Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 51 Entries. Tuesday, April 24 View Page Time to get a diary started! Good luck to everyone for 2012. Started 4 seeds; 1818.5 Bryson, 1495 Stelts, 1430.8 Kline and 1674.5 Connolly. All started in paper towel and had a nice root at 31-43 hours. All transferred to 5 inch peat pots and all broke soil in 3-4 days. One goal for the season is to cross the plant from the biggest (1818.5) with the biggest 1725 Harp progeny I have (1674.5). We'll see if that takes shape. All plants shown here are 4-6 days old after breaking through soil. 1430.8 and 1674.5 looking very robust. 1495 is smallest. 1818.5 has had a rough start. Wednesday, April 25 View Page The 1818.5 had a rough start. It got all caught up on the seed coat. May I should have intervened sooner. One cot was cut off and the other has a tear. It is coming around but is behind the others. Sunday, April 29 View Page 1430.8 Kline. A beautiful plant and the most agressive so far. Living in the pot a few days longer than I like but below freezing temps the last few nights. We're waiting to get in the ground... Monday, April 30 View Page Frost warnings in the evening are ended for the moment. 1430.8 in the ground Monday, April 30 View Page 1818.5 Bryson in the ground waiting for some sunshine. Saturday, May 5 View Page 1674.5 Connolly. Busting out of every pot I put it in. Currently in a 5 gal Home Depot pot waiting to go outside. A great looking plant. Saturday, May 5 View Page Really a soggy gray week in New England. Temps mostly in the 50's. No sun. Relying on these in ground heating cables to pull us through. This probe is buried 6 inches. Wednesday, May 9 View Page 1430 Kline now 9 days in the hoop house. Temps have been cool but this plant looks great (except for a grower induced edge burn from either heat +/or bifenthrin +/or molasses. Wednesday, May 9 View Page 1674 Connolly moved from 5 gallon pail to hoop house this morning. This plant is actually the fastest grower of all. Temps still cool. Waiting for sunshine. Wednesday, May 9 View Page Very tough decision to pull the 1818 Bryson plant. Just was not keeping up. Had a tough start and just could not recover. No real root growth either. Too bad, I was really looking forward to growing this seed. Sunday, May 13 View Page Grower (me) mistake. I planted the 1430 at a 45 degree angle but did not properly support the rapidly growing plant. 1430 Kline otherwise a beautiful (best grower) in my patch. Horrible split. Thursday, May 24 View Page Pinched the first female off the 1674 at about 4½ feet. Tuesday, May 29 View Page From the squalor of an orange home depot pail to the soil heated luxury of a hoop house. The move was made on May 9. The 1674 Connolly responded by exceeding 8 feet in length today. Lookin' good. Tuesday, May 29 View Page 1495 Stelts overall length is 59 inches today. A happy plant but not the most agressive vine grower. Seems to like everything I do for it. Doesn't matter if I add Fish, Seaweed, Miracle Grow, Molasses, Calcium, tea or whatever...it perks up, turns a nice dark green and grows conservatively. We have come to understand each other. Tuesday, May 29 View Page 1329 Hunt 2011 is 32 days old and getting ready to make a run. Tuesday, May 29 View Page 1220 Sherwood just getting started. Love the genetics on this one. Thursday, June 14 View Page Planted the 1329 Hunt 2011 as a backup in a raised bed meant for tomatoes. Must admit I love the genetics here and I need to find a way to let this gal grow. A bit concerned that mom went down with a dill ring. Any opinions on that? This is a nice looking plant! Tuesday, June 19 View Page 1674 Connolly. This female is at about 11½ feet out on the main. Nice shape, stem and position in the patch. So....I already cut the leaf and vine planning on successful pollination in the next couple of days. I know, I know I shouldn't have done that. Wednesday, June 20 View Page 1674 Connolly. Nice 4 lobe symmetrical female open on June 20. Lucky that I had 2 males from the 1495 Stelts standing tall on the same morning. One male looked great and the other looked weird. So, I trashed the weird looking male and used one I had in the refrig from a couple of days earlier. Fingers crossed. Wednesday, June 20 View Page 1674 Connolly. Pollinated on the first day the temps are forecasted to be in the mid to upper 90's here in New England. So, under the leaves and under a plastic table you will see the newly pollinated female hiding and leaning on a styrofoam cooler full of ice. I filled the cooler with ice and cut a 1 inch notch in the side at the level of the blossom base. Hopefully, that will keep the blossom several degrees lower than the ambient temp. Friday, June 22 View Page Patch update. 1674 Connolly looking like a robust plant at this point. Plant is about 18 feet wide today and sides are growing rapidly. Pollinated first female at 11½ feet and there are others at 12½, 14 and one in the vine tip which should be 16-17 feet out. Wow, what a nice plant. Giving me a lot of chances! Friday, June 22 View Page 1495 Stelts. Nice female a few days away in perfect position at 12½ feet. I would really like this one and will try hard to get it done. Friday, June 22 View Page Patch update. 1495 Stelts lookin good. Plant is about 15 feet wide and there are females on the main at 12½ feet and one in the vine tip at about 14 feet. Very nice. Some light green leaves on this plant which I attribute to my error. It was a difficult transition when removing the cold frame. I believe I over fertilized (N) and under watered. Also. I removed the frames on a bright sunny day after several days of clouds leading to some sun scorch. Anyway, I have been able to hold feeding and water through the problem and the leaves now are a nice dark green. I am opem to other opinions on this. Saturday, June 23 View Page Oooh...Not the visitors I wanted to see this morning. Sunday, June 24 View Page 1674 Connolly. Female #2 at 12½ ft. opened this morning. 4 lober pollinated with 5 1495 males that also opened this morning. Top right lobe looks odd. Sunday, June 24 View Page 1674 Connolly x 1495 Stelts. Pollination #1 at 4 days. Tuesday, June 26 View Page Must have had 20 males open this morning on the 1674 Connolly. Amazing really. Here are a few competing for attention Tuesday, June 26 View Page First pollination this morning on the 1495 Stelts. 5 lobe female at about 12½ feet. Pollinated with numerous males from 1674 Connolly. Thursday, June 28 View Page Well, I guess that is a 5 lober. Opened this morning on the 1495. Pollinated with 4 males from the 1674 Connolly. Friday, July 6 View Page Looks like spray/drench program passed first test. Merit drenched on 6/24. Cyonara yesterday after a few days of rain. This guy is stone cold dead on that leaf. Many caught in lure so must stay vigilant. Friday, July 6 View Page Jazz is my assistant. She is a man-eating ferocious golden doodle and she watches over the garden. She is the reason I am very careful with chemicals. Friday, July 6 View Page I am loving this 1674 Connolly plant. Here is a 6-24 pollination on the main 12 DAP at about 14 feet. I really want this one. 28½" cc tonight and growing nicely. Friday, July 6 View Page 1674 Connolly x 1495 Stelts. This pollination was done on 6/30 about 17 feet out on the main. Fingers crossed for this one. Friday, July 6 View Page 1674 Connolly x 1220 Sherwood. Really like the genetics on this one. This pollination was done this morning about 20 feet down the main. Back-up and termination of the main here. Friday, July 6 View Page 1495 Stelts x 1674 Connolly. This first pollination is 10 DAP about 12½ feet down the main. Measured 21" cc this morning and 22" this afternoon. Friday, July 6 View Page 1495 Stelts x 1674 Connolly. This young lady was pollinated on 6-28. Really liking the shape, stem and vine position on the main at about 14 feet. Really want this one! Sunday, July 8 View Page 1329 Hunt 11 x 1220 Sherwood Nice 5 lober opened this morning on the Hunt plant. This is the first pollination on this plant about 12 feet down the main. Sunday, July 8 View Page 1329 Hunt 11 female pollinated this morning. Funny that this female looked normal to me as I watched it develop. When I looked closely the pumpkin is fused to the side vine. I pollinated it anyway. Should I separate the siamese twins with a sharp knife? I'll watch it for a bit. Sunday, July 8 View Page DAP 14 Now bigger than a basketball. 1674 Connolly x 1495 Stelts. 36½ in. cc Saturday, July 14 View Page Today is Day 20 for 1674. OTT 162 CC 64" Right at 100 lbs. added 21 lbs last night Wednesday, July 18 View Page Large golfball sized hail on July 18 caused significant damage and really wrecked every leaf on both plants. Monday, August 6 View Page Patch update. Hailstorm really slowed things down. This is the 1674 Connolly x 1495 Stelts 43 DAP. I took some time to grow new leaves on vines that were still growing and allowed tertiary growth to fill in a lot of areas wiped out on the plant. This is 19 days after hail and things are recovering. 124CCx84x79 = 287OTT. Just broke 500 lbs this morning. Still nursing many dents in the fruit. Monday, August 6 View Page This is the 1495 Stelts x 1674 Connolly 39DAP. This plant suffered the most hail damage. I am nursing stem splits and a main that is half broken. Large golfball sized hail really wrecked this plant. However, we are doing our best to recover. About 30% of the plant is missing. 107CCx72x69=248 so 330 lbs. Sunday, September 2 View Page 1674 Connolly x 1495 Stelts. DAP 70. 333.5 OTT Sunday, September 2 View Page No WR here but we are chugging along at 780 lbs. today (old chart) Sunday, September 2 View Page 1495 Stelts x 1674 Connolly DAP 66. 293 OTT old chart Sunday, September 2 View Page 533 lbs. today and turning a nice orange. Lots of hail dents Sunday, September 2 View Page 533 lbs. today and turning a nice orange. Lots of hail dents Friday, October 5 View Page Today I figured out how to lift this thing by myself. Saturday, October 6 View Page Happy as could be to get to my first weighoff at 952 pounds. It won the ugliest pumpkin award for all the hail dents!! Great day at Freirich Farms. Thanks to all the SNGPG folks who made us feel welcome. Monday, October 15 View Page Today I am looking back on the season as I rip up vines. I am wondering whether this is a normal main vine or whether I missed the fact that it split. Or even worse, did I treat the wrong vine as the main vine. Please take a look. Your comments are very much appreciated.