Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 71 Entries. Friday, May 13 View Page This 2022 diary will serve as a record of the year's efforting and events. It has been 8 years since I last grew a giant pumpkin. That first year growing a giant, I achieved 215 lbs using generic seeds from ParkSeed.com. Since that time, I have applied and fine tuned the growing skills learned from that experience to my general gardening practices in the vegetable garden. Automated irrigation, cover crop timing, lasagna layering practices, compost tea and soil biology, fertilization and foliar feeding timing have all produced fine vegetable crops year on end. Love your soil, and the soil will love your plants; end of story! Now, it's time to revisit this experience with the help of my step son. After seasons end in 2012, I acquired some good genetics from a generous grower on this fourm, and planned to make my second try in 2013. After germinating 2 seeds, the plant went wonky 15 days in and was damaged by winds so I scrapped the grow in favor of vegetables. Never to be revisited. Until this year. When I saw a Dill's Atlantic Giant seed package at Home Depot. I felt the itch. Thinking about how I overwintered my garden bed with a good cover crop of Austrian Pea's, smothered by old fall leaves in the spring, how worm rich that side of the garden is..... I impulsively bought the seeds. Came home and started germinated them, underwhelmed by their size and coloration. Sowed them anyways, but then remembered that I had saved those seeds from 8 years ago still!! Excitement growing, I sanded the edges down, soaked, and into the quart pots they went. The size and difference between proven genetics and store bought seeds is significant.   Monday, May 23 View Page After 10 days and no activity from the old seeds, I inspected them to find rotted insides. My heart sank. That night I happen to read an online article about Arkansas 4-H doing a giant pumpkin competition in my neighboring county. I called the organizers the next day and found out that the giant pumpkin and giant watermelon seeds were being sent out to all the kids that week. I just made it on the shipping list - and sure enough the seeds showed up one week later! We were so excited! Choosing the best 8 of the 12 seeds, into the pots they went!   Sunday, May 29 View Page Of the 8 4-H seeds sowed, only one had damage: the rounded end of the seed was chipped off. But this mighty seed instantly took off 3 days later with no seed shell to break through; while the rest of the pack never came up until day 7. Thus I let this fighter be the one we selected to move forward. Here you can see it compared to the Ferry Morse starts. She has already graduated up to the gallon pot.   Tuesday, May 31 View Page The rest of the pack finally (and rather spontaneously) decided to launch. But this girl was ahead of the bunch by 5 days, and I liked how big her cotyledons were. For the potting mix: a mixture of potting soil, worm castings, native garden soil, mycorrhizae granules, and 1 tsp 13-13-13. I also water with Max Sea all purpose grow water soluble fertilizer at 1 tblsp/g   Friday, June 3 View Page Planting day has arrived! After making a nice hole and using half of the dirt removed, we prepared more special soil mixture using native soil combined with worm castings, potting mix, black kow manure, mycorrhizae granules, azomite power, gypsum, humic acid and some more 13-13-13 granular. I placed 3 Wallace's slow release fertilizer packets into the hole and filled in using my mixture, orientating the first true leaf away from the direction I need the main vine to go. As she grows, the hole will get filled in and then eventually mounded around the vine stem. Lots of mycorrhizae granules on the bare roots when going in, then watered deeply.   Tuesday, June 7 View Page 2022 Little Rock, Arkansas Grower's diary   Tuesday, June 7 View Page I brewed the first round of compost tea this past weekend. The garden vegetables and flowers benefitted greatly from it. The onions are maturing, it was time to fold them over before final harvest. The vine is starting out well. Flagging a little in the daytime sun - I will be deploying 40% shade cloth soon. Luckily this week is "cooler" in the mid 80s and rainy at times, making the starting transition very pleasant. Next week I saw highs 95+ so we'll see how it goes. Arkansas growing at it's finest - lots of swings this year. Praying for no wind! I plant to foliar feed the Max Sea at a rate of 800ppm every 5 days once the vine puts off a few more leaves. Soon it will be time for the light first round of insect + fungal systemics as well.   Saturday, June 11 View Page 40% shade cloth is up and not a moment too soon! I could tell the vine was happy to have it.   Saturday, June 11 View Page We had 4 inches of rain over the past 4 days. The vine did very good with the skewers holding things down. I watered the vine deeply with freshly brewed compost tea; now to let her stretch!   Wednesday, June 15 View Page Holding steady as she continues to acclimate and stretch. We filled in with soil at the base past the cots, and soon will mound up. The weather is increasingly hot, some 96F days already which is …August weather, not June. Looks like stationary High pressure ridges are in the future for us in the next few weeks as well.   Wednesday, June 15 View Page Reach for the sky!!   Thursday, June 16 View Page Guide twine in place with some tension; it’s always a worrysome time when you are waiting for the vine to fall over. Our nights are 80F so it should be fine….. hopefully lol   Saturday, June 18 View Page Friday morning I woke up to a vine which decided to lay down overnight. That rush of worry as you walk up to the stump : did it lay down or did it snap!?! Luckily, she rested down very well, only 30 degrees off of the vining direction. Two small adjustments in the mid-day heat, 4 hours apart. And a final adustment late the next morning is all it took to get the growth tip on point.   Monday, June 20 View Page Steady as she grows. Secondaries are starting to really peek out and launch to the sides starting at node 2. We sprinkled a light amount of 46-0-0 granular around the base and halfway up the vine, dusted everywhere with mycoz, then applied our special soil mix (native soil, potting mix, Black kow, used worm casting from the compost tea, mycoz) to completely bury the stump and vine halfway up, leaving the baby secondary vines to poke through. Then we watered deeply with a diluted kelp and fish emulsion mix. Finally another foliar feeding of Max Sea Grow (250ppm) We have the next 5 days touching 100F…. This would absolutely be impossible without the shade cloth!!   Thursday, June 23 View Page Hot and dry for the last 10 days. We had a brief surprise rain cell cool things off this evening, so it’s time for some maintenance work. The first few side shoots have laid down, we will work on straightening their vining direction and getting the first nodes into dirt along with attending to “spicing up” the main with the special mix. I want to bury a Wallace slow release fert pack every 5 foot along the main vine in addition to the geanular nitrogen, preferably locating one just up and downstream of the fertilized pumpkin but we’ll see how that idea really pans out. Third round of compost tea is ready to start bubbling, time to really soak the entire plot with water, tea, and systemic insecticide to anticipate it filling in. I plan to be pollinating fruit in …. 2 weeks at this pace?   Saturday, June 25 View Page The speed of growth is impressive. I guess these really hot days put the vine into overdrive. Yesterday was a 98F day and we only had slight flagging under the shade cloth. Today is forecasted to pass 100F. We did some vine work and covered the main with our soil mix, staked and buried secondaries as they start to lay down. I ground drenched the vine and immediate area with about 10 gallons of compost tea and 1 tsp of Dominion 2L (Imidacloprid 21.4%). We are anticipating rain tomorrow so I foliar sprayed Bonide Infuse last night after sunset. Next weeks temperatures look awesome!! Things are looking very promising given that I feel I am 2 weeks behind….   Saturday, June 25 View Page I spy with my little eye, my first fruit!! It will have roughly 13 secondaries behind it, if and when they all finally grow out…. Some secondaries don’t seem to want to stretch and go, while those across or adjacent to them are flying out. This fruit falls approximately half way up the available plot length, so I plan to pollinate it and then let the main vine continue and see how much more plant mass we can get behind a second and possibly third fruit.   Tuesday, June 28 View Page Continuing to lengthen. I accidentally snapped off a new secondary when making an adjustment this morning, a reminder to slow down and be careful. Coloration looks good, the secondary vine leaves near the base look a bit wrinkled, probably too much Nitrogen so I will withhold adding more granular. Foliar feeding Max Sea Grow + Chelated Calcium at 400ppm with no ill effects, will continue to ramp up my dosage slowly. First signs of fruit on the secondaries now too. The first main vine fruit never grew past a nub, but more are forming along the way. I am looking to set fruit at roughly 85% down the plot length (18 ft main vine), so another 6-10 ft to go.   Tuesday, June 28 View Page It’s time for more vine maintenance soon. More tiny fruits are forming at the nodes along the main and now at secondaries too, but nothings swelling up and approaching flowering yet. This week’s temps have been amazing, 86/60F, but honestly the vine grows faster when its hot! Next week the next ridge of high pressure returns, and the sweltering heat along with it. All of the storms and associated wind have luckily missed us and so has the rain too. I am running the irrigation every 3 days to keep things watered. It won’t be long now.   Thursday, June 30 View Page Root growth is impressive. I’ve spread out and consumed 2lbs of mycorrhizal since starting. I did vine maintenance, foliar feeding, and deep soaking of the plot. More compost tea is brewing, this time the entire 25 gallons of tea will be applied to only the pumpkin plot. I also sprayed down the area I anticipate having the fruit with a Daconil/Sulfur mix to anticipate fungus issues during pollination. We are ready to set fruit, fingers crossed!   Friday, July 1 View Page It’s the third fruit on the main vine so far. The first two never did anything other than stay a tiny nub. This fruit is looking more swollen right out of the gate. So far the main vine is fruiting every 4 nodes. I treated the fruiting area with a ground broadcast spray of sulfur and Daconil to ward off any negative fungus influences near the fruit. 25 gallons of compost tea is out to drench the pumpkin plot. Now we hold our breath and see what happens.   Tuesday, July 5 View Page Oh the heat!! This high pressure ridge is killing us! It’s been so hot, and so dry. We managed only a brief 0.5” rain last Saturday, and that’s pretty much it for the last month. Even with the shade cloth, I had major leaf flagging for the last two days in the peak heat. I guess it doesn’t matter, when its a heat indexed 108F+, its just plumb hot. I worry for the fruits on the main : pollination is so near, and they are reaching the near edge of the shade cloth. Despite the heat, growth is strong. So strong, that I feel a little behind on the node work, pruning and direction training, especially after all the work this weekend celebrating the 4th with the family. Such good times and good memories!! But now it’s time to continue the work. I watered deeply and evenly with my new 30” hand wand tonight in addition to running the irrigation. Soil and vine work tomorrow, along with the next foliar feed of Max Sea Grow (500ppm) and chelated Calcium. I’ll need the gallon sprayer this time! Also planning on re-dusting all nodes with more mycorrhiza to really get root abundance for these first two weeks after pollination. Everything to focus on the cellular foundation that the pumpkin genetics will set in stone. Starting pollination watch tomorrow morning. Males are firing off so all systems go!   Wednesday, July 6 View Page Caught up on the work tonight, so blessed to have an amazing wife that feeds us and keeps all the things moving for our family. Trenched and buried all the exposed secondaries and main vine with my soul mix. This time its a heavier peat, Black Kow, potting soil trio with kelp, gypsum, azomite, mycorrhiza and humic acid amendments. Noticed a lot of striped cucumber beetle on all the leaves. No holes or evident chewing damage, they did seem a litte lethargic. But so am I when it’s this hot outside LOL. Went ahead and ground drenched the base and main vine with 3tsp Domionion 2L to keep things tight. Another cup of mycorrhiza spread all about, and then proceeded to deep soak everything in. This is the sexond day to deep soak the plot. My sandy loam is quick to leech and quick to dry, but my leaf cover is helping retain a lot of moisture. Finally a foliar feed of the Max Sea Grow and Calcium to finish off. Tomorrow morning we pollinate this first beauty. It only has like 12 secondaries behind it. Not all of the secondaries actually take off, like 35% stay stunted right at the node and just prduce a 3+ pack of flowers. I am not sure if this is genetic related, or something I am causing.   Wednesday, July 6 View Page Caught up on the work tonight, so blessed to have an amazing wife that feeds us and keeps all the things moving for our family. Trenched and buried all the exposed secondaries and main vine with my soul mix. This time its a heavier peat, Black Kow, potting soil trio with kelp, gypsum, azomite, mycorrhiza and humic acid amendments. Noticed a lot of striped cucumber beetle on all the leaves. No holes or evident chewing damage, they did seem a litte lethargic. But so am I when it’s this hot outside LOL. Went ahead and ground drenched the base and main vine with 3tsp Domionion 2L to keep things tight. Another cup of mycorrhiza spread all about, and then proceeded to deep soak everything in. This is the sexond day to deep soak the plot. My sandy loam is quick to leech and quick to dry, but my leaf cover is helping retain a lot of moisture. Finally a foliar feed of the Max Sea Grow and Calcium to finish off. Tomorrow morning we pollinate this first beauty. It only has like 12 secondaries behind it. Not all of the secondaries actually take off, like 35% stay stunted right at the node and just prduce a 3+ pack of flowers. I am not sure if this is genetic related, or something I am causing.   Wednesday, July 6 View Page Caught up on the work tonight, so blessed to have an amazing wife that feeds us and keeps all the things moving for our family. Trenched and buried all the exposed secondaries and main vine with my soul mix. This time its a heavier peat, Black Kow, potting soil trio with kelp, gypsum, azomite, mycorrhiza and humic acid amendments. Noticed a lot of striped cucumber beetle on all the leaves. No holes or evident chewing damage, they did seem a litte lethargic. But so am I when it’s this hot outside LOL. Went ahead and ground drenched the base and main vine with 3tsp Domionion 2L to keep things tight. Another cup of mycorrhiza spread all about, and then proceeded to deep soak everything in. This is the sexond day to deep soak the plot. My sandy loam is quick to leech and quick to dry, but my leaf cover is helping retain a lot of moisture. Finally a foliar feed of the Max Sea Grow and Calcium to finish off. Tomorrow morning we pollinate this first beauty. It only has like 12 secondaries behind it. Not all of the secondaries actually take off, like 35% stay stunted right at the node and just prduce a 3+ pack of flowers. I am not sure if this is genetic related, or something I am causing.   Thursday, July 7 View Page A 4 lober gets pollinated at first light!   Thursday, July 7 View Page 4 males ready for action!   Thursday, July 7 View Page She went from mostly closed to a fully open flower in 10mins, 6:15am   Saturday, July 9 View Page This is what I am pollinating fruit in. It’s 80F at 6:30am and I am prying open the flower tips lol   Saturday, July 9 View Page 5 nodes down the main from the first pollination (P1, 2 days ago) is this beautiful 5 lobe gem. She got hit with 5 fresh male flowers this morning - I had to beat the bumblebee’s to all pollen, they were cleaning out flowers all around me in under 30 seconds per flower! This is my most favorable potential pollination (P2). I feel like the vine has reached that hormone level where it’s seriously wanting to set fruit: all the growth tips on the secondaries are all throwing females. Its 20’ down the main vine, lies on the left for a preferred S curve position, and has 16 secondaries behind it. There’s a third potential on the main comming up in a few days. I like having options in this crazy heat in case of aborts, but I am now running out of plot length in my fenced garden   Saturday, July 9 View Page This mighty 5 lober will be my new PB!!!! Fingers crossed.   Monday, July 11 View Page I trimmed off P1, the first pollination. At DAP 4 it had zero swelling, zero gain since day 2. Hopfully P2 gets the message lol. The vine is 75% filled in, and starting to terminate secondaries laden with tiny fruit. Sunday I put out about 7 cups of 10-20-10 granular, stabbing a deep hole into the ground and working it in 2 tablespoons at a time. Did this in about 50 holes around the stump, main, and inbetween the secondaries up until the first fruit on the main. It was my first time feeding the entire plot in this way. One more wow pack got buried 3 nodes before the P2 node, and then I soaked the entire plot by hand. The soil was dryyyyy. I foliar fed tonight with Max Sea Grow and chelated Calcium. Set up the mill fabric into place and trimmed the leaf and tendril at the P2 node. I will start bending the main tomorrow in the heat to make a “drip loop” shape with the pumpkin nicely perpendicular to the main AND the secondary at the fruit node. I won’t have to trim any secondaries off this time.   Tuesday, July 12 View Page Full plant shot this morning. Roughly 200 sq ft. A third fruit bloomed this morning on the main vine, 4 nodes and 3 days after P2. It was a very symmetrical 5 lobe fruit. Looking at P2, who is DAP 3, very swollen and looks like a successful pollination. I made the executive desicion to cut this third fruit. Hoping the vine proceeds with juicing up P2. Final positioning of P2 starts today.   Wednesday, July 13 View Page 4 DAP, trimmed the main because I am out of room lengthwise in the plot. Continuing to train the drip loop into the main, the vine is very stiff! Watered the plot in the morning, then 26 gallons of compost tea + post application soaking that evening. Starting to use overhead watering because the drip line’s aren’t enough in this heat and drought. Will have to up my fungus prevention schedule. I’m going all in on this fruit, but I feel like it’s probably too early to make that decision…   Saturday, July 16 View Page Lots of work this weekend burying vines. Fine tuning the S curve. I removes the brown ground cover leaf mulch around the fruit, leveled the area, and installted some sized isolation foam board and cut my mill fabric to fit (40”x40”). A few extra pieces of mill fabric to stop any root grab on the vines 2 nodes from the fruit, she’s ready to get heavy!!!   Saturday, July 16 View Page Fruit going wild on the secondaries. I’m letting nature do it’s thing for now.   Saturday, July 16 View Page 7 DAP. Switching to a fruit feeding regiment: I foliar fed Max Sea Bloom 3-20-20 with additional Potassium Sulfate and calcium mixed in, 600ppm total. The fruit swelled noticeably in 12 hours, we are in fat grapefruit territory. Keeping a close eye on the blossom end. Ended up doing another trim (first trim + daconil coat didnt help stop discoloration) and cleaning it with rubbing alcohol throughout the day as it dried. I have a fan on it 24/7, but will need to cover it when overhead watering. Foliar applied Bonide Infuse system fungicide this evening to keep things tight. Hoping it helps the blossom end as well. I had a zuchinni plant get totally eat down with squash bugs, and they attacked the vine but luckily the imacloprid systemic is keeping them at bay. I’ll need to get a good contact for emergencies and spot applications. Getting really excited!   Sunday, July 17 View Page Interesting and very newbie discovery for this second year grower. My TDS meter has a x10 indicator for surpassing 1,000ppm. I’ve used this broad range TDS meter for over 10 years for various things, but mostly seeing my tap water baselines. I mixed another round of the bloom foliar, same recipe I applied last time, but upped the Potassium sulfate and added humic acid. Taking a measurement because it looked and smelled strong: I saw the x10 for the first time peeking out the edge of the lcd area. It was half hidden by the overlay!! I froze, then my mind raced. After changing the TDS meter batteries, I measures RODI, and my tapwater. 02ppm and 90ppm respectively Then I started measuring dose by dose, ingredient by ingredient. So what I thought was 600ppm last foliar feed was 6,000ppm Which is a testament to the Max Sea brand, kelp based and gentle: this is what we foliar feed carnivorous plants. The vine loved it and so did the fruit, thank goodness that mistake wont cost me, so Ill scale back I must be mindful that the high end ppm limit the vine can take is still out there.. waiting to be discovered.   Sunday, July 17 View Page 8 DAP, blossom end staying dry. Twice a day I lift it by the blossom end and feel the vine releave stress. She is growing.   Monday, July 18 View Page 9 DAP. Perceptible gains. Feeling heavy when I lift it and relieve the stem pressure from the vine. I am doing the last training to the pumpkin stem itself; inching the blossom end counter clockwise to get the pumpkin shoulders to that final 90 degree position relative to the vine. The blossom end looks good. Applied more systemic insecticide drench and foliar fungus. Finished feeding the top half of the vine with buried 10–20-10 granuals, and then broadcast top dressed the bottom half with more granuals. After all was said and done, I deep soaked the plot with overhead watering, and then we had a 2am storm bring us another 4/10” of rain. Woke up to big fruit gains and minor leaf curling so I know she is fed strong. Going to wait a few days before the next targeted foliar feed. Only 7 more secondaries to go until full vine termination. Getting ready for sink mode.   Monday, July 18 View Page Watching how the vine responds to the upper limits of fertilizer feeding. I feel like from here on in; this is the time to keep the petal to the metal in terms of food and water. Get it close to the upper limit, watch and read the leaves and pumpkin growth to know when to feed again. Diversify the feeding type between compost tea, foliar, granular…. That reminds me, I need to bury 1 more wow packet 4 nodes after the fruit near the termination…. Maybe this weekend. Leaf lip curl evident along the main. Looking like a emo kids hair lol. Dark coloration on new secondary growth, slight wrinkles. She screams well fed, this is my “maximum” baseline. Planning to water 2” every 48 hrs in this heat, the next 10 days are all above 100F.   Tuesday, July 19 View Page Found a nice 40” clamp on umbrella on clearance at Sams, 13 bucks!!! Fully adjustable angles, attaches bu clamping to the rebar seamlessly. Exactly what I need to keep my overhead watering off of the pumpkin.   Thursday, July 21 View Page 12 DAP   Saturday, July 23 View Page 14 DAP. Good intentions to do vine burying today early before the heat set in, but resting in won. Tomorrow will have to be catch up day.   Saturday, July 23 View Page Dirt work to finish the final resting position of the pumpkin. Great gapping to the main and secondary vines. Starting to swell now!   Saturday, July 23 View Page Cognizant that there will be a major swelling soon. I love the shape compared to my first year. I sprayed Bifenthrin contact insecticide and Immunox systemic fungicide today. The squash bugs were persisting, so this should knock them back. I did spot some SVB eggs too. Plan to top dress out my last pound of mycorrhiza tomorrow around the front half of the vine, along with burying the last nodes with my special soil mix. There is a large healthy concentration of secondaries arount the fruit that look to really keep things juiced up. Stump is looking good and dry, green vine. All vines will be terminated in the next 3 days. Things are so hot and dry : I am watering every day. First day is 1.5 hrs (1”) from the overhead oscillation sprayer, second day is 1 hour from the drip irrigation. The sandy silty loam dries out very fast from the thirsty vine.   Monday, July 25 View Page 16 DAP and getting chonky. This evening I used the soil moisture meter to asses the plot after a scorching hot day, and found things really dry despite watering every 24 hours. Turned on the overhead and gave it 1.25”. I could smell the vine degass happily afterwards, what a distinctive smell. In this heat I need to alternate the drip and overhead every 12 to 24 hours and or as needed. Mixed a batch of foliar feed at 2,000ppm using my mistake batch as concentrate. It didnt smell as strong or look as dark going on, it may need to be a little stronger as I know the vine can take it in. Finding that I can use my nose as a sense to gauge things - how wet, how strong, how green. Often I am digging into the soil in different spots to check on moisture. Touching the leaves, feeling for stiffness, structure, body. Every day a status, then a response to an identified need. Searching for eggs, bite marks, evidence. Lookin for soft spots. This is the fun part!!   Monday, July 25 View Page 16 DAP and getting chonky. This evening I used the soil moisture meter to asses the plot after a scorching hot day, and found things really dry despite watering every 24 hours. Turned on the overhead and gave it 1.25”. I could smell the vine degass happily afterwards, what a distinctive smell. In this heat I need to alternate the drip and overhead every 12 to 24 hours and or as needed. Mixed a batch of foliar feed at 2,000ppm using my mistake batch as concentrate. It didnt smell as strong or look as dark going on, it may need to be a little stronger as I know the vine can take it in. Finding that I can use my nose as a sense to gauge things - how wet, how strong, how green. Often I am digging into the soil in different spots to check on moisture. Touching the leaves, feeling for stiffness, structure, body. Every day a status, then a response to an identified need. Searching for eggs, bite marks, evidence. Lookin for soft spots. This is the fun part!!   Monday, July 25 View Page 16 DAP and getting chonky. This evening I used the soil moisture meter to asses the plot after a scorching hot day, and found things really dry despite watering every 24 hours. Turned on the overhead and gave it 1.25”. I could smell the vine degass happily afterwards, what a distinctive smell. In this heat I need to alternate the drip and overhead every 12 to 24 hours and or as needed. Mixed a batch of foliar feed at 2,000ppm using my mistake batch as concentrate. It didnt smell as strong or look as dark going on, it may need to be a little stronger as I know the vine can take it in. Finding that I can use my nose as a sense to gauge things - how wet, how strong, how green. Often I am digging into the soil in different spots to check on moisture. Touching the leaves, feeling for stiffness, structure, body. Every day a status, then a response to an identified need. Searching for eggs, bite marks, evidence. Lookin for soft spots. This is the fun part!!   Wednesday, July 27 View Page 18 DAP and swelling Brewed a nice compost tea and applied it evenly to the patch this morning. It’s been 2 weeks since the last brew so I am slacking there. I use a Wow compost tea bag + starter but then add 4 cups of worm castings, 1 cup each liquid Fish and then Kelp, 1.5 cups unsulfered blackstrap molasses, seabird guano, azomite, and 1/3 cup humic acid concentrate. With 25 gallons of water allowed to de-chlorinate for 24hrs, then brewed for 12 hrs at a 86F water temp. I add RAW amino acids and vitamin B right before serving. Smells freshly fishy and earthy with a good medium dark tea color. This afternoon we got 8/10” rain so that was amazing because everything is absolutely parched. Also a rare break from the heat wave comming up: will have 3 days of rain as a cold front works its way through this weekend. Then its back to 100s late next week! I’ve got foliar fert and a Daconil/Seven mix loaded up in the sprayers, seeing her grow is very modivating. Ill take my first measurements at 20 DAP.   Thursday, July 28 View Page 19 DAP She swelling like a monster. I foliar fed at first light this morning. Another 5/8” afternoon rain shower. Stems looking great!   Friday, July 29 View Page 20 DAP - OTT 130 approx 56.8lbs 200 sq ft of plant is completely grown out. The last few growth tips not terminated are turning light green and stalling. Applied a Daconil/Seven combo this morning, already seeing squash bug eggs again.   Friday, July 29 View Page 20 DAP - OTT 130 approx 56.8lbs 200 sq ft of plant is completely grown out. The last few growth tips not terminated are turning light green and stalling. Applied a Daconil/Seven combo this morning, already seeing squash bug eggs again.   Monday, August 1 View Page 23 DAP Left for a weekend getaway. Everything was fine upon returning home, but only gaining 5 lbs a day which I’m bummed about. Its been “cooler” and wet in the high 80s, Sunday we got another 2” rain. Feeling annoyed at slow growth, I fed my normal foliar routine, and did some potassium product research and got some Urea Mate 5-10-27 on order. Need to up my root drench formula with some serious fruiting nutrients now… Tonight I got compost tea brewing for tomorrow morning application, and did a Infuse/Bifen spraydown to keep things tight. I am getting good at spraying lol. 1.3 gallons covers 200sq foot plant perfectly.   Monday, August 1 View Page Came home Sunday evening to a stem like this. Got a fan directly (vs indirectly) on it now, it’s already looking dryer today. The stem is what did me in on my first grow around 50 DAP.   Monday, August 1 View Page Came home Sunday evening to a stem like this. Got a fan directly (vs indirectly) on it now, it’s already looking dryer today. The stem is what did me in on my first grow around 50 DAP.   Monday, August 1 View Page Came home Sunday evening to a stem like this. Got a fan directly (vs indirectly) on it now, it’s already looking dryer today. The stem is what did me in on my first grow around 50 DAP.   Monday, August 1 View Page Idk why the pictures aren’t posting…   Monday, August 1 View Page 23 DAP Posts are missing or incomplete after admin approval…   Sunday, August 7 View Page 29 DAP - 160OTT at roughly 100lbs. Last week was slow but steady at 5lbs per day. At only 200sq ft vine, I don’t think I will get to see the bigger daily gains, but let’s see if I can up my fruiting game. I ordered some Masterblend Tomato 4-18-38 and Urea Mate 5-10-27, planning to start applying that by drench and foliar rotating between the two once each every week. Weekly compost tea (nicely sweetened with molasses) is bubbling nearby as I type this, staying on the contact/systemic rotations. Fruit stem swelling and staying dry. Let’s see what the next 30 days bring us. 10 day forecast looks “cooler” with highs only in the lower 90s and some rain. I can feel the sun losing intensity as we approach Fall. I may take my sunshade off here in the next 10 days or so. Uncovering a little main vine stem here and there for periodic inspections, all looks dry. Planning to uncover the full length soon to let it get some UV. There’s still a lot of time for growth…. I keep repeating this to myself…   Thursday, August 11 View Page 33DAP - 166 OTT - 110lbs   Thursday, August 11 View Page Won’t lie, feeling disappointed in the size. I keep reminding myself that it’s only 200sq ft, and unknown 4H genetics. I tried calling the 4H ag office to inquire about it, but they had no clue. So it’s a complete unknown right now on that front.   Thursday, August 11 View Page Despite the slow growth, I am doing my best. Once weekly compost tea (worm castings, liquid and granular kelp, fish meal, humic acid, seabird guano, azomite, blackstrap molasses, Wallace tea pack + starter, amino acids, vitamin B, powder mycorrhizae) + fruiting soluable fruiting fert ( 5 tableapoons ) in 25 gallons Once weekly rotation of systemic fungicide ( Immunox and Infuse, with Daconil thrown in randomly during foliar feeds) Once weekly rotation of pesticide (Imacloprid, then Bifenthrin, with Sevin thrown in randomly during foliar feeds) Foliar feeding every 3ish days. I am rotating between soluable Masterblend 4-18-38 and Urea Mate 5-10-27 with additional liquid kelp and fulvic acid. I feel like I am giving her all I gots! Just have to follow through and make it to the 75 DAP finish line and have faith in the process.   Thursday, August 18 View Page 40 DAP and only 120lbs Still trying to diagnose the damage to my leaves. I’ve consulted the disease guide (http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Attachments/Leaf_Problems_Summer_2011.pdf) and the closest thing I can find is gummy stem blight. But it’s not, I don’t think. I am rotating Bonide Infuse, Daconil, and Immunox weekly. No PM to speak of. It has to be a excess of something: perhaps from my compost tea recipie (seems to show up after my weekly drench), excess fertilizer, or spray damage? Or perhaps ozone? Excess Iron or K? Overdose on humic acid, or too much sticker spreader chemical?   Friday, August 26 View Page 48 DAP 175 OTT 127lbs. Only .66 lbs per day. Moving like a snail! Trying to decide if we harvest in 12 days for the county fair or in 7 weeks for the state fair. What do you think?   Friday, August 26 View Page Lots of vine damage due to excess fertilizing. The “more is better” mentality is hard to surpress, especially when you rushing yourself into a decisionand act on it. This was from my initial hand broadcast feeding when the bag arrived; I applied way too much. I didn’t recognize how slow the onset can be, the damage has taken its tole. Further damage has stopped, and a bunch of new tertiaries are starting to pop up.   Thursday, September 1 View Page 54 DAP est 130lb Decided to end things proactively. After 6 days of no gains and this sinkholing appeared, wanted to get to cut, sealed, and dried. The county fair dropoff is next Tuesday, not sure but I hope they will weigh it. Will move it to my garage tonight and keep a fan on the stem for a few days, with occasional rubbing alcohol spritzes to keep things sterile.   Friday, September 23 View Page End of year updates. She finished at est. 130lbs. Took best of show at the county fair!   Friday, September 23 View Page I finally received a response from the Arkansas 4H extension office. It was never advertised, but apparently they could not get enought AG seeds this year, so they distributed Florida Giant seeds. That it what we grew this year. Pretty devastated, but it confirms why we max’d out so fast. Apparently that variety caps out at 200lbs. Learned many lessons this year, had great conversations online with fellow growers, and am really excited for next year.   Friday, September 23 View Page 20 cu yards of compost is aready going in. Plan to spread gypsum, till deeply, and sow cereal rye to put the plot to sleep. Wishing everyone a great rest of the year!! See you in 2023!!   Wednesday, November 2 View Page Cereal rye starting to look fluffy!