Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 88 Entries. Tuesday, January 22 View Page -23 degrees this morning, glad there wasn't any wind! Tough to get anything done outside when it is that cold other than some ice fishing. Thursday, March 21 View Page This picture was from 10 minutes ago. As you can see the cover crop is doing well and is almost up to the top of my 5'8" fencing. Cold frames and soil heating cables should be in tomorrow after I till. Soil sample sent last week should be back soon and will do final ammendments. Tuesday, April 2 View Page As you can see, things have improved a lot over the last two weeks, the snow is down about two feet...two to go. Friday, April 19 View Page 12 Inches of snow yesterday. Monday, April 29 View Page Last snow in the patch thanks to a couple above average days. Soil heating cables and cold frames are in after an exhausting day of work yesterday. Monday, April 29 View Page Went 21 of 22 this year and these things are growing to fast for the conditions. May have to pull the reigns back a little. Soil temp in the patch is 46 above the frost....seriously. Cold frames are totally sealed up with soil heating cables in place and the current temp is 120 degrees in there. Not the ideal way to go, but this has been a less than ideal year and I am determined to stay on schedule and these plants need to go in soon. Big thanks to my son Cole for all his help getting caught up. Tuesday, April 30 View Page It appears my 1770 Lieber has the same issue as Dale's. It is definetly going the route of a double vine already. I was really excited to grow this one but it ain't looking good right now. I may double plant it with a 1450 Steil and see if the 1770 can straighten itself out. Kind of a bummer though. Thursday, May 2 View Page 32 Degrees last night but the snow missed us. The line was just East of us. The Wisconsin boys looked like they were going to get a pile! Patch update the 1655 Ford, 1579 Wallace, 1303 Sweet and 1554 Rose are all in the patch as of 4/29. Those plants were so vigouous they had to go in or risk outgrowing their pots. On Friday the rest of them will go in which will include: 1450 Steil, 1775 Starr, 1770 Lieber (assuming I can fix the double vine issue), 1756 Lancaster, 1676 Daletas, 1495 Stelts and 1495 Stelts. It looks like we have some stable weather coming up which should really help. If I can't fix the double vine on the 1770 I may plant the back-up 1579 Wallace in its place, that seed is a grower! Thursday, May 2 View Page Patch picture here. 38 degrees right now outside, 80 inside the cold frames. Do to the odd year I had to just ammend the planting sites and let the rest of the patch go giving the cover crop some time to grow yet. Not ideal, but oh well, we are surving yet. Did surgury on the 1770 Lieber plant today over lunch, only time will tell on that one. Friday, May 3 View Page Got down to 29 degrees last night but the cold frames held 40 degrees without heat because of the soil heating cables. The 1676 Daletas, 1775 Starr, 1450 Steil and 1756 Lancaster went in yesterday. It was either re-pot them or plant and I went with the plant option. Looks like one more night of 29 degrees then our night temps should increase. I may need to run some heat tonight inside the cold frames. Monday, May 6 View Page Here is the 1770 Lieber the day after Surgury. It is in the ground now and doing well, looks like it will make a full recovery. The 1775 Starr did not like the cold last Thursday night and is done I am affraid. The 1775 backup is the seed that did not germinate so I won't be growing the 1775 this year unfortunately. A second 1450 Steil is in its spot now. Everything I have is in the ground now so we need some nice weather! Friday, May 10 View Page Frost last night and a freeze tonight. I was forced to bring in the heat as the next three nights are going to be around the freezing mark. Looks like once we get past this stretch we have some decent night temps. Plants seem to be doing ok despite the cold conditions. Even with the soil heating cables the plants don't seem to be getting the N they need. Hopefully the warmer temps/sun coming will correct this. Cover crop is growing well for sure. Sunday, May 12 View Page Season ended for me last night unless I find some new plants. I lost all but one of my plants last night. Somewhere between 3AM and 5AM a breaker blew and I lost heat to all the cold frames and with the cool wind we had, it was over quickly. I held out hope but plants are mush this AM. Talk about frustrating, especially with the lineup I had going. Monday, May 13 View Page I have one 1450 Steil that looks as though it never froze, which is crazy considering the condition of the rest of the plants. I am still holding out hope that a 1655 Ford and a 1554 Rose still have life in them. Their stalks are still standing upright and not mush. Tomorrow AM I am driving to South Dakota to pick up Kevin Marsh's 3 back-up plants, big thanks to Kevin. Also thanks to John Ryan who offered plants, much appreciated! I will still be growing a few plants. Tuesday, May 14 View Page 8 hour round trip to Parker, South Dakota and I picked up some important passengers! Thanks again Kevin! Tuesday, May 21 View Page We are on our 5th day of Rain and temps have dropped into the 50's for highs which will last the next two days. We needed the rain, but not the 5 inches we got over the last three days. But, there isn't a lot to do in the patch right now anyway. Cold Frames are closed today and plants are doing well, just really behind. The 1450 Steil, the lone survivor of the Freeze is doing really well and right on pace with last year. My lineup has drastically changed from the start as both 1495 Stelts, 1770 Lieber, 1676 Daletas, 1579 Wallace and 1775 Starr are gone now. Holding out home on the 1655 Ford, 1303 Sweet and 1554 Rose which are showing slight signs of life. However, they will most likely get out paced by the late plantings put in next to them. Monday, June 3 View Page Here is a picture of the patch after a full day of work yesterday. I increased the wind fencing this year and there will be hail protection going up this week. It is the wind and hail that seem to do me in every year. Only the one surving plant 1450 Steil 12 (1303 Sweet x 1647 Wallace) is out of its cold frame now. Most plants are way behind because of cool temps and late planting. After all, I am on the backups to the backups. I could have wrote the year off after losing all my good plants but that wouldn't be any fun. Based on the size of my plants I am going to be pushing it to get pollinations in by July 1. Friday, June 21 View Page 70 plus MPH winds last night with 3 inches of rain tore down most of my wind fencing in the patch but I believe it did its job. Some plants have sustantial damage but nothing we can't recover from. I have learned not to get to worked up about damage in June, they recover quickly. Mid July on the other hand, not good! Only good news, no hail...that will probably be in tonights storms. Friday, June 21 View Page The green wind fencing did its job and the black silt fencing did what it could. Overall the plants are ok. Lost quite a few leaves and a few secondaries but for the most part just lots of rolled vines. Didn't lose any mains or Main tips so we will press on. Looks like three more days of storms though and the ground is saturated so the find fencing is not going to be able to hold another strong wind. We still have our power but they are telling everyone around us it could be 3 more days without power, that would suck! Monday, June 24 View Page Well this is quickly becoming one of the most challenging years I have faced. We had 70 MPH winds Thursday and 55 Plus MPH winds Friday and then storms again Saturday that were not as severe, but in total we have over 5 inches of rain in 3 days and more on the way. Talked with Kevin Marsh on Saturday, he is dealing with some severe hail damage from the same storms. To make things worse, we have more storms on the way. Hard to believe how many trees are down in the area. Right now we are just in survival mode waiting to see what is still going to grow and what gets pulled. Pollinations are going to have to wait as the plants are just to beat up right now. Tuesday, July 9 View Page I got up very early to do my last two pollinations of the year and beat this storm that was rolling in. This is usually about the time my patch gets destoyed by hail so I figured I was in for the worst but instead we got a couple inches of rain and 50 MPH winds, not bad. Tuesday, July 9 View Page Here is my "Woody" 1756. I have 11 plants going, all get this same routine but this one is always living up to its name. Every secondary and the main continue to point to the sky. I actaully laugh everytime I come in the gate to the patch because it has been more than 4 hours...more like 60 days, time to call the doctor. Friday, July 12 View Page Assuming everything takes here is what we have growing this year and crosses made. 1756 Lancaster x Self, 1450 Steil(a) x Self, 1331.5 UOW Steil(a) x 1756 Lancaster, 1450 Steil(b) x 220.3 Debacco, 1450 Steil(c) x 1756 Lancaster, 1342 Marsh x Self, 220.3 Debacco x Self, 901 Wolf x Self, 1331.5 UOW Steil(b) x Self, 1331.5 UOW Steil(c) x 220.3 Debacco, 1331.5 UOW Steil(d) x 1342. This is certainly not the original lineup we started with but, oh well, I guess I get to see what my own seeds will do. The 1450 Steil 12(1303 Sweet x 1647 Wallace) is still the best growing plants and most aggressive. Tuesday, July 16 View Page Here is my 228 Masterson and man is this plant aggressive. I have a couple sets on this one but have not culled down yet. That will happen soon. Tuesday, July 16 View Page This is a day 10 picture of the 1756 Lancaster. I love the shape on this one and the plant looks promising. Day 10 was 36.5 Tuesday, July 16 View Page This is the 1342 Marsh. It is one of my smaller plants but one the the biggest pumpkins so far. This picture was from Day 15, yesterday. I have hopes for Heavy on this one. I do need to grow quite a bit more plant though to push it to the end. Tuesday, July 16 View Page This is my 1450. I have three of them going and they all look exactly like the 1303, their mother, that I grew last year. Should be a little orange in these. Hopefully they grow until the end like the mother did last year. Huge stem on all of them. This picture is from Day 15 also. Plenty of plant behind all three of these already. Tuesday, July 16 View Page Here is a shot of the majority of the AG Patch from yesterday. Within the next week it seems like it will be filled in entirely. It is very hot (90) today and will be the same the next three days. I am sure some leaves are scortching in the sun today but growth is very high right now. Love burying vines for 6 hours in this heat..lol Friday, July 19 View Page The 1756 needed a little surgury today so I took some time to fix the stump issues before rot set in to bad. It was leaking water for the last week and had "the smell" today so it was time to take action. After cutting it open, it wasn't to bad so we should be good to go. Also put in a drain at the lowest point on the main to prevent any travel. Cleary's and a fan should take care of this minor issue pretty quick. Last year I got pretty aggressive with these stump issues early with good results. Friday, July 19 View Page 5 Kins have now reached Day 20. One yesterday and four today. The other 6 will reach Day 20 next week. Things seem to be progressing nicely in the patch. Plants suffered some burn the last two days but nothing serious. The later pollinations have been really cranking and will have some interesting Day 20 numbers for sure. Monday, July 29 View Page Here is my 1450(A) Steil and as you can see it has a sunk in lobe. Pumpkin is in great shape and growing well. Day 30 it was 279 OTT. Plant isn't quite terminated yet but should be by the end of the week. Monday, July 29 View Page Here is the 1450 Steil plant (C) and as you can see it is taking a much different shape. Looks like it is going to sit on the blossom soon. Plant is pretty much terminated on this one also. Day 30 is also 279 OTT. Monday, July 29 View Page Here is my 1331 Steil UOW 12 plant (C). This one has really picked up the pace since day 20. Day 30 OTT is 277 and the plants is pretty much terminated. I love the shape of this one. All 4 1331's we are growing this year have the same shape. Monday, July 29 View Page Here is the 1342 Marsh. I am still growing plant on this one and will be for a couple weeks. The plant is small but the pumkin is growing well. Day 30 on this one was 279 OTT, which seems to be the common number in the patch for my early pollinations. Monday, July 29 View Page This is the 1450 Steil 12 plant (B). This one is only 26 days old but the numbers on this one are crazy. It also has the best overall shape of the 1450 plants. The record cold we had I am sure slowed it down some but the day 30 numbers should be interesting. Plant is already terminated so this thing better keep growing or we are sure to get a foamer. Monday, July 29 View Page Well, that was the day 20 picture of the 1342. Here is the day 30. It grew a little Wednesday, July 31 View Page Despite the challenging start to the year we have been rolling along pretty well. I have been working hard to push the plants just enough while maintaining good plant health but mother nature really pulled the parking break this week. Record cold temps, rain, mist, fog and no sun for 3 days really brought things to a screaching halt. Hopefully the kins start back up soon. You just can't trump the weather. Monday, August 5 View Page This is the 1756 Lancaster plant, which is totally terminated. This year I experimenteed with 40% shade cloth over the growth tips, which is something I will do every year. I believe I have healthier plants with almost zero burn. This one has the leaking stump which is slowly getting better, growth on the pumpkin has been slow and steady. My hope is for healthier plants to push the growth longer this year. Time will tell. Monday, August 5 View Page Here is the 901 Wolf. This is one of those great plants that does not want to grow a pumpkin. No doubt the kin that is there is made of stone. But at Day 30 today, I am pulling the plant as the numbers are just to far off. Monday, August 5 View Page This is the 1450 Steil plant A and Day 40 is approaching, actually it is Wednesday. Hoping for an OTT in the 330-340 Ranger. But, with the sunk in lobe measuring it is probably not very accurate anyway. Monday, August 5 View Page This is the 1331 Steil UOW, Plant C. Day 40 is Thursday on this one and it continues to grow at a fair pace despite the cold weather we had. Actually, it stalled like the rest but kicked back in at a higher pace it seems. It continues to keep this perfect shape despite the growth. Monday, August 5 View Page This is the 1342 Marsh and Day 40 is also Thursday. It seems to be doing pretty good numbers at or slightly better than the others that will be 40 days old on Thursday. Still growing some plant on this one though because the plant is very small. Monday, August 5 View Page This is the 1450 Steil Plant C and we have all had this shape before. It is going to have a huge CC and slowly sitting on its blossom. Again similar growth rates on this one as the others. Day 40 is Thursday so I will measure then but overall the older ones seem to have recovered from the cold wet conditions. Seems as though growth stopped for basically two full days on all of these...when it was in the 40's...LOL Tuesday, August 6 View Page Here is a picture of the 1450 Steil 12 from last year. I can really see the similarities in all three of the 1450 seeds I a growing this year. 1450 witht the sunken lobe has the exact same shape, except the sunk in lobe. 1450 B and C have the same color and skin but B has perfect shape and C is going to sit on her blossom. Tuesday, August 6 View Page Here is the 1331.5 Steil 12 UOW from last year after it developed the tiny rib split in early August. All four of the 1331.5's I am growing this year have the exact same shape as this one. Only difference is they all seem to be a little ligher color, probably from the 1605 Sweet. All four are doing well but one is a real "sapper" and is going to be extremely ugly from the sap marks. But, it is crazy how they all look have the same shape as mom. Tuesday, August 6 View Page Two minutes of hail and then pouring rain with 75 MPH winds and this is what you get. Sure hope some stand back up, even if they have holes. Many of the vines are rolled, uprooted and leaf stems broke so not much I can do now, everything it to wet. Hail wasn't the baseball size they had near here though. All the plants look the same. Fun Stuff Friday, August 9 View Page If we don't start getting warmer nights I am going to put up heated enclosures like I did last year for the 1450. Granted it was mid September last year when I did it, this year we are getting mid September temps already. Pumpkins are WAY to cold right now even with the winter blankets on at night. On a better note, about 90% of the leaves stood back up. Hard to replace all the lost roots from the rolled vines that ripped out, but oh well. Monday, August 12 View Page Here is the 1756 Lancaster Day 38. Not setting the world on fire. Has done about 20 pounds a day for the last 20 or so days. Going to have to very heavy as it doesn't want to budge from the 20 pounds a day. Monday, August 12 View Page Here is the 1450 Steil 12, plant A. It continues to make nice gains. Obviously not the ideal shape but it has been plugging along mid 30's per day and could end up being a nice one in the end if it holds together with its shape. Day 45 is today so I will tape it but it should be in the low 350's Monday, August 12 View Page This is the 1450 Steil 12, plant B. This is the nicest shape/color pumpkin we have ever grown. Today is Day 40 on this one and it should be around 320 OTT. Been doing about 26 a day. Could be a real looker in the end. Monday, August 12 View Page This is the 1450 Steil 12, Plant C. This one has similar growth rate as the 1756. They like to hang out at that 20 pounds per day. Nothing to ever get excited about. Cole has been trying some things to get this one going but until the butt hits the ground the overall size isn't changing much. Monday, August 12 View Page This is the 1342 Marsh. It has consistantly been doing 28 pounds a day. Today is day 44, but it seems like it could grow until the end. I am really hoping this one goes heavy. Monday, August 12 View Page This is Snowball. It is the youngest pumpkin in the patch because I had some plant issues early. Today is only Day 34 on this one. Slowly ramping up pace now. It has been doing 34 a day over the last 5 days and hopefully with the warmer weather we have coming it continues long into September. Monday, August 12 View Page Then there are the 1331.5 Steil 12 UOW plants These plants are all showing nice potential. This is Plant B, and it is the youngest but has been doing about 40 a day for the last 5 days. Today is only Day 35 so it has a long way to go to get excited about but based on the other 1331 plants they are growers. Monday, August 12 View Page THis is the 1331.5 Steil 12 UOW plant C. It is Day 44 on this one. It has been doing about 30 a day for the last 20 days. It has the exact shape as momma did. Been a very easy plant to grow. Monday, August 12 View Page This is the 1331 Steil 12, UOW plant D. Today is day 41 on this one and it has been doing 34 a day over the last 10 days. Again, just like the other 1331 plants, they have been easy to grow, very vigorous and the pumpkins all have very nice shape. Now we will see if they want to continue to grow. Monday, August 12 View Page That was the wrong picture on the 1450C. This is the current photo. Hard to keep them all straight. Monday, August 19 View Page The 1331 plant C suffered a rib split on day 49. I was worried about this one because it has been consistantly doing 30 pounds a day but had the exact shape as "mom", who rib split also. Luckily the other 1331's do not have the ribs or the football shape. Final numbers 165-98-98 361 OTT, estimated weight 1028, actual weight 1123. Glad to see it went a little heavy, hopefully a good sign for the other 1331's still growing. I did keep a few seeds from this one for now because it was crossed with the 220.3 Debacco which seems to have found a new gear. Thursday, August 22 View Page The 1450 Steil 12 x Self at Day 55 is still plugging along. Plant is still fairly healthy but the older leaves are really starting to go fast. Measuring this one is kind of hard because of the sunken lobe so I just make sure to measure the exact same spot each time. It did pass the 1200 pound mark on tape and is the oldest pumpkin in the patch. Warm weather got here a little late for this one but maybe in will help it grow a little longer. It has been 16 days since we have had any rain so I have been trying to adjust for that. Monday, August 26 View Page The 220.3 Debacco x Self, Day 48 today, which is the youngest pumpkin in the patch is making a strong run at king of the patch. I don't remove the sheets very often because the skin on this one is like a 20 day old. The recent warm weather and warm nights is certainly helping the younger pumpkins, but none more than the 220.3 Hopefully this weather holds on for another 10 days and we don't get an early frost again. Tuesday, August 27 View Page Kevin, here is your 1342 Marsh x Self. Today is Day 59 and it continues to make slow but steady gains, I will measure tomorrow. It is really starting to turn green which the picture does not show. Jadyn calls it "lumpy" I call it "the rock" as I am really hoping this one weighs like a rock. Tuesday, August 27 View Page Forgot to add I started the clock on the 1331B plant. With this heat a dill ring is forming towards the back end. I am guessing this one will rib split in the next week or less. Wednesday, August 28 View Page Here is my 228 Masterson x self. I don't know much about growing Watermelon but Handy and Brotherdave were helpful in getting me on the right track last year. So, this is my first attempt at it. This one is 169 OTT today and is much wider then the picture makes it look. Seems to be growing very fast, but I guess I don't really know what fast it. Plant is very healthy and really likes this heat wave. Wednesday, August 28 View Page I had to show a picture of the stem on the 220.3 Debacco. The pumpkin is Day 50 today and still growing very well but I am just amazed at how young the pumpkin looks. The Stem is about as nice as any I have ever grown. Tuesday, September 3 View Page Here is the 1450 Steil 12 x Self, plant A. Was 403 OTT September 1st @ day 65, which is my biggest ever on that date. Still holding together with the bad shape. Stump was leaking on the 28th of August so I cut it open this weekend. Seems to have now slowed down significantly. Some rot inside stump so typical routine..clean, cleary's fan, suphur. Hopefully it continues to grow for while yet. Plant is fairly healthy yet. 43 last night though. I have a feeling this one is going to get passed up in three days. Thursday, September 12 View Page This is the 1342 Marsh 11 today which is day 75. It is at 397 OTT and the funny thing about this pumpkin is that it was about 10% Green two weeks ago and is up to about 70% Green now. The stem end in the picture is the only part to not change to green yet. It is growing very slowly, but still growing so hopefuly it has a few weeks left in it. Thursday, September 12 View Page Here is the 1450 Steil 12 and today is day 76 for this one. It is sitting at 413 OTT and still making slow gains with the sunken lobe. The plant on this one is very healthy yet so I am hoping it can continue until the end like the 1450 did last year. The 1450 held together last year with a bad dill ring so maybe there is hope it can hold until the end. Thursday, September 12 View Page The 220.3 Debacco 13 is the new king of the patch. Today is day 65 only on this one and it is slowing down now from the 33 days it averaged 33.56 pounds a day. This has been the best growing pumpkin I have ever grown. Obviously the genetics are great in this seed and it shows. With a 7/9 pollination date this one will never make its full potential, but it still has been fun to watch. This is the last pictures from me because I leave for the Cabelas NWT Championship and will be gone for a while. Hopefully the kins are bigger and healthy when I return! Thursday, September 12 View Page Here is a stem view of the 220.3 Debacco 13 x self. Plant is still really healthy on this one. I finally terminated the main on this one because there was no room for it to run anymore and it was starting to shade my watermelon plant. Monday, September 23 View Page Back from the NWT Championship and it appears everything survived while I was gone. The 1450A is still growing a little without a stump. I removed the stump and two feet of main to prevent a bad spot in the vine from advancing. Not ideal but I wasn't here to keep an eye on it so I cut it. Still making slow gains, sitting at 418 OTT. This one has about two weeks to grow before it hits the road. Monday, September 23 View Page The 220. 3 Debacco x self also survived and actually made really nice gains while I was gone. Day 75 was yesterday and it has a really large OTT, at least for me. This one has three more weeks to grow and the plant is still fairly healthy for this time of year. It ran neck and neck for a while with the 1450A pumpkin but has now left it in the dust. Really hoping this one continues to grow as it is starting to take on a little green, which I always like to see. Lets hope for some warm sunny days to come. Monday, September 23 View Page 93 Wolf x self...Boom If you are going to split um, split um big. Thing was a stone though. Tuesday, September 24 View Page I put the smallest of the big three on a pallet last night (1342 Marsh x Self). Had some great helpers in the patch. Cole and I also put one of his on a pallet last night. He doesn't allow me to weigh them so I snuck a peak after it was done. lol Couple more to do tonight and I am bringing in a Heavy Lifter named Chad for assistance. Monday, September 30 View Page The 106 Steil 2013 Field Pumpin (80 LaRue x Self) is on the Right and another DMG 93 Wolf on the Left. 114 Steil 2013 DMG (93 Wolf x Self) I will be planting this seed next year as those 93 Wolf's are way heavy to chart. Monday, September 30 View Page Here is the 1342 Marsh x self which is now the 1446 Steil 2013. Grown on a 850 sqft plant. 396 OTT, 9% Heavy, Harvested on Day 90 Thanks Kevin Marsh for the plant, it was a great backup. Monday, September 30 View Page Thanks to Bill and Joe and everyone who organize the Apple Jacks Orchard weighoff. The 1446 Steil and 106 Steil were both good enough to win their categories. Good start to the year and the kids had a great time. Nice to talk to all the growers who I only see at weighoffs. Monday, September 30 View Page Got nervous and finally put the 220.3 Debacco x Self on a pallet, still on the vine. With all the rain coming I didn't like the pumpkin sitting on the cold wet ground. Now all the kins are safely up on pallets waiting to be weighed. Always nice to see a sound bottom when you lift these things. Tuesday, October 8 View Page Here is a picture of me son Cole with his 1231 C. Steil 2013 grown on the 1450 Steil 2013. This was a personal best for Cole by over 200 pounds. Last year he weighed a 1027 at Anamosa and this year his personal best was good enough for Second Place and a ride on the float. Cole always takes his biggest pumpkin to Iowa because he was born there and it is important to him. Needless to say, he is still very excited about getting to ride in the parade. As a dad, I couldn't be more excited for him. He works very hard on his plants throughout the year and this was a very nice reward for him. Tuesday, October 8 View Page Here is a picture of my 1507 at Anamosa Iowa, also grown on the 1450 Steil 2012. The 1507 was good enough for first and not only did I win the money but they suprised both myself and John Barlow who won last year with very nice winning jackets. Big thanks goes out to everyone at Anamosa for putting together a great weighoff and a very fun day. People from Iowa are just very nice people and I am always glad to go back. Tuesday, October 8 View Page It wouldn't be Anamosa without a parade shot. It is a lot of fun riding in the parade, and it was extra special to have Cole riding on the same float, throwing Candy. Big thanks to Dan Carlson for all the advice on Candy throwing. He has come up with some proven techingues over the years. Should you ever make the parade float in Anamosa I suggest you seek him out for advice. Tuesday, October 8 View Page That leaves this one for Stillwater, the 2203. Debacco x Self. As you can see the plant is pretty much shot and it isn't growing much anymore. The 1507 I weighed at Anamosa was a personal best for me by 57 pounds but this one should top that. Cole still has his small one to weigh yet and I have a couple other decent ones in that 1300 range that will be used for the Regatta and pumpkin drop. After that the patch will finally be empty and we will start on next year. Monday, October 14 View Page 1734.5 Steil 2013 (220.3 Debacco x Self) on the Scale at Stillwater. Third place for Giant Pumpkin and a new personal best. 2nd Place Field Pumpkin 115.5 Steil 2013(80 LaRue x 160 Starr) Personal Best. 2nd Place Watermelon 167 Steil 2013 (228 Masterson x Self) Personal Best. Monday, October 14 View Page Thanks to Christy Harp for selfing a pumpkin on a set that was probably to close to the stump and sticking with it. Thanks to Ron and Pap Wallace for taking genetics to an entirely new level. Thanks to Matt Debacco for his time and effort tightening these genetics. Thanks to my wife for not waking up and resetting the breaker and freezing my plants (slight sarcasm). Thanks to Kevin Marsh for coming through with some great back ups. Thanks to my son Cole for covering for me when I am gone. Thanks to Chris Stevens for the advice and talking me into not giving up on the season. Thanks to Chad Revier for his continued support and advice, every new grower needs a mentor. That is just a few of you that helped me grow a personal best. I can�t thank mother nature, she really made things tough! Wednesday, October 23 View Page Pumpkin on the left is the 1507 Steil 13 (1450 Steil 12 x self) It was pollinated on 6/28 and was 99 days old at Harvest and still growing. Had great shape other than the sunk in lobe on top which was just as thick as the rest of the pumpkin. 900 sqft plant. 421 OTT and was just under chart. Great growing plant in the heat. Wednesday, October 23 View Page 1446 Steil 13 (1342 Marsh x Self) Pollinated 6/29 and was 91 days old at Harvest. Grown on a 800 sqft plant. 396 OTT and 9% over chart. This was a slow and steady grower that made consistant gains from day one. No issues with this plant or pumpkin. I probably should have waited to get a little more plant before pollinating as it seemed the plant never could push the pumpkin enough. Has a chance to go really heavy. Wednesday, October 23 View Page 1734.5 Steil 13 (220.3 Debacco x Self) Pollinated 7/9 and was 95 days old at Harvest. 850 sq ft plant that I thought was damaged beyond repair twice from early wind storms. 427 OTT and 9% over chart, excellent shape and excellent grower. After a slow start it did 36-40 pounds for 36 days straight even in poor growing conditions. I did not touch the potential of this one for many reasons, some weather, some grower error. Wednesday, October 23 View Page It didn't take long to see why the 1734.5 went heavy. Lots of interior meat on this one. Had 12 inches at the stem and 5 inches at the blossom and then 12-15.5 inches most other places. No interior cracks or flaws, overall very impressive. Skin was still very soft and cut easily, could have used another 20 days on the vine. Tuesday, November 19 View Page All the club requests for seeds went out over the last two days. I will start working on individual requests now. No need to email if you sent an individual request as I haven't sorted through them yet or sent any seeds. Hopefully that will change by the end of the week.