Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 123 Entries. Sunday, April 4 View Page I am trying seed starting for the first time. Usually I just plunk my store bought seeds in some dirt outside and give them a bit of water. This time I am following a modified (lazy-ass) version of Jordan Rivington's detailed and helpful instructions on gvgo.ca. Basically I am soaking the seeds in 10% hydrogen peroxide and 90% water mix for 12 hours. Then putting them in folded paper towels coated in the same mix. I don't have an appliance that generates consistent heat or a seedling mat so I am skipping that part. They are going to have to do with room temperatures at night. During the day I will put them in the car with windows partially open to get to about 85 F.   Monday, April 5 View Page This is my very first lineup. My previous 2 seasons I used store-bought seeds with not much luck. I grew a 75 pounder and a 94 pounder. This year I ammended soil for first time. I'm not growing on grass turf this year either. Thanks to some very nice growers I have some great seeds to try this year. The first one is the 1004 Mohr 2008 (772 Poirier x 1317.5 Rose) which will be the primary fruiting plant. The 1004 was grown in a small lot (250-290 sq ft) like mine (240-250 sq ft) and it was also big and dark orange. For the pollinator plant I will be using one of the following seeds. Two for mammoth genetics: 722 Risi 08 (1239 Werner 07 x 1566 Rodonis 07), 900 estimated Langevin (1689 Jutras 07 x 1502 Wallace 06). One for heat tolerance: 09 Gonsoulin Cross (406 Gonsoulin 08 x 1566 Rodonis). I also have an 1116 Traylor 08 (1130 Jutras x 1385 Jutras) but I may save it for another year as I only have one of those seeds. On the other seeds I have a couple backups to try if the first don't take. If I get several good starters out of that group I may plant one at my parents' house.   Monday, April 5 View Page Here are the first two seeds I am starting for this year.   Wednesday, April 7 View Page Seeds in the bag in water/peroxide towels.   Wednesday, April 7 View Page Finally germination after 60 hours I was worried nothing was going to happen because the instructions said they all went by 32 hours. But the longer cooking time is probably just a result of me not keeping them warmed at night. Second seed took about 65 hours.   Thursday, June 17 View Page Sprayed 10% milk mixture on leaves to prevent powdery mildew. Length of main is about 56". One of the secondaries has finally touched down.   Thursday, June 24 View Page Finally constructed a shade structure today with aluminum wire, 22% white shade cloth, metal posts, clothespins.   Sunday, June 27 View Page I finished installing the new misting system today. It has backwash preventer, a nelson faucet timer (ExtremePumpkinStore), a filter,.600 x .700 poly tubing, and fine spray misters on barbed adapters from Dripworks. The only problem is leakage from the polytubing around the barbed adapter. I think the holepunch I bought locally has too big a gauge, because there is a lot of leakage. Today was going to be 105 so I had the system in by 10:30am. I may have to pull the misters, put in goof plugs and then use a smaller hole punch this time and reinsert the emitters.   Monday, June 28 View Page Sprayed with Dawn dish soap 2 TBSP to 1.5 gallons of water in a 2 gallon sprayer. Applied to both sides of leaves except for newest leaves (<=6in wide) at about 8pm. First time this year spraying with soap for aphid control.   Thursday, July 1 View Page Here is the plant the day before pollination of first female. As you can see the plant really hasn't filled out much. Many of the secondaries were stunted. I think it was due to a pyrethin spray I did ealrier in the season that I should have not put on young tips.   Thursday, July 1 View Page First female the night before pollination.   Thursday, July 1 View Page My high-tech plant cooling system. This is a small styrofoam cooler from the dollar store. I cut the two notches out for the vine to pass through and cut up the cooler top and duct-taped it to the inside of the cooler. This gives me a shelf to place the frozen water bottle in.   Friday, July 2 View Page Tonight it looks like I might have my first viable female flower on my main plant (Mohr 1004). Previous ones shrivelled at pea size. This one looks like it might open tomorrow or next day. It's probably 11 feet from stump. I didn't think I had any males ready but found one tonight that is starting to change color, so I may have pollen ready if the female opens tomorrow. The plant I was going to use as a pollinator is too far behind the main plant. No males will be ready in time.   Friday, July 2 View Page Happy Pumpkin Conception Day! After all my worrying, both a female and male opened today on my main plant (1004 Mohr). I pollinated and tied the flower back up. Then I put a small styro-cooler with a frozen water bottle inside over the female. If the pollination takes (the heat could be a problem) this will most likely be my pumpkin for the year. Everything is so wierd this year I couldn't project what was going to happen. Also both flowers only half-opened by 6:30am, whereas last two years they would always kick all the way open by that time in the morning. The strangest thing this year is that most of the secondary vines are significantly stunted - tiny little things. I think that is due to one of two things: 1) that I sprayed with Pyrethrin (Neem oil extract control for aphids, mildew) on the young leaves/shoots when I should have only hit the mature leaves, or 2)The stump broke off before the plant started vining and the current main is really what would have been a secondary originally. So the secondaries are what would have been tertiaries. That's my theory. It could also be the wierd weather swings I suppose.   Monday, July 5 View Page Sprayed Neem Oil with 1 gallon sprayer on both sides of leaves except for small young ones.   Wednesday, July 7 View Page Sprayed a quart of water w/ Neptune's Harvest on leaves.   Thursday, July 8 View Page This is the fruit on the 1004 Mohr at 6 days after pollination. I haven't measured distance yet but it is probably about 12 feet from stump. I'm very excited that the pollination succeeded. The misting, shade cloth, styrofoam and ice paid off.   Saturday, July 10 View Page This is the fruit on the 1004 Mohr at 6 days after pollination. I haven't measured distance yet but it is probably about 12 feet from stump. I'm very excited that the pollination succeeded. The misting, shade cloth, styrofoam and ice paid off.   Saturday, July 10 View Page Here is the pedigree for the seed I planted for my main plant this year.   Saturday, July 10 View Page So disappointing. My first real giant pumpkin split deep on the underside. Maybe I overwatered it last night and it grew too fast. My last two years I had a 75lb and 94lb fruit. They grew slow. This one actually looked like it would be several hundred pounds based on growing normal early on. Now I have to hope the no.2 fruit on the plant pollinates.   Saturday, July 10 View Page This was on day 8 I think - the disaster.   Saturday, July 10 View Page More crackup. Weighed out at 5.18 pounds.   Saturday, July 10 View Page Cracks were starting on edge of fruit/stem too.   Sunday, July 11 View Page Sprayed 10% milk on both sides of leaves for mildew prevention. I'm rotating between 3 biological control methods: milk, dawn soap (for aphids), and neem oil (mildew and aphids). So far no aphids or mites this year. I hope it's because I'm continuing to spray and not just because they haven't hit yet this year. Last year they were so bad that big sections of the underside of leaves were a different color from all the aphids and mites coating them. If aphids start showing up despite soap and neem I will have to break down and buy some chemicals.   Tuesday, July 13 View Page Sprayed regular strength calcium chloride with 1/4 strength neptune's harvest mixed in on both plants with the 1 gallon sprayer. Did not use the whole gallon.   Tuesday, July 13 View Page Started first batch of compost tea for this year at 7:30am. Yea - I know - I started late this year. I'm using the Deuley-type cheapo put-it-together-yourself 5 gallon bucket tea brewer. I put in commercial gardener's soil, commercial worm castings both of which I had sitting around, some of my own yard clipping compost (which was hot, steamy and full of critters), and a capful of Neptune's Harvest.   Wednesday, July 14 View Page I have another female on the 1004 Mohr that I pollinated last Friday. I am hanging on to hope that it will set and replace the beauty of a pumpkin that burst at day 8. So far this one is not very big, but I measured last night and this morning and it IS growing. It grew about 1/2 inch in circumference (not the traditional blossom to stem circumference becuase it is football shaped right now) in about 12 hours. So I might just have a valid pumpkin. It's hard to tell because the color is strange - sort of striped green instead of the usual pale yellow to white color at this stage and because it hasn't grown enough to lay down on the soil yet. It is behind the fruit on the 544 Risi in growth even though they were pollinated on the same morning and the Risi is outside the patch with full shade cloth coverage and misters. I could only afford enough room and equipment for one plant to be 'climate controlled' and the Risi was relagated to pollinator status this year since it was growing slower initially than the Mohr. The two females were pollinated by the opposite plant. I also have another female just pollinated this morning on the Risi as another backup but it's undersized at pollination time.   Wednesday, July 14 View Page Idiot move. I turned the drip lines on thinking I'd only run them 10-20 minutes. I got doing other stuff and forgot. Ended up with them on for 2 hours. Now I might split my backup fruit. I'll know tomorrow. At least the backup has been growing really slow - maybe the overwatering wont be enough to kick it into splitting speed. I've got to repair the sprinkler computer setup so I can put it back on automatic again.   Wednesday, July 14 View Page Sprayed with first batch of compost tea on both sides of leaves on both plants.   Friday, July 16 View Page I was saved from my own stupidity! The second try on the 1004 Mohr did not split today. 2010 is still ago.   Friday, July 16 View Page Found what I think are whiteflies. Waited until late at night when temp finally dropped below 90 to spray Safer soap on both plants.   Saturday, July 17 View Page Watered soil around vines with 1/2 bottle cap Neptunes Harvest and 1/3 bottle cap MorBloom 0-10-10.   Saturday, July 17 View Page Found two females open on 1004 Mohr that I didn't even know about until this morning. I pollinated one off the 544 Risi although it will be considered 'open' and cut the other one off because of a bad location. That means I now have 3 females on the 1004 Mohr. Only one has really made it so far to successful pollination stage. I have also pollinated 2 females on the 544 Risi. The main fruits on each plant are at day 8. The 10 day circumference benchmarks won't be very good. They are way behind the one that split for day 8 size.   Saturday, July 17 View Page Here is what a plant that doesn't have misters or full coverage by shadecloth looks in 106F weather.   Saturday, July 17 View Page Here is what a plant with shadecloth and misting system looks like in 106F weather at the same time. See the difference?   Saturday, July 17 View Page Here is the main fruit on the 1004 Mohr. My hopes and dreams are wrapped up in this one. 8 days after pollination.   Sunday, July 18 View Page Here's what it looks like when the mister are on.   Sunday, July 18 View Page Found a few bugs and decided to hit with diluted Dawn soap tonight.   Monday, July 19 View Page Based on standard circumference method of blossom-stem axis 10 Day circumference measurement on 1004 Mohr = 22". Based on perpindicular circumference method 10 Day circumference measurement on 1004 Mohr = 22.5".   Monday, July 19 View Page Based on standard circumference method of blossom-stem axis 10 Day circumference measurement on 544 Risi = 23". Based on perpindicular circumference method 10 Day circumference measurement on 544 Risi = 21.38".   Monday, July 19 View Page Sprayed new batch of compost tea with 1/2 bottle cap of Neptune's Harvest mixed in per gallon of tea. Sprayed in morning this time to get cooler temperature and avoid wetting over night.   Monday, July 19 View Page I gave the leaves the night off. After Safer soap, Dawn soap and compost tea sprays over the last few days I figured they could use a rest.   Tuesday, July 20 View Page I forgot the scale-cans in the Day 10 pics. Here is day 11 for the 1004 Mohr.   Tuesday, July 20 View Page Day 11 for the 544 Risi   Tuesday, July 20 View Page Distance on the main Mohr fruit is 13.6 feet from stump.   Wednesday, July 21 View Page Day 12 Circ. 31in on 1004 Mohr Day 12 Circ. 28.5in on 544 Risi   Wednesday, July 21 View Page Put down mill fabric under pumpkin and new sand on top. Looks pretty funny right now with my little pumpkin on huge mill fabric piece - like I'm expecting a half-ton pumpkin to show up any minute.   Thursday, July 22 View Page Day 13 Circ. 35in. on 1004 Mohr Day 13 Circ. 31.5in. on 544 Risi Growth on Mohr was 2, 3, 4, & 4.5 pounds on 4 successive days. I hope it's not starting to level off. 5 pounds/day is about the top growth I could expect on my pumpkins the last 2 years when I was growing store-bought seeds. I had assumed genetics was my problem and that with pedigreed seeds (plus soil ammendment, better shade cloth and better misting system) my daily growth would go above 10lb/day this year. My wife is trying to teach me patience but it's one of my weak spots. I'm hoping to see growth start ramping up more again tomorrow.   Thursday, July 22 View Page Was just excited to read benchmarks at http://www.gvgo.ca/downloads/2008_feb_ott_benchmarks.pdf thanks to posts by SmallMouthLuke and MellowPumpkin. It looks I could still grow a big pumpkin (800 lbs) in theory according to my 10 day and current growth rate. I would still need to keep increasing growth of course.   Thursday, July 22 View Page Sprayed compost tea with 1/4 strength Neptune's Harvest added. Also I put down SulPoMag in the soil around plant at less than 1/4 strength according to instructions on package (http://www.ebstone.org/11_sul_po_mag.php). Wanted to go conservative so I don't cause any problems or too rapid growth. I can always add more later. It should be safe considering the ingredients are slow release/uptake, but I really don't know what I'm doing.   Friday, July 23 View Page Day 14 Circ. 39.25in. on 1004 Mohr. Day 14 Circ. 34.5in. on 544 Risi. Growth ticked up a bit on 1004 Mohr to 5.75 lbs.   Saturday, July 24 View Page Day 15 Circ. 43.5in. on 1004 Mohr. Day 15 Circ. 37.75in. on 544 Risi. I'm happy because growth continues to accelerate in poundage   Sunday, July 25 View Page Day 16 Circ. 47.5in. on 1004 Mohr. Day 16 Circ. 40.5in. on 544 Risi.   Monday, July 26 View Page 1004 Mohr in evening of day 16. This is a cross with pollinator 544 Risi (2008 UOW). Since the 544 wasn't an official weight and it doesn't show up in AGGC.org or PumpkinLink.com, I'll include the pedigree here. It was grown from a 1445.1 Marsh 2007 x 1239 Werner 2007 seed.   Monday, July 26 View Page Here is the 1004 Mohr from above. It's a bit bumpy in back. I still have some adjustment to do on the stem angle. The diary for the 1004 Mohr pumpkin that grew the seed I planted is here: http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryView.asp?season=2008&grower=36085&action=L   Monday, July 26 View Page Stump on 1004 Mohr. Drip tape in foreground.   Monday, July 26 View Page Day 17 Circ. 51.25in. on 1004 Mohr. Day 17 Circ. 43in. on 544 Risi.   Tuesday, July 27 View Page I discovered what I think is Powdery Mildew on many of the leaves tonight. Just this morning every thing looked healthy. I also sprayed with Neem oil only about 5 days ago so I was surprised. It's probably been over two weeks since I sprayed milk. I don't know what the contributing factors were in my case. Maybe I should have sprayed milk more often. Maybe I should have gone full chemical/non-organic. Maybe I shouldn't run the misters so much (seven 2-minute runs on half-hour interval during day and 20 second on, 5 minute off cycle from 1pm-4pm. Maybe I shouldn't have sprayed compost tea at night.   Tuesday, July 27 View Page Possible powdery mildew?   Tuesday, July 27 View Page Possible powdery mildew?   Tuesday, July 27 View Page Day 18 Circ. 55in. on 1004 Mohr. Day 18 Circ. 45.5 in. on 544 Risi. 1004 grew 9 pounds. That is officially the most one of my pumpkins ever has grown in a 24 hour period!   Tuesday, July 27 View Page Had fun showing my nephews the pumpkin this morning. Now they want to grow their own pumpkin next year.   Tuesday, July 27 View Page Matt DeBacco looked at my pictures and said I probably don't even have PM. I am so relieved!   Tuesday, July 27 View Page Here is my soil test from last Fall.   Tuesday, July 27 View Page Second page of soil test w recommendations from A&L last Fall. I haven't done any specific soil ammendments yet except for a little boron. Just added composted manure and some maple leaves in the Fall. Hopefully this coming Fall I will do more specific ammendments.   Tuesday, July 27 View Page Sprayed compost tea. I didn't add any Neptune's Harvest this time.   Wednesday, July 28 View Page Thanks to advice from Tremor and Matt DeBacco I sprayed with 40% milk instead of 8-10% milk this morning. Thanks guys!   Wednesday, July 28 View Page Day 19 Circ. 58.25in. on 1004 Mohr. Day 19 Circ. 47.5 in. on 544 Risi. 1004 grew 8.69 pounds. That is the first day since I started measuring that the growth in pounds dropped from one day to next. Hopefully that was just because I didn't water enough yesterday. I forgot to water in the morning (usually I water for 30-40 minutes at 6:30am) and ran the drip tape for about 10 minutes at 6:30pm. So after going back to normal watering schedule hopefully the growth will increase again tonight. I also am misting a lot less because of the PM scare. So if the growth doesn't increase again by tomorrow morning I will probably adjust the misting schedule again.   Thursday, July 29 View Page Day 20 Circ. 61.5in. on 1004 Mohr. Day 20 Circ. 49.5 in. on 544 Risi. Just hit the 800 pound benchmark for day 20 on the 1004 Mohr! I know a lot can happen between now and harvest time, especially with the heat and my inexperience, but it's still encouraging. I have a small shade/water shield made out of Tyvek. It's only partial to allow for some airflow. The pumpkin is also covered with a white sheet to ensure full sun protection. The 1004 Mohr is still nice and glossy on the skin. The fruit looks healthy.   Friday, July 30 View Page Day 21 Circ. 64.5in. on 1004 Mohr. Day 21 Circ. 51.5 in. on 544 Risi. Growth on Mohr has hovered around 9 lbs/day for the last 4 days. I'm worried it's plateaud.   Sunday, August 1 View Page Finally - I have a new personal best! We hit 100 pounds today. Previously my personal best was 94 pounds.   Sunday, August 1 View Page Okay - now the not so good news. The growth has definitely levelled off. It has been around 9 pounds a day for 6 days. I'm worried it has peaked at day 22/23 and won't build in daily growth anymore. Since I had reached the 10 day and 20 day benchmarks for 800 pound pumpkin I had started to believe it was possible. But now I'll be lucky to get a 200 pound pumpkin if I can't get the growth to build up to 20 lb/day.   Sunday, August 1 View Page Day 23.5 CC 69.5in. on 1004 Mohr. Day 23.5 CC 55.5in. on 544 Risi. The soil was pretty dry this afternoon at 3:30pm even though it got 1 hour (approx 35 gal.) at 6:10am this morning. So I am switching my watering schedule to 35 minutes at 6:15am and another 35 minutes at 1pm.   Monday, August 2 View Page I added 3/4 cup of potash today. I got all the leftover oak ashes in the bottom of my father-in-law's woodburning stove and spread it out thin around the plant. I sprayed it with a hand sprayer to keep it in place as I spread it and then I watered and misted to make sure it didn't blow away later. Hopefully this will kick the fruit-growing into another gear without blowing out.   Monday, August 2 View Page Just found out from a friendly BigPumpkins.com participant that I shouldn't put unprocessed ashes down mid season because of salt content. I should have bought 0-0-50 instead. Another lesson of what not to do for next year. I sprayed Neptunes Harvest fish & seaweed this morning on leaves at 1 bottlecap to a gallon of water.   Monday, August 2 View Page Day 24 CC 71.75in. on 1004 Mohr. Daily growth in pounds staying level, maybe even starting to drop a little.   Tuesday, August 3 View Page Day 25 CC on 1004 Mohr = 74.4in. Growth hit 10.5 lbs if I measured right. I sure hope so given I had previously stalled out at about 9lbs/day. Only things I did different was watered between the 18" gap driptape lines and split water cycle into twice a day. 35 minutes at 6am amd 35 minutes at 1pm totalling about 40 gallons/day. I'm not sure how much to water in terms of gallons/day. I've heard growers do as much as 100 gallons every two days. I'm under that at 80 gallons every 2 days despite being in a hotter climate than 95% of growers. But I figure I shouldn't overdo it as I also have a smaller plant (<200 sq ft) than most growers. I don't want a split like I got earlier in the season. I sprayed with compost tea this morning. I also drenched with the leftovers.   Tuesday, August 3 View Page night of day 25. fruit seems to be transitioning from glossy to semigloss except for right at the blossom end where it is staying glossy.   Tuesday, August 3 View Page back end is turning matte finish and getting orange   Tuesday, August 3 View Page 544 Risi is in the pollinator patch which has very little space, no misters, no drip tape, and only about 50% has shade cloth. It also is growing over bermuda grass which is getting very long. I have to clean out that area tomorrow and make it more respectable.   Wednesday, August 4 View Page day 26 CC 76" on 1004 Mohr. I either had a wierd up and down two days 10.5 pounds of growth and then down to 6.5 pounds, or more likely I mismeasured yesterday and both days were around 8.25 pounds or so. Either way things are slowing down and I'm a little disappointed. If things are slowing down I'll be lucky to hit 200. That would be a significant improvement over my previous PB of 94 lbs, which is great. But considering the great seeds and improved patch management I used this year I shouldn't still be in the realm of pumpkin sizes that store bought seed growers get. It could be related to heat but there are some growers in the Sacramento area that have hit the 900-1,000 lb zone and their climate is close to what we have here in Fresno. Obviously there are some things I'm still not doing right to reach the great seed's potential. It could be I haven't ammended my soil adequately. Also I might need to use more heat stress mitigation factors like calcium spray, mulching and mycorrhizae.   Saturday, August 7 View Page Day 29 CC = 81.25in. on 1004 Mohr. Growth has been bouncing between the 6lb and 8lb range and today was back to 8lbs. Day 29 CC = 65in. on 544 Risi. That is the biggest daily gain on the Risi at 5.7 pounds. I thought it had peaked on day 23 so the spike is appreciated.   Saturday, August 7 View Page Part I This is my first crack at a list of what to do differently next year. 1.)have soil ammendments done to meet all the recommendations from my soil test, see how much kelp meal, gypsum, greensand will be appropriate 2.)Use myco - pumpkin pro 3.)get straw and use as mulch around vines as they grow 4.)Start seeds a month earlier; that way the fruits won't hit what should be their peak growth during the hottest month when heat stress is too high 5.)decrease distance between drip tape from 18" to 15"; right now doesn't seem like moisture is spreading enough laterally even under the surface.   Saturday, August 7 View Page Part II 6.)set out walking boards IMMEDIATELY after tilling in soil 7.)move or add boards as vine growth occurs 8.)make sure vines have adequate side dressing of N like alfalfa pellets to ensure rapid vine growth; this way plant will fill patch and have vines terminated BEFORE fruit set and plant can focus on growing fruit 9.)Transplant pollinator first to ensure males available in time 10.)Find ALL tools needed during growing season and place them in one place in the garage BEFORE spring chores begin   Saturday, August 7 View Page Part III 11.)Do not spray anything but compost tea on youngest leaves and vine tips or you will stunt their growth 12.)Do not use Neem oil. It wears on leaves and doesn't do anything for PM. Bugs can be equally controlled with dawn soap and/or organicide. 13.)Do not use copper-based fungicide even if it is OMRI listed and very low concentration - not a healthy thing to add to yard. 14.)Recalculate drip tape hourly output for patch before transplanting so you know just how much to water 15.)Redo soil test. Pay more attention to Sulfur 16.)Start spraying C02 foliar earlier in season   Saturday, August 7 View Page Part IV/Summary 17.)Approximate how much nutrients should be put in with long-lasting ammendments in the Fall versus short term in the Spring. 18.)Figure out how much Overall I think there are 2 critical areas that will make for a much better year for me next year. Heat Stress Mitigation: CO2, Myco, Mulch, Start Season Earlier Standard Patch Management: Increase and Balance Soil Nutrients, Avoid Compaction   Saturday, August 7 View Page Screwed up last entry 17.)Approximate how much nutrients should be put in with long-lasting ammendments in the Fall versus short term in the Spring. Overall I think there are 2 critical areas that will make for a much better year for me next year. Heat Stress Mitigation: CO2, Myco, Mulch, Start Season Earlier Standard Patch Management: Increase and Balance Soil Nutrients, Avoid Compaction   Sunday, August 8 View Page I summarized my list here for next year, but the full list is in my diary.. Heat Stress Mitigation: CO2, Myco, Mulch, Start Season Earlier Standard Patch Management: Increase and Balance Soil Nutrients, Avoid Compaction http://bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryView.asp?season=2010&grower=51037&action=L   Monday, August 9 View Page Dark brown dead spots on leaves. Started on pollinator plant about 4 days ago. I cut those off immediately. Now it is happening on 12+ leaves on main plant. It is only happening on parts of the leaves that had turned yellow several weeks ago. Those yellow swaths I had attributed to some kind of burn - from spraying something and then the weather getting really hot later in the day. I dont think it is downy mildew because it doesn't have the anjular edges.   Monday, August 9 View Page More of the mystery brown spot damage.   Tuesday, August 10 View Page Looks like I might have anthracnose. I sprayed with Serenade on the plant and soil this morning. We'll see if it makes any difference by tomorrow morning I think.   Wednesday, August 11 View Page Day 33. Previous to today I had two days in a row of 8 lbs/day growth. This morning I had only 5 lbs of growth on the 1004 Mohr. That is the lowest growth since day 14. Maybe this is a result of the shock to the soil microbes that Serenade application brings. I am spraying and drenching compost tea tomorrow morning so hopefully that will help it recover. I hope its not just a quick wind-down of the pumpkin growth phase. On the bright side my pumpkin is turning a nice orange color. I will post a picture tonight. DAP 33 CC = 86.75in. Est Wt=176lbs. 544 Risi also had lowest growth day ever (also received Serenade) of only 1.4 lbs! Yikes. DAP 33 CC = 69.1in. Est Wt=98lbs. That is better in weight than my PB before this season.   Thursday, August 12 View Page Sprayed Neptune's Harvest (3/4 bottle cap) with a little kick (about 3 drops) of kool bloom per gallon of water on both plants.   Thursday, August 12 View Page Day 34 CC = 88in. on 1004 Mohr. Growth back up a little to 6.7 pounds. Sprayed compost tea on leaves and soil this morning to help both recover from Serenade shock. Fruit on pollinator plant 544 Risi is now over 100 pounds (CC = 70.5in.)and growth bounced back to 5 pounds.   Sunday, August 15 View Page Beautiful orange color thanks to the 1004 Mohr genes.   Sunday, August 15 View Page view from the vine   Sunday, August 15 View Page celebrating a pumpkin that's finally heavier than me.   Sunday, August 15 View Page Broke the 200 pound barrier for the first time! I know for most growers that's what you would get if you took seeds from Lowe's and threw them in the backyard and left them alone for 3 months. But it's a big deal for us.   Sunday, August 15 View Page Sprayed compost tea again on both plants and drenched the leftovers on the 1004 Mohr. Switched back to once a day watering with drip tape yesterday. I haven't used Neptunes Harvest in the last two batches of compost tea. I just used my own compost, a little kellogs potting soil and a little dry worm castings.   Sunday, August 15 View Page somehow colors didn't look the same when I looked at my pictures in my diary versus how they looked viewing them locally on my PC. Has something to do with color profiles. Anyway I think I fixed it for this pic so you can see the real orange color better.   Wednesday, August 18 View Page Couple of days ago found lots of aphids and other bugs on two leaves in particular - other leaves looked ok. Sprayed both plants with Safer soap that morning. Today sprayed Neptune's Harvest (2TBSP/gal) with a few drops of Kool Bloom in morning. Today DAP 40 CC 94.75in. = 222.5 lbs on 1004 Mohr. DAP 40CC 75.8in. = 124 lbs on 544 Risi. Mohr growing 6lbs/day. Risi growing 3lbs/day.   Saturday, August 21 View Page Season is coming to a close. Both pumpkins grew less than 2 lbs/day for the last couple of day. 230 and 130 in est. weight.   Monday, August 23 View Page After 2 days of very little growth (< 2 lbs/day), I terminated all the tertiaries that I'd been using to fill in holes in the patch, then it popped back up to 7 lbs/day and 6.5 lbs/day the next two mornings.   Monday, August 23 View Page Sprayed and drenched compost tea this morning. A friendly grower from Utah told me that tertiaries don't develop their own roots so they just suck nutrients away from secondaries. I'm going to have to check my (terminated) tertiaries tonight to see if they aren't rooting at all. I'm thinking if they don't have any roots I might as well cut them all the way back to secondaries. Of course their leaves can absorb nutrients too. hmmm.   Tuesday, August 24 View Page Pumpkin has been very smooth and rounded on the blossom end and chunky/ribbed on the stem end. Over the last week the chunkiness/ribs seem to be moving forward to the blossom end slowly.   Tuesday, August 24 View Page High temp is supposed to be 110F tomorrow (Wednesday). Misters are usually set to cycle on and off but tomorrow will go on in the afternoon and stay on for a couple hours.   Wednesday, August 25 View Page Day 47 CC = 99.5" for est. 252.8 lbs on 1004 Mohr.   Wednesday, August 25 View Page Post I just made to Soil Prep forum.. Outkast says 'Now what's cooler than bein' cool? Ice Cold'. So I ask what's more excessive than bein' excessive? Apparently 'excessive drainage' is more than 1" of water percolated into soil per hour. I did some testing based on instructions in the book 'Secrets to Good Soil' and we had literally one inch PER MINUTE! I started with 11" inches of H20 in both of my pits (one dry, one moist). All 11 inches of H20 were gone in less than 11 minutes (I was supposed to take measurements at 1hr, 2hr, & 3hr. I also did a poor man's soil texture test (sedimentation layers) and found my soil has over 95% sand. According to NRCS soil survey I have sandy loam, but I'm thinking it's more like silty sand. So now that I know I have crazy drainage, do you have any suggestions on how much compost, manure to add in Fall to have sufficient organic matter? Last test through A&L labs showed only 3.5% organic matter before I added 1.5 yards of well composted (no smell) manure last Fall for a 240 sq foot patch.   Thursday, August 26 View Page Day 48, CC = 100.12", est 257 lbs on 1004 Mohr.   Thursday, August 26 View Page Day 49. Date was wrong on previous post. Out on the West Coast we have to remember the diary entry date defaults to the next day when East Coast time is past midnight.   Saturday, August 28 View Page Day 49 on 1004 Mohr   Sunday, October 31 View Page Getting ready for weigh in. Grown off 1004 Mohr seed.   Sunday, October 31 View Page My dad helped with a lot of work including making a rolling pallet and reinforcing the canvas tarp for pumpkin lifting.   Sunday, October 31 View Page Beautiful color from its momma - the 1004 Mohr.   Sunday, October 31 View Page You can see leaves from a couple sprouts in there.   Sunday, October 31 View Page Thick on the top   Sunday, October 31 View Page Sprouts from inside the pumpkin were over 12 inches in stem length.   Sunday, October 31 View Page Fibrous tentacles for each seed attachment.   Sunday, October 31 View Page Ready for Halloween   Sunday, October 31 View Page Chillin on the porch   Sunday, October 31 View Page Up close and personal   Sunday, October 31 View Page The final weight was 300 pounds. I took it to a small weigh-off with 3 other pumpkins. I came in last! The winner was 480, second was 360, and third was 320. But 300 is a massive improvement over my previous two years when I had 75 pounds and 94 pounds.   Thursday, November 4 View Page Measured thickness after cutting up the jack-o-lantern 300 Thomas (1004 Mohr x 544 Risi). Minimum thickness was on bottom surface touching ground at 2.5 inches thick. Maximum thickness was 8.5 inches on shoulder near stem. Typical thickness on top was 4 to 4.5 inches. Thickness at blossom (indented) was about 3.5 inches.