Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 23 Entries. Friday, March 17 View Page Ahh the first entry of the season. Not a appealing picture tho. Very dumb, but I still haven’t cleaned up my patch from last year. As some of y’all know, I grow in a community garden, 6 miles away and a 30 min bike ride. This resulted in me not able to see the pumpkin that often. Well I have some great news! I have moved and now I have more than enough space to grow. More pics of my year soon to come.   Sunday, March 19 View Page Here is the cross-section of the pumpkin from paste. I wonder if it would have gone heavier if the shape was better on the bottom. Although it had a goofy ahh shape and a very thin bottom it still did en up going 12 percent heavy. I really wish I could grow the 1940 again, but I don’t think I can get the seeds for anywhere near the price of last year. :( I am sure this pumpkin would have gone to well over 1300 pounds if we’re not to that stupid heat wave. It was gaining at quite a fast pace before the heat wave hit. I even had 1200 sq ft of plant supporting the pumpkin. I am going to take this lesson, and definitely use misters along with the shade cloth this year. Surprisingly enough this think was rock solid when we cut into it, and it was December when we did. A local farmer bought it, and it even had dents form kids digging into it. It’s quite amazing how long one one of these can stay if kept properly.   Tuesday, March 21 View Page Here was a simple germination test that I did on my seeds. 100% germination so that is great. I am going to do a series of tests with microrizea. I am hoping to make quite an advanced science fair project (atleast for a 8th grader.) Additionally doing this will give me a bunch of practice sowing seeds. Hopefully if I get any good info I can post it onto here.   Tuesday, March 21 View Page Here was a simple germination test that I did on my seeds. 100% germination so that is great. I am going to do a series of tests with microrizea. I am hoping to make quite an advanced science fair project (atleast for a 8th grader.) Additionally doing this will give me a bunch of practice sowing seeds. Hopefully if I get any good info I can post it onto here.   Sunday, March 26 View Page Got around a 1000 pounds of Ferts. In there is 600 pounds of gypsum, 100 pounds of SOP, and Nitrogen and a few other things. I was also able to get some cal-boro, and some organic liquids. I am thinking about buying a 55 gallon drum of Neptunes harvest. Anyone in CA, hit me up and we can make it happen.   Sunday, March 26 View Page This is going to be my test batch of seedlings. I am using the same method of germination as last year, but I’m doing all doses in 3x to just see what will happen. Till now things are going in a accelerated pace. Additionally, all 6 of the seeds I planted germinated and popped roots, so I think I got something down. With these being around a week and a half older than my actual seedlings, I will be able to experiment with potassium silicate, and some other custom ferts that I’m gona be making. For a couple of these I am thinking about going ham and just seeing how far I can over-fertilize and abuse these plants. One thing to add is that I still need to get my Mycos, so this won’t have any good fungi in it.   Tuesday, March 28 View Page RAIN! RAIN! RAIN! Can we get anything else??? When can go into my patch and till? Since I can’t stop the weather, I’m gona do what I can do. I covered a part of my patch that is the most saturated with tarps, and everything I could find that could stay flat. I hope this will help atleaset a bit…   Saturday, April 1 View Page Spreading the Compost and menure. It is about 2500 sq ft and it is a huge task. I was able to get half of it spread today, and il get the rest done tomorrow. I plan to till the day I plant the seeds. I wanted to plant seeds today, but it is wayyyy to wet outside. I think my final selection for my seeds will be the 1707 Casper’s and the 1940 Urena. I will be planting the 2287 Sadiq seeds as backup.   Sunday, April 2 View Page I’ve got some really nice seedlings right now. Although these tests have been through literal hell, with me leaving the light on for 72 hours straight and leaving the light off for a whole day at a point. I also added double the fertilizer I would usually add, and now im going to do 4x. I really want to push these seedlings to thier breaking point, and see how well they will do. Update on my planting date: Probably in the next 2 days. At this point I am waiting for 2 things. Mykos to come in the mail, and the soil to get a bit dryer to till. Considering I am going to plant about a week and a half after I plant the seed, I am going to be planing outside before April 20th, which is the day I planted seeds last year…   Wednesday, April 5 View Page Seeds are started. I am using Jason Booth’s meathod of starting seeds, but with a few changes that worked well for me. First I sanded the seeds and soaked them in a hydrogen peroxide solution for about 1-2 hours. Then I soaked them in a strong Humic acid solution, which made the water black (My silly measure lol) for about 3-4 hours wich was until night. Then I made another Humic solution, and this time the water was brown. I dipped the paper towels in that, and put the seeds in the little ziplock baggies. Then I cooked them in this cooler with a heat mat at 87 degrees :)   Thursday, April 6 View Page I picked up 62 Cubic feet of Perlite for an absolute steal. I spread it across the patch, but I was not able to get the most even spread. The middle has much more than the sides, but that is fine because I might add more in a later till. I also finished spreading all the compost and the amendments.   Thursday, April 6 View Page Because the is MORE rain comming, I have ran out of patience. I am not going to wait for the soil to dry to till. I am going to make sure the soil doesn't even get wet! I covered the wettest part of my patch, and the planting area, so I will be able to till soon. I hope to add a bunch of peat moss in addition to the Perlite.   Monday, April 10 View Page The babies are out!!! I am a little afraid for the 1707, it looks a bit weak. I think I might double plant near the 1707. It is a brown seed, so it might have just had a harder time germinating… I will see by the end of the day. The top 2, the 1940 and the 2287 are going. The one on the bottom right is the second 2287 and a part of its cots were just yellow and fungus growing on them, so I plucked that part off and I will spray a hydrogen peroxide solution. I think my light might be a bit too strong. I will test it with photone and post the results.   Wednesday, April 12 View Page Okkkk seems like I have a bunch of catching up to do on these entries, well let’s pick up where I left. These are the seedlings a couple days later greening up. Looks like the 1707 is goin to be fine, it’s just a bit late.   Monday, May 1 View Page Alright yall I’m back from Texas and the plants are somehow going crazzzyyy. They didn’t get heat or closed up for the past 4 days, and they still are growing fantastic. To the left of this picture is 2287 Backup and the 1940 on the back. The 1940 has the largest leaves I have ever seen on a seedling and is quickly vining out. It looks like in the next couple days I can make the easy decision to cull the 2287.   Monday, May 1 View Page Unfortunately, this dose not seem to be the case with the 1707 :(. The 1707, is on the right, and as you can see it is a much smaller and a bit burnt up than the 2287 right next to it. I don’t think the 1707 liked the sudden heat shock, when it went to 93 in the past week. In addition it probably did not take my extra dose of fertilizer too well like my other 3 plants. Although I don’t want to, it is seeming that the 2287 is growing with a lot more vigor, and more importantly HEAT risistance, so in the next few days I will probably cull the 1707 :(   Tuesday, May 2 View Page Also, the day before going to the world championships for robotics, I FINALLY got my patch tilled. BIG thanks to Mike Retzalf for helping me with my ground.   Tuesday, May 2 View Page Also, the day before going to the world championships for robotics, I FINALLY got my patch tilled. BIG thanks to Mike Retzalf for helping me with my ground.   Friday, May 5 View Page 1940 on the right. Going to cull it’s backup which is the 2287   Friday, May 5 View Page The 1707 is on the right in this pic. The 2287 is a bit ahead and I was thinking about culling the 1707, but the 2287 had a kink in its main and the 1707 is starting to pick up, so I’m going to go with my main 1707.   Wednesday, May 24 View Page Not exactly the biggest, or the smallest plants here on BP. This is the 1707 Casper’s, and it is one beast of a plant. Looks like I might get a very early pollantion with this one. I have been busy the past couple days with Finals and projects for the end of the year, hence I haven’t got too much up yet. For now I’m just hand watering, but I’m going to get the drip system, and share before June. Misters, probably after the 3rd of June, as that is the last day of school for me.   Friday, July 21 View Page Photo for MSG Board   Friday, July 21 View Page Photo for the MSG Board