Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 104 Entries. Wednesday, April 1 View Page Let the games begin! This is the best cover crop of fall rye that I have ever grown. This is also got to be a sign of bigger things to come...lol. I'll sub soil the patch today but will need to wait for the soil to dry out a bit more before cultivating.   Thursday, April 9 View Page All that beautiful fall rye being tilled in with a 1975 Kubota . 100% original. 16 straight cut foreword gears! Its more fun driving than growing pumpkins...lol.   Wednesday, April 15 View Page Oooops! I forgot the picture of my other orange baby.   Friday, April 17 View Page After cultivating I've been adding a concoction of soil amenders and fertilizers. The list is the work of Glenn Dixon and Jake Van Kooten, two of the best growers around these parts. It has helped me break the 1000 lb mark 2 years in a row. Here's the list: 1/2 bale Promix 7.5 lbs kelp meal 7.5 lbs alfalfa meal 7.5 lbs granular humic 2.5 lbs 0-0-50 2.5 lbs 0-0-22 2 lbs 7-4-7 (Terralink) 2 lbs 15-0-0 calcium nitrate 5 handfuls Epson salt 120 ml Companion fungicide. All the above was spread out into an area 8'x8'   Friday, April 17 View Page Raked a slight mound in the area where the babies will be planted.   Sunday, April 19 View Page My hoop house using rebar to form the arches with all the arches connected at the top with an 8' pipe and zap straps. The drip irrigation is Netafim. I've been using the same pieces for up to 7 years with no deterioration. No tools required as all fittings and joints made by heating the tubing in boiling water.   Sunday, April 19 View Page Another great trick learned from pumpkin Guru, Glenn Dixon. In this picture you can black clips holding the cover. They are binder clips that can be purchased in an office supply store like Staples. Cheap....8 for 5$   Sunday, April 19 View Page The great thing about these clips is that you can adjust or remove and replace your cover very quickly.   Monday, April 20 View Page The hoop houses are covered and beginning to warm the soil. The soil temp was 64 F when we covered so it will be interesting to see how many degrees we gain by planting time.   Saturday, May 2 View Page Seeds were filed on April 23rd and this is the first baby ready to plant on May 2nd. This years' line up will be a Chan 1043, a Dixon 1124 (which came from a Chan 1043) and a Carly 1177 ( last year's BC champ. The Dixon 1124 seems to be very happy with the Netafim drip system working perfectly. This is a particularly fun year as all seeds were produced from pumpkins grown in BC by myself and good friends Glenn and Scott.   Monday, May 4 View Page Isn't this what baby seats are for? Thanks to Scott for donating 2 nice 1177 plants to my cause and this is how I got them home safely. Scott actually gave me some 1177 seeds but I drowned them. If you are using the paper towel and Ziploc bag method of germination, you must squeeze the water out of the paper towel before placing the seeds in them to germinate. If conditions are just right the seeds should have a half inch tail by about 36 hrs. Then into the soil.   Monday, May 18 View Page The Carly 1177. A little small but was started a week after the others   Monday, May 18 View Page The Dixon 1124. So far the most vigorous plant I have. It was the first to germinate and the first to be planted. Have great hopes for this one as it was grown from the Chan 1043.   Monday, May 18 View Page The Chan 1043. Growing nicely and getting ready to terminate the smaller one on the right.   Tuesday, May 19 View Page The germination factory. The bulk of these plants were started for my neighbors. A multi generational family of farmers who are having their own pumpkin growing contest. I have germinated 24 Chan 1043's so that they can show off their green thumbs. Should be interesting to say the least! The rest of the plants are for friends who are recreational gardeners and who want a little fun in their backyards. For those I germinated Dixon 384's, a very bright orange shiny pumpkin. Already we can see the difference in the very shiny green leaves vs. the dull green for the giants.   Tuesday, May 26 View Page We are way ahead of last year but way too early to theorize the outcome. This is a Dixon 1124. The most aggressive plant I've ever grown. This main vine is 4 ft long would appear to be very healthy. On another plant, the Carly 1177, the aphids were already attacking. This seems to be very early for aphids but demonstrates the need to be checking the undersides of leaves constantly. They were on only 1 leaf so I decided that the squish method of extermination was the way to go.   Tuesday, May 26 View Page While pumpkin doctor, Glenn, was cleaning his 1963 Ford Fairlane parts in my garage I was taking his advice about cleaning up the stumps. This is the before pic with all the sucker leaves growing all around the stump. The next pic will show how much was removed.   Tuesday, May 26 View Page The naked stump. These leaves will die off anyhow so getting rid of them early might force a bit more energy into the growing tip. After trimming these bits off with a new very sharp blade, give them a little brushing of garden sulphur. Powdered sulphur is a wonderful antiseptic for pumpkin cuts. I'll follow this up with a pic of my sulphur jar, brush and cutting blade.   Monday, June 1 View Page This is my vine cutting set of tools. A new blade for one of those utility cutting knives, a brush and a jar of garden sulphur. I keep the blade and the brush in the jar so that both stay clean and dry.   Monday, June 1 View Page The Dixon 1124 approx. 8 ft. This is double the size of previous years. You would expect this since the month May in Vancouver broke all records for temperatures, least amount of rain and most sunshine.   Saturday, June 20 View Page Weed free! lol. A good picture of the drip lines working. Throughout the hot spell the drip system has been set at 3 to 5 minutes every 12 hours.   Saturday, June 20 View Page The future champion! 1st female on a primary vine. It's the 1124 Dixon.   Saturday, June 20 View Page My overhead sprayer system used to deliver plain water to prevent sunburn. Its fed from a 1000 liter tote powered by an electric pump producing 35 psi. I'd like a little more pressure but this will have to do. When the plants fill the patch the sprayers will be used to deliver the fertilizers and micros.   Monday, June 22 View Page Unfortunately the future champion was a bust! The malformed lobes are obvious in the lower portion of the picture.   Tuesday, June 23 View Page The concoction! I'm finding that I have so many goodies to apply to my plants that I need to mix concoctions. This one is mainly fish fertilizer with small amounts of bionutrient, kelp powder, Lithovit and yucca powder as a surfactant, all delivered with a hose-end sprayer. To make the concoction very smooth so as to not plug the syphon tube of the hose-end sprayer my wife has allowed me to use her handheld blender from the kitchen. This stuff can be a bit gooey so soak the hose-end sprayer in a pail of clean water when not in use. And who said growing giant pumpkins was going to be easy...lol!   Sunday, June 28 View Page Just some basics for new growers out there. Cut off all tendrils.   Sunday, June 28 View Page More basics. This is a female flower. It will become the future pumpkin if pollinated.   Sunday, June 28 View Page I tell everybody who will listen ....and that's not many... that all of my females for all years and all plants will open at 7 am . This picture is a flower from the Dixon 1124 at 6:13 am today. Nice eh? Next picture taken at exactly 7:00 am!   Sunday, June 28 View Page Dixon 1124 at 7:00 am !   Sunday, June 28 View Page The Dixon 1124 from the top. In the middle of the flower you can see the fuzzy "lobes". This is what you rub the pollen from the male flower onto. See next picture.   Sunday, June 28 View Page Pumpkin sex. Pollen from a Carley 1177 is being rubbed onto the lobes of the Dixon 1124. Don't be afraid to use 2, 3 or even 4 males to obtain enough for pollination.   Sunday, June 28 View Page Just one more tip for the novices out there. The vines (tertiary vines) coming off the secondary's need to be removed as well as any female flowers that appear. See next picture.   Sunday, June 28 View Page Simply snap them off with your fingers.   Saturday, July 4 View Page Just a picture to demonstrate secondary or "adventitious" roots. This shows how there is 1 extra root per leaf node.   Saturday, July 4 View Page A few days ago I was creating the "s" bend on my Carley 1177. To create an S bend you need to lift the main vine ahead of the pumpkin and bend it away from the stem. This is necessary so that when the pumpkin starts getting bigger, the main vine does not touch the pumpkin causing it to be crowded. In my case there was about 4 feet of main vine after the pumpkin ....about 1 week's growth. Look at the adventitious root that could only be about 3-4 days old!!!!!   Saturday, July 4 View Page After pollination has occurred and you're sure that the pumpkin is the "one", you place a mat under it to protect it from rodents and pooling water. I always mound the soil slightly higher under the pumpkin so that water will run off the mat. I have used these mats for 7 years and have never had a problem. I like these mats because, as the pumpkin grows, you can simply add to the first one and expand the mat in any direction. One last step preparing the pumpkin for its astronomical growth is to place some sand under the pumpkin. This all for the pumpkin to move on its own and for you to adjust the stem to vine angle.   Saturday, July 4 View Page Place some fine playground sand between the mat and pumpkin.   Saturday, July 4 View Page Once the pumpkin has "taken" you need to protect its delicate skin from being sunburnt. Old golf umbrellas work well. In a few days we will be erecting a sun cover. I'll submit construction pics in a few days.   Sunday, July 5 View Page This is my sun cover. It's 2 hoops crossed and held down with a pieces of 1/2" rebar into the ends of the pipes. Then cover with a square tarp with a slit to the middle on one side to get access to the pumpkin. Secure with the same binder clips you used to make the hoop houses. Make sure the opening of the sun cover is placed away from the direction of the sun.   Saturday, July 11 View Page The beast! Dixon 1124. OTT 107.   Monday, July 13 View Page The Dixon 1124 is growing like a pig! So that's its name..."The Pig". As you can see on day 15 that the main vine, even though its bent at 90*, it will start interfering with the shoulder of the pumpkin. But getting worried now....Glenn is catching up!   Monday, July 13 View Page Sometimes the secondary roots will come out of the top of the vine. This year more than previous years. On this vine you can see that the root came straight up and then started curving downward seeking soil. Protect these roots with another shovel full of soil on top.   Saturday, July 18 View Page The "pig" split ! OTT 183"   Saturday, July 18 View Page Weird growth...eh? Blossom end 1/4 " thick. Stem end about 6". Anyone out there know why, please email me Thanks.   Sunday, July 19 View Page Not all is lost!....I have a new "pig" the Chan 1043. OTT 184 on DAP 20 today. This one was quite a bit smaller initially but snuck up really fast to get better numbers than the Dixon 1124.   Sunday, July 19 View Page For the record the Carly 1177 is chugging along nicely, DAP 20 with OTT of 157.   Wednesday, July 29 View Page 30 DAP, the Chan 1043 is growing fantastically well. 316 lbs since 20 DAP. Ott of 278 for a weight of 476 lbs. 252 lbs ahead of the actual 1043 pumpkin! As Jake Van Kooten would say, "it's a long time until the middle of October".   Thursday, July 30 View Page A beautiful morning in the patch.   Thursday, July 30 View Page HELLLLPPPP !!! We went away for 3 days and came back to "the wound"! on my Chan 1043 currently sitting at 990 pounds. As you can see I placed a sun cover over the pumpkin coved with a bed sheet. The poly tarp is quite far away from the pumpkin surface so I'm assuming that it's not a tarp burn. Lots of pics to follow to see if anyone out in pumpindom knows what it is. Please email Thanks   Monday, August 3 View Page So on Aug 3rd we came back to the wound and I removed the sun cover . You can see the wound on the upper left corner of the kin. It was very pale, totally smooth and very dry. the next set of pics were taken on Aug 13th.   Tuesday, August 4 View Page My 2 babies. The first one is 2 1/2 years old and the second one is 37 days old. Tapes in at 322 ott and is 499 lbs ahead of my personal best of 1043 lbs on the same day!   Wednesday, August 5 View Page Who says "size doesn't matter". It sure wasn't a pumpkin grower. I'm hoping this stump will anchor a winner! Thanks to the good advice and secret hormones of Dr. Dixon, this plant is a return to the Jurassic period...lol.   Wednesday, August 5 View Page While other growers often use pop cans to show the size of their pumpkin parts, I am using a wine bottle to demonstrate the size of the main vine attached to the stump in the previous picture.....not! lol....that's a tertiary !!! The plant has gone wild !   Saturday, August 8 View Page Day 40 for the Chan 1043 . OTT 337". What a difference 3 days makes for the onset of powdery mildew even though I've been hitting it hard with fungicides. However, this is still miles ahead of any of the other thousand pounder I've grown. Gotta get an EC meter.   Saturday, August 8 View Page This is pumpkin heaven! A Dixon 384 growing on the farm of my neighbor Jim.   Saturday, August 8 View Page Day 40 of the Carley 1177....a slow steady grower. OTT 284". 20 lbs per day.   Saturday, August 8 View Page It definitely looks like a Carley.   Saturday, August 8 View Page When will I need the help of my fence post to pull the Carley 1177 away from the main?   Sunday, August 9 View Page Every year I am PLAGUED with powdery mildew even though I use pretty good fungicides. Normally I apply them through a hose end sprayer or through the overhead spray system. This year was no different. For years Dr Dixon has nagged me to apply the fungicides with a backpack or handheld type sprayer with properly diluted fungicides. I resisted until last night when P/M was taking over the patch. I mixed some fresh Bravo and hand sprayed every leaf. This afternoon you would have thought a miracle was performed on the patch .....leaves are greener healthier looking and most of the mildew was gone!!! I'm telling my story to emphasize the proper way to apply "junk" to your plants. Use a hand sprayer....Amen. Thanks Glenn   Thursday, August 13 View Page Bigger pumpkin.....same wound. On Aug 8th I dusted the wound with sulfur because some nasty's were showing up. A few days later I washed it with a 10% bleach solution and reapplied sulfur. The next 3 pics were taken Aug 13 th.   Thursday, August 13 View Page HEELLLPP ! The July 30th entry should have been the 1st entry of my "wound" problem.   Friday, August 14 View Page As you can see the pumpkin is actually growing all around the wound creating a depression. Fresh sulfur is being applied daily.   Friday, August 14 View Page A close up. Notice the pink rings. Some of them have turned grey, presumably due to the sulfur but new ones reappear.   Friday, August 14 View Page A closer up pic. Any guesses???? Thanks Dave   Saturday, August 15 View Page The wound is not getting worse but the pink is increasing and not stopped by sulfur. So yesterday I did a test of painting pure Bravo on a 150 lb pumpkin. This morning the Bravo was set quite hard and I needed a little water to wash it off. Not hint of damage was seen on the tender skin.   Saturday, August 15 View Page The "wound" painted with Bravo diluted 1:3. Will cross our fingers and wait to see what happens !   Saturday, August 15 View Page Big plant small pumpkin. Small plant big pumpkin. All foliage left of the 3 pumpkins is the Carley 1177. This morning 623 lbs. The large pumpkin is a Chan 1043. The area of it's foliage is to the right of the pumpkin, approximately 600 sq ft. This morning 1031 lbs.   Saturday, August 15 View Page For what it's worth. The Chan 1043 was slowing down to a 4 day average of 21 lbs. Last year I told myself that I would give the plant some nitrogen to kick start it when the numbers start to drop off. I mixed 4 oz Calcium Nitrate in 200 litres (approx. 50 American gals.) and fed it through my drip system. Day after I got 31 lbs and last night 41 lbs !   Monday, August 17 View Page The wound seems to healing with the Bravo treatment. Pink areas are gone but some of the "skin" has separated from the flesh. Everything is very dry...a good sign ...I hope.   Tuesday, August 18 View Page Fun with the kids in pumpkin heaven ! Day 50 OTT 369   Monday, August 24 View Page The rarely seen Rarely photographed Cyclops....a Carley 1177   Monday, August 24 View Page The wound....so far so good. The skin is lifting at the edges but all is dry and it hasn't grown any larger. Weird!   Wednesday, August 26 View Page A PUMPKIN STORY My neighbor Jim is a farmer. He wanted to grow a giant pumpkin. I decided that he would have more fun growing a nice orange kin rather than some ugly squashy looking thing. So, I consulted the Pumpkin Doc, Glenn Dixon, to select a seed for Jim from his very large stash. He chose a Dixon 384 that he had won a Howard Dill award with. Perfect! Because he was such a novice, I started the seed very late and he planted it on May 20th. Farmer Jim has a lot of cows. So what does he have a lot of?..."cow shit"... and that was his main source of fertilizer. He also grows corn for the cows. So, when he was fertilizing the corn he thought that some would be good for the pumpkin too. Fast track to Aug 25th...OTT 331 ! and very beautiful! Leaves are in perfect shape. This story ain't finished yet. I think there's a lot more in this plant and will keep you posted. Btw...why are we spending so much money?? hahaha PS...no irrigation system!   Friday, August 28 View Page So you've always wanted a bigger patch ! This is where my friend Ken is growing his Atlantic Giant !! Hmmm, I wonder how big the roots are??   Friday, August 28 View Page Can you see the tilth in the soil? Can you see his method of burying his vines in......rocks? Can you see his irrigation system ?   Friday, August 28 View Page This is his beauty ! for his other beautiful granddaughter, Francesca. Btw notice the special mat it's growing on....cement!   Friday, August 28 View Page Another shot. Maybe we should grow geraniums all around patch to enhance the pumpkins.   Tuesday, September 8 View Page The Chan 1043 is approaching 1300 lbs but the plant is not cooperating. All my main leaves are in terrible shape.   Tuesday, September 8 View Page The 1043 is still growing but the only thing that could be feeding it are these tertiaries. These are the only healthy leaves of the whole plant.   Tuesday, September 8 View Page This zucchini plant is the only reason I have hope for the 1043. It has been decimated by powdery mildew yet the fruit continues to increase in size....daily!   Wednesday, September 9 View Page She's still growing !.....the pumpkin that is lol. Thanks to country boy for idea of the picture and thanks to my good wife for being such a good sport. What a ride ! We have 24 days to weigh off at Krause Berry Farms.   Monday, September 14 View Page Papa bear, Mama bear and Baby bear!   Tuesday, September 29 View Page Papa bear, mama bear, baby bear uncovered. Papa bear was a little easier to measure without the rain cover and gained a couple of inches in the last week.   Tuesday, September 29 View Page She's ready for the weigh off at Krause Berry Farm on Oct 3rd.   Tuesday, September 29 View Page The Carley 1177 is packing on the pounds and will be getting it ready for the weigh off at Central Market, Washington.   Wednesday, September 30 View Page Remember the stories about my neighbor farmer Jim? well he has a couple of friends who thought they wanted to grow giant pumpkins but were a little lazy...to say the least! This plant is about 3 x 12 feet ! Maybe doing less is more ???   Wednesday, September 30 View Page This is the other friend . His patch is a little bigger. Maybe 5 x 20 feet? I wonder how big the kin could have been if he actually culled one? Did you see nice the leaves are? No fertilizer. No fungicides. No insecticides. No weed control. Lol. BTW... farmer Jim pretty much did very little himself. He is up to 1107 pounds!...and a candidate for a Howard Dill Award! I don't have a current pic but get one soon.   Wednesday, September 30 View Page Thought I'd post a pic of farmer Jim's kin taken on Sept 5th. The weight was 905 lbs. It has gained 202 lbs since then...in 23 days!..in September! BTW...do you remember he fed it cow manure and corn fertilizer?...and did very little else?   Wednesday, September 30 View Page A couple of days ago we cut the kin to get it ready for lifting. 2 pails were filled to the brim with water. This was the uptake overnight. The pumpkin doctor, Glenn Dixon told me to do this even though I was very hesitant. Here's the proof.   Thursday, October 1 View Page 3500 lbs estimated and off to Glenn's to pick up another couple of thousand pounds !   Thursday, October 1 View Page Another pic with my best helper   Thursday, October 1 View Page With a little help from your friends !   Friday, October 2 View Page The big is a commin'!!!! right to left Richmond Dave(Dave), Kmumford(Kate), North Shore Boyz(Glenn), WW5flute(Jeff)...and many thanks to Spambie(Scott) for taking our picture. Left him out cause he will have his picture taken many times over.   Friday, October 2 View Page That is...The biggin' is a commin' ! And that's Spambie(Scott)third from right.   Sunday, October 4 View Page My 3 babies at the Krause Berry Farm weigh off. We came 2nd with a Chan 1043 weighing 1339 pounds....4% light and 296 lbs over my previous PB. Can't wait for next year. Don't tell my wife cause it's supposed to be an off year for pumpkins so that we can do some travelling. I'll have to hide a couple kin plants between the carrots...lol.   Sunday, October 4 View Page Farmer Jim's pumpkin is the 2nd one from the left. Came in 5th with a Dixon 384 weighing 990 lbs. Not bad for a 1st time grower...eh? So recapping his growing method: 1) cow manure...lots! 2) corn fertilizer...can't remember the numbers or amount 3) very very little vine burying...mostly a little soil kicked over the vine with his boot. 4) a very complex black rubber soaker hose thrown on top of only some of the vines for an irrigation system. 5) the odd can of beer to help him watch it grow. Growing pumpkins is simple ...eh?   Sunday, October 4 View Page Ready for next year ! 1) all vines removed and taken to the dump, 2) whole patch weeded, 3) soil ppm meter tested and recorded 16 sites of the patch, 4) pH readings on same 16 sites, 5) soil sample taken at those sites to be sent to A&L Labs for analysis, 6) 4 tbsp. of Cabrio( pyroclostrobin) hose end sprayed over patch to try to kill any residual PM. 7) Miller time   Tuesday, October 6 View Page sum fun pic....sounds like a Chinese guy! The 1339 stump!   Tuesday, October 6 View Page I have a clay loam type soil so adding gypsum to improve tilth and break down clay....also adds a lot of calcium without changing pH. 1) 250 lbs gypsum 2) 11 lbs Epson salts (low on mg) 3) 25 lbs 0-0-022 (K-Mag)all in 1900 sq ft.   Tuesday, October 6 View Page So the pumpkin in the previous picture was the 5th female on a 1134 Dixon. The 1st one cracked so I gave up on the plant. Epilog: 1) shut off all water to that plant; 2) no pruning other than to remove all extra fruit; 3) no fertilizers of any kind; 4) no insecticides or fungicides of any kind; 5) plant looked AWEFUL!; 6) estimated 550 lbs !!! Just think of what it could have been if I looked after it. Never say never!   Sunday, October 11 View Page The 3 Amigos ( Glenn Dixon, Scott Carley, Dave Chan ) from Canada invading the Americans at Central Market at Shoreline, Washington. However, the weigh off was dominated by the gals...1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Congrats to them !! All 3 Amigos placed in the top 10. Great fun but super stormy and wet. The pumpkins and weather will make this a memorable day. Thanks to the crew at Central Market !   Sunday, October 11 View Page My 2 seconds of fame ! A great growing year for me. Both kins were PB's. The 1339 was 296 lbs better and the 1117 was 74 lbs better than my previous best of 1043 set in 2013. New goal has to be 1400.   Sunday, October 11 View Page 1117 lbs for 7th at Central Market. A special thanks to Glenn Dixon and Scott Carley for their expert advice all year ! Without them and my obsessive compulsive behavior, this would never have happened.   Tuesday, October 20 View Page If anyone wants to amend their soil for next year a good/best way to do it is by sowing a cover crop. In Richmond BC fall rye is about the only crop that will survive our winter. Adding to the cold weather is the fact that pumpkin growers usually harvest their kins pretty late in the season and so are unable to sow their fall rye early enough. One way of getting the best germination is covering the seeds with Remay cloth. In the pic you can see that the left half was covered by the Remay. The right half was not. The percentage germination and size of the rye is amazingly obvious! The rye was sown 9 days ago and between 3-4 inches tall.