Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 172 Entries. Sunday, January 2 View Page Day 35 for the 805 Pukos fruit, still gaining a steady 20 pounds a day. Tennis ball at bottom for scale. Has been a cooler than average summer, so hopefully it will grow on longer than previous years. Just starting to cantaloupe up around the stem end. Fighting powdery mildew daily, can't get it under control. The plant has most of its leaves green so it should keep packing on the pounds. Fertilized today with kelp and calcium. Measures on day 35: Circ 119", SS 77", EE 73", OTT 269" and EST at 403 pounds!   Monday, January 3 View Page 876 Mombert fruit on day 20. Crossed with the 845 Bobier, 19 foot out on the main. The only one to take on the main, used only one 845 male. It was a seedy blossom 4 lober, so it it gets big it may split. The plant is maxed out at 600sqft, one fruit, looks like it could get very big. Only half the vines are buried, but the rest have rooted down very well. Big green leaves and mildew not too bad.... anyway enough rambling! Day 20 Circ 73.5", SS 47", EE 49", OTT 169.5" and EST at 109 pounds!   Monday, January 3 View Page 876 Mombert day 20, est 109 pounds!   Monday, January 3 View Page 919 Holland fruit on day 34, has slowed down gained 22 a day last 3 days. Loosened up the vine by uprooting a few secondary's and digging under the main, which allowed the vine to drop below ground level. Will be OK on stem stress for a while. Getting huge, plenty of time to grow yet! Day 34: Circ 133", SS 91", EE 83", OTT 307" and EST at 595 pounds!!! Measured all other fruit: 1 919 Holland 133" est 595 2 1036 Perez 104" est 293 3 741 Eaton 101" est 272 4 950.4 Boyton 90" est 204 5 699 Schroeder 89" est 198 6 711.5 Handy 87" est 187 7 140 Boyton 80" est 152(MV), 52" on SV 8 807 Beachy 68" est 100 9 801 Beachy 63" est 82(SV), 42" on MV 10 960 LaRue 35" est 17 11 156 Gerry 22" Looks like a set on the 572 Andrews, 374 Boyton and 644 Beachy. Weeds have gone crazy over last week! Going to clean up around the best plants tomorrow. Also a bit of pruning and burying. Protected 2 females on the 156 Gerry and 572 Andrews, will pollinate with pollen from home...   Tuesday, January 4 View Page Five lober on the 156 Gerry(1230 Daletas x 845 Bobier), about 14 foot out on the main. Made a controlled pollination with 2 845 Bobier males, should be a good cross! The 156 plant is growing aggressively and is getting big, could get to a decent size!   Tuesday, January 4 View Page 4 lober on the 572 Andrews 02(846 Calai x self/455.4 Andrews), about 18 foot out on the main. Used 2 845 Bobier males in the controlled pollination. The 572 plant is an absolute rippa, big leaves growing very aggressively. Needs a good weed and bury though, hopefully tomorrow. Spent 4 hours at the patch, about 3 hours on the 919 plant, pruning, weeding and burying. The last hour was spent freeing up the 758 Wallace(846 Calai x 705 Stelts) growing next to the 919. The 758 was totally choked in 3 foot high weeds. A great looking plant with main vine out over 15 foot, hope I can get one set on it! Buried all the vines. Weeds are growing crazily, hope to do tidy up a few plants a day over the next 5 days before I go back to work....   Thursday, January 6 View Page Day 37 for the 919 Holland and its gained 22 a day last 3 days. Starting to get some ribs now and roughening up. Plant is in good order, a little powdery mildew though popping up. Took the hounds along, Molly the chocolate lab and Jenna the gold one. Day 37: Circ 137", SS 95", EE 86", OTT 318" and EST at 660 pounds!!! Measured all other fruit 1 919 Holland 137" est 660!!! big white wheel, should go heavy! 2 1036 Perez 110" est 337, very blocky would EST more OTT! 3 741 Eaton 105" est 300, long white, symetrical, very smooth! 4 699 Schroeder 96" est 240, will be orange 5 711.5 Handy 91" est 210, big ribs and very orange in the end 6 950.4 Boyton 90" est 204, no growth 46 days old, 3 more set on plant 7 140 Boyton 82" est 161, SV 64" est 86, Mr birdbath and Mr Small blocky 8 807 Beachy 80" est 152, beautiful shape and colour! 9 801 Beachy 76" est 133(SV), MV 53" est 53, Magnificent long fruit 10 960 LaRue 42" est 29, white little spud on tiny weedy plant 11 156 Gerry 32" est 13, one of the twins very round, yellow long stem 12 644 Beachy 22", 2 set way out on main, very aggressive plant! 13 583 Nepereny 22", big healthy plant with 3 mains, one fruit! 14 572 Andrews 22"(SV), looks like there's a MV set! Spent a few hours pulling weeds around the 699, 807 and 644. Made a big difference, too many weeds to take care of!   Thursday, January 6 View Page I let one grow on the side vine of the 919 Holland, again a wheel and a lot more yellow in colour. A bit of a shock absorber, now only growing on less than a quarter of a stem and 64" circ, will let it limp to maturity. The 919 plant would cover 600sqft now, still have 6 or so vines growing... The 801 Beachy will produce the most beautiful of pumpkins. Young fruit are the most bright yellow I've seen. Its a very large plant, with a good one set way out on the main. Couldn't cull the beautiful 76"er on the side vine. Actually it is more like a secondary main. I severed the vine from the rest of the plant at the stump, will be enough leaves easily to bring it to maturity without taking away from the main vine fruit. Should top 300 pounds, hopefully much bigger on the main vine. The 140 Boyton fruit fell flat on its stem over the vine and continues to grow birdbath style, will have to get a pic of it soon, nice light orange colour..... The 807 Beachy also has a beauty set on the main that will have great orange colour. Looks like it is picking up the pace too and could get to a decent size, its gained 17 a day last 3, and the other main fruit was culled today. Pumpkins on the 807 have very long stems!   Friday, January 7 View Page Day 40 for the 805 Pukos, gained average of 13 a day last 5 days, slowing up. Showing light orange and a hint of green, plenty of cantalouping happening. Going to end up a nice fruit, and I dare guess it will weigh heavy! Day 40 Circ 126.5", SS 80.5", EE 76.5", OTT 283.5" and EST at 470 pounds!!! Powdery mildew is a real problem, keep on spraying but there's always more lurking. Continue's to be a very cool for average summer, hope they will keep on growing. Other home measures: 845 Bobier x 1301.5 Eaton on side vine is now 27 days old. Gaining 10 a day now at 80" circ est 152. Looks like the one set at 36 foot has taken, its at 22.5" on day 9, with a possibility it may grow fast. The main vine has popped off the edge of the garden and is 47 foot long, going to keep it going, maybe break the record for the longest main vine.... lol! 1301.5 Eaton x 845 Bobier, 23 foot out on main vine is now also 27 days old gaining about 12 pounds a day. Now 69.5", EST 106 pounds. Ugly shape, white and blocky. The entire old end of the plant is all yellowed now, cut off a stack of leaves for a few 876 vines to grow over the top. Allowed an extra 200 sqft of leaves to extend onto the grass and right up to the house. The main vine would be over 45 foot long right now. It wilts on even the coolest of days... I'll save the better news about the 876 till tomorrow on day 25.....   Saturday, January 8 View Page Day 25 for the 876 Mombert, growing decently at 22 a day the last 5. Going good for the amount of powdery mildew on the plant. Impossible to control, guess shade cloth is good for reducing heat damage/wind. But builds a haven for mildew. Again not going to be a huge one, probably shooting for around 600, time will tell. Hopefully no split with the seedy blossom! Day 25 Circ 96.5", SS 59", EE 60.5", OTT 217" and EST at 217 pounds!!!   Saturday, January 8 View Page Little white spud on the 960 LaRue(1337.6 Houghton x 898 Knauss)about 42" circ, hopefully it will make it to maturity. Plant covers less than 50sqft shrouded in weeds. Even though open pollinated the genetics will be there, with only possible pollinators being- 950.4, 711.5, 741, 1036, 919 and 494*. Fruit had something bore into the side of it, hopefully it won't take it down....   Saturday, January 8 View Page 741 Eaton fruit, estimated at 300 pounds, 105" circ on day 37.   Saturday, January 8 View Page 711.5 Handy fruit estimated 210 pounds at 91" circ. Ribby!   Saturday, January 8 View Page 1036 Perez fruit estimated at 337 pounds, 110" circ. Getting very big, should top 500 pounds, time will tell!   Saturday, January 8 View Page Picture shows most of the 919 Holland plant. Plant is in very good order indeed, has only lost a few leaves right at the stump. Pumpkin is poking out from under its cover, needs a bigger tarp. Sprayed for powdery mildew with baking soda/bleach/dawn. Killed two birds with one stone and threw in Talstar and Merit in the same batch. Seems to keep insects away for about 3 weeks amazingly! Hopefully the pumpkin can keep on growing for another 3 weeks!   Saturday, January 8 View Page 758 Wallace(846 Calai x 705 Stelts) Plant is now free from weeds, looks like one is set on the main!   Saturday, January 8 View Page 801 Beachy(846 Calai x 705 Stelts) Picture of the beautiful colour, looks like it will be the most brilliant of orange when mature. Fruit is on the now severed secondary main and measures 76" circ, EST 133 pounds!   Saturday, January 8 View Page Pumpkin on the 699 Schroeder(803.4 Davies x 821 Garrell) Growing quite well, its 96" circ, EST 240 pounds! Sprayed for mildew and bugs on the plant, did a fair bit of weeding too! Looks like it will be orange, not grey like Mike's 1028.5* off the 699! Talk about a grower proving his own seedstock!!! Well done Mike!!!   Saturday, January 8 View Page Birdbath growing flat on its back on the 140 Boyton(totally unknown genetics)Only 4 foot out from the stump, 82" circ, EST 161 pounds! Don't think it will get too much bigger...   Tuesday, January 11 View Page Growth on the 919 Holland continues at 22 a day over last 5! No sign of weak spots yet, although the ribs are getting a lot bigger. Placed 4 mice bait stations in icecream containers around the most promising fruit. Hope the mice will stay away! Forgot to take out the camera and get a pic.... 919 Holland on day 42: Circ 146", SS 100", EE 90", OTT 336" and EST at 777 pounds!!! Measured the following fruit, hard to find some as the weeds are getting large! 1 919 Holland 146" est 777, shock absorber 73" 2 1036 Perez 113" est 360 3 741 Eaton 110" est 337 4 699 Schroeder 107" est 314 5 807 Beachy 96" est 240, beautiful light orange fruit! 6 711.5 Handy 94" est 227 7 950.4 Boyton 91" est 210, 3 others on plant at 78",43",40" 8 140 Boyton 86" est 182, sv 66" est 93 9 801 Beachy 80" est 152(sv), (mv) 70" est 108 10 156 Gerry 54" est 55 11 583 Nepereny 44" est 32 12 644 Beachy 37" est 20 13 572 Andrews 36" est 19(sv), (mv) 28", have funny noses! 14 374 Boyton 32" est 13 Seems to be a set on the 758 Wallace and 191 Gerry!   Wednesday, January 12 View Page Day 45 for the 805 Pukos and growth has nearly stopped, about 6 pounds a day. Getting more colour, light orange, bit of pink and fair amount of green. Again I dare say this one will weigh heavy, it thumps like a rock. It could well creep along for another 5 weeks..... Day 45 Measure: Circ 131", SS 81", EE 78", OTT 290" and EST at 503 pounds!!!   Wednesday, January 12 View Page Pic of the entire 845 Bobier plant. More than half the plant is sprawled out on the grass, it must cover 600sqft. Main vine deadheaded yesterday by the hound Jenna as it hung out of the garden at 48 foot long. Fruit at the top is on the 2nd secondary and est at 226 pounds. Mainvine fruit is 36 foot out, and growing well so far, 42" circ on day 14. Pic also shows the 10 foot high sunflower, now bent over by the weight of the seedhead, about 12" wide(it recieved no special attention)   Wednesday, January 12 View Page Pic of the sidevine fruit on the 845. Its growing about 2" in circ each day. Crossed with the 1301.5 Eaton. Measures on day 32: Circ 88", SS 69", EE 63", OTT 220" and EST at 226 pounds...   Wednesday, January 12 View Page Pic of the 1301.5 Eaton plant. Fruit is at 23 foot out on the main growing slowly about 12 a day, somewhere around the 160 pound mark. Its crossed with the 845. Most of the green leaves are out on the grass and concrete right up to the house! Shows the progression of disease in the leaves... The main vine was fried off today in the 102F temps. The next 4 days are predicted to hit 105F in the shade! Big heatwave, could hurt growth quite a lot...   Thursday, January 13 View Page Day 30 for the 876 Mombet, has gained 19 a day last 5. Quite yellow so far, has a tiny stem. Low and long, guessing it will top out around 550 pounds. Mildew is killing growth, spaying is not removing the white build up... Measures: Circ 113", SS 66", EE 67", OTT 246" and EST at 311 pounds!   Friday, January 14 View Page 845 Bobier leaves, sitting in the 109F temps. Slight lack of crispness, 105F is no problem!   Friday, January 14 View Page 1301.5 Eaton leaves sitting in the 109F temps. Wilting for sure, not pretty, misting hardly perks them back up. Big difference to the 845!   Friday, January 14 View Page Day 45 for the 919 Holland, and its still growing 19 a day over the last 3. Holding together so far, but some of the rib creases are looking ominous! Barely a tear on the fruit, just roughening up. Showing the a few patches of pink. The vine is laying on the ground with both shoulders touching it. Managed to loosen it again by digging underneath, and it can grow some more! Left the 77" shock absorber on, as its barely growing being attached by a tenth of a stem... Day 45 Measure: Circ 150", SS 102", EE 92", OTT 344" and EST at 833 pounds!!! Fruit on the 950.4 Boyton went down today, due to mice. Rolled it over and found the nest. Recovered about 400 nice big seeds. It measured 91/56/55, 202ott so seeds will be called 177 est Boyton 2005(950.4 Boyton x open) Fruit on the 960 LaRue went down also. No growth on the 1036 Perez and 711.5 Handy, I suspect mice again...... Didn't get time to measure the rest, as the sun went down. It hit 112F at Castlereagh today, too hot to get decent growth! Colin put on the sprinklers during the hottest part, ground is nice and moist!   Friday, January 14 View Page Stem end on the 833est. Vine is on the ground, stem stretched vertically upwards. Mouse bait laid out. Stem is perfect so far. Notice the small pink patches.......   Friday, January 14 View Page Side view of the 833est. Big beanbag wheel!!! Guessing the cavity would be smallish, may weigh on charts or heavy!!! Fingers crossed!!!   Sunday, January 16 View Page 805 Pukos fruit at 49 days old. Didn't measure, but it hasn't grown much. Better photo, shows the green and pink colour...   Sunday, January 16 View Page Stem side of the 805 fruit, 49 days old, estimated a bit over 500 pounds. Problem free, thumps like a rock! The digital camera has packed it in, will have to buy another to keep the pictures coming. Served me well for 3 years, Sony Cybershot 3.2 megapixel. All photo's have been on the lowest resolution 640 x 480 pixel's... 845 Bobier main vine fruit is growing strongly, now at 68" circ on day 18, EST 100 pounds. Gained 21 pounds today!!! Hope it can start packing on 30 a day soon. Gave it a good kelp/calcium drench today. Most leaves are very green!   Monday, January 17 View Page Fruit on the 572 Andrews 02(846 Calai x self/455.4 Andrews), sitting on a very thick main vine and open pollinated. At 59" circ, EST 70 pounds. Plant is in very good order, with very green healthy leaves. Culled side vine fruit that was a little bigger. The funny nose on it is filling out.....lol.   Monday, January 17 View Page Pumpkin on 699 Schroeder(803.4 Davies x 821 Garrell) Growing quite well, however it has a lot of juice leaking from around the stem area, may be rot setting in.... 2nd biggest at the patch, measures: Circ 117", SS 78", EE 80", OTT 275 and EST at 430 pounds!   Monday, January 17 View Page Pumpkin on 801 Beachy(846 Calai x 705 Stelts) On the main vine and growing decently, now at 89" circ and EST 198 pounds! Plant in in very good order. Side vine fruit which is separated from the main plant is at 85" circ, EST 177 pounds! Will have very nice colour!   Monday, January 17 View Page Stem rot on the 1036 Perez fruit :( Hasn't rotted all the way, just a matter of time. No growth in the last week. Seeds in it might be mature. It measures 113/77/74, ott 264" EST 382 pounds....   Monday, January 17 View Page Pumpkin on the 807 Beachy(801.5 Stelts x 876.5 Lloyd) Same cross as the 846 Calai. My favorite pumpkin of the season, even though not the biggest. Beautiful light orange, great shape and long stem! Growing decently and measures: Circ 108", SS 74", EE 70", OTT 252" and EST at 334 pounds!   Monday, January 17 View Page 919 Holland fruit on day 48! Has slowed down to 12 pounds a day over last 3. Plant is showing a fair amount of mildew, needs a spray.The ends of a few vines looked like mosiac had hit. Cut off the bad leaves and deadheaded every vine. Also pruned every tertiary, male and tiny fruit. Had a bit of a shocker and severed the wrong secondary that the shock absorber was on, then found the right one and severed it. So the main vine fruit lost 40 leaves, which will no doubt slow down growth. Hopefully it will just keep on gaining slowly for another 3 weeks and make it over the line! Set up 6 mousetraps around the fruit for extra insurance, baited with pepita's, lol. Going to give the plant its first fertilize(lightly) in a few days, hopefully keep it growing a bit. Amazing it has made it this big with no ferts used! Not going to measure for another week, as growth is slowing. Day 48 Measure: Circ 151.5", SS 103", EE 93", OTT 347.5" and EST at 858 pounds!!! List of Castlereagh fruit on 17/1: 1 919 Holland 151.5" ott 347.5" est 858 2 699 Schroeder 117" ott 275" est 430 3 1036 Perez 113" ott 264" est 382 4 741 Eaton 114" ott 258" est 357 5 807 Beachy 108" ott 252" est 334 6 711.5 Handy 95" ott 236" est 276 7 801 Beachy 89" est 198(mv) 8 140 Boyton 89" est 198(mv) 9 801 Beachy 85" est 177(sv) 10 583 Nepereny 69" est 104 11 140 Boyton 67" est 96(sv) 12 374 Boyton 60" est 73 13 572 Andrews 59" est 70 14 644 Beachy 59" est 70(mv) 15 950.4 Boyton 55" est 58, 78" went down to blossom rot, plant bad shape 16 156 Gerry 50" est 45, 77"er had blossom split 17 644 Beachy 47" est 38(sv) 18 758 Wallace 39" est 23 19 191 Gerry 35" est 17   Monday, January 17 View Page 919 Holland fruit on day 48! Has slowed down to 12 pounds a day over last 3. Plant is showing a fair amount of mildew, needs a spray.The ends of a few vines looked like mosiac had hit. Cut off the bad leaves and deadheaded every vine. Also pruned every tertiary, male and tiny fruit. Had a bit of a shocker and severed the wrong secondary that the shock absorber was on, then found the right one and severed it. So the main vine fruit lost 40 leaves, which will no doubt slow down growth. Hopefully it will just keep on gaining slowly for another 3 weeks and make it over the line! Set up 6 mousetraps around the fruit for extra insurance, baited with pepita's, lol. Going to give the plant its first fertilize(lightly) in a few days, hopefully keep it growing a bit. Amazing it has made it this big with no ferts used! Not going to measure for another week, as growth is slowing. Day 48 Measure: Circ 151.5", SS 103", EE 93", OTT 347.5" and EST at 858 pounds!!! List of Castlereagh fruit on 17/1: 1 919 Holland 151.5" ott 347.5" est 858 2 699 Schroeder 117" ott 275" est 430 3 1036 Perez 113" ott 264" est 382, last legs 4 741 Eaton 114" ott 258" est 357 5 807 Beachy 108" ott 252" est 334 6 711.5 Handy 95" ott 236" est 276 7 801 Beachy 89" est 198(mv) 8 140 Boyton 89" est 198(mv) 9 801 Beachy 85" est 177(sv) 10 583 Nepereny 69" est 104 11 140 Boyton 67" est 96(sv) 12 374 Boyton 60" est 73 13 572 Andrews 59" est 70 14 644 Beachy 59" est 70(mv) 15 950.4 Boyton 55" est 58, 78" went down to blossom rot, plant bad shape 16 156 Gerry 50" est 45, 77"er had blossom split 17 644 Beachy 47" est 38(sv) 18 758 Wallace 39" est 23 19 191 Gerry 35" est 17   Tuesday, January 18 View Page Made a trip out to Castlreagh and sprayed the 919 for powdery mildew. Checked the mouse traps, and bingo! 2 dirty mice caught! Reset the traps! Funny they are baited with pumpkin seed! Checked the fruit, no problems. A bit more colour appearing, more pink and a little green. Ribs around the stem are seeming to grow varicose veins, hopefully meaning more weight!   Tuesday, January 18 View Page 876 Mombert fruit now 35 days old, gaining a steady 20 pounds a day the last 5. Looks big but is very low to the ground, problem free so far. Measures: Circ 126", SS 72", EE 73", OTT 271" and EST at 412 pounds!   Tuesday, January 18 View Page 845 Bobier fruit now 20 days old. Crossed with the 1301.5 Eaton and 36 foot out on the main vine, on a flag style plant. A lot of the leaves are sitting on the grass, but it hasn't hurt the early growth. Its a late set fruit but maybe the 845 will start to stomp again! Lost 5 leaves today to the hound Jenna, plenty left! Leaves are very green! Measures: Circ 77", SS 56", EE 54", OTT 187" and EST at 143 pounds!   Wednesday, January 19 View Page Not a pretty picture of the stem split on the 845 side viner. Not through to the cavity, but looking dangerous. Measured the 6 fruit growing at home: 805x1301.5 mv day 52 - 133/82.5/79, ott 294.5 est 526 876x845 mv day 36 - 127.5/72/74, ott 273.5 est 423 845x1301.5 sv day 39 - 98.5/76/68 ott 242.5 est 298 1301.5x845 mv day 39 - 96/75/70 ott 241 est 293 845x1301.5 mv day 21 - 80.5/58/57 ott 195.5 est 162 1301.5x805 sv day 49 - 61" circ est 76 Not going to be any huge one's, indicates the patch is need of some serious prep work before next season!   Wednesday, January 19 View Page Cracks that opened today on the 845 sidevine fruit! Don't know why, its only gaining 10 pounds a day.....   Saturday, January 22 View Page Fruit on 758 Wallace(846x705). Plant is very healthy and green, fruit is on the main vine and 59" in circumference, EST 70 pounds!   Saturday, January 22 View Page 919 Holland pumpkin on day 53. Picture doesn't look much different, but its growing bigger, gaining 13 a day last 5 days! Fruit is problem free all over! Leaves are falling over, but there are hundreds of green ones left, enough to keep it growing decently! Reset the 6 mousetraps with fresh bait, no sign of mouse damage.... Measures on day 53: Circ 154", SS 106", EE 96", OTT 356" and EST at 923 pounds!!!(on 2003 chart) Planning on weighing the beast on day 67, in 2 weeks time. Hopefully it can hit 1000est by then, could be looking good for a new Australain record! Unless of course Ken Holden is going to kick my butt 3 years running! LOL I heard a rumour he was growing a 1097.5 so I may be pipped again..... also anything can happen in 2 weeks in this game!   Saturday, January 22 View Page Side view of the 919 Holland wheel on day 53, estimated at 923 pounds!!!   Saturday, January 22 View Page Rear view of 919 Holland fruit on day 53 estimated at 923 pounds! Shoulders are huge and showing veins. More colour showing now, pink, light orange and a fair amount of green??? Is going green where its only covered by the blue tarp and no blanket. Front side covered by blanket is pure whitey. Must say something for light affecting colour???   Sunday, January 23 View Page Bit of a gory picture! Well its all over for the 1036 Perez fruit. The stem totally rotted off the vine. Cut it open and retrieved a good number of big seeds, over 400 and fully developed! Photo shows the stem rot, that had worked its way into the cavity, only just. It was beginning to juice up and smell, got seeds out just in time. Flesh around stem was 7" thick, about 4" the rest of the fruit. Seeds will be called 382 Boyton est 2005 - 1036 Perez x open. Will be a good seed as the only possible pollinators at the time also have very good genetics....   Sunday, January 23 View Page View of the stem end of the 711.5 Handy fruit. Not big but it looks like it will be heavy, should weigh it for curiosity's sake.... Nice colour from the 801.5 Stelts in it. It measures 96/71/72, ott 239 and EST 286 pounds! Had 1.5" of rain over the last 24 hours, was worried about it splitting the big one on the 919. Cut the end off every secondary vine, to hopefully bleed the extra water out and not blow the fruit. Was still in good order. Also measured the rest of the fruit in the rain, getting quite wet. The weeds are incredible growing in chicken manure, some approaching 6 foot high, grass averages 4 foot high! Measures: 1 919 Holland 154", ott 356 est 923 2 699 Schroeder 123", ott 290 est 503 3 741 Eaton 115", ott 262 est 374 4 807 Beachy 111", ott 260 est 365 5 711.5 Handy 96", ott 239 est 286 6 801 Beachy(mv) 95", ott 223 est 235 7 140 Boyton(mv) 91" est 210 8 801 Beachy(sv) 88" est 193 9 919 Holland(sv) 82", ott 200 est 172 10 583 Nepereny 82" est 161 11 374 Boyton 77" est 138 12 644 Beachy(mv) 73" est 120 13 572 Andrews 72" est 116 14 140 Boyton(sv) 68" est 100 15 191 Gerry 63" est 82 16 758 Wallace 63" est 82 17 644 Beachy(sv) 63" est 82   Sunday, January 23 View Page 876 Mombert fruit on day 40. Has gained 12 pounds a day the last 5. Circ 132", SS 75", EE 77", OTT 284" and EST at 473 pounds!   Sunday, January 23 View Page 845 Bobier fruit on day 25. Again not going to be a huge one, gained 19.6 pounds a day the last 5. Fruit on the sidevine split into the cavity today, will cut it off soon and hopefully this one will gain quicker. Nice smooth white blocky shape! Circ 96", SS 69", EE 67", OTT 225" and EST at 241 pounds!   Thursday, January 27 View Page Game over for the 845 Bobier sideviner. Collapsed today, 47 days old, spewing out seeds. Last measure on day 39 was 98.5/76/68, ott 242.5", est 298 pounds. Collected 450 big white fully developed seeds, with plenty of potential, another great cross probably never to be grown! 298 Boyton 2005 est - F: 845 Bobier 2000 uow - M: 1301.5 Eaton 2003 Meanwhile the mainvine fruit is growing steady at around 22 a day. Have given up on the mildew on the 876, 805 and 1301.5. Pumpkins are old and hardly growing. Leaves are pretty much all white. Need to find a better solution for mildew next year....   Friday, January 28 View Page Day 30 for the 845 Bobier mainvine fruit 36 foot out. Has gained 25.6 pounds a day the last 5, picking up the pace when the split sideviner was removed. Mildew is getting a foothold, needs immediate attention! The leaves are losing their health, going yellow around the edges a lot of them. Must be deficient in something, or some sort of disease. Its the only fruit left at home thats growing now... Day 30 Circ 109", SS 79", EE 73", OTT 261" and EST at 369 pounds!   Friday, January 28 View Page Day 45 for the 876 Mombert fruit and growth has almost stopped. The plant is a total whiteout with mildew. Weather has been incredibly humid last week. Have given up on spraying, doubt it will grow much more. Day 45: Circ 134.5", SS 76", EE 78", OTT 288.5" and EST at 495 pounds!   Friday, January 28 View Page Fruit on 1301.5 Eaton chugging along very slowly on a sick plant. Ugly shape, one side has grown bigger, maybe uneven pollination? Seeds from this pumpkin will definately throw white giants, its crossed with the 845. Day 47: Circ 103", SS 76", EE 74", OTT 253" and EST at 338 pounds!   Friday, January 28 View Page Fruit on sidevine of 1301.5 Eaton. Ugly little fruit that never got growing. Crossed with 805 Pukos, the seeds from it would have huge potential... Its now 58 days old, circumference is only 61" About 76 pounds....   Friday, January 28 View Page 805 Pukos fruit now 61 days old and barely growing. The blossom stub fell off a few days ago with rot. Now the rot has extended into the blossom a good inch. I suspect it weighs a lot more than estimated, and will cut it into pieces tomorrow to get an unofficial weight while it is still possible. The digital bathroom scales I have are dead accurate, so will be interesting! Fruit thumps like an absolute rock! I like the cross - 805 x 1301.5!!! Day 61: Circ 134.5", SS 83", EE 79", OTT 296.5" and EST at 536 pounds!   Friday, January 28 View Page Rear view of 805 fruit. Plenty of interesting colours and textures! Has to weigh heavy, will find out tomorrow....   Friday, January 28 View Page Weighed the 805 fruit, cut into 35 pieces and weighed each on digital scale. First piece weighed 5.4 KG. Its accurate to 0.1 of a KG.   Friday, January 28 View Page The rot hadn't yet made its way into the cavity. Flesh on top and sides about 6 inches thick, Blossom end about 4"...   Friday, January 28 View Page Task almost complete, not a fun job. Would much rather drop it on a scale intact! Flesh around stem end was very thick, over 9 inches in thickest parts!   Friday, January 28 View Page Job done! Added up all the weights and very happy to report it went 3.8% heavy!!!! Great, after having everything in the past go very light! Final weight 252.5 KG x 2.2046 = 556.6 pounds!!! 556.6 Boyton 2005 UOW F - 805 Pukos 2000 M - 1301.5 Eaton 2003 Fruit was flawless, no internal cracks. Had an awesome seed count for a 4 lober, around 540! I'm sure now the seeds in the 919 fruit will be awesome, as it was pollianted with the 805!   Saturday, January 29 View Page Well they say you learn something every day.... Thanks to Martin Reiss for suggesting I had spider mites causing the leaves to go yellow and die. And sure enough, closer inspection of the yellowing leaves revealed they were there and in great force. Tiny mites, as well as a good deal of aphids! Picture shows leaves on the 845 Bobier, have been getting sicker over the last 2 weeks. Have sprayed no insecticide on any of the plants at home, and result is the sick leaves. Closer inspection of the 1301.5, 876 and 805 revealed the same problem, with the 1301.5 having them big time. Lesson learnt, will be ready for next year. Gave the 845 a complete spray with Talstar and Merit. Hopefully the pumpkin on the plant will continue to grow well, even with the leaf damage.....   Sunday, January 30 View Page Double thumbs up from the happy grower! Brad & I stopped in to check out the fruit on the way back from a mountain bike ride. Appears to have grown a lot, however measurement indicated 4 pounds a day over the last 8. Planning on weighing it next weekend as growth is almost done..... Day 61: Circ 157", SS 106", EE 97", OTT 360" and EST at 954 pounds!!! Going to be close to the 1000 mark, hopefully it will at least top the 970 Australian record that Ken Holden set! But you never know till it rests on a scale. It could go light...... Having a very cool summer and seeing the 805 fruit weigh heavy seems promising. Also the wheel shape!!!   Sunday, January 30 View Page Another pleasant suprise from Castlereagh! The 699 Schroeder pumpkin. Plant had no care and its taping out at 292 ott, estimated 513 pounds! Imagine what it could do when looked after! Ask Mike and he will tell you 1028.5!   Sunday, January 30 View Page Beautiful fruit on the 801 Beachy main vine! Other 801 fruit is just as nice! This one tapes at 236 OTT, estimated 276 pounds. Didn't measure any other fruit while I was out there. Had a look and found a lot of the fruit will go down to rot. 711.5 Handy is sunburnt, rotting from the top. 741 Eaton is going bad around the stem, however the all Eaton cross will be intact as the fruit is 61 days old(741x1301.5) 919 Holland sideviner is intact, but has no leaves supporting it. 758 Wallace is growing fine. 583 Nepereny is going down with rot. 644 Beachy has 2 healthy 100 pounds barrels on it. 140 Boyton has 2 intact fruit. 699 Schroeder is looking great, might be able to weigh it next weekend, 513 EST! 807 Beachy is unfortunately going down with blossom rot :( 191 Gerry is in good shape. 374 Boyton going down with rot, also the 572 Andrews rotting at the blossom. Hard to get em to maturity out there with the weeds, could be a full time job!   Wednesday, February 2 View Page 919 Holland at day 64, gaining size very slowly. Have decided to let it go another week before weighing it on day 74. Might continue to add a few pounds a day, but I'll be kicking myself if it splits during the extra week!Dreaming 1000, the show ain't over yet. Plant has about 200 leaves left, about 50 of them new pop up vines. Colin spread a little "banana special" pellets over the plant area, a low strength balanced granular fertilizer, and watered in a few days ago. First fert of any kind! Might just give it the boost to get it up to 1000 est over the next 10 days. Didn't need to water it in, as we had an absolutely wicked storm downpour of 2.5" in a few hours. Talk about worry with splitting at the 11th hour!!! Again I cut off the ends of all secondary vines to bleed out any excess water. Has survived so far, no rain for the last week would be great! Pumpkin thumps like a rock, think it will last another week, and hopefully heavy! Picture shows the clear line of green where the white quilt stops and the blue tarp only covers. Starting to look a little squashy.... Day 64: Circ 158", SS 107", EE 97", OTT 362" and EST at 970 pounds!!! Fruit on the 711.5 Handy collapsed, think the mice got every seed out of it. Harvested the seeds from the 741 Eaton(crossed with the 1301.5 Eaton) Again mice had got into the fruit, and there was a bait station right where they chewed through. Had over 700 seeds in it, they have much potential! Measured 115/73/75, ott 263", seeds will be called 378 Boyton 2005 est.   Wednesday, February 2 View Page 919 Holland stem end on day 64, a lot of green there! Accurate measurement of the distance of the fruit on the main is actually 11 foot out, not 15 like I mentioned earlier. The main was deadheaded by heat burn at about 14 foot......   Wednesday, February 2 View Page Molly and Jenna(reluctantly) posing with the 1301.5 Eaton x 805 Pukos. Made it to maturity 64 days old, weight on bathroom scales was 33KG or 72.7 pounds. Plenty of potential in the seeds, could be another 21 Beachy type... lol   Thursday, February 3 View Page Day 36 for the 845 Bobier fruit. Slowed down to 15 a day the last 6. Plant is real bad shape now, as we had a huge windstorm, with a bit of hail in it too. Guessing it will not get too much bigger. Still perfectly smooth all over. It opened up 3 medium stem splits a few days back. Hope it doesn't suffer the same fate as the sideviner.... Day 36: Circ `121", SS 84", EE 76", OTT 281" and EST at 458 pounds!   Friday, February 4 View Page 876 Mombert fruit on day 51, a few days ago, sitting on 289" ott, EST at 498 pounds! Games over though as rot is developing at the blossom end, same as the 805 fruit. Might be deficient in calcium???   Friday, February 4 View Page 876 Mombert blossom end. A tiny pinhole developed to the cavity. Suspected it might happen with the seedy blossom. Plugged it with blue-tac, removed all rotten flesh and dusted with mancozeb. Think it will weigh close to the charts. Will see if it can go another 4 days to fatten up the seeds, then weigh it in pieces. Its 53 days old right now. Has the very best of genetics, as the mother seed(1005 Mombert was 723 Bobier x 846 Calai) crossed with the 845 Bobier, which produced the 876 Mombert, which I also crossed with 845 Bobier pollen!   Monday, February 7 View Page 919 Holland fruit on day 69! Nice photo angle! 5 days to weigh in, and looking like it will make it! No measurable size gain over the last 5 days but I'm hoping its growing internally. Anticipation is building as the big day draws near! Still estimated equal to the Australian record.... 970, Need it to go a tad over 3% heavy for the magic 1000 mark. Have contacted the press about the biggy, might get a bit of coverage on weighing day. No matter what the fruit weigh's I am happy with the result. Has been a great ride! Collected the seeds out of the 919 side vine, 172est. Also the 801 Beachy SV, 193est. 807 Beachy, 365 est. Also the 2 140 Boyton fruits at 210 and 100 est. I suspect the 140 was pollinated by some sort of feild pumpkin, would be interesting to see what the 140's offspring would produce.... List of fruit in good condition: 919 Holland, big one 970est. 699 Schroeder, over 500 est. 644 Beachy has 2 healthy fruit 191 Gerry, must be about 200 758 Wallace, nice shape and colour about 200 est and that's it!!!   Tuesday, February 8 View Page Picture that appeared in the paper today! 11 month old Connor sits on the top, of course dad Dean is behind him out of shot making sure he doesn't fall. 4 days to go and see how much it weighs!   Wednesday, February 9 View Page The photo in the paper drummed up a huge amount of attention today! Fast asleep 6am and phone rings, its 2UE radio requesting a chat. 6:35am 2UE live on radio. 6:40am 3AW radio Melbourne, live answering questions. Off to work, then 1:30pm 4BC radio Brisbane, live on radio for about 5 minutes joking over how much pumpkin soup and scones it will make. Then a call from a TV program wanting to film some sort of documentary with the pumpkin and how to grow, etc. Again I said, "Yeah no problem!" Will get back to me, maybe do it on Monday.... Thought it was all over for the day. At home 5 messages on answering machine! Did another talkback show 8:10pm, a good five minutes or so! Will be doing talkback tomorrow on 2HD Newcastle. Also ABC radio Perth were interested, but talked to Wendy Stayner during the day. Will be doing a 6:30am talkback on the 2UE garden show, both Saturday and Sunday. Also might be having the channel 10 TV weather read live in front of the pumpkin tomorrow night, with probably a few questions thrown in. Host Tim Bailey, they wanted to do it there today.... Would be watched by at least half a million! We'll see tomorrow morning when I ring them back. Managed a few name drops of bigpumpkins.com today, which was good! All this before the pumpkin has even been cut from the vine. Hopefully its going to be of record weight!!!   Thursday, February 10 View Page Picture of the bad spot. Has probably been there a few days. Found today 2 days before weighin, just before news crew arrived. Damn! They filmed the pumpkin and myself and it appeared on channel 10 news, but didn't mention the split......   Thursday, February 10 View Page All ready to lift, will it hold together..... My wife Jo took all the photo's, came along for morale support.   Thursday, February 10 View Page Held together when lifted. Bottom of fruit intact and slightly concaved. Bad spot is quite small, hasn't lost much..... No mice damage, think the fruit was just old.....   Thursday, February 10 View Page Starting the journey back to the house and scales about 500 yards/metres. Walked with it and stopped it swinging....   Thursday, February 10 View Page Almost back to the house.....   Thursday, February 10 View Page Settling down on the scale, how much???   Thursday, February 10 View Page Scale read 444.1KG!!!! Times by 2.2046 equals 979 pounds!!! Awesome, almost 1000, bring on the next season!!!   Thursday, February 10 View Page 979 Boyton 2005 DMG, on scales with weight and hole visible.   Thursday, February 10 View Page Picture of Colin and myself in front of the pumpkin. Colin was very impressed by the weight, although by the photo you can't tell....   Thursday, February 10 View Page 979 resting under a big old Jacaranda tree. It will sit here for the next 3 days. A lot of people will stop by and see it before the seeds are taken out. Going to be quite smelly by then!   Thursday, February 10 View Page Also weighed the 699 Schroeder fruit. Good looking and perfectly sound! Weighed in about 4% heavy at 243KG or 535.7 pounds! Not bad at all for a plant given no care!   Thursday, February 10 View Page 535.7 and 979, under the tree's at the Dixon farm.   Friday, February 25 View Page While I had the scales I got a weight on the 1301.5 Eaton fruit. Est at 353, but weighed 3.9% heavy at 367 pounds! The walls were very thick around the stem end, but on the underdeveloped side it was down to 1 inch in places. If it grew evenly it would have went way heavy. The plant had the worst case of spider mites, otherwise it would have gone a lot bigger. Next year regular insecticide for sure! The seeds should be awesome its 1301.5 Eaton x 845 Bobier!!!   Friday, February 25 View Page Picture of the 979 DMG cut in half. Very thick around the stem, over 9"! The blossom had a small internal crack with flesh down to 2", other wise average 6" walls. Wasn't a pleasant task getting out the seeds, it had a good count over 600, but unfortunately around 100 had spoiled. About 500 left, plenty to share around. Should be a good cross, and grow big ugly pumpkins! 919 Holland(846 Calai x 966 Holland) X 805 Pukos(1092 Burke x 723 Bobier)!!! 979 was 1% heavy, pollintor plant fruit(556.6 UOW)went 3.8% heavy. As I reflect on the result I am happy! The heaviest fruit ever in the southern hemisphere! Not bad! Bring on next season!   Friday, February 25 View Page Last fruit from Castlereagh, hopefully these pumpkins will make the easter show on the 12th of March. The have been splashed with lime and rest under a shady tree. Left to Right: 535.7 (699 Schroeder x open) 191 Gerry fruit, about 200est 758 Wallace fruit, about 300est 644 Beachy fruit, about 200est   Friday, February 25 View Page Another view of the fruit that will hopefully make the show on the 12th of March. The 758 Wallace grows beutiful pumpkins!!!   Friday, February 25 View Page The only pumpkin I have left on a vine! Nice pumpkin on the 845 Bobier, 36 foot out. Is 59 days old and measures 126/85/81 - 292 ott, EST at 513 pounds! Great cross 845 x 1301.5! Same as the 298est, opposite of the 367. This one should make it to the Easer show in 2 weeks time. Don't think it will beat Ken Ryan's show record of 270KG, should weigh about 230KG. All my other seeds are dry, ready to send out. If anyone would like some send me an email, no problem! Boyton seeds available are: 979 DMG 919 Holland x 805 Pukos 556.6 UOW 805 Pukos x 1301.5 Eaton 490.5 UOW 876 Mombert x 845 Bobier 382 EST 1036 Perez x open 378 EST 741 Eaton x 1301.5 Eaton 367 1301.5 Eaton x 845 Bobier 365 EST 807 Beachy x open 298 EST 845 Bobier x 1301.5 Eaton 210 EST 140 Boyton x open 193 EST 801 Beachy x open 177 EST 950.4 Boyton x open 172 EST 919 Holland x open 100 EST 140 Boyton x open 72.7 UOW 1301.5 Eaton x 805 Pukos   Saturday, September 10 View Page Minutes after the arrival with the proud and exhausted parents - Alexander Charles Boyton! 8lb 8.5oz(3.86KG) on certified scale. Length 22" (54.5cm) Weighed in very heavy estimated at 7lb 4oz   Saturday, September 10 View Page Alexander at 12 weeks old! Is he ready to learn the art of pumpkin growing?   Thursday, September 22 View Page Let the 2005 season begin! Goal for this year is to grow a pumpkin big enough to make Alex look small in comparison! A 400 pounder will be large enough. The patch is still full of weeds now. Will add a 6 yards of year old chicken manure before turning in with a bobcat. That will be the only preparation at the last minute. Not expecting a monster this year, but you never know! Planning on growing 2 plants, though I might squeeze in a 3rd. Preferred seed choices: 1260.4 Weir 2001 F:845 Bobier 00 x 846 Calai 99 1097.5 Beachy 2002 F:845 Bobier 00 x 723 Bobier 99 Planting a few of my own for backup: 979 Boyton 2005(dmg) F:919 Holland 03 x 805 Pukos 00 697.3 Boyton 2004 F:600.5 Gregory 01 x 845 Bobier 00 Also a few extra backups that have me wondering....... 753 Lloyd 2004(est) F:846 Calai 99 x 845 Bobier 00 35 Gerry 2003(est) F:Prizewinner x 1230 Daletas 01 I also saw Colin out at Castlereagh today. He is going to plant about 30 979's, and take care of the strongest 3 or 4. I probably won't be able to help myself from stopping by occasionally to check it out. It will be interesting to see 30 of the same seed grown side by side! Once again hopefully my diary will be of interest as winter desecends upon the northern part of the globe!   Monday, September 26 View Page Just remembered this is my 2006 season! 80 hours later in the germination box first sign of dirt pushing up is from the 753 Lloyd. It is a huge seed and looks like it has the will to grow fastest! Thermostat keeps dirt constantly at 28C - 30C. As always it seems like forever until seeds sprout. Hoping they all germinate!   Wednesday, September 28 View Page Looks like I have bought a dodgy packet of seed raising mixture. Only 2 of 6 seedlings have popped up and they don't look very good at all. Perhaps another day under grow lights will get them looking right? Its been 5 days, 12 hours since seeds were soaked. No other action in the germinator box as yet, sweating on the 1260.....   Wednesday, September 28 View Page Looks like I have bought a dodgy packet of seed raising mixture. Only 2 of 6 seedlings have popped up and they don't look very good at all. Perhaps another day under grow lights will get them looking right? Its been 5 days, 12 hours since seeds were soaked. No other action in the germinator box as yet, sweating on the 1260.....   Thursday, September 29 View Page Last minute patch prep! Got my friend Dave over to spread the chicken manure, then mix in with the rest of the soil. Dave is the reason I am growing this year. He was shocked to hear I was having the year off. He also has a new son Jayden who is about 7 weeks older than Alex, and he was expecting a big pumpkin to get a photo with Jayden sitting on top. I couldn't let him down! The soil looks great, full of worms and possibly a lot better than last year. All the manure is now worm castings, anything is possible...... well we'll see how they grow. The weeds were the healthiest I've ever seen! Going naked minus shade cloth this year. Risking hail damage, but have a feeling I will have a better chance of a big one. I'm sure there will be less powdery mildew in the equation! Got a bit of work to do yet before transplanting, the soil was compacted by the machine in some places. Will loosen by hand and get the walking boards out. The chicken crap reeks, lol, hope I haven't overdone it.   Thursday, September 29 View Page Great news! The 1260.4 Weir germinated and is the only seedling that looks perfect! The 753 Lloyd is a bit crinkled but shoud be fine. Once again very funky cots on the 1097.5, which I remember having 2 years ago..... wonder if all 1097.5's look like this early on? It seems very solid otherwise. The 979 Boyton also popped and again is a strange one, with the center of each cot a bit rotten, might have something to do with the fruit rotting before seed harvest? Back in the box the 35 Gerry is almost up, no movement at all on the 697.3, its a great seed, only one I know of that was grown out weighed in for Eric Sundin at 989 pounds...... Its been 6 days and 8 hours since seeds were soaked.   Thursday, October 6 View Page 1260.4 Weir(845 Bobier x 846 Calai)Now transplanted into the patch. It will have about 500sqft. It is the weaker of 3 I have decided on, so far. Having the bobcat in the patch was not a good idea, as the wheels compacted some sections like concrete. Will have to hand turn over the entire patch (1400sqft). Time is short, have only prepared the 3 planting spots. Soil looks great, the majority of the patch is worm castings!The last 400 sqft I will grow some eating vege's also a long gourd and giant zuc.   Thursday, October 6 View Page 1097.5 Beachy(845 Bobier x 723 Bobier) Growing very well now, check out the 2nd true leaf! The funny cotyledons are now forgotten! This plant will have 500 sqft   Thursday, October 6 View Page 753 Lloyd(846 Calai x 845 Bobier) This is by far the strongest seedling! Had to give it a spot, but it will only get 300sqft of soil. Hopefully it will grow a nice orange coloured fruit. I have no weight goals or expectations this year, going to be interesting to see what grows!   Tuesday, October 11 View Page Alex's first time in the patch! 19 weeks old and already learning. I was teaching him, "See buddy, thats a 753 Lloyd plant, its got good genetics! The vine will run that way, down to towards the house. See in the middle, its growing its 4th true leaf."   Thursday, October 20 View Page So much for spending very little time in the patch! Everyday I've been putting in a few hours, trying to get the patch to a decent level of preparation. Sometimes working at night under lights. The pumpkin growing bug has bitten me again, well when I saw how good the seedlings were doing I couldn't just let them go! The picture show's the new fence I built with my neighbour a few weeks ago, and what I should have done 3 years ago. I've busted my butt to dig a trench, 20 inches deep, 17 foot long! The huge gumtree right next door had totally invaded the patch soil with fine roots. I severed at least 40 inch diameter roots that were leading directly into the patch. It should make a huge difference, at least with the soil staying moist! The soil is probably somewhat depleted though.   Thursday, October 20 View Page Triple layer of root barrier was then dropped into the trench. It was a lucky find! Its packaging from pallets of concrete slabs. It is very strong and will last a long time.   Thursday, October 20 View Page Trench backfilled! Later threw the raised bed soil back over the root barrier, then cut it off at the level of the bricks. Turned out a neat job. Still working on hand loosening the compacted soil, now about 50% done, hard work.......   Thursday, October 20 View Page This end of the patch is ready. In the foreground is the 35 Gerry plant(prizewinner x 1230 Daletas) I accidently knocked out the growing tip, but it is slowy sprouting from the cotyledon junctions. It is way behing but should produce a vine eventually. I intend to cross it with the 1260.4 Weir. Will be interesting genetics! Behind it is the 1260.4 Weir in the wind period. Its now growing great, vine just forming. It seems an extra solid plant so far, a little slower growing though. In the middle of the picture is the 1097.5 Beachy plant. Its shaping up very nicely as well, with the vine beginning to form!   Thursday, October 20 View Page 753 Lloyd plant(846 Calai x 845 Bobier) This plant is incredible so far. Probably the strongest plant I've ever had at this age. Biggest leaf is around 18", the vine is about to erupt!   Monday, October 24 View Page The Agro-K products arrived today! Put them to use, firstly a Symbex soil drench around the plants. Mixed it with Companion. Both boost the microbes in the soil. Then gave a foliar spray of Vigor Cal. Plants are looking great. The 1260.4 Weir has gone double, but appears to have gone back to single. The vine has laid out awkwardly, its a thick plant, some really nice solid looking leaves on it around the 20" mark. The 1097.5 Beachy is having a hard time with hot sun. Burnt the tender new leaves a few days back when temps hit 90F. The vine is about a foot long, looking a lot like an 845! But all in all its looking very good. Have rigged up a temporary misting system, have a lot of irrigation work to do. Need to fully cover patch with misting for the heat, which will double as the dosatron applicator of foliar's. Also need to install the doastron. Will use pressure sprayer while the plants are small for foliar. The 753 Lloyd is a monster plant, thick vine about about 3 foot already, huge leaves, about 22" wide. Going to direct a few secondarys in other direction's to give it 400sqft of leaf area. Have a good feeling about this plant, need more room!   Wednesday, October 26 View Page 753 Lloyd plant!(846 Calai x 845 Bobier) Best looking plant I've ever seen. Huge leaves and perfect colour green! I'm all for foliar spraying!   Wednesday, October 26 View Page 1097.5 Beachy plant(845 Bobier x 723 Bobier)Looking very good now, only one leaf burnt on a hot day.   Wednesday, October 26 View Page 1260.4 Weir plant(845 Bobier x 846 Calai)Looking very good now, big leathery leaves! Went double vine for a few nodes, now appears to be a normal vine tip! Vine about a foot long.   Saturday, October 29 View Page 1260.4 Weir(845 Bobier x 846 Calai) This plant started double for 2 nodes, its now growing as normal! Very solid, leaves up to 23" Plant is getting slight burn even with misting on hot days, already the temps are over 90F, humidity is low. Foiliar sprayed the last 6 days in this order: 1 Vigor cal 0.5% 2 Bio B 0.1%(worried about burn, will up % by 0.1) 3 Vigor cal phos 0.5% 4 Fish 0.5% 5 Natrakelp 0.5% 6 Hydrogen peroxide(35% food grade) 0.5% Looking for molasses, to complete a 7 day cycle. Making it up as I go, roughly following the Agro K schedule. I don't have access to all the products, so I have used a few alternatives. Did a bit of reading about hydrogen peroxide foliar feeding and it sounds promising. So far so good! Going to totally treat patch with symbex/companion systematically, before mulching with stable shavings. The 1097.5 Beachy has really taken off, main out 3 foot, a few secondarys arlready at 1 foot. Catching the 753! The 753 Lloyd is looking awesome, main out 4 foot, secondarys very aggressive. The 35 Gerry is slowy forming a vine, so far behind, the entire plant takes up less than one 1260.4 leaf.   Monday, October 31 View Page 35 Gerry(Prizewinner x 1230 Daletas)Thought I'd throw in a pic for ya Eric! Its been all bad luck with this plant from day one. Knocked the entire growing tip out for starters. It shot from the cotyledon junctions. 5 weeks later it has began to form a vine, and guess what..... its a mutant! Going to keep it going, will get some sort of vine happening eventually. Biggest leaf on this plant is around 9" only, one monster 1260.4 leaf would cover the entire plant. This plant is also getting the foliar sprays. Was very lucky today, as a huge storm just missed the patch, and yep, it had good sized hail in it! We've had a good 1.5" of rain over the last few days. Soil is moist and dark!   Wednesday, November 2 View Page Plants are growing very well indeed! Spotted the first female of the year on the 1097.5 Beachy. It now has a main about 7 foot long, looking better each day. The 753 Lloyd is going nuts, main out about 8 foot, some secondarys hitting the 3 foot mark, started burying vines. The 1260.4 is an absolute monster of a plant! Never had a plant like it! Huge leaves, thickest secondarys I've seen. It is slow in comparison in growth, but the whole plant is just thicker and stockier. Have a good feeling about it, the main is out about 4 foot! I will have to get some recent photo's, the plants are looking incredible! Keeping up the foliar spraying, last night doubled the strength of the bio b, to 0.2% and it caused no burn. Sprayed with fish tonight, and also a spray with Talstar(1.25ml in 2 litres) Potent stuff, should take care of the whitefly and beetles that are invading, hopefully the slaters too(who have disintergrated the cotyledons)   Thursday, November 3 View Page 1097.5 Beachy(845x723) Growing well, vine about 7 foot long, longest secondary about 3 foot. Spotted 3 females today, first on the main will be about 9 foot out. Found 2 on secondary vine tips.   Thursday, November 3 View Page 753 Lloyd(846x845) Plant continues to grow well, main over 8 foot long, secondarys hitting 4 foot. Looking great!   Monday, November 7 View Page First flower of the season! Not needed yet, but nice to see! Had almost 2 inches of soaking rain overnight.   Monday, November 7 View Page 1260.4 Weir(845x846) This plant is just plain scary! Everypart of the plant is big, hope that equates to a big fruit!   Monday, November 7 View Page 1097.5 Beachy(845x723)Apparently this plant is also scary, lol! It sure is growing very well, the main vine is stretching out quickly.   Monday, November 7 View Page 753 Lloyd(846x845)Incredibly healthy, growing very fast, main vine is about 12 foot. Has a nice female on the main that will open in a few days at 10 foot out, another lined up to follow!   Monday, November 7 View Page 35 Gerry(Prizewinner x 1230 Daletas)Finally has made a full recovery and a nice main vine is headed off in the right direction! Biggest leaf about 13 inches now. Will be interesting to see it unfold, the plant characterisics, also fruit size. Think I've heard prizewinners get to about 300 pounds, so maybe this kind of cross can grow over 500???   Friday, November 11 View Page First female of the year! 10 foot out on the 753 Lloyd, pegged and ready! Not planning on keeping this one, 2 more are lined up on the main. Another will open at 8 foot on the 1097.5 Beachy. 2 males from each also pegged. Weather has been very hot, 2 days at 95+F. Got a lot of leaf burn on the 753, a little less on the 1097, virtually none on the monster 1260! Misting system has been upgraded, will be able to reduce damage in future. Had another close call with hail, but did get a lot of wind damage, plants look a bit beaten up, folded leaves and a few leaves flattened. Used bamboo to put them back into the canopy. The 753 Lloyd is the biggest plant, and perfectly healthy! Main vine out about 15 foot. Will run the main on the grass and should be able to get 500sqft leaf area, with 350sqft buried. The 1097.5 Beachy is growing great. I did accidently split the main slightly at about 10 foot out. It should heal up fine, maybe it will be enough damage to avoid splitting the keeper.....lol.(But not a laughing matter when I heard the crack!) The secondary's are flying, smaller leaves though but screaming. The main is out 12 foot now, wants to grow up a little too much..... The 1260.4 Weir is reminding of the movie, "The Little Shop Of Horrors", lol. Its a beast, leaves on the main are 27", secondarys are as thick as the other plants main. Its a beast! Secondarys are spreading now, almost slithering out onto the ground! Very, very easy to train. Main vine guess would be about 11 foot long. Only one female spotted on the plant so far a week or so away. Have a feeling about this plant......   Friday, November 11 View Page First pollination on 753 Lloyd, 5 lober with reasonable uniformity. Crossed with 1097.5 Beachy, 10 foot out on main!   Friday, November 11 View Page 753 Lloyd(846X845) with pollination visible. Main now out 15 foot, leaf burn not too bad overall. Great plant, very healthy, root system extensive!   Friday, November 11 View Page Good example of a seedy blossom on the 1097.5. Pollinated with 753 Lloyd, will be culled. A bit close to the stump at 8 foot out.....   Friday, November 11 View Page 1097.5 Beachy(845x723) Growing well, main vine out 12 foot! Atlantic giants are amazing plants, its only been 50 days since this seed was dry and filed!   Friday, November 11 View Page 1260.4 Weir(845x846)Crikey! Yikes! Loves the heat too!   Monday, November 14 View Page 753(846x845) X 1260.4(845x846) Nice 5 lober 12 foot out on the 753 Lloyd. Good genes in this cross if its the keeper!   Wednesday, November 16 View Page Just thought I'd sneak in a pic of Alex now over 5 months old :) Starting to crawl already, look out! Also a patch report! Last 2 days have been very cold and overcast with a gusty southerly blowing up to 40mph. Slowed down growth bigtime plus lots of badly folded leaves, but only one completely snapped off. Overall still looking good! The 35 Gerry is really taking off, main out 6 foot, showing very yellow female buds! Biggest leaf now around 16"! The 1260.4 Weir is looking awesome still and very big. Copped the wind badly on the huge leaves. Only one female on the main spotted about 4 days away, about 10 foot out. Have only noticed 3 altogether on all the vines so far.... The 1097.5 Beachy got a beating too in the wind, but is in good shape, will be a female on the main at 12 foot in about 3 days, another lined up. Small leaved plant, but very solid. Another seedy blossom found on a sidevine this morning. The 753 Lloyd is huge, have deadended quite a few secondarys already, vines only 8 foot off the main. Main vine now out 18 foot, 3 more prospects lined up on the main, total 5 now spotted! Keeping up with my nightly foliar spraying, 6 day cycle as described earlier. Taking a while now, time to plumb in the dosatron soon. Also need to symbex/companion drench and mulch. Time is short, working in the garden by torchlight every night....   Friday, November 18 View Page Roof shot! Not your average suburban backyard, lol! 753 Lloyd in the front left, with fruit visible. 1097.5 Beachy in the back left. 1260.4 Weir in the back right of the picture.   Friday, November 18 View Page Closer roof shot of the 753 Lloyd and 1097.5 Beachy. 753 fruit more visible in this shot, nice yellow, seems set, but has bad angle and a slow grower so far - 12" circ 7 days old. Total of 5 fruit to choose from between 10 and 20 foot, prolific! Leaf damage is noticable, not too bad. This plant has about 20x16 foot = 320sqft. I'll be running one secondary up towards the blue bucket right into the corner, gaining more leaf area, plus the main onto the grass, should be able to get the leaf area close to 500sqft, one fruit only, will be interesting! The 1097.5 Beachy is growing strong, a big triangle. Small very solid leaves, some of the vines a growing up to the point of breaking, getting hard to train. The main is the same, very delicate, it already has a small split in it 10 foot out. 2nd female on the main should open in 3 days, about 13 foot out, main vine is out 15 foot. The plant will cover just under 500sqft, one fruit!   Friday, November 18 View Page Last roof shot of the 35 Gerry and 1260.4 Weir! The 35 Gerry is off and running now 7 foot out! Showing a lot of bright yellow females, think it will grow a nice coloured fruit. Think I might pollinate with the 753 Lloyd which looks to have better colour. I will keep it within the confines of the garden with area 9x25, just over 200sqft. The 1260.4 is even bigger than I thought, I put a tape out and discovered the main vine is already over 18 foot incredibly! Very thick in all vines, I'll say it again - its a beast! Amazingly the first female on the main is 14 foot out, about 3 days from opening! Its a scary plant!   Saturday, November 19 View Page Controlled pollination about to take place. Female is 15 foot out on the 753 Lloyd. 4 1260.4 Weir males await the task, very big males off the main vine!   Saturday, November 19 View Page 753 Lloyd female has its 5th lobe tucked in under the others, wonder if that is OK? Its a nice big flower, but check out the 1260.4 male, over 9 inches wide!   Sunday, November 20 View Page Perfect lobal formation on the 1097.5 Beachy!!! 13 foot out on main, pollinated with 1260.4 Weir!   Sunday, November 20 View Page Another perfect blossom! First female on 1260.4 Weir, 14 foot out on main, crossed with 753 Lloyd!(845x846 X 846x845)   Thursday, November 24 View Page A bit blurry the photo... 4th female on the main of the 753 Lloyd, 18 foot out, 5 lober with a twist. Pollinated with 1260.4 Weir. Again the lobes weren't quite symetrical, probably not the keeper, though a massive flower...... The 10 foot fruit was culled, the 12 foot fruit is currently at 16" circ at 9 days....   Thursday, November 24 View Page First female on the 35 Gerry, 6 foot out on the main! 5 lobe pollinated with 1260.4 Weir. The 35 plant is taking off now, main is out about 10 foot, smaller in every proportion to the pure bred's. I am plucking off every single male on the plant, as I only want to cross with AG pollen.... Enjoying the novelty, its kind of like a mini-me (doctor evil) of the beastly 1260, lol! Maybe you won't get the joke.....   Friday, November 25 View Page Another perfect 1097 Beachy bloom, 16 foot out on the main. 5 lobes all pollinated with the 1260.4 Weir! Pollinated in the rain under an umbrella, should set as all flowers were pegged.   Saturday, November 26 View Page Photo taken from inside the house as the rain belts down. The 753 Lloyd is an incredible plant, it needed a bit more room! The main vine is out 24 foot and is just about touched down on the grass. Will get close to 500sqft of leaves on the plant, so it could well grow big. So far fruit growth is very slow, possibly due to 5 days of very, very unseasonable cold rainy weather. Over 2 inches of rain in last 36 hours and still falling. The fruit at 12 foot out is at 23" on day 12   Monday, November 28 View Page The cool rainy weather continues, more rain and low temps. One good thing about that is good fruit set, but very slow early growth, eg 26" circ on day 14 on the 753. Have never had one start so slow. Plants are very strong and green, every leaf in great shape so far, no sign whatsoever of powdery mildew! The 753 Lloyd is an awesome plant, very big stump developing, some huge leaves, approaching 400sqft in size, main out 24 feet. Tomorrow will pollinate the 5th fruit on the main at the 22 foot mark, maybe its the keeper? The 1097.5 Beachy is a difficult plant to work with. Attributing that to very depleted soil in the area its growing. Have had about 6 sidevines grow oval shaped straight up and snap, hard to train. The fruit at the 13 foot mark is looking strong at 7 days old, haven't measured it yet. The main is still touch and go and about 21 foot long, it will be cut at around 25 foot. The 1260.4 Weir is the strongest plant I've seen in my whole 4 years of AG growing. The secondarys are all like main vines! Its scary indeed, everything is so solid, lets see if it can make a fruit just as great. The fruit seem quite short in the stem, and long shaped, 2nd on the main will open tomorrow at 20 foot out! Who know's what a monster plant like this could grow....... Vine burying has been a major effort the last few weeks. The plants are growing so fast. Barely keeping up. Lets hope all the hard work pays off! Need to take a few photos.   Tuesday, November 29 View Page 2nd fruit on main of the 1260.4 Weir, 20 foot out from the stump. A very small 5 lobe flower with short stem, not looking good. Looks like there will only be one more chance on the main at the 23 foot mark, will have to chop the main at 25 foot out. The fruit at the 14 foot mark is beginning to look very nice at day 8, but the angle is bad.....   Tuesday, November 29 View Page 5th flower on the main of the 753 Lloyd and a bit funky, lol. 22 foot out over the grass, 5 corky lobes crossed with 1260.4 pollen. Won't be the keeper, the 12 footer is at 29" on day 14, it could take off if the sun would shine. Its been almost a full week of winter like weather. Overcast and rainy, not above 74F, the 27/11 was incredibly cold with a max temp of 62F!!! We've had another 1.5 inches of rain in last 24 hours, too wet. Can't complain though about how good the leaves are looking :) The agro K foliar feeding is definately worth doing!   Tuesday, November 29 View Page 753 Lloyd flower at 22 foot with funky lobes, crossed with 1260.4 Weir   Thursday, December 1 View Page This entry to the diary is a hard one to type. I definately bit off more than I could chew this year with 4 plants. My plan to plant them and just let them grow did not happen, I have been putting in 100%. This has impacted on other areas in my life a lot, and something had to give. I made the difficult decision to pull the plants today. One at a time they were ripped out. Very hard to do when they are looking so good. I got to the last plant and decided to leave it in, the 1260. Time was short, and still is, however I've been ignoring that fact and worked late into the night, each and every night. Lack of sleep and priority caused a crisis. As much as I enjoy growing AG pumpkins, there are other areas that need my effort first. Lesson learnt. One plant left I'm sure I can grow a good one on it and achieve my original purpose, which was to have a photo taken with Alex sitting on top. I will continue to update the diary. Ben   Friday, December 2 View Page Pulling out 3 perfect plants was a very difficult thing to do! It was my own choice and the right one. Its been done and I'm ready to move on with what is left. This fruit seems to be growing good on the 1260 Weir, 1st fruit, 14 foot out, crossed with 753 Lloyd, measures 26" on day 12. Nice shape, but has very short stem and a bad angle to the vine. The 20 foot fruit seems to have aborted, there is another at 23 foot mark that may be OK that is 2 days from opening. The main has lost its vigor, so we'll have to see.....   Monday, December 5 View Page 3rd flower on the main of the 1260.4 Weir. Its sitting 24 foot out, long way out from the stump. Very nice 5 lober with long fruit, again very short stem. Self pollinated, the only choice now with one plant. It could possibly replace the keeper at 14 foot out if it grows quicker and looks good. The fruit at 14 foot is a slow grower but is looking better each day....   Monday, December 5 View Page Most likely the keeper, sitting 14 foot out, 1260x753 (845x846X846x845). Will be able to get the angle right, could be some stem problems later though as the stem is only 2.5 inches long. No big shoulders would be good. Its a slow grower, but expected with the very cold it had in its first 10 days. Measures 34.5" circ on day 14. Hot weather predicted, should pick up the growth. Like the shape, and guessing it will be orange, which would be a bonus! Keeping up the foliar spraying, leaves looking great, no sign of mildew yet!   Thursday, December 8 View Page 1260 Weir fruit! Sun is shining again, pumpkin is way behind record pace but putting on 5" circ a day. Day 16 circ is 44.5". Liking the shape, its now an oversized football! Temps hit 103F and the plant suffered a lot of leaf burn on the new growth, even with misting, especially near the colourbond fence. Also found spidermites, gave the plant a spray with Talstar, mixed in with Agro K vigor cal phosphate. Going to do another soil drench with Symbex and Companion.   Saturday, December 10 View Page Nice looking pumpkin, growing slow even though the plant is large and green. Did its first ott measure now at day 20. 64" circ, 44"ss, 45"ee, ott 153", 86 pounds on the 2005 chart. The fruit at 20 foot out didn't abort and is bigger at day 12 at 28", the fruit at 24 foot seems to be coming on stronger again.......   Saturday, December 10 View Page Top view of the 1260.4 Weir fruit on day 20 estimated at 86 pounds. Has grown out of its footy shape, not much vine clearance with the short stem. Might have to cull this one in favour of a faster grower......   Sunday, December 11 View Page Provision made for the fruit at 24 feet out! Bent 8 foot of the main vine into a dogleg, making the very short stem not a future challenge. I've seen this done before and its the first time I have tried it. It was suprisingly easy in the heat of the day! Lets hope this young fruit can grow decently, and I will gradually cull the 14 foot pumpkin. It measures 16" circ on day 6 and is a very long fruit. A 5 lober self pollinated. I will wait till day 10 before I get the knife out. If it ends up aborting I will still have the 14 footer. Enough rambling....   Sunday, December 11 View Page Under foilage shot of the main vine dogleg on the 1260.4 Weir. Shows the 86 pounder at 14 foot and the possible replacement at 24 foot.   Sunday, December 11 View Page Another view of the dogleg. Had to chop 3 secondarys off to avoid leaf crowding at the bends. Plenty of room for a growing fruit with a small stem. Main vine is about 31 feet long, but with the dogleg it stretches 29 feet from the stump. The question is where to chop it, with the extra space gained I could run it 50 feet.....   Sunday, December 11 View Page Picture of the entire 1260.4 Weir plant, now covering close to 500 square feet and growing. Leaves are a beautiful green, and not a speck of mildew which is normally my biggest enemy. I highly recommend the Agro K foilar spraying products, this picture says it all!   Sunday, December 11 View Page Another picture of perfect green leaves, also showing the location of the 2 fruit...   Sunday, December 11 View Page A sea of leaves.......   Wednesday, December 14 View Page The keeper way out on the main vine! 30" circ on day 10!   Wednesday, December 14 View Page The cut that had to be done, its dripping like a leaky tap. The photo even captured one of the tears. Will cut through over a week or so. Notice the awesome colour developing, makes it hard to chop!   Thursday, December 15 View Page The 1260x753 gained 23 pounds overnight, on day 25 is 84.5" circ 178 pounds! Cut a bit deeper into the stem, almost halfway. The 1260 x self at 24 foot gained 5.5" circ and is 35.5" on day 11! Looking good!   Monday, December 19 View Page 1260.4 now at day 15! The early measures are looking good. I have the 14 foot fruit down to 20% of its stem and will leave it on a while longer, its at 93" circ on day 29. Its putting on about 10 pounds a day, a bit of a shock absorber for the little one. Day 15: Circ 56" SS 35" EE 39" OTT 130" est 56 pounds!   Monday, December 19 View Page Fruit on 1260.4 Weir, front view at 56 pounds estimated...   Wednesday, December 21 View Page 1260.4 Weir(x 753 Lloyd) 14 feet out, now at day 30. Measures: Circ 95", SS 62", EE 61", OTT 218" - EST 228 pounds   Wednesday, December 21 View Page What's left of the stem on the 1260x753, about 15%. Will chop it down a little more, hopefully it will limp along and mature the seeds. How much energy could it take away from the plant with that small amount of stem? Will continue to monitor the keeper's growth......   Friday, December 23 View Page Going to be away from the patch for 3 days, so I will have to post a day 19 measurement instead of the yardstick day 20. I have the auto timed misters ready, and my friend Scrull(Daniel) is going to foliar feed on the 24th, 25th and 26th with Agro K. Have the sprayers ready mixed for him. The 5 litre spray packs are barely covering the 550sqft of leaf area. The dosatron will come into play after Christmas, its all plumbed up. The fruit was sprayed with vigor cal last night, will keep that going alternating with vigor cal phos. All looking good, except a bit of powdery mildew was discovered yesterday under the leaves. This fruit could get large! Day 19: Circ 78", SS 46", EE 52", OTT 176" - EST 126 pounds!   Friday, December 23 View Page Side view of the keeper (1260.4 x self), day 19 and est 126 pounds! Going to be a horrible day for growing, an incredibly hot westerly wind blew in at 7am, and at 8am the temprature is already 34.5C or 94F! Predicted temps for today are 39C or 102F with 50 mph winds! I think it will get a lot hotter. Amazing that the other half of the world has snow, and its so hot here! Everyone have a safe and merry christmas! Ben   Thursday, December 29 View Page Day 25 for the 1260.4 Weir growing nicely at about 26 pounds a day since day 19! More than happy with the growth and it thumps nice and heavy! Day 25: Circ 106" SS 62" EE 68" OTT 236" EST at 286 pounds!   Thursday, December 29 View Page Side view on day 25 estimated at 286 pounds! Nice long fruit smooth as can be!   Friday, December 30 View Page Dosatron ready for action after new year! As you can tell I'm no plumber, but somehow I managed to put 60 pieces together, and it works without leaking! I have the triple programable timers for auto misting, each having up to 6 start times. They will be needed as I'll be away from the patch for 3 days again, and the temps are forcast to hit 103F tomorrow and 112F on new years day. It was over 100F today and the plant recieved no leaf burn at all! The fruit actually grew from 106" circ to 108.5" in 14 hours! The powdery mildew is building fast under the leaves, will have to sort it out when I return. Happy new year to all! Ben