Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 52 Entries. Tuesday, April 21 View Page 1374 Engel transplanted today. 1374 Engel 2014- 359 Foss 2013 x 1048 Engel 2012 359 Foss is 1048 Engel x 2009 Wallace 1048 is 777 Young 2011 x Self Tuesday, April 21 View Page 1692 J Gehweiler put in ground today 1692 is 1392 Gehweiler x 2328 Meier. The 1392 is 1623wallace x 1872 Wallace. The 2328dmg is 2009 Wallace x 2009 Wallace Tuesday, April 21 View Page 1969 Haist seedling put in ground today. 1756 Lancaster x 1495 Stelts. 1756 = 1789 Wallace x 1554 Rose 1495 = 1161 Rodonis x 904 Stelts Thursday, May 21 View Page 881.5 Foss (1770 leiber x 2009 wallace) This is my son's other plant. Thursday, May 21 View Page 1969 Haist is a fast growing plant. Let's hope the pumpkin grows just as fast. Saturday, May 23 View Page 1784 Glasier 1730.5 Werner x 1770 Lieber Saturday, May 23 View Page 1916 Barron (2009 Wallace x 1730.5 Werner) Wednesday, June 3 View Page 1374 Engel. A storm ripped through here two days ago and rolled the plants. This one has a longitudinal split down the main vine but has recovered nicely. Wednesday, June 3 View Page 1692.5 J Gehweiler also got rolled up in the storm and is also recovering. Monday, June 8 View Page So when the day started I had two plants growing in this area the 1969 Haist and what I affectionately call the "Lovelace" volunteer that popped up from where Sam's pumpkin ended up last winter. The plant was quite vigorous so I said, "Hey, why dont I freight train this baby right down the fence line and set a pumpkin on it way down the line after I turn the main into an area I can let the plant spread out?" Monday, June 8 View Page And then "UH-OH!" 98% horizontal breakage from its own massive tip weight this morning. No secondaries to retrain for a new main as they were all pinched of a la "freight train" so no pumpkin to set no reason to keep a plant for pretty salad. Tuesday, June 9 View Page And then there was one. I pulled the Lovelace volunteer and I've gotta say, it had an impressive root system for the relatively young age. It's probably better that mother nature made the decision for me to pull that plant and make some more room for the 1969 Haist. This thing is an absolute tank, very vigorous grower, and I've already pinched one female off, I doubt I'm gonna pollinate this one at ~11-13' as I'm gonna be out of town when I think its going to open. That one has 8-9 secondaries per side behind it so the plant is filling out its space pretty well. I've already terminated two of the side vines and have to actively keep up with pinching terts. There is another one in the tip that will probably end up around 16-18' and I'll have a lot more plant behind it and a lot less plant to grow after I get a set. 10 more days would still put this one at 100 days of growth which is a long time down here. If the pumpkin grows anything like the plant...its gonna be a fun ride. Tuesday, June 9 View Page Here is my son's plant grown from my 143 Craps UOW (100 Brouillard x 1048 Engel) The 100 Brouillard grew the 470 Rahe which went 27.7% heavy. He doesn't have a lot of area for this guy to spread out but we would like to see if it can pack on a few pounds and go heavy. It should be a real looker, and we will probably cross with the 881 Foss if we can get a flower in time (or maybe the 1374 Engel that is already throwing flowers) Thursday, June 18 View Page My sons 143 Craps got pollinated with two males from the 1374 Engel this morning and since we are pushing 100 every day here, it got a bottle of ice and a cooler over top. Lets hope this pollination takes Thursday, June 18 View Page 1692 J Gehweiler 4 lober got pollinated with the 1969 Haist today. This could be the one to go with. But I will probably give the next one a shot too just to get a little more plant behind it. Sunday, June 21 View Page Open poll on the 1969 Haist. I was out of town and I thought it was going to hold on till Monday. One of the lobes had seeds in it anyway...bummer. I got another one opening in about a week. Wednesday, June 24 View Page 1374 Engel x self 5 lober. 0 dap Wednesday, June 24 View Page The 1374 x self is all buttoned up and cupped and ice bottled and covered by white bucket and ice bottle changed 3 x today. Its sooo hot, it needs the extra attention. Had one last week abort on me due to the heat. Speaking of heat, we haven't had a low below 70 and a high below 90 in 14 days. And most of those days it was 95-97. I got crispy vinetips and burnt leaves on my plants that dont have shade. This one is suffering a bit. Although the double vine finally split. One of them has a crispy tip so we are down to one main. There was also an open pollination on the 1374 today that I didn't count on opening today. That would beat all if that one survived the heat and the one I've been babying aborted. Thursday, June 25 View Page Knocked the flower off my next girl on the 1969 :( #fail #wait10moredays Monday, June 29 View Page 1692 J Gehweiler x self 0 dap. Several others got open pollinated yesterday and today but this one is the one I'd like to go with. Its about 15-18' down and on a side vine. The main vine is no longer an option as it is crispy and burnt. Monday, June 29 View Page The poll on 6-18 on the 1692 aborted a few days in due to excessive heat. Tuesday, June 30 View Page My son's 881 Foss is running nicely. Good growing plant, it doesn't really flag in the heat like the others. Tuesday, June 30 View Page 1969 5 lober x self 11 times 0 dap Tuesday, June 30 View Page 1969 x open 9 dap. Its growing well and there dont appear to be any issues. My dilemna is whether to keep this one which is in perfect position and has 9 days of growth over the next one which I pollinated today. So I'm looking at 87 days of growth for the one pollinated today or 96 days of growth for this one. Also, I could potentially hit the new pollination with some Ethrel to possibly get more cell division. So many decisions..... Wednesday, July 1 View Page So far we have been letting the bees do the pollinating on his plant. But last night I asked him if he wanted to learn how to do a controlled pollination. He said yes so we closed up the female with a twist tie and clipped 6 males from the 143 Craps. When I went in this morning at 7 am to wake him up, he said "No dad we should probably let the bees do it...I think I might fall asleep if I go out there right now." 2 minutes later he comes running down the stairs, "No wait, we have to pollinate that pumpkin!" So we went outside and went through all the steps and in the end he self pollinated the 143 Craps. Friday, July 3 View Page 1916 Barron plant this morning. The first female is in the tip at 10'. Friday, July 3 View Page 1784 Glasier plant this morning. This plant is mainly for pollen but I'm training the main around the perimeter of the patch so I may set a genetic's project on this one. Friday, July 3 View Page Here is an overview of the placement of the two plants. That's 1916 left and 1784 right. Monday, July 13 View Page Looks like we finally got one to stick on the 1374 Engel for 10 days and this one looks a lot better than its other lil sisters. I'm still going to keep two smaller ones that are in good position in case this one aborts while I'm away on vacation. 1374 x open looking like its going to be pretty and orange of course. Monday, July 13 View Page 1692 J Gehweiler x open on a side vine as the main got burnt. This is about 12 dap and several other competitors got removed today. I am leaving one more in good position on the last secondary that is about 5 days behind this one that looks good too. I will probably end up with this one due to time left. This one showing a little yellow in there too...maybe some of the 1872 coming out? Tuesday, July 14 View Page 1969 Haist 196 OTT dap24. It's not doin the daily otts it needs and I'm Goin on vacation so I'm not terribly optimistic it's gonna start moving some good numbers with me not here. Sunday, July 26 View Page 1969 Haist x open 36 dap 249 OTT. She's not gonna win any beauty pageants, and she aint setting the charts on fire. Let's just hope she grows for a long time and goes heavy. Thursday, July 30 View Page 1969 40 DAP for a paltry 257.5 OTT. She's hard to measure too with the bell shape and the hump. Definately not winning a beauty pageant, but I was really hoping it was gonna get big enough to play on the O-line. Who knows, 60 more days at 10 or so lbs per day would get her to a good size, go a little heavy who knows. Not crossing my fingers here. Thursday, July 30 View Page 1692 29 DAP 219 OTT The plant doesn't look overly great but she is growing. The 'kin tilted back on its stem and started to kink the vine. So I piled a bunch of sand under her hind end to level her out a bit. Thursday, July 30 View Page 1374 195 OTT at 27 DAP. She's gonna be pretty...wish the shape was a little better but nothing has really been a home run this year. Thursday, July 30 View Page My son's 881 Foss at 172 OTT at 20 DAP. Smallest plant, fastest grower at 20 DAP anyway, let's hope this thing keeps going. Wednesday, August 5 View Page My son's 881 hadn't grown in three days and I noticed a soft spot on the stem. Got to poking then spooning then cutting. It was rotting from the inside out. Now it's been tossed over the back fence for the animals and bugs to enjoy. Thursday, August 6 View Page Finally got the 1916 Barron pollinated at 35-40' x 1784 Glasier lets see if it takes Sunday, August 9 View Page 1969 50 dap 511lb averaged 12lb per day the last 10 and really has been doing that the last 20 days. Not impressive by any stretch of the imagination but if she keeps going at this pace I'll be happy. Monday, August 10 View Page 1692 at 350 lb 40 dap Monday, August 10 View Page Anybody else ever tried growin a tree pumpkin? Monday, August 10 View Page Had some soft brown tissue on 1374. Had to dig it out. Then 10% peroxide. Monday, August 10 View Page Then again and again with the peroxide. Finally sulfur. Wednesday, August 19 View Page 1969 60 dap 630 lb by the tape averaging 12.5 lb per day. Except when it rains heavy for three days straight and maybe does a half inch. Guess my efforts at better drainage are an improvement over last year but still got a long way to go. Still fighting root rot when it gets this wet. Thursday, August 20 View Page Scraping and oozing and digging and peroxide and sulfur and fan. Repeat every day. Notice the split under the stem that oozed and started getting soft. It's hard to get under there and dig out but the fan is at least keeping that area dry for now. It's gonna be a long 37 days of babysitting if this one is going to make it to our Elkin weighoff. Thursday, August 20 View Page Fighting stem rot on this one too. Thursday, August 27 View Page 1969 starting to get some orange and green. The stem has been dry for three whole days which is a big plus. However it's only doing 5 lb a day and the plant is a hot mess. Sunday, August 30 View Page Dap 71. 1969 she's getting green on this side. Impossible to get an accurate ott so who knows how much it should weigh but it's clicking along at a whopping 3lb per day. Monday, September 14 View Page I'm back in the USA from France, Germany, and Switzerland. I want to say a big thank you to Beni Meier for having me over for a patch tour. It was great fun touring his greenhouses and picking his brain. He's got this monster sitting right around 1800 lbs. and this was taken last Thursday 9-10-15. So there's your news from afar folks, let the rumor mill get started. Monday, September 14 View Page Here is Beni's other pumpkin. He was genuinely dissapointed that it was 100 lbs behind the other one. The truly bad news is that he pulled his 2328 DMG after he lost the 'kin. The really bad part of that news is...that was the last 2328 seed!!! That's it for your spy report folks. No tomatoes, no watermelons, no squash...although he did say maybe next year ;) Wednesday, October 14 View Page 607 Craps 15. From the 1969 Haist x open. Wednesday, October 14 View Page 527.5 Craps '15 From the 1692 j Gehweiler x open. My first pumpkin to ever go heavy!