Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 131 Entries. Monday, January 19 View Page First week of 2015. Big difference between Michigan and Florida this time of year   Friday, February 6 View Page A g patch the one with all the tarps ? Year   Monday, April 13 View Page These are my 700 from 2013 grown from a 772 Zappa 100% germination rate. Trying to grow my own seeds the season. My 635 from the 1000Greenchik didn't want to germinate-out of six I got one that's barely sprouting. My 675 2014 from the 700 pound 2013,Had four out of six sprouting okay   Tuesday, April 14 View Page Switched out 400 HPS for this 400 watt MH. Some of my old pot growing lights. Lol from old days   Thursday, April 16 View Page O boy 6 days from soaking. All I can do is pray for an early spring and early WARM weather. But if not I got hundreds of more seeds. With many days to start more   Saturday, April 18 View Page 85° sprout overnight.   Saturday, April 18 View Page 24 hrs @ 85°. My #635 from #1000 grenchik   Tuesday, April 21 View Page Are they eating my pumpkin plants ? This one sure looked like it was   Thursday, April 23 View Page Well out of them for it's pretty easy to see the fastest germinating one. That's one benefit of growing your own seed you got a lot to choose from. Well looks like I'll be putting cold frames up with heaters and I'm going to have to do it to make room for my maters and peppers. It's amazing how well a couple space heaters and some floating row cover and some plastic and some storm doors do   Monday, April 27 View Page Still nothing put outside yet.guess I can give my rye more time to grow. Gave the larger plants compost tee from horticultural shop down the road.gift card my wife got me.   Wednesday, April 29 View Page First mushrooms today.   Wednesday, April 29 View Page Largest plants showing the most stress under potted overwatered. They should have been outside five days ago. The young ones are looking okay still but if I'm going to do this pumpkin grown thing I got to get outside and start working. Running a fan on them while the lights on   Wednesday, April 29 View Page Picture from previous post   Friday, May 1 View Page I think this will be the last couple days for the remaining snow piles. Here west Michigan this picture was taken today in grand haven MI   Sunday, May 3 View Page Okay this week..........lol to do plant these plants outside. There's a slight warm up this week that's more motivation to get them out   Sunday, May 3 View Page Started to till in rye   Sunday, May 3 View Page Got 4 plants out in two sites with cold frames. no myco pic of roots in my home mixed medium. Nice n white   Sunday, May 3 View Page Had to double dig with spade in the two spots. Tiller lost some gears I came to an abrupt stop. But carried on the best I could with spade shovel Will see, maybe I can get different tiller this week. If not I'll do two more like this. And till the rye when I get tiller going again   Sunday, May 3 View Page My other hobby FREE TV. Finally took down an old broken up antenna. And made my own with pvc and copper to use on top my tower. It's a 50' tower and the top of my antenna is just over 58' high. http://m4antenna.eastmasonvilleweather.com/8%20bay/8%20bay.html. Theses antennas work great if you have some wire laying around and you like free stuff try it. I get Chanel's 74 miles away with mine up high   Tuesday, May 5 View Page No heater in cold frames just letting Mother Nature control temps.   Wednesday, May 6 View Page Gave the older kins a mix of Hollands seaweed powder fish powder bio calcium powder.three days and wow the new growth looks great thanks Joel   Friday, May 8 View Page Taken the plants for a ride out to the patch front big one is my 675 one next to it is my 700 the ones behind are the 635's they are quite a bit slower to start both times I've started them they take off very slow. They have 1495 Stoltz genetics and the 1789 freak from Wallace genetic. Hope to get a pumpkin this year from them there a cream color and they swell up very fast I have not been able to keep one together till the end yet. I think I could get a personal best with that seed   Friday, May 8 View Page Put The other two spots out today. Always put four plants out usually only get at the most 2 of them to produce. last year only 1 plant survived it was from squash bugs. I do not have the proper equipment. That's why Im doing my own seeds   Sunday, May 10 View Page Couple days ago before it started raining these are my 700s with sun burn and 5 days of hardening off.   Sunday, May 10 View Page Morals fried these is butter dipped in egg and flower. From one of last weeks harvest.   Monday, May 11 View Page Put the candle heaters in cold frames.not for tonight possibly for tomorrow. 1rst Cut the winter rye. Might have to cut one more time before tilling   Tuesday, May 12 View Page Pumpkin plants are at snails pace. Three days of clouds and rain into cold and cloudy. Using candles in cold frames tonight........ Morals are getting big   Saturday, May 16 View Page Just like an Easter egg hunt for adults. They keep getting a little bigger   Tuesday, May 19 View Page 1 day of nice weather and there runing Now I have to extend covers for if will be lower 30s high 50s   Tuesday, May 19 View Page Feels good to get away from the pumpkins and of course coming back to them is even better. Yes he is reeling in a fish my older son is loving the fishing. Just like his old man took the pontoon boat out first time in three years beautiful running a Honda four stroke 50 hp motor   Tuesday, May 19 View Page One speckled Bass. My son skunked me I got nothing but a good peace of mind no greater joy than to see your Little ones enjoy what you enjoy   Tuesday, May 19 View Page I have weed whack the cover crop One time. The Clover is flowering the vetch and Rye are budding again. I need to weed whack and till. Before it gets warm and the roots start to spread.   Sunday, May 24 View Page One of my #700 is ready for pushing wish I had more pusher. Lol   Tuesday, May 26 View Page Turned cover crops   Tuesday, May 26 View Page My corn and veggies plot with new tiller   Tuesday, May 26 View Page Deck garden prep   Tuesday, May 26 View Page First cull time will tell if I chose the rite plant. N W high side of garden is doing better rite now. The low areas are a bit to wet and poor drainage.   Thursday, May 28 View Page N.w #700 I kept pr previous cull. Secondary's around 8" at longest and main near 5' guesting   Friday, May 29 View Page Plants jumped into a sprint mode from that more than gracious weather. and put me way behind on the culls. It's always hard cutting seedlings out at this size. My 635 seed from 2013.   Wednesday, June 3 View Page My 635 from #1000 selfed grenchik from the 1789+1495.hoping this will be the first year to get a kin to go the distance from this seed.   Saturday, June 6 View Page First dose of imoclroprid I found this at the local big-box store on clearance last fall it was a $1.42 or bottle after I mailed in the rebates. 1.47 % same percentage of the bug b gone I been using. I'm going to be uncovering plants this week first time of the season I figured rather than give squash bugs straight pumpkin vine to eat I'd give them some of this poison.squash bugs are the first ones to come and the ones that end my plants growing season first. I would really like to build a big hoop house to try growing inside with the screen-cover until then I'll keep spending money and time on a lot of poisons   Sunday, June 7 View Page 772 Zappa offspring. This one seems to be doing the best. Which don't mean much this early in the season. I extended the covers until the vines can root a little better.   Tuesday, June 9 View Page My 675 2014 showing pumpkins. So are the 700's, all 772 Zappa offspring. 635 is just starting to grow secondary's fast   Tuesday, June 9 View Page Grandmas old choker trap. I let the moles go for 1 season and there back more than ever.   Wednesday, June 10 View Page 6/10/15 uncovered the last two plants. Pic of my #700   Wednesday, June 10 View Page My 675 and 700s are showing pumpkins   Friday, June 12 View Page 675 just under 9' out 5 lobes pollenated @ 5:10am in a thunderstorm. Finally!we needed the rain.   Friday, June 12 View Page Pic 6/11/15.   Monday, June 15 View Page 635 n e spot 6/14/15 no flowers yet   Monday, June 15 View Page 700 n w spot open males and almost first female   Monday, June 15 View Page 675 s w spot open males and females   Monday, June 15 View Page 700 s e females and males since June 1rst only plant I did not put candle heaters in. plant is the runt stunted I think from the cold snap while in the cold frame.   Tuesday, June 16 View Page Went out of town with family. Sacrificing my first pumpkin that could have Ben 11' out nice plant. Priority correctly in place. but nevertheless still hard to let it go   Thursday, June 18 View Page Earlier start larger plant this year. Plants are not as happy as could be. Looks like manganese deficiency. Best guess.   Thursday, June 18 View Page Secondary on my 635 I like the root s   Thursday, June 18 View Page Overall deck pic 1 day earlier than last year.   Sunday, June 21 View Page Gave plants 2nd imoclroprid drench. With seaweed /bloom builder   Sunday, June 21 View Page Nematodes? So I see these every season in my veggies and fruit plot. These ones seem to prefer tomatoes/ pumpkins and melons.they get some fruit every year.   Monday, June 22 View Page O boy I'm stuck working 45 minutes away from my gardens. Hope there roots are deep and strong. Calling for 60 - 70 mph winds   Monday, June 22 View Page No problems with storm. My 675 2nd try on main will be ready tomorrow. :)   Monday, June 22 View Page The heavy rain did put a crack in vine. Bad sort of split. 675 2nd try   Tuesday, June 23 View Page Pollen from my 700 and 635 for 2nd 675 girl/Will leave open   Tuesday, June 23 View Page Also seen first squash vine boar yesterday. 1 day after imoclroprid drench. Couldn't get a pic it let me smush itself between my fingers. Will get a picture next chance. If There slow like that last season. A couple pictures   Wednesday, June 24 View Page While checking the crack before the Kin in the warm after noon I moved leaf over and got this 1' past kin. And seen my first cuke beetle   Thursday, June 25 View Page 635 another 4-5 days. No Girls   Thursday, June 25 View Page Second girl 14'+ out   Thursday, June 25 View Page Second girl 10'+out. SE not NE   Thursday, June 25 View Page 675sw. X635&700 second girl 12'+ out   Saturday, June 27 View Page Going to apply A heavy foliar Bloom builder fruit finisher seaweed. Bio Calcium. And a touch more Manganese   Sunday, June 28 View Page Cuber beetles out break first time in over three seasons. Dead ones all over my AGs from the imoclroprid.   Tuesday, June 30 View Page 635 -1 dap lol on the mainline   Tuesday, June 30 View Page 700 N. W. 2nd girl on main. 5 dap.   Tuesday, June 30 View Page 675. 7dap. S. W.   Tuesday, June 30 View Page 700 S. E. 5dap   Wednesday, July 1 View Page Water heater. still feeding her. No need to use propane temperatures haven't been above 80° for us so far it works great just a couple chunks of wood per day and it makes continuous hot water.no need for the furnace to run so It hardly needs any wood. Plus when the solenoid for the air and take opens and closes it makes a loud click. It makes me jump while out in patch so I'm sure it scares the rodents   Wednesday, July 1 View Page Plants look great 2 days ago before it got cloudy and rainy and cold for two days straight. Now they are shriveling up and turning yellow. Anybody recognize this wrinkle in the leaf? Seems I remember spraying the plants with Coolwater last year and seeing this?   Thursday, July 2 View Page Now we got some beautiful Michigan sunshine couple more days in a row of this I'll take it. is gorgeous the plants look so much nicer in the sun they love it as much as I do   Friday, July 3 View Page 675 11 dap cut main after kin do to cracked main   Monday, July 6 View Page Foliar fed yesterday manganese & magnesium sulfate & bloom builder fruit finisher; seaweed;and infuse. Slow fruit did I say slow kin growth   Monday, July 6 View Page 700 NW 10 dap 2nd kin pollinated the fourth main kin yesterday with the 635 pollen   Monday, July 6 View Page 700 SE 10dap 2nd main pollinated third main kin two days ago. Just not sure I know the genetics of these go slow so they'll probably be my keepers but I'm a keep on pollinating the mains for another week   Tuesday, July 7 View Page 675 14 dap   Tuesday, July 7 View Page N. W. 700 12 dap larger plan but not as healthy looking   Tuesday, July 7 View Page S. E. 700 12dap. Smaller plants nicer color slightly more green to the leaf   Tuesday, July 7 View Page 635 7 dap. This was a teeny tiny little flower and pumpkin on a huge vine thick leaves nice looking plant   Tuesday, July 7 View Page It appears at least a couple of the 700 plants went into pumpkin mode put some meat into the main pumpkin and started slowing down on the vine growth. Growing these genetics for three seasons these plants seem to really show when they start putting juice in the pumpkins. Or it could just be on the squash bug juice. Lol. Time always tells   Friday, July 10 View Page I am also curious about the variation of green?   Friday, July 10 View Page Brrrrrrr no mosquitoes out this morning how nice. Now if only the pumpkins would just take off.   Friday, July 10 View Page Yes 3" circumference gain on 2 of my pumpkins. Very gratifying now the challenge comes to keep that up   Friday, July 10 View Page That's s squash vine boar resting.   Friday, July 10 View Page Squash Vine bore. Rip   Saturday, July 11 View Page Pollinated my second 635 on the main first one is growing but super slow   Sunday, July 12 View Page 700 N. W. 17 dap. 37" cc   Sunday, July 12 View Page 675 S. W. 19 dap 39" cc   Sunday, July 12 View Page 700 S. E. 17 dap. 30" cc   Monday, July 13 View Page So I just learned these iOS devices are good for something. Had some small stem splits on top so had to check under side.   Tuesday, July 14 View Page 1 ounce per gallon of 1.47% imoclroprid. Light seaweed powder very light bloom fertilizer 1 tablespoon per gallon bio calcium powder   Thursday, July 16 View Page My 700 got 4.5 inches gain =54.5circumference last night.@21DAP. My other 700 got 3 inch gain cc 675 got a 3 inch gain cc 635 questioning if I'm going to get a pumpkin on that one. Hopefully I get as lucky as last year plants look really bad this year again instead of squash bugs I'm getting tons of cuber Beatles. I may have gave the plants too much imoclroprid.   Friday, July 17 View Page 675 @ 24 DAP. 58 cc did 4 inch gain last night first day of warm weather. N. W. 700 @22DAP 58.5 cc 4" cc gain   Friday, July 17 View Page S. E 700@22 DAP = 48 cc 4 inch cc gain   Saturday, July 18 View Page Finally warmed up this is the reason why   Saturday, July 18 View Page Deck picture in thunderstorm   Saturday, July 18 View Page Deck picture in thunderstorm   Saturday, July 18 View Page Needed to make a bigger cover 4 inches a day it was squeezed up to it's smaller shade cover. For future reference it's a 700 be nice if we can fill out this cover   Sunday, July 19 View Page For future referenceThe yellowing vines look much better now that we've had some nice warm weather and some good rain drench. I believe the vines were going so fast they just didn't have the root mass to keep up with the vine   Sunday, July 19 View Page SE 700 =38 cc 41 cc. 44cc 48cc. (51cc on July 18)55.5cc7/19/15. 675 = 47" cc 50cc. 53cc 57.5 (61cc on July 18)65cc7/19/15. NW 700 =47"cc50cc. 54.5cc 58.5cc. (63 cc on July 18)67.5cc 7/19/15. Circumference measurements starting around dap 20   Sunday, July 19 View Page 1 oz pr gallon infuse. Stem check under side   Tuesday, July 21 View Page N. W 700 @26dap 76cc 56ss 54ee 153 est. definitely not my biggest fruit at this age. But it still going pretty well finally for me 4 inches of circumference the day average   Tuesday, July 21 View Page 675 @28dap 70cc 45ss 49ee. Est 108   Tuesday, July 21 View Page S. E700 this one just keeps doing 3 inches circumference a day. 62cc 44ss 46 ee #93 est @ 26 wow slow pumpkins hopefully they'll keep going. Now that the plants are looking a little better   Thursday, July 23 View Page Took this a few days ago the largest Blossom I've seen. It was a six lobe ,One of the lobes is rather small and push sideways. Just for records this is the first pumpkin I've grown with six lobes   Saturday, July 25 View Page 700 N. W. 30 DAP #239   Saturday, July 25 View Page 675 32dap unsure I think it's growing very slow #163   Saturday, July 25 View Page S. E 700 dap 30 #142 another super slow starter. Just an even 3 inch of circumference average for the week   Saturday, July 25 View Page Second main 635 14dap   Monday, July 27 View Page All 4 as of yesterday. 7/26/15   Wednesday, July 29 View Page Vine bores galore & cuber beetles Won the battles this year in the all organic garden. again another year not going to get field pumpkins looks worse than last season. Bummer   Friday, July 31 View Page Oh boy slow down now what's wrong. average 27.5 pounds a day last five days most of it was the first couple days only been doing a couple inches a day now. 35dap guestiment #377   Friday, July 31 View Page 635 @20 dap 60cc   Sunday, August 2 View Page Fastest girl right now slowed right down on the 1 inch cc last four days wth #395   Sunday, August 2 View Page Well if it makes it I think it'll be orange   Monday, August 3 View Page Better color veiw   Monday, August 3 View Page Just for record guesstimate 435 pounds just under 40 days somewhere one of my 700 seeds from 772 Zappa you're very persistent with having an orange color and really slow growth it seems   Thursday, August 6 View Page #472 I believe it's 42 days old now I don't count well.   Friday, August 7 View Page Imoclroprid drench yesterday/bio calcium/seaweed/bloom builder. Plants have some angular leaf spot problems closest plant is pale because I accidentally whacked into some of the main and secondary vines while removing sick leaves   Sunday, August 9 View Page Inching alone broke 500 pounds guesstimate not count the days right now but if I count my diary I can find out thanks two big pumpkins.com   Wednesday, August 12 View Page 700 N.W estimate 525 pounds at 47 DAP ?? boy behind punkin and put this post I need all the help I can get those pumpkins got bad fungus spots all over it I haven't been able to get the plans fungicide my pumps took a crap. So I don't expect much more girls out of anything this yearcan't say I'm disappointed because at least I got some pumpkins to look at   Thursday, August 13 View Page No measuring today they grew this much from previous experience sap like this means they're getting heavier. It's been a very trying week my father just passed away this morning. Before he passed away last night I told him to talk to God Tom to put a good word into the pumpkin God for my pumpkins   Tuesday, September 1 View Page Sad sad end unattended since mid July. Death and divorce. Can REALLY change priority FAST! Mice food #588#499 #399 ##236# 189 #125 #79. No time to set traps ????????????{%##%^}^^*€ŁĄŁ%%€|%Ł\€^\>€\%\€\>\   Thursday, September 10 View Page Estimate #588Let plants die off haven't done a thing to them since mid to end of July. This one still has some green vines and leaves but not much in my search you when I'm up pretty bad I'm trying to catch mice here and there hard to take care of a pumpkin patch where you don't live. Eight small pumpkins. This being the largest   Wednesday, September 30 View Page This does it so far two out of first three are solid with mouse holes scabbed over well. At least the second larger one is a goner for sure didn't even kook at largest. Will do soon