Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 58 Entries. Saturday, January 1 View Page Happy new year everyone! My patch is resting up for the growing season ahead, which will see me grow out a 1556 Werner and an 800* Neily, among a couple other plants. Best of luck to everyone in 2011.   Thursday, February 3 View Page Our snowpack keeps getting deeper and deeper, now approaching three feet throughout the area with anomalies of twice that. This has been one of the most severe winters I can remember, but I love the cold and snow, so I'm not complaining. And it's an excuse to keep delaying the inevitable packing up of Christmas decorations...   Thursday, February 3 View Page Here you can see the various layers in the snowpack. The bottom layer is from December, and the top is the three inches of sleet and ice we received this week. In any case... I'm more-or-less decided on what I'm planting in terms of competition growing next year. For giant C. maximas, I'll be growing out the 1556 Werner, 1540 Brownell, 1288 Wallace, 634* Vunak and 611* Stellpflug, barring any unforeseen roadblocks. I'm also growing a couple competition watermelons and cantaloupes, a trellis worth of long gourds, and maybe a competition Big Zac tomato. Thanks go to the CTGSPG group, Todd Bronwell, Ron and Pap, Joe Vunak, Al Berard, Dennis Masterson, Vic James, Dave Cantrell, Sam Lovelace and others for their guidance and for giving me the chance to grow these extremely promising seeds.   Sunday, February 20 View Page The patch (or lack thereof)...   Friday, February 25 View Page Closeup of a cracked seed (one of mine).   Friday, March 25 View Page Took samples for my soil test today. I plan on very roughly following Charles Lieber's early-season amendment/setup regime, thanks to an excellent article in one of the past few SNGPG newsletters, which seems to fit my growing needs well. Patch is all thawed out, and the first early bulbs have started to bloom. I'm going away the week I wanted to start my competition plants in late April, which will leave me several days behind schedule, but I guess it shouldn't be too big an issue.   Tuesday, March 29 View Page Germinating 3.62 Lovelace (5.416 Harp x open) seed, with the casing barely broken through.   Tuesday, March 29 View Page Another 3.62 Lovelace, a few days ahead of the previous seedling (although they were planted at the same time and given exactly the same treatment).   Saturday, April 2 View Page Tilled the patch for the first time, ~50 lbs of alfalfa meal down, then tilled again. Covered in the stuff... cat likes the smell of it as well. Goal for the next several days is to till under 15 or 20 lbs of humic acid, 50 lbs of kelp meal, 100 lbs dehydrated molasses, and 10 yards of peat moss.   Sunday, April 3 View Page 100 lbs of molasses... peat moss... done.   Tuesday, April 5 View Page Got some fun stuff in the mail from Tom at extremepumpkinstore.com. As expected, I received my order very efficiently and satisfactorily. Thanks Tom! I would have liked to tilled in the humic acid today, but the patch is too wet after a day of heavy rain.   Tuesday, April 5 View Page Outside of competition, I'm trying a couple really interesting winter squash cultivars this year. I found Chiriman and Seminole squash in Amy Goldman's book, and they both seemed like they'd be fun to try. Got them from Baker Creek rare seed company.   Saturday, April 9 View Page Kelp and humic acid tilled under. Large-scale amendments basically done with the most recent additions...   Saturday, April 9 View Page Patch overview. I decided to only grow one squash, which, assuming it germinates, will be the 611* Stellpflug with a Hester seed as a backup. The 800* is going to have to wait.   Thursday, April 14 View Page Soil test results came back today. pH is right where I want it at 7.2. Everything else seems alright at first glance.   Tuesday, April 26 View Page Filed my primary competition seeds yesterday. Made some small changes in my lineup. The 1556, 1288, 1540 will hopefully be my main pumpkin plants, with the 1167 Courson as a backup. I also ended up starting both the 611* and 634* squash. Unfortunately, the 1288, 611* and 634* might all be inconsistent germinators, so I started six seeds with the hope that at least four pull through.   Tuesday, April 26 View Page Seeds filed and about to soak for six hours.   Tuesday, April 26 View Page My other competition seeds I plan to start within the near future.   Saturday, April 30 View Page 5 days in the germination chamber and five out of six seeds are up (seedcoats completely above dirt level... they've been moving since day three). The only holdout is the 611*, but I can't say I didn't expect that. Temp has been 86-88F, which was adequate to germinate everything else.   Sunday, May 1 View Page 634* Vunak   Sunday, May 1 View Page 1540 Brownell   Sunday, May 1 View Page 1288 Wallace, behind the others by a day or so, but still making progress.   Sunday, May 1 View Page 1556 Werner rotted out after complications in germination.   Sunday, May 1 View Page The 1167 Courson plant that will replace the 1556.   Sunday, May 1 View Page Since my one backup plant is probably already booked, I started an 870 Wolf to fall back on if something happens to another plant. It'll be five days behind, but better than nothing. In the meantime, I transplanted the 1556 Werner (what's left of it) into a bigger pot. I flooded the starting soil with a very light mix of Neptune's Harvest fertilizer and squeezed it out, leaving it just slightly damp. I also snipped off the wayward root, removed the remaining seedcoat debris from the rotted first leaves, and placed it under my growlight. The very bottom of the first leaves and the stem have started to green up, and the rest is drying out, so I'm holding out a very slight bit of hope that it can hold out long enough for a viable first leaf to grow.   Tuesday, May 3 View Page The 1556 is actually showing signs of survival. It's alive and growing, although it's a little lopsided with a slightly leggy stem and only a small portion of the first leaves. 1288 is growing steadily, and should catch up to the other plants soon. 1540 has some damage to the first leaves, which came up small and shriveled, but I'm not too worried. Everything else is doing well... melons, cantaloupes, LGs, field pumpkins are all popping up.   Sunday, May 8 View Page A few days behind schedule, but still progressing nicely. Over the week I dug a six foot by six foot and 1.5 to 2 foot deep ditch for each plant and refilled it with a generous amount of peat moss and alfalfa meal. Built really simple hoophouses, PVC pipes anchored to rebar and covered with plastic sheeting, over each one, and yesterday I planted my giant pumpkins and squash along with a good sized dose of mycorr. Each plant received a couple gallons of water with a light solution of fish-seaweed.   Sunday, May 8 View Page 1167 Courson   Sunday, May 8 View Page 1556 Werner... still really weak looking, but it's still alive and a first true leaf is starting to grow out. If it doesn't catch up at least it can serve as a pollinator plant.   Sunday, May 8 View Page 634* Vunak   Sunday, May 8 View Page 1288 Wallace   Sunday, May 8 View Page 1540 Brownell   Friday, May 13 View Page 1556 still hanging on. Gave all my plants their third drench with fish-seaweed solution since transplanting.   Friday, May 13 View Page 1167 Courson growing well, still probably going to be the substitute for the 1556 unless it starts growing well again.   Friday, May 13 View Page 42.66 Cantrell cantaloupe   Friday, May 13 View Page 55 James cantaloupe   Friday, May 13 View Page 1540 Brownell   Friday, May 13 View Page 1288 doing well after some hoophouse-related damage   Friday, May 13 View Page 70 Lovelace field pumpkin   Friday, May 13 View Page 81 Wolf field pumpkin   Friday, May 13 View Page 634* Vunak   Saturday, May 28 View Page 1556 finally starting to throw a couple real leaves, but it's so far behind I doubt it'll be good for anything except decorative fruit, and I'm kind of reluctant to pollinate anything with it after all the problems it's had.   Sunday, May 29 View Page LGs in. Giant field pumpkins doing great. Still need to get some of my eating plants and seeds in. All competition AGs are doing well, and they're mostly on their fifth leaf now. Have them all staked up and starting to tilt them in the general direction I want them to run. 1288 is already throwing tendrils, and is by far my most aggressive plant. No signs of nutrient deficiencies on any of my plants so far, which is good (but man, 100s of lbs of molasses and alfalfa meal sure make the worms happy).   Thursday, June 2 View Page Plants have started to really run, and are on the ground or are going to be in the next two days. Hoping to be pollinated in three to four weeks.   Saturday, June 4 View Page My 1288 plant is one of the most resilient and healthy-looking competition pumpkin plants I've ever seen at this stage. Huge, dark green leaves, thick vines, perfect layout. Everything else is doing fine (even the 1556 is starting to kick into gear), but the 1288 in particular is more than meeting my high expectations.   Thursday, June 9 View Page Hit by one of the worst storms I can remember today. Tree fell and crushed my veggie garden, but amazingly, all my pumpkins came out alive.   Friday, June 10 View Page 1167 Courson   Friday, June 10 View Page 1540 Brownell   Friday, June 10 View Page 1288 Wallace   Friday, June 10 View Page 634* Vunak   Thursday, June 16 View Page Plants should be making a run at 10 feet by the end of the week. A couple tiny females starting to show up in the vine tips, which unfortunately look likely to open the week I'm away at the end of the month. Guess I can only hope they fall just outside my period of absence...   Monday, June 20 View Page 1167: solid primary vine growth, healthy, moderately sized leaves, secondary vines slow and sparse so far 1540: attractive plant, steady main vine growth, very nice leaf color, short distance between leafnodes. Secondaries also slow out of the gate, but catching up. 1288: most vigorous plant in the patch; thick, strong vines, heavy growth rates, secondaries now starting to kick into gear. Some difficulties with vine training. 634*: most flawless plant in the patch. Vigorous, well-behaved secondaries, strong main vine, beautiful, large leaves. 1556: still chugging along; still don't think it has much potential, other than as a pollinator. 104 Lovelace: both plants growing steadily, but slowly. Still no more than a foot tall, but I have confidence they'll start kicking into gear. 55 James: same comments as LGs, basically. 81 Wolf: both plants continue to basically outpace my competition AGs. The vigor of C. maxima with the leaves and vines of C. pepo. 70 Lovelace: major vine split slowed it down initially, but now doing just as well as the two 81's.   Monday, July 4 View Page 634* Vunak x self, 12 feet, 4 lobes yesterday   Wednesday, July 6 View Page Same problem as last year, vines are self-terminating and plants are only growing to a couple hundred square feet. Thought all the soil work I did this year would eliminate any nutrient deficiencies. Only thing I can think is that I need a lot more nitrogen.   Thursday, July 7 View Page 1288 Wallace x self, 12 feet, five lobes 70 Lovelace x 81 Wolf, 10ish feet - rest of the field pumpkin pollinations thus far have been x open   Friday, July 8 View Page 634 Vunak* x self, 16 ft 1167 Courson x 1540 Brownell, 12 ft 1540 Brownell x 1288 Wallace, 14 ft 1288 Wallace x 634 Vunak*, 11 ft   Friday, July 8 View Page Initial 634* set appears to have taken. Shiny lime-green, elongated fruit with a moderately long stem. Accidentally nicked it with my fingernail yesterday, which is kind of disappointing since it'll always have a small scar, but not too concerned. Set another one on the same plant this morning about three feet downstream. The 634* is getting to be a huge plant with thick, durable vines, huge leaves, and it's the only one in the patch that isn't self-terminating its secondaries.   Thursday, August 11 View Page Have to report that my season is done as of a couple weeks ago. Heat and disease killed off all my competition AG plants while the fruit were only at about 50 lbs each. Too soon to save any seeds. It was a good learning experience, and I'm looking forward to trying again next year.