Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 80 Entries. Sunday, January 12 View Page The start of 2014 and I'm very proud of myself from last year it produced my 416 Bayuk. I thought would have been hands down winner for the HD award.... but, I was snubbed. so I am more determine than ever to out do myself. Good luck to all and here is to going Heavy and Orange!!!   Sunday, January 12 View Page My 416 Bayuk. my daughter and I:-)   Sunday, January 12 View Page My 416 Bayuk that I turned into Cinderella's carriage for my daughter. now that is what it is all about!   Friday, February 14 View Page I will be growing the seed that Shazzy broke his own state record in Illinois with the 1546 Shenoha.....but I also have a tough chose on what grow as the second plant.....wish I had more dirt for them all. thanks to the growers whom sent the sends to me!   Wednesday, April 16 View Page interesting weather this year.... I feel for those who put their plants in the dirt already. I started the 1546 today and the 827.5 should be in the patch in two weeks. hoop houses will go up tomorrow and soil cable for 1546. let the season begin!!!   Wednesday, April 16 View Page seeds on germ mat. temp at 84-85   Monday, April 21 View Page a few plants that i started.... also started several back ups. I wont fall behind like I did the last few years. 1546 seems strong, nice roots, but that don't matter till they see dirt, look for a week to 10 days till they get in the hoops :)   Wednesday, April 23 View Page 2014 line up is doing well, might have to transplant into gallon pots with weather still being cool. I have been too busy to get the soil cable in :(   Wednesday, April 23 View Page one particular seed is growing very aggressive. not going to plug one seed as a clear cut yet.... too early and to much can happen....trust me s*** happens :)   Thursday, April 24 View Page I transplanted top three plants into 1 gallon container. never had to do that with AG's before but weather and the garden is not ready for these babies! The roots after 7 day are unbelievable! Best plants I have ever started. still have three more as back ups that I will keep in the 6" peat pots. I also will start 3 of my 416 as back up to my back up's..... because I will not have another late start to a season again. last year I lost almost a month due to corn seed maggots.   Sunday, May 4 View Page well I wanted to have all the plants in the ground by today.....and they are not. all in good shape but the patch is not ready for them. I expanded the primary Patch another 250 Sqft. and I took down an old shed to add a second patch. roughly 200-220 Sqft. The 1546 Shazzy will go in the primary patch and the " Orange " pumpkin will go in the the secondary patch. pictures to follow of plants. the picture attached is my 5X6 hoop house with heat lamp on dusk to dawn sensor and soil cables.   Sunday, May 4 View Page hoop house has a good set up. air temp at 80, soil at 75   Sunday, May 4 View Page these are the best two plants i have the 1546 on the left and ..... on the right.   Thursday, May 8 View Page the "orange" plant for the secondary patch has nice growth at 20 days after germ. the plant shown in the picture is the back up 1546, both are still potted and will go in the patch to compete against primary plants sat. leafs are doing well for garage window kept plant. both primary and secondary patch plants have been in hoop house for the week and are doing great.   Wednesday, May 14 View Page so I hauled in 1 yard of straight compost and 2 additional yards of 1:1 top soil and compost for the the primary patch addition and the secondary patch where I took down the shed. This is to do a few things: boost biological and microbial activity, get some additional worm activity in clay soil and I needed dirt for low spots. will do a final till next week when we dry out a bit. plants look awesome. very happy with both plants and yes the 1546 does drink A LOT of water.   Thursday, May 15 View Page all plants are doing good with the cool weather. 70 in the hoop with no soil cables and 80 in the 1546 hoop house( with cables). opened them slightly once sun came out, they are freshly transplanted and trying to reduce stress. roots where to the bottom of the 1 gal containers. A few more days and there would have root issues . I used RTI on one and Voo Doo juice and tarantula combo on another to see if there is any noticeable early growth difference. I plan use all products on both plants but just doing a few week test for fun.   Friday, May 16 View Page 1546 on 5/15   Friday, May 16 View Page 1546 on 5/10   Friday, May 16 View Page secondary patch plant on 5/10   Friday, May 16 View Page picture would not attach from that date will post pictures from Transplant day 5/10.   Wednesday, May 21 View Page put shade cloth over hoop houses and opened sides fully. both plants are veining about 1'6" long. The 1546 is shooting off secondaries already. picked some early male flowers, no ferts yet just shade and water   Thursday, May 22 View Page forgot to add for my own notes that I have done three systemic treatments and two soil drenches since transplanting. I also use neem oil spray on leafs and insecticidal soap. although I had flies in hoops, there is no damage to plants. I think I have the corn seed maggots cycle down. now all I have to do is.... figure out how to grow a new PB :-)   Thursday, May 22 View Page Test   Friday, May 23 View Page The 1546 Shenoha starting to run. I gave her a half dose of fish fert only to get her greened up and stronger. Im leaving the tendrils attaching to the skewers so there is some early stability from wind and storms until the side vines kick down.   Friday, May 23 View Page I didn't give the 827 anything but water,she is doing great in the new patch. shes a little stubborn on laying down but I'm not rushing her, she'll come down. Being patient is something I have learn over the last few years of grown. still have yet to set a Kin on the main.... this will be the year:-)   Wednesday, May 28 View Page this is the main patch with the 1546. I added the back section this year just over 200 sqft, bringing me to over 500sqft now. I still need to till the left side.   Wednesday, May 28 View Page 1546 using shade table, cloth and fan. install drip irrigation after final till.   Wednesday, May 28 View Page 827 -hot day, even with the shade cloth and table. nice vine, slightly behind the 1546. this is the new patch where a shed use to be. not to much going on in the soil. we shall see what it brings.   Friday, May 30 View Page the 1546 plant is over 5' long now and the first secondary is 2' long. the 827 is just over 3' but very healthy. nice stretch of warm weather this week. just have to keep the plants watered and shade the tips.   Saturday, May 31 View Page I think Shazzy was right about my plant throwing orange. i got my first female this morning on the 1546 at 6' and shes...green. hopefully not the keeper but i will try to set her any how. God knows I always need a backup plan. lol   Tuesday, June 3 View Page finally finished tilling the main patch. the 1546 is picking it up a bit and is throwing nice secondary's. I installed the over head sprinklers and will do the drip tape next week. the 827 is steady no issues. both will get voodoo juice and no tarantula.   Wednesday, June 4 View Page a new female showed up on the 1546 today at 8' out. a few males are starting to pucker. so it looks like they will be ready for these early females. nice steady rain today is perfect after the till I did yesterday. cooler temps today,60's. side note: i gave the 827 a dose of fish fertilizer last night. with the rain and fish I'm hoping to spark some aggressiveness. the main is 6-7' long and secondary's are only 3". other than that easy plant to grow.   Thursday, June 5 View Page the first male opened on the 1546 today. plants look good after the rain. i will do the first foliar spray on both plants tonight. 1546 is growing 6" a day and the 827 is a foot shorter. pictures tomorrow   Friday, June 6 View Page third baby girl on the 1546 @ 10.5' good location. hoping for one at 12-13' also. the first one on this plant his just bigger than a large grape and has not opened yet, I have been teaching my wife to pollinate since I go to work at 4am so this will be here first year helping. The 827 is still slow and steady. both plants liked the foliar I did last night at 7:30pm. They look perky this morning.   Friday, June 6 View Page 1546 this morning.   Saturday, June 7 View Page the 827 still has no secondaries over 4" ... to be expected in dirt that has been under a shed for 10 years. it did throw a pumpkin today. anything close to what i had last year on this plant will be a surprise. the soil is not right and it shows. the 1546 is growing nicely and still a 3-4 days away from pollination. which is good because i will be home in the morning in that time period. need another rain. its getting hard to water the plants effective as i would like and city water is no substitute for a good rain.   Monday, June 9 View Page tomorrow is pollination day on the 1546! this is when it gets fun and exciting. this is the one at 6'. The next one should be ready Friday @ 9'. will show picture of lobes tomorrow. dixie cup and string tonight.   Tuesday, June 10 View Page 1546 6' self pollinated 5 lobe. at 8:40am on cloudy, misty, morning.   Tuesday, June 10 View Page 5 lobe at 6' on 1546 x self.   Thursday, June 12 View Page 1546 steady growing, loving the evening spray   Thursday, June 12 View Page 1546   Thursday, June 12 View Page 827 has the female at 9' and a few secondary's kicking out about 1' long.   Thursday, June 12 View Page we lots of have squirrels in our area but I have never had a problem... till today. should be ok, it's been a few days since pollination. It bit the main once also. I must have done something right it didn't like the taste.   Friday, June 13 View Page pumpkin popping in prime range, this one is at 12'. I will be creating a pattern so that I can pollinate up to 22'....Nice. This will give me at least 20 secondary's before the pumpkin. I will run the main on the 1546 to the end of the season up to 50' ;-)   Saturday, June 14 View Page warning to all in northern IL, I caught the first SVB moth of the year in my trap. I have two traps and one had one just the way i like them.....DEAD. update on the 1546 at 6' feet is baseball size at 3 DAP. the one at 9' will be ready in two or three days to pollinate. plants responded nicely to the first spray and two gallon drench of compost tea.   Wednesday, June 18 View Page the 1546 kin pollinated at 6' is softball size at 8 days(back up) the one at 9' failed, the one at 12' will be ready in a few days and a new one at 14' showed up yesterday. the 827 at 9' failed no new females. secondarys are starting to take off now over 3'.   Friday, June 20 View Page pollinated the 1546 @12' this morning it was warm, humid morning @ 5am, selfed.The 1546 @ 6' is around bowling ball size @ 10DAP. seems to be taking and hope it last at least till the 12' sets.   Sunday, June 22 View Page new female on the 827 at roughly 16'. all plants loving the rain. luckily we only lost a few old leafs from the storms. the 1546, 6' set is still shiny, the 2DAP at 9' is almost baseball size kind of oval shaped unlike the first one that was round. and the one at 14' should be ready in 3 or 4 days.   Monday, June 23 View Page the 1546 doing good. main vine almost at 18' have three females to pollinate next week will be judgment day for some. happy with my pre season prep. it is paying off with all this rain, no puddling. stump has a fan on it since the plant was around 3' and covering. you can see the 3 day old under the garbage can lid.... use what ya got.   Friday, June 27 View Page My wife pollinated the 1546 today at 17'. there are now kins at 6', 12', 17' and one just appeared at 21'. i am getting creative with my vine pattern. the kin at 6' has two days till cull starts that will give we a 10,13,17 and 20 day bench mark that I measured.I will weed whack the outer weeds but I don't want to do much to disturb the root system. I have found roots 15'out from the main plant.happy with my new spray and fert regiment thus far. best yet both plants main are over 17' long and I haven't snapped them.... think i'm starting to understand these plants a bit.   Sunday, June 29 View Page I made a cut half way through the 1546 kin at 6' today and will finish the cull tomorrow. picture tomorrow.   Monday, June 30 View Page I culled the 6' kin on the 1546 this morning. I cut it half way yesterday and finished her off today. I have one at 12' and 17'. i could pollinate one at 20' but I will decide when the day comes. not sure if i want to lose the energy plus the one I want as the keeper is the 17' with 5 lobes @ 3DAP.   Monday, July 7 View Page 1546 finally made a decision with the 12' set.   Monday, July 7 View Page 1546 top view. still working it slowly into position.   Thursday, July 10 View Page 1546 @ 20DAP not where i hope to be on OTT but the plant has some spoil space to fill in so I'm sure once I'm able to terminate side vines and eventually the main, she will kick into gear.   Thursday, July 10 View Page The obvious shape of the 827 was pollinated on the 4th of July. also have a back up that was pollinated on July 7th. this is plant has really come on with the warm weather.   Wednesday, July 16 View Page 1546 is a little slow but still moving along. I did some pruning today and terminate side vines that it the fence. the main is still growing, but slowed to about 4-6" a day. looking for some big gains next week. I still have about an 8'by 8' section of dirt to fill in behind the pumpkin then I will only have the main vine growing and some strong secondaries. The 827 is still moving along plant is very healthy we'll see what she does. anything close to 400 lbs on that plant will be an accomplishment. at best its about 180sqft of plant.   Thursday, July 17 View Page 180sqft plant- The 827 looking healthy.   Thursday, July 17 View Page The 827 at 10 DAP   Thursday, July 17 View Page Correction, the 827 is the July 4th pollination at 13DAP not 10. the back up was culled a few days ago.   Thursday, July 24 View Page 1546 @ 27 DAP. next few says I should pass my personal best with eight weeks till weigh off... hope she makes it   Thursday, July 24 View Page 20 DAP for the 827. tapping slightly larger than the 1546 did but not much plant here. A squirrel got hungry while I was on vacation and took a 5" strip off the top of the main between the stump and the pumpkin. packed it with captan and let it dry out. happy with the patches in general and a new personal best around the corner :)   Friday, July 25 View Page The 1546 did 42 lbs in the last 24 hrs. Exciting for me as i have not hit that mark before....and yet scary. I was going to foliar tonight but decided not to. I will do it in the morning and also do a trickle drench in early morning.   Monday, July 28 View Page the 1546 is now known as "HOMER" as in Simpson. my wife said," isn't it suppose to be a girls name" and I replied back to her, normally yes, however this pumpkin has not had a justifiable name for 34 days and "Homer" just fits. after dinner she then replies you right it does fit.... lol, old yellow, fat boy! :)   Sunday, August 3 View Page the 1546 Shazzy is still averaging just over 21 lbs a day need her to keep this up the the rest of the month. "Homer" is starting to get some stretch marks and has a circ of 130" as of yesterday. Had to cut a tap root before the pumpkin to ensure of no vine stress, i did a pretty good job of positioning the fruit.   Sunday, August 3 View Page the 827 AKA "Bubble Butt" is growing about 14 lbs a day on 120sqft of plant and main chewed by squirrel. still got nice color and my daughter has taken ownership and duties from me on this one. she has been great, watering and picking flowers and of course petting and talking to the pumpkin...lol   Monday, August 11 View Page The 1546 on day 50 yesterday. "Homer" is still eating, with two good soaking rains in the last three days. I was able to drench between the showers. I'm trying to build some insurance lbs on my goal weight in case the big guy goes light. still 7 weeks till weigh off.   Wednesday, August 13 View Page the 1546 pumpkin growth is slowing quite a bit now. down to 15.5 lbs a day now for the last 7 day. only need to do half that from here on out to hit my season goal. I have been trickle feeding her every 3 days now @ 1/4 the dose and she seems to be responding well. leafs have PM spots with the humidity and morning dew. I will do a compost tea spray tomorrow then in a few days(morning) do a spray to combat the PM. plant has still been producing females, 7 out of 8 I picked off where 5 lobbers(got them before they opened). feeling good about this years work and have a template to build off of for the future seasons.   Saturday, August 30 View Page Just trying to keep her solid till weigh off. so far so good minor cracks but captan and a fan have been my friend. very happy to have not only have a new PB but to have surpass my season goal. the plant is showing the battle scars, powdery mildew has won. many leafs have been lost. weeds are crazy,but its been a Hell Of A Ride!!   Saturday, October 4 View Page I broke the 4 digit barrier!!! Wooo Hooo! My 1068 Bayuk 2014 (1546 Shenoha x self) 1% heavy   Saturday, October 4 View Page 1/2 Ton Club Member, oh yeah baby!   Saturday, October 4 View Page my daughters 382 Bayuk 2014 (827 gerhardt x 1546 shenoha)went to the pound to chart. proud Papa   Saturday, October 4 View Page my daughters 382 Bayuk 2014   Saturday, October 4 View Page this is how you feel the moment after you know you had a good season. ahhhhh.... love this hobby   Saturday, November 1 View Page 1068 pounds!!! New personal best by over 600 lbs!   Saturday, November 1 View Page Its a milestone most dream of. I'm proud and thankful...most of all determined to grow em' BIGGER!   Saturday, November 1 View Page 1068 Bayuk 14' my first 3D carving on my GIANT.   Saturday, November 1 View Page My 1068 Bayuk 14' lit up   Saturday, November 1 View Page my daughter was the first of many kids whom enjoyed the inside of the pumpkin...lol   Saturday, November 1 View Page My son and daughter ready for trick or treating!