Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 61 Entries. Friday, March 15 View Page We got to shoot Mike’s Big ass 4.60 magnum at Green Bay. Wow   Wednesday, March 20 View Page Our line up for this year is,,, 4 x 1911 Urena 2 x 1875 Mendi We have 2170 Deletas and our 2433 seeds as back ups.   Tuesday, March 26 View Page I can honestly say I’ve never seen a better soil sample result especially at the beginning of the season before any amendments.   Tuesday, March 26 View Page As taking a screen shot was hard to read try this photo   Friday, April 5 View Page After talking with Eddy Z we’ve found out that using CO2 is more widespread than we though. We can’t afford to fall behind so this year we will also be using it for the first time.   Wednesday, April 10 View Page At last the propagation room is fired up and our season begins   Saturday, May 4 View Page We should have recorded all our hours spent in the patch because it must be over 200 in the last 6 weeks. And this is what all the fuss is about: half a dozen little plants.   Wednesday, May 22 View Page All the plants look fine and our final selection of plants is 3 x 1911 Urena’s 1 x 1875 Mendi 2 x 2433 Paton’s The plants just need a little extra potassium and nitrogen.   Monday, May 27 View Page Steve, Joe and I did a patch tour ending up at Ron’s for an awesome cookout.   Tuesday, May 28 View Page Finally after a week of trying the Bass came out to play   Wednesday, May 29 View Page Steve Deletas gets stuck into the action.   Thursday, May 30 View Page Scott Marley took me Large mouth bass fishing.   Thursday, May 30 View Page A very big thank you to Joe and Sue Jutras for looking after Steve and myself.   Thursday, May 30 View Page Joe’s brother Paul worked so hard to find the fish. We had a real adventure with some awesome memories.   Friday, May 31 View Page Stuart has done an awesome job looking after our plants while I’ve been away. If you looked at all six plants they all look the same except the 1985 which is a little behind but the most aggressive looking. You would think that the C02 is our biggest improvement this year but we think our new watering system is. For the last couple of years the backs of our plants have been getting too wet later in the season. With that in mind we’ve divided our plants and drip tubes into three so that we can miss out watering the back of the plant when it gets old and requires less water.   Tuesday, June 11 View Page The first two pumpkins are pollinated and hopefully the rest will be done in the next week. The pot system is working very well.   Tuesday, June 18 View Page The patch is in a very happy place right now.   Tuesday, June 18 View Page Thanks Steve Deletas for the heads up on the best tool ever.   Saturday, June 22 View Page We changed our watering system from running back to front to side to side. The back of our plants need the most water early in the year but later as it gets older it requires less water. It’s an exciting change because by being able to restrict the water we will have our plants in better shape at the end of the year.   Friday, June 28 View Page It’s a good job we like vine burying because it’s taking 4 hours every two days. We decided that the first pumpkin set out on our 1875 was not the full ticket so we set out a late pollinated last chance saloon one today. We’re a week or so away from taping but I thought I’d put this photo of one of the 1911’s up. We both were not happy with the way she looked early on as she was thin at the back. Now it’s an awesome shape. No complaints here.   Sunday, June 30 View Page Two very happy boys with the earliest 1911.   Sunday, June 30 View Page This is the last of our 1911 which is a cracking shape and plant.   Friday, July 5 View Page We’ve made 14 improvements in the patch this year, some of them small and some big. One of the biggest is putting a white wash on the glass on the south side of the patch. It’s cut out the direct sun and the whole patch is cooler as a result.   Friday, July 5 View Page So where have we got to with the CO2? First of all another big thank you for EddyZ for all of his help. We are burning propane gas to produce our CO2. We set our controller for 900ppm to 1300ppm. We put in four big burners but our patch is very well sealed and it turns out that we only probably needed one small one. We’ve found out that just the four very small pilot lights are creating around 2000ppm over night and we burn very little gas. We pull the plugs out of the burners at seven o’clock in the morning to stop the heat from the burners pushing the vents open. On an average day the vents open at around 8 o’clock in the morning and any remaining CO2 is lost. The plugs go back on in the evening at 9 o’clock because the vents don’t shut until the sun goes down. The CO2 is definitely, in our opinion helping our plants. The window with extra CO2 is probably around 4hours. This is our early pollinated 1911 in a very “Happy” patch.   Friday, July 5 View Page Another of our major improvements is putting a strip of Mypex (a black breathable membrane) over the soil at the back of the plants. It obviously cuts out weed growth but also keeps Scarid fly (a major problem for us growing inside) from eating the roots. It has one more big benefit because it cuts out the light and our roots grow right to the surface.   Monday, July 8 View Page At long last we have started tapping. First up is the 1911A x 2433B which on DAP 29 is 387lbs.   Monday, July 8 View Page Next up is the 1911B x 1875 and DAP 31 tapes 464lbs. She has a little netting so Stuart and I are going to predict that she will tape 1800lbs if she makes it to the end.   Monday, July 8 View Page At DAP 24 our 2433A x 1911A is 243lbs.   Monday, July 8 View Page Star of the week goes to our 2433B x 1911A. She’s 380lbs on DAP 26 and the fastest in the patch at the moment. She’s growing at the same pace as her mother last year.   Monday, July 8 View Page DAP 28 our 1911C x 1875 is 369lbs. Our Mendi is this years problem child throwing runt after runts. We’re thinking that some of the pumpkins are behind because of longer cell division time. It’s just a bit of a hunch at the moment and time will tell. At this stage all you can do is grow the best plants possible and hope you have at least one better than average seed.   Monday, July 15 View Page It’s been a bit of a challenging week in the patch with some pumpkins performing and others not. It was a lack lustre week for the 1911A which on day 36 is 642lbs up 255lbs and averaging 36lbs a day   Monday, July 15 View Page The 1911B has got cracks all over and on day 38 is 720lbs up 256lbs for the week and averaged 36lbs a day.   Monday, July 15 View Page The 2433A has done okay and on day 31 is 530lbs up 287lbs for the week averaging 41lbs a day.   Monday, July 15 View Page The 2433B did well and on day 33 is 720lbs up 340 for the week averaging 48lbs a day.   Monday, July 15 View Page The Star of the week goes to the 1911C. She did better than expected and on day 35 is 707lbs up 338lbs for the week averaging 48lbs a day.   Monday, July 22 View Page We had a nice steady week and on day 43 the 1911A is 848lbs up 206lbs and averaged 29lbs a day for the week.   Monday, July 22 View Page The 1911B did okay and on day 45 she’s 947lbs up 227lbs and averaged 32lbs a day for the week.   Monday, July 22 View Page And here’s the photo.   Monday, July 22 View Page On day 38 our 2433A is 797lbs up 267lbs and averaged 38lbs a day for the week   Monday, July 22 View Page The 2433B on day 40 is 1011lbs up 291lbs and averaged 42lbs and day for the week. Without a photo the Star of the week goes to the 1911C because she’s the best looking. On day 42 she’s also1011lbs up 304lbs and averaged 43lbs a day for the week.   Monday, July 29 View Page Just a bulk standard week which is okay but it would be nice to have one pumpkin sparkle. On day 50 our 1911A is1019lbs up 171lbs and averaged 24lbs a day for the last week.   Monday, July 29 View Page Day 52 our 1911 is 1068lbs up 121lbs and averaging 17lbs a day.   Monday, July 29 View Page On day 45 our 2433A is 1027lbs up 230lbs and averaged 33lbs a day for the last week.   Monday, July 29 View Page I’m getting pretty good at leaving out photos but this is one of our 2433B. On day 47 she is 1204lbs up 193lbs and averaged 28lbs for the week   Monday, July 29 View Page The star of the week is the 1911C .......again. On day 49 she’s 1240lbs up 229lbs and averaged 33lbs a day for the week. We have had a few aphid problems but the plants are fantastic for the time of year. And this is the thing; we need to concentrate on growing the very best plants and roots so that when the special seed rocks up we’re ready to get the best out of her.   Monday, August 5 View Page The patch doesn’t have the one seed that’s on fire like last year but we will still have some big pumpkins. On day 57 our1911A is 1144lbs up 125lbs for the week and averaged 18lbs a day.   Monday, August 5 View Page The 1911B on day 59 is 1196lbs up 128lbs for the week and averaged 18lbs a day.   Monday, August 5 View Page On day 52 our 2433A is 1248lbs up a very reasonable 221lbs and averaged 32lbs a day for the week.   Monday, August 5 View Page In day 54 our 2433B is 1357lbs up 153lbs and averaged 22lbs a day for the week.   Monday, August 5 View Page The Star of the week again goes to the 1911C which on day 56 is 1487lbs up 247lbs and averaged 35lbs a day for the week.   Monday, August 12 View Page We still have all 5 pumpkins left which is always a bonus. Day 64 our 1911A is 1266lbs up 122lbs averaging 17lbs a day. Our 1911B stopped growing for some reason at 1204lbs. Day 59 our 2433A is 1468lbs up 220lbs and averaged 31lbs a day. On day 61 our 2433B is 1478lbs up 121lbs and averaged 17lbs a day. The 1911C in the photo on day 63 is 1621lbs up 134lbs and averaged 19lbs a day.   Monday, August 26 View Page We have just three pumpkins putting on weight and it’s turning out to be a tough year. This is our 2433A taping 1748lbs. The photo doesn’t do the Dill ring on this one justice.   Monday, August 26 View Page The 2433B is 1602lbs and solid.   Monday, August 26 View Page The 1911 is 1748lbs and also really solid. We, like a lot of growers were hoping that the 1911 would be the next big seed. For us it’s been very variable so I hope it’s done better for others.   Wednesday, September 11 View Page Our 2433A final tape makes her 1848lbs and she’s off on the long journey to Spain. If you have Instagram you can see her being lifted “ianpaton2269” She’s no looker so thankfully it’s no beauty contest, it’s go big or go home time.   Friday, September 13 View Page Oh dear, perhaps the pumpkin is heavier than we thought. 26 hours from leaving the UK and the pumpkin is in Spain.   Tuesday, October 8 View Page Our first pumpkin went all the way to Spain and went a little heavy at 1933Lbs.   Tuesday, October 8 View Page Our second one went to Holland and the little sucker went light at 1527lbs. You can’t win them all.   Sunday, October 13 View Page What an awesome way to end our season.   Friday, December 13 View Page We’ve finally got our seeds back and dried and we got a 12 out of 12 perfect germination.   Tuesday, December 31 View Page Happy New Year