Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 131 Entries. Friday, January 1 View Page Happy 2021 to all of you! Let’s make this a good year!   Wednesday, January 13 View Page A few weeks ago I started some test plants of my 1184.5 pounder! I am very happy on how they look. Looking forward to growing it this year as one of my plants!   Wednesday, January 13 View Page I’ve packaged up many seeds from my 1184.5 pounder! If anyone wants any just email me   Sunday, January 17 View Page Couldn’t be any happier with how my test plants of my 1184.5 pounder are looking. Started the plants 22 days ago and they are already starting to vine out. Pretty thick stalks. I chose the strongest one to put to the real test and planted it in my 55 GAL barrel that I used for feeding the plants last year. Let’s see what she can do! Very excited to grow my own seed of my PB this year! Crossed her with the 1989 Daletas. 2051 Marshall x 1989 Daletas   Sunday, January 17 View Page 55 gallon one   Sunday, January 17 View Page A thick stalk.   Sunday, January 17 View Page Can’t wait to grow her! I’m very excited to see what my own seed can do   Tuesday, February 23 View Page This is unbelievable! In July of 2019 I sent Wykus Lamprecht seeds in Africa. He never received them and TODAY I just got the package back! I can’t believe it! Almost 2 years! I think it made it over seas then got sent back. It says on the package “incoming international parcel” Wow.   Saturday, March 6 View Page Indoor pumpkin update! I certainly didn’t expect her to get this big with only 1 light. She’s over 15 feet long now and there’s a pumpkin at the tip lol. Secondary’s are a foot plus long but not growing much anymore with lack of light. I’m impressed!   Saturday, March 6 View Page Male flowers opening soon!   Saturday, March 6 View Page There’s the pumpkin!   Monday, March 15 View Page 2021 GIANT PUMPKIN LINEUP! I’m excited to be growing my own seed this year! I’ve never grown my own before but I was impressed with it and the indoor plant is very aggressive. VERY excited to be growing an orange one again! It’s been years but I need that orange beauty again lol. I’ll be starting 1 seed of the 1215 young and 2 seeds of the 1552 young and choose the best plant. Can’t go wrong either way. Starting the seeds around April 10th this year. Excited!   Monday, March 15 View Page Can’t get over how aggressive my seed from last year is indoors! Over 20 feet long now with secondary’s bulging out. What’s it going to do outdoors?   Monday, March 15 View Page Hello there! Opening by the end of the week but will I have a male to pollinate it with?   Monday, March 15 View Page I like the timing... Fingers crossed. Put a few in the refrigerator and freezer so I’ll try those if this one doesn’t open on time   Monday, March 15 View Page That’s one thick stem   Monday, March 15 View Page Stump   Monday, March 15 View Page Lowered vine off pipe for a better position for the pumpkin   Monday, March 15 View Page Hey there   Monday, March 15 View Page   Tuesday, March 23 View Page 10 yards of compost got delivered today! Let’s do this. It’s a hike to the patch but a good workout!   Wednesday, March 24 View Page This is good stuff. My uncle is coming over to help. Big big help!   Wednesday, March 24 View Page Wow what a day! Thanks for my uncle and my friend I was able to get 10 yards of compost in the patch, spread it and completely till it in, in less than a day! The soil looks better than ever and I’m ready to add the amendments in next weekend! Game on.   Wednesday, March 24 View Page Gold!   Wednesday, March 24 View Page Much needed help!   Wednesday, March 24 View Page   Wednesday, March 24 View Page The patch from 400 ft up   Friday, April 2 View Page Happy April! I can’t wait to start the seeds in just 6 days. I’ll be growing my 1184.5 from last year and the 1215 young OR the 1552 young. I can’t decide. I may just plant both and choose the best looking plant.   Tuesday, April 6 View Page The hoop house is up! It’s go time!!   Tuesday, April 6 View Page Plants will have plenty of room this year!   Tuesday, April 6 View Page   Saturday, April 10 View Page Let it begin! Soaking 6 of my 1184.5s I’ll choose the best 2 to compete and the 1215 young and the 1552 young and they will compete. Couldn’t decide. Let’s go!   Saturday, April 10 View Page Seeds are in the pots! Soaked em for 5 hours.   Saturday, April 10 View Page Now we wait! I’m ready for my 6th year of growing giant pumpkins. Let’s do this!   Sunday, April 18 View Page Had an unbelievable day on Friday snowboarding a foot plus of Powder at Mount Snow in Southern VT! The best conditions I’ve ever snowboarded in! Never thought it would be in April   Sunday, April 18 View Page EPIC!   Sunday, April 18 View Page   Sunday, April 18 View Page It was gorgeous!   Sunday, April 18 View Page It was just dumping all day long!   Sunday, April 18 View Page   Sunday, April 18 View Page It was just insane! I’ll never forget it   Wednesday, April 21 View Page Well damn! Just checked the roots on the two most aggressive 1184.5s and they are going crazy! I was planning on planting next week but I think they only got another few days! They have only been in the 2 gal pots for 7 days. Wow. I’m impressed   Wednesday, April 21 View Page Wow   Wednesday, April 21 View Page Bursting   Wednesday, April 21 View Page We will plant mine on Saturday! The young’s can definitely wait as the roots aren’t nearly established as the 1184s   Friday, April 23 View Page The plants are in! Here’s to a successful 6th year! My two 1184.5s i chose in front and the 1215 young and 1552 young in back. They will be growing back to back and each have 800 SF to grow in. This is the earliest I’ve ever planted by 8 days. Let’s get 1500! Let the strongest plants win!   Monday, April 26 View Page 3 days of growth on one of my 1184.5s. She’s the most aggressive so far and taking a big lead right out of the gate   Thursday, April 29 View Page Pouring all day today with 1-2” of rain but the plants are nice and happy inside of the hoop! Starting to pick up the speed now   Thursday, May 6 View Page The plants are looking amazing. I’d say this is the best start I’ve ever had.   Sunday, May 9 View Page The 1215 young and 1552 young are now down and running! A week or so ahead of last year. Feeling good. 1184.5s will be down by tomorrow! I have to make some decisions soon. 1215 on left and 1552 on right   Sunday, May 9 View Page My own 1184.5s! Very happy with them and they are the most aggressive. That one on the right is pushing hard!   Sunday, May 9 View Page I can’t believe the vine thickness on her.. she grew out of a double and is flexing her muscles! I’ll choose her over the other right now. I’ve never had a plant like this out of the gate   Sunday, May 9 View Page Keep it up 1184.5 :)   Friday, May 14 View Page We’re all in it now! I made the decisions today! I chose the 1215 over the 1552 pounder and I chose the better looking 1184.5 pounder as the other was a double. Let’s go! No going back. Shown here is my 1184.5!   Friday, May 14 View Page Shown here is the 1215 young!   Saturday, May 15 View Page The secondary’s are starting to take off on my 1184.5. Something the plants have lacked previous years. Best start I’ve ever had. She’s 5+ feet   Saturday, May 15 View Page Last year on May 15th compared to this year! A week plus ahead. I’m feeling good about this year.   Sunday, May 16 View Page Grow baby grow! 1184.5   Sunday, May 16 View Page Gorgeous leaves   Sunday, May 16 View Page This secondary is getting long. I’m starting to bury the main vine now   Sunday, May 16 View Page   Sunday, May 16 View Page 1215 young is joining the party!   Sunday, May 16 View Page The secondary’s are starting to move on the 1215   Sunday, May 16 View Page No complaints on the leaves   Tuesday, May 18 View Page The plants are free! It’s off to the races now! I’m ahead from last year by over a week and I couldn’t be any happier on how the plants are looking! It won’t be long now   Tuesday, May 25 View Page Came home from a 3 day vacation and wow! The plants took off especially my 1184.5. Those secondary’s grew a few feet at least! I’m impressed   Tuesday, May 25 View Page She’s a beauty. Grow baby grow!   Tuesday, May 25 View Page 1215 young looking good! Secondary’s a bit slower. She’s around 9-10 ft now   Thursday, May 27 View Page My 1184.5 is looking amazing. The secondary’s are now taking off with some rain   Friday, June 4 View Page Pumpkin update! My 1184.5 is just cruising. We’re about 2 weeks ahead from last year!   Friday, June 4 View Page A perfect plant so far. Aiming to pollinate June 15-20th. I want a big plant behind the pumpkin   Friday, June 4 View Page This secondary is really impressing me on my 1184.5. I buried her 2 days ago and she has grown 2 feet since. A foot a day!   Friday, June 4 View Page 1215 young looking good! Slower than the 1184.5 but she’s going to fill in nicely   Monday, June 7 View Page My 1184.5 is blowing me away. What a gorgeous plant   Monday, June 7 View Page 1 week ago on my 1184.5   Monday, June 7 View Page Today! Wow.. she really took off. 90+ degrees last 3 days but the key is misting them every 15 min!   Wednesday, June 9 View Page First pollination of the season on the way tomorrow, June 10th on my 1184.5! Exactly 2 months since I started the seeds! 18 feet out or so with 19 secondary’s behind her. I continue to be amazed with this plant. If lobes are good she may have to be my keeper! Perfect vine positioning. Stay tuned!   Wednesday, June 9 View Page Huge thanks to Ron Wallace! This evening I went down to his patch to get some 2183 Mendi males for my pollination on my 1184.5 tomorrow! I can’t thank Ron enough for having some for me! Definitely means a lot as I want to get some heavy, solid genetics in my 1184.5! Ron has some amazing looking plants for this time of year. Keep it up Ron! Very excited to pollinate tomorrow!   Thursday, June 10 View Page First pollination this morning on my 1184.5 and I couldn’t be happier! 18 feet out with 19 strong secondary’s behind. I perfect 5 lober. Pollinated with 3 males off the 2183 Mendi! Earliest I’ve pollinated and I plan to keep her if she takes! Thanks again to Ron Wallace for the males! Let’s hope she takes.   Thursday, June 10 View Page   Thursday, June 10 View Page Plenty of 2183 Mendi pollen for her!   Sunday, June 13 View Page And it begins on the 1184.5! Sticking with her! Not backing down. She’s in it for the long run now. 3 days old today and she’s looking good.   Thursday, June 17 View Page We have touchdown this evening on my 1184.5! 7 days old. Won’t be long until she starts to take off! Let’s do this.   Wednesday, June 30 View Page My sergery went well I am just recovering now but still in some pain. Will hopefully be all better soon   Tuesday, July 6 View Page I am out of the hospital and feeling better! Still a long road to full recovery but we will get there. Thank you all for your support over the past week. It was a very hard week. Thank you to all the healthcare workers that helped me. They deserve a ton of credit and honestly don’t get enough   Sunday, July 11 View Page A sad day. Today I got home from recovering from surgery being away in Maine for a week. I’ve only been in my patch 2 times in nearly two weeks and came home to a soaked patch with disease! It’s disappointing and sad but I found several secondary’s with wilted leaves on the 1215 young with lots of rot. The weather is the culprit as it hasn’t stopped raining for weeks now with barely any sun. I believe phytophera could’ve been the disease as I recognized the wilting and thought back to 2017 and 2018 when I had phytophera. The pumpkin on the 1215 hadn’t grown at all so I’d figure it’s best to pull the plant and not risk it spreading to my 1184. My 1184.5 is my last hope! No wilted leaves so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. The pumpkin has some significant rot on the stem so I will try my best to dry it out but it’s not looking so good. You just can’t dry things out with no sun and rain. Another inch or two tonight! She has an estimated weight of 215 pounds at 31 days old. The worst numbers I’ve ever had but I will not give up!! If I can dry her out we have a chance at getting something to the scales! Certainly disappointed though. I had a fantastic start to the season but the weather prevented the great start from continuing. I had hope..   Sunday, July 11 View Page Staying hopeful   Friday, July 16 View Page It’s over! There was just too much rot to save my 1184.5. I went into the season with the best start that I’ve ever had. With the weather turning and surgery it didn’t make things easy and unfortunately brought my best start to an end. This unfortunately looks to be my last year as I don’t have anywhere to grow next year. I didn’t want to end like this.   Wednesday, July 21 View Page Never give up! Hmmm   Friday, July 23 View Page Here we go! I pollinated the 1184.5 this morning and I couldn’t be any happier having a second chance. A perfect 3 lober. Just a week ago I thought my season was over but a week later today we are back in it and I am not giving up!! 70 days until the Topsfield fair. Let’s freakin do this   Friday, July 23 View Page   Saturday, July 24 View Page A perfect example of how luck is not on my side this year. I go to pollinate my second chance pumpkin yesterday and I get hail damage a few hours later. Never have I seen hail before. This year is not meant to be. Several leaves worse than this   Wednesday, July 28 View Page Pollinated a 3rd chance this morning and another on Friday! But hmmm… I have 3 going on tertiarys that are growing pretty good at 5 days and the lobes are much better than this 3 lober. I’m not being picky and i will go with anything at this point but I’d like to not have a wacky 3 lober when I have some perfect ones. (All on tertiarys) Fridays looks iffy too. Hmm. I have decisions to make soon. I didn’t think I’d get all these to pop up   Wednesday, July 28 View Page One of the 5 day old ones! All in Middle of plant   Wednesday, July 28 View Page Another   Wednesday, July 28 View Page Another   Thursday, July 29 View Page We got one! Wow. I couldn’t be any more happier right now. I made the decision this morning to go with a pumpkin in the middle of the plant. They were all on tertiarys and for 6 days old I had to go for one of them! It’s pretty nuts. About A week after I lost my 1st one I had a bunch of tertiarys pop with pumpkins. Went with this one as it had a nice long vine and nice shape and is growing good! Going to be interesting with tons of energy surrounding it. Plenty of plant behind this baby!! Never give up. I could’ve thrown in the towel weeks ago and planted mustard but no. I didn’t want to give up. Today marks change in the patch! 63 days until the Topsfield fair. Let’s get her on a scale!   Thursday, July 29 View Page Big surgery done on the main vine a few days ago. I found lots of rot but scraped the crap out of it. So far it’s looking good! Just keep the sun coming and we’ll be good   Thursday, July 29 View Page Plenty of plant behind this baby!   Saturday, July 31 View Page World Record butternut squash plant is looking amazing. I’m coming for your WR Chris   Saturday, July 31 View Page 2 day old butternut   Saturday, July 31 View Page This will be my keeper with 18 secondary’s behind her and a few tertiarys to fill in the spaces   Monday, August 2 View Page Happy August! Some big decisions today in the patch! I couldn’t be any happier that I’ve gotten these multiple chances after what has been an awful year for me. I think things are finally starting to turn around. A few days ago I set up a pumpkin in the middle of the plant. I left another on just to see what it would do and it’s impressing me. Both of them are. I had to make the decision to cull one and go with the pumpkin I set up a few days ago but no! I’m going to grow two pumpkins on this 800 SF plant! Why not? My goal this year is to just get one on a scale so growing two gives me better odds. This is going to be fun to watch and I’m interested to see the potential of these two! Both are currently the biggest day 9s I have ever had. I’m getting excited. Big turnaround. Stay tuned!   Sunday, August 8 View Page What a shame! I lost one of my pumpkins tonight due to rot I found and it was just too deep. Would’ve never made it! There’s a reason I chose to grow two though! I still have one and it’s looking amazing at 16 days old! It’s been a really tough season and I’m thankful I’ve gotten all these chances but it would be devastating to lose all these chances. I need to get this pumpkin I still have left on a scale! Let’s do this   Sunday, August 8 View Page Ugh!   Sunday, August 8 View Page I’m not done!!! Keep on trucking! 1 more chance! I’ve had to many chances I can’t lose this one   Thursday, August 12 View Page My 1184.5 has reached dap 20 and she has an estimated weight of 60 pounds! Very happy on how she’s growing and am absolutely loving the color! 49 days until the Weigh off. Let’s squeeze in all we can in the next 49 days!   Thursday, August 12 View Page   Thursday, August 12 View Page   Friday, August 13 View Page Giant butternut squash is 14 days old today! I’m doing something that I believe is a first for a butternut squash! I’m going to grow her on a scale! With no chart to estimate them I want to see how much these things can grow a day! 14 days old and weighs approximately 19 pounds! Gained 5” in circumference in the last 24 hours. The plant is nearing 400 SF and all secondary’s will be terminated in less than a week. I’m coming for your WR Chris Brown   Friday, August 13 View Page She’s getting long!!   Friday, August 13 View Page Butternut plant. Plenty of energy behind her!   Friday, August 13 View Page My 1184.5 was 20 days old yesterday and estimated at 60 pounds! Very happy   Friday, August 13 View Page She’s gonna be tall!   Friday, August 13 View Page Giant sunflowers looking good! This one is the tallest at 14-15+ feet and still going. I’m 6 feet   Monday, August 16 View Page Grow em big! Giant butternut squash is 18 days old and half way to breaking some records. Stay tuned!   Wednesday, August 18 View Page 55.5 Brown giant butternut squash is 20 days old and getting huge. 44 days until she gets weighed!   Sunday, August 29 View Page The shoulders on my butternut continue to thicken up! She’s not slowing down. 33 days left!   Sunday, August 29 View Page   Sunday, August 29 View Page   Sunday, August 29 View Page   Monday, August 30 View Page PUMPKIN UPDATE- It’s been awhile since I’ve updated on the 1184.5. She’s hanging in there! It’s been a very challenging season this year for me. First the weather in July and then a sudden surgery at the end of July which took weeks to recover and still recovering from it. Nothing has seemed to go right. After I lost the 1215 young from Phytophera I was convinced I’d lose my 1184.5. I believe this is my 3rd shot at a pumpkin on this plant. I didn’t want to give up and it’s definitely starting to pay off. She’s estimated at 220 pounds at 38 days old on a tertiary. Averaging 7-10 pounds a day. Way below of where I’d normally be but I don’t care one bit. Getting her to the scales would be a huge win in my books. I somehow was able to save the main vine and it’s all dried up but I will continue to have fans blowing on it until the day of harvest. I don’t want to take any chances and with 4-6+ inches of rain on Thursday it could get ugly fast. The plant has taken a beating this year and I don’t expect much plant to be left after Thursday but I’m going to keep pushing her! Definitely a very tough plant that wants to keep fighting. 32 days left until she hits the scales.   Sunday, September 5 View Page Butternut squash comparison. This thing continues to really thicken up by the shoulders! 26 days until the she gets weighed!   Sunday, September 5 View Page Really thickening up!   Friday, September 10 View Page With just 20 days to go until the Topsfield Fair Weigh off I’m not wasting any time to try to break the World Record. Pushing her hard for the final 20 days!! 44 days old today and still pretty green. Let’s do this.   Friday, September 10 View Page   Monday, September 13 View Page Hoop house collapsed last night during a thunderstorm. Decent amount of damage. I’m just about done with this year and will try again next year. What a terrible year. Butternut still intact but not much growth left in it and honestly don’t think it will have enough in it for the WR.   Monday, September 13 View Page It was a tough morning but with bamboo sticks I was able to prop the leaves that got crushed by the hoop house and it’s looking better than ever. Was very lucky there wasn’t more damage and the butternut was a few inches away from getting hit hard with the PVC. Butternut is 47 days old and still green. Not giving up! Let’s do this   Monday, September 13 View Page Very close call on the butternut   Monday, September 13 View Page Not giving up! 18 days until the Topsfield Fair and I’m going for the World Record. Butternut in my hand for comparison   Thursday, September 16 View Page I took down my giant sunflower today and it came in at 17 feet 7”! My old personal best and state record was 17 feet 5”! Just barely beat it by 2”. Couldn’t be any happier by breaking my previous state record and setting a new Massachusetts State Record!