Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 8 Entries. Thursday, January 17 View Page new year update. the vine is doing very well. the stump was grown out at 45* and trimmed off all secondaries and leaves to a meter out. it is nice and smooth and no places for bugs or disease to get in. the vine has had the secondaries placed into position to protect the main and give a good growth pattern. the pumpkin was fertilized on the 1st of Jan at 16ft out. all is going well. have not done any foliar fert at all. the 6 months of ground prep is doing its job. my watering is a fraction of last year.... no soggy roots the kiss system is working keep it simple stupid....... thats me Thursday, January 17 View Page close up of the kin at 17 days. am happy with it, and am moving the kin into position to protect the stem and the vine..... bit more leveling out to do over the next few days has a very nice uniform shape. not bad for a wild seed that grew out of last years rotting pumpkin. the pumpkin is also facing south so the stem area will be facing the northern sun its entire growth cycle which will help in preventing stem rot. all good so far. roll on day 30 good luck to all the kiwi growers! Wednesday, January 30 View Page day 30 and things are going well, the stump is healthy, the vine is about 1/2 the size of last year. the pumpkin is a very nice shape and is growing well. the ott is 151 inches. am happy with that. spending very little time looking after it..., family issues. but then my soil prep over the the last six months is paying divis. we are about to enter an official drought period, so am watering daily. but the watering program is about a 1/3 of last year.... the vine is healthy and no rot or pm to speak of at this stage. roll on day 40 good luck to other growers Sunday, February 10 View Page day 40. side 69, stem 69, circ 115, ott 253inches... works out at about 368lbs, or 150kgish. a good gain in the last ten days. the vine has slowed down its green leaf expansion, and filling the pumpkin nicely. a few notes of pm coming through. the stem is in perfect condition. still losing 4 hours of sun a day from the pine forest, but it is currently being cut down. roll on day 50 Tuesday, February 19 View Page day 50 and all is well. have ott of 280 inches. Saturday, March 2 View Page day 60 and all good but every thing slowing down. the cause..... been watching for a few days and noticed that all the leaves are facing east towards the morning sun. by lunchtime the leaves are wilting so no growth, and at 3.30pm the sun goes behind the 100ft pine trees and the leaves a fully extended but no sun. so my growth period is only an active 4 or 5 hours the rest of the day time is wilting or shadow. at this point the pine forrest is being cut down, but not in time to give the vine a change to put on extra pounds. next year should be a good year. so day 60 we have 290 ott. with 30 odd days to go the weight will be somewhere in the same region as my other pumpkins. last year was huge problems....... this year everything good.... but a lack of sun. Saturday, March 2 View Page a view of the healthy stem. the vine is all good, the fert is going on well, plenty of water. i even have 3 water sensors in the patch to make sure the reading is moist and no more or less. just a lack of sun. will let this kin grow out to full potential and then harvest the seeds. then prep for next season with a patch getting full sunlight....... if the pines are gone.!! not much more to say.... i know my season is over no matter what i do. good luck to other kiwi growers. watch out next year!! lol. Monday, April 1 View Page since my last post things went sour. i wasnt able to keep an eye on things for a while, and then i went to give the pumpkin a pat and the sound wasnt quite right. the ott was 310 at last measure. here is what is left of this season...... the photo was taken a few days after i opened it. i wasnt going to take a picture...... but then thought what the hell. the vine is doing really well and it has a lot of new little pumpkins growing... for seed stock. plywood floor for next season.