Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 97 Entries. Monday, January 1 View Page MAKING GIANT PUMPKIN GROWING COOL SINCE 2005. This year's journal should provide ample documentation of me turning a brand new patch of grass into a spot suitable for four medium-large plants. I purchased this new tiller yesterday and set it up today; it has a 7HP B&S and 17inch till width. The nicest thing about it is you can easily switch between counter rotating tines and forward rotation. Happy growing to all in 2007.   Sunday, January 21 View Page Here is one of the soil samples taken in December 2006. This is what I have to start with. I suspect Iron and Manganese contamination during the sampling process. These levels spiked last year too and I was growing in a different state then. I'm hoping that regardless of what I ammend the soil with before planting, the simple fact that I am Fusarium free will push me to a new personal best this season. I will do my best to document each step in patch development accurately. I am currently waiting for weather cooperation, which could take until spring for all I know. Well that's life.   Monday, March 19 View Page You can't hide. The SNGPG are everywhere. I have done nothing in the patch yet; too much snow, too much rain.   Friday, March 23 View Page This is where the new patch will be built if it ever dries out around here. 45x60 for 4 big plants. Unfortunately it's raining again today.   Monday, March 26 View Page Ground was finally broken today and the first till ever was completed using a big Troy-Bilt Horse. This is 2,700 square feet. I will let this warm up for two days or so, then till even deeper. After that, 3 single axle loads of mushroom compost and 1,000 lbs. pelletized gypsum will be added and spread. Then the whole thing gets one more good till and that is it since it's so late already. It will have a month to sit before season #1 for this plot begins in early May.   Thursday, March 29 View Page Added 15 cubic yards of aged SDS today and spread it around really good. I decided to stop there as to not over-do it like I think I did last year. I think there were disease problems because the compost wasn't mixed in good enough due to it being so deep. This will sit overnight and then get tilled in tomorrow.   Thursday, March 29 View Page I meant aged SMS in the last post (spent mushroom soil). Also today I drove down to the USA Gypsum plant and picked up 650lbs of pelletized gypsum. This was also spread over the 2700 sq. foot area. The local industries in your area can be a valuable source for wholesale priced ammendments. It pays to do a web search and see what types of things are being manufactured close by to you.   Thursday, March 29 View Page The soil sample revealed low OM (3%), low Calcuim levels, and high Magnesium. I had a limited amount of time so these are the issues I chose to deal with this season and the reason for the last two posts. I will make a few more minor additions before planting time but this is mostly going to be it after tilling once more. Not over-doing it is key for me this time around and I want to be able to grow here for years without screwing the soil all up. Quite a differnt look from the grassy pic I posted a week ago. I wonder what the neighbors are thinking yet?   Saturday, March 31 View Page I got the mushroom soil and gypsum tilled under today. This week was a blessing for me here. It hasn't rained since last Saturday and on Monday morning this was still a patch of grass. I think I've decided to dump a load of compost at each of the corners of the patch. Other than that, I have my seeds, insecticides, and fungicides all ready to go. I need to locate some walking planks and start thinking about what I'll do for shade structures this year.   Saturday, April 14 View Page I got the frame for the first hoop house built thanks to the great design available from the Maine pumpkin growers website. Thanks! I modified the design to accompany two plants planted back to back. A very simple design except pounding in all that rebar is a pain in the ass. The other house will have to wait since my arms are about to fall off. I guess that's all the work I can do for a while since we're expecting about 4" of rain in the next 24 hours.   Sunday, April 22 View Page What a weekend! Today is my 30th birthday and there is much to celebrate, like mowing my very own lawn for the first time and finishing the hoop houses to grow pumpkins in dirt that I can call my own. Tomorrow I'm going to sample my soil again and also the additional loads of mushroom soil I got before deciding whether to use it during the season or wait till fall. I made the decision to build hoops for two out of 4 of the plants, because I'm not quite sure what I'm doing yet and don't want to burn all of my plants during the day. I will post my final lineup soon- seed starting next Saturday and planting scheduled for around May 7th.   Friday, April 27 View Page The time has come. I'm starting the first round of seeds about 1 week later than last season. This year's first round pics are 1101 Northrup, 500 Northrup, 1083 Frantz, 423 Gerhardt, 434 Gerhardt. Two of each seed will be started except for the 500 Northrup. Backups will start in 10 days or so.   Sunday, April 29 View Page I added a 1502 to the roster. I filed and then soaked the seeds for ~3.5 hours, then moved to wet paper towels in ziplock bags at ~9pm Sunday. The seeds were place on my heat mat which keeps the heat between 94° and 104°. I started 2x 1083 Frantz, 2x 1101 Northrup, 2x 423 Gerhardt, 2x 434 Gerhardt, 1x 1502 Wallace, 1x 500 Northrup.   Wednesday, May 2 View Page 48 hours: 2x 1101, 2x 423 and 2x 434 germinated and were moved to 4 inch pots. 68 hours: 1502 and 1x 1083 germinated and will be moved to 10 inch pots. Nothing from the 500 Northrup yet.   Monday, May 7 View Page Picture from Sunday May 6th while preparing the patch for a final till tomorrow. I lost one hoop house to wind on Sunday morning and have decided not to rebuild it. The 1502 is up today. The 1083 Frantz seems to have died :( All of the plants get moved out to my south facing deck in the morning and enjoy full sun and wind before being brought back inside at night. Wed. is the first planting day. Both of my 423 seedlings are my best (looking) plants so far. There is an increasing local interest around here to grow these things so I've started a bunch of my own seeds for various new growers. I also started two backups to replace the missing 1083 plants they are 1302 Zuhlke (1370 x 810) and 535.5 Zaychkowsky (810 x 1370).   Tuesday, May 8 View Page I got the compost spread out, reverse tilled the whole patch again, and picked a cart load full of rocks out of the patch today by dusk. What beautiful weather we have in Berks County PA this week too bad I'm at work for 9 hours out of it. Seeds are doing well but I'm keeping the emphasis on the patch and not my puny seed leaves right now. I'm a little dismayed at the amount of clay that seems to be in the soil. This coupled with a few other things like rock frequency has made me re-think how to plant a little bit. In each of these four quadrants I'll plant one plant on opposite sides and eliminate the loser for a single large plant per square. Side note for next year- the Mennonites planted their tomato seedlings Sunday May 6 this year. They know what they're doing.   Wednesday, May 9 View Page I planted 50 tomato and pepper plants approx 2 feet apart along the front and side borders of the patch. They cover about 1/2 of the total border of the garden. They eat good and should provide some wind protection but the main point is to shield the pumpkins from the types of delinquent teenage vandals that I was at one time. I never did smash a giant pumpkin but I bet I would have if I'd seen one. Another beautiful 80° Day here in Eastern PA.   Wednesday, May 9 View Page Dang I ruined my streak of a pic with every post. Here is my massive row of peppers and tomatos.   Thursday, May 10 View Page I setup the drip hoses and stakes for the barrier tomato plants.   Thursday, May 10 View Page Here is a 423 in the patch. Both 423 plants are my most aggressive. There are 2 x 423 in one plot and in another I planted one 1101 and one 434. We'll see who wins in a month or so. There are still 2 plots left and the 1502 and 500 are looking good from being out in the warm sun. The 500 looks to be a near perfect seedling. After planting I applied a merit 75WP drench to the four plants and the four empty spots yet to be filled. I used 5 teaspoons. It looks like I fried all the backup seeds. When you're out of ziplock bags, saran wrap is NOT the same thing apparently. On Monday I will begin to fertilize with Neptunes.   Sunday, May 13 View Page Great Cacapon, West Virginia in Early May. God's gift to rednecks like me. I had to make a run down to my cabin for repairs. Unfortunately, I barely got any fishing in. I did grab one 15 smallmouth though.   Sunday, May 13 View Page 1502 on the left, 500 on the right. Both will get planted tomorrow. All of the plants in the patch are looking very good, and put on noticable growth over the weekend. I fertilized with Neptunes today. All of the plants were covered for tonight due to a forecast low of 35°.   Saturday, May 19 View Page Here's my punkin' 1502 Wallace plant. The weather has been real punkin' cold here in PA the last 4 days or so, but this mother punkin' plant is growing good.   Saturday, May 19 View Page Here's my punkin' 423 Gerhardt, the only one in a hut out of all of my plants. This punkin' plant has grown way faster than the others; the only competetor is the other punkin' 423. A lot of 423 seeds have hit the dirt this year and I hope they grow some big punkin' pumpkins.   Friday, May 25 View Page Here is today's harvest of rocks. This is not the first batch. New patch = hard work. I live in Rockland Township,PA go figure.   Friday, May 25 View Page The combination of gypsum and mushroom soil has really gone a long way for my soil tilth. My soil is has way more fluff than I am accustomed to. I am overall very happy with the way things are progressing here with the new garden. This is one of my own 423 plants. I took the hoop away from this one since it was 90° F today but honestly the other 423 which was not in a hoop house looks just as good. Both plants are my best growers.   Friday, May 25 View Page My experiment of having a tomato visual barrier between the road and the pumpkins is coming along nicely.   Friday, May 25 View Page As you can see it has been very dry here in Eastern PA except for around my plants of course. All of the plants were very upset with the application of Sevin combined with the heat today. I applied yesterday night at about 6pm. The 500 Northrup got it the worst but it will probably pull thru. Front to back are 423, 423, 434, 1101. All 8 plants have 3 leaves with some pushing 5 leaves. I got a loop hoe today and put it to work, thumbs up. This is the cleanest patch I've ever had, just wish I knew what the pH level is at under there.   Monday, May 28 View Page Patch overview shot. Sorry for the crooked picture, I took it while I was mowing. It has been in the upper 80's and sunny for about 4 days now. I gave each of the 8 plants 1/16 cup of Neptunes fish/ seaweed in 1 gallon of water as a drench. The foliar is burning the leaves at this stage. We got a very fortunate soaking rain just after I finished with the drench in addition to a decent storm on Saturday. The plants are beginning to vine a little and a few should be on the ground sometime this week. My 423, still the best grower, looks like it will lay down in the wrong direction unfortunately. Front left: 423, 423, back left: 1101 #1, 500, back right: 434, 1502, front right: 423, 1101 #2. Which ones will survive. Some notes about the patch all the plants get full sun from sunrise till when the shadow of the house begins to move over the patch starting around 7pm this time of year. 100% of all weeds have been dandilions thus far and the patch has been kept clean. The 1502 and 1101 plants got more mushroom soil and no artifical fertilizers compared to the other plants. So far their growth has been equivilant but the plant color is notably lighter green in color. All plants do receive the Neptune's though. I plan to switch to a Peter's formulation for next week.   Sunday, June 3 View Page Here is 1101 Northrup #1. This plant isn't quite as far along as the others. I suspect something weird is going on in my patch, either due to natural conditions or the way I'm feeding them. Many of the plants seem to flat vine for a period before growing out of it. The vine seems to abruptly twist and then head overtop of itself in the wrong direction. Lots of early secondaries are shooting out too. Could last week's Neptunes drench combined with a sudden increase of rainfall be the answer? The 500 Northrup, 1502 and my best 423 plant have this condition. But, they are growing well and seem to come out of it eventually so I'm trying not to worry.   Sunday, June 3 View Page Here is 423 #1. It is my second best plant after the other flat vined 423 #2. This may end up winning though because of vine position. Plenty of time to wait and see though. Nice big green leaves and both 423 plants have yellow vines. Cucumber beetles (striped variety so far) arrived today. I found many dead ones interestingly only around the biggest 423 plant. Like they somehow knew this plant had hit the stage where they like to start eating. Not one other plant had them. It's been too wet to weed lately and I'm gearing up for what's left of this tropical storm coming up the east coast. I stuck a final 423 seedling in the quad with 1101 #2 and 434 #1.   Thursday, June 7 View Page Here is the current state of affairs. This shot gives a good idea of how my plants are positioned, with two competing towards each other in each rectangle. I regained control of the patch from the weeds yesterday and today. A lot of the grass regenerated especially in the fertilized areas around the plants with the patch being too wet for weeding the past week.   Thursday, June 7 View Page 500 Northrup. Not in as good of shape as 1101 #2 competing for the spot. A lot of my plants have yellow vines even the 1502. All except the 434 Gerhardts. I'm not convinced it is a genetic thing but I hope they go deep orange.   Thursday, June 7 View Page 1502 Wallace. Correction in the last post I meant 1101 #1. All of the grass you can see in the pictures has actually already been weeded with the loop hoe and is just lying there. It's been tough with the new garden but I refuse to use roundup. My current program is as follows: Sunday 1 teaspoon/ gallon drench to each plant with Peter's 24-8-16, Tuesday spray Sevin (in 2 weeks Triazicide), Thursday Liquid kelp foliar spray. No fungicide app yet. I'll begin next week or so depending on the weather with alternating weekly applications of Daconil and Immunox.   Tuesday, June 19 View Page 1101 Northrup #1. DSL has been down. Very hot this week (95°F). Updates will be brief, I'm supposed to be working.   Tuesday, June 19 View Page My own 423 #1. Still pretty much my best plant.   Tuesday, June 19 View Page 500 Northrup. Need to make a decision here between it and 1101 #1 soon, only about 4-5 feet left.   Tuesday, June 19 View Page 434 #1. This plant has to make it since I pulled the 1502 on Sunday. I told someone in a message board post a few days ago that I would pull my 1502 if it was not the best plant no matter what it was up against. Well, damn.   Tuesday, June 19 View Page 434 #2   Tuesday, June 19 View Page 1101# 2. Other notes: I am a week and a half ahead of last season and my plants look 10x healthier. What a difference a year makes. Pollinated a female on the 423 #1 yesterday at 6ft. 423 x sib. I will cull this pumpkin as soon as the next female develops.   Thursday, June 28 View Page These pics are 3 days old. This is the situation with the 1101 #1 in the front and 500 Northrup on the other side. I've decided to grow both plants to around 300-325 sq feet each. Pollinating in a few days all over.   Thursday, June 28 View Page My 423 you may be able to see the female on the outside of the mainvine curve, pollinated on Tuesday June 27th with 5 x 1101 #2 males. 4 lobes.   Thursday, June 28 View Page 434 #1 finally have females now.   Thursday, June 28 View Page 1101 #2. Patch notes- Applied Triazicide on Sunday 2x label concentration to vines and leaf stalks w/ thin application to leaf canopy. Very hot this week 90-95° past 3 days. No fertilizer used this week in prep for pollinations. Will pull 434 #2 soon to make way for 1101 #2 (final cull).   Thursday, July 5 View Page Back online at home and back in action! 1101 #1   Thursday, July 5 View Page My 423 is a beast. I have decided to grow all pumpkins on the 423, 500 Northrup and the 1101 Northrup #1 plants with no culling.   Thursday, July 5 View Page 1101 Northrup #2 this one will grow one of my two competition fruits.   Thursday, July 5 View Page My 434 (the 434 in the upper position got yanked). This will be the second competition plant. Patch notes: No feeding since last documented entry. 07-04-07 Applied Merit mist to vines, leaf stalks, and remainder spread all over the perimiter of the plants. 10 tsp in 2 gallons of water. 07-05-07 hit the plants with immunox. Used 4 TBS in 2 gallons of water. I have had a ton of rain here and prime pollination conditions thus far with low temps. Expecting 90° tomorrow though.   Thursday, July 5 View Page Dark pics sorry. Pic of the 1101# 1 and 500 Northrup filling the alloted 675 sq feet. Crosses are as follows: 6-30-07 434 x 500 used 3 males five lobes 8ft out 1101# 2 x 500 used 3 males 5 lobes 10ft out 1101# 1 x 500 used 1 male 4 lobes 1st secondary right 1101# 1 x sib 1 male 4 lobes 2nd secondary right 1101# 1 x sib 2 males 4 lobes 2nd secondary left 7-01-07 423 x 1101#2 5 males 12ft 5 lobes 1101# 2 x 434 3 males 4 lobes 13ft out   Friday, July 6 View Page Final cross in last post was made on July 5th not July 1st (1101 x 434). I planned to do the same cross today at 16ft but the zip tie I placed around the flower popped off and the bloom was exposed when I went out this morning.   Sunday, July 8 View Page 1101 #2 this plant has the biggest pumpkin on it to date but I am probably not measuring until day 20 this year. I think this is day 10 for it and day 9 for several others refer to diary. I cleaned up the stump areas of each plant yesterday to allow more airflow and because at this point I don't need the extra leaves.   Sunday, July 8 View Page Pic of the 423 today you can get an idea of how much grass I deal with in my newly dug patch. I had been clearing everything but due to the volume of roots (I have a lot some 20+ feet away from the plant stumps and vines) I am somewhat limiting the weeding at this point. I have about 10 pumpkins on this plant, most are open pollinated and will be sold. The cross 669 x 603.5 should produce very nice pumpkins. I hate to do it but I am broke and I need to pay the mortgage.   Sunday, July 8 View Page My 434 plant in the front was the slowest growing of the survivors yet has now become the hardiest plant. Crossed with the 500 Northrup today 5 lobes used 4 males I'm just guessing about 15 feet out on the main. Some flagging is occuring on the 500 and 1101 plants mainly in the front areas where the secondary roots are not established yet. The patch is completely bug free with no signs of mildew yet.   Thursday, July 12 View Page I'm not seeing a lot of pumpkin pics from growers in PA just big ass intimidating plants so I figured I'd show what's up with my two competition plant pumpkins. Day 10 this pumpkin on my own 434 was 25 inches circ. Day 12 today this pumpkin was 38 inches circ.   Thursday, July 12 View Page This pumpkin on the 1101 Northrup #2 day 10 was 27 inches circ on day 12 today it was 40 inches circ.   Sunday, July 15 View Page Here is my own 434 x 500 Northrup at 15 days, 51-38-37 = 126 OTT   Sunday, July 15 View Page Here is the pumpkin on the 1101 #2 at 15 days, 53-38-39 = 130 OTT. I took a bold leap of faith today and resumed fertilizing on the competition plants. I used 3/8 cup of neptunes fish/seaweed spread out over 9 gallons of water in a large scale drench to each plant. It would be suicide to spray anything foliar in this heat.   Wednesday, July 18 View Page Day 18 my 1101 pumpkin is 69-48-49, 166 OTT = 107lbs. My 434 pumpkin also day 18 is 64-48-47, 159 OTT = 95lbs.   Saturday, July 21 View Page Day 20 for my 434 pumpkin, 73-52-51 176 OTT = 126 lbs. All of the sudden I am having a battle with PM in the patch brought on by rain and high humidity. Hit the patch with immunox a few days ago but a quick storm wiped that away so today I applied another app of daconil.   Saturday, July 21 View Page Day 20 for my 1101 pumpkin 78-54-53, 185 OTT = 144 lbs. I only have to hold these plants together for another 20 days to surely hit a new PB. I saw a lot of cucumber beetles in the patch today. I wanted to spray but gave my neighbor my triazicide and no one was home today. Dammit. The PM is quite disturbing. I will have to put a lid on any shit talking until I see what happens.   Sunday, July 22 View Page Day 22, this 1101 fruit is 85-58-57 = 200 OTT. 434 is 78-56-54 = 188 OTT. I got my Triazicide back from my neighbor and sprayed 5 Tbs. in 2 gallons of water to the vines and stems and a light foliar. I have halted the PM invasion for now but some of the older leaves are probably lost. I'll take PM over Fusarium and Pithium any day. I saw a vine borer moth yesterday and had a bunch of cucumber beetles around and I've observed a few squash bugs and eggs on the bottoms of leaves and stems. Merit eventually kills them but they eat a little damage first.   Saturday, July 28 View Page Pumpkin on my 434 is 94-67-66, 227 OTT = 256 lbs. day 28.   Saturday, July 28 View Page Pumpkin on the 1101 #2 is 104-69-68, 241 OTT = 303 lbs. day 28. Not as big as I thought but still growing beyond expectations. Other pumpkins: Pumpkin on the 423 is 81-54-58 = 162lbs day 27. Pumpkin on the 1101 #1 left side vine is 84-50-53 = 149 lbs. day 28. Pumpkin on the 1101 #1 right side vine is 80-51-51 = 140 lbs. day 28. There are several other pumpkins on this plant too.   Monday, July 30 View Page Day 30 for my comp pumpkins and a great year for tomatoes. I harvest 50 ripe tomatoes every 4 days. Anyways onto the pumpkins. 434 pumpkin is 99-70-68, 237 OTT = 289 lbs. 1101 pumpkin is 109-72-70, 251 OTT = 341 lbs. I've had a huge amount of rainfall in the last 4 days but it's taking its toll with PM. Hit Immunox today again, used 4 TBS in 2 gallons of water primarily on the competition plants and the leftovers onto the others. Leaves are starting to get brittle already so I'm sure I won't keep this up for long. Only a few more days and I will hit the 500 lb. mark though. Wish me luck!   Tuesday, July 31 View Page The 1101 pumpkin split today at 112 inches circ. Too upset to say anything further.   Sunday, August 5 View Page My family was over and helped me pick tomatoes today. Here is my sister with the fugliest tomato I have ever seen!   Sunday, August 5 View Page This is my dad with the first of two boxes of tomatoes we picked today.   Sunday, August 5 View Page The one that got away this year, the 1101 split circ 117 and estimated weight 412. My only hope lies with what's under the white sheet behind me.   Thursday, August 9 View Page Starting my updates off with one of two pumpkins on my 423. Don't know what the weight is but it is day 39. No superstar here but I wanted to document the success of this orange producing seed stock.   Thursday, August 9 View Page Next up is this pumpkin that I cut the other day. I thought it was growing on the 500 Northrup non-comp plant but realized it was actually on a back vine of the 434 Gerhardt plant. Stupid mistake. This pumpkin is about 70 lbs. all of which should be inside of my main fruit. I'll let this sit and see if it will make it to halloween carving status.   Thursday, August 9 View Page This nice looking pumpkin is my own 434 crossed with 500 Northrup. My plan for orange is working out. The 434 was 1230 Delatas x 603.5 Muller. Not spectacular size but considering the plant is 250 sq. feet very nice. 109-78-74, 261 OTT = 381 lbs.   Thursday, August 9 View Page Okay here's where things get weird. It's day 40 for both the 434 and this pumpkin, grown on the 1101. I documented in my diary that this pumpkin split over a week ago at 112 inches cc. Yet on Sunday August 4 the pumpkin taped at 117 inches circ. And today the measurements are 123-80-77, 280 OTT = 467 lbs. I stuck a bamboo stake 18 inches into the pumpkin after it split so no doubt that the split is into the cavity. Why does the pumpkin continue to grow?? Perhaps I will get some viable seeds from this 1101 Northrup x 500 Northrup cross after all.   Sunday, August 12 View Page Didn't I just do this last week? Here I am again with another 70lbs. of perfect tomatoes. The big ones are at the bottom of the box.   Sunday, August 12 View Page After receiving advice from growers I have kept the split 1101 on the vine and it continues to slowly put on weight. Day 42, 125-81-76, 284 OTT = 487 lbs. Gained 21 lbs in 2 days.   Sunday, August 12 View Page My 434 Gerhardt also continues with the slow growth. Day 42, 111-79-76, 266 OTT = 403 lbs. Gained 22 lbs. in 2 days. This one should give me an official PB at least and if it makes it to 500 lbs, stands a good chance of winning best in show in my opinion. I delivered 1/2 cup of Neptunes fish/seaweed to the plant today- the first fertilizer it has had in weeks and only the second since pollination. You can see that my patch is pretty much going downhill fast due to PM. I got another spray of daconil on the plants today. For the record my 423 Gerhardt is 96-63-66, 225 OTT = 249 lbs. and nice color. The patch is really starting to draw a neighborhood crowd with the big ones looking like fat white ghosts under their sheets and another 8 pumpkins all 150-200 lbs getting nice and orange. "what do you do with all those things?" Umm.. I don't know, carve them up I guess. It's the journey, not the destination.   Thursday, August 23 View Page A champion pumpkin is only a distant memory at this point but regardless of that, this pumpkin is something to marvel at. My own 434 day 54, 117-82-78, 277 OTT = 453 lbs. The plants are about done maybe 1-2 weeks of slow growth left max.   Thursday, August 23 View Page My own 423 is 100-66-68, 234 OTT = 279 lbs. I have another on the plant about the same size but not as pretty looking.   Sunday, August 26 View Page I was at my cabin in West by God Virginia this weekend. Saturday was beautiful. I did a little fishing but all I caught was a buzz. Of the two brothers in front of me, one went to the emergency room for stitches in his wrist and the other one tried to show him up by getting washed over the waterfall on his back. He's okay and we had a great time.   Sunday, August 26 View Page I want to show my carving pumpkins. The front two were grown from a 1101 Northrup and the front is crossed x sib but it's getting soft in the blossom. Not sure if I will get the seeds. The back one was grown off the 500 Northrup.   Sunday, August 26 View Page This one is off the 1101 Northrup and crossed with 500 Northrup. The stem is soft but the pumpkin is okay.   Sunday, August 26 View Page All 3 of these were grown off the 500 Northrup as well.   Sunday, August 26 View Page Both of these grew off a small backup 434 Gerhardt plant to check the color repeatability of the seed stock. ORANGE CONFIRMED.   Monday, September 3 View Page Ben Buchsieb AZ state record holder (Hotpumpkin) and his wife dropped by for a visit and we had a good time talking pumpkins on Saturday. I finally had some time this weekend for the patch and yanked out 9 pumpkins here between 80 - 300 lbs. each. I still have 4 pumpkins including my 2 biggest in the patch.   Monday, September 3 View Page The pumpkin on my 434 continues to grow very slowly so I am leaving it on the vine. The vine seems very healthy but there aren't many leaves left. I found some soft spots in the stem and scraped them and coated it with pure Daconil. It seemed to be better today but not fully dry yet. Ben and I taped the pumpkin at 483 lbs. on Saturday. I don't remember all the measurements but the circ. was 120 inches. He said he'd never seen a pumpkin with such smooth and shiney skin. I made sure to take this pic in broad daylight so no trick photography on the orange color.   Sunday, September 23 View Page Here is the pumpkin off my 423 Gerhardt plant. I crossed it with 1101 Northrup. It will make a nice carving face.   Sunday, September 23 View Page I also cut the 434 Gerhardt pumpkin from the vine this weekend. This is the first time I've shown the stem end. I had to coat the stem with fungicide a few weeks ago to prevent soft rot. Today was the first time I ever sprayed insecticide on cut pumpkins- squash bugs and cucumber beetles are all over them. the little white marks above the stem are from cucumber beetles eating the pumpkin. This is the nicest looking pumpkin I've ever grown or even seen for that matter.   Monday, October 1 View Page Moving the fruit from my 434 Gerhardt plant onto my pumpkin sled. I took a 4x4 slab of 3/4 plywood and made a towing device with some strong rope and towed it out of the patch using my Blazer. Not huge but sure is a nice looking pumpkin eh?   Monday, October 1 View Page moving the pumpkin   Monday, October 1 View Page Done! Not going to Altoona this year unfortunately. I plan to sell the pumpkins to Longwood in order to finance my fall patch ammendments. It was a fun first year growing in PA I must say the conditions are much better for growing big ones than Maryland was.   Sunday, October 21 View Page I snuck by JeffL's house last week and snapped this pick of his pumpkin that he grew from my 423 Gerhardt seed.   Sunday, October 21 View Page My display is starting to take shape. Back left was grown off a 500 Northrup. Front left and the big guy in the middle were grown off my 434 Gerhardt 06. Front right was also off the 500 Northrup, and the back right was grown from a 423 Gerhardt 06.   Sunday, October 21 View Page Fall patch prep phase 1.   Wednesday, October 31 View Page Halloween was a great success. I moved in last year with only 4 days until the big day, so this was my first real Halloween. It was cool to hear from the neighbors how they had been watching the progress over this past year. 3 carved pumpkins over 300 pounds plus 3 more over 150. I didn't carve the 502, just ran out of steam. I want to be very careful getting all the seeds out of that one.   Wednesday, October 31 View Page This strange 300 pounder on a side vine off the 423 Gerhardt turned out to be a real cool carver. It gave me some big ideas about my approach to staging and carving them next year- I carved the mouth out of the blossom end and left it on its side to create this alien. Not excellent craftsmanship but cool to see in the dark.   Sunday, November 18 View Page Every pumpkin must face its final destination. This is the 502 just before opening.   Sunday, November 18 View Page Gerhardt 502 revealed. Lots of seeds. The cross was 434 Gerhardt x 500 Northrup.   Sunday, December 9 View Page Here is my current situation after just 8 months of soil building and growing. My initial soil sample prior to ammendments can be found at the beginning of my 07 diary. I selected Roses as the crop for analysis instead of General Garden.