Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 67 Entries. Wednesday, April 19 View Page Our plants are approaching the 4th leaf size. We are growing 4 plants this year: the 2365 Wolf, 2332 Paton, 1940 Urena and the 2144 Barron. We also planted our own 1483 Bryson in each hut as a back up. This is a photo of cutting the rye back at the planting area in the small greenhouse.   Wednesday, May 3 View Page The rye is about one foot tall now time to cut the regrowth will be less aggressive but our goal is to have no bare ground and always have something to feed the life in the soil   Sunday, May 14 View Page Plants are doing well about 6 feet now. Time to cut back the rye , we do not till just cut the roots at ground level ahead of the vines.   Sunday, May 14 View Page Plants are doing well about 6 feet now. Time to cut back the rye , we do not till just cut the roots at ground level ahead of the vines.   Wednesday, May 17 View Page We have 2 plants in greenhouse and 2 in netting one netting left to put up   Friday, May 19 View Page Both the 2232.5 and 2144 in greenhouse are the fastest growing well ahead of the 2365 and 1940 and will be out of the 10 x 10 in another day.   Friday, May 19 View Page Both the 2232.5 and 2144 in greenhouse are the fastest growing well ahead of the 2365 and 1940 and will be out of the 10 x 10 in another day.   Friday, May 19 View Page Both the 2232.5 and 2144 in greenhouse are the fastest growing well ahead of the 2365 and 1940 and will be out of the 10 x 10 in another day.   Saturday, May 20 View Page The 10x10 greenhouse. Are off inside the big greenhouse and vine burying has begun   Saturday, May 27 View Page Night time temps have been about 6 degrees C with a couple of nights of frost. This is a picture of the 1940 both it and the 2365 are behind the ones in the greenhouse   Wednesday, June 7 View Page We have had a year of extremes mostly cool and dry but then 4 hot days of almost 100 degrees . This is the 1940 after 20 Minuit intervals of wetting down the plant. Amazingly it did not burn and is doing ok now iand with nighttime temps at 40 degrees the two plants outside are only half the size of the two inside the greenhouse.   Wednesday, June 7 View Page We have had a year of extremes mostly cool and dry but then 4 hot days of almost 100 degrees . This is the 1940 after 20 Minuit intervals of wetting down the plant. Amazingly it did not burn and is doing ok now iand with nighttime temps at 40 degrees the two plants outside are only half the size of the two inside the greenhouse.   Wednesday, June 7 View Page This is the 2332.5. There are about 20 vines behind the pumpkin so we will be pollinating towards the end of the week.   Wednesday, June 7 View Page This is a picture of the 2332.5. The one above was the 2144. Both plants are more than double the size of the two under the netting outside   Wednesday, June 7 View Page The fall rye is ready to cut down. We will just cut the top off so it does not go to seed as it would take too much water to get the new cover crop started   Wednesday, June 7 View Page The fall rye is ready to cut down. We will just cut the top off so it does not go to seed as it would take too much water to get the new cover crop started   Wednesday, June 7 View Page This is a picture of the 2332.5. The one above was the 2144. Both plants are more than double the size of the two under the netting outside   Wednesday, June 7 View Page This is a picture of the 2332.5. The one above was the 2144. Both plants are more than double the size of the two under the netting outside   Wednesday, June 7 View Page This is a picture of the 2332.5. The one above was the 2144. Both plants are more than double the size of the two under the netting outside   Wednesday, June 7 View Page This is a picture of the 2332.5. The one above was the 2144. Both plants are more than double the size of the two under the netting outside   Wednesday, June 7 View Page The fall rye is ready to cut down. We will just cut the top off so it does not go to seed as it would take too much water to get the new cover crop started   Wednesday, June 7 View Page The fall rye is ready to cut down. We will just cut the top off so it does not go to seed as it would take too much water to get the new cover crop started   Sunday, June 11 View Page This is our 2365 it is behind the ones in the greenhouse but the cold weather and soil has really held it back. It was 5 degrees c (40 f) one morning this week. It was hot today and the plant really responded well.   Monday, June 12 View Page This is our first pollination on the 2332.5 there were no flowers on the 2365 so it was crossed to the 2144. There are 11 side vines on each side with 5 ended so the plant is a good size   Thursday, June 15 View Page This is the 2144. With 26 side vines behind the pumpkin will be pollinated tomorrow   Thursday, June 15 View Page The 2332.5 is also a huge plant . Both plants inside are well ahead of the outside ones.   Wednesday, June 21 View Page The 2144 pollinated on the 17th and the 2332.5 on the 16th. Both plants doing great. Only 5 feet left to the end of each patch on both plants.   Thursday, June 22 View Page This is a shot of the 1940 a huge improvement in the plant which is getting some heat now.will be pollinating in a few days   Thursday, June 22 View Page This is the 2365 picking up as well pollination early next week.   Thursday, June 22 View Page This shows what we use to hold up leaves. It’s a number 9 wire that circles the stem just below the leaf.   Friday, June 23 View Page This a photo of the main vine of the 2365 while stil in the 10 x 10 greenhouse. A huge leaf fell over and split the vine.   Friday, June 23 View Page This shows how it healed about a month later . The 2332 also has two similar splits on the vine as well . This type of split usually does not hurt the plants.   Saturday, June 24 View Page JMS solution ready to put on next years patch. Pumpkin leaves were added to grow microbes that pumpkins need   Saturday, June 24 View Page Pollinated the 2365 to the 1940 today.lobes were perfect round shape   Monday, June 26 View Page Pollinated the 1940 to the 2365 to my surprise it had 6 lobes. Unfortunately I cracked the main and there will be no more chances unless I use a side vine.   Monday, June 26 View Page I bring the male flowers in before they open and it them in the sun or under lights   Tuesday, June 27 View Page Both plants in the greenhouse will be fully grown in about a week.The 2144 is our best plant. The greenhouse is 30 by 75.   Tuesday, June 27 View Page Squash bugs, vine bores, and cucumber beetles all showed up this past week. We do not use chemicals so I have been catching bugs manually and we keep them out with netting. In the end will see who wins   Thursday, June 29 View Page With the warmer weather the vines are making a new leaf every day and hard to keep up with.   Saturday, July 1 View Page These guys are everywhere in the greenhouse wish they could catch vine bores and squash bugs.   Saturday, July 1 View Page After cutting the cover crop masked bandits make holes in the straw and steal worms at night.   Saturday, July 1 View Page Seven nights in a row and seven handfuls of marshmallows. We have a large bush to relocate them to where I am sure they will be much happier Lol. However on the eighth night trap was set off and bait was gone. There’s always one or two that are smarter, oh well I will just keep trying.   Tuesday, July 4 View Page Both plants in greenhouse doing great almost done vine burring.Day 20 numbers are looking good will post numbers in a couple of days   Tuesday, July 4 View Page Tho is the 2332.5. It’s big enough that I can’t lift it now   Sunday, July 9 View Page This was our 2144 unfortunately it was cooked in the heat. It stopped growing at 18 days and day 20 measured 204 lbs. we pollinated another on the 8th but with the stem wound I can’t see that healing properly   Sunday, July 9 View Page This is the 2332.5 it measured 174 lbs day 20 but I am seeing some disease on 2 of the vines   Friday, July 14 View Page The 2365 reached day 20 doing pretty well at 162 lbs   Sunday, July 16 View Page With the use of greensafe foliar spray when used cucumber beetles and slugs don’t like the taste of the leaves and will not eat the leaves but they do still eat flowers so we lay out some petals on the leaves arround the outside of the patch for them to hide under making them easy to pick off,caught over a thousand that way. As for the vinebore they were easy to catch picked off one to ten each day for three weeks total of about 100 I finally gave up and used seven for stink bugs and the nymphs that were hatching out.I could not figure out a pattern to catch them The greenhouse seems to be a motel magnet for all these bugs while the netting has nowhere near the number of invaders no vinebore no stink bugs and only a few beetles.   Sunday, July 16 View Page The 1940 also doing well day 20 185 lbs   Monday, July 17 View Page The 2332.5 was 655 growing 48.1 lbs per day for the last 10 days   Friday, July 21 View Page I have never had to add nitrogen before so after many applications of fish fertilizer the 2365 looks great with strong leaves and so far not out of control. Vines are all terminated now.Pumpkin is doing well also day 30 numbers in a couple of days. numbers in a couple of days   Monday, July 24 View Page The 2365 is at 592 lbs and growing 43 lbs per day   Wednesday, July 26 View Page Thus is the 1940. At 717 lbs it has the best day 30 numbers growing 53.2 lbs per day   Thursday, July 27 View Page The crown of the 2332 is huge and pumpkin growing well.   Thursday, July 27 View Page With several vines having phytophtora we figured it was better to pull the diseased plant and try to clean the soil for next year rather than keep a July pollination.the plant had the strongest leaf and stems I have ever seen.it was crossed to the 2332 so should be a great cross   Friday, July 28 View Page Do you think those top roofs are not important?this one’s huge,almost as big as the side vine. I have noticed some of them are a lot more agressive than others. We will be paying more attention next year.   Saturday, July 29 View Page With four plants this year we hoped to get to the finish line with 3 but it’s not meant to be. This is the 1940 averaging over 50 lbs a day was just too much for it. Over the years we have had 5 or 6 six lobes but none have made it.   Saturday, July 29 View Page The 2332 is doing well averaging 43.9 lbs per day now at 1189 lbs.   Saturday, August 5 View Page With the cool weather only 10 degrees Celsius at night the 2365 averaged 31.5 lbs per day now at 970 lbs   Saturday, August 5 View Page The 2332 averaged 32lbs per day for the week and is now at 1408 lbs.   Sunday, September 3 View Page A highlight for us was the GVGO patch tour   Sunday, September 10 View Page By keeping duct tape on the split we were able to keep it growing for 25 more days to try to mature the seeds.It started to get soft so we put it in the shed hoping to put it on display at the local one day fair but it rotted first. Its averaged 27 lbs per day with a the split in it most of the seed’s were still not mature but we did get a handful of seeds   Sunday, September 10 View Page On day 63 the 2332 was 430 inches and down to 12.6 lbs per day. There is lots of disease on the plant. I think the most impressive part of this plant is the crown and main leading up to the pumpkin which I will show in the next picture.   Sunday, September 10 View Page 2332   Sunday, September 10 View Page The 2365 was lost to rot at about 1000 lbs no seeds recovered   Sunday, September 10 View Page This is a picture of the 12 species cover crop in the patches that are resting for 2 years   Sunday, September 10 View Page When the cover crop is terminated the plants are 5 feet tall so we cut the top 2 feet off and scatter winter rye over top and chop the rest of the plants. This way we always have something growing in the patch.