Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 36 Entries. Wednesday, May 16 View Page 1386 Sherwood is off to a great start. It is out in the hoophouse vined out about 3 ft. Had a few problems with corn borrer on a few other plants so backups will have to do. 1303 sweet, 1294 vandrey, 1170 vincent, 1461 werner, 735 pukos, and 860 orton which was kind of a mystery seed that I had high hopes for. Saturday, May 19 View Page The 1386 sherwood outgrew the hoophouse so I moved it over and put in 735 pukos today. Tomorrow I will put another in the dirt either the 1294 vandrey or 1303 sweet. I usually wait till they are a little bigger but the weather is nice so why not. Sunday, May 20 View Page Put in 1303 sweet and 1294 vandrey today. I have been trying different methods burying the plants. 1294 vandrey hole was dug and filled in with 2 yr old compost manure, 735 pukos hole filled in with happy frog potting soil, and 1303 sweet filled hole with existing soil. All got myco. We will see which one comes out looking the best. Wednesday, May 23 View Page Put out 1461 werner and 860 orton today... a little late but better late than never. Tried some different techniques in planting. The 1303 sweet I just dug a hole and filled it back in, the 1461,860, and 1294 vandrey all got the hole filled with 2 to 3 year old compost horse manure and the 735 pukos got happy frog potting soil. We will see if this makes any significant difference. Sunday, May 27 View Page The patch took some damage today after hard rain and hail. I think almost all will make it thru. Put some concentrate neptunes harvest on 1461 Werner today it was looking weak. Thursday, May 31 View Page I put on some calci carb on the 1386 sherwood the 1303 sweet and the 1170 vincent. Also did calci carb and fish and seaweed on 1592 platte. Saturday, June 2 View Page My plants are getting destroyed from the wind put up a snow fence but it is little to no help. Does anyone know what that black material everyone uses for a wind barrier or where to purchase it? Wednesday, June 6 View Page Got another storm with lots of rain and hail plants are not doing very good at all. The 2 plants in houses are ok but the rest are very beaten. I don't remember the last time we had this much hail in one year. Wednesday, June 13 View Page I pollinated a 4 lobe female about 13 feet out on the 1386 sherwood today had a good cross I wanted to do but no males on any other plants so I had to self it. Hopefully it dont get to hot out today is in the 70's which is just fine I think. Sunday, June 17 View Page Just got back from up north today after 3 1/2 days away. Plants all took off growing like crazy about 3 ft growth on all vines on the big plant. Seen my 1st svb bug today knocked him down with a shovel but couldnt catch him to kill him. Put on insecticide and fungicide today. Thursday, June 21 View Page pollination number 2 on 1386 sherwood. Was a nice 5 lobe about 16ft out on the main and it was selfed since I have no other plants with males yet. 1170 vincent should have males soon and has female out about 8 ft but plant seems a little small yet for pollination/ Saturday, June 23 View Page I decided to put on some good insecticide today after seeing all the svb's and even got one with a direct hit. Hopefully this will take care of the bug problem. Also stopped the 1st set of secondaries on the 1386 Sherwood earlier today at about 15 ft. Tuesday, June 26 View Page I pollinated a nice 5 lobe female on the 1170 vincent today will 4 males from the 1386 sherwood. Female was out about 12 ft on the plant. Also gave plants a good dose of fish and kelp today. Will put calci carb on tommorrow. Thursday, June 28 View Page Pollinated 1386 sherwood today with 1170 vincent will put a fan on it as it will be 96 degrees out today. Hope this one takes. 5 lobe female out about 22 ft on main vine. Sunday, July 1 View Page I pollinated another nice 5 lobe female on 1170 vincent today at about 15 ft out on main with 3 1386 sherwood males. Plants are growing like crazy but all I have to show for it right now is huge plants and no fruit. I am definitely having trouble getting a fruit set with above 90 degree heat. Monday, July 2 View Page I pollinated a 5 lobe female on the 1294 Vandrey today that was out about 12 ft. with 3 males from 1386 sherwood. Monday, July 2 View Page I pollinated a 5 lobe female on the 1294 Vandrey today that was out about 12 ft. with 3 males from 1386 sherwood. Saturday, July 7 View Page Very disappointed... I have a monster plant and no pumpkin. The main vine on my largest plant is at about 30 ft. and still cant get a set. I have one more female to try in a couple days and then I may just give up on this plant. I only have 2 plants right now with pumpkins 1170 Vincent and 1294 Vandrey. Monday, July 9 View Page 1170 vincent 11 dap estimated weight is about 16 pounds. Saturday, July 14 View Page 1170 vincent 16 dap at about 132cc 58 lbs Wednesday, July 18 View Page 1170 vincent at 20 dap is up to 138 lbs. I think it does not quite have enough plant behind it for a monster but we will see what it can do. Saturday, July 21 View Page 1386 sherwood has a nice secondary vine pumpkin going up to 110 lbs now still going to leave it to make sure my fruit set that is about 32 ft out stays going before I decide to cull. This plant wont stop growing it is crazy all third stage vines that were cut off are growing back again and vine growth seems unstoppable. Saturday, July 21 View Page 1294 Vandrey 19 dap 173 ott estimating 120 lbs and pumpkin is starting to look a little mean. Thursday, July 26 View Page 1294 Vandrey 24 dap and is up to 218 ott about 228 lbs an avg. growth of about 22 lbs a day. 1170 Vincent has stopped growing and is turning orange has put on less than 10 lbs in a week or so... fruit will probably abort if it does I will have to pull plant. Also have nice some open pollinations on 735 pukos, 1303 sweet, 1461 werner, 1386 sherwood, and 860 orton. 1386 sherwood plant is massive but the 1st set on the main is about 35 ft. out and I do have a secondary vine fruit that is about 125 lbs. Sunday, July 29 View Page I took measurements on all the open pollinations I had to keep this year. 1303 Sweet 176 ott about 125 lbs, 735 Pukos 166 ott about 107 lbs, and 1461 Werner 143 ott about 72 lbs. Dont know dap on fruit. Also lost 1170 vincent and 1592 platte and will pull both plants. 1170 aborted at about 150 lbs. Wednesday, August 1 View Page Time for 30 dap on 1294 Vandrey 255 ott or I think about 357 lbs. Thats about 25 lbs or so per day avg. I see all these growers out there talking about this huge daily gains and am wondering what the heck you have to do to get your daily gains up. Sunday, August 5 View Page Had a great time yesterday at michigan giant pumpkins growers patch tour. We had 4 stops and got quite a few ideas and lots of information. Sunday, August 5 View Page Had to take measurements after seeing all those nice pumpkins on the tour. 1294 Vandrey 275 ott about 444lbs, 1461 Werner 215 ott about 219 lbs, 1386 Sherwood 188 ott about 151 lbs, and 860 Orton 167 ott about 109 lbs. On a bad note I lost 2 more pumpkins 1303 sweet aborted at about 140 lbs and 735 Pukos aborted as well at about 125 lbs. Sunday, August 12 View Page Finally got out to look at the outside edge of the patch today and does not look good. We got 8 inches of rain in 2 days and I will be very lucky to even get 1 not to rot and make it. Monday, August 13 View Page 1461 Werner 257 ott est 365 lbs and 1386 Sherwood 231 ott est. 269 lbs. Could not get to 860 Orton to get measurement, patch is still to wet and raining again today. 8 inches was enough please make the rain stop. Monday, August 13 View Page I found that the area around 1294 Vandrey was not to bad so I got a good measurement 302 ott est. 583 lbs at day 42. Not a good pace to hit 1000 as daily gains are declining. Saturday, August 18 View Page Slow going now Sunday, August 19 View Page I did another measurement yesterday to see how growth was after the 9 to 10 inches of rain last week. I was concerned that roots and vines were rotting. 1294 Vandrey was 309 ott 623 lbs, 1461 Werner 267 ott 407 lbs, 1386 Sherwood 249 ott 333 lbs, and 860 Orton 229 ott 262 lbs. Looks like the rain took a major toll as I have lots of vines splitting and roots starting to rot. Sunday, August 26 View Page Looks like I am down to 3 pumpkins now. 1461 Werner grew fast with the recent heat a put a lot of stress on the stem and broke of main vine. Thursday, September 6 View Page Only 2 left now 1294 Vandrey and 860 Orton. Lost the 1386 Sherwood, I thought it had something wrong with it after the 8 inches of rain and it was confirmed today I noticed that it was rotting on the bottom. Sunday, September 16 View Page I decided to measure 860 Orton today, even with all the problems and the 8 inches of rain early plant has held up alright and is up to about 450 lbs.