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Sweden-Gustavsson - 2003 Grower Diary Point your RSS aggregator here to subscribe to this Grower Diary.

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Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 39 Entries.
Saturday, June 21 View Page
This is a picture of my 343 kg (756 lb) pumpkin, which I grew in 2001 - and it is the larges pumpkin ever grown in Sweden. The seed was from Kevin Browns 1007 lb pumpkin. The pumpkin to the right (same vine) weighed 161 kg (355 lb).
 
Saturday, July 5 View Page
Here's my pumpkin 10 days old, it was (self) pollinated June 25, 2003. The seed, 1092 Daigle, was started May 7. The circ of the pumpkin is 78 cm (31"). The pumpkin is growing 5,4 m (18 ft) out on the mainvine.
 
Thursday, July 10 View Page
My 1092 Daigle are doing well, the circ is, day 15, 56".
 
Tuesday, July 15 View Page
As you see, I grow my pumpkin on four scales (one in each corner) placed under the plywood. When I have read the scales (same time every morning) I lift the plywood a little and place back the four bricks under it. The weight I read on the four scales (together), minus the weight of the plywood, give me a exactly weight of the pumpkin. I have used this method during four years. The weight of the pumpkin (1092 Daigle x self) is today, day 20, 65 kg/ 143 lbs. The circ is 80".
 
Sunday, July 20 View Page
The 1092 Daigle weight of today (day 25): 135 kg/ 297 lbs.
 
Sunday, July 20 View Page
Here is the answer to why the pumpkin is so pale: I always cover the pumpkin with a blanket.
 
Friday, July 25 View Page
Unfortunately, my last uppdate (July 20) was incorrect, the correct weight was 122 kg/ 269 lbs and the circ 100". Here is the pumpkin (1092 Daigle) from the upposite side. The weight of today (July 25, and 30 days old) is 177 kg/ 390 lbs and the circ is 113". Today it gained 13 kg/ 28,6 lbs.
 
Wednesday, July 30 View Page
The 1092 Daigle weight of today (day 35): 230 kg/ 506,6 lbs. The circ is 127".
 
Monday, August 4 View Page
Here's a pic of the stem end of the 1092 Daigle. Day 40 the weight is 280 kg/ 616,7 lbs. The circ is 136". These recent days, the growing-speed has been a little slower.
 
Saturday, August 9 View Page
The 1092 Daigle weight of today (day 45): 319 kg/ 702,6 lbs. The circ is 143".
 
Saturday, August 9 View Page
The blossom (4-segment) end of the 1092 Daigle.
 
Saturday, August 16 View Page
Me and the Daigle. The weight, day 52, 363 kg/ 799,5 lbs, the circ 151".
 
Saturday, August 23 View Page
The 1092 Daigle weight of today, day 59, 398 kg/ 876,6 lbs, the circ 158".
 
Saturday, August 23 View Page
As you can see, the pumpkin (Daigle) growing over the blossom.
 
Saturday, August 30 View Page
The 1092 Daigle weight of today, day 66, 423 kg/ 931,7 lbs, the circ is 161,5". The past weeks in southern Sweden has been cold, windy and cloudy, but I will do my best to make it 4-digit (as Carlos).
 
Tuesday, September 2 View Page
Today I have cut of these two pumpkins, weighing 66 lbs and 92 lbs. I hope it will speed up the growth rate a little.
 
Wednesday, September 3 View Page
At this pic you can see when I today starting to take down some big trees, so the Daigle-plant get more sunlight in the morning, and the pumpkin perhaps some more extra lbs.
 
Saturday, September 6 View Page
My two ladies together, my wife and Daigle. The weight today, day 73, 448 kg/ 987 lbs and the circ 165".
 
Wednesday, September 10 View Page
It's over, the 1092 Daigle have stoped growing and it leaking out pumpkinjuice from the bottom. It's unbelievable, the weight today, day 77, was 454 kg/ 1000lbs. I don't take the pumpkin to a certify scale because it's enough to know that it's possible to grow 4-digit (in lbs) in Sweden. Now I have plenty with time to prepare the pumpkinpatch and the soil to 2004.
 
Thursday, September 11 View Page
In the end of the season when the growingspeed is low I used an indikator-clock to see how the Daigle was growing on the diametern. I can see a movment down to 1/100 of an milimetre. Day by day I can follow and see how the growingspeed going down or up. I can also se which day the pumpkin stoped growing. This method I used on many pumpkins.
 
Wednesday, September 24 View Page
I always watering by hand and here you can see the drainage pipes for the deep-watering of the 1092 Daigle. The pic was taken June 14. The pipes are 1-1,5 foot deep in the soil.
 
Saturday, September 27 View Page
One of the latest pic (Sept 13) of me together with the 1000 Gustavsson (uow).
 
Saturday, September 27 View Page
The latest pic (Sept 13) of me together with the 1000 Gustavsson (uow).
 
Saturday, September 27 View Page
A test of one of the seeds from the 1000 Gustavsson. The plant is today, Sept 27, two weeks old and growing very well. There was not so many seeds inside the pumpkin.
 
Sunday, September 28 View Page
Same proceeding as the last years. Here, in my old bath, I produce pumpkin-juice. At the pic you can see my lady, the 1000 Gustavsson, taking her last bath. It takes a couple of weeks to brake it down to pumpkin-juice. I save it to next year, in the red cans of plastic, and feed my pumpkin-plant with it. I never use any kind of artificial manure, only organic from my garden and kitchen.
 
Saturday, October 4 View Page
As you can see, the 1092 Daigle is still a little productive. I will let the pumpkins grow so long as possibly. The five pumpkins at the pic is today weighing (estimated weight) from left to right: 38 kg/84 lbs 31 kg/68 lbs 109 kg/240 lbs 34 kg/75 lbs 30 kg/66 Together 242 kg/533 lbs
 
Monday, October 20 View Page
Today I cut of the five pumpkins from the 1092 Daigle. The largest (in the middle) weight 140 kg/308 lbs, together they weight 325 kg/716 lbs. Not so bad to be grown only in September and October. Now I can begin to fertilizing my pumpkin patch/soil.
 
Friday, October 24 View Page
Same procedure every morning, the first thing I do, is to go out to the red can and pee into the funnel. To store all my urine during the winter it's enough with five or six cans. The urine is used when I deep water the pumpkin plant. In the summer I often pee directly into the deep watering pipes, that's the fastest ecological revolution a man can do.
 
Wednesday, November 12 View Page
Here I have gathered all the vines and leaves from the Daigle-plant. I don’t compost the material, instead I drill holes, 60 cm/ 2 feet deep, and put the material directly in the holes (soil solarization) mixed with soil, water and sometimes urine and pumpkin-juice. The walls between the holes are loosened with a spade. On top of the holes I put soil only. As you can see at the pictures, I make the holes with a handdriven soildrill (the diameter 22,5 cm/ 9”). It’s much easier to make deep holes with a drill than with a spade. When I make holes for deep-watering pipes I use a drill of the diameter of 7,5 cm/ 3”, that’s my smallest drill. I put all organic material from my garden, kitchen and my outside lavatory directly into drilled holes and the best time to do it is in the fall.
 
Saturday, November 15 View Page
In the fall I also drill holes (2-3 feet deep) around my fruit trees and put into leavs, windfalls etc. Also; a soildrill doesn't damage roots like spade.
 
Saturday, November 15 View Page
As you can see, with my body-weight and water I press down all the leavs and windfalls from the wheelbarrow. In the summer I deep-watering into the holes.
 
Monday, November 17 View Page
Here’s my container where I produce manure-water. The container is full of green grass and water. When the manure-water is used (for my pumpkin-plant) I fill up with more water and some times with more grass. I have painted the container black so the water and the grass will bee warmed up as much as possible of the sun.
 
Wednesday, November 26 View Page
Here’s the origin/start point of next years pumpkin plant; a 3 feet deep hole filled with the all organic matter you can see at the pic and blended together with good soil (soil solarization) to create a perfect starting environment for the plant. On the surface I put on a layer (4"-5") of soil only. To make a big hole like this I use both soildrill and spade. THE KEY TO “GROW’EM BIG” IS DEEP AND GOOD SOIL!!!
 
Saturday, December 6 View Page
Every fall I also drill down lots of wood chips in my pumpkin patch. The wood chips I make myself. As you can see at the pic; first I kept them in buckets full of urine, during a couple of weeks or more. Of course you can use any kind of manure water with lots of nitrogen.
 
Friday, December 12 View Page
DINNER-TIME FOR MY PUMPKIN SOIL!!! 2-3 times a week the bucket of kitchen refuse is full. I never use any kind of composted material I want the nutrient in the soil, not in the air.
 
Friday, December 19 View Page
Me and my outdoor lavatory. My pumpkin soil love the stuff from it (in drilled holes).
 
Tuesday, December 23 View Page
To prevent freezing, I cover my pumpkin soil with leaves.
 
Wednesday, December 24 View Page
Greetings on the night when the (pump)King was born! A Merry Chrismas to all of you ... and next year we will grow’em big!
 
Sunday, December 28 View Page
In order to load my pumpkin soil with maximum amount of nutrients, I also keep cans (with small holes in the bottom) filled with old pumpkins, manure and water. After a few days I fill up the cans with more water (if needed), and a few weeks later I move the cans a bit, and then fill up with more pumpkins (or other good stuff) and water. This is this year’s last message from me, so I take the chance to wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR! And thanks for the positive feedback I got from a lot of you! Maybe I’ll continue to publish pictures and messages on this site next year, we’ll see...
 

 

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