Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 45 Entries. Sunday, July 20 View Page Welcome to Aperture Science's 2014 diary! I've been putting this off for a while now, primarily due to the fact that I'm too lazy to take pictures, but I finally decided it was time to share this year's progress, at least as a personal record. I began this year with a list of mistakes I made last year; the patch was far too small for two plants, I started several weeks too late, my homemade hoop house was a miserable failure, I didn't have enough drip tape to cover the entire plant's square footage, the simple process of the vine laying down turned into an epic multi-week battle, the moles wreaked havoc and there simply wasn't enough good soil. The first thing I did was dig a trench down to 'bed rock' all the way around the extended patch's perimeter, install 1/4" hardware fabric and bury it. I finished the trench, but only ended up bordering about 2/3 of the patch...thus far, nary a mole tunnel or hill has been seen! Secondly, I had 7 yards of Tagro delivered, which was then spread atop the extended patch, increasing its depth in areas and serving as a top dressing in others. Anyway, I decided there was only room for one plant, and upon realizing I'll probably never grow a truly giant pumpkin in an area with ~4.5hrs of sunlight, I figured I'd better at least go orange, so I started four 827.5 Gerhardt seeds (811 x 1332 Wolf), planted the strongest two and culled it down to a single plant after a few weeks outdoors. I purchased a fantastic little portable greenhouse, kept the interior around 65F+ all night, every night, and picked up enough drip tape to cover the entire patch. Everything went pretty smoothly for a while. Here's the 827 currently...notice a spot without side vines; for whatever reason, those were stunted, so I'm slowly filling that area in with tertiary vines. The plant looks small, but the main vine is over 25ft now and is bigger than both my plants last year, combined, on this date! � Sunday, July 20 View Page Alas, I still managed to make multiple, stupid mistakes. The plant laid down incredibly smoothly, but about a month after it'd began growing outside, I accidentally left the drip tape on all night; woke up to several splits in the stump. These seemed superficial and have since healed, but still...quite dumb. One major issue I faced, because again, I was too cheap or not wholly invested enough to have a soil sample tested, was either high nitrogen or a lack of phosphorus/potassium...the first 10+ male flowers shriveled up and died. After foliar feeding Holland's fruit finisher and blossom booster (0-52-34) twice a week for a few weeks, a female finally showed up (at 23ft, heh) and male flowers are doing great. It looks like it'll open in two days, so fingers crossed I have a male open at the same time, since they're still in short supply. I pollinated last years 176lb generic Dill in mid-August, so I'm desperately hoping I can get something set within the next two weeks. Here's the plant looking North...it continues a ways to the right. � Sunday, July 20 View Page Anyway, as you can see, I still have plenty of work to do before I'm growing 'em huge, but after being unsure of this season at all back in April, I'm beyond glad I'm giving it another go...doesn't hurt that the Pac. NW has had the most incredibly nice weather I can ever remember. Hopefully Joel or someone is tending to an absolute monster. Also wanted to shout out to Mark Clementz again this year for his great diary and YouTube videos as well as Matt 'Captain 97' Radach for a similarly awesome diary. Lately, I've had a few issues, though. The most notable of which is seen in the attached picture. A few of the oldest leaves have developed these brown, cracked areas that look very similar to gummy stem blight. I have consistently sprayed with Daconil and definitely got overzealous with foliar feeding at least once, likely burning the leaves...so I'm not certain. Upon cutting this particular leaf off, I found the stem to be completely intact and rigid. Any further info on this? I should probably post on the message board, heh. It doesn't seem to be spreading per se, but there are several leaves with it, all of which are old. Also, no signs of powdery mildew; any white you see if residual Daconil. � Sunday, July 20 View Page Here's the underside of the same leaf. Last year I had multiple episodes of pointless panic (downy mildew, bahaha), so I'm staying relatively calm this time. All I know is, this plant is twice the size of last years with far better genetics than the 176 producer, so although I'm just looking to crack 200lbs...which some new growers seem to do regularly with absolutely zero effort, haha...I'm truly hoping for 400+. Best of luck to all growers out there this season! � Wednesday, July 23 View Page Here it is, at 20-something feet and 0 DAP on the 827.5 Gerhardt, my first pollination of the season (and the first female to appear on the plant). A huge shout-out to veteran Sumner grower Ron Barker who provided all of the male flowers for this morning's stormy pollination, and on very short notice, too. I had the incredible opportunity to tour his patch and am still reeling at how flippin' humongous everything there was; not just the massive pumpkins I saw, but the Jurassic Park leaves, stems, vines and flowers. It was an incredible honor and I definitely left his garden considerably more inspired. As you can see in the photo, the flower only partially opened, but inside was a perfect five lobe blossom. It's officially an open pollination since although I used all 1168 Young pollen, one of the males had opened previously. � Wednesday, July 23 View Page We've had absolutely torrential rain on and off all day. The pollination is under the styrofoam to the right. The plant layout is Christmas tree to the right (some of those secondaries will have to be terminated soon) and sort of trident/pitchfork on the left, with the secondaries recurving and running parallel with the main vine. Once it dries out tomorrow, I've got a ton of vine burying to do...still no females visible further down the main, but they're starting to pop up on several secondaries. Seriously crossing my fingers this pollination takes, since the plant will have completely filled out my patch within a week and a half. For some reason, I've always had this baseless idea that you should give your plant one or two set females to get it into pumpkin growing mode before keeping one further down the vine, but perhaps no choice here, ha! � Saturday, July 26 View Page Another one for future reference, since it's possibly the least interesting pumpkin photo imaginable; here's the 827. 5 Gerhardt 3 DAP. It's twice the size as on pollination day and quite shiny when the sun hits it, but I know the fruit grow somewhat after pollination, regardless...I still have no idea if its set, but have started slowly adjusting the vine for that s-curve, anyway. I have no idea how long the main is now, but still no other females, so it's do or die, heh. I do have several strong secondaries with females, so not all is lost when you're just growing for fun. Also, I started peeling the flower off after this picture to keep the blossom dry. � Saturday, July 26 View Page And here's a shot of the patch, looking East as the plant grows West. Not much different from the previous, just weird lighting and some wilting as it was in the low 80's when I took the picture. I've noticed newer leaves showing more pronounced green veins surrounded by pale green material, which sounds like textbook iron deficiency. So, thanks to BP forum members, I'm well on my way to sorting out a micronutrient foliar program. Lets see, what else would I want my future self to know. Hm, everything is growing like crazy and I'm way behind on vine burying, so stop slacking, man! Also, start your flippin' seeds on timeee. � Tuesday, July 29 View Page Here's the 827.5 Gerhardt at 6 DAP. Slow as all heck, but definitely growing, and though hard to tell in this shaded picture, very shiny. Looks like Ron Barker's magic male service did the trick! Also hard to see, but I'm in the process of adding the s-curve. I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but I'll say it again, as far as my experiences go, the giant pumpkin growing community is the nicest, most giving group of fanatics on the planet. I've gone through all sorts of obsessions over the years, weaseling my way into their respective 'cliques', and I've never encountered a more openly generous and selfless environment. It goes all the way back to Mr. Gerhardt and Mark Clementz sending seeds last season, on their dollar, to Ron this year, showing me his patch, hooking me up with some rootshield, advice and support to, now, Jamie -ArvadaBoy- sending some of his water soluble, micronutrients and turning down any offer of compensation. Rock on, people! In other news, a second female has now appeared at the end of the main, so there'll be a back up, woot. � Friday, August 1 View Page Here's an updated shot of the patch, almost completely filled in, except for the left corner. Zucchini in the foreground and the Gerhardt's main poking through the fencing on the left. You can see the older leaves aging somewhat earlier than I expected (though still slowly), but I received ArvadaBoy's micronutrients in the mail (thanks again, Jamie!), so hopefully a weekly foliar application of that slows what looks like either plant stress or nutrient leeching by the newer growth. For my records, I pollinated a 5 lobe female on the first side vine 7/31 and a perfect, 6 lober on the second side vine 8/1. The main set, all the way out at ~20ft is still growing. I looked back through diaries that showed pumpkins around 9 DAP and although a few were comparable to mine, most were far bigger. Oh well, no point worrying about it, but I'm setting most other females on major secondaries to see if there's a difference in early growth. Anyway, I got some $10 'recycled bottle' weed barrier and sand underneath the kin, along with a rather poor attempt at an s-curve. I think it'll be stress free up to about 400lbs, so I should be good, ha! � Sunday, August 3 View Page Not much to update other than the Gerhardt is at 11 DAP and 20" CC. Just want to get a number down early in the growth to see how the two secondary sets compare, if I let them grow to for ~11 days. Here the plant is, completely filled out, woohoo! By far, the most salad I've grown. I couldn't even fill this space with two plants last year, ha. No moles, no split vines, no dead growth tips, very little cat poopin' issues...a stress free season, for my expectations, anyway. Quite a bit of crowding on the front left, so I've terminated one of those secondaries further back to make room. � Sunday, August 3 View Page A unique view of the patch, for my future entertainment. Most of those secondaries' leaf nodes were perfectly buried until I decided to get some sprinkler watering in to supplement the drip system. The spot where the one secondary was stunted, is just about filled in with tertiary growth. I've noticed that, as I terminate secondaries, the newest leaves get that bloated, excessive nitrogen look and are extra prone to sunscald...I'm thinking there's a lot of N available to the plant in the Tagro, so even though the main is now 5ft outside of the enclosure, I'm tentative to terminate it with the set at just 11 days. Just got done looking through Dale's Alaska diary - man! Those are some beautiful plants in incredibly constructed greenhouses. � Tuesday, August 5 View Page Gerhardt at 13 DAP & 25.5" CC. Still quite a bit slower than most others on the same day, but I'm still having a good time. I seem to have found a way to continue my little goof ups though, because this thing has multiple scars, probably from a windy day when the leaf stalk was too close to the young fruit. I still have some adjusting to do since my s-curve wasn't sharp enough; also had to cut the massive tap root below the fruit, finally...killed me to do that, ha! It was at least as big around as some of the smaller secondaries. All pollinations on side vines set successfully and I'm a little worried by the rapid growth on those; the one at 5 DAP is definitely larger than my main set was at 6 DAP, but it'd take a very large size difference at day ~15 for me to go with the side vine fruit. � Thursday, August 7 View Page Gerhardt at 15 DAP and 31.5 CC. Not great, but not horrible, so I'll take it! It gained 3.5" CC yesterday, so hopefully I can bump that up and get it to 45lbs+ on day 20. That stick looks close to the pumpkin, but it's actually a half foot above. The plant is almost completely terminated aside from the main vine which is somewhere around ten billion feet long. I've been fertilizing with potassium in the drip system every other day and foliar feeding kelp, ArvadaBoy's awesome micronutrients and daconil (the kelp and dac together and micros separate). � Tuesday, August 12 View Page Just as it began, the Gerhardt at 20 DAP, awaiting a torrential downpour. It hasn't rained since it's pollination until early this morning, ha! Still quite behind...even behind last year's 176lb generic Dill, but it seems to be slowly picking up. 111 OTT, or 33lbs. Yikes, but it's the keeper, so nothing to do but ride it out. As it grows, I've noticed that the right side has gained quite a bit more mass than the left. Hard to see in the picture, though. � Sunday, August 17 View Page The Gerhardt at 25 DAP, 62cc and 140OTT, so 65-70lbs, I suppose. Slow, slow, slow, but definitely picking up, and finally past last years pumpkin. The shape is a little goofy, but there's already some color. I noticed that it lost both its shine and tackiness in the last three days, too, which immediately brought on fears of an abort, but three days later, and it's still putting on weight! Time to expand the weed barrier, sand and trim a few leaves. � Sunday, August 17 View Page Here's one of many HUGE leaves (huge to me, anyway) on terminated side vines. This one measures 34" across and 32" the other way, if you measure along the 'V' shape at the center. That's a size large glove. Makes me laugh every time I look at it; I'd be worried about excess N, but it's not even that green and much of the newest leaves are somewhat slow to grow and green up. � Friday, August 22 View Page Here's the Gerhardt at 30 DAP...173 OTT, 80 CC gaining about 10-12lbs a day and 121lbs on the '13 chart. 12lbs a day on day 30 is arduously slow on a healthy (?), ~500 Sq Ft plant, but I figure it's due to the ever dwindling sunlight and very limited soil depth (around 2.5ft until I hit impenetrable rock). Excuse the few crispy leaves; burned those foliar spraying when they were young. I'm headed out for a seven day vacation to Sunriver, OR tomorrow morning, so I'll more than likely miss the day this pumpkin passes my hilarious PB of 176lbs :). I'm just crossing my fingers nothing crazy happens while I'm gone, because a lot can change in a week! � Monday, September 1 View Page Got back from a weeklong vacation in Sunriver, OR this past Saturday. Had a fantastic time hiking, mountain biking, hitting baseballs, swimming and the like. Assuming a linear growth curve, I expected to return to a ~200lb pumpkin...a new PB! The weather in the patch was great for several days, while I was gone, but turned to absolute crap for the last few days, so my hopes were slightly curbed. � Monday, September 1 View Page Imagine my shock and awe when I returned to find this 282lb beast! Despite only gaining around 10-12lbs a day the few days before I left, it averaged over 20lbs a day while I was gone. Smashed last year's 176lb pumpkin, with at least several weeks of decent growing season left! At some point, the heavy towels had blown off, though, so my only hope is that happened after the 87 and 88 degree days. � Monday, September 1 View Page Here is the 282lb, 232 OTT, 107CC 827.5 Gerhardt on day 40. I was pleased, to say the least. The main vine leaves look pretty darn crispy...definitely some spray damage that hadn't manifest itself until the leaves reached a certain age. The rest of the leaves, even on the oldest side vines, look fine. � Monday, September 1 View Page I had some extra Ethernet cable laying around, so I used that to rope between rebar and form a rain shield. The rebar rusted so quickly while I was gone (and felt so unstable, despite being hammered in), that I decided to pull two of the pieces and abandon the idea. Because the pumpkin is so low and wide, I haven't had any vine stress...doesn't hurt that it's sub-300lbs, too. � Monday, September 1 View Page Of course, I knew it was too good to be true...come on...22lbs a day with only 3.5 to 4hrs of sun? There had to be a cruel trade-off. I poked around the split and can tell it goes at least several inches in, but I didn't want to get too touchy-feely with it, for fear or further damaging whatever fragile membrane might still exist. I believe there's a decent chance it goes into the cavity, but who knows. I cut some relief into the stem, as often pictured on this site, and painted over the whole thing with straight Daconil. I forget who I've seen repeatedly suggest this method in the forums, but I want to thank them. Repeat layers of Daconil and a fan allowed me to initially build up a total barrier, but that collapsed as the split grew overnight. Despite a bunch of new cantalouping, this morning's measurements are only 1" OTT over yesterday's, so it may be measurement error the previous day, a very cold day and night or that the pumpkin's caput. I'll try to only measure it every couple of days from here forward. In other news, powdery mildew ran rampant while I was gone - ordered some Eagle 20 that'll be here in a few days. Also, aphids. Aphids everywhere! One week away and it's a bug and fungal cesspool :). Any new suggestions for anything or info, send me an email! � Monday, September 1 View Page It seems to only want to grow in CC...not surprising, looking at this picture. The stem to end and side to side measurements have only gone up an inch or two in the last five days, while circumference has gained 8 inches. At least it wasn't dead in the water like my day 39 to 40 measurement seemed. Also, a huge congratulations to all of the Puyallup Fair participants! Matt Radach's 1223 grown on a cool, northerly island on the sound, is insane! � Saturday, September 6 View Page Here's the Gerhardt at 45 DAP...250 OTT, 115 CC, 350lbs! It's only averaged around 14lbs a day since I made the stem cuts to reduce stress on the split, but superb weather has arrived. � Saturday, September 6 View Page The stem split widens every day (it looks the same on both the top and bottom). I still haven't probed since day one, so I'm just going along with the ride and crossing my fingers. Some lab grade Sulfur is on the way, so I'll be dusting the interior of the split in areas liquid Daconil doesn't want to go. Let me know if you're supposed to dilute almost pure sulfur, or something, before application. I hit the entire plant with a pretty moderate dosage of Daconil to try and curb the powdery mildew before Eagle arrived...it seems to have stopped the spread, but can't be helping my already ancient looking plant. � Saturday, September 6 View Page Mmm...toasty! No foliar feedings with anything other than micronutrients, seaweed and fish next year. Amazing to think that this pumpkin was the very first to appear on the main vine and it was only pollinated due to Ron Barker's generosity. I've seen Pap mention leaving third stage growth, so I'm letting it run wild. Oh yeah...the patch looks this shaded about 21hrs a day, ha. � Friday, September 12 View Page Check out the stump...pretty tiny for any plant, let alone one at ~550 sq ft. I suspect the very shallow soil depth throughout is a major limiting factor. Picture on the left is a different angle of the Gerhardt at 51 DAP...you can just make out the stem split and some painters tape for CC measurements. All of the leaves on the main now look like they've been leached of some nutrients, especially as tertiary growth increases. Still doing micro-nutrients and seaweed every week. � Friday, September 12 View Page And here's the Gerhardt at 51 DAP, 260 OTT, 121 CC and 392lbs. Looks like I'll reach my goal of 400lbs, woot! I bet the gains would be far better if the plant got more than an hour of sun per day at this point in September, but I just can't see myself cutting down the several dozen trees needed to make that happen, especially since half of them are on an undeveloped greenbelt off my property. � Friday, September 12 View Page Tons of cantalouping, especially on the area that was exposed to the sun for several days while I was on vacation. Yikes. The most shaded parts of the pumpkin are still completely smooth. Even at almost 400lbs, it just amazes me that it's more than 10ft in circumference. When I bought the 120" tape measure, I didn't think I'd actually run out. The split is packed with sulfur now and it doesn't seem to smell in there, so that's a fair sign, I guess, ha. There's a huge bigleaf maple growing just ten feet North of the stump, so as soon as we got a few cold mornings, that thing has been dropping thousands of seeds and leaves onto the plant. Been having to hand pick 'em off each leaf. � Sunday, September 21 View Page Here's the Gerhardt at 60 dap, 442lbs, 126 CC, 271 OTT. It's been averaging a little over 5lbs a day, which I'll take, gladly. 500lbs seems possible, but the weather is supposed to take a turn for the worse. As you can see, the plant's aging pretty rapidly, but all the tertiary growth has fairly quickly filled in any gaps and probably 85% of the original leaves are in good shape. I need to either get choppin' on some trees or find a better spot to grow next year. � Thursday, October 2 View Page Here's the Gerhardt at 70 DAP (yesterday)...gettin' kind of old. Tertiary growth is still growing great, however, powdery mildew is pretty out of control, aphids are going crazy and leaves falling from the trees are burying the plant...ah well. Anyway, it's at 131CC, 281 OTT and around 491lbs, I believe. It put on a great burst of growth between days 60 and 65, but has slowed down to about 2lbs a day since...bah! It turns out, the Federal Way record is 540lbs grown by Jeff Billinghousen, which is also the only pumpkin ever weighed from Federal Way, haha. � Thursday, October 2 View Page Averaging just 2lbs a day over the last five, I figure it's basically done. This is one of the stray cats that lives in the greenbelt behind our house...it's the kindest, most docile cat I've ever met. Also takes photography cues like a champ! � Thursday, October 2 View Page I hope he doesn't do this much when I'm not there, heh. Anyway, having trouble securing a truck or trailer for the Central Market Weigh-off on the 11th. At ~500lbs, I'm thinking a few (4-5?) people could just wrestle it into the bed of a truck, but I've got zero experience moving a pumpkin. Gonna have to wing it at the last second. � Monday, October 6 View Page 75 DAP, wow...honestly wouldn't have believed it'd ever make it this far after the stem split on day ~36. Everyone said it wouldn't be a big deal with the proper incisions and care, but I'm still surprised :). Some extra knowledge for next year. Anyway, it's just barely gaining; 283" OTT, 132" CC, 501lbs! Even though many (most?) second year growers top that pretty easily, I'm happy as can be...unless it goes light. Maybe a 55% chance I'll make it to the Central Market Weigh-off. The cheapest truck rental I've found is around $100 for the day, but it looks like it just might fit inside the Kia Rondo...and still be under the gross vehicle weight rating, even with an additional passenger, so we'll see. � Sunday, October 12 View Page To my great surprise, a friend of my Dad's loaned me his truck for the Central Market Weigh-off on Saturday! I genuinely wasn't sure I'd make it up until late afternoon the day before. Anyway, upon finding I'd be able to go, I procured a pallet from a very nice store employee who asked me not to mention where I got it, ha, and set about the removal process. It turns out, 500lbs is a lot heavier than I'd thought; just tipping it onto its side to clear the bottom was an exercise in hernia-risk. With the help of my brother, we tipped it up, dug out a pallet-sized area underneath the pumpkin, dropped the pallet in the hole and lowered the pumpkin onto it. My wrists have taken a beating from weight-lifting and didn't fare well moving the pumpkin, hence the wrist wraps. Here I am cleaning the sulfer paste out of the stem split. � Sunday, October 12 View Page We tried everything to drag the pumpkin to the front driveway, but it wouldn't budge even an inch, so I managed to drive an old Buick LeSabre (with, honest to goodness, an inch of clearance on each side) between my house and the fence, into the backyard, where I tied the pallet to the frame and slowly backed it out. Took a while, with much wheel spin, but I was finally able to pull the pumpkin onto the cement! I think a tripod structure and lifting ring are absolute musts for next year, because this was just stupidly complicated. Anyway, with the help of several neighbors and my Dad, we lifted the pallet into the truck and strapped 'er down. � Sunday, October 12 View Page I left, along with my brother, sister and Mom, at 7:10 the next morning and was one of the first to arrive at Central Market. I was shocked at how interested people were in a relatively small 'giant' pumpkin, during the drive up. Plenty of smiles, many cell phones pointed out of windows and the like. At a red light near UW on the drive back, I even had a guy get out of his car behind us, run up, and take a selfie in front of it. At Dick's Drive-In, more of the same. Back to Central Market; once we arrived, the super-friendly staff quickly unloaded the pumpkin and placed my 827 Gerhardt-prodigy in line. I was excited, but had absolutely no expectations, so it was great to be there, stress free, to enjoy the ride. Excuse the picture by picture rundown...I want to make sure I properly document my first weigh-off. � Sunday, October 12 View Page For some reason, I quite enjoyed having my name taped onto the pumpkin, heh. Also pictured, Ryan 'Monster Grower' Ewing's massive squash. Yes, that's a re-purposed yoga mat beneath my pumpkin. � Sunday, October 12 View Page Not long after I arrived, the monsters showed up. Many of these pumpkins easily surpassed the largest I'd ever seen with my own eyes, with Joel's (center), awing the crowd into absolute silence when it was eventually lifted over the scale. That thing was so wide, it was almost comical. There were other huge ones, with Cindy Tobeck's going massively heavy for, probably, the loudest applause of the morning/early afternoon. � Sunday, October 12 View Page It wasn't long before Mr. Brian Halbert asked if I'd like to be a part of the event, to which I gladly agreed. Here I am with Monster Grower, measuring, while Sir Halbert records the numbers. To anyone who's pumpkin went light, especially Joel Holland, my sincerest apologies, for I was 50% of the guilty party :D. To those who went heavy, I need a soil ripper, backhoe or tractor to mount it on, and a good tilling ;). Just kidding! I'd also like to take the time to say congratulations to Matt Radach, who's incredible pumpkin, seen just to the left of me, won the Howard Dill award and went heavier than its mother, at 814.5lbs. � Sunday, October 12 View Page I've just noticed that all three pictures of me, thus far, have my face hidden. I'm channeling a little bit of Wilson, from Tool Time. This picture is actually after it was weighed, but we'll just pretend they were loading it up...so, I watched anxiously as they lowered it onto the scale, making my way to the front of the gathering. Brian asked what my personal best was, and I truthfully answered, 176lbs. Estimating at 525lbs, it looked like I'd smash that, but would it go light? My biggest fear was weighing in sub-500lbs, so I waited. � Sunday, October 12 View Page Ah yes, 526lbs! It went 1lb heavy and I couldn't have been happier. I did a few things right, because several people exclaimed over how flat the bottom was and others, especially Russ Leno, Master Pumpkin Carver, seemed to think it was the absolute perfect shape. Here I am, (Wilson, again), ungracefully climbing onto the stage. None of my pictures captured the scale weight, for some reason; it must strobe. It's also a good shot of Ron Barker, to the left. Ron's the only reason I had a pumpkin at all this year, openly welcoming me to his house for pollination, despite being a complete stranger. � Sunday, October 12 View Page About an hour later, the top ten were called over for a group photo and imagine my utter surprise, when my name was called tenth! I couldn't believe it. I had not kept track of those weighed after me, so I hadn't the slightest inkling that I'd be up there with some of the NW's elite growers. The ribbon and money didn't hurt either, ha. Finally shedding the veil of secrecy, I'm on the right, looking like I need to find an orange shirt. � Sunday, October 12 View Page It was a great experience. Aside from the thanks and congrats to Ron B. and Matt R. (and Brian Halbert for his awesome job as the MC), I want to thank Jamie Johnson 'Arvada Boy' for the mid-season micronutrients, Jim Gerhardt for the 827 seed he sent me in 2013 and Mark Clementz for his videos, diary entries and everything else and Joel for the wonderful products I used this year. I've got a long way to go, to be sure. Bonus shot of the 526 Concannon 2014, for my future enjoyment. �