Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 23 Entries. Wednesday, July 27 View Page Hi everyone. Once again I am a little late with my diary.   Wednesday, July 27 View Page I'll give a brief recap of the season so far, and then I'll try to post some pictures.   Wednesday, July 27 View Page On April 15th the seeds were started. I planted eight with a 100% success rate. For many reasons I decided to go with only two plants this year. Down from my usual three. Life has become busier, and areas of my patch could really use a rest. Mighty Mustard was planted in the vacant spot   Wednesday, July 27 View Page My seed choices this year were the 1998 Jutras and the 2250 Wallace, the number one and two pumpkins at the Frerich's Farm weigh off. Sadly the 2250 didn't develop past the cotyledon stage. I chose to grow in its place the 1992 Vincent, the winner at the Topsfield Fair   Wednesday, July 27 View Page The early season had a rough start to it. I use spotlight bulbs to keep the hoops warm at night. They are placed in #10 food cans that are buried to the rim in the soil.I found a large spotlight bulb in my garage. I replaced the one in the hoop house which was of smaller wattage with it. Well that was a bad idea. The heat melted the plastic socket, some and the fumes killed all of the leaves on the plants in that hoop. There were two in the ground, and three in pots. The 1998 plant looked toasted. Only the emerging growth survived.   Wednesday, July 27 View Page Then, in the hoop housing the 1992, the backup plant keeled over one morning from some type of stem rot. I was down to one healthy plant for the season.   Wednesday, July 27 View Page But as many of you know, these plants bounce back in a big way sometimes. 1992 on the left, 1998 on the right.   Wednesday, July 27 View Page Hmmm, don't know hoe to fix this upside down thing   Saturday, July 30 View Page This is the Day 38 1992 Vincent X 1998 Jutras. It was polluted on June 21, and is fourteen feet out on the main. It has grown around thirty pounds per day for the last week.   Saturday, July 30 View Page The growing area of the 1992 is about 1000 sf and is completely filled. So far a nice trouble free plant.   Saturday, July 30 View Page The 1998 Jutras pumpkin. Pollinated on June 23, and is thirteen feet up the main. This plant has about 900 sf of growing area. Just a few small vines left to terminate   Wednesday, August 3 View Page Side view of the 1992 Vincent. I call him "Vinny". He has some what of a wheel shape. I hope he grows into a monster truck tire. Day 42   Thursday, August 4 View Page The 1998 Jutras grew rapidly to over 700 pounds then decided it didn't want to grow much anymore. Daily gains have fallen way off. I'm not sure what caused this but it sure is disappointing.   Sunday, August 14 View Page I got a former pumpkin model to renegotiate her contract to appear in this year's diary. Vinnie is bulking up now doing about twenty five pounds per day.   Tuesday, August 23 View Page Front side view of Vinnie. Growth is slowing down now to about 14 pounds per day. The plant is starting to show signs of wear. I'm letting new growth fill in wherever possible   Tuesday, August 23 View Page A new use for Duct tape. I ran out of bands   Saturday, September 3 View Page The leaves before the pumpkin have been ravaged by some type of virus. This has bee slowly spreading over the last few weeks. It has been another tough year with disease.   Saturday, September 3 View Page Curiously, the leaves after the pumpkin have not been affected. This is the main past the pumpkin. It is over thirty feet long and all of the leaves are healthy. I am going to let it grow as long as it will over the grass.   Saturday, September 3 View Page Vinnie is now down to an eight pound per day average.   Friday, September 16 View Page Vinnie and The Blob are loaded for the Rochester Fair.   Friday, September 16 View Page A few hours back in time my buddy Steve Halliwell has The Blob off the ground and ready to be loaded. Nice color!   Friday, September 16 View Page His pumpkin was grown from the 1538 Jutras seed   Tuesday, September 20 View Page At 1174 pounds and slightly over the chart for a seventh place finish. This is the end of the season for me. Time to clean up and amend the patch for next year. Good luck to all with pumpkins still waiting to be weighed.