Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 191 Entries. Sunday, March 18 View Page 2016 was a disappointing year for the giant pumpkins. The best one to make it to the scale was this 830# grown from the 289 Buglio Howard Dill winner and pollinated by my 748 McWilliams Howard Dill winner. I will grow seeds from this one and a several other great orange pumpkins. May even try one with the blossom end down. Field pumpkins did better, with me and Jacob taking 2nd and 3rd at Bloomfield and 1st and 2nd at Pawnee City. We will be planing some of those too. I wasn't planning on growing watermelons until Rusty Caspers brought me some seeds from John and Meri Barlow's Wisconsin record. Some spots with disease problems will go to mustard, and I added another fungicide to try to head off diseases. I hope the below zero weather killed off overwintering bugs. I checked the patch to see if I could burn it off, but its still too wet. I guess its time to start tomato seeds; just for fresh eating and canning and not competition.   Saturday, March 24 View Page 11 inches of very heavy wet snow came down last night and today. It was already starting to melt and settle down by the time Jacob and I got this far shoveling. One casualty has been the long gourd trellis. I pulled some of the old vines off yesterday, but not enough. It looks like the ridge pole came down and the cattle panels caved in. I hope the damage isn't too severe, but I have 2 months to get it fixed.   Monday, April 2 View Page The snow melted off, and damage to the gourd trellis is not nearly as bad as I feared. Rain and snow was forecast for tonight and tomorrow, so I broadcast ladino clover seed on the food plots. Hopefully the moisture will work the seed in so I can lure deer away from the garden. I have pepper, tomato and 257.5 Barlow watermelon seeds in the germination chambers. I bought materials to build a better grow light setup. My old setup worked OK for pumpkins and gourds, but the watermelons would get long and spindly. Hopefully this will help.   Monday, April 2 View Page Absolutely no sign of disease in the bell plant. It was the healthiest plant in the garden. Oh well we still have a few field pumpkins and some watermelons that won't make 100#. And one long gourd that hasn't gotten the rust fungus yet.   Thursday, April 5 View Page I'm trying to narrow down our seed selection, if it ever stops snowing. We probably go with all orange, as they seem to do better for us than the big ugly pumpkins. Definite selections are my 748 and 1047.5 McWilliams and 1143 Engel. The final 3 are still up in the air. We have a lot to choose from: 1200 Engel, 1444 Halverson, 823 House, 555 and 1172 Grande, and my 830 McWilliams. We will probably start all of these and see which ones are the most aggressive early growers. For bushel gourds we have 279.5 English and 265.5 Engel. For a backup we have our own 71.5, which is a 279.5 x sib. The bushel gourds will be planted on a much better spot that has not had anything but grass and legumes growing on it for over 32 years. And much less shade as well. We will have 3 long gourd plants. Some seeds are getting old, so it will just depend on what germinates. Candidates are 141.25 Vunak, 137.5 Ansems, 129, 123 and 120 McWilliams, 127.5 Young, 125.5 Clementz, and a 97" we grew last year. We will also try to grow 4 field pumpkins. We have 189 and 132.5 Crews, 118 Witter-Benson, a bunch of House and our own seeds to choose from. 2 plants will go on new ground.   Monday, April 9 View Page The calendar says April 9. The weather says February 9. Looks like we will get a later start this year.   Friday, April 13 View Page I have 3 hoop houses up completely, with the soil in them tilled with a fork and a bag of potting soil added to each planting site. I have more hoops up without soil prep or plastic. It is getting windy, rain will be coming in. Then snow on Sunday with a high of 33. Overnight lows for the next week are supposed to be below freezing. I will hold off starting any pumpkin seeds for a while. No sense setting them out in ice cold soil.   Sunday, April 15 View Page The 3 hoop houses that I put up on Friday the 13th were blown down on Saturday the 14tk. But now on Sunday the 15th, there is enough snow on the ground to make the hill down to the garden unsafe to walk. And more snow is coming, we are under winter weather advisory. So maybe by Tuesday 17th it will melt off so I can get them rebuilt, and the other hoop houses finished. Just in time for the cold rain due on Wednesday the 18th. I can't get heat cable that far from the house and in a flood plain. I depend on nature warming the soil. A few years ago I lost some plants that I set out when it was too cold and I don't want to do that again. I may start the plants around my usual starting time, April 22. But I have 2 gallon plastic pots to transfer them into once they outgrow the peat pots. They will be kept on the deck until the soil is warm enough for a safe transplant.   Tuesday, April 17 View Page I got the three hoop houses put back together after the big wind. No real damage, just plastic blown off and a few clips missing. I got 2 more finished too. Forecast for tomorrow is for gust to 25 mph. Maybe the 3 inches of sleet and snow we are going to get will hold the plastic down. Don't you just love a Winter Storm Warning for April 18?   Wednesday, April 18 View Page Sleet this morning. Snow this evening. But I guess the weather is bad just about everywhere.   Thursday, April 19 View Page This cold weather has me anxious to get to work on the garden, but its too wet. So I took some sandwich size ziplock bags and mixed up some amendments for the planting holes. Jacob and I won the Wallace products as door prizes at the Bloomfield Giant Pumpkin Bash. I added some Hollands mycorrhizae, figured it might help to get products from the top growers on each coast. The Jobes and Burpees have different strains of beneficial bacteria, and the Osmocote will provide a slow release of fertilizer with some micronutrients right where the roots will be in the soil the longest. We will use blends of this for root burying too.   Thursday, April 19 View Page Starting to get some watermelons to pop up. 2 of the 257.5 Barlow and 2 of my 115, which is 2 generations of self/sib pollinations of a 260 Clementz. I tried starting some about 10 days earlier, but germination was slow. Then a mouse got under my grow light setup and ate them off. My daughter's cats failed their jobs. These will be grown out longer in bigger pots before going to the garden. Looks like I might have to gently remove some seed coats, even though I filed the edges. I guess I didn't file off enough.   Friday, April 20 View Page We have a break in the weather. After a morning low in the low 20's,it got up to about 60. All of the hoop houses are now up, 6 for Atlantic Giants, 1 for watermelons. Tomorrow we spread amendments and finish burning off the remaining vines and weeds. I had to pull the shells of the watermelon seedlings. Next year I will file them better and soak them before putting them in the pots.   Saturday, April 21 View Page Finally getting a decent weather forecast. I might move up my seed start by a day or two, but I don't want to get too anxious. With no heating cables in the soil I'm at the mercy of the temperatures. I got the sulfur, manganese, and copper applied, along with a good shot of 10-10-10. I applied the 10-10-10 to get the recommended phosphorus, and will be plenty high in potassium. Soil test recommendations say we will need a little more nitrogen, so that will get split applied. Jacob will be getting the rest of the old long gourd vines off the trellis and helping me turn the soil for the new field pumpkin and bushel gourd plots. He is also planting a garden for home vegetable consumption. It won't be long and I will be seeding the mustard and strip tilling where the sweet corn will be planted.   Sunday, April 22 View Page First flower of spring, a miniature daffodil. Only 3 weeks later than normal. I still have some rebar supports for tomato plants frozen in. I was able to shove them in by hand about 3' deep last year. They were on the long gourd raised bed. I rotate gourds and tomatoes on opposite sides of the trellis each year. At least it shows I have nice, deep loose soil there. Other posts that weren't as deep are pulling out easily.   Tuesday, April 24 View Page Temperature hit 70 today. I got the mustard spread on the plots that will be idled this year, and I was able to pull out the tomato stakes that were frozen in. I got the mini tiller going, and started working up Jacob's vegetable garden. He will have to do the rest. I need to start in on the new ground for field pumpkins and bushel gourds. Some of it will be tough sod to turn over. Tomorrow the Atlantic Giants will go into the germination chamber.   Tuesday, April 24 View Page This is how my garden will start the season. Only tillage so far ahs been with a fork inside the hoop houses. I see there is a green patch of stinging nettles coming up that needs to be eliminated. On 2 or 3 of the AG plants I will plant a cover crop of rape and till it under as the plants grow to try to get some disease control. Rape has some of the same effects as mustard, just not as strong.   Tuesday, April 24 View Page The start of 3 field pumpkin spots in new ground. They will be planted on opposite ends and grown towards each other. I have been wanting to put in a terraced vegetable garden in this spot to keep our food crops out of the floodplain and away from pumpkin chemicals. I figure this is a good way to kill out the grass and get a start on it.   Tuesday, April 24 View Page Start of the bushel gourd patch. It is at the bottom of a slope, and has accumulated soil washed down on it for years. This hasn't been plowed up for the 32 years we have owned the acreage, and it may have been in grass for decades before that. I first hit the sod with the mini tiller, turn it over with the fork, and till it again. I put 1 cubic foot of potting soil at each plant site. I got the potting soil on clearance for about $0.75 a bag at the end of 2016. The closest hoop house is in a risky spot. If we get too much rain it could get flooded. It will be our attempt at a blossom down pumpkin.   Tuesday, April 24 View Page This is a 2 pumpkin plot that will get a break this year. I marked out 4 sweetcorn rows in the middle. The ends where next year's pumpkins will go have been seeded to mustard. After the mustard is tilled in and rested 3 weeks for the bio-fumigation, it will be covered with compost and planted to rape and radishes. After the sweetcorn is harvested, the stalks will be cut for compost, it will get a shot of compost and planted to mustard. That area will get the rape cover crop early next season.   Tuesday, April 24 View Page Seed starting has begun. For orange pumpkins, we started 555 Grande, 823 House, 1200 Engel, 1143 Engle X 2, 748 and 839 McWilliams, and 1047.5 McWilliams X 2. Then we started one of Jacob's personal best 899, a white self pollinated 1928 Globus. That makes 10 seeds for 6 spots. We will likely start 2 more tomorrow, likely another 1047.5 and one other big ugly pumpkin. When those are out of the germination chamber it will be on to long and bushel gourds and field pumpkins.   Wednesday, April 25 View Page Yesterday Jacob and I spread our home-made compost on our new field pumpkin and bushel gourd beds. One pile wasn't ready and we ran out. So I made trip to Cedar Rapids to get municipal compost to finish it up. We also made some piles by the giant pumpkins to mix with soil for vine burying, and put some on Jacob's vegetable garden.   Monday, April 30 View Page 11 out of 12 seeds germinated. Only 823 House has not sprouted. Time to get bushel and long gourds started, followed by field pumpkins.   Tuesday, May 1 View Page 11 out of 12 germinated; 6 for the patch and 5 back-ups. The babies got some outside time yesterday and spent the night outside. Rain is coming and I have to be gone for a while. So they will go in front of a window with 2 fluorescent grow lights across the top of the box. Won't be long and they go to the garden. I need the box for gourds and field pumpkins.   Wednesday, May 2 View Page Spread the last of the soil amendments, some nitrogen with part delayed release, tilled around the hoop houses with the fork and got some soil on the lower edges of the plastic. We got a thunderstorm this evening to water everything in. Mustard is sprouting. More storms are due tomorrow evening, so we plan to set out pumpkin plants on Friday. I filled the black plastic garbage can with water to get it warming up. No sense warming the soil in the hoops and then cooling it with cold well water.   Friday, May 4 View Page 6 AG's went into the garden this afternoon. 1200 and 1143 Engel, 899, 748 and 2 of the 1047.5 McWilliams. Jacob set then in the soil, my new knee doesn't like me kneeling on it. The ret of the AG's went into bigger pots for back-ups. Field pumpkins, long gourds and bushel gourds went into the germination chamber. The Barlow watermelons went into bigger pots. I want them to get bigger and the soil to warm up more before they go into the hoop house. My 115 watermelons have rough looking stems, all of the watermelons are long and spindly. The 115's are just back-ups anyway.   Sunday, May 6 View Page I got real busy with other chores and forgot to put the garlic powder on the pumpkin plant. Then I saw pics on Facebook from another Eastern Iowa grower who already found striped cucumber beetles on his plants. So I got the powder applied, and the hoop houses now smell like an Italian restaurant. No bugs seen so far, and I want to keep it that way. I need to add some humic/fulvic to the water warming up in the garbage can for the next watering. And maybe just a slight bit of Miracle Gro just to give the plants a quick start. Jacob, Lu Ann and I went trout fishing yesterday, and caught out limits. The bushel gourd site got the heads and guts buried deep for summer feeding. Crappie fishing should be starting to get good soon, too.   Monday, May 7 View Page 5 of six field pumpkins have sprouted. Just one more plus 3 each of long gourds and bushel gourds to go. I got 1/4 of the sweet corn planted, along with 16 tomato plants for eating and canning. This year I put down weed fabric to ty to hold down the soil borne blight. Nice to feel the warm soil for a change.   Monday, May 7 View Page I also planted a row of Pikes Peak sunflowers that are supposed to get 15 feet tall. The small decorative sunflowers that are supposed to get 5' to 7' tall have been getting over 12' tall the past 2 years. I'm interested to see what these will do in our pumpkin soil.   Thursday, May 10 View Page View I am getting when walking down to the garden. Siberian crabapple puts on a good show for about a week each year. The pumpkins have not been liking the 80 degree weather. Usually it is a little cooler when I set them out. Put they were hardened off and get watered daily and are growing. We gave spares in 2 gallon pots if needed.   Thursday, May 10 View Page Half of the long gourd raised bed has been worked with the fork. 3 planting sites have deeper holes with a bag of potting soil worked in. The trellis needs a little work, and we need to till the half of the bed under the trellis. So far the 141 Vunak and 127.5 Young long gourd and 279 English bushel gourds have sprouted. 5 field pumpkins are out of the germination box, so we have room for more gourd seeds to go in.   Thursday, May 10 View Page Mustard cover crop growing, along with a few weeds. Just broadcast on untilled soil ahead of a rain. This is a spot where we lost 2 pumpkins last year. It had a fall cover crop of rape and radish.   Thursday, May 10 View Page I got busy and didn't notice that the 127.5 Young long gourd had not shed the seed coat. By the time I got it pulled off, the ends of the cots were getting rotten. I'm not sure it will survive, so I started another. I made sure I did a good job filing down the edges of the seed. My 129 long gourd hasn't sprouted yet, so I started one of Jacob's 123 seeds and a 125.5 Clementz. We want to have 3 good plants. The 118 Witter field pumpkin didn't germinate, so I started another and also a 132.5 Crews. A critter dug up the fish heads I buried from our last trout fishing trip. Luckily nothing was planted over it. First time this has happened in years. No more fish heads in the garden this year. I got the electric fence sprayed with glyphosate, and hit some thistles and garlic mustard near the garden, and a few clumps of grass and other weeds in the pumpkin plots. I also hit the new field pumpkin patch to take out the old grass.   Wednesday, May 16 View Page I opened up the ends of the hoop houses more; the pumpkins weren't liking the heat. Getting ready to transplant field pumpkins. Planted the last of the sweetcorn, the first planting I just starting to emerge. The county is putting fresh crushed limestone on the rod, and our dust control won't go on for at least 2 weeks. So the garden will get dusted with lime.   Wednesday, May 16 View Page set out the 141 Vunak long gourd plant and some field pumpkins. They have been on the deck for over a week, but not getting full sun. I plan to install some temporary shade tomorrow morning. Best looking field pumpkin so far is the 189 Crews, the twin pumpkin. It was placed in the new plot. I transferred some plants from the germination box to the deck. In doing so I dropped one of the bushel gourds a couple inches and knocked off a cot. If it fails to grow, I have a backup going.   Saturday, May 19 View Page Problem with living on an Iowa gravel road; dust. The county put new crushed limestone on this week, and a pickup just went by. You should see it after a dump truck flies by. Our road is the busiest gravel road in the county, busier than a lot of paved roads. It has been on the county 5 year plan for paving for the last 30 years but never gets done. The dust is why the ph of our garden soil is a little high. Our dust control should be applied very soon.   Saturday, May 19 View Page The mustard is coming on strong and choking out the weeds. It was just broadcast with no tillage, just lightly raked in. Got the last of the plants in the ground today. 129 McWilliams and 127.5 Young long gourds to go along with the 141 Vunak. 257.5 Barlow and 115 McWilliams watermelons. One of each of the watermelons started to split the main stem already and were just put in odd areas to see if they do anything. 279.5 English and 265.5 Engel bushel gourds. 132.5 Crews and 118 Witter field pumpkins.   Saturday, May 19 View Page Cover crop in the pumpkins: a mix of weeds and rape. I need to get the mower in there next week, and start tilling around the hoop houses.   Tuesday, May 22 View Page Weeds are getting out of control. I opened hoop houses and used a hoe inside. Then I mowed off the weeds the best I could with the riding mower. This is before mowing.   Tuesday, May 22 View Page This is after mowing. I let the bagging chute plug so all the weeds and cover crop stay on the ground. Not perfect, but it will make turning with the fork easier.   Tuesday, May 22 View Page 1143 Engel. I don't get excited about my plants being behind others. With the cold valley and no possibility of heating cables, I have to take what I get.   Tuesday, May 22 View Page 748 McWilliams. I think we will put a little weed fabric around the stumps to hold down weeds and just a light mulch of grass clippings so it doesn't get too hot. Not enough to cause mold/disease issues.   Tuesday, May 22 View Page 1047.5 McWilliams. This one is in the main patch will be grown in conventional manner.   Tuesday, May 22 View Page 899 McWilliams (selfed 1928 Globus). Our attempt for a big white pumpkin. Looking back at the diary, this one got hammered by hail in June, had bad vine splits. It had potential to get much bigger. We will see what the seed does.   Tuesday, May 22 View Page 1200 Engel. Another attempt at big and orange.   Tuesday, May 22 View Page 1047.5 McWilliams in the low spot. It will be our attempt for a blossom down pumpkin on a secondary, and a conventional one on the main. I robbed a lot of soil off this spot after the 2015 growing season, so it will get more feedings than the rest of the patch.   Sunday, May 27 View Page Mid 90's are taking a toll on the pumpkins and me. Leaves are getting a lot of sunburn. I have one end of the hoop houses half way down. The other end is completely off and clipped over the top to filter a little more sun. I went out bout 1:30 this afternoon and watered with cold well water to try to cool them down.   Monday, May 28 View Page We are getting some flowers in the mustard plots. These are from carry-over hard seeds in last fall's brassica cover. No problem, they are un the same family as mustard, just not as "strong" as the variety that Ron Wallace sells.   Monday, May 28 View Page Flower buds are showing up on the mustard. Hopefully the blooming will coincide with the predicted cool down, if you consider low 80's cool, so we can mow and till it in.   Monday, May 28 View Page One scoop of the 5 tine manure fork. Look at all of the worm holes that aerate the soil.   Monday, May 28 View Page The same scoop of soil after smacking it 3 times with the fork. It crumbles up almost as good as if a tiller hit it, and the worms don't get chopped up. If some clods dry out, the first rain softens them right up. I know most growers don't have soli like this, mostly silt with a little sand and nearly no clay. The mini tiller won't get used much, mainly just for minor weeding.   Monday, May 28 View Page I posted this view last week. Since then, I tilled a bit around the hoop houses with the fork. Then I decided that there was too much perennial grass in it so I hit it with glyphosate. Late this week or early next week the hoops will start to come down. Just need to get main vines on the ground and buried before removing the wind protection.   Monday, May 28 View Page 0143 Engel is suffering the most from sunburn. The other plants look better, but the 899 is sending out the main in the wrong direction. One does that every year. I took an 11432 Engel and one of my 1047.5's to another Anamosa grower who got a late start. They were looking OK in 2 gallon pots. I hope he gets the orange pumpkins that he likes.   Monday, May 28 View Page Fat fingers don't type well, and I need to proof read before hitting the Submit button. Those were 1143 Engel plants in the previous post.   Tuesday, May 29 View Page I put weed fabric around the long gourd plants today, and the anthracnose is already starting up. Only 3 to 4 true leaves and brown spots are showing up. Its the hot, humid, calm conditions bringing it on. we normally don't get weather like this until August.   Thursday, May 31 View Page Its time to take down the hoop houses, weed them good and bury vines. But we got a lot of rain the last 2 days and its just too wet and muddy. Our soil is well drained so it should be ready to go tomorrow afternoon.   Friday, June 1 View Page I got a third of the mustard crop mowed and turned under with a fork. Quite a chore in 86 degree heat. Jacob will be helping a lot with the rest. We need to get hoops down later this afternoon.   Saturday, June 9 View Page Got a nice rain this morning. Applied Merit, Agri Fos and Infuse. No bugs seen yet, we want to keep it that way, Signs of anthracnose on gourds so we want to knock it out fast. Next weeks we will apply triazicide, mancozeb, neem oil, and Eight dust. Worst pests so far are the rabbits. Plants are looking good, all things considered. I hope to get some photos in a couple days.   Wednesday, June 13 View Page The 1143 Engel on the left, 748 McWilliams on the right. The 1143 is the runt of the patch, but still ahead of normal for us. It really struggled with the heat when still under plastic. It will be Ok if this one goes for one of the later weigh-offs.   Wednesday, June 13 View Page 899 McWilliams. The vine on the lest is the main. It started off about 135 degrees off the direction we wanted. The other one is the first secondary and is growing like crazy. We always seem to have one grow screwy like this. Sprayed triazicide, neem oil, and daconil this evening.   Wednesday, June 13 View Page The 1047.5 McWilliams in the low spot. Its starting to take off despite being in the worst soil in the garden.   Wednesday, June 13 View Page The other 1047.5 to be grown in the normal manner. It is doing well, despite having the main rolled by wind the day plastic came off the hoops. It ended up having a couple secondaries going the wrong way. It left 2 gaps. So we will train a couple tertiaries to fill them out.   Wednesday, June 13 View Page 1200 Engel, the fastest grower in the patch. It had a secondary start out as a double vine, but it split into 2 vines after about 3 feet. We need to get some more ground tilled up with the fork real soon.   Wednesday, June 13 View Page The field pumpkins in the new patch. The weeds aren't as bad as they look. It was calm this morning, so I sprayed glyphosate. I used a coarse sprat to avoid drift and stayed a safe distance away. The weeds were already wilting this evening. We can hand pull weeds tomorrow and loosed up foot tracks with the pointed hoe. They are doing about as well as the field pumpkins in the main garden. Electric fence just needs to be plugged in. a groundhog nearly missed lead poisoning here this morning. Lucky for him I had the short barrel pistol and not the rifle.   Wednesday, June 13 View Page Some of my tomatoes. Just fore fresh eating and canning, not competition. This year I put down weed fabric before planting to try to cut down on blight. Grass mulch helps too. I rotate tomatoes with long gourds, gourds are on the other side of the trellis. I use a little mycorrhizae with the tomatoes. They grow better and it doesn't hurt getting it in the soil for the next year's gourds.   Sunday, June 24 View Page We just got back from a week of fishing at Mountain view Resort on Pine Mountain Lake at Backus, Minnesota. The garden survives a week of heat and storms I our absence with minimal damage. I thought it was appropriate for a giant pumpkin grower to catch a giant pumpkinseed sunfish.   Sunday, June 24 View Page The bass were biting great too, even when we were just fishing for crappies and sunfish. This was my best one.   Sunday, June 24 View Page Jacob earned the title of dog catcher. We had a basket full of fish and a minnow bucked hanging off the side of the boat when Jacob saw this one checking it out. I handed him my rod with heavy line and a minnow and he soon learned how hard dogfish can fight, It threw the hook after a hard fight, then came back looking for more. He hooked it a second time and again threw the hook after a tussle. Finally on the third try he got it into my net before the hook came out again. After being released it decided to leave us alone.   Sunday, June 24 View Page My daughter Jessica caught a nearly 2 pound crappie. She wants to get it stuffed. We had never fished Pine Mountain Lake before, and with my little 4.5 hp outboard, we were limited in checking it out completely. But we had a great time and were pleased with the fishing. Weather was great, just one storm on the drive up and a half hour of sprinkles, and temperatures in the mid 70's to low 80's,   Monday, June 25 View Page First controlled pollination of the year. 899 McWilliams 4 lobe on the main, self pollinated. We pollinated another like it on the secondary that wants to be a main. Bees got to a couple while we were off fishing, ut it is still early.   Monday, June 25 View Page Thi one will open tomorrow on the 1047.5. The stem decided to fuse with a secondary. We had this happen on a 1047.5 we grew 2 years ago. The vine/stem split, the pumpkin only made 559#. Some females on the 748, which is a 1047.5 offspring, are doing this too. No seeds will be saved from this one and it won't be used for pollination. I want that genetic defect to end.   Monday, June 25 View Page I found this on the main about 3' past the fused stem/secondary. There is no frass around the hole so I think it is just a split and not a borer. I hope. I found one short, borer damaged secondary on the 899 yesterday. I sprayed insecticide today.   Monday, June 25 View Page Rabbits. Prescription: lead poisoning.   Monday, June 25 View Page 1200 Engel to open on the main tomorrow. I normally don't terminate the main at the pumpkin, buy something made that decision for me.   Monday, June 25 View Page We came home from vacation to find the main on the 1143 Engel was broken by wind and a secondary was taking over. Weeds got ahead of us too.   Wednesday, June 27 View Page Tuesday evening my Dad Lee McWilliams went home to heaven after 89 years on this earth. It was a rainy day, but as we left the hospice house, the rain stopped and the sky cleared. We saw this rainbow, the sign of God's promises to us, with the end right on Dad's room. He is the one who got me interested in gardening, taught me fishing, took me to church and was the best dad for my 64 years. We know that he is OK now. 66 years ago he witnessed the depth of hate and destruction; 7 nuclear bomb blasts in Nevada. He got a huge dose of radiation when he was 2000 meters away from a Hiroshima size bomb in a concrete bunker. Most of the people he served with died of cancer within 20 years, but God had something else planned for him. Now he is enjoying the best, being in the presence of God.   Wednesday, June 27 View Page This is the year of broken main vines. First I found the cracked main on the 1143 after returning from vacation. Then I found the shriveling main on the 1200. This evening I found a broken main on one of the 1047.5's. It is also the year of mud. I don't think I have seen over 10 days suitable for working the soil since the first of April. At least my silty soil doesn't bake into bricks if I work it wet. But the weeds are going nuts and its tough to get them with a hoe. So I guess it will be the year of weeds, too. Some of that rain could go to south east Iowa and northeast Missouri where they need it. But at least we aren't getting drenched like northern Iowa and Minnesota. I was able to start training a secondary on the 1047.5 for a blossom down pumpkin. Hopefully I can pollinate one on it within a week or so. Looks like we are in for some heat again. Time for frozen water bottles and styrofoam coolers for pollination.   Sunday, July 1 View Page Rain again last night, just not as bad as some parts of Iowa. Garden is a soggy, weedy mess. Another main vine got snapped, this time on the 748. 4 out of 6 with snapped mains. At least it was just past a 5 lobe female that opened this morning. I pollinated that one and another 5 lobe on a secondary with the 1143 Engel. But bugs had already gotten to them so they will be considered open. There was lots of leaf burn from the past 2 scorching days. I also pollinated a 5 lobe on a secondary on the 1047.5 blossom down plant. At this point I'm not worried about controlled pollinations, just getting something to grow. The open pollination on the 1299 Engel seems to be growing with nice shape, so it might be a keeper.   Monday, July 2 View Page This is the time of year disease sets in. This morning I saw some leaves wilting on the main of he 748, starting at the stump and working out. they h been sunburned and chewed by Japanese beetles and I thought that was it and remove the leaves. This evening when I was spraying neem oil, Daconil and Sevin, I saw a couple more were wilting. Then I saw that the end of the main on the 1047.5 blossom down plant was badly wilted, looking like phytopthera. I cut it off going one node beyond the wilt. There was brown yucky stuff inside the vine, which looks bad for that plant. Secondaries that came off with the main were clean inside, but I'm betting that was only a temporary condition. It took out a good fourth of the plant. Tomorrow I get out the systemic fungicides for everything. The long gourds are getting the brown anthracnose blight too. And we have a plague of rabbits. There mush have been 9 or 10 of them in the garden this evening.   Wednesday, July 4 View Page This afternoon, the end of the main on the 748 was badly wilted. There were vine splits at the base of the leaf stalks. I cut it off, and the inside of the vine was full of brown slime. This plant is probably a goner, Only the 899 plant still has the main going. So far I have seen only 2 bad bugs in the patch. Yesterday it was a Japanese beetle, today it was an adult squash vine borer. Yesterday I sprayed neem oil, Daconil and Sevin. Today I sprayed Triazacide, Agri Fos and Infuse. In a couplr days it will be bifenthrin and Mancozeb. Then in a couple more days it will be time for Merit. Lppks like we will be down to 4 plants. Time to seed radish and rape on the mustard plots.   Friday, July 6 View Page The first pumpkin to earn a bed of sand and a white sheet. 1200 Engel pollinated by the bees on June 23 when we were on our way back from our fishing trip. The smaller one to the left was pollinated a couple days later, right where the main self terminated. I will let them go a couple days more before committing to one of them. If I keep the open pollinated fruit, the vine will be terminated right there.   Friday, July 6 View Page Biggest fruit on the 899 self pollinated. It already has a boo-boo on the skin, but this one isn't for looks. The parent was almost white. We have more farther out on the main.   Friday, July 6 View Page WABBITS!! End of the main on the 899. Elmer Fudd is looking for those critters.   Friday, July 6 View Page 1047.5 with the stem fused to the secondary. I terminated the secondary at the pumpkin, hoping it won't split open. I wasn't planning on keeping this one, but the next photo will show why it is still in the running.   Friday, July 6 View Page MORE WABBIT DAMMAGE!!! Those little nibbles will get huge as the pumpkin grows. This one is on a secondary opposite the one with the fused stem and vine. I will be taking a look at later pollinations on other secondaries, since I lost the main on this plant too. Elmer Fudd will be checking in with Road Runner to see about getting anvils to drop on those wascally wabbits.   Friday, July 6 View Page Mu photos show my poor weed control this year. Excess rain, a fishing trip, excessive heat let then get out of control. Oh well, my fertility is high so if I keep the pumpkins watered they still should do OK. Disease problem seems to have subsided with a combination of amputations and fungicides, Mustard plots got roughed up and a mixed brassica seeding applied. I still need to add some more radish seed to help break up compaction.   Monday, July 9 View Page First pollination on the 899 got a fabric and sand bed, along with a wire mesh for protection. Rabbits got to the next fruit on the vine. 1047.5 with the fused stem/vine is looking a little sick. Skin getting the dimpled appearance like it is going to abort. Decision is made to keep the bee pollination on the 1200 Engel. The controlled pollination farther out just isn't growing. The 748 has splits on top of the main vine at just about every leaf node, and every leaf at a split has been trimmed off due to wilting. Other than that it looks healthy. I think we will just try to grow a bunch of smaller orange pumpkins on secondaries. Rabbits are still a problem, and there is a doe and pair of fawns hanging out around the garden.   Monday, July 9 View Page Went to the garden today and saw that the coons were not deterred by the electric fence and were sampling my sweetcorn. On the other side of the garden I found the problem. A deer had gone through the fence, knocked one of the gate handles into the grass, broke the top wire and left an insulator 25 feet away. Electricity hits the top wire first, so when the wire broke, the juice was cut off to the lower wires.   Monday, July 9 View Page 1200 Engel, DAP 16. The smaller pumpkin is DAP 12, and has been eliminated. The 5 gallon bucket is for more than a size comparison. When you have a knee replacement and need to kneel, you need a pad for the new joint, keep most of your weight on the old knee, and have something to help you back to your feet. Especially if you are gravitationally enhanced like me. The bucket works great to get me on my feet.   Monday, July 9 View Page 899 McWilliams got fencing to protect it from rabbits. Electric fence doesn't help much with bunnies.   Monday, July 9 View Page 1047.5 McWilliams with fused vine/stem seems to have stopped growing and the skin is getting wrinkly. The one with rabbit damage is still growing so it might be the keeper.   Monday, July 9 View Page Blowouts on the main vine of the 748 at nearly every leaf node. Now the leaves on secondaries are looking sick. Jacob will be pulling this plant so I can seed a brassica cover crop. This area will get the mustard treatment next year. It is the second lowest plot in the garden, so that and all the rain could explain the problem.   Tuesday, July 10 View Page Repairs to the electric febce kept the coons out but not the rabbits. They hut another small pumpkin. I started stringing another wire, height between the bottom two wires and about 8 inches out from the main fence. Hopefully it zaps the vermin. I packed more sand around the 1200 so it doesn't turn into a birdbath. Tomorrow I cut another tap root and block the main up more. Hopefully it grows into a huge wheel.   Friday, July 13 View Page DAP 20 measurements on the 1200 Engel: SS 66, EE 59 CIR 90 Total 216", estimated weight 233#.   Monday, July 16 View Page Rabbit damage continues. It is the worse plague of bunnies ever. Already into the 3rd litter of babies, the 4th is probably in the nests. Now they are eating field pumpkins. The fused 1047.5 was turning into a small peanut so it was culled. The rabbit damaged pumpkin and another one on a secondary are growing like crazy. Weeds are the biggest and thickest I have seen.   Monday, July 16 View Page 1200 Engel DAP 23. 246" ott. est. 343# Gained 110# in 3 days. It has me smiling. It is just 2" behind my personal best when it was DAP 30 on August 1. I just hope it holds up until the first Saturday of October.   Wednesday, July 18 View Page The 748 surprised me, It is looking good. I think the vine blowouts were vine borers. But with all the vine damage, we will just grow several orange pumpkins if we can get some growing. Watermelons are doing good even if weedy. Japanese beetles are eating silks off the sweetcorn. Its just too muck hassle growing corn, when we have so many local growers. I can probably buy it as cheap as growing it.   Thursday, July 19 View Page Despite the high heat and humidity, no sign of disease yet in pumpkins. Gourds are another matter. I found the first spotted cucumber beetle last night; it did not survive the encounter. It is raining today, so spraying will have to wait until tomorrow.   Thursday, July 19 View Page 1200 Engel open pollinated by bees, 5 lobe, DAP 26. 273" OTT 470#. Gained 127# in 3 days. I am worried about a thin blossom end, but there is nothing I can do about that. Looks like it will have that great Engel orange color.   Thursday, July 19 View Page 1047.5 McWilliams, self pollinated on June 27. Looks like it will be round and orange.   Thursday, July 19 View Page Watermelon on 257.5 Barlow. Not growing as fast as the experts, but OK for me. 11 weeks to grow.   Thursday, July 19 View Page Watermelon on 115 McWilliams. I let bees pollinate them so I have no idea of the age. This one set on the edge of a drainage ditch, so I can't put any plywood, grate or other hard surface under it. It would roll right off. Jacob and I will pack sand under it and on the downhill side.   Thursday, July 19 View Page 1143 Engel, open pollinated sometime after July 2. I like the shape and it looks like it will go orange too.   Thursday, July 19 View Page 899 McWilliams, self pollinated 4 lobe on the main, DAP 24. Looks like it will be white like the parent. Its going to need a bigger rabbit cage real soon.   Thursday, July 19 View Page I added another hot wire to try to stop rabbits. In places it is just outside the lower 2 wires. In other places its between the lower 2 wires. Next year there will be 4 or 5 low wires to stop the critters. Despite the rabbit plague, we are fortunate. There were scattered hail storms in our county today. The towns of Bondurant, Pella and Marshalltown got hit by tornadoes. Downtown Marshalltown and Vermeer Mfg. in Pella took direct hits with massive damage. The bad storms are west of us and dying out.   Monday, July 23 View Page I got some spraying done Saturday evening. 2 insecticides (Sevin and Triazicide), 2 systemic fungicides (Infuse and Agri-Fos) and 2 contact fungicides (neem oil and Daconil) Gourds are looking tough, but pumpkins are doing great. I only saw a couple cucumber beetles when spraying, not the clouds I saw last year. We are in for a dry spell, so when I have to water again I will give the patch another dose of Merit. Also need to spray some bifenthrin next time I see a cucumber beetle. I don't want a repeat of last year. Rabbits seem to have thinned out, maybe the extra hot wire is helping. A groundhog is showing up now in the evening and might get lead poisoning.   Monday, July 23 View Page Day 30 for the 1200 Engel. Temperatures were down about 15 degrees the past 4 days, and weight gains dropped to just 28# per day. Measurements were 87-77-129, 293" OTT total. Estimated weight 581#. This is 9 days ahead of my personal best after pollination, but 18 days ahead on the calendar. The 9 day forecast is for highs in upper 70's to low 80's, lows in upper 50's to low 60's. A little cooler than normal for this time of year. But if I can get gains to stay around 28# per day for the next month, I will be very happy.   Thursday, July 26 View Page I had been relying on the electric fence and white sheet to protect the 1200 Engel. Now I added 2' high chicken wire around the pumpkin and a tarp over it. The same was done for the 1143 Engel; it has great shape and color. I mowed down one sweetcorn patch and planted mustard. Will be harvesting the rest of the corn in a couple days. I also seeded rape and turnips on some food plots to draw critters away from the garden. Jacob will be working on more food plots tomorrow.   Friday, July 27 View Page A field pumpkin that the critters wrecked, I cut from the vine and put in the cull pile. They hit it big time last night. At least it is drawing them away from the garden. Groundhog season is open all year in Iowa. The critter is in danger of lead poisoning,   Friday, July 27 View Page 1200 Engel with the tarp, white sheet and chicken wire.   Friday, July 27 View Page DAP 34 for the 1200 Engel. 307" OTT, 668#. Gains for last 4 days dropped to 22# per day. It is the cool days and cold nights slowing the growth. Towns around here were around 56 this morning, which would make my valley barely over 50. It is supposed to remain cool the next few days.   Friday, July 27 View Page Side view of the 1200 Engel. It is half way between a wheel and a birdbath, but there is no stress on the stem or vine.   Friday, July 27 View Page 899 McWilliams DAP 32, 373#. Daily gains down to 18# per day over last 4 days.   Friday, July 27 View Page 1143 Engel, DAP 21, 213" OTT, 224#. Daily gains 22# per day for last 4 days. This one is shaded early in the morning by trees along the creek. it has a tarp over the top now, too. I really like the shape and color so far.   Monday, July 30 View Page 1200 Engel is now DAP 37, est. 734#, still gaining 22# per day. 1143 Engel is now DAP 24, est. 288#, still gaining 21# per day. We have 4 more pumpkins weights between the Engel pumpkins but growing slower. We are now watering, need some rain. I am adding Espoma Organic Grow for the beneficial bacteria, humic/fluvic, and just a touch of Miracle Gro on the slower growing pumpkins. Cold water from the hose in the morning, water warmed by the sun in the evening. Cool weather is supposed to end in a couple days, so maybe gains will pick up. The sweet corn is all harvested, mowed, and mustard planted. Jacob and I planted our biggest food plot yesterday afternoon to draw critters away.   Wednesday, August 1 View Page I measured our 6 best pumpkins this morning. OTT ranges from 243" to 322" estimated weights from 331# to 769#. In 2015, the year both Jacob and I had our personal bests, on August 1 his measured 243? and mine measured 248". So we are way ahead of that. I just hope we cn keep them going. Gains on a couple have slowed down due to the cold nights. It looks like the weather will warm up, and I will try some very gentle feedings to try to get them going better. I will start brewing some compost tea today. I have been using some of the Jobes Organic Grow in the water for the beneficial bacteria, along with some humic/fluvic.   Thursday, August 2 View Page Found the far ends of 2 secondaries on the 1200 wilting this afternoon. It is sunny but only about 75 degrees. No chances taken here; they were cut off and the plant will be treated with systemic fungicide later this evening.   Thursday, August 2 View Page This used to be a field pumpkin in an area where I couldn't get a hot wire. Time to bring out the heavy artillery.   Thursday, August 2 View Page This field pumpkin is protected by multiple hot wires, but I found too many weeds and pumpkin leaves on them, and a dead short snapping away. No rabbit damage last evening at 9PM, but by 3:30 this afternoon someone decided to taste it. I am fixing up the fence and may let the critter taste some high velocity repellent.   Thursday, August 2 View Page 1200 Engel is developing that signature Engel Orange color. I have never grown one so wide. If it makes it to the weigh=off, it will have to be loaded with the sides running from front to back. Hopefully I will need t I build a riser so it will clear the wheel wells.   Thursday, August 2 View Page 899 McWilliams is staying white. I am using just a white towel to shade it in the morning. By afternoon my crabapple tree shades the fruit but most of the plant is still in the sun.   Thursday, August 2 View Page Ring my bell/ 1047.5 McWilliams x self. It gets a full white sheet and is developing the color of the parent pumpkin.   Thursday, August 2 View Page I don't know what made the skin on the top of the 1143 Engel bubble up and scar like this. It had a white towel on top of it, then a shade tarp. Its going to have great color and shape, but this bugs me.   Thursday, August 2 View Page I got the electric fence fixed, found another wire on the ground too. Sprayed the fungicides, added some bifenthrin because I found a cucumber beetle yesterday. Overall, plant health is great and insect pressure extremely low. A huge change from the past 2 years.   Monday, August 6 View Page We got a needed inch of rain last night and this morning. We missed the 4 inches the northern part of our county got, and the 6" in the next county north. Southern Iowa where they have been in drought for 2 years missed the rain. While patrolling the electric fence I found the first big invasion of cucumber beetles. Not the clouds I saw the past 2 years but enough to cause concern. They will be hit with one insecticide this evening after the bees are gone, and another spray tomorrow. If that doesn't knock them out I have 2 more to use on them.   Tuesday, August 7 View Page Bottoms up!. This is the pumpkin from the July 6 photo with Rabbit damage. It decided to grow over the stem. It is on a secondary about 3; from the main. I terminated the secondary at the stem, and dug a hole to release stress. This morning it was full of water and the blossom was getting wet. So I soaked up the water and scraped off the blossom. This evening it will get treated with Daconil and get a tarp suspended overhead. It is on one of the 1047.5 plants, self pollinated to preserve the great color. It is estimated 475# today. Most of the rabbit damage is going to be hidden by a rib.   Tuesday, August 7 View Page The bell pumpkin, on the same plant as the bottoms up. After the 748 plant ran into troubles, we decided to grow 2 on this plant. Both self pollinated, and the parent was a self pollinated 359 Foss. This one is estimated at 434#. We hope to get 2 thousand pound pumpkins on this plant.   Tuesday, August 7 View Page The 1200 Engel, now estimated 840#. Plant seems healthy, but growth has slowed to 10# per day. I hope it was just a week of cool evenings. We got plenty of rain and were should have warmer temps the next week. It has nearly 1000 square feet of plant behind it. I sprayed for cucumber beetles last evening, only found 1 today and squished it. I added Daconil to the spray to prevent mildew. Valley fog was setting in, ideal conditions for mildew. This evening they get sprayed with milk.   Tuesday, August 7 View Page 1143 Engel, estimated 475# on DAP 32. Definitely a wheel. It has averaged right at 21# per day for the past 15 days. If it keeps this up it might pass up the 1200. It was later pollinating so it may stay on the vine until the latest weigh-off.   Tuesday, August 7 View Page Close up of the bubble scars on the 1143. Hopefully they will stay small as the pumpkin grows.   Tuesday, August 7 View Page Finally have a long gourd going at the highest part of the trellis. This one is growing from my 129". You can see a lot of infected leaves. Due to various reasons, including a cracked tank on my best sprayer, I haven't gotten disease control like I wanted. But I will do the best I can.   Tuesday, August 7 View Page The 1047.5 that I had planned for a blossom down pumpkin has finally gotten a pollination to take. Still debating if I should try to grow this one blossom down or conventionally.   Tuesday, August 7 View Page The 748 is finally getting some pumpkins set. But this one is aborting. Looks like they will all be wheels. I still don't know what caused all the secondaries to blow out at the main. Doesn't seem to be vine borers or disease. We are just going for 5 or 6 nice big orange porch pumpkins. I hope we can get some up to 5oo# or so. Maybe with the wheel shape and sunken blossom end, I might try one of these as a blossom down,.   Wednesday, August 8 View Page Sprayed insecticide Monday evening, Triazicide. I only saw one cucumber beetle yesterday. Today they were back in force. mostly on the 1200 and 899. I just got done spraying bifenthrin. Next insecticide will be Merit, followed by Sevin and then back to Triazicide. I added Daconil and Mancozeb due to the high humidity, calm winds and fog 2 nights in a row. I found the first PM, 2 leaves on the 1200. I saw them after I hit them with the spray, so I will remove them tomorrow. I saw a groundhog munching on field pumpkins, but he got into the brush before I could draw my revolver. That critter has a bullet with his name on it. If I go down there without the revolver on my belt, the groundhogs and rabbits will just sit and taunt me.   Wednesday, August 8 View Page The pumpkin I showed on the 1047.5 blossom down plant yesterday is history. I went to adjust it little, saw that it was already tearing off the vine, and moving it just an inch snapped it off. But there was another about the same size. close to the end of a secondary. I took no chances, cut off the end of the vine at the pumpkin and got the vine propped up with Styrofoam. At this time of the year, it will grow conventionally and we will hope for the best. Another one aborted on the 748, but we have 3 nice ones around 40 to 50 pounds growing nicely.   Saturday, August 11 View Page Bottoms up pumpkin went belly up. Blossom end split. But the bell shaped pumpkin on that plant has kicked the growth up to 19 pounds per day. The 1200 is plodding along at 10 pounds per day. I will be happy if it keeps it up until October. The 899 has slowed to a crawl. The groundhog keeps eating up all of the unprotected field pumpkins. He is bold, ran through the electric fence right in front of me as I was mowing. I guess he knew I didn't have my revolver. Powdery mildew is moving in on field pumpkins. Good news is that the cucumber beetles are gone.   Monday, August 13 View Page I hope this one grows on my 1047.5. I allowed 600 square feet for the plant and it has nearly taken it all up. Only 3' of vine past it, so I cut it off. Jacob helped me get the fabric and sand under it, I added the chicken wire to keep rabbits away and the white towel. If it starts taking off it will get a tarp. It will have about 75 days growth for a late weigh-off, if we don't get an early frost.   Monday, August 13 View Page Lots of people posting pictures of blossom end splits, so here is mine. First one of these U=I have had in several years.   Monday, August 13 View Page The other pumpkin on the BES plant is growing faster now. Problem is the short stem. The end of the pumpkin is pushing on the stem. I removed the stubs of the vines and leaf. If stress gets worse I may have to do some surgery and hope it heals up. Shouldn't be any worse than a rabbit bite.   Monday, August 13 View Page The field pumpkin that the rabbit damaged healed and turned orange. No measurement, but I'm guessing 50-60#.   Monday, August 13 View Page Long gourd is growing well, about 7' long now. I need to start pushing it so it reaches the ground. Trellis is 12' high. Growing from my 129 McWilliams seed.   Monday, August 13 View Page Did you ever miss a couple tertiaries, have some vines cross each other and have a pumpkin set where you can't get to it without stepping on vines? This won't work for city growers, but out in the country a .22 hollowpoint will cull a softball sized pumpkin   Monday, August 13 View Page I like the Engel orange color and shine. I haven't tried polishing it. That will start a couple weeks before weigh-off, just with water and soft cloth.   Wednesday, August 15 View Page Left the patch with a sick feeling. The 1200 Engel is now taping 931# but seems to be getting soft on the top. Growth has been slow for the last 2 weeks. I fear the end is near for this one. Then the 1143 Engel showed no growth over the last 4 days, stuck at 496#, And I found a secondary vine showing the sickly yellow-brown color of the disease that too out 3 plants last year. I removed the sick vines and will apply fungicides, but it is probably too late for that plant. Bright spot is the ugly white 899. It is taping 624# and gaining 21# per day. And the new pumpkin on the 1047.5 seems to be taking off and growing fast.   Thursday, August 16 View Page The keeper on the 1047.5, if the plant holds up. Approximately day 17 after pollination.   Thursday, August 16 View Page Here is the reason that I'm worried about the 1047.5. A couple days ago I thought I just had some older leaves showing age. Now it looks liked the disease that hit the patch the last 2 years. It hit a month later this tear. This plant did not have any pumpkins grown on in in several years, and in the fall of 2015 I took about a foot of topsoil off this spot.   Thursday, August 16 View Page This might explain the 1200 getting soft. After mowing and tilling in the mustard on an adjoining plot, I seeded radish and rape and then let a couple secondary vines grow on it. They looked fine yesterday, but this came on quick. I was going to cut the vines out when a thunderstorm moved in quickly. I was hoping that the mustard would knock out the disease on that spot. It had rape and radish last summer after the pumpkin died, and they have the same disease fighting chemicals as mustard, just not as strong. I may have to re-think plans for next year.   Thursday, August 16 View Page All this disease stuff looks like the same thing that hit the 1143. The vines that I pulled on the 1143 had no signs of root rot. Since tissue testing isn't in the budget, I may be looking at resting most of the garden next year with mustard treatments. Maybe solarize some spots too.   Sunday, August 19 View Page 2 weeks ago I thought we would have our best season ever. Then the 1200 went down. The 1143 stopped growing and now has a rotten spot on the bottom. The upside down 1047.5 split and now the bell pumpkin on the plant has shown no growth in 4 days. Jacob asked ne why I let 2 pumpkins grow on the white 899. Well, the one on the main quit growing and is now rotten, The other has had no growth in 4 days. About all we have left is the remaining 1047.5 that finally got one set at the end of July. At day 20 it is 157", not on the chart yet. Could still turn into a complete wipeout.   Sunday, August 19 View Page I did some vine pulling on the 1143 this afternoon. Overall it was a very healthy plant. Only one secondary showed any sign of discoloration on the leaves and just a tiny bit of root rot. No borers, the stump was in great shape. The problem was weeds and critters. The foxtail got ahead of me and hid the fresh groundhog burrow. The critter got past the electric wires. I had chicken wire wrapped around the pumpkin, but the rodent was able to push it op against the pumpkin and shew on it. It might have had mouse damage, I will see after I get the pumpkin chopped up and out of the patch. My fence had 2 hot wires down low and one at nose level of deer. I added another low wire a little bit outside that. Next year the main fence will have 3 wires and the outer fence will have at least 2 hot wires.   Tuesday, August 21 View Page 1047.5 day 22, est. 105#. I like the shape. Side to side and end to end measurements are only 1" different. I hope it gets the same color as the other 1047.52's. 38 days to grow until Bloomfield, 45 days until Anamosa. Except for a few old leaves, plant looks healthy, 600 sq. ft. We got a lot of rain yesterday. I hope the growth kicks into gear,   Tuesday, August 21 View Page 1143 Engel had decent shape for a wheel. Great orange color.   Tuesday, August 21 View Page Critter chewing on it did it in. And I'm sure the groundhog hole under the stump didn't help. This spot will get radish cover crop planted later this week.   Tuesday, August 21 View Page 1047.5 showed a little growth, but down to 3# a day for last week. I hope this can hold on until Bloomfield.   Tuesday, August 21 View Page The remaining pumpkin on Jacob's white 899. Est. 661#, gaining just over 6# per day. Hopefully it will pick up the pace with the other pumpkin gone, but it is getting some PM and other disease issues. That spot is due for mustard cover crop next year.   Tuesday, August 21 View Page We need to move this field pumpkin back from the electric fence. Too much chance of getting eaten by the groundhog, if my shotgun doesn't get him first.   Thursday, August 23 View Page I found a brown spot on my best long gourd, near the end. A out the size of a dime but not very dep. I scraped it off and painted it with Daconil. I hope it heals up but I won't be surprised if it rots. I have one on a 127.5 young now about 7' long and only as thick as a cigar for the top half. I hope this one has a lot of growing left in it.   Monday, August 27 View Page With the bell and the white 899 nearly stopped growing, this one is about all that is still growing. The 1047.5 in the low spot. DAP approx. 28 est 131#, gaining just 6# per day. We are getting excessive heat now, along with lots of rain. I got some granular 10-10-10 spread before the rains, so maybe it will get into the soil and speed things up. Just 39 growing days until Anamosa weighoff. I would like to see it average at least 15# per day until then, but that is wishful dreaming. At least the shape is decent and it should be a decent orange.   Monday, August 27 View Page Why is a hoop house going up in the end of August? My daughter and I plan to grow a pumpkin for the Iowa state Fair, early August competition. We can't get heat cables in that far from the house to warm the soil. so This is the next best. This plot has space to give 2 plants 820 sq ft. The ends were mustard, tilled in planted to rape and radish. The middle was sweet corn, now mustard. I mowed and tilled the rape/radish like a mustard crop. The hoop will heat the soil. In October I will fill it with leaves and grass to prevent deep frost. I will start this week with leaves and grass around the outside of the hoop. The hoop will stay up over winter. Hopefully we will have warm soil for an early start next year.   Tuesday, August 28 View Page No growth on the 1047.5 last night. Nice warm temps, fertilizer had been rained in. I don't know why plant seem to shut down in late August nearly every year. I piles a bunch of chopped leaves and grass around next year's state fair hoop house. Poplar trees are already dropping leaves. Walnuts are too, but I won't use those leaves. 2 other hoop sites treated with mustard and then rape/radish got mowed and tilled. I packed them with the riding mower and they got rained on, so it should seal in the gasses. More spots will get mustard treatments next year.   Friday, August 31 View Page My late pollination 1047.5 gained a whopping 8 pounds over the past 4 days. At this rate it will be lucky to make 200# by October. The 1047.5 bell showed no growth by the tape, but the skinny "neck" by the stem is visibly filling out. The watermelons are struggling with weeds, the long gourds are suffering from the brown rust, the field pumpkins are losing the battle with powdery mildew, and cucumber beetles are showing up. Great fun.   Sunday, September 2 View Page We have a family reunion tomorrow, there was a break in the rain, so I went to the garden to get tomatoes and peppers for the walking tacos. I took a look at the bell and one side had rotted out. I hope I can find a few good seeds inside. I was a selfed 1047.5 that produces great orange color. The little 1047.5 noticeably grew a little on the top, but still not really putting on the pounds. We still have the 899, but with the heat and humidity it is only a matter of time before it bites the dust too.   Tuesday, September 4 View Page It won't quit raining. Creek is near bank full and they are predicting 1" to 3" tonight, with localized 5" totals. I checked on the patch between storms. The vine feeding the 899 is completely rotted off. U don't think there is any chance it will last until a weigh-off. No way to get it out of the garden without wrecking our remaining field pumpkins. I wanted to measure the little 1047.5 but I wasn't wearing my rubber boots. It is sitting in about 4" of water I have vines growing over the electric fence, shorting that out, wires in water and some on the ground. I hope the groundhog doesn't get in and wreck what little we have left. At least the frogs can now swim around 1047.5 while hunting bugs.   Tuesday, September 4 View Page We are out of the long gourd competition again. We had a skinny 7 footer hanging this morning. We didn't have a chance to tie it up on the trellis until this evening, When Jacob and I got to the garden, it was on the ground in 2 pieces. But it already had a rust spot near the blossom so it wouldn't have lasted. At least the field pumpkins are looking good, We have a couple measuring around 90#, one that looks to be a bit bigger, and one that looks to be quite a bit bigger. PM is thick, we have weeds and vines from the recently deceased pumpkins shorting out the electric fence. We got some chicken wire and woven fencing around the best ones. Rain is coming in tonight. As soon as we can we will be pulling vines, hoeing weeds, seeding cover crops. I probably will add some more hot wires to keep the groundhogs out.   Saturday, September 8 View Page Watermelons are done growing. We plan to pick them at halftime of the Iowa-Iowa State game. The little pumpkin in the water rotted. The 1047.5 that lost 2 pumpkins has 2 more going. One about 150" with rabbit damage. The other I didn't know about. It set where the vines ran into a drainage ditch, was growing stem up, blossom down. It was totally hidden from view. It had started to split the vine but I got pressure relieved. Maybe we will get lucky and it will gain 10# a day until Anamosa Pumpkinfest. The 899 is still holding up with the vine rotted off. I hope we can get it on a pallet to keep the bottom dry and get it to last at least 3 weeks until the Bloomfield Weigh-off. If we do get it lifted I will get a tarp over it for shade and to deflect rain. The field pumpkins are full of powdery mildew but with the rains over maybe I can get it slowed down. Somebody did me a big favor; the ran over a groundhog on the road 50 yards from the garden. I hope it was the evil monster eating pumpkins. The bright spot is that we have some of the biggest field pumpkins we have ever grown. We got woven fencing and chicken wire around them to provide extra protection. 2 patches of mustard are just starting to bloom. In a few days I will be mowing and tilling them. Where we are pulling vines I will be planting daikon radish.   Tuesday, September 11 View Page Jacob and I lifted our 899 and got it on a pallet. Surprised to see the only concern was the rotted stem. I scraped it clean, wiped it off with bleach solution, painted on Daconil and then dusted it well with sulfer. It has to last 18 days to make it to Bloomfield. I don't think we will push our luck and save it another week for Anamosa. I doubt if it will last that long. I need to rig up a tarp to keep it dry.Last measurement was August 25, taping 307", 668#. After a month off the vine, it will be lucky to make 600#, so it won't be a competitor.   Tuesday, September 18 View Page The 899 sprung a leak, right on schedule. So we will only have field pumpkins for Bloomfield. We will have field pumpkins, one puny watermelon and a couple puny AG's for Anamosa Ryan Norlin Weigh-off. The last 1047.5 plant is still healthy and has 2 pumpkins on it after losing a pair of 600 pounders. If we are lucky they might make a measly 400#. The 10 days of 80 to 90 degree heat that cooked the 899 has been good for the 1047.5's. The one growing blossom down might even have HD potential. They have the great orange color, but the other one has rabbit scars.   Thursday, September 20 View Page Walking down to the garden this morning, I ran into this covey of quail. My neighbor has beer raising and releasing them, trying to get them re-established. We had some 30 years ago, but winter ice storms and blizzards took them out. We have better winter cover now. I hope they flourish and develop an appetite for cucumber beetles.   Thursday, September 20 View Page One grown from my 104.5 dmg. This seed line has monstrous stems, but the fruit grows too fast and splits them. They tend to weigh heavy, but that's no good if they open into the cavity. This one was taping close to 100#, and it was too heavy for lift. No more wasting garden space on that seed line.   Thursday, September 20 View Page This one split just a little bit a month ago. I'm not sure what it will weigh, guessing around 70#.   Thursday, September 20 View Page I'm glad that the critter just chewed on the little one before I got the double fencing around them. The big one could be a personal best. I'm saving it for Anamosa in 16 days. It just finished turning orange a few days ago.   Thursday, September 20 View Page This one turned orange a couple weeks ago. It will go to Bloomfield. Plants are full of powdery mildew. August is really a bad time for mildew.   Thursday, September 20 View Page One of the 2 pumpkins still going on the 1047.5. The plant is still very healthy. We lost 2 in the 500# to 600# range earlier on this plant. This one has rabbit damage that healed. I hope it keeps growing. It will be picked for Anamosa in 15 days. Hot today, heading close to 90 this afternoon. Then 60's tomorrow and low 40's by Saturday morning. Summer is about over.   Thursday, September 20 View Page The blossom down pumpkin in the drainage ditch. I tried to grow one like this on a different plant but it aborted. Bees pollinated this one and it was hidden from sight. I have no idea what the blossom looks like. Its going to be tough to load this one. I can't back the truck in there without getting hung up. Maybe it will be light enough to roll over onto a tarp so we can drag it out, but I'm also hoping it packs on some weight. I like the color, will grow this seed next year.   Thursday, September 20 View Page The 899 is dead. First the vine rotted off and spread to the stem. I couldn't stop it. 2 weeks of upper 80's to over 90 degrees cooked it. I don't like how this seed line has brittle skin that starts splitting at about 500#. We won't grow this one again.   Thursday, September 20 View Page We got out to do some trout fishing last Saturday. Jacob, Jessica and I came home with 12 rainbows and 1 brown. The best one was this 17.5" rainbow that Jacob caught. It is the biggest stream trout any of us have ever caught, but Lu Ann and I have caught some much bigger in Lake Michigan.   Thursday, September 27 View Page Getting ready for Bloomfield, I measured the field pumpkins. I found my 2nd biggest had rotted. A hole near the top. That is how the season has gone so far. I still have one that could be a personal best, the rest just average. Usually I want my best for the home weigh-off in Anamosa, but I don't want to wait too long and lose a personal best. Supposed to get frost Saturday morning.   Friday, September 28 View Page My field pumpkin loaded for Bloomfield, We covered the remaining pumpkins. Sky is clearing and patches of frost are predicted. The first place to get frost in Jones County, Iowa is my garden. I just hope some stuff survives until next week for the Ryan Norlin Weigh-off in Anamosa.   Friday, September 28 View Page Jacob's pumpkin, grown from a seed from my 104.5 DMG. This one split the stem too, and then the stem rotted off. This one is still solid under the stem, but after seeing what happened to my 104.5, we aren't taking chances. We loaded a backup grown on the same plant.   Saturday, September 29 View Page My son Jacob McWilliams took 3rd place for the second year in a row with this 77# field pumpkin. He also won 5# of Wallace Pumpkin Pro and a pizza in the door prize drawings.   Saturday, September 29 View Page I took 2nd place in the field pumpkin division with this 97#. I grew it from a seed out of the 87# that won me second place last year. I also won a pizza and a bag of Wallace Starter Packs. We had most of my pizza eaten by the time we got home. We had another great time at Bloomfield.   Saturday, September 29 View Page Last year Caleb Jacobus beat my field pumpkin by 2.5#. This year mine was 10# heavier and I thought I had a chance to win. But teaming up with John Barlow, he beat me by 11# this year. Oh, well, wait until next year.   Saturday, September 29 View Page The Barlow and Jacobus 1st place, Wisconsin state record pumpkin, 2383#.   Saturday, September 29 View Page Chris Brown brought the winning bushel gourd down from Nowthen, MN. State record 331#. 2 weeks ago it would have been a world record.   Saturday, September 29 View Page The Wolfe family from Omaha brought the 3rd place, Nebraska State record bushel gourd. Their first time growing bushel gourds. Barlow and Jacobus took 2nd place.   Saturday, September 29 View Page Kevin Walsh brought the 2nd place pumpkin, 1536#.   Saturday, September 29 View Page Pete Caspers took 3rd with 1344#.   Saturday, September 29 View Page Someone missed the rule about foreign substances on the pumpkin and had to remove it before weighing. First time I have ever seen a dead possum in a pumpkin.   Saturday, September 29 View Page Chris Brown took 4th place and The Howard Dill Award with this orange beauty. He also had the winning long gourd, tomato and squash. Lots of ribbons, plaques and money going to Minnesota. There were growers from 7 states: Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas and Texas.   Saturday, October 6 View Page The rain quit soon after weighing started and held off until we got back home. Jacob and I were both out of the overall money for our puny giant pumpkins, but won 2nd and 3rd place for the local county growers contest. My 67# field pumpkin tied next-door neighbor Rusty Caspers for 3rd place. But I had last place in the watermelon category all to myself. Jacob took second in the county contest. beating me by 5 pounds. Pumpkin season is over. All that is left is delivering a few field pumpkins to friends and family, and getting ready for next year. Hopefully the weather will be kinder to us.   Sunday, October 7 View Page One member of the family had a great day. My daughter Jessica had entered the pumpkin recipe contest every year they had it. She had taken a 3rd place, 3 times won the Hall of Fame award, and had many of her recipes published in the Pumpkin cookbook that the local newspaper published. But this year she took first place with her pumpkin spice latte cupcakes. They are fantastic. If she makes them too often, I may have to buy bigger clothes.