Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 82 Entries. Friday, March 20 View Page OK first entry for 2015 diary on the first day of Spring. Will try to do better this year on diary as well as on my growing. Got a soil test last Fall & have started adding amendments. Biggest deficiency is being addressed with Triple Super Phosphate, 1 dose tilled in last Fall, another this Spring & a final one this Fall. Meanwhile, just started my tomato rootstock on Wednesday, 6 different cultivars. I have resolved to graft all of my maters this year, my Giants as well as my heirloom eating maters.   Friday, March 27 View Page Well, the wrong pic showed up for my first entry! I got a good laugh out of it. That was New Year's. I will let you all guess which one is me. I have a bunch of tomato rootstock up & my heirlooms are starting to germinate.   Monday, May 4 View Page I'm using the app for iPad to try to make an entry to my diary. Hopefully I will be able to include a pic. This should show my AG lineup for this year.   Monday, May 4 View Page So I sowed 8 seeds into small peat pots on April 28 & 3.5 days later the top of the soil was shifting. I was surprised to see roots coming out the bottom of the peat pots before the leaves broke the soil surface. So on May 2 I transplanted them to 6" Cowpots. I would be remiss if I did not include a shoutout of appreciation to all who kindly shared seeds! That's really appreciated by this noob. Anyhow, here is what they look like this AM. The 1738 Barron is the Laggard on the lower left.   Monday, May 4 View Page So here is my AG patch...20 x 27 feet. Small, I know, but hey last year I was trying to grow one in a 12 x 12 plot with 5 maters & some kale! In the far corner is just a cold frame & in the near corner, my pitiful excuse for a small hoop house. No heating cables, maybe next year. The ventilation system will be the manual, wife-actuated type, really should be fairly reliable, as long as I remind her on her cell! I only Plan to have 1 plant in here throughout the entire season, but I want to maximize my blossoms so initially another plant will be in here. I will put 3 plants in each structure & will keep the most vigorous one in each corner. Once I get a fruit set, the other plant will be culled.   Monday, May 4 View Page My major focus is Giant maters. I had resolved this year to graft all my maters, both the eaters & the Giants. I have had the most success with Approach grafting. This pic shows 64 of my grafts, the majority of them will have their scion stems completely cut in 2 days. I have 29 others not pictured as well as 11 more where I have the scion & the rootstock paired up in pots to attempt grafting tomorrow night.   Monday, May 4 View Page I am going to try growing long gourds as a lark this year. No cold frame so I will not sow the seed until Friday. Really appreciate the seeds, Gary May!   Tuesday, May 5 View Page I decided to put my plants out to allow them to acclimate to the temps & sunlight. Each group will be in a cutthroat race, the most vigorous plant will survive & the weak will be culled. This is in the Northwest corner of the patch. From left to right, this is 1750.5 Martin, 1947.5 Clementz & 1738 Barron.   Tuesday, May 5 View Page This is the group in the Southeast corner of the patch. From left to right, 1641 Clementz, 1750.5 Martin & 1719 Martin. These plant are sitting in trenches filled with 30 lbs of worm castings with Mykos, Azos, Rootshield Plus & Humic Acid-86 sprinkled on top. I have some Black Kow to mix in around them. I think I can see which way the first true leaf is pointing, but I am sure it will be much more apparent in 2 days.   Monday, May 25 View Page So here in the Northwest corner of my patch, from left to right, is 1750.5, 1947.5 & 1738. You'll notice as a newbie, I unfortunately planted them deeply up to the cotyledons so they are standing straight up & I think the 1947.5 is even curling toward the first leaf. I'll have to persuade it to turn around somehow. The seed was sowed April 28 & planted out May 10. I measured my biggest leaf is only 13 inches across. I feel like such a failure! LOL On the other hand I am pretty good at weeding...   Monday, May 25 View Page Here in the Southeastern corner, from left to right is1641, another 1750.5 & 1719. I think these actually look slightly better & they are for the most part leaning in the right direction. I should mention that the planting trench got a large cup of worm castings, some Mykos, Azos, Rootshield Plus & some Humic-Acid 86. They also have had 2 sprays of Daconil, Talstar & Merit. They have had 1 drench of Kelp/Fish & Humic Acid. I need to put up a windbreak fence up yet. I have some SVB traps to put out, I need to look up when they should go out. As always, very interested in any input or suggestions from the experienced growers here! I did finally get a Long Gourd seed to germinate yesterday, I had sowed them May 13. I had filed them pretty well & soaked them 18 hrs in 10% peroxide with some Kelp/Fish added in . They had been on a heating mat at 84 degrees. I figure I probably just didn't file them enough. I have to get the names down right . The 1947.5 is Clementz, of course, the 1750.5 s are Martin, the 1738 is Barron, the 1719 another Martin & the 1641 another Clementz. Many thanks to the growers for the seed!   Friday, May 29 View Page Well, I am having to make some hard decisions narrowing my plants down. The 1947.5 Clementz had been growing the wrong way out of the bed and just this morning I noticed that it has a distinctly yellow tint to the vine. I don't know much about yellow vines but I have read something on here about a viral cause for it. I don't want to screw around with any virus so I terminated it. At this spot I have a 1750 Martin & a 1738 Barron. The 1738 Barron is the more vigorous, vine length 33 inches. Pics later today.   Friday, May 29 View Page In the other corner of my plot, the 1750 Martin had developed a kink in the vine & was the least vigorous so I eliminated it. I still have a 1641 Clementz & a 1719 Martin. The 1719 Martin has a vine length of 36 inches & is growing in the optimal direction but it does have a slight kink to it. I haven't seen much about this and I don't know how significant it is. No doubt it has developed because I don't know the best techniques to get a vine to lay down properly. Hopefully it will grow through it. The 1641 Clementz is growing at an odd angle and I am leery of trying to turn it much and develop a kink. All plants are out from under their protective structures, now I am late getting the windbreak up. All plants got a drench of Humic acid, Actinovate, RootGuard, Tarantula, Piranha & Voodoo Juice this morning. Pics later today.   Friday, May 29 View Page My new wind fence. First ever. Please pardon it's amateurish appearance!   Friday, May 29 View Page My 1738 Barron on the left, is starting to lay down. My 1750 Martin on the right, doesn't want to lay down.   Saturday, June 6 View Page My Martin 1719 on it's 2 oldest leaves is turning yellow & on the underside it is a light tan which I presume is dead tissue. The younger leaves are OK so far. Plant is about 5 ft long. I will try to post a pic, had connectivity issues last time.   Saturday, June 6 View Page The plant has had 2 sprays with Daconil, Talstar & Merit, 1 drench with Talstar, Merit, Subdue & Clearys, 1 drench with Seaweed/Fish & Humic acid, another drench with RootGuard, Actinovate, Tarantula, Piranha, Voodoo Juice & Humic acid. Last spray 5/31 was Dunkel's, Kelp extract, Pro-TeKt, Neem & Seaweed/Fish. Here's a pic of the underside of the leaf. No herbicide in the area in over a month. Plant out on 5/10. Is this insect, fungus, killing the plant with kindness? I am interested in any ideas from experienced growers please.   Saturday, June 20 View Page Well, it has been a while since I've posted. But I have an excuse. We did a whirlwind tour of 6 colleges with our boy, leaving last Sunday & just getting back late last night. It had been a little dry & I had been hoping for some rain but when we got home the rain gauge said 4.2 inches. The garden, predictably, has exploded, with 1 exception. I had transplanted my Long Gourd the day before we left & it had been hardened off well. It is a goner. It is all yellow & shriveled up. No pics. I will include a pic of my AG patch in the next post.   Saturday, June 20 View Page So my patch is 20.5 x 27 feet, really a respectable size for only 1 AG. I was faced with a difficult decision. In opposite corners I had a 1750 Martin & a 1738 Barron & they both were looking pretty good by my lights. But the 1738 B had bigger leaves with fewer problems & I chose it. The main vine is around 18 feet long with the longest secondaries around 16 feet. The main vine has 2 female blossoms & the 4 longest secondaries have small female blossoms at their tips. Does anyone have a suggestion for what I can do to encourage the female blossoms to develop? The plant has not received excessive foliar Nitrogen. I have buried some of the leaf nodes but not the ones that have formed since we were out of town. I used worm castings with 4 parts Mykos, 2 parts Azos & 1 part Rootshield Plus. Hopefully the pic will accompany this note.   Tuesday, June 23 View Page I am back in the Long Gourd business with a little 124 Young! Thank you so much, Gary May! I was very impressed by your gardens when I came over.   Tuesday, June 23 View Page Here's my 1738 Barron! What a beast! It really took off with all the rain we had gotten. On the left side you might be able to make out several of the tertiaries I trimmed tonight.   Tuesday, June 23 View Page I ended up pruning 6 tertiaries, all around 3 feet long. I know, I didn't find them that early. I didn't want to risk damaging any of my secondaries,so instead of trimming the tertiaries at their origin, I pruned them at 6-8 inches out, sprayed the tip with hydrogen peroxide, daubed it with garden sulfur & buried it in my trench mix. Hopefully it will root. In the center of the pic is the end of a tertiary held down by some bamboo skewers.   Wednesday, June 24 View Page Well, I was burying more vines tonight and I ran across something I hadn't expected!   Wednesday, June 24 View Page I had been moaning about my female blossoms not maturing and lo and behold!   Wednesday, June 24 View Page I believe that this blossom is going to open tomorrow. I am not completely sure of it.   Wednesday, June 24 View Page But I am making preparations. I harvested some male blossoms.   Wednesday, June 24 View Page I have to check & see what the high temperature is supposed to be tomorrow. I suspect that it will be in the mid80s. I have constructed a shade over the fruit & run an electric cord out there for a fan. If it reaches 80 my wife will set 2 1-gallon bags beside the blossom. Unfortunately tomorrow is going to be an early day for me with a conference at 7 AM. So I will be zooming!   Wednesday, June 24 View Page Uhhh, that's 2 1-gallon bags of ice...my proofreading suffers when I am excited!   Thursday, June 25 View Page So I did the deed early this morning. We'll see what happens!   Sunday, June 28 View Page I was out pruning tertiaries today. I measured & the main vine on my 1738 Barron is 23 ft long. The female blossom I attempted to pollinate on Thursday is 16 ft from the stump & another one has appeared at 22 ft.   Sunday, June 28 View Page I saw Cecil's entry about removing a leaf that might scratch & scar the fruit so I looked at my (hopefully) pollinated fruit from that standpoint. It seems to me that once the fruit grows & descends to the soil surface, it would be safe from the leaf & it would benefit from it remaining over it. So I came up with a temporary solution. I tried to keep the washcloth up so it won't wick moisture up. Somebody please tell me if this is a stupid idea!   Monday, June 29 View Page My baby is growing & starting to lower down to the soil. DAP 4 1738 Barron   Monday, June 29 View Page Here's a nice megabloom on my Carol Chyko's Big Paste. I have some particularly nice megablooms on my Peter Glazebrooks, have to get some pics. I just don't see many bees around my maters so I have been buzzing up a storm with my Vegibee. It is nice to see the pollen fly!   Tuesday, June 30 View Page My 1738 Barron 5 DAP getting closer to the soil. After this pic I decided the washcloth was no longer needed & I removed it.   Tuesday, June 30 View Page This morning I found 2 female blossoms opening on secondary vines & I quickly pollinated them before leaving for work. Here's a pic of 1 of them. The other 1 is in poor position at the edge of the patch. Then tonight I found 2 more that look like they should be opening tomorrow. I am off work tomorrow so there will be time for foreplay! Sorry, just thought of it & couldn't resist! ;>}   Wednesday, July 1 View Page This is a female blossom that opened this morning on the main vine at 22 feet from the stump. It has asymmetric lobes.   Wednesday, July 1 View Page This is a female blossom that opened this morning on a secondary vine. It has symmetric lobes. I selfed both blossoms. I wish to have 2 pumpkins on this plant. Between these 2, which should I prefer?   Thursday, July 2 View Page My patch from our deck.   Thursday, July 2 View Page 1738 Barron 7 DAP   Friday, July 3 View Page Some of my Giant Maters 6.16 Foss BZ   Friday, July 3 View Page Peter Glazebrook   Friday, July 3 View Page Carol Chyko's Big Paste   Friday, July 3 View Page Delicious x Big Zac Hybrid (DelZac) Does anyone else have one of these? It looks like it's going to be a paste shape.   Friday, July 3 View Page My patch from the deck.   Friday, July 3 View Page My 1738 Barron DAP 8 It doesn't appear to have increased in size very much recently. Could this be an indication that it is going to abort? Or is the plant just putting all it's resources to vegetative growth?   Friday, July 3 View Page So I started looking at my alternatives. I have another ? pollinated fruit 6 feet down the main vine from the first one.   Friday, July 3 View Page I have 2 more set on secondary vines on the right. Here's one of them. The other one is in a bad position at the side of the patch. So I got busy pruning tertiaries & terminating & burying secondaries, all the while looking at more female blossoms & starting to put in S curves also burying leaf nodes.   Friday, July 3 View Page Unfortunately the dirty little secret is sneaking out. Mrs Materdoc wanted to grow a giant pumpkin too. So I gave her one of my less vigorous seedlings & helped her transplant it. And now, horrors, it has a fruit bigger than mine at 2 less DAP. And wait until you see where it is!   Friday, July 3 View Page It is in the front yard in a landscape bed, the soil not amended at all. Oh sure, I planted it in half a bag of Black Kow but I didn't even bury any of the leaf nodes until last week & this thing has tripled in size in the last two days! I may not be able to show my face around here anymore. Lol. My plant is 20X bigger.   Thursday, July 9 View Page So an update, Mrs Materdoc's pumpkin is 11 DAP & has a circumference of 29 inches . Oh, it's a 1399 Christensen. The second fruit on the main vine of my 1738 Barron was getting it's butt kicked by 2 fruits on secondaries. So last night I made a decision. I cut the fruit off the main vine, terminated it & buried the tip. We cut back multiple secondaries so we could physically pick up & swing the secondaries with the fruits toward the center of the patch about 1.5 feet. Tonight we swung them over another foot. So we did it as carefully as possible. They both have an S-curve but the stems of the fruits don't come off at a very good angle. I would like to very gradually try to improve that angle. They are both 9 DAP. Worked late in the garden tonight, so no pics. Will try to post some tomorrow.   Tuesday, July 14 View Page So here is Mrs Materdoc's pumpkin, Priscilla on 1399 Christensen. She is 15 DAP & 37.75 inches in circumference.   Tuesday, July 14 View Page I have 2 fruits on my 1738 Barron. Here is the larger one, Hagrid. He is 14 DAP, 43.75 inches in circumference. He is on a secondary vine.   Tuesday, July 14 View Page Here is the smaller one, Maxime. She is also on a secondary vine, just 1 down from Hagrid. She's 14 DAP as well & is 38 inches in circumference. All 3 pumpkins have a dappled appearance which is simply secondary to my 10 % bleach solution which is mingling with some of the dirt which was on their skin.   Tuesday, July 14 View Page Correction, Priscilla is 16 DAP.   Tuesday, July 14 View Page So I worked on some of my Giant Maters today. I was choosing which fruit to keep & placing a sling under the keepers, then placing a washcloth over it to shade it. I was also looking for some fruits around 2 DAP to spray some Anthesis on tomorrow morning. Pics of these tomorrow.   Wednesday, July 15 View Page OTT measurements today Priscilla 94.5 estimate 22 lb. 17 DAP Maxime 100 25 lb per 2013 Team-Pumpkin Table Hagrid 112 34 lb. Maxime & Hagrid 15 DAP   Wednesday, July 22 View Page Maxime has an OTT of 159 at 21 DAP. She's a big girl!   Wednesday, July 22 View Page Hagrid has an OTT of 157, also at 21 DAP. He says Boo!   Wednesday, July 22 View Page Priscilla started out good but has been intrinsically limited by her location, also by the lack of a windbreak. She has received the same sprays & drenches as the other plant. I am sad to say that she is only 105 OTT at 23 DAP. Even Mrs Materdoc is disappointed.   Monday, July 27 View Page Hagrid, 184 OTT, est wt 144 lb, 26 DAP.   Monday, July 27 View Page Maxime 190 OTT, est wt 158 lb 26 DAP.   Thursday, July 30 View Page One of my culls off one of my 6.16 Fulk Delicious plants, 2 lb 4.5 oz. Boy, it hurt to cut this one loose! But there is a bigger and better one on it's way!   Thursday, July 30 View Page Hagrid , est. wt 181 lb at 29 DAP.   Thursday, July 30 View Page Maxime, 207 lb at 29 DAP.   Saturday, August 1 View Page Here's my largest mater, on a 6.57 Boudyo. Yesterday it was 21.5 inches in circumference. And it's deep, baby! It's 32 DAP so hopefully it has a few more inches in it!   Saturday, August 1 View Page New growing points developing on top of the leaf petiole. You can see 2 of them in front of my fingers & another smaller one to the right on the pic. This I believe is on a Big Zac; I'm going to have to check my other plants.   Tuesday, August 4 View Page Maxime, on the left is 284 lb by OTT Hagrid, on the right is 250 lb, both at 35 DAP.   Tuesday, August 4 View Page My largest mater, a 6.57 Boudyo Big Zac is 22&3/8 inches but unfortunately is 37 DAP & could start to flush any day now.   Sunday, August 9 View Page When I checked my kins this morning, unfortunately this is what I found! This BES is 3 inches long, 3/8 inch wide & you can see all the way into the interior. This is the first that I have encountered BES, but from reading the diaries & the message board I assume she's done for. Maxime was 40 DAP & had taped out to 322 lb just yesterday. RIP Maxime!   Sunday, August 9 View Page So I still have my backup, Hagrid. He's also on a secondary of my Barron 1738. Yesterday he taped out at 284 lb. He has got to be one of the homeliest punkins I have ever seen! He is 40 DAP today also. Does anyone have any wise words? Could I have done anything to either cause or prevent this? From what I've read here it (BES) is a random occurrence, although some seed lines can have a predisposition for it.   Sunday, August 9 View Page Here's my biggest mater currently, on a 6.57 Boudyo. It now measures 23 & 3/8 inches but is 41 DAP, so I am unsure how much more size she can put on before starting to blush. Still, it should become a new PB for me so I am happy about that.   Tuesday, August 11 View Page Do you ever wonder, if you didn't have bad luck if you would have any luck at all? Look at the upper left out from the stem, a rotten spot that started because the stem had a little projection from it from another bloom that pressed into the fruit & broke the skin. I had seen this problem 2 days ago & thought it would probably be alright. Nope!   Tuesday, August 11 View Page But it is all good. This mater is disqualified from the WGC but it is still a PB for me & I learned something. This is from a 6.87 Boudyo Big Zac, weighed out at 4 lb 2.5 oz or 4.16 lb & I am happy to have it.   Tuesday, August 18 View Page Here's Hagrid at 47 DAP, OTT 254&1/2, est wt 369 lb. We're pretty thrilled!   Tuesday, August 18 View Page Here's my biggest Zaczilla 3.7 lb   Friday, September 4 View Page So I treated Maxime's BES with hydrogen peroxide & then I sprayed some insulation foam on it to seal it.   Friday, September 4 View Page Unfortunately that just sealed the infection in & it really started going to town on the blossom end. I probably should have just left it open. The pic is after I had removed about a third of her with my machete.   Friday, September 4 View Page So here we are currently. This pic is from yesterday. Hagrid is taping out to 461 lbs. I am skeptical of this however because he has an unusual shape, long & low with a Quasimodo hump on 1 side. My goal for this year was 500 lbs & he is doing around 5 lbs/ day so it looks like we may get there.   Thursday, September 10 View Page Hagrid taped out to 484 lbs today! We (Bentley & myself) are pretty excited about it!   Friday, October 2 View Page Last pic of Hagrid in the patch.   Friday, October 2 View Page Hagrid taped out Sunday to 512 lb. But with 10 of us burly types, it wasn't that difficult.   Friday, October 2 View Page So you say the weigh-off is the second left after WalMart?