell i want to grow the 1106....lol Friday, April 17 View Page Here is the best looking one after about two days of being above ground...It is the Rodonis 1161 - which is the plant I was the most excited to grow..so that is exciting so far. Sunday, April 19 View Page I mowed this cover crop down to about 3 inches only a week ago, and the rye is already over a foot high again. If it stays dry - I will till the patch this week ( with the exception of the stuff in and around the hoops - which was already tilled. Sunday, April 19 View Page The plants spent a half day in the hoops today. It was a slighty overcast day and got up to about 66 outside. I suspect as the temps come up - I'll need a much bigger fan to keep things around 85. The warming cables are keeping the top 8 or ten inches of soil around 80 depending on the outside temp. The other unit you see in the back of the hoop is a three setting space heater. 600, 900, 1200watts...I try to only use the low setting. But if it gets below about 44 at night I have to go up more to maintain something inside over 50... Sunday, April 19 View Page I managed to keep the temp right around 80 today inside the hoop. I have an attic fan switch that i will wire to the main fan. It has an adjustable temp setting. I hope to automate everything so that the daytime temps stay around 85 and the nights at about 55. We shall see how that works out... Sunday, April 19 View Page Here is a look at all 9 of my starts. These plants are now 6 days old - That is including the day I filed, soaked and put in paper towels. It continues to surprise me how fast these things move when they are warm. Sunday, April 19 View Page Here are the four front runners so far... Bottom left - 1566 Rodonis, Bottom right - 1161 Rodonis, Top left - 1106 Raunig, Top right - 1556.5 Werner. I've never had starts that looked this good or moved this fast- makes me nervous, but i suppose the whole process makes me nervous - probably why i do it. Thursday, April 23 View Page This was takem at 11pm Tuesday night. Right before.... Thursday, April 23 View Page Right before I put them in the hoops... Thursday, April 23 View Page So...the season has started. The plants are in the ground. I guess we will see if all my technology helps this year. I have hoop vents and doors, fans, automatic themostats for the fans, soil cables, and heaters. Friday, May 1 View Page 1556.5 Werner - Today was the first day the plants started to look aggressive. Friday, May 1 View Page close-up of the 1556.5 . They really are amazing plants to look at... Friday, May 1 View Page my son - cruising the boards - in one of the hoops Friday, May 1 View Page The biggest plants so far - The 1106 Raunig twins. One of them has about a week to live. Friday, May 1 View Page another look at them Sunday, May 17 View Page Temperature was in the mid 70's yesterday and in the 80's today. Opened the sides and top of the hoops to let in some natural light. Some leaves got burnt yesterday and today, but overall - not too bad. If you look close, you can see Mount Hood in the background. Sunday, May 17 View Page Nights are still getting down to the low 40's at times. I am happy with the system I worked out for opening and closing the sidewalls. I just take off the clip clamps (that keep them rolled up), throw the ropes over the top - go around to the other side - and tie them down. The 1x2's are screwed right into the PVC ribs. Sunday, May 17 View Page Here is a shot of the 1566 Rodonis in the foreground, and the 1106 Raunig in the background. Sunday, May 17 View Page A close-up of the main vine tip on the 1566. Sunday, May 17 View Page Here is another angle of the 1106 Raunig. It has the fastest growth rate and the leaves are nice and spread out. the mother of this plant (1470 wallace) had the same type of open growth and all the pumpkins it put out were long and quick growing. I lost the stump on the 1470 early on - and still managed 1106lbs. It was very orange. The father (1220 Raunig) had a short tall cream colored pumpkin and it went very heavy. I'm very curious to see the shape and color of the pumpkin off this one. Sunday, May 17 View Page Here is the 1556.5 werner. You can see the Daconil on the underside of the main. It had a side vine that was coming off there that was a giant flat mess - with what looked like about three secondaries all attached. I had to carefully remove the whole mess and coat it with Daconil. No holes or problems persisted and it seems to have healed just fine. The main tip appears normal and the plant looks well now. Sunday, May 17 View Page 1161 Rodonis. Hard not to get ahead of myself with my own dreams...So far to go. so so far to go.... Thursday, June 4 View Page most recent look at the patch. Thursday, June 4 View Page a closer look Thursday, June 4 View Page This is the 1556 Werner. It doesn't tolerate the heat as well as i would like, but seems strong Thursday, June 4 View Page 1161 Rodonis. Lots of heat Damage here as well, but i think they will grow out of it for the most part - what seems like a big problem may seem less important as the plant fills out. I suspect i will end up with some big open spots in the middle of the plants by the end of July... Thursday, June 4 View Page This is a look at the 1161 and the type of heat damage and nutrient issues that are causing leaf problems. I suspect that part of the problem is that the plants were over protected early in the year. As i said, I suspect things witll turn out just fine on these plants. However, my goal for the year was to grow something over 1400lbs and this sort of damage does make that more unlikely. Thursday, June 4 View Page 1556 Rodonis Thursday, June 4 View Page my pride and joy....the 1106 Raunig. This is my best plant - it is over 12 ft alteady and has the least leaf damage. It simply burns less in the heat. I currently think this plant is my best shot at something really big. Thursday, June 4 View Page So far all the pumpkins on all the plants have had nice long stems. I have culled several little guys like this already. I let one open today on the 1161 just to look at the lobes. IT had five deformed lobes with seeds. It seems like the early pumpkins tend to have more issues than the later ones. Just my own observations. I will start letting them open now to look at the lobes, but will not pollinate them untill about the 15th of June. Should be able to have everything pollinated out past 15 feet by the 1st of July. Thursday, June 4 View Page Here is a look at one of my injectors and plumbing. Thad Starr was a big help to me this year with the irrigation and fertigation system. Saturday, June 6 View Page 1566 Rodonis opened a nice 5 lobe today. Too early and the plant is still too small, but i like the shape and the look of the lobes. Wednesday, June 17 View Page 1161 Rodonis six lobe. It was wet by the time i got to it. It is still a bit early - but pollinated it anyways. Nice lobes... Wednesday, June 17 View Page Here is that plant. The 1161 Rodonis Wednesday, June 17 View Page Whoops.. here is the picture of the 1161 Wednesday, June 17 View Page overview of the patch - all four plants - back left - 1161 Rodonis, back right 1566 Rodonis, front left - 1556.5 Werner, front right - 1106 Raunig Wednesday, June 17 View Page side view of between the 1161 and the 1556.5 Wednesday, June 17 View Page A little home project for around the tub. Doing some rock work and made that bench to cover the plumbing for the mazzei injectors, valves and such. all that stuff is under that wood - under the bench Monday, June 22 View Page Pollinated another one on the 1161 today. The cross was the 1556.5 werner. The earlier six lobe 1161 was pollinated with the 1106 Raunig Pollinated a nice 5 lobe on the 1566 on the 20th - it was also crossed with the 1556.5 Werner Monday, June 29 View Page Let the fun begin.....1161 Rodonis day 11. Pollinated on 6-17. Looks like I have pollinations that have set on all plants now. Monday, June 29 View Page 1566 Rodonis.... These two are one day apart. Pollinated on 6-24, and 6-25. The second one will be the one I go with. that will make things simple. Three plants will be pollinated by the 1106 Raunig - and the 1106 Raunig was pollinated with the 1556.5 werner. Monday, June 29 View Page 1566 Rodonis.... These two are one day apart. Pollinated on 6-24, and 6-25. The second one will be the one I go with. that will make things simple. Three plants will be pollinated by the 1106 Raunig - and the 1106 Raunig was pollinated with the 1556.5 Werner. Saturday, July 4 View Page the patch is filling in... Monday, July 6 View Page 1106 Raunig at 5 days Monday, July 6 View Page 1566 Rodonis at 9 days Monday, July 6 View Page 1161 Rodonis at 16 days Monday, July 6 View Page 1556.5 werner 9 day . Very slow early growth. Interesting plant - super thick and dense everything - but very slow to put down tap roots and burns very easy. We'll see. I have another one pollinated that is just a couple days old if it does not grow faster - I may try a late side vine pumpkin - hoping that maybe i can get back in to that part of the plant with more tap root establishment. But those thoughts are all just pure postulation. Sunday, July 26 View Page Never a good sign - pumpkin with no plant around it... Lost my 1161 Rodonis to a stem split today. That pretty much ends my hopes for a really large pumpkin this year. Had two of my other plants abort the early pumpkin sets. So I just have the 1566 Rodonis that you can see in the foreground. I think I amended with too much nitrogen this year - which has caused some difficulty with fruit growth and blossom development. Sunday, July 26 View Page I have set a couple more late fruit - but i don't expect them to go more than 700lbs or so - if i am lucky. Here is the 1106 Raunig (pollinated July 21st) after the early set aborted. Sunday, July 26 View Page Here is another one - 1556.5 werner - (pollinated July after an abort on this plant as well. So...The season has certainly changed for me. I guess I will have to keep my day job...lol Sunday, July 26 View Page Here is a better look at the 1566 Rodonis. I don't like the way this one looks either, but it is my new shining star none the less. Day 30 today - OTT 186....yuk Sunday, July 26 View Page final shot of the 1161 Rodonis... Final measurements 258 OTT - pretty good for the 25 of July - It would have made 500lbs before the end of July....boo hoo hoo..... Friday, August 7 View Page This is the 1566 Rodonis. It ended the season for me a couple days ago. This was my last fruit (after it had been cut and moved out to the edge of the garden). Then I realized that I had not taken a recent pic of it and reassembled it for the shot....lol... It had really picked up steam and was pushing towards 500lbs. It would have turned out much better than i thought a couple weeks ago. It was turning into such a pretty pumpkin - and large, but the blossom end split. I am hoping to grow both the 1161 and the 1566 again. Thanks for looking at my Diary this year. Hope to see you all around. Rod Saturday, August 22 View Page two hours of tilling, three yards of compost, and 25lbs of oat seeds later... and the first cover crop is planted. I hope to grow two covers on this part of the patch. Oats first for biomass - then cut, but leave stubble and plant peas and clover for the winter. I still have the 1566 Rodonis growing at the end of the patch. Because....lol...I have an August 6th pollination growing on it. Growing it for seeds mainly, but if it some how makes it up over 500lbs - and it has stopped growing - I'll take it to a weigh off and cheat some poor kid out of a 25 dollar check.. Saturday, August 22 View Page the 1566 Rodonis. It was crossed with the 1028 sherwood. 15 days old. Lets call this one "after the fall" for a variety of reasons....