Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 38 Entries. Monday, March 26 View Page I have big plans for 2018 and I'd like to give a big thank you to the growers that helped me with seeds for this season, Matt Winey, Rick Jolivette and Jeremiah Plansky. I'll be growing 5 plants this year, I'll start the following and cull down to 5... 5-2095 Brandt's, 2-2095 williamjns, 1-2624 Williamjns, 1-2096 Meier, 1-2157 Paton.   Monday, March 26 View Page I'd like to give Mark Clementz a shout out, I'll be using some of his products again this year and believe they will benefit me greatly go to worldwidegiantgrowers.com to check out all his stuff I used his tea last year and loved it! on top of Marks product I'll be using and assortment of other stuff, they'll be WOW granular mycros put down, can't go wrong with Wallace organic wonders-go check his products out as well at https://wallacewow.com I'll also be drenching Orca liquid mycros every other day throughout the year, once I get my spring soil test back I'll put together a fertilizer program which I'll share.   Monday, March 26 View Page There's two big updates I'll be making this year that will help me push the weights further up, first off the greenhouse will be getting a makeover and about 2000 square feet added on to it, the greenhouse will now be 100 feet x 55 feet I had to custom order new plastic for this upgrade I'll start work on the expansion this Thursday, another big upgrade will be artificial lighting I'll have 2-3 plants under supplemental lighting, I decided to do half the plants because I'm not 100% sure what the effects will be, I'm targeting 200-250 umols in the leaf canopy with will help weight gains on cloudy days, there's going to be 20 plus 350-500 watt Leds over these plants, it was a big investment but I believe it will be worth it in the end.   Monday, April 2 View Page Started the add on to the greenhouse lucky we got most of it done Thursday and Friday, forecast is calling for 7-9 inches of snow tonight!   Monday, April 2 View Page Soil test will be sent to western labs today   Saturday, April 28 View Page My spring soil test for those curious, I'll be adding a touch of copper, a touch of manganese & magnesium, and leaf compost, I'd like to get OM up between 7-10 and the micronutrients I'm adding are such small amounts (onces over 5000 sq feet) I'll add them to a 50 pound bag of play sand before spreading, this will give a more even coverage. In 2015 my potassium was 425 ph was 6.9 OM was 6% In 2017 potassium was 398 ph was 6.8 OM was 7.7% Boron was low both those two year being between .5-1.5 so that's been corrected. It's hard to find a base to compare too when taking soil test, I've always looked at my tests from past years, in the future if we want to get bigger fruit we'll have to work together and get all soil tests from fruit grown over 2000 plus pounds and put together a guide to follow for are soil/test.   Saturday, April 28 View Page Not the most ideal day to put up plastic but times ticking and we had to get things warmed up over the patch.   Saturday, April 28 View Page Thanks to my family for helping get the plastic up, every year it goes quicker, first year it took 8-10 hours, we had it done in 2 hours this time around.   Saturday, April 28 View Page all seeds germinated, and somewhere in here there's a 2145 McMullen that Eddy Z sent me at the last minute, I'd like to give him a big thank you! So line up looks like this so far, seeds that will be under artificial light are the 2145 McMullen and 2624 williamjin... Seeds that will have a spot in the greenhouse 2096 Meier and 2095 Brandt... The last spot will either be the 2157 paton or 2095 williamjin I'll make up my mind which I'll go with between those two soon.. Also all plants will have 500 watts of LEDs at the beginning to help things speed up once transplanted.   Tuesday, May 1 View Page Five plants have been transplanted into the greenhouse, provided I don't lose any out of the gate, this years line up looks like this..... 2624 williamjin, 2157 Paton, 2145 McMullen, 2096 Meier, 2095 brandt.... weather looks nice for next week so the little guys should take right off!   Wednesday, May 2 View Page Brandt's greenhouse episode 1 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8JlEfaLK1Hw   Wednesday, May 2 View Page Brandt greenhouse episode 2 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7dr570gtGFI   Wednesday, May 9 View Page Brandt's Greenhouse Episode 3 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R0peV8h1w_4   Saturday, May 12 View Page Brandt's Greenhouse Episode 4 https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=12s&v=UH8F1C57PNQ   Tuesday, May 15 View Page Brandt's Greenhouse Episode 5 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQg_RsEJfDw&t=9s   Monday, May 28 View Page Brandt's Greenhouse Episode 6 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_0_auev2fKE&t=1s   Thursday, May 31 View Page Brandt's Greenhouse Episode 7 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wCua21V0hrI   Monday, June 4 View Page Brandt's Greenhouse Episode 8 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q5M9NyOR2KM&t=30s   Wednesday, June 6 View Page I'll have mid June pollinations on the 2145,2095, and 2624, the 2157 paton was pulled and replaced with 2 of my 2095s which are fighting for a spot right now, everything is going good so far this year despite the ups and downs in temperatures the plants are doing well.   Wednesday, June 6 View Page For anyone that doesn't know I've been making YouTube video updates on the patch, later in the year I'll be doing giveaways Seeds,fertilizers,merchandise etc you'll need to be subscribed to my channel to be eligible for the prizes, on top of being able to get a first look into the patch you'll also be able to see how I manage the plants so it's a win win for you by subscribing. I'll be answering any questions posted to my YouTube videos as well so feel free to ask away.   Sunday, June 10 View Page Brandt's Greenhouse Episode 9 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lqMsZ64ng-4&t=2s   Thursday, June 14 View Page Pollination on the 2145 will be tomorrow, the cross will be 2145 x 2624 I would have ideally crossed it with the 2096 Meier but no male flowers will be open.   Tuesday, June 19 View Page Brandt's Greenhouse Episode 10 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwpSFENICok&t=35s   Friday, June 29 View Page Brandts Greenhouse Episode 11 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h50hP5e0EcE   Thursday, July 19 View Page 2145 day 34 est weight 748 pounds, it's been averaging around 55 pounds a day right now, the plants healthy and to think there's a fruit growing next to this one that puts it to shame   Monday, July 23 View Page Brandt's Greenhouse Episode 12 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ws9ZcOh_JcI   Wednesday, August 1 View Page Kaboom! Down goes another fruit   Wednesday, August 1 View Page So far I've lost half my plants this year so why not push the last few I have left! Maybe I can end the year early if I try hard enough.... picture is of a tap root on the 2624   Monday, August 6 View Page Quite a bit ahead of where I normally as for this time of the year, with 2 months to go I really only have one or two shots left at a WR everything is blowing up, but that is to be expected my goal this year was to push and push hard, this is the 2145 day 52   Sunday, September 9 View Page Brandt's Greenhouse Episode 13 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zMO2wuiOl1Y   Saturday, September 22 View Page 2145   Saturday, September 22 View Page 2095 Brandt :)   Saturday, September 22 View Page 2095 Brandt #2 plant   Sunday, September 30 View Page Guess the weight contest, 2095 Brandt plant B   Sunday, September 30 View Page Guess the weight contest, 2095 Brandt Plant A   Sunday, September 30 View Page Guess the weight contest, 2145 Mcmullen   Sunday, November 4 View Page Fellow giants pumpkin growers! Seeds are back up for sale at https://www.worldwidegiantgrowers.com/josiah-brandt-seeds.html They'll be a limited number of 2095s,2136s and 2077s being sold, 15 of each, as always this money is how I fund my seasons, a portion is donated to the GPC and Worldwidegiantgrowers. The 2077 and 2136 will be added later this week so keep an eye out for them.   Wednesday, November 14 View Page The 2136 Brandt, 2095 Brandt x 2624 williamjins and the 2077 Brandt, 2145 Mcmullen x 2624 williamjins are up for sale at- https://www.worldwidegiantgrowers.com/josiah-brandt-seeds.html