Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 62 Entries. Friday, March 28 View Page This is the site of my new pacth for 2008. I only have room for two plants. This weekend I'll be spreading this 10 cubic yards of mushroom compost that I had delivered. I'll be tilling it all in with my ammendments. Underneath the pile is a 4ft x 4ft x 2ft pit where I will plant one of the plants. Friday, March 28 View Page Since I only have room for two plants I figure that they better be good ones. This winter I did a lot of research and I am going to do a F2 Hybrid that Don Langevin discusses in his book, How to Grow Giant Pumpkins III. I'll be growing a 1096.5 Privitera 2007 (1068 Wallace x 998 Pukos) and a 1402.5 Bosworth 2007 (1068 Wallace x Self). I want to thank Tom and Brooks for being so generous with their seeds. Sunday, March 30 View Page The 10 cubic yards of mushroom compost got the best of me this weekend. I was only able to spread about half of it. It smells awful! Before I spread the compost I tilled my lawn under on the whole side of my yard. The neighbors were giving me "What the heck are you doing" looks. Tuesday, April 1 View Page Last night (In the rain) and tonight I finished spreading my mushroom compost and tilled it in. I also added my amendments and tilled them in. The patch is about 12 inches deep with mushroom compost. I've decided to use the Agro-K fertilizer program this year so that last thing I need to do before I plant is to apply the first Agro-K application to the patch. Saturday, April 19 View Page I soaked and started both the 1402 and 1096 on April 13th. I soaked them in a 1:10 mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water for about 3 hours. Then I used the wet paper towel method to sprout them. The 1402 sprouted in two days and I planted it in seed starting mix. I mixed the seed starting mix with some myco fungi. I have cut the pot that it is planted in for easier transplanting. It popped up out of the soil by April 17th. The cots are shriveled so I hope the true leafs appear soon. There is a white fungus/mold like fuzz on the top of the dirt. I saw a post that said that this is the myco fungi in action. Not sure if this is true or if it’s just mold from the warm moist conditions. Saturday, April 19 View Page This is a picture of the 1096. I have had a hard time sprouting it. I started it on April 13th the same day and the same preparation that I did for the 1402. It had not sprouted by the 17th so I was in panic mode. On the 17th I filed the edges to try to get more moisture to penetrate the seed. Still nothing. On the 18th I pulled off one side of the shell as you can see in the picture below. This afternoon when I checked on it again it had finally sprouted! I planted it in seed starting mix with some myco. I hope it makes it! Sunday, April 27 View Page Disaster struck on Friday. My 1402.5 Bosworth seedling died. On a previous entry I noted that the cots were shriveled when they emerged. I thought they would straighten out or the true leaves would come. The cots just shriveled up and died. I can’t figure out what caused this. It’s a hot seed because I wasn’t able to find a replacement anywhere. I guess I won’t be doing a F2 hybrid this year. The 1096 has the same problem with the cots but not as bad. I hope I don’t lose it as well. I planted it in the patch this afternoon. (Picture Below) Its first true leaf is emerging. When I planted it I mixed in myco and applied the first treatment of systemic pesticide. Sunday, April 27 View Page I started a replacement for the 1402 on Friday evening. I decided to go with the 893 Privitera 2007 (998 Pukos x 1068 Wallace). Today it had sprouted so I planted it in seed starting mix. This time I used less myco in the mix thinking that might be what is causing the shriveled cots. Sunday, May 11 View Page Since my last entry my 1096 seedling died a few days after the 1402. This has not been a good start! I started an 893 Privitera (998 Pukos x 1068 Wallace) as a backup. This time I used much less myco which is what I think killed both seedlings. My myco has a 3-4-3 fertilizer in it and I think I added way too much to the seed starting mix. Here’s a picture of the 893. I planted it in the patch on May 9th. Sunday, May 11 View Page Tom was nice enough to send me another 1096. Thank you Tom! I started it on May 1st. Now that I’m using less myco in my seed starting mix I haven’t had any troubles with curly cots. The picture below is of the new 1096 (left) and a backup plant in case anything happens. My backup (right) is a 1289 Bosworth (805 Pukos x Self) Tuesday, May 20 View Page Here’s a picture of my 1096 from this evening. It is very healthy. May has been really cool so far so growth has been slow. I laid out my soaker hose tonight. Tuesday, May 20 View Page This is a picture of the 893. It is about a week older than the 1096 so it’s a little bigger. Wednesday, June 4 View Page Here’s a picture from this afternoon of the 1096. It’s just starting to vine. I was out of town over Memorial Day weekend and when I came back my leaves had brown and yellow patches all over them. I had nuked my patch with contact and systemic pesticides so I know it’s not insect damage. It could be sunburn or a mineral deficiency. I think it’s a case of sunburn on the early new leaves because now the new leaves are green. No sightings of cucumber beetles, squash bugs, or svbs yet. Wednesday, June 4 View Page This is the 893 this afternoon. It is still about a week ahead of the 1096 with it’s growth. The main vine is about 2 ½ feet long. I had the same problem with the leaves while I was gone over Memorial Day weekend. Thursday, June 12 View Page This is my 1096. It's finally starting to pick up some steam. The first set of secondary vines are coming out. I went out a couple nights ago to foliar feed and I found one cucumber beetle on a leaf. Sprayed the patch with Triazicide that night. I didn't see any others and haven't seen any since. I'm pretty sure my earlier leaf damage is due to spraying too early in the afternoon. I now spray everything around 8:00 pm. Thursday, June 12 View Page This is the 893. No cuke beetle on it but I’ve been spraying regularly. I’ve been alternating with Triazicide and Bayer Tree & Shrub. (Thanks Tremor for sharing your insecticide program with me.) Monday, June 16 View Page Here’s my 893 this evening. It’s really starting to take off. If you look at the picture you’ll see three secondary vines on each side of the plant. Then all of a sudden no more secondary vines are growing. I can’t figure out why this is happening. I also started to reduce the nitrogen foliar feeding because I had the first female abort on the main vine. I now have a second female appearing about 9 feet from the stump and it looks healthy. Monday, June 16 View Page My 1096 this evening. Over the weekend while working in the patch I spotted the dreaded squash vine borer moth landing on my 1096. I killed it with my flip flop. Then I got to thinking that they could be laying eggs all day while I’m at work. I came to Big Pumpkins.com and looked up what the eggs look like. My wife and I went out to the patch to see if we had any. There we were crawling in the patch looking on the stems for eggs. Sure enough we pulled off about a dozen brown oval eggs. No matter how thoroughly I check for eggs I know I’ll miss some. I have to hope my systemic and contact insecticides will take care of them. A svb infestation is what ended my season in July last year. Tuesday, June 24 View Page Here’s the 893 from above today. A couple weeks ago we had record high temperatures over 100 degrees. During that time the 893 did not put out secondary vines. Because of this I have about 4 feet in the middle of the main vine that has no secondary vines. I had my first female open last Saturday but there were no male flowers on either plant to pollinate with! It was only a 3 lobe female. I tried pollinating it with a two day old male flower. I still don’t know if it took. It is about 14 feet out. The next female will be opening up tomorrow at about 15 ½ feet. Tuesday, June 24 View Page This is the 1096 today. The leaves have been wilting in the heat of the day on both plants. I have seen multiple SVB on this plant the past few weeks. I’ve been keeping up with my pesticide program so I hope it kills them.. No females have opened yet but one should be opening on Thursday. Since the 1096 is about a week behind the 893 it was not as severely affected by the heat wave. It was just starting to vine when the high temps came so no secondary vines are missing. Saturday, June 28 View Page I pollinated just about every morning this past week. I’ve been getting up early before work to pollinate. I decided to pollinate every female that opens so I don’t have a plant without a pumpkin. I’ve been using three males per female. Just my luck the weather has been in the high 90’s all week so I’m hoping they don’t all abort. Below is the only 5 lober that I’ve had. All of the others have been 4 lobers. As you can see I’ve been using ice to try to create a microclimate around the females. Saturday, July 5 View Page This is the 5 lober from the previous picture. So far it’s the biggest & fastest growing pumpkin. This is on the 893 which seems to be the better of the two plants. There are two additional fruit sets a few feet further along the main vine on the 893. I’ll keep them for a couple weeks to see how they grow. This has still been the only 5 lober on either plant. Saturday, July 5 View Page Here’s a picture of the 1096 (closest) and the 893 (furthest). I have been having trouble getting a pumpkin to set on the main vine of the 1096. The first three on the main have aborted. I pollinated one today that might be the last chance. (It’s about 20 ft out) The plants have grown into each other so I have had to turn the main vines in opposite directions. Neither plant seems to be slowing vegetative growth. Thursday, July 10 View Page I’m going on vacation tomorrow and I’ll be gone for a week. Today I built this hoop house made from 1 inch PVC and a plastic painting drop cloth. It’s not fancy but it should protect it from the elements. I put it over the pumpkin growing on the 893. I have culled all other pumpkins on the 893. Thursday, July 10 View Page This is the one I chose on the 893 today. I haven’t measured it but it is growing fast. I hope its okay while I’m gone. My neighbor is going to keep an eye on my patch and water if necessary. Saturday, July 19 View Page I’m back from vacation and everything seems to be okay. This is the pumpkin on the 893 today. I still haven’t taken any measurements but it is growing like crazy! The plants grew out of control while I was gone. I spent 4 hours in the patch today trimming vines, fertilizing, and watering. Saturday, July 19 View Page I finally got two pumpkins to set on the 1096. I pollinated these two before I left for vacation. It looks like they both took so I’ll decide which one to keep in the next few days. Saturday, July 19 View Page This is the stump of the 893. The 1096 stump is equally as thick. Both plants look healthy. The leaves on the first set of secondary vines are beginning to show some age but other than that things are going well. I have noticed some powdery mildew on some leaves so I will take care of that this weekend. Also, I forgot to note that now that all of my pumpkins are set I have gone through both plants and have cut off all of the males. I decided to do this so the plants don’t waste any energy on making flowers. Wednesday, July 23 View Page This is Copper, our Treeing Walker Coonhound. He and I made our choice on the 1096 tonight. I had two pumpkins growing about 3 feet from each other on the main vine. The one that was closer to the stump is the one you see in the picture. I culled this one because it was closer to the stump, it had a bad angle to the vine, and it had a kink in the stem from me moving it to try to adjust the angle to the vine. Today was day 18 for it. The OTT was 152 which translates to 81 pounds. I put it on our bathroom scale and it was 79 pounds. Pretty darn close! It was going at a good pace so I hope I made the right choice! Wednesday, July 23 View Page Day 28 for my baby growing on the 893. She’s a monster so far. 248 OTT, est. 319 lbs. Saturday, July 26 View Page This is the pumpkin growing the 893 Privitera at day 30. 113 x 73 x 73 = 259 ott Est. 361 lbs Monday, July 28 View Page We finally got a good rain last night. A gift and a curse. This evening when I did my daily inspections on the 893 I discovered a crack in the pumpkin near the stem. See picture below. I stuck a blade of grass in the crack and it didn’t go all the way through. Phew! I have a fan set up blowing on the crack. Hopefully it doesn’t get worse. Sunday, August 3 View Page Here’s a shot of the patch today. This past week has been very hot. Temperatures were in the upper 90’s with high humidity. It took a toll on the plants and pumpkins this week. Leaves were severely wilted just about every afternoon. The pumpkin on the 893, now at day 39, has slowed considerably. It’s now well off the benchmark for 1000 lbs. The pumpkin on the 1096 is at day 25 and is well behind what the 893 was on day 25. My winter project is going to be a misting system for next year. Monday, August 4 View Page Some of the oldest leaves on the 893 have been falling over and dying this week. Right where the leaf stalks come out of the vine/buried soil they are turning to mush and rotting. I’ve been losing a lot of leaves to this which is why I think my growth is slowing. Today is day 40 for the pumpkin on the 893 and it is at 129 cc. Saturday, August 16 View Page Here’s a shot of the 1096 (foreground) and the 893 (background). I went into the patch today and the pumpkin on the 1096 had a blossom end split. We measured the pumpkin on the 893 a few days ago (Day 49) and it was 308 OTT = 600 lbs. Saturday, August 16 View Page Another shot of the pumpkin on the 1096 before we ripped the plant out. Saturday, August 16 View Page Here’s the split on the blossom end. It looks like I am lacking Calcium in my soil. The blossom end was very thin. Saturday, August 16 View Page A final shot of the stump on the 1096 before we pulled it. The stump was more than twice the size of the stump on the 893. I know this plant could have grown a monster. I culled the wrong pumpkin early on. Saturday, August 16 View Page We rolled the pumpkin from the 1096 onto the bathroom scale. It was 275.5 lbs. Saturday, August 16 View Page Here’s the pumpkin cut in half. Look how thin the blossom end is. Saturday, August 16 View Page This is what’s left of the 1096 plant. This is going to be a big job bagging this. We chopped up the pumpkin and put it on our compost bin in the background. Saturday, August 16 View Page Here’s the empty patch where the 1096 was. Now I’m down to the 893. Saturday, August 16 View Page This toad was living in the 1096 plant. Sorry little guy! Tuesday, August 26 View Page Day 62 for the pumpkin on the 893. 144CC 88 L 88W OTT=320 Est. 672 lbs Wednesday, September 3 View Page Day 70 for the pumpkin on the 893. I made it to 700 lbs! Here’s a shot of the stem end of the pumpkin. OTT 325 = 704 lbs Saturday, September 13 View Page Today is day 80 for the pumpkin on the 893. The OTT is 329 which should put it around 730 lbs. That’s about 3 lbs per day for the past 10 days. I found a slimy section on the vine near the stem a couple days ago. I sprayed everything with fungicide and put a fan on it. It seems to have dried it up. I took measurements of the patch today. The 893 plant is 640 sq. ft. I also built the lifting tripod this week. I’m planning on loading it on September 26th for the State Fair of Virginia weigh off which is September 27th. Saturday, September 20 View Page Day 87 and the OTT is 333. On the chart that would be 756 lbs. Most of leaves are dead and the ones that are left have powdery mildew very badly. I washed the pumpkin with a 10% bleach solution today. I didn’t find anything on the pumpkin that was concerning. We’re harvesting and loading it this Friday the 26th. Friday, September 26 View Page Loading her up for the State Fair of Virginia. Here we are loading hooking up the lifting ring. We loading the day before the fair and it had been raining for 3 days. The patch was a swamp! Sunday, September 28 View Page Here I am cranking the come-a-long. The tripod worked great. The chain at the top made me a little nervous though. Every crank on the come-a-long would flex the chain. Next year I’ll be getting a stronger chain for sure. Sunday, September 28 View Page Backing the truck up… Sunday, September 28 View Page Safely on the pallet in the back of the truck! Phew! Sunday, September 28 View Page Here’s a shot of the lifting crew. Me (right), John W. (far left), John B. (second from left) and John W’s son J.C (In the truck). Thank you all for your help. I couldn’t have gotten it to the fair without you! Sunday, September 28 View Page Here’s the pumpkin at the fair. Final measurements before the weighoff: 150 CC + 92.5 L + 92.5 W = 335 OTT We estimated it was 770 lbs Sunday, September 28 View Page Here’s the pumpkin at the fair. Final measurements before the weighoff: 150 CC + 92.5 L + 92.5 W = 335 OTT We estimated it was 770 lbs Sunday, September 28 View Page Here’s the line up at the fair. There were only 11 pumpkins this year. A lot of good growers lost their pumpkins throughout the Summer. The eventual winner is on the far right. Mine is 5th from the right. Sunday, September 28 View Page Me and Ed (Mr.D&Me on bigpumpkins.com). He and Mark (hootsdirt on bigpumpkins.com) did a great job emceeing the weigh off this year. Sunday, September 28 View Page Final weight…796 lbs!!! 3% heavy! Sunday, September 28 View Page My wife and I with the results board. We won second place. First place was 1007 lbs. Sunday, September 28 View Page Introducing the 796 Price. We also won the “Prettiest Pumpkin.” I had a great time growing this year, I’m sad to see it come to an end. Thanks again to Tom Privitera for the seeds and help throughout the year. Sunday, November 9 View Page I had this shadow box made with my ribbons. It’s now hang in my study. Sunday, November 9 View Page Here’s our pumpkins for Halloween this year. I wish I would have kept my 796 to carve. I did the puking one and my wife did the cat. Sunday, November 9 View Page Fall patch prep is just about done. I added tons of composted horse manure and maple leaves. I’ve been doing night raids of the maple trees in our neighborhood. The neighbors must think I’m crazy! I’m going to add a few more amendments and then I’ll till everything in for the Winter.