Home What's New Message Board
BigPumpkins.com
Select Destination Site Search
 
lunker99 - 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. 143 Entries.
Monday, April 25 View Page
Time to get a late start on the diary this year. Most of April was cold and wet in our area so plenty of time to play around with other things. First of the two turkeys I harvested this year.
 
Tuesday, April 26 View Page
Next up need to thank Porkchop for everything he does to keep the yearly tomato team challenge rolling. Let's go get 'em Megakin and Sankalp!
 
Wednesday, May 4 View Page
By the beginning of May, was still too wet to play in the dirt, but at least it warmed up enough to give us a decent crop of these this year!
 
Saturday, May 7 View Page
This little guy had a close call with the lawnmower. Released in a safer location to become a garden pest later.
 
Monday, May 16 View Page
Finally dried out enough to start getting things planted mid-May so I'm behind as usual, lol. Introduction to this year's patch. Long gourds are the 128 Michael and 131 Tobeck
 
Monday, May 16 View Page
Field Pumpkins are the 168.7 Baggs, 186 Nesbitt, and 35 Peine. Also trying out the 171 Hebb Lunga Di Napoli this year
 
Monday, May 16 View Page
Marrow is the 152.5 Tobeck
 
Monday, May 16 View Page
Bushel Gourd is the 320.5 Connolly
 
Monday, May 16 View Page
AG lineup includes the 1747.5 Handy
 
Monday, May 16 View Page
2112 Skinner, 1501 Vander Wielen
 
Monday, May 16 View Page
and finally, my 705.5 from last year. Have two squash in the patch which are the 1701 Jutras and the 2118 Jutras. The 705.5 was initially just a germination test, but it started as the strongest AG so rearranged the patch to give it at least a start to see how it would grow.
 
Monday, May 16 View Page
Giant tomatoes include 7.66 Hill, 6.23 Konieczny, 8.83 La Rue, 6.55 Marley, The PDX Marley 5.71 x 9.65, 18 lb truss Spaziani, 8.355 Strickler, 7.12 Sutherland, 7.19 Tobeck, and my 5.23, 4.08, and 3.94
 
Monday, May 16 View Page
Watermelons are the 220.5 Smiley, 330.5 Vial, and 2 each of my 169 and 163 from last year
 
Wednesday, May 18 View Page
Trying two giant zucchini this year. The first is the 13.23 Brown
 
Wednesday, May 18 View Page
The other is one of Clayton's from the seed swap
 
Friday, May 20 View Page
Finally for the giant cantaloupe there's the 61.85 Davis, 71.5 English, 64.7 Terry and my 42.2 and 39.8 from last year
 
Thursday, May 26 View Page
Walleye bite was good this spring. Maybe too much time on the lake is why my garden struggles a little, lol
 
Tuesday, May 31 View Page
Looks like one of my hives swarmed. Gave this group a new home
 
Tuesday, June 7 View Page
Squash plants coming along. Good crop of weeds as well that I need to get a head of
 
Friday, June 10 View Page
Spent all evening night before trying to get ahead of the weeds with what's hopefully the last till of the year. Unfortunately go a lot more rain than expected right after. Weeds hadn't had a chance to wilt yet so a large percentage got watered back in that will have to be dealt with again later. 1501 and 2112 starting to stretch out along with the giant zukes
 
Friday, June 10 View Page
The 705.5 has continued to be the best plant in the patch, stretching out ahead of the other giants. 2118 and 1701 squash in the background.
 
Friday, June 10 View Page
171 Hebb Lunga Di Napoli Squash in front along with the 168.7 Baggs, 186 Nesbitt, and 35 Peine Field Pumpkins. The Baggs is starting to look loke the most aggressive plant of the bunch
 
Friday, June 10 View Page
131 Tobeck and 128 Michael long gourds starting to perk back up and take off after about losing both plants to root maggots. Started a second 128 as a backup when things didn't look good which is now planted in the middle
 
Friday, June 10 View Page
Watermelons continue to struggle so far this spring after having to keep the plants in the greenhouse longer than I wanted due to cold spring. Lost the 330.5 Vial plant so had to start another to replace it. Will be the only non-graft watermelon in the patch.
 
Friday, June 10 View Page
152.5 Tobeck Marrow and the 320.5 Connolly Bushel gourd. Ran out of space in the garden so planted my sweet potatoes between these two plants
 
Friday, June 10 View Page
Tomato plants looking good
 
Friday, June 10 View Page
1747.5 Handy in the background with giant cantaloupes in front
 
Friday, June 10 View Page
Cabbage and Kohlrabi coming along as well
 
Thursday, June 16 View Page
Vine burying on the 1747.5 starting to kick in this week as the plant started to kick it into gear. Also hit some temps in the 90's so needed to start protecting vine tips from burning.
 
Thursday, June 16 View Page
2112 still ahead of the 1501 by a bit. Giant zukes bushing up fast
 
Thursday, June 16 View Page
705.5 Still the biggest plant in the patch. Trying to train the vines back behind the stump this year. So far prefer it to the traditional Christmas tree pattern. If you start at the pack gives you more room to work as you move from vine to vine. Looks like the first pollination on it will be in a few days when were gone on vacation. Son will be on pollination duty while we are away. 2118 and 1701 still looking good as well.
 
Thursday, June 16 View Page
Long gourds starting to make their way up the new trellis
 
Thursday, June 16 View Page
Field pumpkin plot, each year trying to use ground cover a little more to help with weed control
 
Thursday, June 16 View Page
320.5 Connoly finally starting to vine out. Was stalled out for a while. 152.5 Tobeck marrow a little slow but getting some length to it now as well.
 
Thursday, June 16 View Page
Looks like the watermelons have finally turned the corner and looking healthier. Starting to see some new growth finally.
 
Thursday, June 16 View Page
Tomatoes continue to grow well. Some have already made it to the top of their cages.
 
Saturday, June 18 View Page
Off to Canada for a week of fishing! 2nd fish of the trip for me was a 29'" walleye, hard to go up from there.
 
Sunday, June 19 View Page
Son pollinated a nice 6 lobe blossom on the 705.5 while we were gone. Crossed with the 1747.5 Handy
 
Wednesday, June 22 View Page
Wife got the biggest Pike of the trip at 41"
 
Thursday, June 23 View Page
My biggest Pike of the trip came in at 37"
 
Friday, June 24 View Page
Always nice to see a few moose on the trip, as long as they're running away from the truck and not in front of it, lol
 
Saturday, June 25 View Page
Vacation over and back to the garden. Plants grew well while we were gone and so did the weeds so will take a while to get caught back up. Time to pollinate a few plants, starting with the 168.7 Baggs.
 
Saturday, June 25 View Page
35 Peine FP, crossed with the 168.7 Baggs. Previous pic 168.7 Baggs was pollinated with the 186 Nesbitt.
 
Saturday, June 25 View Page
13.23 Brown giant Zuke pollinated with the Clayton
 
Saturday, June 25 View Page
Clayton giant zuke pollinated with the Brown
 
Saturday, June 25 View Page
Returned home to a good crop of blueberries as well
 
Sunday, June 26 View Page
2118 Jutras pollinated with the 1701 Jutras. Nice long stem on this one
 
Tuesday, June 28 View Page
3 day old 220.5 Smiley, pollinated with my 169 from last year. Had planned on crossing this one with the 330.5 Vial but it had no males ready yet.
 
Tuesday, June 28 View Page
1701 Jutras pollinated with the 2118 Jutras
 
Wednesday, June 29 View Page
Had to cull the first pollination on the 705.5. Wasn't protected and got a little sunburned before we got back. Split across the top in the burned area when it started to grow. Too early in the year to deal with trying to nurse one along. Going with the backup a couple days younger pollinated on 6/21, same cross as this one.
 
Thursday, June 30 View Page
Several options on the biggest of the two 163 watermelon plants today. All pollinated with the 220.5 Smiley
 
Thursday, June 30 View Page
Pollinating a couple early long gourds for the state fair. These are on the 128 Michael pollinated with the 131 Tobeck.
 
Friday, July 1 View Page
First pollination on the 1501 Vander Wielen, pollinated with the 2112 Skinner
 
Saturday, July 2 View Page
Found a tomato on the 7.19 Tobeck. So far not seeing much for megas this year so going to trim up the other plants trying to force some better blossoms
 
Saturday, July 2 View Page
First pollination on the 2nd 163 plant
 
Saturday, July 2 View Page
Open pollination on the 169 starting to grow some
 
Saturday, July 2 View Page
Pollinated the 1747.5 Handy with the 2112 Skinner
 
Sunday, July 10 View Page
35 Peine 15 DAP
 
Sunday, July 10 View Page
168.7 Baggs 15 DAP
 
Sunday, July 10 View Page
169 melon 25 DAP
 
Monday, July 11 View Page
7.19 Tobeck blushing at an early age. Haven't done a good job with my maters this year and the hot weather isn't helping much on that front as well.
 
Monday, July 11 View Page
705.5 20 DAP. Won't win any beauty contests, but off to a decent start for rate of growth vs past year's pumpkins
 
Monday, July 11 View Page
2118 Jutras 15 DAP
 
Tuesday, July 12 View Page
Pollination day for the 152.5 Tobeck marrow. Selfed this one.
 
Tuesday, July 12 View Page
Started pollinating the 186 Nesbitt as well, crossed with the 168.7 Baggs
 
Tuesday, July 12 View Page
1701 Jutras 15 DAP. Evening light makes this one look yellow in the pic when it's really nice and green
 
Thursday, July 14 View Page
Cull from the Clayton giant zucchini plant, little over 13 lbs. When cut open cavity was hollow not solid like a normal zuke so looks like this one was crossed with something else.
 
Saturday, July 16 View Page
Another good day at the lake for the son and I
 
Saturday, July 16 View Page
Weighed the 7.19 Tobeck. Hopefully this is just a placeholder for our tomato team 2.56 lbs
 
Saturday, July 16 View Page
705.5 25 DAP. This one is still ramping up nicely, quite a bit bigger than any pumpkin I've had at this DAP before.
 
Saturday, July 16 View Page
2118 Jutras 20 DAP, not quite the same growth curve as the 705.5, but still doing well.
 
Wednesday, July 20 View Page
168.7 Baggs 25 DAP. Normally get 30 days of growth on my field pumpkins before they start to turn. With the heat this year, started to see some orange around the blossom on day 20 and predictably growth slowed down to a crawl last five days. This one went from being ahead of pace from previous PB to going to be a smaller than average pumpkin.
 
Wednesday, July 20 View Page
35 Peine pollinated on the same day as the Baggs is maturing at the same rate
 
Thursday, July 21 View Page
705.5 30 DAP still growing well, continuing to increase lbs/day average. Now measuring 60 lbs bigger than any pumpkin I've had at this DAP.
 
Thursday, July 21 View Page
2118 Jutras 25 DAP starting to get blocky. Growth on this one still ramping up nicely as well
 
Friday, July 22 View Page
1747.5 Handy 20 DAP, smallest in the patch at day 20. Hopefully it starts making up for lost time in the next few days.
 
Saturday, July 23 View Page
Yellow vine has showed up in the patch again this year despite best efforts to control the insects. Usually only lose a plant to this each year but hit hard this year. Have lost the 2112 Skinner, 1501 Vander Wielen, and the 1701 Jutras. Have also lost the 220.5 Smiley and one of my 163 melons to sudden wilt. Other plants still OK, so hopefully can get something to the finish line this year.
 
Sunday, July 24 View Page
Another quick turn on a tomato, which hopefully I can replace later as well. 2.34 lbs from the 8.355 Strickler. This is one of the few plants that has been producing megas for me this year so far
 
Monday, July 25 View Page
168.7 Baggs done turning and done growing. Time to start pollinating the next round.
 
Monday, July 25 View Page
35 Peine all done as well
 
Monday, July 25 View Page
169 approaching triple digits
 
Monday, July 25 View Page
other 169 plant 35 DAP still picking up the pace as well
 
Tuesday, July 26 View Page
705.5 35 DAP now measuring 100 lbs larger than any previous pumpkin at this age. Already measures bigger than my state fair pumpkin from last year which was cut mid August. Even though it was covered early on, had some night animal leave claw marks from climbing on it when it was young. Scars from that are really starting to show now.
 
Tuesday, July 26 View Page
2118 Jutras 30 DAP. Would be my largest day 30 ever, except for this year's 705.5
 
Wednesday, July 27 View Page
1747.5 Handy 25 DAP. Slowest in the patch growth rate so far, and behind previous pumpkins as well. Not quite as lopsided as the pic makes it look
 
Monday, August 1 View Page
Off for another week of fishing up in Canada. Always nerve-racking to be gone for a week this time of year hoping the automatic waterers are working while away. Weather was great, averaged mid 70's temp with one morning down in the mid 40's while it was in the 90's pushing 100 at home.
 
Friday, August 5 View Page
While the pumpkins are still growing, the y both dropped off on pace for the last 10 days. 2118 Jutras 40 DAP averaged 21/day for the last 10. Sitting at 70 lbs ahead of my PB 1091 pace from last year.
 
Friday, August 5 View Page
705.5 45 DAP dropped to 26/day for the last 10. Although its growth rate is pretty average for a lot of growers its far ahead of anything I've grown before in my patch. 1091 didn't hit this OTT until 9/4 last year so a month ahead of my previous PB. Hopefully can get something brewed up to maintain or at least stall the drop in growth rate.
 
Saturday, August 6 View Page
Cull off the 171 Hebb Lunga Di Napoli Squash that I had missed until now. Already have more growing on this plant than I should so it had to go. Remaining ones are a bit better than this one.
 
Saturday, August 6 View Page
152.5 Tobeck approaching a PB. Hopefully the color holds.
 
Saturday, August 6 View Page
1747.5 Handy 35 DAP continues to be the runt of the patch in both size and growth rate. Averaged just under 20 lbs/day over the last 10.
 
Sunday, August 7 View Page
Long gourd made pretty good gains while we were gone. Was probably only a couple feet long when we left, now in the 7 foot range. Have a decent one coming along on the 131 Tobeck as well. Looking at the trellis looks like there's a lot of work to do removing culls this week.
 
Monday, August 8 View Page
Finally made it to the store to officially weigh a couple of tomatoes that were harvested while we were gone. Dad got a little nervous and picked a couple days too early looks like, but it's better than the alternative. My tomato efforts are still pretty poor overall this year, but at least have a couple over 3 lbs now. First one is 3.39 lbs from the 6.23 Konieczny Domingo.
 
Monday, August 8 View Page
Next up weighed 3.085 from my 3.94 Domingo. Looks like the watering system for the giants failed while we were gone so time for a couple late season ones yet if we can get that dialed back in
 
Tuesday, August 9 View Page
Only one melon in the patch that still has reasonable gains. Plants are getting ravaged by mites and everything I've tried failing to control, so expecting this one to start dropping soon as well.
 
Wednesday, August 10 View Page
705.5 slowing down, but OTT is still a month ahead of my 1091 from last year. Now only 5.5 inches left before it ties my PB OTT, but will have to gain quite a few more to pass my PB weight as the 1091 was pretty heavy to chart. Hopefully it can keep creeping along for the next month or so. Plant looks plenty healthy yet.
 
Wednesday, August 10 View Page
2118 squash picked the pace back up quite a bit the last 5 days if I measured it correctly. Now 85 lbs ahead of the 1091 at this time last year. Think it's time to move to measuring every 10 days though.
 
Wednesday, August 10 View Page
Have a bushel going finally on the 320.5 Connolly. Plant doesn't look great but it's 20 lbs ahead of any of my past ones at 25 DAP.
 
Thursday, August 11 View Page
Decision day for the 1747.5 Handy. Depending on what it tapes today determines whether it's headed for the State Fair tomorrow or whether I'm taking a field pumpkin for the big pumpkin contest.
 
Thursday, August 11 View Page
Tapes 434, down to 11 lbs/day at 40 DAP. Much too soon for it be this slow, time to move on as I don't see this one getting over 1,000 with this growth curve.
 
Friday, August 12 View Page
1747.5 Handy x 2112 Skinner measured 434 and went 478 so just a touch over 10% heavy. Might have been able to get it a little heavier if fully grown out, but still would have been a push to get to 1,000 at the rate it was going.
 
Friday, August 12 View Page
Pete and Alba Caspers led the way this year with a 1281 lb beauty
 
Friday, August 12 View Page
Don Young and son-in-law Tommy Rhodes came in 2nd with this 1046 lb fatty
 
Friday, August 12 View Page
Sheriff Dave Davis came in 3rd with this 1018 lb chunk.
 
Friday, August 12 View Page
We were a distant 4th with our entry, lol.
 
Tuesday, August 16 View Page
Had a good giant veggie day at the fair.
 
Tuesday, August 16 View Page
66.9 lbs from the 35 Peine x 168.7 Baggs. 35 Peine has big pumpkin genetics behind it and this one was 7.9% heavy. Thinking the 35 Peine could do something in the hands of a competent grower.
 
Tuesday, August 16 View Page
64.7 Terry x Open. Cantaloupes are struggling this year. Not sure I'll get one much bigger than this the way they look.
 
Tuesday, August 16 View Page
84.5" on the 128 Michael. Had a couple others hanging over 100" which were pushing my PB and growing so decided to leave those for later.
 
Tuesday, August 16 View Page
This is from one of my 169 plants. Had potential early, but my watermelons got decimated by mites which ended growth prematurely. Still was 4.9% heavy.
 
Tuesday, August 16 View Page
Took one of the smaller of the triplets from the 171 Hebb as the largest one had the fastest growth rate yet. Set a new fair record in the squash category at 60.8 lbs.
 
Tuesday, August 16 View Page
Even managed to score a 2nd place in the giant bell category
 
Tuesday, August 16 View Page
Bling for the day
 
Tuesday, August 30 View Page
Didn't pay close enough to the diary calendar so couple entries have the wrong date attached, should be 8/18 and 8/27. Anyways officially lost the 705.5 today as it was leaking out the bottom. Stem area soft spots were still getting bigger but hadn't made it into the cavity yet.
 
Tuesday, August 30 View Page
Final pic of the 705.5 before carving it up to get it out of the garden. When cutting it up several of the seeds had already germinated so had been dead for a while. Taped 923 lbs when it stopped growing. We weighed each piece when hauling it out and came up with 922.6 lbs. Lost quite a bit of liquid/ooze that ran out while carving it up and pretty sure it lost some lbs from the time it stopped growing earlier in the month so realistically it was probably a little over chart when it was still healthy. Will probably try this one again as it was by far the fastest growing pumpkin I've ever had until it aborted for some reason.
 
Tuesday, August 30 View Page
Down to one remaining option for the fall weigh-offs, which is the 2118 Jutras x 1701 Jutras. Good news is it's now measuring the highest OTT I've ever had for a pumpkin before and it's still growing. Still a chance for a PB on this one in a few weeks.
 
Saturday, September 3 View Page
Soft spot developing on the stem on the 705.5. No growth on this one for the last several days so a little worried about this one. Can't be good when they stop dead like this. Doesn't look like we'll be setting a PB with this one now.
 
Saturday, September 3 View Page
Despite daily cleanings and treatment, continue to lose ground on the 705.5. Soft spot keeps working deeper behind the stem. Not looking good on this one making it to the weigh-offs at the end of September,
 
Sunday, September 4 View Page
Have finally gotten ahead of the mites to some degree and starting to see some new growth on the plant as a result. Melons started adding a few inches again as well, but time will tell if it's actual weight or just the rind growing.
 
Sunday, September 4 View Page
Long gourd will be the one category we have extra's to choose from this year. Have a few longer than previous PB hanging. Been letting a new one continue growing on each plant once the previous one's growth slows down to a couple of inches per day. Don't know if it's costing me much on the finished length or not.
 
Sunday, September 4 View Page
Remaining 2 squash still slowly adding inches and are bigger than the fair record specimen. Have a 3rd that is adding inches fast so will be interesting to see where it ends up.
 
Sunday, September 4 View Page
320.5 Connolly gourd has slowed down some, but still growing at a reasonable rate.
 
Monday, September 5 View Page
Always nice to have a few of these on patrol around the garden. See some mantis through the summer once in a while but it seems like they always become more visible this time of year.
 
Monday, September 5 View Page
With so many plants going down early this year, was able to get a jump start on fall garden prep. Seeding down cereal rye and forage radish in the current open spots. Will go with just the rye in the later spots as it's getting on the late side to get the full benefit from the radish as is.
 
Monday, September 5 View Page
Picked a couple of sunflowers today. Not sure if the seeds are quite ready, but they're almost all gone from birds or what else may be snacking on them. Nothing special, they went 12'7" and 11'8". Probably not all bad being they had no special care and very little water due to the drought we're in. Seed was the 20'3" Brown.
 
Tuesday, September 6 View Page
Fair pumpkin was starting to go bad on display in the front yard so was time to chunk it up. Pretty thick supporting why it was 10% heavy, which is the lowest % heavy for this seed so far for the ones on pumpkin fanatic. Cross was 1747.5 Handy x 2122 Skinner
 
Wednesday, September 14 View Page
The 169 still slowly adding a few inches. Pace picked up a little since the last measure.
 
Wednesday, September 14 View Page
320.5 Connolly picked up the rate of gain some as well, but still slow enough that will come up well short of goal this year.
 
Sunday, September 18 View Page
Have a chance of getting hit by big hail tonight. Not much left in the patch so trying to save what's left for the weigh offs the next couple weekends.
 
Saturday, September 24 View Page
Had our local weigh-off last weekend in September. Here's our best marrow for the year from the 152.5 Tobeck, which is a DQ due to color. About done with this category as you can't hardly get a fruit to maturity around here without it picking up color that DQ's it. Everything else about the fruit is all marrow as far as looks, no pumpkin but the color rule kicks it out. About 1/3 of the marrows brought to our weigh-off DQ'd on color.
 
Saturday, September 24 View Page
Here's our legal fruit from the same plant, just young and immature.
 
Saturday, September 24 View Page
Brought a couple Lungs di Napoli squash to weigh. Didn't do a good job with fruit management on the plant to get anything real big. First time growing these and always had 3-4 on the plant at a time. Here's the smaller of the two.
 
Saturday, September 24 View Page
Largest for the year for us, which is a new state record. Have a longer one still on the plant but it doesn't have the mass so it will be lighter.
 
Saturday, September 24 View Page
Took second with this 79-pound pumpkin from the 168.7 Baggs x 186 Nesbitt cross. Was on pace to be a pb, but ripened at 20 DAP and has been on the vine since early August. Mark has shown the potential of his seed this year. Need to start a couple of FP plants a little later, but still doesn't solve our heat/humidity issue.
 
Saturday, September 24 View Page
Took first with this BG from 320.5 Connolly x Self cross. Went 11.5% heavy.
 
Saturday, September 24 View Page
Always took first with a new PB long gourd of 116.75. Cross was 131 Tobeck x Open
 
Saturday, September 24 View Page
Finally, brought a cull off the 2118 Jutras plant so we would have something to weigh in the giant category. Got us first (and last) in the squash category as it was the only one there, lol. Saving the big one for next week trying to max out weight. This one was 14% heavy. Would be nice if the big one goes like that as well.
 
Sunday, September 25 View Page
Looks like we should have weighed the big squash yesterday instead of trying to get another week out of it. As soon as I saw this cut the vine to stop anymore growth. Couple inches deep so will have to nurse all week to keep it sound for Anamosa.
 
Saturday, October 1 View Page
Missed taking a few pics of what we took to Anamosa, but here's what I got. We brought 3 LG's to the weigh-off. Our longest one was damaged which would and went 118", which would have been a new PB. The other two were about the same length, this is the longer of the two also from the 128 Michael.
 
Saturday, October 1 View Page
Also brought another small marrow from the 152.5 Tobeck
 
Saturday, October 1 View Page
Brought a couple watermelons, this was the larger of the two by far. Felt lucky to have this one even get this large after what the mites did to the plants this year.
 
Saturday, October 1 View Page
Squash made it through the week in one piece. Now a new personal best AG/Squash for us. Looking through the records believe this is the 2nd largest squash grown in Iowa behind Don and Tommy's 1326.5 from a couple years ago. Cross is 2118 Jutras x 1701 Jutras
 
Saturday, October 1 View Page
And of course, the obligatory photo of Pete's new state record 2424
 

 

Top of Page

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