Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 152 Entries. Tuesday, January 20 View Page Feels like Christmas, have 5 state record seeds. Don't really have the money for a world record seed. This years goal is a 1000, my soil has had everything it was lacking added, got good genetics, maybe the Iowa state record can come out of my patch with a little luck   Saturday, January 31 View Page Well decided to sign up for Wilkes barre, can't wait to go and see what I can learn, and meet some of these amazing growers. As for this week taking a break and going on a cruise. If I could afford the WiFi I would defiantly be watching these auctions   Saturday, February 7 View Page My ride this past week, now back to the cold   Tuesday, February 10 View Page Patch towards upper half, taken spring of 2013 according to the starter house placement. Had 5 plants last year thinking about expanding 20 ft towards road, and doing 6 or 7 plants. Currently about 3000 sq ft. Have to many good seeds I want to grow. I am located near Dubuque airport.   Friday, February 20 View Page 1 month till Wilkes Barre, hopefully the weather starts getting better before then. 904 mile drive   Saturday, February 28 View Page I won a 2102, in the European silent auction on Feb 1st, does anybody know how long it takes to get through customs? getting a little worried   Tuesday, March 3 View Page Can't get here soon enough   Monday, March 9 View Page Bring on Wilkes barre, 1st day back to crushing way to sloppy   Wednesday, March 18 View Page Hopefully Eastbound and down this time tomorrow! Getting Excited!   Friday, March 20 View Page Having a blast in Wilkes-Barre, can put faces with growers now. Getting a lot of ideas, probably need to win the lottery   Friday, March 20 View Page Tilt head to left   Friday, March 20 View Page Pumpkin seed poker for the 2323. Pretty tense   Friday, March 20 View Page What a great hand to win with a pair of aces, $50 buy in 10 people   Saturday, March 21 View Page Goals, this is all of our Goals!   Sunday, March 22 View Page Well on our way home, met a lot of great people and made some friends. Wish I had a copy of the picture they took with me and Ron after I won his 2009. Thank you GPC and everyone that was there for making this a wonderful time well spent.   Saturday, March 28 View Page Huh, just entered the date for this post, and it seems to be my 6 year wedding Anniversary. Just put 20 yards of really good compost in the patch. Guess I better get some roses to!   Sunday, March 29 View Page Tentative lineup subject to change, left 6 are the #1's, with the right 6 the backups waiting on a 1947.5 backup for the Bubba challenge. Right side might see some changes probably throw in a couple of my own to just in case   Sunday, March 29 View Page My starter house, I have never soaked/or started in tote. I have had 100% germination since going this route with seeds popping 3-5 days. Get soil temps above 80. And seems to be good. Going to get another heat mat and do a dozen test plants this week. May try the soaking to   Saturday, April 11 View Page Decided to get another 6 yards of compost. 26 total, just waiting on the skidloader and then hopefully get tilled in within the week   Saturday, April 11 View Page Well the neighbors let me borrow their brand new bobcat, got the compost spread, about 6" thick on most of it. Going to rake it around a bit tomorrow. Till and hoop houses up next weekend weather permitting   Sunday, April 12 View Page This is a big upgrade from my previous starter houses. Roughly 15' x 8' 2 plants in each one working from middle out in opposite directions   Tuesday, April 14 View Page Been along week, bring on the weekend   Wednesday, April 15 View Page Xtreme tea Brewer sitting on the porch when I got home. Anybody looking for one check eBay got a good deal on this one   Saturday, April 18 View Page Love my dads new toy   Saturday, April 18 View Page Hard part is done, now for the hoop houses   Sunday, April 19 View Page 6 hrs in so far today, starting to take shape flags are where the plants will be, they get roughly 22 x 28 ft each   Sunday, April 19 View Page Can hardly walk, and the wind picking up on that last one really tested my blood pressure. Put some rye on and pitch fork some compaction tomorrow night.   Sunday, April 19 View Page Might as well   Sunday, April 19 View Page Well I have officially begun   Tuesday, April 21 View Page I want my pumpkin to weigh as much as this, loader got a new heart today   Thursday, April 23 View Page 45 mph winds the past few days couple little rips added a lot of clamps. Hanging out around 60 inside still another week before anything moves in   Monday, April 27 View Page Put digital thermometer's in my hoop houses last night, says it seen a high of 155 and a low of 32 for the day actual low was around 40.and hi was around 70 See what it says the next couple days defiantly going to check it at 4:30 in the morning and see what it says   Tuesday, April 28 View Page One of my 1947.5's glad I grew more than one, think I will go ahead and plant #3, this one has a set of roots coming from first 2 leaves   Tuesday, April 28 View Page My baby's need to go outside, showing 50's for lows starting Friday so maybe Saturday   Saturday, May 2 View Page 2058, 2002, 1947.5 have 2 more 1947's in the house   Saturday, May 2 View Page 1882, 1873, 1821.5 have a 1832.5 in house yet and a few of my own   Saturday, May 2 View Page 2102, 2009, 2008   Thursday, May 7 View Page Look good after a small storm with 60mph winds came through. Lost one tree limb, but that is better than a pumpkin plant   Sunday, May 10 View Page Still about 3 months away from the parade of golf carts checking out the progress, better start keeping the neighbors in check   Saturday, May 16 View Page Kind of nice having this 20 miles away   Saturday, May 16 View Page My help   Saturday, May 16 View Page Little shade gets way to hot during day, this should help. Got this off the clearance rack and got hooked up on some drip tape.   Sunday, May 17 View Page Pushing 80 this weekend, tomorrow 34 for a low. Going to have to put hoop houses in my hoop houses   Sunday, May 17 View Page 30 mph winds are starting to irritate me, plants are safe. Definitely like the shade material should have got 3 roles   Sunday, May 17 View Page If I were to thin out the weakest today my lineup would be, 1882 Gehweiler, 1821.5 Checkon, 2058 Hawkley, 1947.5 Clementz, 2102 Meier, and the 2009 Wallace. I would be losing 1873 stiel, 1832.5 midthun, 2002 Hawkley, and the 2008 Neptune. See if this changes in next couple weeks   Monday, May 18 View Page Thirty's are in the forecast, I just want them to be cozy   Monday, May 18 View Page 1873 on the left 1882 on the right hope they are comfortable. And hope my wife unplugs the dropcord in the morning   Sunday, May 24 View Page Rain all day today, cut bigger ventilation holes in the hoop houses yesterday covered with a 30% shade material I got at farmtek mainly for the fear of hail. This is the 1st real taste of rain and they seem to really be enjoying it   Wednesday, June 3 View Page Plants our doing good, I still need to thin out 2 more, tough call between my 2002 and 2058, then my pair of 1947.5's my best one is starting to show signs of ribbon vine, and the other one is way behind and real yellow. Confirmed survivors down and running are the 1882, 1821.5, 2102, and the 2009. Hope to do one more till and get drip tape laid out this weekend   Thursday, June 4 View Page Removed the plastic and pulled the 2002   Thursday, June 4 View Page The look for a couple days, need the weather to cooperate, and figure out a non hoop house full length hail protection. Off to farmtek in Saturday   Saturday, June 6 View Page Taking shape   Sunday, June 14 View Page Hoop houses/ hail protection is off. Got a lot done on this rare day of sunlight. 1947.5 is way behind since I pulled the primary due to Ribbon vine. The 1821.5 and the 1882 and the 2058 got a little burnt being to close to wind protection. Best start yet!   Thursday, June 18 View Page Progressing, 1882, and 1821.5 are at 11ft and have pumpkins in that area may give it a shot. Rest are around 9' and don't seem to want to throw secondaries.   Saturday, June 20 View Page The wind is killing me right now, hopefully the plants recover   Saturday, June 20 View Page Gust says 15mph, I say close to 40 or 50mph, wish I would have parked the truck next to the patch sooner. Still not as much damage that my 1985 got last year when we caught the edge of a storm that produced 100mph straight line winds. 2058 broke some leaves that is the biggest damage   Saturday, June 20 View Page Worth a shot, little splint action. One more storm coming threw yet. Could have been worse my dad lives next door to Iowegian, and their plants got some hail and wind damage along with 2.5" of rain in a short time. I am sitting on .10"   Monday, June 22 View Page Well I listened to the weather band ch in my loader all day, working in a quarry with no reception, 70mph winds did a number, damage consist of broken leaf stocks, all mains are in tack. 2058, 2102, and 2009 are sick of wind   Wednesday, June 24 View Page If it takes 1882x 2058, cool cloudy day but my lights didn't have the pollen ready this morning, hopefully better late then not at all. Damn I need a 9-5 job @ $45.00 per hour   Sunday, June 28 View Page Pollination on the 1882 didn't take, pollinated the 2009 with the 2102 yesterday, this morning I pollinated the 1821.5 x self, as the same with the 2058. See what happens try the 2102 and another 2009 tomorrow morning. Beautiful morning should start raining anytime   Monday, June 29 View Page Getting pretty sick of the thunderstorms, had the patch looking nice, now I have vines layed over again. Better not mess up my 4am pollination appointment   Tuesday, June 30 View Page Oh how I love seeing pollinated babies before July, this is a 1st for me, and I should have 5 of them   Thursday, July 2 View Page Pollinated the 1882 with the 2009 this morning, appears all my 4 am pollinations have taken. See how they do this next week. So far they are growing!   Saturday, July 4 View Page 2009 x 2102 7 DAP   Saturday, July 4 View Page 2058 x 2058 6 DAP   Saturday, July 4 View Page 212 Mudd last minute decision never done a giant watermelon before. Dad grew a 125 last year without much work. See what happens   Saturday, July 4 View Page 5 out of 6 have babies, middle one on the right is my 1947.5 planted 3 of them 1st 2 were Ribbon, and of course the good one got planted 10 days after the 1st 2   Sunday, July 5 View Page 10th wheelbarrel full of compost mixed with wow mycorrhizal inoculant. 2 more plants then I will be caught up on leaf node burying. Need to keep up with this a little bit better, but my wife is starting to hate my hobby.   Monday, July 13 View Page Wilkes Barre pumpkin poker 2009 Wallace seed, fruit 16 DAP daddy is the 2102   Monday, July 13 View Page 1821.5 check-in x self, 16 DAP, every fruit on this plant has this stem   Sunday, July 19 View Page 2009x2102, 21DaP, 182" OTT est 144#   Sunday, July 19 View Page 2102 x 2009 15 Dap, 134" OTT   Sunday, July 19 View Page 2058 x 2058, 20 DaP, 176" est 132.25   Sunday, July 19 View Page 1882 x 2009, 11 DaP, 150" OTT est 89.74   Sunday, July 19 View Page 1821.5 x 1821.5, 20 DaP, 181" OTT est 142.14   Wednesday, July 22 View Page On pace to break my personal best with 5 different pumpkins! Love this time of year!   Friday, July 24 View Page Finally some big gains! 2058 had a 46# burst.   Saturday, July 25 View Page Cut off extra 2102 being hauled away, should have did this last week   Saturday, July 25 View Page Made it 10 ft   Tuesday, July 28 View Page Co worker just posted this, Time to find a new job, these people just don't understand   Tuesday, July 28 View Page Wish I was home, just hoping my sheets stay on, and it doesn't get to hot after it past   Sunday, August 2 View Page Going over 300" tomorrow, I think he looks like grandpa 2032   Tuesday, August 4 View Page Got some good things going on, could pass my personal best of 873 in 6 days, weighoff is Oct 3rd.   Wednesday, August 5 View Page Closest to furthest, 1882 x 2009, 287 OTT, 530.7#, 2058 x self 311 OTT, 673.9, and 2102 x 2009 257 OTT for 381.6   Wednesday, August 5 View Page Closest to furthest, 1821.5 x self, 296 OTT 581.9, 1947.5 x open, NA, and 2009 x 2102, 297 OTT for 587.8, blowing previous years out of the water! Not going to lie those coats look pretty good   Saturday, August 8 View Page 2058 Hawkley DaP 40 140/97/87 for 324",759.9#, grow baby grow!   Monday, August 10 View Page Sure is Monday, wake up with a fertilizer injector sucking air, thanks to a water timer that shut off but didn't shut off.   Thursday, August 13 View Page Measurements wise I just surpassed my personal best on DAP #45, 51 days of life left   Friday, August 14 View Page Well read Chris Stevens diary earlier today, and thought I would check my pumpkins over closer, lost the 1882 and the 1821.5, 1500# between the 2. 4 out of 6 left   Saturday, August 15 View Page Well if I lose one in the next day or 2, I will more than likely sending a water timer company a nice email, bought brand new one after Sunday nights failure, went out last night turned the dial to off after a hour, just to find it still running at 7:30 this morning. 90 + today and tomorrow hope this isn't the end   Saturday, August 15 View Page Too hot for this, 1 was bad enough let alone 2, 1882 x 2009   Saturday, August 15 View Page 1821.5 x self, brain shaped   Saturday, August 15 View Page Well then there was 4   Saturday, August 15 View Page Loss of 2 pumpkins got me distracted the last 2 days was giving a foiler spray tonight and noticed powdery mildew on a few leafs, so much for that text I signed up for in Wilkes Barre. Eagle 20 has been ordered   Sunday, August 16 View Page This little girl and her mommy are leaving me for a couple weeks to visit family in the Seattle/ Portland area, and they're driving, going to be very stressful worrying about them. On the bright side more uninterrupted patch time. Hell may even get the deck stained   Monday, August 17 View Page Little storm came through at some point today pretty much leveling every leaf on my biggest pumpkin plant, hopefully most of them stand back up   Tuesday, August 18 View Page Please mother nature, "Play Nice"!   Tuesday, August 18 View Page Little wet, but no extra wind damage for now, talking 35 mph all day tomorrow. On one Bright note, I seen a OTT of 357"   Wednesday, August 19 View Page Well only got around 60 today, cloudy wet. My 2058 which was layed over with wind 2 days ago gave 32#s much easier to do foiler spray when leafs are upside down.   Saturday, August 22 View Page Taking some stress out of a kink main vine l. Should have done this sooner   Saturday, August 22 View Page Before picture   Saturday, August 22 View Page After pic   Sunday, August 23 View Page Just under 40 days to go, hate to see these next 3 cool nights   Saturday, August 29 View Page Still growing   Wednesday, September 2 View Page My help is back after 2 weeks away, they've both grown   Wednesday, September 2 View Page Alba with our slow growing 2009 big show pumpkin poker plant, way bigger than my Personal best, but still 200# behind the 2058   Saturday, September 12 View Page My daughters pumpkin, started real late 1947.5 Clementz but finishing strong, could hit 1000   Saturday, September 12 View Page This is the 2009x2102, creeping along don't think it will give me much more, thinking of taking this one to stillwater, mn, just to be apart of what they're trying to do   Saturday, September 12 View Page My beast closing in on 400", 2058xself, this is my Anamosa entry as long as things go well   Saturday, September 12 View Page No matter what I threw at this pumpkin he never responded, smallest in the patch, 2102x2009. He's heading to Madison next Sunday   Sunday, September 13 View Page Alba and her pumpkin, seems to be the going pose on here   Friday, September 18 View Page Looks like a few of my walking planks are going to be used as a skidloader bridge tomorrow to load the Madison pumpkin, got to be close to 2" of rain since yesterday.   Saturday, September 19 View Page Well no pumpkin for stillwater, bottom fell out of my 2009 last night, now my biggest has me nervous   Saturday, September 19 View Page Loaded for Madison, Willy St weighoff. My slow grower 2102   Sunday, September 20 View Page Madison was a good experience, still weighing but 9th looks promising! Seen some bug ones   Sunday, September 20 View Page John Barlow's 1655   Monday, September 21 View Page This pumpkin felt solid on Thursday, popped open on Sat. Hadn't really gave me any good inches since Sept 6th, looks like its had problem's for a long time. 2009 x 2102 last est was @ 362" for 1041. What a sloppy mess did salvage some seeds, doubt if they see soil   Monday, September 21 View Page That was the Wilkes Barre, Big show pumpkin poker 2009 seed. I feel like I let Ron down.   Wednesday, September 23 View Page One more day closer, pumpkins still in tact   Friday, September 25 View Page Officially done growing, now it just needs to survive this next week. Main vine has a dead spot or at least 90% deas spot 15" away from stem. Just a hair shy of 400"   Friday, September 25 View Page 1947.5 seed #3 started late, pollinated late. Pretty pumpkin and right around a 1/2 ton!   Wednesday, September 30 View Page I promised Alba she could have this pumpkin way back when it was a basketball, its almost as pretty as her. 46 hrs till cut off   Wednesday, September 30 View Page Big one is still in tact as well, no bad spots on either one that I can see or feel.   Friday, October 2 View Page Love my neighbors and their toys   Friday, October 2 View Page Back wheels were barely touching!   Friday, October 2 View Page And the full load   Saturday, October 3 View Page Barlow 2034   Saturday, October 3 View Page New personal Best   Saturday, October 3 View Page Alba's 1033.5   Sunday, October 4 View Page Results are up, been waiting along time, to get over a 1000#.   Tuesday, October 6 View Page Alba called on stage for 14th, she's do little   Tuesday, October 6 View Page On stage standing next to one of the best, Scott Steil. Getting just a little bit closer to his level every year   Wednesday, October 7 View Page Bet the neighbors are saying "oh so that's what he's been doing over in the corner of his yard"   Saturday, October 10 View Page Stillwater What a experience   Sunday, October 11 View Page Beautiful afternoon!   Sunday, October 11 View Page Wasn't pretty, but 5-0   Monday, October 12 View Page Thinking my 1st step for next year's preparation, is making the 12 mile drive to Wisconsin and getting some dirt, what a year they have had in that state   Saturday, October 17 View Page Can't wait to get this home and together, greenhouse structure 28' x 48'. Doing a screen house next year, and hopefully telling the wind to f#$% off.   Saturday, October 17 View Page When I was clearing vines yesterday, I noticed all plants were good and healthy except one, the stump was mush, no leafs, barley any vines all this on the 2058 plant that was bombed with straight line winds in early August. This is now my 1277.5. I did not get any new inches last 10 days. Makes me wonder what might have been and thankful it held up for the weighoff.   Saturday, October 17 View Page When I was clearing vines yesterday, I noticed all plants were good and healthy except one, the stump was mush, no leafs, barley any vines all this on the 2058 plant that was bombed with straight line winds in early August. This is now my 1277.5. I did not get any new inches last 10 days. Makes me wonder what might have been and thankful it held up for the weighoff.   Sunday, October 18 View Page 1st picture of myself with my 1277.5. This is the 2nd largest pumpkin in the state of Iowa this year, I had #1 by 25"   Saturday, October 31 View Page Our 1033.5 at the Galena Brewery in Galena IL. Fun listening to everybody checking it out   Monday, November 2 View Page Well sounds like the 1033.5 sprung a leak in the brewery, not looking forward to that butchering job tomorrow on my 1st day of vacation. My other 2 pumpkins have been outside with no issues.   Tuesday, November 3 View Page Started to leak, good thing it happened when it did, heading to Tenn tomorrow for vacation   Tuesday, November 3 View Page Had a few sprouters, but good seed count in the 1277.5.   Saturday, November 7 View Page Raining in Chris Kent county   Sunday, November 29 View Page Finally got my seeds deskinned off the screens. I am just amazed on what my 726 had in it.( 2102x 2009) wasn't much this year but seeds look beautiful, and this cross has potential! If anybody is interested in any of my crosses shoot me a email!   Friday, December 11 View Page Seed test was a success!   Thursday, December 17 View Page Finally got my labels, should get some seeds mailed in next 10 days   Tuesday, December 29 View Page Not going to lie, I hate winter   Wednesday, December 30 View Page Well I guess if Alba had to get a Barbie, this Barbie is the right one   Wednesday, December 30 View Page A couple of my Christmas presents to myself came today!