Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 113 Entries. Wednesday, May 6 View Page Here's the 135uow Coldwell '08. Grown from a generic seed before I knew anything about growing AGs. Shouldn't be too hard to beat my PB this year! Wednesday, May 6 View Page Here are the first 3 plants I started on 4-27. 1313 Bowles 08 (664.5 Liggett X 1100 Hestor). 1026 Young '08 (1385 Jutras X 1207 Young). 915 Young '08 (1207 Young X 1385 Jutras). Wednesday, May 6 View Page Started the rest of the seeds last night. 735 Pukos '01 (846 Calai X self). 1408.5 Daletas '07 (1068 Wallace X 805 Pukos). 1130 Jutras '07 (1354 Checkon X 998.6 Pukos). 1354 Young '08 (1207 Young X 998.6 Pukos). 722 Privitera '08 (1041 McKie X 1068 Wallace). 1087 Bhaskaran (843 Heyne X 1290 Poirier). Wednesday, May 6 View Page First year doing a diary, forgot that it would take a while for the other posts with pics to appear. I will welcome any comments, suggestions etc. as the season progresses , just shoot me an e-mail, make sure to put something pumpkin related in the subject line or it will go unopened. [email protected] Wednesday, May 6 View Page The myco, Neptune's fish/seaweed, garlic barrier, and Extreme blend (humic acid, fulvic acid, seaweed, and amino acids) came in the mail today! Thanks again Tom. Perfect timing, seeds should be sprouted and ready to put into pots tomorrow. Gave the 3 plants already going their first sip of the Neptune's and Extreme blend this afternoon. I think they might already be addicted! lol. Thursday, May 7 View Page 100% germination rate for this year! 1354 Young, 722 Privitera, and 1087 Bhaskaran sprouted root at 22 hours. 1408.5 Daletas, 1130 Jutras, and 735 Pukos at 29 hours. Thought the 735 might take longer being an 8 year old seed, but happily I was wrong. Thursday, May 7 View Page All seeds are now in pots. Used Neptunes F/S, and Extreme blend in the water I used to wet starting mix. Along with a healthy pinch of Myco mixed into each pot. Now the race to see who breaks the surface first. Friday, May 8 View Page Put 1313 Bowles, 1026 Young, and 915 Young into 2 gallon pots yesterday with a handful of myco. Roots had really filled in, can't wait to see what they do with the myco. These should be in the ground middle of next week. Expecting cold over the weekend, 34 degree lows for a few nights, so want to wait till it warms back up. Friday, May 8 View Page Still waiting for these guys to pop up, should start tonight or tomorrow. Decided to put them outside since the weather is so nice today. Staying around 85 degrees in the sun. Will put them back in the germ box for tonight to keep them warm. Highs for the weekend only supposed to be 55 so they will most likely be under lights inside till it warms back up. Typical MI weather! Friday, May 8 View Page Got the final till done today. Soil looks pretty good, ready for plants to go in. Will be getting my walking boards early next week. If anyone steps foot in the patch before then they will be chopped up and put on the compost pile! lol Friday, May 8 View Page This is Angus, my patch protector. Friday, May 8 View Page Here's where the name Hareguy comes from. I've raised and shown rabbits for 30 years. We've had more than 300 of them at times, but are down to around 60 right now. Affectionately known as the 'Poop Factories'. No better manure to use for gardens IMHO. BTW, I also own a hair salon, so the name is pretty fitting all around. Friday, May 8 View Page Had to include this cuter version of a poop factory. He's just a baby, by 10 months or so his wool would fill up this whole cage. Saturday, May 9 View Page 1408.5 Daletas, 1354 Young, 722 Privitera, and 1087 Bhaskaran have all popped up and under lights till weather warms up. Still waiting on the 1130 Jutras, and 735 Pukos. Looking at the list again to get a few backups started just to be on the safe side. Monday, May 11 View Page Everyone is above soil now. Younger plants getting their first taste of the sun for an hour or so. Still kind of cool, 58 degrees or so, so don't want to leave them out too long. Monday, May 11 View Page Noticed some leaf burn on edge of the 2nd true leaf on older plants yesterday. Not sure why it happened, they had been out in the sun a few hours every day for the previous week. Possibly just got too warm in the sun on Friday? 3rd true leaves look fine so hoping it won't be a problem. I have backup seeds for those 3 if things don't go well. Tuesday, May 12 View Page Got first batch of compost tea going this morning. 3 cups worm castings fresh from my worm bin, 1 cup alfalfa pellets, 1 tsp. Neptunes fish/seaweed, 1 tsp. Extreme Blend, 2 Tbs. molasses. Will check it out under microscope tomorrow afternoon (36 hrs) to see how it's developing. Tuesday, May 12 View Page Got my walking boards today, this should be final layout. 2 big middle areas will got to 1130 Jutras, and 1408.5 Daletas, approx, 500 sq. ft. each. Middle spots on each side will go to 1313 Bowles, and 1354 Young, 450 sq. ft. each. Corner plots will be 1026 Young, 915 Young, 722 Privitera, and 1087 Bhaskaran. These plants will be grown in different patterns as far out into the lawn as they need (less for me to mow!)approx. 300 ft of patch before they hit grass. 735 Pukos will get it's own spot where I've had compost piles for the last few years, untested soil, but LOTS of worms everywhere, so thought it would be a good spot. Tuesday, May 12 View Page Forgot to say I put 1 tsp. vegetable oil in tea also to cut down on the foaming. Decided to brew in the house, bucket is sitting in bathtub just in case. Interesting new smell in the bathroom! lol Sunday, May 17 View Page We've had cool temps, strong winds, two hard frosts, and nearly two inches of rain in the last few days, gotta love MI in the spring! Here's everybody Saturday morning hiding out from the weather. Sunday, May 17 View Page Everyone is happy to be back out in the sun today after being cooped up inside. Hopefully, everyone will be in the ground tomorrow afternoon. Had planned on doing it last Wednesday, but glad I didn't with the crazy weather we've had. Wednesday, May 20 View Page I finally was able to get the plants in the ground yesterday! I dedided to re-think the layout, and only go with 6 plants. The other 3 will be going to a friend who lost plants to the frost we had. Wednesday, May 20 View Page 1313 Bowles is leading the pack so far. Early leaf burn didn't seem to slow it down any. Wednesday, May 20 View Page Soil temps only got up to 60 degrees yesterday, but the 85 degree sun today should warm things up. Wednesday, May 20 View Page This plot has more clay than the others, above the new drain field we put in 4 years ago. Wednesday, May 20 View Page All 6 of these plots are approx. 530 sq. feet. Shouldn't need to have anything growing out onto the lawn now. Wednesday, May 20 View Page Decided to put up silt fence at west edge of patch in addition to the wind breaks around each plant. We have fields all around our property, so the wind is usually an issue around here. Thursday, May 21 View Page Not sure why, but the last picture won't load. Anyway, the 6th plant is the 1130 Jutras. The 3 plants that will go to a new home are the 915 Young, 722 Privitera, and 1087 Bhaskaran. Hard to part with them, but at least they will go to help someone else for the season. Wednesday, May 27 View Page Weather has been cool most of the last week. Soil temps have been staying around 60-65. Plants seem to be adjusting well after the big move into the patch last week. Had 1/2" of rain this morning, so that and the sun coming back out tomorrow should help them get going. Friend that needed plants re-started his own seeds, so the 722 Privitera, and 1087 Bhaskaran went to live at my friend Stephanie's patch. That means the 915 Young gets to stay here. I tilled up a new spot over by the compost pile, and put it in the ground yesterday. Wednesday, May 27 View Page 1313 Bowles, still the patch leader. Starting to vine, and lots of secondary leaves starting already. Wednesday, May 27 View Page 1408.5 Daletas, starting 4th leaf. 3-4 days ahead of the others started at same time. Wednesday, May 27 View Page 735 Pukos, a little behind, but I have faith! Wednesday, May 27 View Page 1026 Young, starting to vine, looks like it will lay down pretty easily. Wednesday, May 27 View Page 1354 Young, just coming out of the starting gates. Wednesday, May 27 View Page 1130 Jutras, thanks for the rain, a little sun would be nice now! Wednesday, May 27 View Page 915 Young, seems to be over the early leaf burn, just a distant memory now. Hope it's not too lonely over here away from everybody else. Saturday, June 6 View Page Had cool cloudy weather lately, so the plants kind of stalled out for a few days. Had a touch of frost on 2 plants last Sunday morning. Had to take 3 leaves off the 1313, but it seems to be taking back off now. 915 got hit a little harder, still kicking, but no growth. I started both the 1313, and 915 again. I know it's late, but with the cool spring we've had I'm going to put them in anyway and see if they catch up. The last few days have been nice and sunny, and plants have kicked back into gear. Soil temps have been above 70 degrees, hope it stays that way now! I've been brewing batch after batch of tea, might need to upgrade to a bigger brewer next year, 5 gallons at a time doesn't go very far! Saturday, June 6 View Page 1313 Bowles after frost damage. Nothing seems to be able to slow this plant down. Longest vine, almost ready to touch down. Saturday, June 6 View Page 1408.5 Daletas Saturday, June 6 View Page 735 Pukos Saturday, June 6 View Page 1026 Young Saturday, June 6 View Page 1354 Young. Growing fast, ahead of the others started at same time now. Saturday, June 6 View Page 1130 Jutras Saturday, June 6 View Page 915 Young. Not doing too well after frost. Probably going to pull it today, and put in the newly started 915, and 1313 Bowles back to back. Wednesday, June 17 View Page Overview of the patch as of last night. The weather has finally improved, temps hitting 80's for the first time. Plants are loving it, really taking off now. Wednesday, June 17 View Page 1313 Bowles Sr., kicking back into gear now after all of the early stress. Main is 3 1/2 feet out, secondaries growing well. I think the main doubled for the first few leaf nodes from the stress, but is fine now. Wednesday, June 17 View Page 1408.5 Daletas. Should have touchdown tonight or tomorrow. Was worried about the yellowing on the first few leaves, but I think it was just the cold soil, all the new growth looks fine. Wednesday, June 17 View Page 735 Pukos. Slowest starter, but starting to show some progress. Definitely doesn't like cool spring weather. Wednesday, June 17 View Page 1026 Young. Has the lead spot now. MV is almost 5 feet out, secondaries growing like crazy. Wednesday, June 17 View Page 1354 Young. Main hit ground yesterday. Really taking off last few days. Wednesday, June 17 View Page 1130 Jutras. Should hit dirt in the next day or so. Wednesday, June 17 View Page Replacement plants. 1313 Bowles Jr. (left). 915 Young (right). Experimenting to see if a later start that doesn't have to deal with cold soil early on can still produce a respectable fruit. Probably won't be making that late June pollinating window! lol Thursday, June 25 View Page Patch shot as of yesterday afternoon. Plants are loving the hot swampy weather! Most have at least doubled in size since last week. Thursday, June 25 View Page 1313 Bowles Sr. in front, (1130 Jutras in back). MV at 7', longest side 4'. Thursday, June 25 View Page 1408.5 Daletas front, (1354 Young back). MV at 6', side vine 2.5'. This one has really taken off in the last week. Huge leaves! First side vine doubled, then split into 2 vines. Cut one of them off to keep them from getting crowded. Everything growing normal now. Thursday, June 25 View Page 735 Pukos front, (1026 Young back). MV at 4.5', sides barely 2'. Leaves are huge on this one, started out slow with the cool spring, but starting to grow now with 90 degrees, and sauna-like humidity. Thursday, June 25 View Page 1026 Young front, (735 Pukos back). MV at 8.5', sides at 4'. Biggest in patch right now. Took off first female at 8'. May be able to get a pollination within the next 10 days or so. Thursday, June 25 View Page 1354 Young front, (1408.5 Daletas back). MV at 7.5', sides at 3.5'. This one has taken off like a rocket in the last week. May take over the top spot by next week if it keeps growing at the same rate. Thursday, June 25 View Page 1130 Jutras front, (1313 Bowles Sr. back). MV at 5.5', sides at 3'. Huge leaves, liking the summer weather. Thursday, June 25 View Page 1313 Bowles Jr. left, 915 Young right. These guys both have their 4th leaves out and starting to vine. Have a ways to go to catch up with the other plants! lol Actually they reached this point about 3 or 4 days faster than the others that had to contend with cold temps early on. Friday, July 3 View Page Plants have all pretty much doubled in size this week. Had some wind issues, a couple flopped vines that I was able to get turned back the right way. The 735 Pukos didn't fare so well. The main vine twisted and broke right after the 2nd secondary, so I'm now going to grow both out in a side by side flag pattern. All of these new pictures and measurements are from Wednesday evening. Friday, July 3 View Page 1313 Bowles Sr. Main- 12.5'. Sides- 7.5'. Friday, July 3 View Page 1408.5 Daletas. Main- 11'. Sides- 7'. Friday, July 3 View Page 1026 Young. Main- 14'. Sides- 8.5'. Friday, July 3 View Page 1354 Young. Main- 13.5'. Sides- 8.5'. Friday, July 3 View Page 1130 Jutras. Main- 11'. Sides- 6'. Friday, July 3 View Page 1313 Bowles Jr. (left), 915 Young (right). Both around 15" main, ready to touch down tomorrow. Wind had turned the 1313 almost 180 degrees, but was able to turn it back in the right direction. Wednesday, July 15 View Page Patch shot from last Wednesday 7-8. Sorry, patch work and a finicky computer have kept me from updating. Been having cool weather again, and some crazy winds in the last week. The 2 younger plants have been having a hard time from the wind, may have to do some radical pruning to save plants. Bigger plants are all filling out nicely. Have done some pollinating, but most of the keepers will be pollinated in the next 3 days or so. Wednesday, July 15 View Page Patch overview as of this morning. Got a little rain this morning, but not nearly enough. Been spending lots of time watering the plants lately. Plants will be getting another dose of tea later today. Been applying tea about every third day or so. Once per week or so have been adding Neptunes F/S, and Extreme Blend to tea. Wednesday, July 15 View Page 1313 Bowles. Wednesday, July 15 View Page 1408.5 Daletas. Wednesday, July 15 View Page 735 Pukos. Filling in nicely after main snap. Baby females are light green, not sure if fruit will end up green or orange? Wednesday, July 15 View Page 1026 Young. May have to be going with a side vine set. Bleeping deer ate off first 2 females on main. Pellet gun is sitting beside back door to shoot next deer that steps in the patch in the butt! lol Wednesday, July 15 View Page 1354 Young. Wednesday, July 15 View Page 1130 Jutras. Thursday, July 23 View Page Patch overview as of yesterday. Plants are all filling in, most have at least half of their secondaries terminated. Been busy with pollinations, so should be able to start posting pictures of fruit instead of lettuce every week! Cool weather has slowed down growth some, but it has been good for pollinating I suppose. Got just over an inch of rain yesterday in only 20 minutes, first real rain we've had in 3 weeks. Of course it hit right after I was done watering the plants! Thursday, July 23 View Page 1313 Bowles. Have this one crossed with the 1130 Jutras. Also have one on a side vine crossed with the 1354 Young. Thursday, July 23 View Page 1408.5 Daletas. Have this one crossed with the 1026 Young. Will probably do another side vine cross with the 1130 Jutras, or 1354 Young. Thursday, July 23 View Page 735 Pukos. Pollinating first female tomorrow, probably going to use the 1313 Bowles. May use the 1026 or 1354 Young for the other side. Thursday, July 23 View Page 1026 Young. Finally got a main vine pollination done after the stinking deer ate off the other females. Crossed with the 1408.5 Daletas. Have 2 other sets on opposite sides, 735 Pukos, and 1354 Young. Thursday, July 23 View Page 1354 Young. Main crossed with the 1130 Jutras. Sides 1313 Bowles, and 1026 Young. Thursday, July 23 View Page 1130 Jutras. Main crossed with the 1354 Young. Sides with 1408.5 Daletas, and 1313 Bowles. Thursday, August 6 View Page Plants have finally filled out their plots, and are finally growing pumpkins! Most plants are down to their one keeper now. I decided to keep 3 fruit on the 1026 Young, one at 24' on main, and one on each side. I'm letting the 735 Pukos have multiple fruit also for a friend who wants some big carvers. Thursday, August 6 View Page 1313 Bowles. These pictures were taken yesterday, hopefully when you enlarge them you will see the info on cross and day/size. This was the biggest fruit until I measured them all again this morning. It's been overtaken by one on the 1026. Thursday, August 6 View Page 1408.5 Daletas. Another of the 3 biggest in the patch. Should really ramp up the growth this week with some real summer weather finally! Thursday, August 6 View Page 1026 Young. 5th left secondary vine. This is the new leader of the pack. Ahead by one inch, but 2 days younger than the 1313 and 1408. Going to be quite the looker too hopefully. Thursday, August 6 View Page 1026 Young. 3rd right secondary vine. Not quite as pretty as her sister, but growing like mad! Thursday, August 6 View Page 1026 Young. Main vine. Youngest of the keepers, but making some pretty respectable gains with the cool weather and having 2 other monsters on the same plant. Thursday, August 6 View Page 1354 Young. Love the shape on this one! Really like the cross too. Did the opposite cross on the 1130, but it started aborting and got cut off this morning. May get another chance to do the cross in a few days just for the genetics. Tuesday, August 11 View Page Just a quick entry today to mark the day I had 3 pumpkins surpass my PB from last year! I didn't really think it would be that hard to beat 135lbs with proven seeds instead of the store bought ones from last year, but it's still satisfying none the less. 2 are est. at 138lbs, and one is 143lbs. I'll post pics tomorrow. Wednesday, August 12 View Page 1313 Bowles. Sadly, this one hasn't grown for the last few days. Can't find any problems with the fruit or plant. We've had drastic weather changes from cool to warm, but I wouldn't think getting warmer would slow it down. I really like this cross, so hopefully it will continue on long enough to get some ripe seeds. Wednesday, August 12 View Page 1408.5 Daletas. Largest in patch now. Gain from yesterday was 25 lbs, 118 lbs since last Wed. Wednesday, August 12 View Page 1026 Young #1. Tied for 2nd place today. Wednesday, August 12 View Page 1026 Young #2. The ugly sister keeps getting uglier! Thought about taking this one off, but I think I'm going to leave it and see how it develops to learn about dill rings, dangerously deep ribs, etc. Wednesday, August 12 View Page 1026 Young #3. All 3 fruit on this plant are making respectable gains, especially with the cool summer we've had, and the fact that the plant is growing 3 monster fruit! This seed has already earned it's spot in next year's line-up. Wednesday, August 12 View Page 1354 Young. Tied for 2nd place. This one, the 1026 #1, and the 1408.5 were all pollinated the same day. All pretty much keeping pace with each other. Wednesday, August 26 View Page 1408.5 Daletas. OTT 276", est. 448lbs. Wednesday, August 26 View Page 1 of 3 on the 735 Pukos. 88.5" cc., est. 187lbs. Wednesday, August 26 View Page 1026 Young. OTT 271". est. 425lbs. Wednesday, August 26 View Page 1026 Young. 98" cc. est. 243lbs. Wednesday, August 26 View Page 1026 Young. 103" cc. est. 277lbs. Wednesday, August 26 View Page 1354 Young. OTT 283". est. 487lbs. Sunday, September 20 View Page Not much has been happening in the patch for the last few weeks, just trying to get as much growth as possible. Last week was spent getting ready for the CMGPG weigh off. The pumpkins look kind of lonely without the plants. Note to self - don't rip out 5 AG plants in one day again! lol Sunday, September 20 View Page I could only make one weigh-off, so this is one of the 2 pumpkins I decided to take. This is the fruit grown on the 1408.5 Daletas plant. It was crossed with the 1026 Young. Sunday, September 20 View Page Here is the other contender. 1354 Young. Crossed with the 1130 Jutras. Sunday, September 20 View Page Dad and I got the pumpkins loaded up on Friday morning. He was nice enough to rent a forklift since it was just the 2 of us. I won't say the loading went without incident, in hindsight it probably would have been a good idea to have someone there with a little more experience. But, they got in the trailer eventually, and my dad and I have some funny stories to tell about our first pumpkin lifting experience! lol Sunday, September 20 View Page Saturday morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for my first weigh-off. Sunday, September 20 View Page First time driving with giant pumpkins was quite the experience too. I was pretty confident at this point. By the time I got up to Clare I was a nervous wreck. Thank God I only had to go about 25 miles! The trailer weaved really bad on every downhill slope. Then once I got to Clare, I realized that the park I thought the event was at was totally deserted. While turning around in a gas station parking lot, one of the straps slid off the pumpkins and of course one of them kind of rocked going around corners. Thankfully, I planned on my own stupidity, and left early, so I was still one of the first exhibitors there, and had time to laugh at myself which eased the nerves a bit, and left me time to chat with other growers before everything got started. Sunday, September 20 View Page Had a great turn out. Some really nice looking pumpkins! Started to get nervous again seeing all of them that look bigger than mine. Mine are the 2 with the pink styrofoam under them. Sunday, September 20 View Page Official measuring is done. 1408.5 Daletas has an OTT of 316, estimated at 666lbs. I told my dad if it actually weighed 666, i was going to smash it immediately, I don't want an Anti-Christ pumpkin! lol 1354 Young has an OTT of 334, estimated at 783lbs. Sunday, September 20 View Page Pumpkins have now been officially named. 763 Coldwell '09. 15% heavy. And............................. (that's my computerized drumroll!) Sunday, September 20 View Page 987.5 Coldwell '09. 25% heavy!!!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!!! 1st place in the Amature division, second heaviest pumpkin at the weigh off. Beat my personal best from last year by 843lbs! Sunday, September 20 View Page Thank you to everyone who helped at the weigh-off, you all made it look effortless! I think the smiles on these kids faces tell the whole story.