Home What's New Message Board
BigPumpkins.com
Select Destination Site Search
 
So.Cal.Grower - 2022 Grower Diary Point your RSS aggregator here to subscribe to this Grower Diary.

Show Entries in

Grower Diary Menu
  Back to Previous Page
List Other Grower's Diaries
Submit to Your Own Diary

 
Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 74 Entries.
Tuesday, April 12 View Page
Gotta get the 2022 diary started at some point.:) I started seeing a few 906 Donahue’s posted so that was my push! How can you beat that cross,,, 1791 Werner X 2469 Daletas. That 2469 Daletas has shown to be a very nice pollinator. There’s no reason a 906 pound fruit can’t grow twice it’s size so it looks like we should have a 1812 come September!:):) I’ve also started the 1747 Handy and the 1953 Daletas. Whichever 4 of the 10 plants look best, get planted! Here we go and good luck to everyone in 2022!!
 
Tuesday, April 12 View Page
I wanted to thank Sheri Handy for giving Steve D a couple seeds for me to try! If they make the cut, I’ll do my best to make your husband smile down from above! What a great thing bp is doing and every time you log in you get to see Steves face!
 
Tuesday, April 12 View Page
I wanted to thank Sheri Handy for giving Steve D a couple seeds for me to try! If they make the cut, I’ll do my best to make your husband smile down from above! What a great thing bp is doing and every time you log in you get to see Steves face!
 
Tuesday, April 19 View Page
Getting close!! It’s amazing how much better our lighting has come over the past 10 years when we use to have the Home Depot lights touching the leafs. The leafs get any closer then this things start burning! The plants love these lights and become so much compact and so healthy!
 
Tuesday, April 19 View Page
Getting close!! It’s amazing how much better our lighting has come over the past 10 years when we use to have the Home Depot lights touching the leafs. The leafs get any closer then this things start burning! The plants love these lights and become so much compact and so healthy!
 
Sunday, April 24 View Page
Babies are watered, timers are set for the lights and taking one last 4 day trip before the season starts.:) I hope I don't blow a fuse or the timers crap out on me while I’m gone! Enjoying the sun down off the Baja coast! Boy these people got hurt from covid. They survive off tourist and with no people coming down the past 2 years has been terrible for their economy. Spoke with a bunch of the locals and they all say the same thing. This covid had been a real downer for the whole world :(
 
Wednesday, May 4 View Page
Once again we had a wonderful seminar to teach the newer grower what we do to grow these giants. It was a great turn out with well over 40 people and we hope to have reeled a few new growers into our hobby! Keven D, Mike P and myself did the best we could to help out the new grower.
 
Wednesday, May 4 View Page
Ron Wallace has always been more then generous in sending us plenty of product to raffle off! You da man Ron and thanks! Hopefully we sent you some new clients as well:) We had lots of questions about your site and want to order!
 
Wednesday, May 4 View Page
Great crowd of new growers!
 
Wednesday, May 4 View Page
Down to 2 for each spot. Here’s the 1953 Daletas and we’ll give them until about 5 feet then pick the best. Starting out well this year and for some reason every plant in the ground starts out as a 2000 pounder, but doesn’t make it there. lol
 
Wednesday, May 4 View Page
Here’s the 906 Donahue, which comes from the 1791 Werner X 2469 Daletas. The genetics are there and after what I’ve heard about the 2469 Daletas as a pollinator it made the patch! One of my Handy seeds didn’t come up and the other one just wasn’t as strong as the others. Time will tell.:) Thanks everyone for the seeds!
 
Wednesday, May 4 View Page
The leader in the patch so far is the 1953 Daletas and should lay down by the end of the weekend. It’s been cool so I’ve only been watering a splash once or twice a week to keep those roots searching for water. I have been watering 8’ to 10’ out because I know after years of growing these things how fast those roots grow!
 
Saturday, May 7 View Page
2 days of sun from morning to night and what a difference! I saw this sign in a guys patch 13 years ago. I swore one day I’d have the same one! Thanks for the idea Glenn, it finishes off the patch just perfect.:) I didn’t know at the time we’d become good friends but that’s what this pumpkin community does. We’ve been to the big show a few times and touch base just about every week. We have a great group of guys all of the world! Ken’s a huge part of bringing us all together! Thanks Ken for all you do and this reminds me I need to send my annual dues.;) I’ve been making sure to talk about big pumpkins whenever I get the chance in the documentary we’ll be finishing this winter.
 
Saturday, May 7 View Page
2 days of sun from morning to night and what a difference! I saw this sign in a guys patch 13 years ago. I swore one day I’d have the same one! Thanks for the idea Glenn, it finishes off the patch just perfect.:) I didn’t know at the time we’d become good friends but that’s what this pumpkin community does. We’ve been to the big show a few times and touch base just about every week. We have a great group of guys all of the world! Ken’s a huge part of bringing us all together! Thanks Ken for all you do and this reminds me I need to send my annual dues.;) I’ve been making sure to talk about big pumpkins whenever I get the chance in the documentary we’ll be finishing this winter.
 
Wednesday, May 18 View Page
Then there was one! 906 Donahue ready to rock!
 
Wednesday, May 18 View Page
Then there was one! 1953 Daletas also ready to rock!
 
Saturday, May 28 View Page
Love getting this at the beginning of the season… I should pull the plants and let me soil rest, but we push forward and think about that next year!;) We’re finishing the documentary this year so I have to grow wether I get a 1000 pound fruit or nothing. This test was taken almost 2 weeks ago and having this much disease this early is never a good thing. A rotation is in place for fighting off the 3 diseases we found in a baby cull. For fusarium I’m going to bump things up a little and just hope for the best! With some of the new chemicals out there I have hopes of at least getting a fruit to the scale. I knew something was funny when I was culling down to my final plants. The stumps of the culls just didn’t look right, so I got on the phone with Harry at western labs and sent off some tissue. Wish us luck and next year maybe a rest the soil year. Man, I knew I shouldn’t of had Rick visit my patch that day! Lol Glad your taking the year off buddy, I should of done the same.
 
Saturday, May 28 View Page
Love getting this at the beginning of the season… I should pull the plants and let me soil rest, but we push forward and think about that next year!;) We’re finishing the documentary this year so I have to grow wether I get a 1000 pound fruit or nothing. This test was taken almost 2 weeks ago and having this much disease this early is never a good thing. A rotation is in place for fighting off the 3 diseases we found in a baby cull. For fusarium I’m going to bump things up a little and just hope for the best! With some of the new chemicals out there I have hopes of at least getting a fruit to the scale. I knew something was funny when I was culling down to my final plants. The stumps of the culls just didn’t look right, so I got on the phone with Harry at western labs and sent off some tissue. Wish us luck and next year maybe a rest the soil year. Man, I knew I shouldn’t of had Rick visit my patch that day! Lol Glad your taking the year off buddy, I should of done the same.
 
Sunday, May 29 View Page
I’ve been ordered to keep my head down, push forward and now that you know what disease your up against, hammer hard and act like it’s any other year. Vine management has begun and we will get a fruit to the end no matter what the size. I push my fruit hard so maybe this disease issue will help! Lol 1953 Daletas
 
Sunday, May 29 View Page
I’m cleaning all my tools and washing my hands between plants wether it helps or not. Must get a fruit to the end! 906 Donahue moving along!
 
Monday, June 6 View Page
1953 with the deal done at 14’ . With this plant I’m going to pollinate early and see what happens. I have another at 18’ I’ll also pollinate, but with the disease pressure so high I’m going to be trying two different things and see what works out best.
 
Monday, June 6 View Page
Small plant but growing as fast as she is, this will help for other growers with disease issues see what works better. 1953 Daletas
 
Monday, June 6 View Page
906 Donahue also pollinated but for this plant I’m going to take one about 18’ or 22’ out. I want to learn when you have disease pressure what works best. Closer to the stump or further out. I have a hunch the fruit further out will do better considering my circumstances. I’ll pollinate another couple next week and hope for those to be the ones. Onward and upward!;)
 
Monday, June 6 View Page
906 about the same size but would like a lot more filled out before I choose a fruit. This is a fun learning year and working just as hard as if I didn’t have disease. Let’s see where we stand in 3 months.
 
Monday, June 6 View Page
Lots of room to fill out still. Nuke number 2 will be drenched in this evening. With only a few chemicals I’ll be using many different modes of action. I have a lot of faith in a couple new ones that will be replacing some of my old rotations.
 
Sunday, June 19 View Page
Back area of the patch is almost full, now time to start filling the front portion. I’m only going to post every 2 or 3 weeks with the disease issues. So far the new fungicide program is holding things back. Let’s see how long I can keep this up. I’m hitting a different mode of action every 21 days and just listening to my pumpkin guru. 2 of these fungicides are new to my patch and I’m hoping they work well!
 
Sunday, June 19 View Page
1953 doing it’d thing. Lots to fill out front.
 
Sunday, June 19 View Page
906 also doing it’s thing and really pushing me to work hard!;)
 
Sunday, June 19 View Page
The 1953 has a nice 15 day ish fruit going and all set up for the season.
 
Sunday, June 19 View Page
The 1953 has a nice 15 day ish fruit going and all set up for the season.
 
Wednesday, June 29 View Page
Back entrance to the well guarded patch! This is kind of a test picture to see if photos are coming through.
 
Sunday, July 3 View Page
It’s been a couple weeks so here’s the crash test dummies update!:) Thanks for the off-season help with fungicides I wasn’t sure I was going to need,,,, you know who you are! The two small changes in the disease fight has really helped up to this point. I know it won’t last but for now things are moving! We had a 54 pound gain in 24 hours and clean snapped the main on the opposite side of the fruit. With the disease pressure I didn’t think I was going to have normal weight gains and didn’t position the fruit as well as I should of. It gives us a lot more room to fill in with secondary vines.
 
Sunday, July 3 View Page
We have a fan where the main snapped and looks to have enough room to keep growing before cutting some tap roots and loosing up the main vine. At day 23 she started doing 40 plus a night and going up fast. I’ve backed off slightly on both water and no ferts at all to keep things together. Tissue showed everything was balanced so all should be good. Second tissue sent out Friday so I’ll start feeding based off what the next test says. I’ll post numbers at day 30 on both fruit.
 
Sunday, July 3 View Page
906 Donahue also doing well and just starting to get moving. Day 16 or 17.
 
Sunday, July 3 View Page
Donahue plant also has lots of room to fill in. We have 4 Timelapse cameras placed around the patch for the documentary. It will be a funny and fun little pumpkin show once we edit this winter!;) For you edit guys,, we have thousands of hours of footage so it’s going to take some time getting everything together. Local growers , my patch the past few years and a fantastic couple days at the Daletas patch! That lavender room sure was cozy Steve, did you decorate that? Lol
 
Sunday, July 3 View Page
Donahue plant also has lots of room to fill in. We have 4 Timelapse cameras placed around the patch for the documentary. It will be a funny and fun little pumpkin show once we edit this winter!;) For you edit guys,, we have thousands of hours of footage so it’s going to take some time getting everything together. Local growers , my patch the past few years and a fantastic couple days at the Daletas patch! That lavender room sure was cozy Steve, did you decorate that? Lol
 
Tuesday, July 5 View Page
I wasn’t going to post but every couple weeks, but with day 30 on the 1953 and another 50 pound 24 hour gain I thought I would. For all you guys with heavy pressure from fusarium, phytophthora and pythium like I do, you can still have a fun year before you take a year off. I have documented lab tests from my baby culls and was recommended by Harry at western to pull the plants because I didn’t have a chance with disease numbers that high. There are some new fungicides out there that can really help. Now I know this won’t last long but I’m having a gas watching these things put on incredible numbers! 6 to 8 weeks from now it will be a different story I’m sure. But this has been a fun year of testing new products and seeing what works best against certain diseases. Day 30 for the 1953 Daletas- OTT is 286 with a weigh of 525 and thumps like a rock! Im hoping it’s the florel but we’ll never know with everything else I’m doing. Disease management is so important for guys like myself growing in such conditions! Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th!
 
Tuesday, July 5 View Page
I wasn’t going to post but every couple weeks, but with day 30 on the 1953 and another 50 pound 24 hour gain I thought I would. For all you guys with heavy pressure from fusarium, phytophthora and pythium like I do, you can still have a fun year before you take a year off. I have documented lab tests from my baby culls and was recommended by Harry at western to pull the plants because I didn’t have a chance with disease numbers that high. There are some new fungicides out there that can really help. Now I know this won’t last long but I’m having a gas watching these things put on incredible numbers! 6 to 8 weeks from now it will be a different story I’m sure. But this has been a fun year of testing new products and seeing what works best against certain diseases. Day 30 for the 1953 Daletas- OTT is 286 with a weigh of 525 and thumps like a rock! Im hoping it’s the florel but we’ll never know with everything else I’m doing. Disease management is so important for guys like myself growing in such conditions! Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th!
 
Sunday, July 17 View Page
Sick plants are not the funnest to grow but can still give you a nice fruit if you can keep it away long enough.
 
Sunday, July 17 View Page
The whole back of my plants already look like this. I usually don’t see this until late August. Sticking to the program of fungicides and because of this, it’s slowed the disease way down. It’s coming and I’ll have no leaves by the end of August but hope to still have a fruit for the weigh offs.
 
Sunday, July 17 View Page
Raising up above the 4 foot leaf canopy is the 1953 Daletas.
 
Sunday, July 17 View Page
She’s been an impressive grower and I didn’t expect to even get to this weight by the end of the year so I’m happy!
 
Sunday, July 17 View Page
She’s starting the get that green look. Anytime I have a fruit get this look they’ve gone heavy so I’m praying she goes over chart and surprises me. It’s day 43 or 44,,, next tape day is day 50 and she up over a 1000 for sure. I’ll post numbers on day 50.
 
Sunday, July 17 View Page
She’s starting the get that green look. Anytime I have a fruit get this look they’ve gone heavy so I’m praying she goes over chart and surprises me. It’s day 43 or 44,,, next tape day is day 50 and she up over a 1000 for sure. I’ll post numbers on day 50.
 
Sunday, July 24 View Page
Check in time. Keeping your stump dry all year is the key to keep it all year! I keep the drip lines 30” from the stump to help with this.
 
Sunday, July 24 View Page
It’s really hard to tell how big these things are in pictures. She just hit day 49 and a good clip ahead of my personal best. Heavy disease pressure but this fruit still wants to grow! I’ll take it! And this fruit bill be heavy! Wink, wink!
 
Sunday, July 24 View Page
Day 49- cc- 173, ee- 104, ss- 110 Total OTT- 387 for a weight of 1245 pounds. If I can keep her in the 30’s for a week then come down slow, a pb is possible. Who would of ever thought on a plant I was going to pull! Praise God for good fungicides!;)
 
Sunday, July 24 View Page
I’ve pulled her forward once but don’t want to have to do this again. She’s growing off the edge of all sides of the plywood but the front.
 
Sunday, July 24 View Page
I’ve pulled her forward once but don’t want to have to do this again. She’s growing off the edge of all sides of the plywood but the front.
 
Sunday, July 24 View Page
Day 49- cc- 173, ee- 104, ss- 110 Total OTT- 387 for a weight of 1245 pounds. If I can keep her in the 30’s for a week then come down slow, a pb is possible. Who would of ever thought on a plant I was going to pull! Praise God for good fungicides!;)
 
Wednesday, August 10 View Page
We should be at 1600 today. Slowing down but I couldn’t be happier with the growth I’ve received this year considering the situation with disease! I had KC Kevin and his wife over the other day to help me tape. Thanks buddy and the patch always loves visitors!;)
 
Wednesday, August 10 View Page
We’re continuing the documentary and here’s Brian, the man behind the camera making all the magic happen! If this thing goes heavy, she’s going to be very special for my patch.
 
Wednesday, August 10 View Page
We’re continuing the documentary and here’s Brian, the man behind the camera making all the magic happen! If this thing goes heavy, she’s going to be very special for my patch.
 
Sunday, August 14 View Page
This is never good thing, especially at the beginning of August. Crash test dummy has finally had the fusarium hit the stem.:( I was hoping for this to happen I’m September but it is what it is.
 
Sunday, August 14 View Page
She’s just a beautiful fruit! Last I taped it was 420” and I’m not going to tape until weigh day because I don’t want to get depressed. We were doing some numbers at the weights she was still putting on and they were very attractive. This surgery will surly slow her down as I had to take out a good portion of the stem.
 
Sunday, August 14 View Page
I forgot to take a picture of the 3 holes I had to make sure and remove all the orange nasty stuff. So we have 3 holes, 2 have fans blowing in and the other hole is to let air flow out.
 
Sunday, August 14 View Page
All we can do now is pray and hope things don’t go into the cavity by weigh off day. Even with weigh loss and no growth, she’ll easily be a personal best! I’d have to say the new program worked very well and those growing with disease can still get a nice fruit! Oh boy,, I can’t wait to take a year off and work on getting rid of some of the disease pressures!
 
Sunday, August 14 View Page
All we can do now is pray and hope things don’t go into the cavity by weigh off day. Even with weigh loss and no growth, she’ll easily be a personal best! I’d have to say the new program worked very well and those growing with disease can still get a nice fruit! Oh boy,, I can’t wait to take a year off and work on getting rid of some of the disease pressures!
 
Wednesday, August 31 View Page
Had the pleasure of visiting KC Kevin’s patch yesterday! This is the view from his kitchen windows. Little did I know what a beautiful orange pumpkin I was going to see!!
 
Wednesday, August 31 View Page
What a beautiful pumpkin! This was grown off his own seed that holds heavy genetics! I would of never thought such a beauty would come from genetics like this! I visited both his house and another good friend, Mike P. we did a lot of filming for the winter documentary. We wanted to show people the small areas we have in Southern California. Kevin’s patch is 400 sq ft. We’ll all get to see how big this fruit goes is 23 days.:) I’ll tell you this much,, it’s bigger than anything that 400 sq ft of dirt had ever seen! Good luck buddy!
 
Wednesday, August 31 View Page
What a beautiful pumpkin! This was grown off his own seed that holds heavy genetics! I would of never thought such a beauty would come from genetics like this! I visited both his house and another good friend, Mike P. we did a lot of filming for the winter documentary. We wanted to show people the small areas we have in Southern California. Kevin’s patch is 400 sq ft. We’ll all get to see how big this fruit goes is 23 days.:) I’ll tell you this much,, it’s bigger than anything that 400 sq ft of dirt had ever seen! Good luck buddy!
 
Friday, September 9 View Page
We’ve just been having a blast over here with “ crash test dummy “… It’s been a long battle and 13 days to harvest. I’m just hoping that I’m getting all the rot. So far no smell and all looks dry.
 
Friday, September 9 View Page
Just a beast of a stem and main vine! To bad we had such terrible disease this year. She could of been a special pumpkin. I’m very happy with the new fungicide program,,, it did the best it could. Now it’s just up to me for a nice year off to rest the soil, cover crops and come back in 2024.
 
Friday, September 9 View Page
Fans blowing 24-7!
 
Sunday, September 25 View Page
What a wonderful day yesterday at our local weigh off! My good friend and great grower KC Kevin took home the 1st place prize and county record to boot! Congratulations my friend! I’m so proud of you!!:)
 
Sunday, September 25 View Page
What a wonderful day yesterday at our local weigh off! My good friend and great grower KC Kevin took home the 1st place prize and county record to boot! Congratulations my friend! I’m so proud of you!!:)
 
Sunday, October 30 View Page
I had to fish the diary and the results of growing is such diseased filled soil. The disease finally got me and went into the fruit.:(
 
Sunday, October 30 View Page
She was a boulder and stopped growing August 1st. I knew something was wrong but you don’t go from 50 plus pounds a day down to 20 pounds and then down to a couple pounds a day in a matter of 10 days…
 
Sunday, October 30 View Page
Headed to her final resting spot for everyone at the nursery I grow at to see her. I posted the weighing on Facebook, but being a video it wouldn’t let me post here. She ended up going heavy at 1740 pounds. Such a bummer.
 
Sunday, October 30 View Page
The family that flew in for the weigh off all came to the nursery and we took pictures before she went down. She was a fun grow and I learned a lot this year! I have a few new chemicals for fusarium I’ll be using when I grow in 2024.
 
Sunday, October 30 View Page
Sorry for all the sideways and upside down pictures. This is what happens when others use your phone to take pictures and don’t turn the phone sideways. The greenhouse is getting a full remodel, with plastic removed, we’ll be using thin fabric next time for more air flow through the house and no days over 100 for the fruit and plant to deal with. Zerotol has been drenched and now the first mustard crop will be started this week. We have 4 or 5 cover crops to grow over the next year and see how much we can push back the disease for the next growing season. Vacations with the family are already booked for next summer!:) Next pumpkin adventures will be the big show back east with KC Kevin! The conventions are always a good time, especially if you like talking pumpkins for 3 days straight!
 
Sunday, October 30 View Page
Sorry for all the sideways and upside down pictures. This is what happens when others use your phone to take pictures and don’t turn the phone sideways. The greenhouse is getting a full remodel, with plastic removed, we’ll be using thin fabric next time for more air flow through the house and no days over 100 for the fruit and plant to deal with. Zerotol has been drenched and now the first mustard crop will be started this week. We have 4 or 5 cover crops to grow over the next year and see how much we can push back the disease for the next growing season. Vacations with the family are already booked for next summer!:) Next pumpkin adventures will be the big show back east with KC Kevin! The conventions are always a good time, especially if you like talking pumpkins for 3 days straight!
 
Tuesday, November 22 View Page
2024 here we come! After a lengthy talk with the folks over at Zerotol, I’ve decided to try a new approach for my patch. I know some don’t agree with this because of all the life and cells it destroys during the process. When you have disease as high as mine and you don’t have another patch to rotate, this process has promise in helping my situation. It’s a 1 to 100 mix so I did just under 300 gallons of water per 1000 sq ft. I’ll send in a soil test for pathogens this weekend testing only the top 10” of soil to see where i am. Those who don’t test, I have know idea how you figure things out. Without testing, I feel like I’m guessing. I love the science behind growing these things and so glad we have these tools! The plan is to till as deep as I can in a week or two, drench again, test again and see where we stand. I’ll post reports for anyone interested. After this,,,,, it’s all about cover crops and rebuilding the structure of my soil through a number of biologicals. Many types of bacillus, compost teas, a couple boxes of worms and anything I can add to bring the life back to my soil. It’s a year long project that also includes a rebuild to a much cooler greenhouse with 100% more airflow. I’ll be living through you all in 2023 so kick some butt!!:):)
 
Tuesday, November 22 View Page
2024 here we come! After a lengthy talk with the folks over at Zerotol, I’ve decided to try a new approach for my patch. I know some don’t agree with this because of all the life and cells it destroys during the process. When you have disease as high as mine and you don’t have another patch to rotate, this process has promise in helping my situation. It’s a 1 to 100 mix so I did just under 300 gallons of water per 1000 sq ft. I’ll send in a soil test for pathogens this weekend testing only the top 10” of soil to see where i am. Those who don’t test, I have know idea how you figure things out. Without testing, I feel like I’m guessing. I love the science behind growing these things and so glad we have these tools! The plan is to till as deep as I can in a week or two, drench again, test again and see where we stand. I’ll post reports for anyone interested. After this,,,,, it’s all about cover crops and rebuilding the structure of my soil through a number of biologicals. Many types of bacillus, compost teas, a couple boxes of worms and anything I can add to bring the life back to my soil. It’s a year long project that also includes a rebuild to a much cooler greenhouse with 100% more airflow. I’ll be living through you all in 2023 so kick some butt!!:):)
 

 

Top of Page

Questions or comments? Send mail to Ken AT bigpumpkins.com.
Copyright © 1999-2024 BigPumpkins.com. All rights reserved.