Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 146 Entries. Monday, March 13 View Page I have my lineup for this season. 1916 Barron, 1689 Barron, 1861 Adkins, 1824 Shenoha, 1937 Urena and 302D30. The three kids in the photo are my grandchildren that came to the Minot pumpkin fest. We had a great time. I hope they can make it to this years.   Monday, March 20 View Page Has anyone used this product, I won it in the Minot ND pumpkin fest last year.   Wednesday, March 22 View Page It was 7 degrees at 7:30 this morning. The forecast ahead doesn't look to bad. Then again, a week ago today was supposed to be in the 40s.   Friday, April 14 View Page Let's grow some pumpkins. Started seeds 4/16 8:30am, soak time 8 hrs, in peat pots 4:30 pm. I added an extra 1916 Barron 4/17 for a friend of mine. A 1916 Barron and the 302D30 are just starting to pop out. I have a feeling it's going to be 100% germination. Let the season begin.   Sunday, April 16 View Page My hoop houses in progress, 10' X10 '   Sunday, April 16 View Page 3 of 6 hoop houses   Sunday, April 16 View Page 7 of 7 grow baby grow   Tuesday, April 18 View Page I'm overwhelmed, what do I plant next,,,,,,,   Friday, April 21 View Page 10X10 hoops are in. Beautiful day today, 60 degrees.   Saturday, April 22 View Page Growing along, I think I had my light too close. I had to back it off a 1' and a half.   Saturday, April 22 View Page Growing along, I think I had my light too close. I had to back it off a 1' and a half.   Saturday, April 29 View Page Plants are almost climatized, they want in there new homes real bad. I'm thinking Monday.   Saturday, April 29 View Page Hoops are ready, I just finished putting in the entrances. Before the tiller arrived.   Saturday, April 29 View Page Tilling is complete. Now for some walk boards to the entrances so I can put my babies in.   Saturday, April 29 View Page Hats off to my cousin Brian for the tilling. Thanks Cuz...   Monday, May 1 View Page Tanks are in place, lots of plumbing to do yet. I have all the nessesary material to give me a good start this year. Next year I'll add more.   Sunday, May 14 View Page The hoop houses are working great. During the day outdoor temperatures have been below 70 for several weeks, lows in the mid 30s. The hoops however are keeping daytime temps between 85 and 90. Night time doesn't go below 60.   Sunday, May 14 View Page I moved a 80 year old garden shed into the patch. Now maybe things will be a little more organized. Ya right we'll see how long that lasts. Lol   Sunday, May 14 View Page 1916 Barron   Sunday, May 14 View Page 1689 Barron   Sunday, May 14 View Page 302D30 John Barlow's (2145 X 2009)   Sunday, May 14 View Page 1937 Urena ribbon vine. I've started another one just haven't got it ready to go in yet.   Sunday, May 14 View Page Pic of the 1937 ribbon   Sunday, May 14 View Page 1861 Adkins   Sunday, May 14 View Page 1824 Shenoha, my fastest growing plant so far.   Sunday, May 14 View Page Sprinkler system for each plant installed. Each with its separate valve.   Sunday, May 14 View Page System main pump.   Sunday, May 14 View Page Mixing tanks plumed in.   Sunday, May 14 View Page 1600 gal water supply tank plumed in.   Sunday, May 14 View Page Well 3400 GPH pump installed, this well supplies water to the 1600 gal supply tank. Let the Growing begin.   Sunday, May 28 View Page 1916 Barron, best so far.   Sunday, May 28 View Page 1689 Barron   Sunday, May 28 View Page 302D30   Sunday, May 28 View Page 1861 Adkins   Sunday, May 28 View Page 1824 Shenoha   Sunday, May 28 View Page Replacing the 1937 Urena with another from the same mother.   Saturday, June 3 View Page 1916 Barron. Yesterday was very hot, 95 outside, 105 in the hoop houses. I had misters running and fans. This one was the only one drooping. Anyway as you can see it survived. Won't be long and the hoop houses will be coming off. I'm not quite finished with my wind breaks yet.   Saturday, June 3 View Page 1916 Barron again   Saturday, June 3 View Page 1689 Barron   Saturday, June 3 View Page John Barlow's 302D30 (2145 X 2009)   Saturday, June 3 View Page 302D30 again, only 4ft out.   Saturday, June 3 View Page 1861 Adkins   Saturday, June 3 View Page 1824 Shenoha   Saturday, June 3 View Page This is the new 1937 Urena. I culled the other one because of a ribbon vine. I think it might have time to catch up, we'll see. All the other plants are 40 to 48+ inches out.   Tuesday, June 6 View Page View from top of garden shed. Wind breaks near completion. I only have in between plants to do yet.   Tuesday, June 6 View Page Just another pic.   Tuesday, June 6 View Page The rest of the garden, aside from the 1824 Shenoha in the background.   Monday, June 19 View Page 1916 Barron, sitting right at 12ft. There is a female showing.   Monday, June 19 View Page 1689 Barron 13ft out   Monday, June 19 View Page 302D30 13 1/2 ft   Monday, June 19 View Page 1861 Adkins 12 1/2 ft.   Monday, June 19 View Page 1824 Shenoha 12 1/2 ft   Monday, June 19 View Page If our temps pick up 5 out of 6 plants should be pollinated in 5 to ten days. I have a 1937 Urena in the hoop house yet. It replaced another 1937 Urena because of a ribbon vine, so it's a bit behind the others.   Saturday, June 24 View Page Did my first true pollination today on the 302D30 at 12'. I have done two other pollinations on the 1916 & 1689 Barron's at 10'. Only practice ones though. The 1916 Barron I wish was at 12 or more Ft out, it was one of the biggest babies I've ever seen.   Friday, June 30 View Page Pollinated the 1861 Adkins with 3 1689 Barron males this morning. A very nice 5 lobe at 14ft. This pumpkin has been named Jabba by my grandson Madden.   Monday, July 3 View Page 1861 Adkins X 1689 Barron at 13ft DOP 6/30/17 1824 Shenoha X 1916 Barron at 13ft DOP 7/01/17 302d30 X 1689 Barron at 14ft DOP 7/02/17 1689 Barron X Self at 15ft DOP 7/03/17 1916 Barron X 1824 Shenoha at 14-1/2ft DOP 7/03/17   Wednesday, July 5 View Page ,   Wednesday, July 5 View Page ,   Wednesday, July 5 View Page ,   Wednesday, July 5 View Page ,   Wednesday, July 12 View Page Jabba DAP 12   Saturday, July 15 View Page The garden patch   Saturday, July 15 View Page West end of the pumpkin patch   Sunday, July 16 View Page Army green sand bag   Sunday, July 16 View Page Okay, here's my lineup for this year. I've done all the culling and procrastinating I'm going to do. It's time to grow PUMPKINS. 1861 Adkins X 1689 Barron (Jabba) DAP 6/30/17 at 14' 1824 Shenoha X 1916 Barron (Tiger Lilly) DAP 7/10/17 at 17' 302d30 X 1689 Barron (Noname) DAP 7/8/17 at 17' 1689 Barron X Self (Poppy) DAP 7/8/17 at 17' 1916 Barron X 1824 Shenoha (Smeagol) DAP 7/3/17 at 14'   Sunday, July 16 View Page Dap 15   Sunday, July 16 View Page Dap 13   Sunday, July 16 View Page Dap 7   Sunday, July 16 View Page Dap 5   Sunday, July 16 View Page Dap 6   Friday, July 21 View Page Jabba turned 21 today.   Friday, July 21 View Page These girls are starting to kick it into gear   Friday, July 21 View Page No name for this one yet. But I'm starting to like the name Noname, yea, I think it'll work.   Sunday, July 30 View Page This is Jabba's Thursday picture . Prior to leaving for the weekend on Friday I did an OTT on Jabba, 232. Returned today and did his 30 day OTT which came in at 263. Jabba's overall weight gain in the last three days was 137 lbs.   Sunday, July 30 View Page I'll post updates to my other pumpkins tomorrow.   Monday, July 31 View Page Poppy & Tiger Lily put on 136 lbs each in 72 hours   Sunday, August 6 View Page 1916 Barron chugging along around 37 lbs a day. I can live with that.   Sunday, August 6 View Page 1689 Barron, not a pretty one. Numbers are a little disappointing compared to others. It was only a 3 lobe, I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it. I had a nice 5 lobe 4 more ft down the main which aborted on me. Oh well.   Sunday, August 6 View Page The 302D30, pretty ugly. Maybe I should have given a different name. Who knows, it might have helped.   Sunday, August 6 View Page The 1861 Adkins, now were talking numbers. I don't like the sunken in shoulders, hope it isn't because it's going to go light. Maybe some of you experienced growers can enlighten me on that.   Sunday, August 6 View Page 1824 Shenoha, this one I call my sleeper. It's off in the corner all by itself. It's been showing great numbers from the beginning. It's my youngest plant, it's too bad it didn't get an earlier pollination. However, the pumpkin fest in Minot isn't till the 7th of October which still gives me right at around 90 days of growth. It also has a huge stump which will be the next picture.   Sunday, August 6 View Page I think this is bigger than average. This is my second year growing so I don't have a lot of experience with stumps. This one is also foaming behind it. Is this something I should be really concerned about, and if so, what should I be doing different? I water everyday to include around 2ft from the stump itself to approximately 6ft diameter. Should I ease up on the watering in that area?   Sunday, August 6 View Page Yes I know the numbers for Jabba and Tiger Lily look strikingly similar, but I triple checked my numbers and I can't change them. I considered changing them thinking you folks were going to think I didn't know what I was doing. LOL   Monday, August 7 View Page I've cleaned and washed all the dirt out. The foaming is coming from inside that crease next picture is a closeup of inside.   Monday, August 7 View Page Inside   Monday, August 7 View Page Severed   Monday, August 7 View Page I cut away 2 ft   Monday, August 7 View Page Now what peroxide and captain?   Monday, August 7 View Page Poppy's OTT today is 307 estimated weight 668   Monday, August 7 View Page Jabba turned 40 DAP today. Her OTT 331, estimated weight 833 lbs.   Wednesday, August 9 View Page Tiger Lily turned 30 DAP Today. After her stump removal surgery yesterday she's still putting on weight. OTT 302.5 estimated 636 lbs.   Sunday, August 13 View Page Growing   Sunday, August 13 View Page This one too.   Sunday, August 13 View Page This one is picking up speed   Sunday, August 13 View Page The King of Hobbits patch   Sunday, August 13 View Page And then there's poor Tiger Lily. I amputated her stump last Monday. She's was and still is my most pounds per day. I do expect that to decrease at any time now.   Wednesday, August 16 View Page This one is on TigerLily. It doesn't go all the way into the cavaty.   Wednesday, August 16 View Page Another pic of TigerLily's split. She is also the one I lost the stump on. Still growing 38 pounds a day. I'd like to try and save her.   Wednesday, August 16 View Page This one is Smeagol, it also doesn't go all the way through.   Thursday, August 17 View Page Moved Jabba and all the other kin forward today. Vine stress removal was necessary. It's the second time Jabba and TigerLily. Jabba went over the thousand pound threshold a couple days ago and TigerLily is closing in.   Sunday, August 20 View Page Going orange, just now starting to show signs of ribs.   Sunday, August 20 View Page Weird shape, but still showing good gains.   Sunday, August 20 View Page Another going orange. Showing good gains as well.   Sunday, August 20 View Page Jabba estimated weight of 1187 surpassed my first year growing biggest pumpkin (Datout). If I can make it to the scales I'll have a new personal best.   Sunday, August 20 View Page TigerLily continues to impress. Missing stump, crack in the pumpkin near the stem and all she continues to put on 35 pounds a day average for the week.   Sunday, August 20 View Page I have more than a month before any weigh off. Our local pumpkin fest is on the 30th of September. The Minot, North Dakota pumpkin festival is on the 7th of October, which is a GPC site. Then there's the one at Stillwater, Minnesota, which I think is on the 14th of October this year. Depending on how big I can push em, I may show up there with one.   Sunday, August 27 View Page All 5 pumpkins a passed the 1000 pound mark. "Yeehaa". Poppy is starting to turn more orange and get some ribs developed.   Sunday, August 27 View Page Smeagol turned 50 days old today, and she passed the 1000 pound mark yesterday. She's showing very good daily gains for this time of year.   Sunday, August 27 View Page Noname also turned 50 days old today and passed the 1000 pound mark yesterday. She is also turning more orange.   Sunday, August 27 View Page Jabba is doing great and will be turning 60 days old Tuesday. She's definitely a contender for a new state record which is currently 1659.5 pounds. She needs to gain 300 more pounds. With 34 days left till Walhalla's pumpkin fest, she would need to gain an average of 8.8 pounds a day. 7.3 pounds a day when I take it to Minot. It would be nice to do it right here in Walhalla but the pumpkin contest here isn't a GPC (Great Pumpkin Commonwealth ) sanctioned event. I could also take it to Stillwater Minnesota and give it a total of 48 more days of growing time.   Sunday, August 27 View Page Last but definitely not least, TigerLily is doing super. She continues to make the most daily average gains of the all, and she's doing this with no stump. Impressive is an understatement. She will be turning 50 days old on Tuesday as well. I wouldn't doubt that she as well will surpass the current state record. She would need to gain an average of, let's just say 13 pounds a day which isn't impossible.   Tuesday, August 29 View Page Jabba turned 60 days old today. Her estimated weight is 1407 pounds.   Tuesday, August 29 View Page TigerLily turned 50 days old today. Her estimated weight is 1248 pounds. I'm not sure why only 13 pounds a day the last 2 days. She showed over 30 pounds a day from last Sunday to this past Sunday. I guess it could be a measurement mistake, but I'll re-measure tomorrow to make sure. Who knows with her, hopefully it isn't something serious.   Saturday, September 2 View Page Poppy turned 60 days old yesterday. Her estimated weight is 1217 pounds.   Monday, September 4 View Page Poppy's 7 Day average 21 lbs a day   Monday, September 4 View Page Smeagol' 7 Day average 26.7 lbs a day.   Monday, September 4 View Page Noname' 7 Day average 26 pounds a day.   Monday, September 4 View Page Jabba's 7 Day average 15.7 pounds a day.   Monday, September 4 View Page TigerLily's 7 day average 15.8 pounds a day   Friday, September 8 View Page I took the overhead covers off today. Things will be a lot easier to measure now.   Friday, September 8 View Page With warmer temperatures this weekend and upcoming week I expect to see better weight gains. GPC weigh off a month or more away.   Sunday, September 10 View Page Growing   Sunday, September 10 View Page This one too   Sunday, September 10 View Page Fastest growing one this week   Sunday, September 10 View Page Growth slowed a lot this past week with lows in the 40s. 80s weather coming this week nights staying above 59 degrees hopefully does a little better.   Sunday, September 10 View Page Still growing with no stump.   Tuesday, September 12 View Page The new and improved Hobbit2500 pumpkin lift.   Monday, September 25 View Page Jabba will hit the Scales at Berry Acres in Minot, ND on 7 October.   Monday, September 25 View Page Smeagol will be entered here at our hometown pumpkin festival in Walhalla ND.   Monday, September 25 View Page TigerLily will also be weighed her at our festival.   Monday, September 25 View Page Poppy will go to Stillwater Mn on the 14th.   Monday, September 25 View Page Noname will attend Anoka's weigh off on October 8th. It looks like I've got some traveling to do.   Saturday, September 30 View Page My Walhalla Pumpkin Festival entry was Noname (302D30 X 1689 Barron) OTT 404.5 2017 chart est 1454 actual weight 1461 pounds. Pictured with me are my 4 grandchildren that named my 4 other kin. Smeagol, Jabba, and TigerLily were to have gone to the festival. Jabba would have been exhibition only then off to Berry Acres in Minot a GPC sanctioned event. Noname would have gone to Anoka, Minnesota. I have one left, Poppy I'm undecided at this point whether to take her to Minot or Stillwater. She's currently sitting comfortably growing in a makeshift green house that I put up over the whole plant pumpkin and all 2 weeks ago.   Monday, October 2 View Page This one is Smeagol. I should have cut it back further from where it broke open at.   Monday, October 2 View Page This one is Jabba.   Monday, October 2 View Page This is TigerLily   Monday, October 2 View Page This is what I noticed on all three pumpkins. This is a picture from the inside, the hole gets smaller as it gets to the outside. The hole goes all the way through. The decay appears to be larger on the inside and gets smaller as it gets to the outside. Kind of like a funnel.   Monday, October 2 View Page A closer picture   Monday, October 9 View Page Down to my last pumpkin. Poppy is headed to Stillwater. She's showing very little growth. I'm going to just forget about my 3 failers that happened prior to our local pumpkin festival. I ended up taking my smallest "Noname" that was earmarked for Anoka she came in at 1461 pounds. Beat my personal best of 1164 pounds.   Tuesday, October 10 View Page Walhalla Pumpkin Festival   Friday, October 13 View Page Well, we're here at Stillwater. Checking is at 8am. Whoohoo..... I think Poppy made the trip ok, hard to tell its dark out lol. Will check everything in am.   Monday, October 16 View Page Poppy 1629lbs (1916 Barron X 1824 Shenoha) 11% Heavy   Tuesday, October 17 View Page Had a great time at Stillwater. I managed to take 5th place right behind Qtip. What a great time and a great bunch of people.   Tuesday, October 17 View Page 5th place, 1629 pounds. Increasing last years personal best by 465 pounds.   Tuesday, October 17 View Page Poppy went 11% heavy   Monday, November 27 View Page The Hobbit house