Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 35 Entries. Sunday, March 27 View Page Here we go! Beds tilled, fertilized, hoop house frame is up and the heat cable is installed. Supposed to get some snow/rain this week, was 8 above this am.   Wednesday, April 6 View Page Here are my 2016 entries. Great genetics, nice early start, I bet I can mess this up! 1750 Holland and 1791 Holland.   Saturday, April 16 View Page Both plants are the same so far 10 DAP.   Thursday, April 28 View Page Transplant went well. COLD though, highs in 40 and low 50s, nights at freezing. Plant is surviving in the tunnel with additional cover and blanket covering it. Ground heat I s on also.   Saturday, April 30 View Page Drastic measures to keep it warm! Highs in 40s, lows below freezing   Sunday, May 1 View Page Plant is recovering, growth is starting to become noticeable. I'm able to hold night temperature at about 60. Hard freeze last night, ice layered on everything.   Sunday, May 8 View Page 35 days from planting, starting to see progress. Had some heat stress but coming along now. I'm about 30 days ahead of last year.   Sunday, May 15 View Page 39 days from planting the seed and the vine is down! Looking pretty good so far. The other plant , not so much. Still about 25 to 30 days ahead of Gourdon at the same time.   Sunday, May 22 View Page 45 days from planting. Seeing good growth, 5 inches daily. Time to get a good plan on vine pruning as the secondary vines are really taking off.. planning on starting to bury the vine anytime. Myco on last Thursday. Other plant vine came down last night. We had 50 mph winds all day yesterday, it beat up my tunnels, but the plants are safe.   Sunday, May 22 View Page We had great growth this week. Adding 4 to 6 inches daily. I started to bury the vine this week as the secondary vines are now a foot or more. Added myco, kelp and iron. I started to cover the soil with about 2 inches of composted leaves and manure. The Temps have still been cool at night, it was 45 in the tunnel this am with cables and lights on. If all goes well, maybe a mid June pollination!   Sunday, May 29 View Page I went to visit the master today! Thanks for sharing your knowledge Ron Hoffman! Here are Rons plant starts. I learned a lot today from Ron, and would have loved to sit and visit it all afternoon. Nice set up!   Sunday, June 5 View Page Out about 9 feet, steady growth, nothing notable. Plant is healthy and the temperature is now near 90. Started fish emulsion thurs. The water is on a timer now. Covers will come down soon.   Tuesday, June 7 View Page Took off the plastic today and put up the shade/hail net. Vine is out 9.5 feet growing 6 inches or more daily. There is a female setting at 9.5 feet with 7 side vines . Might pollinate it. Maybe... Temp was 95 or more today.   Sunday, June 12 View Page At 13 feet there is a new female developing. She is the chosen one. Looks like about a week to pollinate her. The p l ant is out the sides of the screen house now. I will be terminating some of the secondary vines tonight on one side.   Sunday, June 12 View Page At 13 feet there is a new female developing. She is the chosen one. Looks like about a week to pollinate her. The p l ant is out the sides of the screen house now. I will be terminating some of the secondary vines tonight on one side.   Monday, June 20 View Page And we are on our way! Pollinated on the first day of summer. Nice 4 lober, nothing really special. Self pollinated, I had three male flowers ready this morning. I added on the the shade cloth as we had near 100 degree Temps and dinged new growth on a lot of vines.   Sunday, June 26 View Page Her we are 7 dap, not great growth, but looks good so far. I will get a 10 dap tues and that will give me an idea how is doing so far.   Tuesday, July 5 View Page 14 DAP looking good, measures 29, 20, 20   Sunday, July 10 View Page 19 dap, looking good, measures 119, 50 inch circumference, starting to really pack it on now. Terminating secondary vines slowly, I'm going to remove to backup plan on this plant tonight when I get done fertilizing.   Saturday, July 16 View Page 25 DAP . Measures 151 ott. Steady growth, nights have been in the high 40s, brrr. 52 this am. Blossom went under, I cut a relief hole in the floor for it.   Sunday, July 24 View Page Day 34, right at the 250 lb mark. Seeing better gains, days Temps hovering at the 100 mark. Stepped up on water and fertilizers. OK so far, note to self, do better with the vine to pumpkin angles! Long way to go. Having a blast though! The early start still has me 27 days ahead of last year, we will see if it holds to the end.   Sunday, July 31 View Page At 40 DAP, measures 251, 355lb. Everything looks good, she is just not adding big pounds, I'm stepping up the water, 25 percent, and changed the cover to try to get some more heat in the pumpkin. Long way to go still.   Sunday, August 7 View Page 287 ott, 135,72,72. Nice color, just a week of slow steady growth. Estimated 487 lbs, not fantastic, but the I looked at last year's numbers, I'm up 490 lb at the same date!   Sunday, August 14 View Page The tape measure says 600 lb, I hope there is a little more to go. The growth seems to have stalled, it could be due to the temperature is high 40s every morning. The plant is looking a bit tired as well. It Really doesn't matter, I love doing this and a, having a blast! The best part of this one is the fantastic color! Orange is my favorite color! Hopefully I will have a good 30 days before the frost wipes us out. 750 lb looks to a stretch, but I'll keep doing my part!   Sunday, August 21 View Page The old girl is still growing despite a dip into the high 30s. Seeing good numbers, 322 ott. Estimated 740 lb. It's averaging about 18 lbs per day still, somehow. Staying the course with fertilizers, and letting the vine grow a bit. Added nitrogen to the mix.   Tuesday, August 23 View Page Just a look at the plant, very healthy.   Sunday, August 28 View Page 66 dap. Measures 788 lbs, 160,84,84. Cold nights 40 degrees this am are not good. Getting close to the end the growth I believe, but what a ride this year! I will get the plastic back over her next weekend to see if I can squeeze a bit more out of it.   Saturday, September 3 View Page Still going. 168, 86,84. 14 feet in circumference! Will be taking shade down on Sunday to prepare the greenhouse plastic to go back on for the last 3 week home stretch. Started the nitrogen back in the mix last week and will continue to the end. Measures 830 lbs. Small gains, 5 to 10 lbs per day but still very healthy. Temps have been a bit warmer the last couple days in the am, 55 ish and that has shown up on the tape measure.   Saturday, September 3 View Page Still going. 168, 86,84. 14 feet in circumference! Will be taking shade down on Sunday to prepare the greenhouse plastic to go back on for the last 3 week home stretch. Started the nitrogen back in the mix last week and will continue to the end. Measures 830 lbs. Small gains, 5 to 10 lbs per day but still very healthy. Temps have been a bit warmer the last couple days in the am, 55 ish and that has shown up on the tape measure.   Sunday, September 11 View Page After a 22 degree cold blast, not much is happening. Almost no measurable growth this week. I used a diesel heater, fans and plastic to save most of the plant. The growing season he's pretty much ended, just keeping it alive till the weigh off. The plastic is back over the hoops. Ott measures 173 86 87=346 just a tad over 900lbs.   Monday, September 26 View Page Well, here is the backup plan. We harvested this one today, to be used to promote the weigh off this Saturday. I know what it measured, but will post it later. It felt like it was made of cement on the forks though. This plant has been very sick for a long time but continued to support this one and put on 5 others for decorating purposes.   Saturday, October 1 View Page There we have it! 102 dap, a new personal best. 955 lbs. The chart weight was 1025. The bottom was concave. I love the color, it's big, it's ORANGE and I am very happy! We had a great day weighing pumpkins and at the end of the day, a new state record by Ron Hoffman with his 1322 lb monster.   Saturday, October 29 View Page This is how to properly carve a pumpkin. Great work Ryan Green.   Sunday, November 27 View Page 432 potential plants out of my 955 ready to go again   Sunday, November 27 View Page We had a great time with the carving after if was all done