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Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 56 Entries.
Tuesday, June 5 View Page
This is 12 days after planting big max seeds. My wife and I are pleased and very excited to see such healthy seedlings. This year is our first attempt at growing cucurbits in our own backyard.
 
Wednesday, June 6 View Page
I thought I would share this as we have these little dudes all over the place and they really like hanging out around the area. I wonder if they'll come in handy?
 
Sunday, June 10 View Page
Time to prep the growing area! This should be fun...
 
Saturday, June 23 View Page
As I suspected this ground turned out to be a real challenge. I had to wait a few days due to heat and buying dirt, fertilizer, steer manure, posts for fencing and overall more planning. The ground is a mixture of rocks and clay... Digging will be a challenge.
 
Saturday, June 23 View Page
The digging took most the day =/, but as you can see we got a seedling planted and we're using a beach umbrella for shade as it was very hot. In total our plan was to build four mounds, with two seedlings each just to be safe. Each hole was 2.5' deep by about 3' in circumference. Then we filled them with a mixture of soil, steer manure and top soil. Each mound is top soil combined with some steer manure covered with wood mulch to help retain heat and moisture in the soil.
 
Sunday, June 24 View Page
Two more mounds and working on the last. The digging has been a total !@#$*&^%$#@!@!@!. =>]
 
Sunday, June 24 View Page
I'm really not joking about the digging...
 
Sunday, June 24 View Page
Finally, all four mounds are built and the tough digging is over. (I honestly don't think we could have put up with more digging.)
 
Sunday, June 24 View Page
All of the seedlings are planted. Let's see what happens!
 
Saturday, June 30 View Page
It's been very hot, which I've already mentioned so we started using umbrellas to shade our seedlings. I also added the fence to keep pests out (rabbits and opossums so far...) You also can't see it well, but we're using an EZ-up canopy because we only have two umbrellas. =P
 
Wednesday, July 4 View Page
The sun is no joke, but I figured a little wilting will do some good. (Thanks to my Uncle's advice to help grow stronger roots.) Happy 4th of July fellow growers!
 
Wednesday, July 4 View Page
Here all of the seedlings growing nicely. =) We actually fertilized them for the first time and we've been watering them generously, but not too much.
 
Thursday, July 5 View Page
This seedling is happy this morning. =)
 
Friday, July 6 View Page
I think it's pretty amazing how fast these big max are growing. I'm willing to bet the steer manure has been a key component of their soil's success coupled with weekly fertilizer.
 
Friday, July 6 View Page
Remember me asking if these guys might come in handy? Well, they certainly have. They actually guard our seedlings from bugs. I'm not sure what bugs, but it doesn't matter. We'll take all of the support we can get, because we know things aren't going to be this easy.
 
Monday, July 16 View Page
You'll notice there's no longer umbrellas around or any real shade for that matter. That's because they're strong enough now to endure the sun. They're still wilting, but once the sun reaches it's peak heat and starts coming down they perk right up. What you can't see here is the new drip system I installed for them. =) They are now getting water twice a day for about five minutes, which equals about 1.8 gallons. We are watering them at 7 AM and again at 8 PM. They absolutely love it! However, I'm guessing this might bring along new visitors, so we're keeping a watchful eye out.
 
Tuesday, July 17 View Page
Oh wow... I knew things would change. I knew things couldn't possibly stay perfect. Something attacked our strongest plant last night... I'm pretty upset about it, but now it's time to find out who the culprit is. I have no experience in this area at all.. I think I'll call a local nursery to see what they have to say.
 
Tuesday, July 17 View Page
Although we had some bad news today, after checking out our plants it appears we have a new leader. It's pretty funny because this mound started out with small seedlings, now it's actually sent out the first real vines and has several male flower buds and a male flower! My wife and I were so excited to see that. =)
 
Friday, July 20 View Page
They're continuing to grow nicely, but we're still trying to figure out what pest(s) we're dealing with. It's pretty frustrating... I've resorted to a homemade neem oil defense for now, but also the local nursery told us it might slugs or caterpillars. I've not seen either, but I bought some 'Sluggo' as well as 'BT' so we'll try it out tomorrow?
 
Sunday, July 22 View Page
We decided to take a little break to visit family, but as soon as we came back I went to check on everything before going to bed. I was pleased to see they were just fine without us. The days of shading the plants are definitely over, but I'm guessing once we have some pumpkins we'll need to shade those.
 
Monday, July 23 View Page
I'm pretty excited for this entry. We have our first two baby pumpkins! No surprise they're growing on our two strongest mounds. I've also realized our plants need more room. Time to plan how to change the current fence setup, plus I need to go buy more fence wire and a few more fence posts. I want to electrify things, but I don't think I need to do that just yet.
 
Monday, July 23 View Page
I got motivated and planned things out fast! After work I ran to the hardware store, bought what I needed and got to work! I think now they'll have a lot more room. I drenched the perimeter with water and then sprinkled a fair amount of sluggo. I dare slugs or snails to try and cross it. They'll get a nasty surprise for sure. Perfect timing too, because I almost ran out of light.
 
Tuesday, July 24 View Page
As you can see, we're still getting attacked by something. Today is important because I joined this awesome website. I'm hopeful you'll have some ideas of what's causing this damage and share them with me. I've created a thread so please come visit it sooner than later, especially those of you who live in Southern California. =}
 
Thursday, July 26 View Page
Yes! We have another baby pumpkin! BTW, thanks to all who have offered information on my thread. It's been great so far and I think I'll have the pests figured out soon and a way to get rid of them or at least minimize their attacks.
 
Monday, July 30 View Page
Look at our plants go! I gave them more room and they're obviously taking full advantage of it. We recently bought the potted plant you see in the picture to attract bees. So far it hasn't helped at all. I think tomorrow we'll do some trimming to eliminate some of the leaves that are yellow or look like they're taking up valuable energy.
 
Wednesday, August 1 View Page
Somewhere inside of these vines are the two prospects I've pictured. My wife and I think they'll bloom tomorrow morning. If they do, we'll be ready to pollinate them as we relied on mother nature and she failed us with one of our first hopefuls. These could be the giants we're ready to grow, although we must have 10+ baby pumpkins on other vines. I'll be waking up very early, because I don't want to miss out this time.
 
Thursday, August 2 View Page
Fellow growers the female flowers didn't bloom this morning... Take a look at this picture and tell me if at this one will bloom tomorrow? In my opinion it looks like a real winner!
 
Thursday, August 2 View Page
This heat has really been tough on the plants, so I decided to give them a little shade. I think it has worked great so far, but I might need to buy some more. You can find it at Home Depot for $20 in a roll that is 20' L x 6' W.
 
Friday, August 3 View Page
I just want to say thanks to the members who told me we were going to have bloomers. They bloomed and it was pretty amazing. Here they are and I am quite sure these two pumpkins are going to be big ones. We'll see in time though, because now I know the fun is really starting. :>]
 
Friday, August 3 View Page
Pretty exciting times for us here. We manually pollinated both of the female flowers. Many thanks to the members who shared links for videos on the best way to do this. It was a joint effort by my wife and I. We're confident they'll pollinate successfully though. Just to be sure we didn't mess up, we used more than one male flower in the process for each female flower. The male flowers came off of the same vines, but I'm not sure that matters? My wife thought it best for us to tie them up for a couple of days as she saw different articles online where growers did that. Now, it's time to wait and see what happens. I read where it could take 7-10 days before we know anything. Is that true? Wish us luck! =)
 
Sunday, August 5 View Page
I wasn't going to post tonight, but I have to. We're so excited. We just got home and much to our surprise our female flowers we pollinated were successful!!! I'll share one picture of the largest and if you recall I compared it to a golf ball before it bloomed. Now, take a look at it. I think we have a big pumpkin in our future for sure! However, keep in mind I don't have some of the special seeds you all have. We've learned so much the past 60 days and now my wife and I are already interested in getting different seed next year and going for a 500+ pounder! Good night or good morning all! ;>]
 
Monday, August 6 View Page
I don't have any good pictures today, but I did pollinate four more female flowers this morning. I'll see if they take in the next few days. Oh, I almost forgot we now have bees buzzing around. I think some bee came along, peeped out our abundance of male flowers and then told his family. According to my Uncle that's what they do. I've not studied bees much, but I really like them and if they can help me pollinate that means we don't have to get up so early to catch the female flowers blooming. There is a draw back to this though, my wife is allergic to bees. Now, she's scared to be around the patch. =/ I think once we have a few pumpkins set, I'll start taking out the male flowers. This is meant to be fun for both of us. I'll be back tomorrow with some pictures!
 
Tuesday, August 7 View Page
I forgot I had this picture =) This is a pretty female bloom from yesterday morning and after checking this morning, I think she took. Of course, while I was pollinating her the bees were dive bombing me. I think I will see if they can help me out, however I am paranoid they won't pollinate them as good as my wife and I have.
 
Tuesday, August 7 View Page
Good evening all. I just went back out to the patch and thought I would take a picture of our biggest pumpkin. It's about the size of a softball now and it seems to be growing slowly each day. I want it to grow faster, but my wife told me she read where other growers here in SoCal are battling the heat. Therefore, it could be slowing down their growth. Should I try and increase the amount of water they're getting? Perhaps add a third watering time in? Tell me your thoughts, because I really appreciate when you all e-mail helpful advice. BTW, thanks 'kingoffarmerz' for the bloom advice. I took action shortly after I read your e-mail. Anyway, while we were out this evening my wife and I decided to remove the shading material. It occurred to me that maybe that is affecting the growth too since the pumpkins are relying on the big leaves of the vines to soak up energy? From now on we're just going to make sure our pumpkins that are set have shade. So, I'm moving the shade toward the front of the patch versus the back. This will also help us be able to get some better organization with our vines since we have so many, not to mention know where the bees are.
 
Wednesday, August 8 View Page
Hey all. No pictures tonight, but hopefully some tomorrow as we have a female flower that will be a bloomer for sure. Today was hot AGAIN. To all who e-mailed tips today thanks so much! What's a good deterrent for Grasshoppers, I think they're trying to chomp on our leaves. Preferably something not too invasive.
 
Thursday, August 9 View Page
First off, I messed up the date on my last entry. That should have been August 8th. =/ I was excited about the potential bloomer and woke up to find this. What does this to female flowers?! This can't be a grasshopper's doing. I have our patch fenced in. However, it might be time to electrify things. Perhaps, a rabbit or other rodents are getting in? Either way this means WAR!!!
 
Thursday, August 9 View Page
I found online how I can battle the grasshoppers naturally. Is it going to work? I have no idea. I'm willing to try though! The insecticide is comprised of 1 bulb of garlic, 1 onion and 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper and at least 1 quart of water. Blend the mixture, strain and pour into your favorite spray bottle. I think I'll make a little more and use more pepper. >:[ I'll spray the patch once the sun goes down. Actually, I'm going to drench everything. I'm tired of dealing with all of the pests. I really hope this works, otherwise I'm going to resort to something more invasive.
 
Friday, August 10 View Page
Once again something ate a female flower that was going to bloom this morning! The damage was very similar to the last one. What is doing this!?! I saw online where growers sometimes use stockings for potential bloomers. It makes since because it protects the flower and it's breathable. I decided to try this out. My wife helped me find the stockings. ;) I'm not sure my natural insecticide worked though, because as I was checking over the patch I saw two grasshoppers sitting on two different plants. It was almost as if they saw me and they were laughing at me. I didn't think it was funny! I got out my mixture and started firing directly on them. They didn't like that at all and their smiles turned to frowns! I spiced up my mixture, so they got a full dose of cayenne pepper in the face. Hopefully it'll kill them.
 
Friday, August 10 View Page
On a lighter note I thought I would share how our biggest pumpkin is doing. The golf ball should show you how much it has grown the past few days. We're pretty happy and so far the others we have are growing too, however they're not as big as this one is. Our next real activity is to continue thinning out the vines for maximum energy. It's so hot outside it makes difficult to get anything done during the day, not to mention the bees. We have more bees than ever now.
 
Friday, August 10 View Page
Time to find out if something finds a way into the patch. My camera is very sensitive, so if something comes near my newest female flowers it'll get captured. Let's see what happens tonight!
 
Sunday, August 12 View Page
I would really like to know what's doing this?! My wife and I just cleaned up everything yesterday, including eliminating tertiary vines. The patch looked less crowded, the ground was clear of dead leaves/damaged flowers and old flowers. I go out this morning to find the patch looking like a war zone with several male flowers shredded everywhere. =( Unfortunately, the camera didn't catch anything and I'm stumped because it looks like the work of a rodent. Has anyone tried to use predator urine? I am thinking I might get some and put it around the perimeter of the patch. I'm really tired of fighting pests... Please e-mail us if you have any ideas.
 
Monday, August 13 View Page
Well, well, well... Look who I caught on camera!!! Grrrrr!!! You have stolen your last pumpkin flowers. >:( Members of the jury, you have read all of the testimonies concerning this case. It is now up to you to determine the facts. You and you alone, are the judges of the fact. Once you decide what facts the evidence proves, you must then apply the law as I give it to you to the facts as you find them. ALL RISE. Have you reached a verdict?? We have, your honor.... What say you??? We the jury, in the case of The State of California versus a pesky rat, find the defendant GUILTY of the charge of burglary...
 
Monday, August 13 View Page
You have now been sentenced to the death penalty... Meet the rat zapper! It's baited with peanut butter, we'll see if the rat can resist the sweet smell. If not, this trap packs an 8,000 volt jolt for a duration of up to two minutes. I'll use it until all rodents get the message to stay out of our pumpkin patch!!! >:[
 
Tuesday, August 14 View Page
As you can see I didn't get it or them!! >:[ I'm not sure if there are more than one? I'm thinking yes, because the camera was triggered at least four times in the early morning hours. The rat zapper failed, so I am resorting to actually traps. Tonight I'm starting with two, but I purchased four just in case I need to be more strategic about my attack. These rats have NO fear and it's completely frustrating because I can't seem to catch them yet. Now, I don't know if they're coordinated? However, it or them managed to remove the caps to my drippers. When I went to water earlier, I had two fountains spraying in the air. Mind you yesterday I found they were tampered with and fixed them. However, because of that I almost lost four plants to sun wilting as the dripper caps were actually CLOSED. Luckily, giving them a big drink brought them back. Are rats coordinated enough with their little fingers to grab things? Enquiring minds want to know... I'm done being humane though, I tried that approach and it failed. I want results and I think these traps will succeed. More to follow on this WAR. On yet another lighter note, I pollinated a very nice female this morning. I really hope it'll set, so we have more hopefuls... Please wish us luck in the upcoming battle!!
 
Thursday, August 16 View Page
Sorry I have no pictures today. I've been busy with work this week, plus there's nothing really new going on with pumpkins. We have about five now, but they're growing frustratingly slow. Our largest is bigger than a basketball now. I'm still at odds with the rats and now there are several. I set the traps, but had no success because within two hours they completely stole the bait from one of them. However, I changed my tactics thanks to a forum member giving us some pointers and my wife doing some research. Now, I am baiting the traps each night without setting them. Our hope is that the rats begin to trust the traps, which they are because they keep taking all of the bait. Tonight, I am adding two more baited traps and tomorrow night I will put the same amount of bait on all of the traps, however I will set them. I'm hoping to catch more than one rat!!! Aside from the traps, we are also going to electrify things . I bought some poly-wire, a fence energizer and the other parts needed for it. If I can't get them with the traps, I will just zap them to keep them out until they stop coming back. >:[
 
Thursday, August 16 View Page
Change of plans because my wife said NO more FREE peanut butter for them!! Set the traps tonight!! I put three out nicely baited and set. I really hope I can get at least one. If it's more, that will be awesome!! =)
 
Sunday, August 19 View Page
The war continues with the rats... I do have an update though. We're winning!! Word of advice for everyone, don't buy the traps I pictured. They're totally worthless and must only catch something if it sits on them. The rats managed to clean them off, set them off and not get caught. I returned all four to the store. We're done with traps! It's all about electricity now. =] We put up a single line around the entire patch. It's about an inch from the ground and it's working. They can't get in unless they want to get zapped. More updates coming soon!
 
Tuesday, August 21 View Page
Time to share a picture of our biggest pumpkin. =) Why is it already turning orange?! =[ It seems way too early for that and why isn't it growing more? We have about six others that are really starting to swell much faster than our largest. Are we not watering enough? Not enough fertilizer? Wrong fertilizer? What should we do different?! Oh and I have an update on the rat situation. Yesterday evening I finally caught one of them!! I used an old school Victor rat trap baited with some crunchy peanut butter. I guess it couldn't resist it? Tonight, I have two traps set. I'm hopeful I'll get another. >:[ Also, an update on the electric fence. It is slowing them down, but it seems like they just run right through it. I really can't figure it out, but they are still managing to get inside the patch. Fun fact: I actually accidentally zapped myself earlier today on the fence. I can tell you it wasn't pleasant, so these rats must be pretty tough.
 
Tuesday, August 21 View Page
I thought I would share this for fun just in case someone else wants to electrify things!!! >:]
 
Friday, August 24 View Page
Here's our largest pumpkin this morning. It's starting to get bigger quicker. My wife and I have increased the amount of water overall now. We read where we should be giving the plants 15-20 gallons of water twice a week. Is this true? I would greatly appreciate a confirmation. =] Our other pumpkins our doing well too, but not picture worthy yet. I need more enthusiasm from them first!! Our war with the rats continue... However, I've killed four in total now!! I really hope they're getting the message, if not I will continue to put out traps!! Small update on the traps. I have figured out they definitely prefer crunchy peanut butter. When I use it, I catch them. When I don't, they ignore the traps. The old school Victor traps are doing the job. Tonight, I'm adjusting the them to be super sensitive, plus I am going to use LESS bait. I'm tired of these rascals thinking I'm leaving them a free treat! Also, after talking to a field rep from the vendor of our fence energizer I realized I was causing things to short out significantly. I have a digital tester coming in the mail today to confirm, but some things were just silly and totally my fault. However, just in case I have rewired things and I can't wait to see if my repairs help. Hopefully I'll see some sparks tonight!! Stay tuned!! I'll be back sooner than later.
 
Friday, August 31 View Page
There hasn't been a lot to update on. We have a handful of pumpkins now, but I believe this intense heat is ruining our chances to actually have some true "big max". Our pumpkins are definitely not "big max". They're just regular sized pumpkins and that bums me out. Even our largest isn't really growing much and now we have yellowing leaves. =/ What's causing this? I am starting to think it's water related. I'm not sure... We're watering them for 15 mins. twice a day every day, which according to others each plant needs 15-20 gallons of water twice a week. We did the math according to our drippers and what we're doing should suffice. I mean how much water is too much? If you have any input, please share it. I'm really getting frustrated with it now. As far as our battle with rats, I think that's over. I seriously thought it would never end. The electric fence has finally sent a clear message for them to stay out!! I no longer see the rascals on my cameras. ;) The only thing we're dealing with now are random grasshoppers, powdery mildew and the vines aborting new pumpkins. Back to the yellowing of the leaves. I would really like to know why that's happening, so please do share once you look at the latest picture. I'll post again soon.
 
Sunday, September 2 View Page
We're really in a battle right now with powdery mildew or something else. It has really harmed the main leaves toward the upper vines. Today, we put up some shade and this morning I treated the entire patch with "Dr. Earth" fungicide versus "Daconil". I used Daconil earlier in the season, but I thought I would try something different. Whatever this is it came on really fast and seems to have occurred once we started giving the plants more water. To help prevent it from spreading I cut out a lot of the bad leaves and tertiary vines. Big thanks to Jim, Vince and Kingoffarmerz for sending helpful information and growing tips. This truly hasn't been easy and definitely things became more difficult the bigger the plants/vines grew. We have several pumpkins now, however I really don't see them getting much larger than they are. I really think our soil is lacking according to Kingoffarmerz and I'm starting to wonder if we should fertilize again in case we've lost a lot of nutrients in the soil? Overall, we don't have the best growing environment and it is what it is...
 
Saturday, September 8 View Page
Sorry no pictures today. =/ We've really just been fighting powdery mildew. I think we were watering too much and in doing so brought on the fungus because of the hot weather. Rookie mistake, but definitely learned a lesson there. We are seeing new life, so hopefully we can recover from the damage as we easily lost 25% of our main leaves. We have about five healthy pumpkins, but none of them are what I would call big pumpkins. In fact, our largest is actually smaller than another that's easily caught up to it. Anyway, my next post will include a picture of our pumpkins. None of them are large, but since we have a few I can claim success for this first grow season. I think next year we will do things much different and hopefully it won't be so HOT. I think the heat really stunted pumpkin growth overall...
 
Tuesday, September 11 View Page
I promised a picture this time, so here all you go. This pumpkin was very small only a few days ago. It has now grown much larger than our "largest" pumpkin which seems to have stopped growing. =/ I really had high hopes, however I'm sure the powdery mildew attack didn't help it at all. However, I think we have finally got a handle on it after 'kingoffarmerz' recommended we try "Bonide" Copper Fungicide. I drenched every living leaf with it and I think it worked. I wish I would have used it from the beginning. I might have been able to save a lot more of our leaves and you'll probably be able to notice the the loss we took from this picture. Big thanks to 'kingoffarmerz' though for that info. and for his recommendation to cut back on the water. =)
 
Saturday, September 29 View Page
Sorry, no pictures right now. I believe our patch is finished for this year. We have a total of five pumpkins. They range in size, color and shape. I'll post a picture of them soon. I think we could have had more success, but the powdery mildew took out our plants just when they were really starting to flourish.
 
Thursday, October 18 View Page
Sorry we haven't posted in awhile. We've been very busy and our vines are basically all dead. This is what we ended up with and although they're not truly "big" max pumpkins, I'm happy we actually grew pumpkins. This year was merely a test as rookies and we learned A LOT. Next year we hope for better results and have a new game plan. Ultimately, the powdery mildew killed our plants and I think had that not happened we would have had much larger pumpkins. See you all next season! =>]
 

 

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