Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 111 Entries. Saturday, April 26 View Page 2nd year here, shooting for 100 pounds. will be growing 2 flag pattern plants in my small patch here. stumps will be located in right and left corner of the photo with main vines running along the sides about 2 feet from edge. i will cut all the secondary vines off one side of the main about 1' away from the main. last year grew 1 xmas plant in a smaller area here and got 3 fruit, 67, 55, and 49 i will leave 2 fruit per flag. Sunday, May 4 View Page ok, seeds burried in pots today. there are (4) 449 Rivington seeds and (6) 500 Price seeds. Thanks for the seeds guys. . Tuesday, May 6 View Page i find this hard to believe but less then 24 hours after i planted my seeds, i come out monday afternoon to this picture of a green stem at the dirt surface of a 449 Rivington seed. i will check tomorrow to see if this is something else but i am positive nothing else was in the dirt when i planted the seed in the pot. Wednesday, May 7 View Page 3 days after seedlings in pots, no germination yet. i hope they come up here in the next few days or i will have a very late start. Thursday, May 8 View Page due to not much sunshine in the last couple days and cloudy and rainy weather in the forcast, i have transferred my pots inside. i am using my turtle tank UVA/UVB basking lamp (imitates natural sunlight) at nighttime for the plants while the turtles get it for 10-12 hours during the day. i hope these seeds pop up soon. planted them on sunday and no signs yet. Sunday, May 11 View Page 7 days after planting, the (3) 449 rivington seeds are up. Sunday, May 11 View Page 7 days later too, these 500 Price seeds are popping out finally. Sunday, May 11 View Page 7 days after planting, they are coming up. hopefully be out in patch in next week. Wednesday, May 14 View Page all coming up, first true leaf of a 449 rivington 2nd from left on top is developing but still too small. temps still down in the 40's here at night. will wait til the first true leaf gets about 1" before i plant outside. Saturday, May 17 View Page (2) 449 rivington plants put in dirt today. will pull the weaker plant in a few weeks. Will be grown in a flag pattern. Saturday, May 17 View Page (2) 500 price plants put in dirt today. will pull the weaker plant in a few weeks. Will be grown in a flag pattern. Saturday, May 24 View Page added another plant per hill today. still waiting for the 2nd true leafs to come up on all my plants. this picture is from June 17th last year, my goal is to be past this growth stage by that date here about 3.5 weeks away. weather getting better.....Finally!!!!!! Let the fun begin!!!!!!!!! Monday, May 26 View Page atleast 1 plant of each hill has grown a 2nd true leaf so i think they transplanted well. also, had an extra 449 rivington plant left over so decided to grow a plant in a small pile of dirt along edge of garage. will be grown on the grass, may just use the plant for pollination and grow in a snake pattern since area is only about 3-4' wide. Saturday, May 31 View Page well went out to the patch this afternoon and some rabbit or squirrel or something ate the true leaves off 1 of the 500 price plants so i pulled it out. down to 2 price plants left and 3 449 rivington plants left. oh yeh, and the 500 price plant which will be a snake plant also. put up a circle of rabbit fence around each hill for now, until the whole patch gets fenced in a couple weeks. Saturday, May 31 View Page 449 Rivington plants, growing slow due to weather. Saturday, May 31 View Page 449 Rivington plant growing slow, will be grown in a snake pattern Saturday, May 31 View Page down to (2) 500 Price plants, growing slow also Tuesday, June 3 View Page almost all plants have seemed to stop growing due to terrible weather up here, the way they are growing, i wont be having a main vine til maybe august. Saturday, June 7 View Page Down to (2) 449 rivington plants, the one on the left is bigger but the 2nd leaf ripped and is hanging on. Fifth leave opening up currently. The one on the right is smaller and opening up fifth leave also, will pull one in another week, probably the one on the right. Saturday, June 7 View Page Down to (2) 500 price plants, the lower one had its 2nd true leave eaten off. both plants growing at same pace. these plants get about 4 hours less sunlight then the 449 rivington plant so i am sure that is why they are smaller. will pull one next week. Saturday, June 7 View Page 449 rivington snake plant. growing 3rd leaf. will be grown in grass. Wednesday, June 11 View Page well cut another 500 price plant out today so down to the final selection plant. it was a tough choice as both plants were looking the exact same at the 5-6 leaf stage, but were close together so i want to cut the one before they got tangled together. will pull a 449 rivington plant this weekend, probably the one on the right of the previous picture i posted. both look healthy but the one on the right is at a better angle and growing faster. pictures this weekend. Friday, June 13 View Page well a depressing morning here, had 2 plants left in the hill of 449 rivington plants and the bigger plant had a stem split right at the top of the stump where the main was coming out of. then i looked underneath the vine and the bottom was split perpendicular to the vine so i cut her. now all i have is a smaller plant next to it, maybe 3 days behind the one i pulled. actually the one i kept was smaller but had better spacing for my garden and the vine looks like it is pointed in a better line to where i want it to go. pretty sad. Saturday, June 14 View Page 449 rivington snake plant in grass Saturday, June 14 View Page 500 Price plant in east side of patch, doesnt get much sun until about 11 am. Saturday, June 14 View Page 449 Rivington Plant, cut her bigger sister out yesterday due to stump split. this is my biggest plant now, 15" leaves, still waiting for end of vine to start. Sunday, June 15 View Page vine tip starting to stick up on the 449 plant, hopefully will lay down in the next few days i am hoping. rain coming this week without much sunshine, should be interesting to see what happens. Tuesday, June 17 View Page left for work on monday about 10 miles away from patch. at 2pm, first hail storm comes at work. up to 1/2" hail. at 630pm, comes 2nd round, again same size hail. worrying all night about if it hailed here at home. get home at 1230 this morning and checked on p-lants and all looks well, no holes at all. thank god!!!!!!!!! main vines looks closer to ground. everything seems to have made it!!! Monday, June 23 View Page 449 rivington plant, main abut 3-4' long now starting to take off. Monday, June 23 View Page 449 rivington snake plant, main not growing the direction i planned on (planted opposite first true leave. Monday, June 23 View Page 500 Price plant, main standing up, should be down in a couple days. big 29"+ leaves on this plant. Saturday, June 28 View Page 449 Rivington Snake plant - 3' main vine now. Saturday, June 28 View Page 500 Price Plant - about a 4-5' main vine now with a few secondary vines coming off still standing up now. Saturday, June 28 View Page 449 Rivington Plant - about a 6' main vine now with many secondary vines coming off now. will let the secondary vines on near side get about 2 feet long each til end of patch. looking pretty good. Friday, July 4 View Page 449 rivington - about a 4-5' vine now, with first male flower open today. Friday, July 4 View Page 500 price plant, first female about 8' on the main vine. no males open yet. Friday, July 4 View Page 449 rivington, my best plant so far, no females or males out yet though, main out about 10' now. Thursday, July 10 View Page 500 price plant - cut off the first female i had for the season tonight, it was ready to open and be poilinated friday morning, but had a big dent dent'scar in it so i pulled it. the same plant has another female near the tip of the main so will pollinate it next week. 449 rivington plant - 7 females on this plant, 2 on main vine, about 10' and 12' out. also 5 females on the first 5 secondary vines of this flag plant. may pollinate first one this weekend. 449 rivington snake plant - about 8' main vine now and 2 females about 6' and 8' out. late pollination this year. Sunday, July 13 View Page 449 Rivington Sanke Plant, about 8' vine now, 2 females at about 6' and 8' out. should be pollinating 6' fruit tomorrow morning Sunday, July 13 View Page 500 Price Flag Plant - about a 14' main vine now with 2 fruit about 12' and 14' out. Secondary vines about 8' out now Sunday, July 13 View Page 449 Rivington Flag Plant - Filling in the corner of patch very well now. Secondary vines about 8-10' long now. Main about 14' now. First female pollinated today about 12' out on main. ANother at about 14' out next week sometime. total of 7 fruit on this plant, almost all secondary vines have a fruit. Sunday, July 13 View Page 449 rivington pollinated about 12' on the main vine. pollinated with a 500 Price male flower. Monday, July 14 View Page pollinated a female on my 449 snake plant today, about 6' out on the vine. another about 8' out should open in a few days. Thursday, July 17 View Page i dont think my pollination took on the snake plant, the blossom is all soft and kind of foaming. will leave on anyways for now. terminated most of the vines on my 2 bigger plants today, they were starting to get real close to the other plants vines so i thought it would be best to end most of them. i will only have about 3 fruit on each plant....i hope they make it........i am getting nervous. also pollinated a female on the 500 price plant today with a 449 male flower. about 12' out on main vine. Friday, July 18 View Page culled the fruit 6' out on the snake plant today, it was soft and foaming. have another i will prob let the bees fertilize on a couple days. Well all vines terminated on my 2 small flag plants in the patch. The only vines still growing are the mains now, about 17' out each. still only got 1 fruit pollinated on each plant, with a couple more in the next few days. gonna go buy some inpesticide spray today with a couple bags of sand. now with my buried, i hope to start seeing these fruit grow like crazy. Friday, July 18 View Page should have 2 females open on the 449 plant and 1 female opening on the 500 plant tomorrow morning. i will let he bees take care of these, because if the ones i pollinated dont take, i will atleast ahve something instead of nothing. pictures coming this weekend Saturday, July 19 View Page a picture of my small patch, upper right is 449 rivingotn plant and lower left is 500 price plant. 2 pollinations on each plant as of today Saturday, July 19 View Page this one on the 449 plant is about 10' and at day 6, crossed with the 500 price plant, still small and still standing up. Saturday, July 19 View Page open pollination today about 12' out on main vine. Saturday, July 19 View Page 449 rivington flag plant Saturday, July 19 View Page 500 Price Plant - this one i pollination x 449 rivington about 10' out on main, day 2 Saturday, July 19 View Page just noticed the stump of the 449 rivington plant has a SVB hole in it. not sure if eggs were laid or not yet, sprinkled some sevin-5 dust on it and covered it up with dirt. all i can do is pray. Sunday, July 20 View Page still not sure if the svb laid eggs inside vine, pump sprayed plants this evening with triazicide and later fertilized with neptunes fish and seaweed. time will tell........... 500 price fruit at 10' out on main at day 3 is already past what the 449 rivington fruit was at day 5. will wait till all fruit reach day 10 before i cull. looks like that will be the 29th for the 449 plant and the 30th for the 500 plant. Monday, July 21 View Page 449 Rivington - 10' main fruit seems to be slowing down at day 8. about 11" cc yesterday at day 7, and about the same today.....meanwhile the main at 12' and the secondary fruit seem to get bigger on their day 2's. Will wait for day 10 on wednesday for 10' fruit and if no change, will cull her. 500 Price - 10' main fruit about 9.5" on day 4 today, and 12' main and secondary vine fruit seem to be doing ok on days 1 and 2. Wont cull any until the weekend probably, or unless any abort. Monday, July 21 View Page instead of wasting another 2 days, i decided why not and i culled the 10' main fruit today, it hadnt grown much in 2 days and the other younger fruit on plant seem to be doing better at their first days then this one was. i know i should have cut through the vine half way and cut her off tomorrow but i said screw it. so now i got a fruit at day 2 12' out on main and a day 2 fruit on a secondary vine. also another about 14' on main which should open in a couple days. Wednesday, July 23 View Page culled the 10' main fruit on the 500 price plant, now down to 2 on each plant remaining. all on day 4 today and bigger then baseballs so hopefully all will keep going. undecided wheather i will keep 2 fruit going all season on each plant or cull for one and go for broke. will examine them all at day 10 next week. Saturday, July 26 View Page 449 Rivington Plant = 12' main fruit and secondary vine fruit are both at 19.5"cc on day 7 today. Will keep both for now. 500 Price Plant = 12' main fruit is about 15"cc on day 6 today and secondary fruit is 19.5"cc today on day 7. Will keep both for now. Will feed with neptunes fish and seaweed again tomorrow evening. Saturday, July 26 View Page 449 rivington main vine - day 7 Saturday, July 26 View Page 449 secondary vine - day 7 Saturday, July 26 View Page 500 price main vine - day 6 Saturday, July 26 View Page 500 secondary vine - day 7 Sunday, July 27 View Page 449 main fruit day 8 = 21.5cc, secondary fruit day 8 = 21.5cc 500 main fruit day 7 = 16cc, secondary fruit day 8 = 22.125cc don't have the heart to pull any yet. Sunday, July 27 View Page noticed today a split in the stem of my biggest fruit, the 500 price secondary fruit. will try to keep it dry and hopefully she heals herself. will measure her tomorrow and see if she grew at all, if she aborts, will only have 1 fruit left 12' out main, but the angle of the main fruit is terrible and she is growing oh so slow. Monday, July 28 View Page Updated Measurements: 449 main fruit day 9 = 24cc 449 secondary fruit day 9 = 25cc they were equal up to today, and the secondary passed the main now. 500 main fruit day 8 = 16.5cc 500 secondary fruit day 9 = 25.5cc main growing so slow, but secondary grew 3 inches overnight with her stem split. Monday, July 28 View Page oh yeah, 449 secondary grew alot overnight but got a small stem split where it meets the vine. will leave on as day 10 is tomorrow. as okgal told me last night, may be time to go for broke. Tuesday, July 29 View Page Measurments here: 449 plant - main fruit (day 10) = 27"cc - 2ndary fruit (day 10) = 28"cc 500 plant - main fruit (day 9) = 17"cc - 2ndary fruit (day 10) = 29.25"cc both fruit on 449 on growing at same pace. the main fruit on the 500 plant seems to be stalling or growing way too slow. any advice on which to cull? Wednesday, July 30 View Page mian fruit on 500 was half snipped last night and will be fully culled tonight after work due to too slow of growth. day 11 measurements: 500 plant - 2ndary fruit - 34"cc, up 5"cc from yesterday 449 main fruit - 30"cc 449 2ndary fruit - 31"cc Thursday, July 31 View Page 500 Main fruit snipped off tonight when i got home from work. it felt very soft in some parts of it, so i guess it was a good idea to cut it off. I hope the 2ndary fruit keeps growing, it has thin vine and the stem is not perpendicular to the vine so i will need to keep an eye on it. Fruit is very round and shiny. 449 fruits are growing and getting very bumpy/ugly Still planning on keeping them both on the plant and going for broke only on the 500 plant. Wont be measuring every day anymore. Every 3 days i am thinking. Will focus more on stems/vines adjusting. 500 Fruit name is now "Brooke". Saturday, August 2 View Page 449 main fruit - day 14 = 39.125"cc Saturday, August 2 View Page 449 secondary fruit - day 14 = 41"cc Saturday, August 2 View Page 500 Secondary fruit - Day 14 = 47"cc Sunday, August 3 View Page neptunes fish and seaweed applied tonight after watering with sprinkler. day 16 tomorrow for all my 3 fruit left in patch. the lonely fruit on the 500 plant is growing like crazy and the 2 on the 449 plant are growing also. only measuring every 3 days now. will measure again on tuesday day 17 and then again on friday day 20. been keeping a good eye on the stems and attached vines. hopefully no disasters ahead. here is a pic of the 500 fruit on day 14 today. around 50"cc. Tuesday, August 5 View Page I was looking at my diary last year and am very convinced that the seed i grew last year was not an AG seed. So I am considering this my first year. Last year at this time, all 3 of my fruit on the plant were ripening and stopped growing. Tuesday, August 5 View Page Uddate: I noticed the 2ndary fruit on the 449 plant was starting to speed up while the smaller main fruit was slowing down so i inspected the main fruit today and noticed a big crack in the fruit about 1-2" from the stem. snipped half way through her today and will snip her off tomorrow. now going for broke on both plants. she was ugly anyways.......... Tuesday, August 5 View Page 449 main fruit split........ Wednesday, August 6 View Page day 18 today: 449 fruit - 52"cc 500 fruit - 63.5"cc OTT = 152.5 Thursday, August 7 View Page What a shame.... Friday, August 8 View Page Growth has slowed some what due to cooler weather. Wont be warm again until Monday possibly. 500 Fruit Day 20 - 69.5"cc 69.5+49+49 = 167.5 OTT 449 Fruit Day 20 - 55.5"cc 55.5+44+39 = 138.5 OTT Saturday, August 9 View Page Here Brooke: Passed my goal of 100 pounds this year, now for 200. This pictures was taken today on Day 21, yesterday Day 20 measurements were 69.5cc/49ss/49ee = 167.5 OTT Sunday, August 10 View Page Lot of rain here in the last couple day and more coming tonight and tomorrow before hopefully a sunny day on Tuesday. Day 22 measurements: 500 fruit = 76.5"cc/53ss/53ee = 182.5 OTT = 138 pounds approx. 449 fruit = 57.5"cc/45ss/42ee = 144.5 OTT = 73 pounds approx. The 500 fruit is still looking like a round fruit. The 449 fruit is not growing much in circumference but growing taller, more like a wheel. Tuesday, August 12 View Page Well the 449 Plant is done, i noticed stem split today on the fruit. A big split on top and another on the bottom. I tried applying some sulfur in a paste form but hard to get underneath and 2 fill in splits. Will leave her on instead of pulling whole plant. All thats left now is my 500 price fruit. about 81" in cc. Sad sad day. Wednesday, August 13 View Page looks like powderly mildew has found my 500 plant. i sprayed with fungicide today, but doubt it will help at all. growth only went up 1"cc in the last 24 hours and from 191 OTT to 195 OTT so she is slowing down. I guess all i care about is her staying together for the next couple months until halloween so i have something to show. time will tell. good luck all, my season coming to a quick end here. Thursday, August 14 View Page SEVERE WARNING!!!! Looks like my last fruit could be down in another day or 2. Noticed what i think is a slight split where the stem meets the pumpkin. I tried to get the blossom and stem more parallel to the ground to relieve some stress, and applied some sulfur paste. Updates coming daily. Friday, August 15 View Page growth only about 1"cc per day now and about 4 on OTT, i think even though the weather is getting warmer here, she is deciding she is big enough. added neptunes fish and seaweed today, not sure if it will help or not. as long as she doesnt form any splits, i will be somewhat content. Saturday, August 16 View Page pulled the 449 Rivington plant out today Saturday, August 16 View Page this one split on tuesday and ended the plants life. no chance saving this. Saturday, August 16 View Page Here is Mama, slowing down but still growing, and that is all that matters. measured at 87.75"cc today on day 28 and 207.75 OTT plant leaves have Powderly Mildew. i am guessing this plant will be dead in a couple weeks. Keeping my fingers crosses, 300 pounds would be nice. Saturday, August 16 View Page here is anothe shot, pulled the 449 plant today, the split fruit sits on the right side of picture. Thanks for the seeds Jordan. 80's here all next week, hopefully with the leaves having P.M. she can still grow for 2 more weeks. Tuesday, August 19 View Page still slowly growing. 219.75 OTT today on day 31 for an estimated weight of 233. still keeping an eye underneath the stem where i applyed some sulfur paste. paste has cracked so i am guessing cracked has also, hopefully all works out. may not be anything important. growing about 10-12 pounds per day. Friday, August 22 View Page Update: Mama si slowing down but still growing. OTT today was 97.25cc/68ss/63ee for a total of 228.25 and estimated 259 pounds. Noticed this evening she is really ripening now, i hope that is not the sign of her saying she is doen growing. I dont mind 8 pound gains daily, anything is better the her stopping. fed with neptunes fish and seaweed this eveniing and watered the soil. low of 67 tonight and another 85 degree day tomorrow with low of 70 tomorrow night and rain. hopefully she makes it to 300 pounds. Saturday, August 23 View Page measured today and gorwth only grew by 1"cc today and 2" OTT total. I have come to the conclusion she is basically just about done growing. I wont be doing daily measurments anymore. I will make sure she is watered now and will let her do her own thing in her patch. Plan to measure only every 5 days now. She is ripening, have a thicker sheet on her now to try to prolong that......the time has come..... Wednesday, August 27 View Page as of august 26, 2008 Thursday, August 28 View Page noticed more cracks around stem today, and also some sap or soemthing about 1"long coming from skin about 3" from stem. the next week should be interesting. All i can do i hope. Thursday, August 28 View Page applied some sulfur paste to the small cracks and will let dry. hopefully will help alittle. measured her today, Day 40 = 104.125"cc/72"ss/67"ee = 243.125"OTT = 310 Pounds. All next week looks nice. Slow and steady from here out. Friday, August 29 View Page now shooting for 350 pounds. not bad considering this is growing on a flag plant about 120 sq ft in size. more oozing i found after work tonight, nothing big, just tiny spots. Saturday, August 30 View Page bought some 0-0-50 fertilizer today, but won't apply it until I hear some advice from the post i made about how to apply it. Here are pictures from today Day 42 Saturday, August 30 View Page side view Saturday, August 30 View Page other side view Saturday, August 30 View Page stem view, applied some more sulfur paste today. praying she holds together. Monday, September 1 View Page It's Official: Well it's that time. My fruit hasnt grown in 2 days So I can say the season is over with. I will continue watering her. But the leaves are really starting to look white from PM and dieing. Wednesday, September 3 View Page yeah, depressing time of the season, she has stopped growing but i made my 13 month old nephew happy the other day when i invited him over to see the pumpkin. one of the many reasons i grows these things....to see kids happy :) 250" OTT = 330 Pounds estimated. My nephew and I..... Wednesday, September 3 View Page another....... Saturday, September 6 View Page well measurements are about done, as of yesterday the 5th of september, she was 108.5"cc/74"ss/68"ee = 250.5"OTT = Estimated 339 Pounds. But she continues to ooze small amounts and i noticed a tiny 1" long split along the upper dill ring about 2" above the stem, so i applyed some sulfar paste to it today. This has me thinking her insides are growing faster then her outsides. Will continue doing dialy checkups on her everyday. As for the plant itself, all the leaves are dieing/dead. 4 weeks til Pumpkinville.....i pray she will make it and not open up. Sunday, September 14 View Page day 57 today, measured 110"cc and OTT = 255 estimated 350 pounds 3 weeks til PUMPKINVILLE!!!! i am looking forward to the weighoff, but i am looking more forward to the drive down there, as i was told the drive is the best part. Sunday, September 14 View Page September 14, 2008 - 110cc 255 OTT=350 pounds Estimated. Sunday, November 2 View Page well i kept saying i wouldnt do it, but i expanded the patch today, spent hours rototilling and turning the sod across the whole width of my yard. went from about 368 sq. ft to now about 1035 sq. ft. neighbors brought leaves over today and more to come to be added later in week. trying to get some truck loads of manure added also. then will till up again. this is too addicting of a hobby. prob wont have veggies next year, just 2 xmas tree plants. Wednesday, November 5 View Page my 357.5 Robinson carved on Halloween Wednesday, November 5 View Page 309 mature seeds from my 357.5 Wednesday, November 5 View Page Patch expansion...now 45' long x 23' deep. alittle over 1000 sq. ft. Plenty of leaves added and much more manure/compost in the next week. Friday, November 7 View Page 2nd pickup truck load of manure added on Thursday. Still need another good 3-5 loads to finish spreading over entire expansion and tilled in. Going to keep some in a pile behind garage also for burying vines during season in 2009. Saturday, November 15 View Page well ended up only getting 3 loads of manure (about 3 yards) this fall. Didnt make 6 loads like i wanted to. Done tilling for the year, hopefully will add more aged manure in the spring. goal for next year is 500-600 pounds.