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mellowpumpkin(Josiah Brandt) - 2017 Grower Diary Point your RSS aggregator here to subscribe to this Grower Diary.

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Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 48 Entries.
Sunday, April 9 View Page
Plan is to grow the 2185,2145,1965,1724, all others are back ups. I've been working every day on the patch getting things in order, plastic on the greenhouse goes up next weekend, tomorrow I'll be hauling in some leaf compost, today I sprayed the patch with insecticides to kill any grubs that might be hiding under the soil, soil test goes out Tuesday, the soil test will just be a reference for my soil drenches I do daily.
 
Sunday, April 9 View Page
Patched more holes that I could count in my film, for those of you that didn't read my 2015 diary I had baseball size hail in the summer.
 
Sunday, April 9 View Page
Did minor updates on the greenhouse structure last week with the help of my younger brother.
 
Thursday, April 13 View Page
Seeds are in the ground, soaked in water for an hour, and in the pots they went.
 
Thursday, April 13 View Page
10 trailer loads of leaf compost was added to the patch, plastic goes up this weekend, then I can start working on the irrigation system.
 
Friday, April 14 View Page
Plastic film was put up today, took about 5 hours to get the double layer film secured, then I huge around for the next 6 hours while it inflated, needless to say a lot of work got done in the patch.
 
Sunday, April 16 View Page
5 segments to my irrigation misters, I had to set it up in 5 segments because our well pump can't supply enough water to the 500 plus mister heads, in 2015 I had 3 segments the 2 new ones this year get the very edge of the greenhouse which I had to hand water in 2015, there were days the edges got super dry while I was at work which resulted in the secondaries burning up... so hopefully I got that taken care of
 
Wednesday, April 19 View Page
Plants are up! Plan on transplanting to the garden this weekend.
 
Wednesday, April 19 View Page
Adimins where added and tilled in yesterday, ended up adding 500 pounds peat moss, 100 pounds of mycros, 50 pounds of rainbow mix grow & 50 pounds rainbow bloom. The soil looks great, after having winter rye over this garden for 2 years the soil was very hard, will do one more till on it this morning then I'll add my 48 foot heating cables.
 
Thursday, April 27 View Page
Winter isn't done yet!
 
Saturday, April 29 View Page
Ever since the seedling sprouted they have been getting the following fertilzers every time I water (Per Gallon) 3 ml Fish emulsion , 1 ml Structural integrity Silicate, 1 ml Orca liquid mycros. Sometime this week I'll do a 70 gallon drench over the whole patch with Companion Biological fungicide, then a few days later I'll do a 70 gallon drench with Orca liquid mycros at 5 ml per gallon.
 
Saturday, May 6 View Page
Cut one of the two cot leaves off the 1965 Brandt, it was keeping the plant from lying down so it had to go.
 
Sunday, May 7 View Page
Drenched the garden with 70 gallons liquid mycros + 70 gallons of Companion, rototiled the garden for the last time this year, I'll be spraying 4 gallons of round up over the garden in a few days once the weed seeds on the surface begin to germinate this will kill just about everything and helps with weeding later on.
 
Tuesday, May 16 View Page
2145 McMullen had to cut off 2 nice leaves to get her to lay down properly, but the plant is healthy and ready to start ramping up the growth.
 
Tuesday, May 16 View Page
1965 Brandt, I'm have trouble getting it to lay down, I have my fan cranked up (trying to blow it in the direction I want) but she's not wanting to go down without a fight, it doesn't help that the stump is incredibly thick for it's age.
 
Wednesday, May 24 View Page
1965 Brandt on the left & 2185 Brandt on the right
 
Wednesday, May 24 View Page
2145 McMullen on the left & 1724 Schmit on the right, weather has been cold and rainy for the most part this spring, plants are about 4 days behind my plants from 2015 at this day.
 
Tuesday, June 13 View Page
All plants have at least one pollination, earliest pollination is on the 2145, 8 days old with 14 secondaries behind it, I might go with the next one down that one is at day 2, tough choice. 2145x2185, 2145x1965, 1965x2145, 2185x2145, 1724x1965 crosses so far
 
Wednesday, June 21 View Page
Not much going on in the patch, I've been doing a lot of work keeping things healthy and happy, I really want to bring the world record back to the states and I'm giving it my all, I just need luck on my side the remainder of this season, there won't be any pumpkin pictures in my diary this year so I believe this will be my last post, Good luck to everyone at the weigh offs I hope to see you there in the fall.
 
Friday, August 18 View Page
Dap 63
 
Friday, August 18 View Page
Dap 63
 
Monday, August 28 View Page
Look close at the stem of Mike Schmidt's 1724 it has little black hairs on it, so after consulting Scott Steil we have come to the conclusion Mike may have put a little bit of his own pollen in the cross if you know what I mean... the pumpkins trying to grow a beard!
 
Sunday, September 24 View Page
This season has been long I want it to be over soon, I live 15 minutes from the greenhouse and have been making 2 trips a day since the season began, I lost the 2185 back in late July taping around 1200, and probably went chart, I didn't keep seeds from that one, my 1965 will more then likely be Dmg so I'm not sure if I'll even bring it to a weigh off it'll probably weigh around 2000 pounds, in the picture is mikes 1724 this fruit is an absolute stone I'm excited to see what it weighs, I also have a 2145 going and she's big but we'll see what the scale says, my crosses are 2145x1965 1965x2145 1724xself, I believe these are the only crosses of there kind and I am excited to see what they can do, I'll give 10 away from each in a guess the weight contest, auctions will get seeds as well, every other seed will be put up for sale on Worldwidegiantpumpkingrowers.com anyone who would like to purchase seeds will be supporting my 2018 season, I will be doing weekly videos and would like to get a nice camera and audio boom to give better quality content, I am save money to put a co2 emitter and greenhouse evaporate system in as well, I want to further this hobby and need help doing so.
 
Tuesday, September 26 View Page
2145 this fruit will be something special, I believe It will be like the 1965 for me, she's thumps real good, only this guy is the largest ott fruit I've ever grown.
 
Tuesday, September 26 View Page
She'll get weighed the first week in October
 
Wednesday, September 27 View Page
Weighed the 1965 today, UOW 1774 Brandt... Ott was 411 inches so roughly 18% heavy on the new chart.
 
Wednesday, September 27 View Page
Fruit was still growing, no rot but it had 3 scares that put it out of contention kinda sad, (just a thought) the rule that states, (no more then 2 scares over 3x3 on a fruit otherwise it will be dmg)is only there so a fruit unpleasing to the eye doesn't go to New York, why not just say it can be weighed but can't go to New York with scares, simple! This fruit would've went to Stillwater and probably would've weighed 1850 plus by then but now the public won't get to see it.
 
Wednesday, September 27 View Page
Scar one happened at day 40, so 62 days old, split deep if I didn't open the split up it would've rotted.
 
Wednesday, September 27 View Page
Split number 2, this one happened around the same time but not as deep
 
Wednesday, September 27 View Page
Number 3, again not deep but it's a scare that's over 3 inches long, This rule has to change, I can see if you bring a fruit that's mush and rotting( unsound ) or a fruit with a hole to the cavity ( potential weight altering ) but no scare bigger then 3x3 and no more the 2 under 3x3 is dumb and only there for the fruit that go to New York imo.
 
Thursday, September 28 View Page
1774 brandt uow, ott was 411 inches 18% over on new chart, seeds will be available through seed giveaways and for purchase at worldwidegiantgrowers.com later this fall.
 
Thursday, September 28 View Page
2145 guess the weight contest photo
 
Thursday, September 28 View Page
2145 blossom end
 
Thursday, September 28 View Page
2145 east side view
 
Thursday, September 28 View Page
1724 guess the weight contest
 
Thursday, September 28 View Page
Stem view
 
Thursday, September 28 View Page
Blossom end view
 
Thursday, September 28 View Page
Good luck everyone!! This season has been fun, all seeds from my 2017 crosses will be made available at worldwidegiantgrowers.com all money I make is going towards camera equipment and video editing software, in 2018 I'll be posting videos twice a week showing everything I do and go through as the season progresses, I hope people will be able to learn from these videos and help bring the world record back to the states... thanks everyone and best of luck at your weigh offs :)
 
Friday, October 6 View Page
Loading day!
 
Friday, October 6 View Page
Safely on the pallet! Good luck everyone hope to see some new growers soon......?
 
Wednesday, October 11 View Page
2095 Brandt 17 Fruit weighed 2136 pounds on October 3rd the day we cut her, so she lost 41 pounds before she finally hit the scale in California, if I knew the weight before I pulled the plant out I might have waited for Stillwater, I would've had a shot at 2200 if I did.
 
Wednesday, October 11 View Page
2095 on the scale 2145x1965 The 1965 pollinators fruit was 18% heavy on new chart. I really like this cross and think it will do big things in the future.
 
Thursday, October 12 View Page
1724 will be hitting the scale this weekend!
 
Thursday, October 12 View Page
She's big! Thanks for the seed Mike...was a fun plant to grow
 
Monday, October 16 View Page
1743 brandt 2017 1724 Schmidt x self
 
Saturday, November 4 View Page
Seeds from the 1773 Brandt ( 1965 brandt x 2145 McMullen) 1743 Brandt ( 1724 Schmit x self) and a limited supply of 2185 Brandt ( 2096 Meier x 2323 Meier) also 4 1965 Brandt 29% heavy ( 1625 Gantner x 2323 Meier) are for sale at Worldwidegiantgrowers.com In a few weeks the 2095 Brandt ( 2145 McMullen x 1965 Brandt ) will be added as well, apart from auction and the 20 I gave out in the guess the weight contests this will be the only place to get these seeds, proceeds will support my 2018 season plus a portion will be sent to the gpc.
 
Tuesday, November 28 View Page
Just want to let everyone from my guess the weight contest, Eddy Z and auctions that sent out bubbles the seeds will be sent later this week, The 2095s are in the mail on their way to me so all I'll have to do is package and ship them, I'm shoot for them to all be in the mail by Friday, also for anyone any that's looking to get ahold of any 2095s they're on marks site for sale http://www.worldwidegiantgrowers.com/josiah-brandt-seeds.html
 
Sunday, December 24 View Page
Big plans for next year, I've been working like crazy for 2018, the biggest thing to come next year is I'm adding artificial lighting to my greenhouse and a cooling system, as I've said before I'm going to make a weekly video as the year goes on, on how I do things and an over veiw of my set up and the maintenance that goes along with it, as most people already know I'm selling seeds to support camera equipment and software, all money that is made after the fact is going to be given away as I post videos in a variety of different ways, from gift cards to products I use and support, also I wanna give away a few club memberships, anyone who is willing to help id appreciate the support, seeds are being sold here. https://www.worldwidegiantgrowers.com/josiah-brandt-seeds.html Thank you for the support it means a lot.
 

 

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