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Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 54 Entries.
Sunday, April 14 View Page
First post of 2019. I had not planned on growing this year as I have taken the last several years off with family needs and small children. My boys, now 5 and 8, were in a children's contest last year with big max. They had so much fun, they wanted to compete with the big boys now. I said I would help them and teach them how to grow a giant pumpkin. I will help them and coach them and do the jobs they can't such as spraying, etc, but they will actively be involved with the plant. Our goal is to have fun and grow a pumpkin as a team. The best part for me will be watching their excitement. I just hope we get a fruit as it can be challenging with small kids in the patch at times. I tilled the patch yesterday and seeds have been started but not up yet. We already had quite a first day. We discovered a gopher in the edge of the patch right before adding amendments, and thankfully exterminated him in about 10 minutes time. Both of my old sprayers broke and failed on me as I was trying to add micros to the soil, I sliced my finger, ripped my pants in the rear end, 2 seed pots got knocked over spilling out the dirt and one seed trying to grow, and our area has turned into gopherville. We have killed 4 gophers in 4 months by the patch. Let's just say it is going to be an interesting year!
 
Sunday, April 21 View Page
all three of our seedlings are growing healthy, will go into patch tomorrow. From left to right 1928, 2157, 1791. Will only keep one eventually. The 1928 is our front runner, it was a slow germinator and about 3 days behind the other two, but went into overdrive and has almost caught up.
 
Sunday, April 21 View Page
two excited boys with dreams of a big pumpkin.
 
Friday, May 10 View Page
cloudy and no sun for almost a week. which to choose, 1971 Werner
 
Friday, May 10 View Page
2157 Daletas, growing the fastest
 
Friday, May 10 View Page
1928 Daletas, smallest plant so far, but had the biggest root system when transplanted. Still very healthy. Will cull to one, I guess it is a good problem to have three healthy options. hhhhhmmmmm, Maybe I will let the boys pick. :)
 
Saturday, May 11 View Page
that should have read 1791 Werner, not 1971.
 
Saturday, May 18 View Page
Andrew and Joshua with the winner that survived. The 2157 Daletas wilted like a folded umbrella in even the mildest sun, so it got chopped. The 1928 Daletas had some double vine tendencies and the new developing leaf got fried in 75 degree sun, well, chop chop! And the winner, the 1791 Werner in the photo. Coldest, wettest May I have ever seen in my entire life in San Diego so far. The Werner also burns on new growth, but it was the best option we had.
 
Saturday, May 18 View Page
speaking of the weather, high wind and rain fore casted the next 4 days. We built a small temporary wind break for the 1791. Haven't gotten my shade structure up yet, but with mainly 60's and mid 70's so far, would be a hindrance. Can't believe I am trying to warm up my plant in May in my climate. lol Usually we get some heat wave with 100 plus, forecast is 60's and 70's all the way into June.
 
Saturday, May 18 View Page
One more angle
 
Saturday, May 18 View Page
leaf number 5, what happens with no shade cloth on a medium warm day, topped out at 83 or so with full sun on one day and burned a developing leaf. But, the 1928 cooked an entire leaf in 75, lol. So, it was the better option.
 
Wednesday, June 5 View Page
1791 Werner. Shade cloth finally up, weather is still 60's and 70's right now with a mild warm up, maybe we will hit 80 in a few days. A very trouble free plant so far. Cold summer so far.
 
Wednesday, June 5 View Page
one more angle. Joshua has been super busy with baseball all stars, so me and Andrew watered the plant tonight and burried a few vines. So far their favorite thing to do is surf the walking boards, lol. Well, not exactly test book behavior for big pumpkins, pur soil is getting compacted from it and they are close to taking out some vines, but.... so far no major damage.
 
Thursday, June 6 View Page
I need to check my typos before posting.
 
Wednesday, June 12 View Page
1791 as of this evening, Andrew behind the plant. Growing well. Only thing odd so far is yellow spots around the edge of some leaves and almost all of the tips. Not sure if it is heat related, plant stress, or something else. Got over 100 for a day and plant survived with little to no burn which was impressive.
 
Monday, July 1 View Page
1791 as of 7/1
 
Monday, July 1 View Page
hard to get the whole plant in the photos
 
Monday, July 1 View Page
day 10 for our chosen fruit, something I have never had before...
 
Monday, July 1 View Page
a 6 lober!
 
Monday, July 1 View Page
but.... found rot on the stump after coming back from vacation for a week. Crossing our fingers we caught it in time, fan on it and cleaned up. will it hold????
 
Monday, July 1 View Page
went with the family to central California, the eastern Sierras, my most favorite of God's creation, absolutely loved it.
 
Monday, July 1 View Page
were blessed to catch some fish, here is our biggest, a nice fat kamloop rainbow, did not weigh it but guessing 2.5 lber, she was big and fat. Great action photo as it got wiggly! lol
 
Saturday, July 20 View Page
it has been awhile since posting pictures. this season has been enjoyable. as the plant has gotten bigger, little andrew has kind of fallen off from the work, it is harder now and he isn't quite ready for it. He just enjoys looking at the flowers and pumpkin. Joshua lost interest for a few weeks after really helping all out for awhile, now he is back, burring vines and really helping. Here is day 20 on the 1791 werner.
 
Saturday, July 20 View Page
now, for the 1791 werner, I will give my opinion on this seed. It is a sleeper seed that hasn't been planted much, but when planted, it goes really big for people. We have had a pretty relaxed attitude growing as a family, but taking good care of the plant. The stump by grace has healed over and is no longer rotting, fan 24/7. The fruit, well this is day 29, it is growing faster than any fruit I have ever had in my patch in 17 years of growing. My patch has generally been known for long growth, mild gains, if we can get long sustained growth with this fruit, it is gonna go huge for my southern area. Time will tell. But.....
 
Saturday, July 20 View Page
this is the blossom area I posted on, as this fruit has ramped up in growth, I get surface splits almost daily. Some blossomes are a nubb and then skin, this is the baboon butt blossom that has that other area around it and that is where it splits. They are surface and not deep, but it definitely has my attention. sulfer powdered it and fan daily, calcium should not be an issue. Any opinions on this? Started appearing day 24 or so.
 
Saturday, July 20 View Page
plant of the 1791
 
Saturday, July 20 View Page
another side
 
Sunday, July 28 View Page
day 37 for the 1791 werner. She is slowly rocking back, but has a nice shape. Still growing well, but it has been a very hot and humid week, growth has peaked and seems to be slowing down slightly, how long will she hang on on the down curve? Hoping for cooler temps. Blossom looks to be ok so far. Joshua and Andrew in the rear!
 
Wednesday, August 7 View Page
day 47 for the 1791 Werner. She sits at just a hare under 359 ott. The plant is taking a beating from caterpillars, Joshua has squished over 100 of them in the last 4 days. Awesome buddy! We have disease all throughout the patch. I have never identified it but is getting worse. Had it the last few years, the stems on the leaves turn brown and mushy, then the leaf collapses. Leaves have been dropping like flies the last week. Just hoping the plant has enough healthy parts to grow her out, hoping and crossing fingers for 90 days which is when we have our weigh off. Still putting on approximately 25 lbs per day on the 2013 chart and just a hare under 1000 lbs. The 2018 chart never is too realistic for me in my high heat area, so rather be conservative. The 2013 chart seems to be much more accurate for our climate.
 
Wednesday, August 7 View Page
she is a nice shape, slowly rocking back and wide, pretty tall wheel shape. Here is the front. Nice color as well. We have the towels on top so a little less color there.
 
Wednesday, August 7 View Page
last angle, the side view gives you a good angle on how she is rocking back and the shape. Joshua and Andrew are excited. Our only casualty so far was the tape measure, they decided to play tug of war and snap! lol Good thing I had a back up. We are thankful for such a nice fruit, will hopefully be going way over a personal best if she grows out healthy.
 
Sunday, August 18 View Page
Day 58 on the 1791 Werner. Joshua and Andrew posing with our fruit. Disease has really hit our plant hard and it is dying off fast. Pumpkin has slowed in growth, but still growing. We have 32 days or so until our weigh off. How many more lbs can we squeak out of her and how many more days will she grow? Time will tell.
 
Sunday, August 18 View Page
a photo of part of the disease attacking the stems of the leaves, these leaves were not old and it is happening all over the plant.
 
Sunday, August 18 View Page
The other issue we just figured out was a mite invasion. I have never had a mite problem in all my years of growing so they caught me off guard, but we had them for awhile and didn't know the signs. The leaves were dying off fast and we finally saw large orange clumps of moving mites, I was what is that???? lol. You can see what they do to leaves.
 
Sunday, August 18 View Page
the back side of her, getting a little hint of green on the back of her with the orange.
 
Saturday, August 31 View Page
This is Joshua. I'm growing a giant pumpkin. I'm growing the 1791. it is DAP 71. I have squished 316 caterpillars off of the plant in the last month.
 
Saturday, August 31 View Page
That last post was all done by my 8 year old son Joshua. He and and his younger brother have been growing with me this year. Day 71, 20 more days until the weigh off. Temps have been real hot lately, plant is real beat up, but fruit is still slowly creeping along. She looks a little mean from the rear end. We are blessed to have such a big fruit this year, by far our biggest ever. The weigh off has some great growers coming to it with some big fruit. Not sure where we will end up, but no matter what, we are going to have fun and enjoy it. Just trying to keep her healthy a few more weeks.
 
Friday, September 6 View Page
Parents are celebrating their 50th anniversary today! What an amazing gift I have had from the Lord. As for pumpkins, well let's just say Chris made me break out the big guns and go with some 0-0-50 after his last post. I do not know his ott, I believe it to be bigger than mine, but let's just say the 0-0-50 appears to be working after 2 days of using it! lol Trying to squeak out every pound I can.
 
Wednesday, September 11 View Page
9 days until harvest, just discovered the main vine rotted off a foot from stump. Stump was not soft but it looks to be dead and gone as well. Most of the main is rotting badly. I weed wacked heavy weeds 2 weeks ago that grew as the plant died by the main. Cleared the area again tonight and it was an ugly scene, all mush! Have about 4 feet of good vine before fruit, that is it. Growth slowed down a few days ago, now I know why. Just trying to keep the fruit safe the last 9 days, doesn't look like I will be adding much more weight. We made the 400 club, ott is 403.5 inches. Our only hope is we go heavy, Mr Dunn has a larger fruit than us. But in our high heat climate, it is hard to go heavy. Gonna be 100 degrees again this weekend, not the best weather.
 
Saturday, September 21 View Page
Time has come, it's harvest time. Me and my wife pose with the 1791.
 
Saturday, September 21 View Page
Todd, a great guy from my church, a professional crane operator came to my rescue. Now that is a big machine! lol
 
Saturday, September 21 View Page
always the most nervous part when it is in the air.
 
Saturday, September 21 View Page
she's in! Her shape made her quite unstable so we propped her with a bale of hay.
 
Saturday, September 21 View Page
the next morning, bright and early as you can tell, time to make the drive up to Irvine Ca from San Diego. About an hour and a half drive or so. Irvine is in southern Los Angeles area.
 
Saturday, September 21 View Page
Here's the gang! Team Charlie Brown today! This was the first time I have ever competed at a GPC sponsored event. All the previous weigh offs were non GPC I had competed in before.
 
Saturday, September 21 View Page
We took a little side track at the weigh off and had some family fun.
 
Saturday, September 21 View Page
hanging out while pumpkins are being weighed. We officially were 405 ott, so we weighed second to last. Vince (Gourdzilla) weighed in light at 1036 I believe. Glenn, aka Fisssh on bp.com, weighed in the low 1200's. The legend Mr. Chris Dunn, went heavy again, hitting 1481 lbs. Gulp. We were next, the old chart put us at 1410 (my comfort zone), 2018 Chart at 1459. We need to do something I have never done in 10 years at my high heat patch, go heavy. lol
 
Saturday, September 21 View Page
Being interview by the MC while our fruit was being lifted to the scale for our first official GPC weight.
 
Saturday, September 21 View Page
Almost there! lol
 
Saturday, September 21 View Page
On the scale! You can't see the number unfortunately in the photo. lol Her official weight was 1531 lbs. Wow! What a blessing. A new San Diego County Record beating the old record of 1327 held by Vince (sorry buddy), the largest fruit grown in Southern California this year, and yes, we fell 2 lbs short of the legend, Mr Dunn's all time Southern California record of 1533. lol I should have kept the stem vine in water on the way up to the weigh off and the whole morning. Honestly, I couldn't care less, hitting 1500 lbs is a dream in my hot southern climate and me and the boys were so excited. Besides, we had to let Chris feel good about his record since we finally weighed heavier than him for once. lol
 
Saturday, September 21 View Page
Hey, has anyone seen Joshua and Andrew? We seemed to have lost them somewhere. All kidding aside, what an amazing day. We give credit where it is due, thank you Lord Jesus for the bounty you gave us as a family this year. Alright, now for another few years off! lol
 
Sunday, November 10 View Page
Some final updates on our fruit. The 1531 Fredricks 2019 finally was cut open on November 7th, probably one of the last fruit still whole in America I'm guessing. She was still sound as a rock! As you can see, she was very thick walled, which we thought would happen with going heavy. The genetics for her are 1791 Werner by self. For all you southern growers, the 1791 is an amazing seed not grown very much but has an amazing short track record. In Eastern San Diego county, a very hot and southern climate, it has been grown 2 times. Once lat year by Gourdzilla when he smashed the all time county record with a 1327 lb pumpkin in a very small patch, and then this year, we gave it a whack and smashed the record again at 1531 lbs, the previous record was 1116 which stood for many years in San Diego. We had an amazing seed count, haven't counted but looks close to 800 seeds. I think the 1531 will be a great seed!
 
Sunday, November 10 View Page
we cut her open more and cut off some of the walls to get a good place for Joshua to go seed hunting.
 
Sunday, November 10 View Page
As God's Word says, there is a time and a season for everything on Earth, it's that time to say good bye. What an amazing year, thank you Jesus for the gift you gave us and all the people we met this year because of a pumpkin.
 

 

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