Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 38 Entries. Monday, May 22 View Page I am finally started this year. This has been the wettest spring I can remember. I am usually in the ground by the first weekend in May. In order to get started I had to replace the planting are in the hoop house with a mixture Promix and garden soil I bought at Home Depot. The rest of my patch is like soup. On the bright side they are the biggest and best looking plants I have ever started with. Germinated them at the end of the first week of April. All plants were put in the garden on May 17. This is the 1172.5 Haist SQ. Really excited to grow this one.   Monday, May 22 View Page This is the 1694 Geddes. I really like this cross. This was my pick for a new seed.   Monday, May 22 View Page This is the 1727.5 Pierpont. Was suppose to the 2230 Wallace but it didn't come out of the seed looking good and was just having a hard time even growing. This was my backup and it is my biggest plant out of the 3 so far.   Tuesday, May 30 View Page This is the 1727.5 and is my best plant in the patch. The main is 30" long and starting to pick up the pace. Would be a lot bigger if we had more sun this spring. Been a very cold and cloudy during the day. Yesterday was only 52.   Tuesday, May 30 View Page Here is the 1694. The main has just hit the ground at 18" long. Smaller plant with small leaves than the 1727. Was hoping some of that 2145 would come out of this seed. Have to keep pushing and see what it will do.   Tuesday, May 30 View Page Here is the 1172.5 SQ doing great. Nice big plant with big leaves and rugged main. The main is at 20" and starting to take off.   Friday, June 2 View Page This is the 1727.5. Main just hit 4' today and secondary's are at 12". Great plant and very aggressive.   Wednesday, June 7 View Page Here is the 1727.5 just over 6' long. Had to take down one end of the hoop house two days ago. Secondary's are slow going, only about 12 to 14".   Wednesday, June 7 View Page Here is the 1694. This plant has just started to take off. I have been worried because of the slow growth but it has outdone all of them the last two days. Still has smaller leaves and low to the ground compared to the others. The main is just under 5'.   Wednesday, June 7 View Page Here is the 1172.5 SQ just over 5'. Nice plant with big leaves. It has that rugged look to it. Broke the largest secondary yesterday trying to pin it down. It was over 18" and growing straight up.   Tuesday, June 13 View Page 1172.5* out to 7'. Longest secondary almost 30".   Tuesday, June 13 View Page 1694 at about 6.5'. Still my smallest plant in the patch but growing very good. It has been catching the others by about 1" every day.   Tuesday, June 13 View Page 1727.5 at about 8.5'. Biggest plant in the patch and has been easy to grow.   Monday, June 19 View Page 1727.5 is growing great at 11'. There is a pumpkin showing that will be around 10'6". This will be my first one of the year to pollinate sometime next week. Longest secondary is just under 7'. After a really crappy spring I am off to the best start I have ever had.   Monday, June 19 View Page This is the 1694 at 9'. Longest secondary at 7'.   Monday, June 19 View Page This is the 1172.5* at 9'9". The longest secondary is 5'.   Monday, June 19 View Page Here is a pic of all 3 of my plants. 1172.5* is the closest one, than 1694 and the 1727.5 furthest away.   Monday, June 19 View Page This is the 2230.5 Wallace that was started the 2nd week of April. It was suppose to be planted where the 1727.5 is but it started very slow and I went around it. Well it has now decided to take off. I put it in a place where the soil hasn't been doctored much and only has about 500 SF to grow in. Couldn't just let it die. The vine is at 36".   Saturday, June 24 View Page 1727.5 over 14'. Should be pollinating the first one Monday at 10.5'. There are two more coming 12 and 13'. This will be my earliest pollination ever. I am usually the first week of July.   Saturday, June 24 View Page The 1694 is almost 13'. Will have one ready to pollinate at 11' in 3 to 4 days. This had become a real nice plant. Still my smallest plant but has a great roots growing out further out than the others. I still believe this will be my best at the end of the season.   Saturday, June 24 View Page 1172.5* is almost 14'. I have a baby showing on the tip that should be ready by end of next week. This is an awesome plant in size and aggressive growth. I hope the fruit grows like the plant.   Monday, June 26 View Page Pollinated the first one of the season on the 1727.5 at 10.5'. A perfect 4 lobe.   Tuesday, June 27 View Page Pollinated one this morning on the 1694 just over 10' out. Probably wont keep this one as it is closer than I like but I don't see any others coming in the next 3 feet. (1694 X 1725.5)   Saturday, July 8 View Page Here is the 1172.5 out over 20'. I have two pollinated. One at 14' on 7/4 and another at 17' on 7/7. The one at 14' was pollinated with the 1727.5 as I only had one good male flower on itself.   Saturday, July 8 View Page This is the 1694 out over 20'. I have two pollinated. One at 10' on 6/27 and one at 15' on 7/7. Females are far apart on this plant. My best looking plant in the patch.   Saturday, July 8 View Page Here is the 1727.5 almost 23'. Biggest plant in the patch but has the smallest leaves and lowest to the ground. I have 3 pollinated and done doing anymore. One at 11', 13', and 15'.   Tuesday, August 1 View Page I need some help. A lot of my secondary's tips are just dying. I have noticed my leaves have a variation of yellow and green in them that I have not seen before. The fruit is doing ok at 20 PPD but something is not right.   Tuesday, August 1 View Page Here is a pic of the leaves.   Tuesday, August 1 View Page Here is the 1172.5 fruit. The pic is a couple days old. It is 236 lbs on 7/31.   Tuesday, August 1 View Page Here is the 1727.5 at 530 lbs on day 32. Doing about 30 ppd. It is only 11' out on the main and not positioned very well. The other two I had pollinated at 14' and 15' both died, so I am stuck with this one. I have 22' secondary's so I have quite a bit of plant behind it. Hope it is enough.   Tuesday, August 1 View Page Here is the 1694 at 255 lbs on day 23. This one has really started to take off the last couple of days. Late pollination has me behind but this one is at 14' with 22' secondary's. I think the next couple weeks are going to be fun with this one.   Tuesday, August 1 View Page My 2230.5 Wallace is my smallest. This was a plant that was given to me at the last minute I couldn't let die. It gets no water except rain and I do try and get the vines buried when I can and has only 500 sq ft. July 14 pollination at 9' out. It is at 46 lbs. Will be a good porch pumpkin.   Thursday, August 3 View Page here is a look at some of my leaves around the stump.   Friday, August 4 View Page 1172.5... dap 30- 312 lbs. Not great numbers but with plant issues, at least it is still chugging along at 22 ppd. Going to be hard to reach 1,000 lbs with this one.   Friday, August 4 View Page 1727.5 at day 38. 635 lbs and doing just 30 ppd.   Friday, August 4 View Page 1694 at day 27. 350 lbs and doing 31 ppd the last 3 days. Need some bigger numbers if I am going to challenge for the win this year.   Friday, August 4 View Page 2230.5 at day 20. 90 lbs and doing 14 ppd the last 3 days.   Monday, August 28 View Page Cut my 1727.5 this weekend for the Windsor Fair. Didn't want to as it was my biggest pumpkin in the patch but it stopped growing for the past 4 days. I figured I better get something out of it before I lose it. It was measuring 1121 lbs and it weighed 1218 lbs (8.5% heavy). A new Fair record beating the last one by 124 lbs set back in 2011. This is my hometown fair and happy to have the record there. I still have another one growing that was just at 1000 lbs on 8/24. Still doing 25 ppd.