Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 44 Entries. Wednesday, April 16 View Page While I'll start my diary like this, flat on my butt..LOL !! For those of you who saw my post " Hows this for luck" know that I tore my quads from both knee caps on April 5th. I have my feet on a chair because for the 1st 2 weeks I can't bend my legs, my braces are locked out. I'm still growing this year,it'll just be more of a challenge. I'm in a new spot this year at a friends house 10 minutes away from me. The patch will be big enough for 3 nice size plants & my friend will be doing the bulk of the work in the begininng. With the large amount of rain last fall & again these last couple of months ( although the weather has been great since my accident) the new plot hasn't been turned over yet. In the next 2 weeks everything will be added & turned under in time for planting. I'm still debating what'll be planted, but I am fired up & ready to go. Tuesday, May 27 View Page Been awhile so I'll update my diary. No pics, the plants are still young & they all look alike at the young stage. I put out 5 plants, 1368 Liggett & 686.5 Liggett ( thanks for the plants Bob), 990 Crosby & 786.5 Crosby, & my 384. Early May I spread alfalfa pellets & humic acid on the whole patch & around the planting area I also applied gypsum & calcium nitrate. Hollands Bio-Grow was put in the holes when planting. All plants are doing fine & I'll start brewing tea this weekend. Not much fertilizer has been applied since planting because of the cool weather we have been having, once temps pick up this weekend I will begin applications. The remote patch at my friends house has been working out great. Since my accident & not having much use of my legs, he has done all my tilling & not being able to drive to the patch ( my wife takes me out every third day)he has taken care of my watering as well. Once the pace picks up & it's time to start burying vines he's going to pick me up on his way home from work so I can take care of the plants (I probably won't be driving till mid-August). I'm thanking him all the time but I don't think he knows how much this is helping me deal with a rough situation. I'll post again when the vines start running. Friday, May 30 View Page Plants are all doing fine & vine burying has begun. Applied first application of W&A Nitro Plus. Thursday, June 5 View Page Started my first batch of compost tea, recipe consists of 4 cups alfalfa pellets-4 cups worm compost-1/2 cup of Rich Earth humic-2 cups molasses. Brewed for 24 hours & kelp added before application. Also sprayed patch with garlic barrier,warrior-t & compass. Friday, June 6 View Page Applied first batch of compost tea, applied 2 gallons per/plant as a drench. W&A Nitro plus was also applied. Saturday, June 14 View Page Another application of compost tea applied only this time half was drenched & half was applied foliar. Also sprayed Stoller's Frame & Sett Enhance. Wednesday, June 18 View Page Here is the Liggett 1368 plant today. Warrior-T & Eagle was applied today. Friday, June 20 View Page Here is the Crosby 786.5, the plant is being grown in a flag pattern. Compost tea as well as W&A Nitro plus & Sett Enhance was applied today. Friday, June 20 View Page Here is the Crosby 990, this plant is being grown in a modified flag pattern. I was going to grow 5 plants to full size but since my accident & not driving or being able to be in the patch for a very long period I am growing 2 flag plants & 1 full plant ( 1368 Liggett). Monday, June 30 View Page Here is the Liggett 1368 today. Pollinated the first female 10' out 5 lobes x self. Compost tea was foliar applied on the 26th & compass,warrior-t & sett enhance was applied today. Wednesday, July 2 View Page Pollinated the 1st female on the Crosby 786.5 today, 9' out 5 lobes x self. Compost tea was foliar applied as well. Sunday, July 6 View Page Yesterday was day 5 for the 1st pollination on the 1368 Liggett. Today I applied Nitro Plus and pollinated the 2nd female on the Crosby 786.5, it was 11 feet out-5 lobes & crossed with the Liggett 1368. Tuesday, July 8 View Page Day 8 on the 1368 pumpkin. Compost tea & Sett Enhance was foliar applied today. Thursday, July 10 View Page Here is the 1368 plant today & it's day 10 for the 1st pollination & stats are 25x19x19. Applied Manicure & Frame, also pollinated the 1st female on the Crosby 990. It was 11 feet out 5 lobes & crossed with the Liggett 1368. Saturday, July 12 View Page Day 12 for the 1368 pumpkin & stats are 33x25x25. This is the one for the 1368 Liggett, the Crosby 786 & 990 still have multiple pollinations on them. Nitro plus was also applied today. Saturday, July 12 View Page Day 10 for the #1 female on the Crosby 786.5 & stats are 21x14x15. I'm not to excited about super fast growth on my pumpkins this season, I'm concentrating more on keeping the plants healthy all the way to weighoff. Even if growth is slow & it grows all the way to Oct. I will easily reach my goals. Sunday, July 13 View Page Pollinated my last 2 females today, the 3rd female on the Crosby 786.5 stats were 14' out 5 lobes & crossed with the Liggett 1368. Also pollinated was 2nd female on the Crosby 990, stats are 13' out 5 lobes & crossed with the Crosby 786.5. Also changed my recipe on my compost tea. After a phone call with Darryl Crosby & some online researching I'm putting baby food oatmeal into my tea to futher help the health of my plant. The recipe now is as follows: mix together 4 cups alfalfa,4 cups earthworm castings,1/2 cup rich earth humic & 2 cups babyfood oatmeal. I take that & put it into a 1 gallon paint strainer bag & allow it to sit for 1 week. After that I put the mixture into my tea brewer & add 1 cup of molasses, brew for 24 hours then add 2 cups of liguid kelp & foliar apply. Tuesday, July 15 View Page Day 15 for the 1368 Liggett pumpkin, stats are 43 x 32.5 x 33 & a est. weight of 38 lbs. Also applied urea-mate today. Thursday, July 17 View Page Day 17 for the 1368 pumpkin, stats are 53x38x38 for a 55 lb est. Compost tea was applied today & Frame,Compass & Warrior-T was sprayed as well. Thursday, July 17 View Page Day 15 for 1st pumpkin on the 786.5 Crosby, 36x25x26. Thursday, July 17 View Page Day 9 for the 2nd 786.5 pumpkin, 25x19x19. Thursday, July 17 View Page Day 7 for the 1st pollination on the 990 Crosby, 22x13x15. Friday, July 18 View Page Final pollination of the year, 3rd female on the 990 Crosby. 16' out- 5 lobes & crossed with the Crosby 786.5. Saturday, July 19 View Page Applied Nitro plus on plants today & foliar applied Sett-Enhance & Frame. Pumpkin stats are as follows. 1368 Liggett- 62x42.5x43, Day 19 #1 786.5 Crosby- culled #2 786.5 Crosby- 32x25x24,Day 13 #3 786.5 Crosby- 15" circ. Day 6 #1 990 Crosby- 29x18x20, Day 9 #2 990 Crosby- 15" circ. Day 6 #3 990 Crosby- Fingers crossed, Day 1 Sunday, July 20 View Page I'll post how my competion tomato plants are doing. I have 3 good plants going for this ( all Big Zac's). Here is my 1st plant with set, this one pollinated about July 4th & is about 1 lb right now. Sunday, July 20 View Page Here is my 2nd plant & it's tomato pollinated about July 9th. Sunday, July 20 View Page My 3rd plant with 2 tomatoes set about July 14th. I'll pick the worst one off in the next week, just like pumpkins-one plant,one fruit. Monday, July 21 View Page Day 21 for the 1368 pumpkin, stats are 71x46.5x47 for a est. weight of 105 lbs. Also applied Urea-Mate today. Monday, July 21 View Page Culled down to one fruit on the 990 Crosby, the 1st one pollinated. It's at day 11 & stats are 37x26x26 for a est. weight of 21 lbs. Monday, July 21 View Page Two pumpkins left on the 786.5 Crosby, but I'm focusing my attention on the 3rd pollination. It's at Day 8 & stats are 19x12x14 for a whopping est. of 2 lbs. Wednesday, July 23 View Page Foliar applied compost tea today as well as Sett Enhance. Patch took a minor hit with Tuesday's storms, but 95% bounced back. I sprayed Manicure to help with possible fungus problems after storm. Pruned the 786.5 Crosby down to one fruit ( The 3rd pollination), so all 3 plants now have just the one keeper each. Stats on pumpkin are, 1368 Liggett-Day 23-79x50.5x51. 990 Crosby-Day 13-46x31x32. 786.5 Crosby-Day 10-24x18x16. Friday, July 25 View Page Day 25 for the 1368 Liggett, 85x54x54. Also applied Urea-Mate today. Friday, July 25 View Page Day 15 on the 990 Crosby, 53x36x37. Friday, July 25 View Page Day 12 on the 786.5 Crosby, 30x21x20. Saturday, July 26 View Page I'll update my tomatoes now. #1 tomato, 22 days old & appx. 2 lbs. Saturday, July 26 View Page #2 tomato, 17 days old & appx. 2 lbs as well. This one is growing tall so the circ. doesn't tell as much. Saturday, July 26 View Page The 3rd plant, this one was about the size of a half dollar last week. This week it's about a half a pound. Sunday, July 27 View Page Applied Nitro Plus & Urea-mate to the patch today & measured pumpkins. 1368 Liggett-Day 27, 91x57x57 for 192 lbs. 990 Crosby-Day 17, 60x42x39 for 69 lbs. 786.5 Crosby-Day 14,40x28x29 for 26 lbs. Tuesday, July 29 View Page Applied Urea-Mate & foliar applied Eagle & Warrior-T. 1368 Liggett-228 lbs. 990 Crosby-88 lbs. 786.5 Crosby-42 lbs. Sunday, September 7 View Page Been awhile since my last post, my friend got put on nights & I couldn't get a ride out to the patch with him. Also my wife's hours at work picked up so I only made it out to the patch twice a week during the month of August. My tomatoes didn't do too bad during the neglect, the tomato in the bottom of the pic won me 1st place at the Reynoldsburg Tomato Festival. Sunday, September 14 View Page Well, what was left of Hurricane Ike rolled thru the Ohio Valley with sustained winds over 80 miles a hour & took out my windbreaks & plants. I hit them hard with nitrogen trying to salvage some of the plants & then pushed the pottasium hard for the next 3 weeks. Sunday, October 12 View Page Took my smallest pumpkin to the Oakland nursery weighoff. This was a great weighoff, I will take one here every year they have it. This pumpkin was the 990 Crosby seed, est. weight was 360 lbs & actual weight was 386.5. 7% heavy isn't that bad. Wednesday, October 15 View Page Here is the Crosby 786.5 pumpkin, est weight was 453 lbs & actual was 522.5. 15% heavy on this one, it was just reaching 30 lbs a day when gummy stem blight took this one down. Wednesday, October 15 View Page Here's the Liggett 1368 pumpkin. 544 est weight & 542.5 actual weight.