Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 149 Entries. Friday, April 11 View Page After nearly 2 years of research I have finally started my quest to grow the biggest pumpkin the world has ever seen! Here's a shot of my patch. It's located in.... Canada...Parts unknown. Thanks to my Mr. V. and my Sis for letting me use a piece of the land...and nice land it is. The patch is 80'X30' and this is after the nice farmer down the street used his manure "sprayer" to cover the patch with a nice layer of poop. It was raining poop that day Friday, April 18 View Page Thanks to My Bro-in-law for getting the big tiller up and running. He did several back and forth passes to till the nice cow poop into the soil. The soil already looks awesome! it's full of worms and nice and dark in colour. Friday, April 25 View Page Here's this year's starting lineup *1157 Companion 998.6 Pukos X 1150 Daletas *1026 Aten 980 Aten X 1502 Wallace *753 H.Dill 1068 Wallace X 670 Daigle Friday, April 25 View Page Here are the 753's. Getting them ready for their file-n-soak Friday, April 25 View Page Here's a close up of the 753 after filing it. Friday, April 25 View Page The 1026! Friday, April 25 View Page The 1157! Friday, April 25 View Page After setting all the seeds to soak, I was on my way to source out a supplier for fish emulsion. Found a place that has it by the 55 gal drum. I bought 10L of the fish emulsion, I plan to go back for some more majik juice. Saturday, April 26 View Page The moment of truth. After spending 27 hours in the germination chamber I could hardly wait to see if there was life Saturday, April 26 View Page Bam! The 1157 springs to life Saturday, April 26 View Page How about the 1026??? Saturday, April 26 View Page Bam! Bam! 2 for 2. so far off to a great start. Saturday, April 26 View Page Unbelievable...all three 753's are out also. I soaked all the seeds for 6 hours in a 10% hydogen Peroxide H2O2 solution. That's a 100% germination rate this year! Man am I pumped! Saturday, April 26 View Page In they go to their new homes. these babies should just explode out of the ground. I think I have some good genetics. I am excited about some of the crosses I might try this year. Sunday, April 27 View Page Here we have the source for our next load of poop. Horses. These guys have been working hard making poop for me since last year. Some people say cow poop...some people say horse poop...some people say chicken poop is the secret...I say..why not all three! Sunday, April 27 View Page Here's the Bro-in-law and me in the patch spreading the horse poop. After we spread it around and added some ashes, he tilled it over again...man this soil is looking awesome. Sunday, April 27 View Page I LOVE POOP!!! Now you can see why my wife calls me "Pumpkin" Monday, April 28 View Page Here's the 1026 bustin through from his dirt nap. Tuesday, April 29 View Page These guys are blasting through the dirt Wednesday, April 30 View Page Here's the line-up from left to right...looking good after 3 days! *753A/1157/1026/753B/753C Thursday, May 1 View Page Day 4! looking better everyday Thursday, May 1 View Page Here's the 1026. One of the cots is disfigured but other then that it looks healthy. I'm sure it will work it's way out. See what happens Thursday, May 1 View Page Here's 753A and the 1157. The 1157 is curly around the edges but shouldn't be a problem. Sunday, May 4 View Page Day 5 since going into pots...this is 753B and 753C. Beauty leaves! Monday, May 5 View Page Here's the line-up Saturday, May 10 View Page Today was compost day at the land-fill. The compost looked amazing. You can take as much compost as you can haul away for a donation to the food bank. Here's my Sis and Mr. J. digging feverishly...Hey Mr. J. Are We Done Yet??? Thanks to Mr V. for letting us use Earl! Sunday, May 11 View Page Got the Hoop houses up today. It's too windy for Putting up the poly-tarp today. Thanks to my buddy for fabricating the cross supports for the hoop houses...I dont think even the big bad wolf could blow these down! Sunday, May 11 View Page Soil looking pretty good!! Monday, May 12 View Page Thanks to my friends for helping me get the plastic up. The frames hold the heat beautifully. Ready to go...finally! Sunday, May 18 View Page Here's what made the cut. This is the 1026 Aten Couple of days after transplanting. Sunday, May 18 View Page Here's the 1157 Companion Sunday, May 18 View Page And finally the 753B H.Dill My friend E.V. from Rochester N.Y is "Rooting" for this one, so I figured I would give it a shot! Saturday, May 24 View Page Here's the 753 H. Dill. It's putting some growth on. but very slow due to the cold night-time temps. Saturday, May 24 View Page This is the 1157 Companion. Slow as well. but not looking too bad. Saturday, May 24 View Page The last picture was of the 1026 Aten. This is the picture of the 1157. Not sure what's going on. The leaves are looking wilted and some have yellowing around the edges. This doesn't look good to me. It may be getting way too hot in the hoop-houses even with the ends opened right up. I will try to nurse them back to health by applying more ferts to see if it is a deficiency. Monday, June 9 View Page It's been a few days and the weather has really turned warm with some nice rain. I opened up the tops of the hoop-houses but left a 2 foot high perimeter around them for wind/animal protection. Seems to have worked pretty good. This is the 753 H.Dill. My friend Ed, should be happy to hear that this one is looking the best so far...he picked this one out of the 3 753's that germinated. It has about a 3 foot vine and is making nice gains everyday. Monday, June 9 View Page Here's the 1157 Companion. It was the first to lay down and the new leaf growth seems to be healthy. I'm trying to train the vine back in the right direction a little everyday Monday, June 9 View Page Here's the 1026 Aten. It was the last to lay down. It has the thickest vine and I had to slowly let her down to avoid it snapping. I will start to alternate the fertilizing with the miracle grow and the fish every other day. Thursday, June 12 View Page And they're off to the races. The first one out of the gate is the 753 H.Dill Thursday, June 12 View Page Here's the 753 cradling a tall-boy...I like cradling tall boys too! Thursday, June 12 View Page Here's another one of the 753. It's gaining at least 6" a day. Thursday, June 12 View Page The 1157 Companion is doing well also, a little behind the 753 H.Dill. Thursday, June 12 View Page This is the 1026 Aten. It's the shortest out of the three but it has the thickest strongest vine. I plan on using the males off this one to pollinate the plants. Friday, June 13 View Page Here you can see the 753 ahead of the pack. But you can also see the other ones making their way out of the enclosures. Friday, June 13 View Page The 753 H.Dill. I Hope I start seeing some side vines soon! Friday, June 13 View Page 1157 Companion Friday, June 13 View Page 1026 Aten. This plant has some nice males and they look like they might be ready to open in a wekk or so. I plan on burying vines very soon. Thursday, June 19 View Page @*!%# DISASTER STRIKES!!! We have had some bad weather for about a week. Sunday nigth, a big storm came through and devastated my patch with hail. This is the 753 H.Dill after pruning what was broken and burying all the vines some more. Thursday, June 19 View Page Here's what's left of the 1157 Companion. I buried most of the vines a few days before the hail so most of the vine is actually still in tact except for a few bullet holes. I spent about an hour pruning away snapped off secondaries and extensively burying the vines in hopes that they may bounce back...I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Thursday, June 19 View Page Here's a male on the 1026 Aten. Some beauty amidst the devastation. Thursday, June 19 View Page The 1026 Aten has some nice secondary vines growing. This one came away the best of the three I think. Wednesday, June 25 View Page This was this afternoon, the 753 H.Dill. It's been raining for over a week now and I havn't been able tp spend as much time in the patch as I would like. The plants have some new growth since they were devastated by the hail. Wednesday, June 25 View Page Here's the first female on the 753 H.Dill. I'm going to try to set this one. Wednesday, June 25 View Page The 1157 Companion. I have a lot of vine burying to catch up on. I still have some hope after the hail damage Wednesday, June 25 View Page Here's the first female also right at the tip of the vine. All three plants have the first female showing now. Wednesday, June 25 View Page The 1026 Aten. Friday, June 27 View Page Here's the 753 still looking to establish a pollinated female on this one. Friday, June 27 View Page Here's a female on the end of the main on the 753 H.Dill. Friday, June 27 View Page Here's the 1157 Companion. Trying to do the best I can to get the plants to make a rebound after the storms and tornados and hail. Friday, June 27 View Page Here's a female on the main on the 1157 Companion. Friday, June 27 View Page The 1026 Aten. Lots of males on this one so I'm hoping to use the 1502 Wallace male genetics to pollinate all the females. Monday, July 7 View Page This is the 1026 Aten. the plant looks healthy now. I've let the weeds get a little out of control but I plan on weed picking in the next couple of days. Monday, July 7 View Page Here's a female I pollinated. It's been selfed. Monday, July 7 View Page This is the 1157 Companion. Looking better! Monday, July 7 View Page Here's a pollinated female on the 1157 Companion. This should be a 998.6 Pukos X 1502 Wallace. Monday, July 7 View Page Here's the 753 H.Dill. My friend Rick helped me water tonight. Monday, July 7 View Page Here's a shot of all three. From closest to far is the 753,1157,1026 Monday, July 14 View Page Here's the 1026 Aten. I put up shade for 2 pumpkins growing on this one. As it turns out this one has three really nice ones growing on it. I planned on having at least 3 pumpkins left on this vine so we would have a few nice halloween pumpkins. Monday, July 14 View Page Here's a pumpkin on the 1026 Aten. The stem length is awesome and the angle is almost perpendicular to the vine. I have hopes for this one. Monday, July 14 View Page Here's another pumpkin on the fist secondary vine. It has nice shape. These two have been pollinated a week ago. Monday, July 14 View Page There are pumpkins under that tarp! This is the 1157 Companion. I have 2 pumkins pollinated off the end of the main vine Monday, July 14 View Page You can see the 2 pollinated pumpkins under the tarp. Monday, July 14 View Page This one on the 1157 Companion, is 5 days old. Looking not too bad! I will cull down to only one pumpkin on the 1157 Companion and on the 753 H.Dill. Monday, July 14 View Page Here's the 753 H.Dill. This plant is the biggest out of the three. I finally got some fruit set. Now I'll wait about a week to see which one I'll keep. Obviously I'm hoping for the one off the main vine. I have three in the very early stages on this vine. Monday, July 14 View Page Here's the last one I pollinated this morning off the main vine on the 753 H. Dill. I'm keeping my fingers crossed since this is the only one I have on the main vine on this plant. Monday, July 14 View Page Here's a shot of the whole patch. From near to far are the 753 H.dill/1157 Companion/1026 Aten. I spent about 7 hours in the patch today. I put up all the shade structures and put down some nice white sand under all the promising fruit. I also did the best I could at hand yanking the weeds. Once the ground dries up a bit, My bro-in-law is going to lightly till the area past the ends of the vines. That should take care of the weeds. Wednesday, July 16 View Page This morning I was surprised to see how much they had grown in 2 days. This is the one on the main vine on the 1026 Aten. Wednesday, July 16 View Page This is the one on the first side vine on the 1026 Aten as well. I like the shape of her. I'm going to have to name these pretty soon... But I still have to cut some off. Wednesday, July 16 View Page This is the one I have high hopes for. It's off the main vine on the 1157 Companion. I have 2 more backups just in case until I see this one take off. Wednesday, July 16 View Page This was a just-in-case pollination a few feet futher down the main vine on the 1157 Companion. I think it's comming off in a day or two. Wednesday, July 16 View Page This was the last pollination of the season. It's a few feet from the end of the vine about 15 feet on the 753 H.Dill. I was hoping to have one on the main vine. I may have to cull this one and go with one of the 2 I have on the side vine. They look pretty good too, it's going to be hard to decide which one to keep. Wednesday, July 16 View Page I've decided to have a "NAME THE PUMPKINS CONTEST" Send me some pumpkin names and whichever ones I like the best I will name them that. You can click the buttin at the top of the page. Thursday, July 17 View Page Here's the one off the main vine on the 753 H.Dill. Day 3 for this one. Thursday, July 17 View Page You can see the 2 back-up pumpkins on the 753 H.Dill. They're on top of the white sand. They will be going in a few days once I'm sure about the one under the tarp. Thursday, July 17 View Page Here's the one on the main vine on the 1157 Companion. It looks like this might be the one...It's kind of got a funny shape. There's one on the secondary that's the exact same size but a nicer shape. Thursday, July 17 View Page This is the one a few feet further down the main vine off the 1157 Companion. I like the shape of this one better then the previous one. I'll take a 10 day measurement and see how it is progressing Thursday, July 17 View Page This is off the main vine on the 1026 Aten. I measured today and it has a 30" circumference. Thursday, July 17 View Page Here's the other on on the first side vine. It grew considerably in 1 day. I just measured it for the first time today and it taped in at 35" circumference. It's about 20lbs app. going by the charts Thursday, July 17 View Page Here's the third one I'm keeping on this vine. This is my first year growing so I'm experimenting by leaving 3 pumpkins on this vine to see how big I can get 3 to go. Monday, July 21 View Page This is "Scarface" It's on the 1026 Aten. The biggest I have right now. Monday, July 21 View Page This is Ribz. It's off the main on the 1026 Aten as well. I can't wait to see what becomes of Ribz because of the unique shape. Monday, July 21 View Page This is Bubba. Bubba is the third pumpkin I will grow on the 1026 Aten. Short but stalky! Monday, July 21 View Page This is Butterball. Butterball is off the main vine on the 1157 Companion. There is one more on this plant that I'm having a hard time cutting off. Monday, July 21 View Page This is the backup on the 1157 Companion. I'm going to hate cutting this off in a few days...but I know I have to. Monday, July 21 View Page This is the last backup I have on The 753 H.Dill. I cut the other one off today as I'm pretty sure the pumpkin off the main vine will be the chosen one. Monday, July 21 View Page Here's the one I culled from the 753 H.Dill. Sorry to see you go. Monday, July 21 View Page This is Big Shooter. I named it that after my Sharp Shooter friend E.V. from Rochester N.Y. He liked this plant the best from the very beginning. Monday, July 21 View Page Here's a shot of the patch. I have a lot of work to do. The weeds are out of control and I have a ton of vine to bury. It's been way too wet to do either though. Wednesday, July 23 View Page Here's Big Shooter this morning. It's put on some size since the 21st. Now I just have to get rid of the backup. Wednesday, July 23 View Page Butterball looking good. Wednesday, July 23 View Page Bubba on the 1026 Aten putting on some girth with the healthy rain we've been getting. Wednesday, July 23 View Page Ribz isn't putting on as much size as I expect but still interesting. Wednesday, July 23 View Page Scarface after getting splattered with dirt from the heavy rains. Monday, July 28 View Page Here's a stem-view angle of Scarface. Monday, July 28 View Page Here's a stem-view angle of Scarface. Monday, July 28 View Page This is Bubba, Scarface's roomate on the 1026 Aten. Monday, July 28 View Page Ribz isn't putting on any weight, but I'm keeping it on until the end. Monday, July 28 View Page Here's Butterball all alone! I was finally able to cut the last backup off the 1157 Companion. It's already making nice gains. Monday, July 28 View Page And then there was one. Here's Big-Shooter. Making nice gains since I cut the last back-ups off the 753 H. Dill. Monday, August 4 View Page Here's Big-Shooter on the 753. I like the shape of this one! Monday, August 4 View Page This is Butterball on the 1157. It has been making some steady gains. Monday, August 4 View Page You can see the split near the stem on Scarface. This means Scarface is dead! I will be cutting it off later. Monday, August 4 View Page I love this Picture! In the background you can see Big-Shooter and in the foreground is Butterball Wednesday, August 6 View Page Here's a night shot of Big-Shooter. The estimated weight of this one is around 85 lbs. Wednesday, August 6 View Page This is Bubba on the 1026 Aten. I cut Scarface off and Ribz came off a few days ago. Each plant only has one fruit now. Wednesday, August 6 View Page This is butterball on the 1157 Companion. I just hope I have a fruit in one piece by the end of the year. It's starting to go a little orange! Friday, August 8 View Page Here's Big-Shooter. Love the shape and color on this one! Friday, August 8 View Page Butterball is growing slow and steady. The vine on this one looks the healthiest. Wednesday, August 13 View Page Big shooter on the 753 H.Dill. Wednesday, August 13 View Page Butterball turning a beautiful orange color. Wednesday, August 13 View Page This is Bubba on the 1026 Aten. All the fruit I had on this plant were mis-shapen and white in color. I cut the other ones up and they hardly had a cavity at all...all wall...Heavy!!! Saturday, August 16 View Page This is my friend Ed from Rochester N.Y. with Big Shooter. He drove 4 hours to come for my birthday today. I took him to see the pumpkin he chose since it was just a seedling. Saturday, August 16 View Page This is Ed with Butterball. Saturday, August 16 View Page After the photo's, fun time was over. I put him right to work at watering those plants. Wednesday, August 20 View Page Big-Shooter whith a 10L pail. Wednesday, August 20 View Page Butterball with Big-Shooter in the background. Wednesday, August 20 View Page Bubba's still growing. Wednesday, August 27 View Page This is Big-Shooter after ferts were added. Wednesday, August 27 View Page Butterball looking great!! Wednesday, August 27 View Page Bubba could go heavy. Wednesday, August 27 View Page Here's a shot of all three. Bubba Butterball Big-Shooter. Tuesday, September 9 View Page Here's me with Big Shooter Tuesday, September 9 View Page Here's butterball at sunset. I've been measuring and keeping data for comparison to next year. Especially since it's me first year! Tuesday, September 9 View Page Bubba died :( I discovered this leaking split today. Tuesday, September 9 View Page One last shot of Bubba. I had 3 fruit going on this plant (1026 Aten) Since I intended on using it as my pollinator anyway . Not 1 fruit survived and they were all white and very irregular in shape. Tuesday, September 9 View Page Butterball and Big Shooter Monday, September 15 View Page Here's Butterball. The Ribs are getting deeper and it's a nice deep orange color. Monday, September 15 View Page This is Big-Shooter. I caught the photo just as the pop can was falling over. Monday, September 15 View Page Big Shooter and Butterball Friday, October 10 View Page Well, here we are . All loaded up and ready to go. Butterball on your left and Big shooter on your right. Saturday, October 11 View Page Here we are at the Rockton World's Fair. Butterball on the way to the scale...The moment of truth. Saturday, October 11 View Page What's the official weight. It was taping in at 411 by the charts. I am just hoping to break 400 lbs. Saturday, October 11 View Page There you have it. 489lbs!!! Just shy of 500. I couldn't believe it. Butterball went 19% heavy over the charts. Can't wait to see if butterball has any seeds. These might be good ones to keep. Saturday, October 11 View Page Here's My Friend Ed form Rochester N.Y. He came all the way up here for the weigh off. This is Ed with Big Shooter. He chose this plant out of five seedlings and I went with it. Saturday, October 11 View Page Here's me with Big Shooter. I'm going to turn this into one badass Jack-O-Lantern. Tuesday, October 28 View Page Another shot on the trailer. Tuesday, October 28 View Page I present to you the 489-Matesa-08. I cracked open Butterball the other day and found all these big, brown, fat beautiful seeds. The 489 Matesa is 998.6 Pukos X 1502 Wallace. If anyone wants seeds or would like to trade, I would love to have someone grow some, just shoot me an e-mail. This pumpkin went 19% heavy to the charts! Tuesday, October 28 View Page Here's the Jack-O-Lantern I created out of Big Shooter. Wednesday, October 29 View Page I would like to appoligize for unintentionally misleading anybody. I'm new to this whole thing, so I believe I named the 489 Matesa 08 incorrectly. I was under the assumption that the genetic cross came from the Female and Male parentage from which they came. The 489 Matesa 08 grew on an: 1157 Companion 07 (998.6 Pukos 05 x 1150 Daletas 05) and was pollinated by a male from 1026 Aten 07 (980 Aten 06 x 1502 Wallace 06) This is why I named it: 489 Matesa 08 (998.6 Pukos 05 x 1502 Wallace 06) female male When infact I believe it should be: 489 Matesa 08 (1157 Companion 07 x 1026 Aten 07) Please send me an e-mail to correct me if I'm wrong. I hope somebody still wants a seed or wants to trade since I have no other seeds and I'm going BIG next year. Just shoot me an e-mail Thanks