Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 74 Entries. Monday, April 29 View Page This is the beginning. A large greenhouse for a 1544 Revier and a 1789 Wallace. will build a smaller hoop house for a 1684 Delaney. Tuesday, April 30 View Page the completed green house. Wednesday, May 1 View Page The bamboo stakes indicate the position of the soil warming cables. This is the first time using them. The round brown tubing is my drip system and the plant will be placed in the middle of the ring. Thursday, May 2 View Page The babies were planted and the water was turned on to check the drip system. The drip system will not be used until the plants are well on their way, probably in June. Thursday, May 2 View Page soil temp at planting with no soil warming cable Thursday, May 2 View Page Soil temp with heating cables. About a 15 deg F improvement! Friday, May 3 View Page The plant benefiting from the soil warming cables is a 1544 Revier. Friday, May 3 View Page This plant is 1789 Wallace and it does not have warning cables. So, in the same greenhouse i have one with cables and one without.I guess time will tell us the importance of the cables. Friday, May 3 View Page The third plant I'm growing is 1684 Delaney. Its in a much smaller hoop house and this one also has soil warming cables. Wednesday, May 22 View Page The Revier has grown very well. My reference container is a one gallon pot.Remember this one has warming cables. Wednesday, May 22 View Page The Wallace has done better without heating cables than the Revier! I know, I know the Wallace has bigger genes but it is still interesting. Saturday, May 25 View Page As you may have read previously the soil warming cables gave the Revier a 15 deg F advantage. Today no matter where I took soil temp readings they were within 1 deg F of 77 deg. Outside air temp is 56 deg F at 20:45 hrs Saturday, May 25 View Page This another thing Ive done this year to prevent weeds from growing. I covered the whole patch with black landscape cloth. It has worked perfectly, absorbing more heat and saving me hours and hours of weeding. Wednesday, May 29 View Page Very nice growth by all 3 plants.This shows a 1684 Delaney with soil heating cables. The differential between outside and heated soil remains around the 15 deg F range. Wednesday, May 29 View Page This is a beautiful 1544 Revier. It is probably 3 to 4 weeks ahead of my own method growing pumpkins. This year I'm using a totally different method and am seeing results right from germination to the present. I would like to acknowledge a good friend and pumpkin professor, Glenn Dixon, for providing valuable growing secrets and a lot of his time helping me. Many thanks Glenn! Wednesday, May 29 View Page I'm including a picture of a plant that was taken on the same day last year. It's pretty scrawny compared with the previous diary entry but went on to produce an 808 lb 7th place pumpkin. Things are looking good! Friday, May 31 View Page the completed green house. Friday, May 31 View Page Ooops! this entry date should have been April 30 Wednesday, June 5 View Page Plants are growing well with very little attention. This we are trying to keep it very simple. Up to this date we have not fertilized or added anything to soil or plants. In keeping with the simple theme, we are only watering once a week and as you can see the plants are thriving. Maybe less IS really more! The 1544 Revier is in the foreground and the 1789 Wallace is in the background. Wednesday, June 5 View Page This the 1684 Delaney. If you remember, the Delaney and the Revier had soil heating cables. The Wallace 1789 did not. The Wallace today was still bigger and longer than the plants with heating cables. We're still waiting for some female flowers. Saturday, June 8 View Page Just wanted to share 4 years of research and development of my pumpkin patch "twinkle toes". Bungee cords are the latest addition. They work perfectly. Am taking orders. Wednesday, June 12 View Page All 3 plants doing well. This one is the 1789 Wallace. All plants are now outside of the green houses. Monday, June 17 View Page This is a picture of plants in the same spot last year and this year....on the same day. The bottom plant is the Delaney 1684. This is quite a radical improvement from all other years and I would have to say that I followed the recommendations of Professor of Pumpkinology, Glenn Dixon. Every soil amendment added this year was different than all other years and the results are astounding. For my appreciation of his knowledge he will be getting a specially made set of "twinkle toes". There are made of clear bullet proof plastic so that he can see when he steps on a leaf! Wednesday, June 19 View Page Everything is growing really well and all have females. The 1544 Revier actually has 2 females on the primary. Notice that I do not have any weeds! The landscape cloth has worked perfectly and absolutely no weeding has been done this year. A huge time saver. Wednesday, June 19 View Page One more pic of the landscape cloth. I've cut many many 1ft by 2ft pieces and laid them between the vines. Weeding is one job I've hated doing and I find that there is always some leaf and vine damage. So far this method is working really well and one does not need to worry about Roundup getting on the wrong parts. Sunday, June 23 View Page This is the end of a 8 ft tertiary on 1684 Delaney ! Monday, June 24 View Page Sex was fantastic this morning. A 1544 Revier crossed by a 1789 Wallace Wednesday, June 26 View Page Everything still growing well. This is the 1789 Wallace. the large vine you see is a secondary! the baby is in the cloche in the background. Wednesday, June 26 View Page The 1684 Delaney with a baby in the cloche. Nothing too much happening except a lot of growth. Vine burying has become a multi hour job....but I shouldn't complain. Wednesday, June 26 View Page Sometimes we forget.....55 days! Thursday, July 4 View Page A whole lotta growin goin on! Thursday, July 4 View Page Count them...1..2..3! Never seen so many fruit on a main vine...and those are number 4 and 5. Thursday, July 4 View Page A 1544 Revier pollinated by a 1684 Delaney...about the size of a baseball. Thursday, July 4 View Page With all the right things happening, I thought it might be interesting to see what the soil looked like. Analysis looks pretty good as one might suspect. Soil sampled on June 15th. Wednesday, July 10 View Page The patch is almost full and doing well. We had a small amount of leaf burn during the hot spell. This was corrected by my pumpkin guru, Glenn, who suggested that I install an overhead sprinkler system. It was on a timer that cooled the leaves off for 3 minutes every hour during the hot afternoons. Thursday, July 11 View Page This is the second Revier 1544 to be pollinated. Seems to be doing well and the main vine will be cut tomorrow as this pumpkin is about 15 feet out. We still have our fingers crossed for the 1789 Wallace and the 1684 Delaney. This has been my toughest year of pollinating and getting fruit to set. Tuesday, July 16 View Page The upper one is the first 1684 Delaney and the lower one is the second 1684 Delaney. This was my largest plant only to be disappointed with these poor fruit. Number 3 is pollinated and about 25 feet out. Wednesday, July 17 View Page This the second 1544 Revier. Seems to be doing OK. Wednesday, July 17 View Page This the second 1789 Wallace. Should be OK and looks like I have a keeper. Wednesday, July 24 View Page Patch is excellent and doing very well. All secondaries are terminated and were sprayed with Infuse this morning. I was getting some powdery mildew, probably from the overhead sprinkling everyday to keep the plants cool in the very hot weather we've been having. Wednesday, July 24 View Page Upper pic is the 1544 Revier pollinated on June 30th. Middle pic is the 1789 Wallace pollinated on July 7th. Lower pic is 1684 Delaney pollinated on July 12th. Finally, all 3 are off and running...game on! Wednesday, July 31 View Page The Revier 1544 was close to 300 lbs when the disaster occurred! She started to split in 3 places. That's when I summoned the pumpkin specialist, Dr Glenn Dixon. You can see his expert surgery/relief cuts on the stem and pumpkin itself. Hope we caught it in time...will keep you posted on this one. BTW...many thanks Glenn! Wednesday, July 31 View Page This is Wallace and the "patch". Both are doing well. Wednesday, August 7 View Page A good picture of how the Revier 1544 surgery is doing. It must be working as it averaging 22 lbs per day and an ott of 266. Wednesday, August 7 View Page Another perspective on the 1544 Revier split. Wednesday, August 7 View Page Some nasty aphids showing up even though we sprayed with Merit 2 weeks ago. Wednesday, August 7 View Page What a difference 28 days makes! This is a 1789 Wallace. Put on 32 lbs last night. Tuesday, August 13 View Page Pumpkins are chugging along nicely and this is a Wallace 1789 just coming up to 500 lbs. I've been applying a mixture of liquid kelp, humic acid, extreme blend, micro nutrients and carbo load out of a hose end sprayer. Doesn't seem to hurt anything and I feel that I have covered all the bases.I do it in the morning cause I'm usually too drunk in the evening. Tuesday, August 13 View Page This my problem child...the Delaney 1684.Its my largest plant with the smallest fruit. It's the 4th pumpkin to be pollinated on this plant as the other 3 have had "Dill rings" at the soccer ball stage. Now this one has started to crack in odd places. Just wondering what other growers are experiencing with their Delaney's. Please email me at [email protected]. Would be fun to compare. Tuesday, August 13 View Page The fence is 4 feet high! Wednesday, August 21 View Page This tertiary got away on me during a week long holiday. Its like "finding Waldo"! There's a baby in there...really! Wednesday, August 21 View Page A stump befitting a monster.A 1789 Wallace Wednesday, August 21 View Page This my monster, a 1789 Wallace with an OTT of 318. This was my fun plant as it was over a 100 lbs behind my Revier 1544 10 days ago and it just surpassed the Revier today! 24.6 lbs per day over that period of time. Wednesday, August 28 View Page I read somewhere that Ron Wallace suggested that one should leave a few tertiaries grow at the end of August. Does anyone know how to pollinate those babies? Wednesday, August 28 View Page The Wallace 1789 was growing so slowly in the beginning that it wouldn't amount to anything this year. How wrong we were! Its over 8oo and growing very nicely. Skin as smooth as a babies bum. Wednesday, August 28 View Page This is another crack on my problem child, a Delaney 1684. The first cracks(2) occurred near the blossom end these mended themselves with a little help from the garden sulfur. The next cracks you can see in the pic. These were corrected with a little stem surgery that Glenn taught me a couple months ago on my other plant, a Revier 1544. The Revier has put on 500 lbs since the surgery! Amazing! Thanks Glenn! Since I took this pic, another stem crack has showed up so I guess I'll need to put on the rubber gloves and mask again tomorrow morning. Wednesday, September 18 View Page Just an update on the split surgery. You can see from the previous post that the split started in the "meat" of the pumpkin. From the split, using a very sharp knife like an Exacto, slit the stem about 1/2 way to the vine. Then place a very shallow slit at right angles to the original split. Instead of the pumpkin splitting, you can see that the stem has opened really wide to remove the stress from the pumpkin. After performing all the necessary surgery, dust the cut areas with ordinary garden sulfur. Thursday, September 19 View Page Last pic of the "split surgery". Last year all 3 of my pumpkins stem split around the 400lb size and all 3 pumpkins rotted on the vine. This year 2 out of 3 pumpkins stem split and both were "saved" by Glenn Dixon's surgery! The 1544 Revier has put on 546 lbs since the cracks first appeared!...and still going strong. Thursday, September 19 View Page Big....1684 Delaney Thursday, September 19 View Page Bigger...1544 Revier Thursday, September 19 View Page Biggest....1789 Wallace Friday, September 20 View Page FYI The splits were on a Delaney 1684. As you can see a third crack appeared at a later date and was "surgerized" in the same way. This pumpkin has never stopped growing and is approximately 600 lbs. Wednesday, October 9 View Page My 3 orange babies. Wednesday, October 9 View Page Holy sh****t it's falling!!!! Wednesday, October 9 View Page We're off to North Vancouver to pick up another 1000 lbs of pumpkin at Glenn Dixon's. Off to Aldor Acres with a real load We'll have close 4000 lbs of the orange stuff. What a sight for trick or treaters! Saturday, October 12 View Page What a year! Grew 3 plants and got 3 winners! First and third at Aldor Acres in Langley. A beautiful day with my wife and grand daughter, family and friends.The next day we went to Nanaimo and managed to pick up another third! 2 personal bests and the small one only 9 lbs away from the previous PB. A great way to end another summer of pumpkin growing fun. About twice the effort of previous seasons was done to achieve these results. Saturday, October 12 View Page A 1789 Wallace pollinated by a 1684 Delaney to produce the Chan 1043. About 2 % heavy. Saturday, October 12 View Page My beautiful wife who the produced Love 839. This was a 1684 Delaney pollinated with a 1544 Revier. It went 21 % heavy! Sunday, October 13 View Page And lastly a third place finish in Nanaimo for the Chan 988. This was a 1544 Revier pollinated with a 1684 Delaney. But the most amazing and shocking entry was the winner at Nanaimo this year. See the next entry. Sunday, October 13 View Page When we tried to pick this monster up we knew we were in for a nice surprise. you could hear the straps straining and see the metal ring bending. Brian is a second year grower obviously with great potential. His baby weighed in at 1471 lbs and that was grown from a 970 lb seed! Don't we all wish we had some of that kind of luck ....and skill. Congratulations Brian! All this over seen by the local hero and past world champion winner, Jake Van Kooten. Sunday, October 13 View Page Thanks Jake! Tuesday, October 29 View Page And the pumpkin drove off with the princess! Tuesday, October 29 View Page This carriage had room for 2 princesses. Tuesday, October 29 View Page Trying to show you how long Glenn Dixon's prize winning gourd ...119 inches... really is!!