Home What's New Message Board
BigPumpkins.com
Select Destination Site Search
 
CBernstrom - 2015 Grower Diary Point your RSS aggregator here to subscribe to this Grower Diary.

Show Entries in

Grower Diary Menu
  Back to Previous Page
List Other Grower's Diaries
Submit to Your Own Diary

 
Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 32 Entries.
Thursday, May 14 View Page
Going to do a diary this year. I live up in the very Northwest corner of Minnesota along the Canadian border so the weather is always interesting. This is my third year growing, my first year I grew a 858 pounder and last year my biggest was 1407 so hoping for bigger again this year. I'm growing four pumpkins this year: the 2058 Hawkley, 2008 Neptune, 1916 Barron, and 1832 Midthun.
 
Thursday, May 14 View Page
1832 Midthun
 
Thursday, May 14 View Page
2008 Neptune
 
Thursday, May 14 View Page
1916 Barron
 
Thursday, May 14 View Page
2058 Hawkley
 
Monday, May 18 View Page
All four of the hoop houses are bundled up with the heat lights on. It's supposed to be in the mid 20s tonight!
 
Wednesday, May 20 View Page
Hopefully the last covering of the year for frost, and tilled for the last time tonight. The plants are starting to grow good now that the suns finally been out.
 
Wednesday, May 27 View Page
Rolled the plastic back on the hoop houses this afternoon and gave them each a good bath of river water. Here's the 1916 Barron
 
Sunday, June 7 View Page
The plants are doing good even though we've had cool rainy weather the last week. Here's the 1916 Barron.
 
Sunday, June 7 View Page
2008 Neptune
 
Sunday, June 7 View Page
2058 Hawkley
 
Sunday, June 7 View Page
So far the wind fence has been working good, the weeds are getting about 4 feet tall already on the outside of the fence to provide extra support haha!
 
Friday, June 19 View Page
2058 Hawkley, should be pollinating in a week at 13-14 feet. Was slow getting side vines but is really catching up to the others now.
 
Friday, June 19 View Page
2008 Neptune. Really healthy plant, leaves are a little stockier and do well in the wind. Should be pollinating at 13 feet in 6-7 days.
 
Friday, June 19 View Page
1916 Barron. Really aggressive plant, so far a little ahead of the others. Will be ready to pollinate at 15 feet in about 6-7 days. I made a frame over the whole plant area so in September when it starts cooling off I can put a temporary greenhouse over it.
 
Friday, June 19 View Page
Our little pumpkin helper arrived on Sunday so she'll be ready to help in the Fall haha!
 
Friday, June 26 View Page
2008 Neptune x 2058 Hawkley this morning at 12 feet.
 
Friday, June 26 View Page
2058 Hawkley x 1916 Barron this morning at 15 feet.
 
Sunday, June 28 View Page
Pollinated the 1916 Barron with the 2058 Hawkley at 16 feet. All 3 pumpkins are now pollinated so let the growing begin!
 
Saturday, July 11 View Page
Stump and main vine on 1916 Barron! The plants a beast and the pumpkins starting to pick up too! The vines are all terminated.
 
Saturday, July 11 View Page
2008 Neptune, the pumpkin is at 15dap and will measure at day 20 but is growing good. Only a couple vines left to terminate.
 
Saturday, July 11 View Page
1916 Barron. Pumpkin is at 13dap
 
Saturday, July 11 View Page
2058 Hawkley. Vines are almost all terminated and pumpkin is at 15dap. The pumpkin on here is growing really good so far.
 
Thursday, July 16 View Page
2058 Hawkley at 20dap and little Briar is 32 days old! The OTT is at 156, last year my biggest 2 were at 119 and 105.
 
Thursday, July 16 View Page
2008 Neptune at 20dap and 167 OTT. So far it's 47 inches ahead of my last years 1407 pounder so hopefully with a little luck it'll end up way bigger in the fall!
 
Sunday, July 26 View Page
2008 Neptune. Day 30, OTT of 268"
 
Monday, July 27 View Page
2058 Hawkley, day 31 and an OTT of 260". Been doing around 40 pounds a day for the last few days but had to cut off 6 secondaries because of what looked like a disease. So there's 9 secondaries left but still did 42 pounds last night so we'll see what happens.
 
Sunday, August 16 View Page
1916x2058 is done because of a small pinhole by the blossom end. Est 970 pounds on day 48. Was solid as a rock and everything looked good until the pinhole appeared. Was still averaging 30 a day so will caulk it shut to get the seeds out and to keep the pumpkin solid till mid October when it gets dropped from a crane.
 
Tuesday, September 8 View Page
I picked the 1916 that developed a small pinhole by the blossom from the patch yesterday. It was on day 70 and the hole happened on day 50. It's final OTT was 374" for an estimated weight of 1138. I had it weighed this morning and it weighed 1300 pounds. 15% heavy. It was crossed with the 2058 Hawkley. I'll be planting it next year. So it's now the 1300 Bernstrom 2015 UOW
 
Wednesday, September 9 View Page
When you live in Northern Minnesota you have to improvise to keep your big pumpkin growing good when it's in the 50s outside. I made a greenhouse to cover the whole plant, it's been a toasty 80 degrees in there the last few days!
 
Thursday, October 8 View Page
The 2008 Neptune is all loaded up ready for Stillwater! Should be a fun drive down there, watching the peoples faces when they drive by!
 
Saturday, October 24 View Page
Great ending to the season! The 1465 Bernstrom (2008x2058) smashed the minivan from 80 ft!
 

 

Top of Page

Questions or comments? Send mail to Ken AT bigpumpkins.com.
Copyright © 1999-2024 BigPumpkins.com. All rights reserved.