Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 164 Entries. Saturday, January 2 View Page Happy New Year!!!!!! Here is a shot of my new plot on the south side of my yard. 30 x 80' for 3 plants! We enlarged this area and added 35 yards of manure and sand , ammenments. The following weekend I cut down 6 huge trees to allow more light in and now I am questioning if I should have made my garden on the opposite side of the yard as there may be more sun. I will check out the suns pattern @ the equinox in March and if there appears to be a sun advantage I will get a bob cat in and move everything to the north side. If not I still may make another area on the other side for 1 or 2 more plants and dedicate them to me good friend Bryan that says I will never be able to tend to 5 plants!!!!   Saturday, January 2 View Page Kind of blurry but this is a Google earth image of my property. If you enlarge the photo you will see where i marked a pumpkin with a red circle and arrow. You can also see my old 800 sq' patch on the south side.   Saturday, January 2 View Page I have been working on a germination chamber. I find the file, soak , moist paper towl in a ziplok bag works best for me. So here is a simple insulated box with a line voltage thermostat,heating pad and circulation fan. I have adjusted and changed this thing a few times in the last few days to get the most accurate and constant temps of 85-87 in the box. As a prototype it has required a lot of tweaking and I am getting close to perfecting it.   Saturday, January 2 View Page Jusr another pic of the germination box. This is where the seeds will sit.   Sunday, January 3 View Page Drove to Buffalo Ny (2 hours 1 way) in November to get these. One for me and one for a friend. Saved $300 per unit over buying in Canada. These are going to save us a ton of time in 2010   Sunday, January 3 View Page Picked this machine up used after renting one twice at a cost of about $120 per day. What a workhorse. I know we all like to brag about how out machines start first pull but you wouldn't believe what little force it takes to start this achine. Gotta love the hondas.   Monday, January 4 View Page Here is my birthday present!!!! Kinda funny because I havent really grown a "big" one yet but I plan too!!!!! I wanted to get it before some other nutcase like me thought of it.   Tuesday, January 19 View Page I have been tweeking my germination box to get the temp as close as possible to 87 degrees. Using the 50 watt heating pad the best I have been able to get is a fluxuation between 84 and 90. I think by adding a dimmer and reducing the output of the heating pad I will get a more constant temp. If anyone had ideas, please email me. Here is my first test in the box using the file/soak (12 hours) method. 6 for 6 not bad. These were in the box for 30 hours.   Thursday, January 28 View Page Well here is my new plate! Came in the mail yesterday. I will probably hold onto it until we need a new sticker in April. If I dont grow a big one this year I will look like a real looser with this on my vehicle. haha. Pressure is on.   Monday, February 22 View Page My current patch on the right (30 x 80') gets more shade in the foreground than anywhere else so I will use the bottom 25' to grow field pumpkins and only grow 2 plants in the rest of that area. Im then going to make a new 30 x 50' area on the left side of my yard as illustrated in the photo. I will be getting in 10 more yards of mushroom compost and about 7 yards of sand too. Man, my girls will be mad when their "mountain" is gone.   Tuesday, March 2 View Page I purchased these 275 gallon totes off my favorite classified website and the guy delivered them today They are super clean. These will be hooked up in series with a 1250 gallon main tank for a total rain water storage capacity of 2300+ gallon. I will post a pic of the big tank once I find a way to get it home. This relieves a lot of worries I had about ph, chlorine and cold water shock when using city water.   Saturday, March 13 View Page Picked up my "new to me" 1500 gallon water tank today. It actually fit more securely in my trailer than I thought it would and the drive home was a breeze. This brings my rain water storage capacity to 2600 gallons!   Thursday, March 25 View Page I continue to spend a small fortune on water storage and delivery stuff. Just ordered 120 dan micros with the 19gpm nozzle and all associated pvc pipe and components for 5 plant. Actually 4 ag plants and one 25 x 30' area that will have a few field pumpkin plants. I picked up this 1 1/2hp sprinkler pump today that should by my calculations easilly run all my dan micros on a single zone. This will be hooked up to a sunbird control and rain sensor.   Thursday, March 25 View Page This is a prototype hoop house. 5' x 8' and strong a hell. I have 5/8" x 8" galvanized bolts that stick up thru the 4x4 base. The 9' long 3/4" pvc conduit slip snugle over the bolts. Any one living south of the worlds longest unprotected border can't appreciate that we pay $5 per piece for this in Canada and its a buck in the US. That's why I loaded up my van with this stuff on my last family shopping trip in Buffalo!   Thursday, March 25 View Page The lenghts we go to for this hobby. In the fall I took down a half a dozen 50 year old trees on the east side of my property and just last week had this monster maple on my neighbours property trimmed to the tune of $700 Just to give you an idea of scale, some branches we had removed were 16" in diameter. I have gone from half day sun to 90% sun in the patch!   Thursday, March 25 View Page Love this pic. Little spray of molasses in the evening. Love this Stihl backpack!! 4 gallons in a matter of minutes.   Friday, March 26 View Page Picked up my dan micro components today. The cool thing about them is that you can mix and match colour coded components to get different flow rates and spray patterns. I chose to go with the 19 GPM mozzle (grey). The nozzels can be switched out at any time and cost about 23 cents. Tonite I sat down and snapped them all together.   Sunday, March 28 View Page Spent this weekend levelling a base for my water storage tanks and getting them in place. This area was sloped so we removed some dirt and made a base of sand and screenings. They are in a little nook on the south west corner of my house that was useless space. If you look on my satellite image, this area is between my neighbours red roofed garage and my blue hot tub. It works out perfectly because the newly built shed is right next to the tanks and it will house my pump and other irrigation components. 80% of my 1600 sq' roof area drains through one 4x4" down spout which drains directly into the main tank. Once all 5 tanks are hook up together the water level will rise @ the same rate in each. (like one huge 2600 gallon tank)   Sunday, March 28 View Page A pic of how the down spout is connected to the main tank. Some 4" flexhaust hose left over from my wood working dust collection system.   Thursday, April 1 View Page One month before planing and I have finally decided what will see dirt. 901 Hunt (Crushed the Canadian record and grew 3rd biggest of all time!) 1350 Starr (10 over 1000, grew Thads 1528. Thad is a strong supporter of the GVGO and has helped me a lot) 985 Werner (Needs no introduction. Something like 40 over 1000. This is a sick seed! One of the top 3 available IMO) 1343 Lyons 08. (1385 Jutras x 1470 Wallace. Wicked cross. Has not seen nearly the exposure as some of the big US names but first year out saw 4 over 1000 and a 1410 in Europe)   Friday, April 2 View Page Well, got all 5 water storage tanks linked together and no leaks. I've always been a teflon tape guy but thought I would try pipe dope on this job because of the size and quantity of fittings. Man that stuff is messy but works as advertised! Next up, some electrical work!   Monday, April 5 View Page Here is another pic of how the tanks are linked with better lighting......   Friday, April 9 View Page In the last 3 days we recieved 1.115" of rain which resulted in about 650 gallons in my storage tanks. I still have one down spout that I can close off which will divert about 30% more to the tanks!!! I am estimating 1000 gallons come off the roof per inch of rain!!!! WOW! We will see how this season goes and if I need more I also have 675sq' of shop roof space I can collect from! C   Wednesday, April 14 View Page Not the most exciting pic but this is the atmospheric vacuum breaker I had to install on the discharge side of my pump to prevent my storage tanks from siphoning out. It was either this or a 1 1/2" master valve and I figured this was the most fail safe method. FYI, for this to work properly you install it 6" higher than the highest level of your storage tanks. It can leak a little on start up so I had to run it on the outside of the "pump house" to keep any spillage away from the electrical.   Saturday, April 17 View Page Another successfull shopping trip south of the border. If you are American and you are reading this I hope you know how lucky you are when it comes to purchasing product!!! This 3/4" grey pvc in the trailer was $.96 each @ Home Depot in LockPort NY. In Canada it is $5.00 each!!!!!! Lots of money when you need a couple hundred of them!!!! Me and my pumpkin boy friends (thats what my wife calls them) Bryan and John figured we saved $1800 between us on this trip. We took home pvc, Alaskian Humus, Rainbird controllers, rain sensors, a jet pump and a few other cool things! A huge thanks to Paul for letting us ship some stuff to his place.   Sunday, April 18 View Page Finally got the filter and pump hooked up and tested. It was actually on hold until I could get down to the states to pick up my filter and Controller. I decided to get a 2" filter and install it before the pump to protect the mechanical seal. A fiter is a must on this system because I am using the 19GPH Dan micros and they have a tiny little hole that could be easilly clogged. A quick test today and I am getting 1.15GPS flow. Just over 4000GPH. I will be able to run all 100 dan micros on a single zone for sure. No solenoid valves to worry about!!!   Thursday, April 22 View Page Spread and tilled in 8 yards of sand in the 1600sq' north patch today. About the same in mushroom compost too..... Real nice manure. Much older (by appearance and smell) than the 1 year old stuff I added in the fall to the "south" patch.   Thursday, April 22 View Page Well, Here are the seeds that got sanded and soaked for 6 hours today. They are in my germ chamber that is holding @ 87.6 degrees. My trials over the winter have told me they will be ready for soil in 24-30 hours. Game seeds are 901, 1350, 985 and 1343. I have some sweet backups too!   Friday, April 23 View Page 5 of 10 seeds sprouted in 24 hours. 901 hunt, 1330.5 Johnson/Butler, 1536 VanKootan and both 1343 Lyons seeds that sprouting insanely!!!! They Lyons seeds fyi were 50% larger than all my other seeds. I have a good feeling about them. I think they are going to grow me a monster!!!!   Saturday, April 24 View Page Well, I'm 10 for 10!!!! 4 more were germed in 27 hours and one straggler, the 1689 Jutrus took a full 40 hours to stick its tongue out. They are now all in 4" pots on the heat matt and under the lights!!!!! I did trials all winter and was never this nervous!!!! Probably cause I didn't spend a small fortune on my trial seeds!   Monday, April 26 View Page This picture was taken almost exactly 4 days after the seeds were sanded and dropped in my special solution to soak. I am pretty happy with the result. The 985 Werner is 2nd from the left @ the back and represents my single biggest auction investment so I was a little worried about that one but he is coming along nice. Maybe I dropped him in a little deeper than the others. The only one not showing is the 1062.5 Stelts but its there. He is a backup anyway.   Monday, April 26 View Page Here is a little jig I made to help assemble the piping for the Thad Starr/Dan Micros system mostly to help align the tees. It works great! The little solvent holder was something I added on after knocking over the primer 3 times!   Wednesday, April 28 View Page Added final spring amendments! (Per 1000sq') 50 lbs humic acid 50 lbs elemental sulphur 10 lbs kelp meal 20 lbs corn meal 5 lbs MAP 20 lbs Kmag. This weekend will be spent doing a final till, installing heat cables and finish assembly of hoops and dan micros. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Its just a very long friggin tunnel!   Thursday, April 29 View Page This pic taken about 5 1/2 days after the seeds were potted. The front runners are 1343 Lyons, 1330 Johnson/Butler, 1350 starr and both VanKootan seeds. The 901 with its rotted cots is starting to look better and the 985 Werner (No Stem) that started very slow is beginning to raise up off the dirt. Not sure what happened to that seed but i suspect I dropped it in too deep. Tonite I will pot them up.   Sunday, May 2 View Page Worked like a dog this weekend. I have the Thad Starr/Dan micro system for all 4 plants completely assembled and installed in 2 of 4 plnting areas. I have 2 of 4 heating cables installed and 2 hoops assembled with auto openers that work great!!!!! I will do one more till on the north patch tomorrow after work and install heating cables. Looks like I will be ready to plant all 4 by wednesday. Here is a pic of the south patch. Each planting area is 28 X 30 and has 24 sprinkler heads. Tested the heads this weekend love the complete and even coverage!!!   Sunday, May 2 View Page Plants are dying to get planted!   Sunday, May 2 View Page Pic of hoop with auto opener.   Sunday, May 2 View Page Believe it or not, this is not a pit. Just the depth of my till. Soil is so amazing this year. I have tried my best not to step on it after it was tilled. Patch shoes are awkward at first but prevent me from sinking 8 inches.   Tuesday, May 4 View Page South patch ready for planting!!!!! I plugged in the cables last night and gave each mound a 15 gallon drink of fish, molasses, little bit of seaweed and pHortress. Cant wait to get home from work and get the plants in the ground! I have experimented with my digital ceramic heaters over the last couple nights. 75 degrees is the highest I can go without activating the auto openers. I will get 2 plants in the ground tonite and the other 2 on thursday! Go TEAM LUNATIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Tuesday, May 4 View Page Got 2 plants in the ground tonite! The 901 hunt is in the hoop in the foreground and the 985 Werner in the backround. I think these will prove to be my best 2 sites! The competition was over tonite so I had to show him the Dan Micros in action! Really cool pic with the sun setting in the backround!   Friday, May 7 View Page Well my other 2 plants didn't make it in the ground yesterday. They will get planted tomorrow (May 8th) Dont think the fact they are going to be planted a week later than firts planned will cost me because they are doing so well in my sunroom where it is nice a warm! Here is a pic of my 1343 Lyons plant. I have big plans for this guy.   Sunday, May 9 View Page Snowed last night!!!! I use 1500/750watt digital heater to heat my hoops. They normally keep the temp @ 22C on the low setting but it was so cold last night I put them on high. They ran non stop all night and kept the temp @ 15C. This is my 1330 Johnson/Butler which was planted as a backup on May 5th. Even know the night time temps are @ feezing this plant has shown considerable growth in the 4 days since it's hit dirt. The neagtive of all that electric heat is that it is drying out the soil in the hoops. I will water tomorrow.   Monday, May 10 View Page I went home @ lunch today to see how my babies were doing. They were calling for water so I gave them a gallon each. In the foreground is the 1330 Johnson/Butler (GVGO Seed of the year) and the 901 Hunt. In the far hoop is the 985 Werner. This is a cool shot that shows the whole operation.   Wednesday, May 12 View Page Finally after much delay I got my other 2 plants in. The 1350 Starr and 1343 Lyons on left were planted may 11th. Each plot btw is 30 x 30. Plants are in 8' from the edge because I plan on training the vines in a modified spider. This leaves only 22' for the main but I will be able to get an insane amount of plant in front of the fruit.   Thursday, May 13 View Page Here is the 1330 Johnson/Butler again.(GVGO seed of the year) This thing is growing like mad considering nightime temps are freezing. Compare it to my entry May 9th and its position in relation to the electrical cord. This pic was taken 3 days later. All my other plants are doing well in the hoops. The system as a whole is working great. Heaters are going on @ night and openers have worked flawlesswly during the day.   Friday, May 14 View Page Here is the 985 Werner after 10 days in the ground. This plant started off slow but is picking up. Its around 87 in the hoops @ noon today and the plants are flagging so I gave them a little drink.   Friday, May 14 View Page Another shot of the 1330 and 901 after 10 days outside. The 901 is small but picking up speed. It is the plant I have my heart set on but the 1330 is growing like crazy. I see a very tough decision coming up.   Sunday, May 16 View Page Here is a cool pic of the 985 Werner! Chugging along nicely. More importantly, this morning I chose to cull the 1330. So sorry John and Art! Stupid rookie mistake on my part. I planted it along side the 901 hunt because the 901 was doing so poorly. Now the 901 is catching up and I had to go with it. Not many 901's around. I still expect the 1330 will pop out some monsters this year.   Sunday, May 16 View Page What a beautiful day! Clear skies, high in the low 20's and virtually no wind. Had to prop up the hoop a little today, the openers alone cannot cool the hoop adequately on a day like this. I will be watching the weather forecasts closely and anything 18 or warmer I will be propping the hoops up before work.   Tuesday, May 18 View Page Makka Pakka, Team Lunatic Mascot.   Tuesday, May 18 View Page Here is the 901 Hunt on on day 12. So happy I culled the 1330 as soon as I did. This plant has taken off since. I will be weeding tomorrow.   Tuesday, May 18 View Page Here is Makka Pakka with the 985. I chose the overhead shot for this plant because its so low to the ground. Stump angle on this plant is perfect. Shouldn't have any problems laying down.   Friday, May 21 View Page Every day the 901hunt gives me more reason to feel good about culling the 1330. It is a great plant. Very strong and healthy. Of my 4 plants it may give me the most trouble due to the way the vine is growing but I will be super careful with this plant. The 1350 Starr on the other hand went directly into a vine. I has been in the ground for a week less than the 901 and 985 but its positioned perfectly to run.   Sunday, May 23 View Page 985 Werner @ 17days. Running but has not hit ground yet.   Sunday, May 23 View Page 1343 Lyons @ 9 days   Sunday, May 23 View Page 1350 Starr @ 9 days. This plant went directly to vine.   Sunday, May 23 View Page I started a bunch of regular pumpkins. Orange, white(lumina) blue moons, Jarrahdale's..... My 2 year olds birthday is on October 30th and my wife came up with a great idea to let the kids pick a pumpkin @ her party. I only have about 700sq' of garden allocated for this but we should be able to get a good crop of 8-10 pounders in that space.   Monday, May 24 View Page With great pleasure I would like to announce that Team Lunatic has officially gone international with our newest member Miika Mantyniemi of Finland. Miika is a wealth of knowledge on many different species and more importantly he is a total Lunatic. Just one more step towards world domination!!!!!   Tuesday, May 25 View Page The 901 Hunt is growing like mad. This tip grew 6" in lenght last night but the new growth is ribbon. Dissapointed is a understatement. Not sure what this means, or if I can grow compeditively off this plant or not. I have a 1142 VK waiting in a pot as a backup that I will plant @ the opposite end of the plot just n case I have to pull the 901.   Friday, May 28 View Page Dr. Mailey was by and did some surgery on the 901 ribbon double. In the next day or two we will know if the plant is back to a single, normal vine. Either way, the 901 and 985 planted may 4th as of today have outgrown my 5 x 8 hoops. The 1350 and 1343 planted on the 11th are, as they should be, a week behind but looking great.   Saturday, May 29 View Page Here is my 901 "ribbon" plant. 24days in the ground. I am going to watch this one closely and see if I can get a fruit to set on the main. This is a wicked plant and the only one that does not flag in these 30+ degree weather.   Saturday, May 29 View Page The 985 @ 24 days in the ground. This plant is perfect. Leaves are 24" plus!   Saturday, May 29 View Page My 1343 Lyons @ 18 days in the ground. I had the pleasure of a visit from Chris Lyons this morning. He is a wealth of knowledge and I look forward to making him proud with this plant. This plant is exactly where the 901 and 985 was a week ago so I expect that it and my 1350 Starr will catch up in the next couple weeks.   Saturday, May 29 View Page My 1350 @ 18 days in the ground. This plant is picture perfect and I expect big things from it.   Sunday, May 30 View Page The 30+ temps continue and today we had extremely high uv. I got a couple small burns on my 985 plant and rushed to get the shade netting out.   Sunday, May 30 View Page The 30+ temps continue and today we had extremely high uv. I got a couple small burns on my 985 plant and rushed to get the shade netting out.   Saturday, June 5 View Page Here is the 901 today after removing ribbon main.   Saturday, June 5 View Page 985 with pumpkin @ 10' will be ready for pollination in 10 days?   Saturday, June 5 View Page 1343 Lyons plant doing great!   Saturday, June 5 View Page 1350 Starr. With a pumpkin on the tip @ 9'. Will likely cut it off and pollinate the next one.   Saturday, June 5 View Page John Vincent and Jeremy Robinson do the roof shot. I am going to do a weekly stump shot. hahaha. This is taken from standing on a 5' tall maple tree stump at the rear of my yard. I will try to get better lighting next week!   Monday, June 7 View Page A little wind damage on my 985 plant. A few mature leaves and a secondary tip. I was really dissapointed when I saw this but this plant is so far ahead I should be fine. Also, added wind protection closer to the plant.   Tuesday, June 8 View Page Here is the 985 @ 11'_+ after loosing a couple large leafs on the main. You can see the void that it left. Overall this plant is looking great and thriving. First secondarys are out 8' already.   Tuesday, June 8 View Page Another little toy came in today. A ph meter will help me keep a close eye on irrigation water ph and I will be treating it when necessary.   Wednesday, June 9 View Page Here is the 901 today. Doing great a week after surgery. Secondaries are shooting out like mad. The new main is doing a foot per day!   Wednesday, June 9 View Page 985 is doing great as well.   Wednesday, June 9 View Page Here is the 1343 Lyons @ 9' This and the 1350 are in the new patch prepared this spring. I think nitrogen must me lower in this patch because the vine hug the ground as they grow.   Wednesday, June 9 View Page Here is the 1343 Lyons @ 9' This and the 1350 are in the new patch prepared this spring. I think nitrogen must me lower in this patch because the vines hug the ground as they grow.   Wednesday, June 9 View Page 1350 starr @ over 10' Chugging along, picture perfect!   Thursday, June 10 View Page When I first got into this hobby I thought it was really weird other growers would give you seeds to help you potentially beat them in competition. Now a guy that I am having a friendly competition with drops by the house every few days and offers advise and even gets his hands dirty. What a great bunch of people in this hobby!!!!   Monday, June 14 View Page Get a good night sleep boys! Got work to do in the morning!   Tuesday, June 15 View Page Made the 45 minute drive last night for a patch tour at the residence of Team Lunatic's Vice Prez BP Mailey's place and brought home a 1385 male that I used this morning!! A 5 lober @ 10'+   Wednesday, June 16 View Page More rain!!!!! Over 1" in a couple hours this morning! Vines are growing like mad and I wont get a chance to bury for 2 days. I have females on my other 3 plants that will be ready in a week max. Starr plant @ 13-14', Lyons @ 11, Hunt @ 9 and 11......   Sunday, June 20 View Page 1343 Lyons   Sunday, June 20 View Page 1350 Starr   Sunday, June 20 View Page 985 werner   Sunday, June 20 View Page 901 Hunt   Sunday, June 20 View Page 2nd Pollination of the year @ 10'. Have females on my last 2 plants due in a couple days!   Monday, June 21 View Page Pollinations 3, 4 and 5 today! 1350 Starr x 901 Hunt, 901 Hunt x 985 Werner and 985 Werner x 901 Hunt.   Monday, June 21 View Page Sorry about the pic, I was not about to put the patch shoes on just to get a better angle on the kin.   Monday, June 21 View Page 985 2nd pollination on this plant.   Monday, June 21 View Page 901 Hunt   Thursday, June 24 View Page Pollination #6 1343 x 1350   Saturday, June 26 View Page Here is the 985 today. To give you an idea of scale my plots are 30'x30'. I have already terminated the first 6 or so secondarys on most of my plants.   Saturday, June 26 View Page 901 Doing great!   Saturday, June 26 View Page 1350 Starr plant! What a great grower. Loves to stretch out! I couldnt get far back enough but this plant is 30' wide and over 20 of main!   Saturday, June 26 View Page 1343 Lyons. The smallest of my plants but also seams to be the one the slugs like best. I am not counting this plant out. It has a great 6 day old football shapped kin @ 12' that is doing well!   Sunday, June 27 View Page Pollination # 7!   Sunday, June 27 View Page Pollination #8!   Sunday, June 27 View Page Pollination #6 A little late posting this but if for nothing else I love this diary for my record keeping. Cheers.   Monday, June 28 View Page Poll # 9 today! 901 x 985. Another 5 lober. 1343, 1350 and 901 pollinations back on the 20th and 21st all look promising and I am very worried about the 985. Pollinations 1 and 2 on that plant did not take for sure. I have my fingers crossed for the 3rd attempt on June 27th.   Tuesday, June 29 View Page Pollination (attempt) # 10 1343 x 1350. 3rd on this plant. First 2 look good. Not sure when I make the decision to cull 2 of them.   Friday, July 2 View Page My keepers are set. Total media blackout in Pickering! See you all @ the scales. Growmbig!   Thursday, July 8 View Page For those that have e-mailed me, no I was not serious about not posting again until after weigh-offs. I am happy to say that vine buring is coming to an end very soon! My 30x30' plots are a week to 10 days away from being completely jam packed with greenery. Ontario has seen some real extremes in weather this summer. From a cold,rainy couple weeks near the end of June to a major heat wave the last week with 34c (94f) temps and humidex of over 100f. All plants are doing great but pollinations have been a major challange.   Monday, July 12 View Page This is the 901 x 985 on day 21. Cold temps in the last week of June gave this guy a real slow start but he has really taken off now! Day 20 was 56"cc. I have a couple of stem splits in this one from a surge of growth in the heat wave. I will be keeping a close eye on them. Also, 985 x 1385 day 9 = 20" . 1350 x 1343 day 13 = 36" and 1343 x 1350 day 11 = 27"   Tuesday, July 13 View Page 985 x 1385 day 10 = 23" Perfect shape.   Saturday, July 17 View Page Then there was 3. My 1343 wheel went down today to BES. I didnt have too much faith in this one anyway. It started as a nice long football and turend into a wheel. Kept growing in diameter but not in lenght. On a better note my 1350 is 160" ott today on day 20. My 901 continues to put on 5" cc a day and my 985 is looking great!   Saturday, July 17 View Page 901x985 day 26   Saturday, July 17 View Page 985x1385 day 14   Saturday, July 17 View Page 1350x1343 day 20. Potential Dill award winner!!!!   Wednesday, July 21 View Page Day 30 for the 901x985. 229" ott for 262 lbs. 28 pound gain yesterday and gaining!!!!!   Friday, July 23 View Page D20 today for the 985x1385. 67" cc. 7" cc overnight.... Not the best numbers for D20, but I am not concerned. 70 days to Port Elgin!   Saturday, July 24 View Page Here is my 4 year old on my 901x985. Sitting @ about 325lbs. We had 2.5" of rain yesterday in 3 hours. Got a tiny, shallow split in this one near the stem and the stem on my 1350 split. Nothing season ending. just a hairline crack. The 1350 btw, gained 58 lbs in 18 hours. Way too fast for my liking but we cant control mother nature.   Monday, July 26 View Page My single biggest lesson learned from this, my rookie year. Dont bury vines before snapping off tertiaries!!!!! Everything you see here was found today hidden in a corner against my silt fence on my 1343 plant. Since my keeper on this plant suffered BES I have payed less attention to it. Currently I have 2, 12 day olds on side vines.   Monday, July 26 View Page The 12 day old twins on my 1343 plant. Do I keep em both or cull one and maybe get a 5-600 pounder?   Monday, July 26 View Page Day 23 for my 985x1385. Its long, ugly and apears to be very solid. Veru slow to start, it has really taken off in the last couple days and sits around 125lbs by tape.   Monday, July 26 View Page Here is my 1350x1343 on day 29. I suffered a bad stem split last friday when we had 2.5" of rain in 3 hours but it continues to pack on weight.   Monday, July 26 View Page Stem split on 1350, packed with Captan.   Monday, July 26 View Page Here is the 901x985 @ about 400 lbs on day 35. To think I was going to pull this plant due to a bad ribbon vine only to sever it and take a strong secondary as the new main.   Thursday, July 29 View Page Here is the 1350 stem after surgery. This is actually the morning after and you can see where the knife cut has opened up. Lets hope she holds together cause growth rates are fantastic!   Monday, August 2 View Page 1343 x open on day 17   Monday, August 2 View Page 985x1385   Monday, August 2 View Page 1350x1343   Monday, August 2 View Page 901x981   Monday, August 9 View Page Patch overview   Wednesday, August 11 View Page I spotted a svb entry point on my 1350 right @ where there the stem meets the vine. I probed it and it was very shallow. Figured he got a taste of my systemic insecticide and "buged" off. Turns out he didn't. I noticed some splitting and more sawdust today so I cut the main away inch by inch till I got him. The larva were in the main about 1/2" from the stem. Thankfully not on the stump side. Btw, this fruit has doubled in size since the stem split and is one of my best. Also, this fruit is a beautiful orange. I didn't know the 1350 produced this colour.   Monday, August 16 View Page What do you guys think? Should I make this the official Team Lunatic Hat?   Monday, August 16 View Page 901x985 @ 700lbs +   Monday, August 16 View Page 1350 x 1343 @ 650lbs   Monday, August 16 View Page More 1350 stem surgery. Scraped out rot. Sprayed alcohol (Blue label Scotch as recommended by JV) let to dry and applied Captan.   Monday, August 16 View Page 985 x 1385 @ over 500 lbs   Monday, August 16 View Page 1343 x open. This is the real shocker. After 2 BES on this plant I all but gave up. This is day 32 and @ 450 lbs.   Thursday, August 19 View Page This is the "Pickering Deluxe" tripod I made based on the Team Pumpkin, Matt D version. It breaks down easy for transport and is rock solid. Should have no problem lifting my tiny little kins!!!   Friday, August 27 View Page Major stem split a month ago, then SVB in main, then some rot on the main where it connects to the stem. I had to remove 1/3rd of the vine/stem connection and this 1350 wont stop growing! It sits over 700lbs. 901 @ a crawl and 800lbs. 985 @ 700 and 1343 @ 650 on day 43. My hopes of a 1000 pound first year are still alive. Lets hope for a warm September!   Tuesday, August 31 View Page 1343 x open on D47 is 700lbs. Averaged 20 per day for the last month and has not slowed down. This was a late pollination as I lost 2 others to bes. I watch the blossom end closely on this one and today I noticed some ooozing out the top of the blossom button. I had a real good look and there is not crack that I can see. Removed oooze and put captan and fan. I hope this is not the beginning of the end for this one as it could be my best if weather cooperates.   Tuesday, August 31 View Page 1343 x open 149-86-88 = 323 for 710 lbs (major stem split) 1350 x 1343 139-89-102 = 330 for 756 lbs 985 x 1385 142-85-91 = 318 for 678 lbs (major stem split) 901 x 985 140-103-92 = 335 for 790 lbs Common Mother Nature, Gotta get to 1000 in my rookie year!!!!!!!! Pictures to follow   Tuesday, August 31 View Page 901   Tuesday, August 31 View Page 985   Tuesday, August 31 View Page 1343   Tuesday, August 31 View Page 1343   Tuesday, August 31 View Page The last pic was the 1350 Starr, not the 1343.   Thursday, September 9 View Page My Girls made the front page of the local paper. How cute is that! http://www.newsdurhamregion.com/news/pickering/article/161338   Thursday, September 16 View Page Set up the tripod over the 901 tonite with inline scale. Its only taping 840 but it thumps like concrete. The suspense was killing me. I had to know and now I do. It went heavy. Real heavy. Did I reach my first year goal of 1000 ????? Tune in @ Port Elgin for the answer.   Sunday, September 19 View Page My 985 is my smallest by tape @ just over 700. Thumps like a rock though.   Sunday, September 19 View Page My 1350 Starr. Can believe it survived a major stem split and SVB's right @ the stem. She also thumps like a rock but is not growing much if @ all and tapes around 800.   Sunday, September 19 View Page The 1343 has put on 70 lbs in the last 7 days and is taping 900. It's my largest in cc for sure @ 161".... Unlike the others it does not sound heavy when you thump it.   Sunday, September 19 View Page 901. Good things come in small packages. Day 90 today and she put on 50 in the last 7 days. 343 by tape but when it comes to Hunt genetics that tape don't mean squat. Less than 2 weeks to port elgin and a week of great weather ahead. Im going to push her like mad right to the end in the hopes of making my Rookie goal of 1000 with this one.   Sunday, October 3 View Page Well here it is! My first season and my first pumpkin ever weighed! The 901 Hunt x 985 Werner. She tapes 343 or 847 lbs. @21.6% heavy she is about the smallest thousand pounder you will ever see. This will get planted in my patch next year for sure!   Monday, October 4 View Page This is me (left) with Joel Jarvis just as Joel was heading home from Port Elgin. I was so happy to finally meet Joel and his beautiful family. Joel grows monsters and is experienced beyond his years yet very humble and mild mannered. The exact opposite to my obnoxious and loud personality. hahaha.   Monday, October 4 View Page Here is the 920 Delaney. (1350 Starr x 1343 Lyons) Good enough for 5th @ Port Elgin Sunday. Like my 1030 it also went way heavy. 17% heavy with a major stem split real early. Great emergency advise from the GVGO allowed me to contain the split and get this thing to a weigh off. I learned so much in the process!   Saturday, October 9 View Page Today was the Woodbridge weighoff. It was in the afternoon so I left my 985 on the vine till this am. When I lifted her up I noticed a rodent path in the sand. I got it up high enough to load in the trailer and saw water dripping from the under side. Upon probing I found a nasty soft spot about 8" in diameter. Could be the reason growth was not there even know this was my best plant. Needless to say we did not go to the weigh off. She weighed 884 on my inline scale which btw is dead accurate compared to the official scale @ Port Elgin. 16.92% heavy and the cross is by 1385 Jutras. Just under 400 good seeds in her.   Sunday, October 17 View Page What a great ending to a fun season. The Wellington Pumpkinfest and parade was fantastic and weather was great. Here is me and my girls with the 990 Delaney. Good for 7th place, the largest grown by a new grower award which came with a fantastic prize. "How to Grow Pumpkins the All Organic Way". I also won the Howard Dill award for this one. Judges must have been blind but I will take it.   Sunday, October 17 View Page The girls on our parade float!   Friday, October 22 View Page Here is the offical Team Lunatic Logo!!!!! Can't wait to get jackets, banners, thongs...... hahahaha   Sunday, October 31 View Page So here are the seeds I have available from my rookie year. All insane crosses in my opinion. You gotta figure there are some crazy genetics here. I didn't know what the hell I was doing and still produced 3 way over the chart.   Tuesday, November 2 View Page This pic taken minutes before we cut open the 1030(left) and the 920(right). Seed counts are low. Not sure why this happens. Maybe I didnt use enough pollen?   Wednesday, November 10 View Page Here is the CBC News segment in the Pickering patch! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVBaoPxswSk   Thursday, November 11 View Page Well, they are all dried and packaged to go... I will be dropping off some bubbles @ the post office today!!!   Friday, November 12 View Page I ordered 30 yards of my favorite mushroom compost and had it dropped in the driveway. That my dad in the backround digging out my garbage bin!   Friday, November 12 View Page 30 yards is alot to move without a machine specially when it had to be moved up to 140' away. I put a ad on kijiji and payed 3 students $10 per hour to move it for me. Is that cheating? Hahahaha Here is a pic of the north patch where my 920 and 990 was grown.   Friday, November 12 View Page And here is the south patch where my 1030 and 884 was grown.. In total we put about 26 yards on the 2 patches and I have 4 left for vine burying.   Monday, November 29 View Page So here is my new germ chamber.. Much smaller and much more accurate than my first design. This is only 10" x 14" and uses a digital line voltage thermostat and a cooling fan as the heat source. Yes, the cooling fan is the heat source. In my trials I have managed a 1 degree F accuracy and temps stay @ 86-87f.   Monday, November 29 View Page Ok, here is where your zip lock bag with paper towel and seeds sit. The cooling fan blows the heat up from the right side gap and gets sucked down the left side where it passes by the thermostat. The perforated board is elevated so that heated air will hit the underside of the seeds too.   Monday, November 29 View Page On your left is the thermostat and 3" cooling fan on the right. The fan blows away from the thermostat to create a convection within the box. BTW, that is 1/2 rigid insulation lining the box which is constructed of 3/8" ply.