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Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 106 Entries.
Wednesday, April 21 View Page
Seed line up for 2021, haist, wallace, young, kissamore, only really room for 3. Last submission didn't seem to go thru
 
Wednesday, April 21 View Page
Started soaking
 
Wednesday, April 21 View Page
Started soaking
 
Monday, April 26 View Page
Lift off!
 
Saturday, May 1 View Page
Only had space for three, went with the 2416 haist, 2118 Wallace, and 1199 kissamore. Went in the hoop house today. Didn't do a soil test, cause I'm an idiot. In the hole I added myko, axos, well composted manure, peat moss, a little nitrogen, fish emulsion and some systemic insecticide. Approx 10 days post germ, got the direction they were headed and in they went! Still have to figure out what to do with the young plant, it's probably my best shot at big orange, but I don't really have a place for it!
 
Monday, May 3 View Page
Giant cantaloupe seeds are up! First time growing these, no excuses as I've got seeds from the largest ever grown! Many thanks to Doug English for sending these, they're getting a quarter of my regular garden space this year! I've got a few more seeds I'm holding back till late June so I can try and line up fruit maturity with our local GPC event ( October 3rd, so I might be pushing it)
 
Saturday, May 22 View Page
2416 haist, looking good. Kick stand taken off, and the leaf closest to the stump, just about to lay down
 
Saturday, May 22 View Page
Kissmore, looking good and the closet to laid down. Got the kick stand off and stump cleaned up.
 
Saturday, May 22 View Page
The 2nd monster leaf on my 2114 Wallace, the plant doesn't want to lay down, and the leaves are looking true to it's reputation for a giant, aggressive plant
 
Saturday, May 22 View Page
Another shot of the Wallace plant
 
Saturday, June 5 View Page
Kisamore plant, running about the fastest, but the leaves are a bit smaller than the haist and Wallace plant
 
Saturday, June 5 View Page
2416 haist, overall looking very good, should be pushing 10 feet soon, secondaries are starting to get moving and most of the plants have at least one small female in the growing tips. Hoping to get a pollination somewhere around June 20-25th to get 100 days of growing in
 
Saturday, June 5 View Page
2118 Wallace, largest leaves by far, slowest vine growth though. Not sure if it's putting it's energy into leaves instead of vines, or if it just gets a little more shade
 
Saturday, June 5 View Page
Adding all three (myco, azos and rooting hormone) at each node and burying with patch soil
 
Saturday, June 5 View Page
Indole-3-butyric acid powder
 
Saturday, June 5 View Page
Just realized I have been misidentifying my Wallace seed, it is the 2114
 
Wednesday, June 9 View Page
Switched from the 'take root' rooting powder to clonex gel, seems to have a little higher IBA concentration and there are a few other people on this site experimenting with this, none that I saw using rooting powder. The powder does seem to have helped get the top root moving compared to last year, and wider bottom roots, though nothing like some of the journals I've looked at. Got a small female on the 2114 around 10 ft, thinking I will probably pass on it, try to get a little more plant behind the eventual pumpkin, but I've probably got a week to decide. Goal is for a pollination around June 25th, which would give me right around 100 days to the weigh off. If I have one obvious laggard plant/pumpkin by mid July I may pollinate 2 more on side vines using the other two plants, just to get a few more good genetic crosses/have a few pumpkins for decorating
 
Saturday, June 12 View Page
Will add pictures tomorrow, but a windstorm came thru and busted all by biggest leaves, basically all down the main was defoliated, not pleased. The clonex does seem to be encouraging root growth rather quickly, but unfortunately not enough to hold down a couple secondaries, which rolled and split. We'll see how it recovers, I tried not to clip anything that looked like it could recover. Sprayed for bugs and fungus after dark, plus a 15-30-15 blue juice to encourage flowers, would like to get a pumpkin set a little after the 20th, looks like I have a candidate on each plant about 7-8 days from opening, should be out close to 13-14 feet. We'll see how things look as it gets closer, but the 25th would give me right around 100 days
 
Sunday, June 13 View Page
Kisamore plant, viewed from the stump end, pushing 12-13 feet, female about a week from opening, posting this from labor and delivery, looks like our daughter may get here before pollination day (her due date was appx 100 days from the weigh off)
 
Sunday, June 13 View Page
The 2114, my shortest plant, probably bc it gets shade in the afternoon, but still out over 10 feet, with a female around 12. The first 8 feet on the main just got torn up from a short, hard wind storm that came thru. It was such a good looking plant too
 
Sunday, June 13 View Page
2416 haist, looking close to 15, with a female about a week away. Again, 4-5 biggest leaves snapped at the stalk, clipped the ones that looked done for, left some that looked like they could heal. Still not sure if I'm going to pollinate the three in a week or so, if I have another in the tip I guess I can always cull the first pollination
 
Sunday, June 13 View Page
2416 haist, didn't upload for some reason
 
Sunday, June 13 View Page
2114
 
Sunday, June 13 View Page
Last try for the 2416 photo
 
Tuesday, June 15 View Page
Weather for the week ahead. Looking like my females are going to open in the middle of an unseasonably hot spell, unless they hold off till closer to the 22nd I may pass and spare the headache. Not sure the wife wants me spending too much time playing in the garden with a newborn demanding attention
 
Thursday, June 17 View Page
Pollination on the kisamore plant, a 4 lobe about 13 feet out, using 2416 haist. Not sure it'll take with the heat coming up, but I've got another in the tip and cold front next week that should drop the highs to 80, so that may be a better bet anyway
 
Thursday, June 17 View Page
2114 Wallace, hoping to hold the pollinating off another 5 days, they would get me to cool weather and a little more plant
 
Thursday, June 17 View Page
2416, female flower probably 2-3 days out, at peak heatwave. May just pass and get a bit more plant behind it, as long as I have it going by the 25th I should have 100 days
 
Friday, June 18 View Page
One of my nodes treated with clonex. I didn't do a control plant, but this level of rooting seems like significantly more than one would expect. The big question is if these roots will lead to a bigger pumpkin, or if it's just an expensive resource sink the plant doesn't have the ability to utilize
 
Saturday, June 19 View Page
Hot day forecast for a pollination, but two flowers opened and I wanted to make sure I got something set in case the later ones don't work out. Pollinated this buck tooth 2416 3 lover with itself, and the 2114 with the 2416 as well
 
Monday, June 21 View Page
Sprayed daconil tonight, ordered some eagle 20 to make sure I stay ahead of PM this year, I figure once I get good pollinations keeping the plant healthy will be the long game. only got the vines buried on the 1199, behind on the 2416 and 2114, still using the clonex, it seems like as the roots really got established it really strengthened the vine, nice and girthy
 
Monday, June 21 View Page
Roasted the tip of the 2416, looks like I have a secondary volunteering to be the new main, I really hope I can keep it going, I'd love to get a better pollination a few feet down, looks like it could be closer to 20 ft, which would be great
 
Monday, June 21 View Page
From top to bottom, 1199, 2416.5, 2114
 
Monday, June 21 View Page
Pic for above
 
Tuesday, June 22 View Page
Funky bulbous lumpy flower in the 1199, should be ready tomorrow, will be interested to see what it looks like when it opens, haven't seen a female like this before. Added some bloom boost 15-30-15 3-4 times the last two weeks, and pinched most little females except for the main and strongest secondaries, not sure if that has anything to do with it or not, but with this one out close to 20ft, it's my best shot at really big, I think I've got one more female before I hit the end of the patch around 25 ft
 
Tuesday, June 22 View Page
Big bloom ready to be pollinated tomorrow on the 2114, out around 16-17 feet. The early secondaries on this plant are a little spindly, I attribute that to getting over watered by accident early on, the later secondaries are much thicker and more aggressive
 
Wednesday, June 23 View Page
Pollinated this 5 lobe flower on the 1199 at close to 20 feet out. Really hopes this thing takes, it'd give me over by 100 days, with a whole lotta plant. Pollinated with the 2416
 
Wednesday, June 23 View Page
4 lobe (4.5?) pollination on the 2114, with the 2416, hoping this one takes and I can scrap the older one! Now just need to get the main going on the 2416, which is my best plant, but I've scorcher the tip of the main
 
Wednesday, June 23 View Page
All my 'extra' male flowers
 
Wednesday, June 23 View Page
The only reason my wife allows this ridiculous hobby
 
Friday, June 25 View Page
2114 with the 1199
 
Friday, June 25 View Page
Pollinated the longest side vine on the 2114 with the 1199 this morning, around 10-12 feet out. Not really planning on keeping it, but better to cull an extra later on then have no pollinations. Also, having some trouble with the bp login process, not staying signed in, is making submitting diaries difficult
 
Friday, June 25 View Page
Pic for above
 
Friday, June 25 View Page
This marks the end of my clonex 'experiment', 2x100 ml cans got me thru until pollination, running out now seems like as good an excuse as any to call it good, now that I want the plant focused on the fruit. This stuff definitely made a difference in root growth, massively so, we'll see if it adds lbs in the end ( not that I have a control plant). But it's a giant pain in the butt getting out there 3-4 days a week painting root nodes, and then burying them, minimum 90 minutes at a time, and I'm still neglecting things I need to do in the patch (and, you know, my family). If I use it again, I'll probably stick to one plant and maybe have a real control. Or maybe I'll do even more next time, depending on the final weight. It's like a disease
 
Saturday, June 26 View Page
Pollinated this nice 5 lobe on the 1199 longest secondary (left side) with the 2416. That puts 3 on the 1199 right now, the oldest is growing pretty well, but not positioned great, going to need to make a decision. Really need to get something better set on the 2416, the only one I have set doesn't appear to be growing at all, probably need to cut it loose soon
 
Saturday, June 26 View Page
The clonex mutant roots!
 
Saturday, June 26 View Page
9 dap on the 1199, wasn't originally planning on going with this one, I have one I thought would be a better candidate 4 ft down, but I'm not sure the pollination took, it's only 3 dap, so time will tell
 
Saturday, June 26 View Page
9 dap on the 1199, wasn't originally planning on going with this one, I have one I thought would be a better candidate 4 ft down, but I'm not sure the pollination took, it's only 3 dap, so time will tell
 
Saturday, June 26 View Page
7dap on the 2416, looks like it stopped growing. I've got a female on an old secondary with a split vibe I'm planning to pollinate tomorrow, it's not ideal, but I've got to get something set on this plant soon. The main got roasted, but I think I've got a female around 10-11 days out in the 'new' main, it would put me at only 85 days before the weigh off, but this may be the plant I use for genetics and decoration pumpkins, we'll see
 
Sunday, June 27 View Page
Clonex treated roots vs not treated. Cut this secondary today to make room to position the fruit on the 1199 I hadn't planned to keep. These roots pinned that vine down tight! The roots on the main were as thick as my finger, and had to be cut. No telling if these roots will translate into a heavier fruit, but it's like a 10x difference. I've also noted, my leaves don't really flag in the heat, except the newest ones.
 
Sunday, June 27 View Page
Close up of the roots. Still no idea if this much root mass is the positive I want it to be. Someone once told me 'growth for the sake of growth is called cancer'. Putting this amount of the plants resources might be depleting or exhausting the plant in some way I don't expect
 
Sunday, June 27 View Page
More roots
 
Sunday, June 27 View Page
Treated vs not
 
Monday, June 28 View Page
Self pollinating on the 1199 this morning, end of the patch at around 20. Culled the 2nd pollination on the main, the initial seemed like it was doing better and I didn't want too many fruit set, this pollination will make 3, 2 on the main, one on an older secondary
 
Monday, June 28 View Page
11 dap on the 1199, pollinated 6/17. Still need a cute scale
 
Monday, June 28 View Page
View from the top of the patch, I need to get another set on the 2416 soon, but all these plants are a week or less from spiraling out of control, it's absolutely insane. I've got quads popping off of tertiaries that are 12 hours old!
 
Wednesday, June 30 View Page
Selfed 2 on the 2416 this morning, both a little ugly, but I'm down to the wire to get something set on this plant. Both in secondaries
 
Wednesday, June 30 View Page
2nd rough looking blossom on the 2416, also selfed
 
Wednesday, June 30 View Page
Pumpkin on the 1199, looks like this could be the one. I've got a couple other fruits set on this plant, and one more pollinating tomorrow, but it's close to time to start culling. I'll probably cut the other one off the main in the next few days, then cut the ones on the old secondaries by day 20 (July 3rd or 4th)
 
Wednesday, June 30 View Page
Vine 6 feet out on the 2114 looking a little rough, not sure if this is just how the get to looking after a while, or if something is wrong. This plant took the worst beating in the windstorm earlier this year and snapped some stalks along the main, concerned it may have introduced some yuckiest. Probably the first thing to do is rinse any dirt off and get it some sunlight and keep it dry right? Maybe add some sulfur powder? Or does it need surgery?
 
Thursday, July 1 View Page
12 dap on the 2114 main, looking very good to me. Secondaries beyond the pumpkin pretty well stalled, going to need to decide soon if I want to keep the back up on the old secondary, leaning towards chopping it in the next week
 
Thursday, July 1 View Page
Backup on the 1199, split a bit on the vine, not sure it'll make a difference, leaning towards culling it anyway. Cut the second pollination on the main, and missed the pollination for a backup today due to rain. Should be all in by the end of the weekend
 
Thursday, July 1 View Page
Went from no females on the 2416 to an over abundance, one pollination set a few days ago, two pollinated 2 days ago, three ready to go tomorrow, and probably 5-6 by the 4th. Not really sure how to pick, they're mostly on newer secondaries towards the end of the patch. Guess I'll just pollinate until I get a good feeling and then start terminating. This plant is very close to filling up the 30x30 space I have it in, I'm going to be closer to 90 days growing if I get one set soon, but with this much plant, if I can keep from blowing it up, it could be the big one
 
Friday, July 2 View Page
Selfed the 2416 on a secondary, to the right of the main, looked a bit rough
 
Friday, July 2 View Page
Pollination #2 on the 2416, this time to the left of the main near the top, looks like a 3:lobe or deformed 4th? Also selfed
 
Friday, July 2 View Page
We may have a contender here in the 2416, a nice looking 4 lobe, on a secondary, left of main, pollinated with 7x2114. I really have no idea how to choose between pollinationsv on secondary vines, this is going to put me at 5 on this plant, and I'm going to need to start straight aggressively culling very soon. All I want in my plants is for the females to show up 1 or 2 at a time, 10-14 days apart, with at least 100 days before my weigh off, and 5-600 sq feet of plant growth behind them, so I can take my damn time a little bit
 
Friday, July 2 View Page
The situation with the 2416, main got cooked near the end of the patch, the last 4-5 secondaries all have pollinations or will open tomorrow. All are very strong vines, close to 7/8ths in diameter, but sure how to establish one as a 'new main'
 
Friday, July 2 View Page
15 dap on the 1199
 
Friday, July 2 View Page
Made some progress on my 2416. Cut several of today's pollinations, and 4 of 6 that looked like they would open tomorrow. So I will have one existing poll on the back side vine nearest the road, a pollination tomorrow on the opposite back side vine, an existing one from appx Tuesday near the top, a good looking 4 lobe from today that is my prime candidate, also near the top ( both on the left) , and a 4 lobe on the right, near the top they I will pollinate tomorrow. I'll try and cut one out of the top this weekend, and be down to three, at the furthest corners before narrowing down further
 
Friday, July 2 View Page
In stupid, frustrating news, one of the dang dogs got in the patch and busted a very good secondary with a pollination on it, and may have forcibly laid some others down, but no super obvious damage to those, but on my best plant!. And I barely scraped this fruit with my fingernail, and just gashed it. It was likely a cull anyway, but man I hate careless mistakes!
 
Saturday, July 3 View Page
Pollinated the 2416 4 lobe on the right hand side top secondary with the 1099. Selfed the 2416 on the old right secondary
 
Saturday, July 3 View Page
16 dap on the 1199. Added some more sand, trimmed the neighboring leaf that was a few days from scratching up the fruit and tried to get the vine up a bit. Also culled everything else off this plant. Guess i could still lose it at this point, but I felt good enough to go all in on this one, knowing I've got two other plants just a week or two behind. Should give me ~107 days of growth before weigh off, long enough to be a challenge keeping the leaves going!
 
Saturday, July 3 View Page
14 dap on the 2114, (6/19 poll). Cut the backup on the oldest secondary, I have another female on the opposite secondary opening tomorrow, seems silly to pollinate it when I've just cut one off, but I may go ahead and do it, it's a good looking flower in a better position than the one I culled, probably no harm in keeping an extra around for another week. Tough calls ahead on what to do with the 2416, but I should get it at least narrowed down beyond 4 this week. All four are about as far apart as they could be, so hoping it doesn't cause any trouble. I almost need this plant putting everything into fruit, I've got appx 22-24 secondaries, and over half are terminated already and out of room. I really don't have much experience with this much plant, I'm a bit concerned about exploding the fruit
 
Sunday, July 4 View Page
Pollinated a rear secondary on the 2114 with the 1199, will probably only stay on for a week. One more potential pollination tomorrow on the 2416, in a prime location, although I should probably cull one if I decide on actually going to pollinate it
 
Sunday, July 4 View Page
We have what should be the final pollination of the year tomorrow on the 2416, on the secondary I had set up to train as the new main vine, a nice looking 4 lobe blossom at the very end of the patch with a ton of plant behind it. Cut the other one on the secondary on the same side, so will still stay net 4 pollinations. Not sure what the next to go will be if it looks like this one took, probably the other one near the end of the plant, position is okay, but not great, within the next week. Then chop the last two by mid July if everything is looking good. If everything goes well and this is 'the one' it will put me at 89 days, from what I hear, the most you can expect at that point is a few pounds/day, so I'm not going to sweat it, just try to get something to the scale
 
Monday, July 5 View Page
Final pollination of the year (hopefully), the 2416 x 2114 right at the top of the Christmas tree, used 8-9 males just to be in the safe side, and have a couple frozen gallons I'll be putting out later this morning to keep it from getting too warm. Next step is to narrow down to the final fruit on 2416 and cull yesterday's pollination on the 2114 once the final fruit is out of the danger zone.
 
Monday, July 5 View Page
18 dap on 1199. Regarding my last entry ... I'm just terrible at this. I have pollination fomo, *tomorrow* will be the final pollination of the year. The 2416 threw a great looking female blossom right at the end of the 2nd to last secondary, be which is competing for the main vine status, 5 lobes, symmetrical, well positioned, I'll make the final decision tomorrow on pollinating it or not, but if I do, I'll be cutting the pollination from earlier last week to stay net 4. And NO MORE POLLINATIONS! I am only setting one fruit on this plant, I'm just being picky, not indecisive and costing myself growing days.
 
Tuesday, July 6 View Page
Final final pollination of 2021 (2416x2114), a very nice looking 5 lobe, at the top of the Christmas tree, with 600 square feet of plant behind it. Each plant gets appx 30 ft wide, by 20 ft long because I thought surely I won't have a plant grow that far by the time I want to pollinate something, the 2416 is busting at the seams, it just wants to explode. A little concerned if won't be able to keep the tertiaries from popping and running. Next challenge is figuring out which is these pollinations get to stay and which gets the chop
 
Tuesday, July 6 View Page
I call this the 'crab pattern'
 
Tuesday, July 6 View Page
Clipped the backup on the 2114 this afternoon, so now all in on two plants, probably never should have even pollinated it. Also cut the more recent of two on the back most secondaries of the 2416, I have one about 7-8 days along that is good enough to call a backup on the opposite secondary. It really comes down to which at the top of the plant take off best, they're both positioned well, if it's a draw I'll lean towards the 5 lobe. If they both flop, I may just water in a couple pounds of bloom booster and walk away from the dang thing
 
Tuesday, July 6 View Page
19 day Ott for the 1199, 167, 69 in cc, est 111
 
Friday, July 9 View Page
One step closer to having the final line up set! Cut the 4 lobe on the 2416, the 4 lobe pollinated 7/5 was clearly growing faster, (it seems pretty big for just 4 dap!). So now it's just the final candidate, right at the end of the patch, on the 'new main' about 20 ft from the stump, and the backup on a back secondary, which is really doing okay for 12 dap, but it's positioned very poorly and the secondary is split near the stump, so I'm planning on cutting it fairly soon, maybe earlier than many would, but given I have 2 other pumpkins pretty close to in the clear, I may take a more aggressive approach.
 
Friday, July 9 View Page
A bit concerned about what my leaves are doing, mainly older leaves on the main and older secondaries. Not sure what is causing it, probably a deficiency of some kind? Tried spraying with some fish and cal-mag plus some 15-30-15 blue juice on the plants that are several weeks post pollination, we'll see if they helps at all, I'd just like to stay ahead of any problems. Pests and disease I feel fairly on top of with some systemics, it's going to be nutrition and or weeds I think that ultimately holds me back
 
Saturday, July 10 View Page
Charlie doesn't know it yet, but she's about to shrink! 5 dap on the 2416!
 
Monday, July 12 View Page
The chosen one on the 2416. Just busting out of the gate here at 7 dap, well positioned on the new main, which is growing out of the patch into the 1199 and throwing secondaries no problem. I just need to decide when I can cut off the 15 dap backup, which is poorly positioned on an old and split secondary. I'm considering amputating the entire secondary and just letting it carry on as it's own plant, so I don't have to cull a 100 lb fruit, but without taking too much from the main star
 
Monday, July 12 View Page
The 15 dap backup that is gonna have to go, sooner rather than later so I don't lose by nerve.
 
Monday, July 12 View Page
Had a decent storm come thru over the weekend, cracked a fair number of leaves on the 2416. Staked a dozen backup and let the plant be responsible for the rest. A day later, you can still see the twisting, but it looks pretty good. At this point, all but one secondary before the presumed chosen one has been terminated, 600 square feet and it wants to push!
 
Tuesday, July 13 View Page
Well, it's done. Culled the backup on the 2416, entirely earlier than anyone would likely recommend, for a fruit only 8 DAP. It's an aggressive move, probably unnecessary, but with the backup about to kick into gear, I didn't want to wait too long, I could barely carry it out as it was. I want the entire plant pushing energy downstream, so this will either be a bold, aggressive bet on my own conviction, or an idiotic, foreseeably stupid, act of hubris, depending entirely on how the season turns out
 
Saturday, July 17 View Page
Stretch marks on the 2114, 92 in cc dap 24, OTT 214. I went back thru my diary and found this was the 6/23 pollination, so it's 4 days younger than I had thought. I'll blame it in a lack of sleep with the new baby.
 
Sunday, July 25 View Page
Have not done as good a job keeping my diary current since I got this awesome spreadsheet. Plus I feel like everyone started getting really quiet a week or two after pollination. Suffice to say I'm pleased with my decision to cull aggressively and early on the 2416. Magneto is off to a roaring start!
 
Sunday, July 25 View Page
The 2114 got off to a really strong start and then sort of petered out. The leaves have gotten a bit rough, but since rotating eagle 20, aggro Foss, and daconil, plus systemic insecticide and bifen, I haven't had to many problems. Except the slow growth. Think in going to start hitting the k a bit heavier, I've been really really light handed with it
 
Sunday, July 25 View Page
My 1199, didn't have quite as good numbers as the 2114 around day 20, but has just kept chugging along. It's not the prettiest looking fruit, and has pretty well grown over its blossom end, but I'm happy with it. ~560 at day 38, it'll be a push to get to 1000, but I think I've got enough time. Think it may end up going light, as I didn't get a great, level bottom, may end up a bit concave
 
Monday, July 26 View Page
I've pretty terribly neglected most of my garden this year, three AGs, a 2.5 year old, and a pregnant wife and then newborn will do that. But here are a couple tomatoes coming in on my Canadian plant I got in the seed exchange. I didn't know mr parenty at all, but he sent his seeds out to all of us and I'm proud to grow them out. So much of gardening is an exercise in faith, planning to try and collect enough seeds from the fruit to be able to replant next year and spread them around to other gardeners
 
Monday, July 26 View Page
WE HAVE CANTALOUPE! I'm so relieved! Doug English was kind enough to send me seeds from his WR cantaloupe last year, I started 6, 4 got planted out (probably way too early), two died right off the bat, one got wounded in a weeding accident, v and the last one was suffering from neglect after life got busier than ever. But by George, we've got cantaloupe! At this point I'm just trying to get one of these to viable seeds first and foremost, we'll see if I get much in the way of size. Was a bit concerned I might run into Doug this fall and was really dreading telling him I didn't get a single fruit!
 
Thursday, August 26 View Page
First ever cantaloupe! Many thanks to Doug English for the seed!
 
Sunday, September 5 View Page
Fell way off the diary wagon since late June, newborn will do that I'm learning! Planning on taking the 1199 to the Oklahoma weigh off in a few weeks, we're in the ballpark of 900 lbs, best I can measure it, and little growth the last week or so
 
Sunday, September 5 View Page
2114, in the ballpark of 600
 
Sunday, September 5 View Page
2114, in the ballpark of 600
 
Sunday, September 5 View Page
1199, going to ok in less than 2 weeks, hoping to break 1k
 
Sunday, September 5 View Page
2416.5. weight tbd.
 
Friday, September 17 View Page
Cut off the vine at 91 dap, final ott measurements at day 88 of 153, 97, 95, to total 345, estimated ~941. I'm not certain my measurements were very good, I think the cc may be bigger than that, but the 97 may be over stated, I wasn't able to reproduce it consistently, but left it as is, since pumpkins don't generally shrink, overall it should be close tho. If the measurements are close, I just need it to go 6.5% heavy to break 1k (which I think has only been done by 3-4 growers in Missouri), but either way, I'm happy, it's a heck of 2nd year, and first with 'real' seeds. Good luck to everyone weighing tomorrow, and congrats to Amber Harrison for setting a new Oklahoma state record! Potential for a Texas record to fall tomorrow as well!
 
Friday, September 17 View Page
Notes for next year. Soil test, so I can stop guessing and being a more-on. Clonex seemed to make a difference, certainly in terms of root mass, and clearly in terms of resilience to heat. Clonex treated leaf nodes didn't flag, ever, even in heat up to 101. Untreated did. Weeds, obviously got away from me, particularly near the stump, which is pretty important. Systemic fungicide and insecticides worked well, last year I was over run with cuke beetles and pm, basically nonexistent this year, even tho I saw them on some untreated volunteer plants. Watering timer would help, I laid soaker hose, but it just seemed to pool and run off, so I switched to overhead, which seemed fine. And my local extension office does both soil and tissue tests, so I need to get that first soil test done soon. Two more pumpkins left in the patch, two weeks to republic!
 
Saturday, September 18 View Page
She went heavy to chart! Third place in Oklahoma, 1089! Official site estimate of 338 ott, or 883, so ~24% heavy to chart
 
Thursday, September 30 View Page
1046 kueny, good enough for 2nd place at Republic! 2416x2114
 
Saturday, October 2 View Page
693 Kueny, 2114x2416.5 and the Howard Dill award winner at Republic. I may be biased, but I'll put this pretty pumpkin up against anyone's. Love the sunburst pattern and shape
 
Wednesday, October 6 View Page
I've been promoted to "businessman'!
 

 

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