Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 55 Entries. Friday, March 18 View Page 1806 Mathison 2015   Sunday, May 1 View Page Breaking Bad? Nope... just Breaking Ground :)   Sunday, May 1 View Page Stinky mulch. Busy day. Her younger brother thought dropping the shovel handle on her plant would help it lay down... funny I never read about that method before...   Sunday, May 1 View Page So the previous pic, was 7.5 x 20 =150 or 6 x 25= 150... not sure yet. This one is 150 sq ft. its a right trapezoid. Putting our book smarts to the test today. Next post is the calculations.   Sunday, May 1 View Page Number crunching, got lucky...   Sunday, May 1 View Page Wants a big pumpkin.   Sunday, May 1 View Page Wants an orange pumpkin. Its a lot of work. But, good memories hopefully!   Sunday, May 1 View Page Wants an orange pumpkin. Its a lot of work. But, good memories hopefully!   Wednesday, May 4 View Page Planting the 'Big & Orange' Possert. Ground temps are low and the forcast isnt great. Growth will be slow... But today was a good day. Dads guess (me) was that ten pounds of fertilizer would be a good start. We might get more scientific later but for now we put on 4 lbs bone meal 1 lb epsom salt about 5 lbs of dolomite, 1.5 lbs standard miracle grow, maybe a half pound of blood meal and around 2 lbs of a balanced organic type fertilizer. Also maybe four handfuls of calcium nitrate. The soil is so poor, this might be half of whats really needed but its a start. Also added a barrel of compost. Just trying to establish some baseline fertility. Maybe we can fine tune it with fertigation, or the vine burying mix.   Friday, May 13 View Page These have had no heat other than the plastic cover at night and its been cold. These are Ivy's 150 sq ft entry Holland plants. They are growing well, but yes the leaf color is poor.   Friday, May 20 View Page Throwing yard waste compost around. Wont help the plants now, but we'll see if the mix of organics and chemicals pays off in August! Yet another cold night.   Saturday, June 4 View Page Last of the potatoes eaten/ planted. Dale M and the Patons sure have some big plants... my earliest plant was a dud. Pretty awesome.   Wednesday, June 15 View Page Tying up to attempt yet another blossom down pumpkin. Its good to use two strands of twine. If a cinch-type knot is used (right), its best it not be around the main but tying around the leaf and tendril usually works well.   Sunday, June 19 View Page Checking the plant... Ivy's 150 plant is doing great certainly a low riding plant about the most ground hugging Ive ever seen. Theres a pumpkin only six feet out, but it looks like she will have to go with it since there arent any others in the vine tip and the fair isnt that far off.   Sunday, June 19 View Page After the picture was taken, Ivy removed one of the alternate plants. She wants to go all-in on her plant. There is still one alternate plant remaining, heading 180 degrees opposite. Its actually slightly larger than her plant but foliage-size isnt everything. Heading into the dry part of the year now, where the best roots will be more important than the biggest vine!   Wednesday, June 22 View Page Rose's 150 patch needs a math update. ...Going to try to mark the round boundary with a drip line. Ivy's pumpkin may bloom tomorrow. Puyallup fair, here we come!   Saturday, June 25 View Page Ivy's 150 plant. She has some weeds to pull. But it looks like most will get fried in the mini heatwave... Solarization is way better than glyphosate or hoeing. I have an extra 20x30 sheet of plastic. I should solarize a totally new patch for next year and give everywhere else a rest.   Saturday, June 25 View Page Approximation of where she has 6 x 25 ft. = 150.   Wednesday, July 6 View Page Healthy plant no problems? But closer inspection...   Wednesday, July 6 View Page The main vine looks terrible. Ive never had whatever this is. It could be heat/sun, insect, or water-related damage. This is Ivy's plant and while I wont pull weeds for her, I will treat whatever this is with a bleach scrub then daconil.   Monday, July 11 View Page A life/pumpkin poem. The power that my parent should have given me, was given to a drug instead. Kicked around enough by losers, hence we are here to win.   Tuesday, July 12 View Page Looks and smells like a giant cowpie. Dumped this around the possert "big and orange" plant, with some special K fertilizer and standard miracle grow. Small plant so far she might get a 150 lb pumpkin for the 150 competition.   Wednesday, July 20 View Page Both of girls 150 sq ft pumpkins culled due to poor vine position and other issues. Getting late in the year to be pollinating.   Tuesday, July 26 View Page Four possible keepers on Ivy's 150 sq ft Holland plant. Its about 12 ft x 12 ft now and looking healthy. The leaf damage is sun damage not disease. The pumpkins arent growing perfectly well though, so we are getting a tissue test done, the sample was taken from leaf stalks that were after the largest pumpkin. I suspect a partial ph imbalance, locking up phosphorus and magnesium. We pretty well saturated this plant with fertilizer so we cant just be more-ons & add more. We need to know the specific deficiency or imbalance at this point because it looks to me like we are in the upper range for some micronutrients and nitrogen. Will share the test results early next week.   Thursday, July 28 View Page Here's our test results. I suspected some of these. I have had issues with some of these in the past. Really appreciate the speed of the results, when it must be their busy time of year.   Thursday, July 28 View Page This is the pumpkin exactly where the leaf sample was taken. You can see the deficiencies in the stem end of the pumpkin!!! Usually I have gotten deficiencies in the blossom end but this combo of deficiencies is showing up on the stem end. I suspect maybe since the boron wasnt quite as low as the phosphorus? Its interesting how the plant will sometimes allocate resources on one end or the other, and it can also allocate resources to both ends but not the middle, so you get peanut shape or dill ring. Are all these slight variations in shape due to the exact mineral profile...? They're supposed to look smooth & plump everywhere (as you may already know!)   Thursday, July 28 View Page The large leaf is closest to where the tissue test was taken. It does have a crack or two within the leaf, and some cracks at the edges. Not quite a perfect leaf. Im sure the zinc boron and copper deficiencies contributed to the little flaws.   Thursday, July 28 View Page Beating a dead horse here now, but the leaves on the right looked much worse a few days ago, and since this plant tested high in magnesium, the interveinal chlorosis was due to the zinc being low. I'm just beating this horse for my own benefit. Hopefully I'll remember that zinc is a possible cause of chlorosis (it doesnt look as bad now, but the plant in the diagram is exactly how this leaf looked a few days ago...) and not wrongly assume its magnesium.   Saturday, August 6 View Page Ivy's 150 plant. I thought this plant looked good before, but after apply the stuff the tissue test called for, its super glossy and growing even bigger and faster than before. And the third pick of the pumpkins it set is growing well too. A much later set than would be ideal, but if it start to do 10-15 lbs a day then it wont exactly be small... except by bp standards. I'm impressed how useful the tissue test was, without the tissue test I would have been worried about overfertilizing. Now this plant is truly well fed.   Wednesday, August 17 View Page Yesterday, Rose's orange pumpkin did 7.5 lbs per day, Ivy's big (ugly?) pumpkin did 13 lbs per day. We just need another 10 lbs per day to catch up to pumpconn... Ivy's plant is super healthy with about 300 healthy leaves in a dense, verdent three-layer canopy, a full and totally healthy 150 sq ft. Rose's plant is more like 70 leaves spread over just 80 ft. It just never grew much faster than a walk in the park with grandma! Weather is pretty ideal now, finally. Only two weeks until the fair!!   Thursday, August 18 View Page Ivy's 150 sq ft pumpkin. A very warm night gave it a 17 lb gain. Not bad for a 150 ft plant. Would 20 lb gain be asking too much...? Rose's did better too, at around 10 lbs. Its all about picking the right seed, apparently.   Saturday, August 20 View Page Oliver's berry patch.   Monday, August 22 View Page One gets compost tea augmented with bloom booster, the other gets seaweed with bloom booster. Which will give better results? Its all just a numbers game at this point, not much to do other than sit back and watch.   Monday, August 22 View Page Gains have dropped a lot. A little over 10 lbs for Ivy's Ghostie Girl... Maybe the fertilizer will help. I think that under certain circumstances adding fertilizer will not improve the pumpkins growth but hopefully this is not one of those circumstances. Lastly, I think mathematically pumpkin growth would be a product of the flow rate of the phloem x photosynthate concentration. I think I can maybe help her improve both. Basically I think we can add more water and fertilizer.   Monday, August 22 View Page The caveats are, that there cant be other limiting factors, like temperature, sunlight, Co2, root health, or excessive unpruned vines... I dont think boosting fertilizer would help on a cloudy day, for example. The limiting factor would be the clouds, not the water or fertilizer...? Likewise if the plant is an unkempt mess, try as one might, it will basically be impossible to boost the photosynthate concentration, it is like trying to hold water in a burlap sack.   Wednesday, August 24 View Page Ivy's 150 sq ft pumpkin seems to be back on track after dispensing another half pound of bloom booster onto it. Plus the weather is better. Rose's pumpkin is lagging but its at the rib-filling stage now where the measurements are less than the actual gains, might give it the same feeding and see if it improves though. Its destined to be a small pumpkin, but possibly the best red-orange color we've ever gotten. Im sure we will post plenty of pics soon enough.   Sunday, August 28 View Page Ivy's 150 plant is still popping tertiaries (probably quintiaries by now) at the back of the plant. Meaning we're not capturing all of the energy very directly or efficiently into the pumpkin. Plant is in great shape other than a good crop of weeds. Barely can see the pumpkin its kinda tall actually but the leaves are taller than usual too.   Tuesday, August 30 View Page Ivy's pumpkin pushing 20 lbs a day @ about DAP 40? Not sure the exact DAP because there were so many culls/ poor pollinations. These gains are thanks to the tissue test because after we dumped at least ten pounds of fertilizer on this patch in spring, and the plant already looked very lush and healthy, so I would never have guessed it needed more. But, it did. E=mc2 still makes no sense, but check it out: water + sun + fertilizer = pumpkin!   Friday, September 2 View Page Have a great time at the fair everybody! We arent going to make it. The girls mom said they cant go because they have soccer practice. Poor kids. Rose's 150 plant here, which is really more like 100 sq ft. We'll cya at a different weigh off maybe! Or maybe not. Its their moms decision. Like it or not, we are in the day and age of women being in control.   Monday, September 12 View Page A bit of powdery mildew on Rose's "Big and Orange" (Possert) pumpkin. We'll try vinegar, for my sake, I've already been exposed to a lifetime dose of pesticides. The smoke from the wildfire 30 miles to the east is helping bring out the fall colors.   Monday, September 12 View Page The vinegar completely removed the powdery mildew in some places. The lower area where it washed off shows the damage it does to the leaf. There's still white mildew on the upper end of the leaf but hopefully its dead or disabled. It seems like it really works ! Although I'm unsure if the acidity might have an unseen effect on the health of the leaves or the pumpkin. The vinegar was diluted to about a mild taste. So... more precisely the hose end sprayer I put the vinegar might mix stuff 20 to 1, or maybe 15 to one at most. The exact mix depends on the water pressure at the nozzle, which varies depending on the length of the hose and how filled the pressure tank is. So thats why I cant know anything with exact precision.   Saturday, October 1 View Page Kids 150 plant. Harvest day. 80 degrees and summer-dry ground. A real Indian summer here!!! Its not huge but it looks good with the correct-sized pumpkin model.   Saturday, October 1 View Page Prep for the weigh off includes deleting old picture from phone to make more space. I sorta like the early Sunday format-- it gives all of the day Saturday today prep, rather than just cramming it into a Friday evening.   Tuesday, October 4 View Page Final result for the Possert "Big and Orange" 2016= 362.5 lbs. Rose Clayton 150 sq ft = 362.5 lbs. Apparently family court drama is more exciting than a pumpkin weigh off, because my kids mom yet again wouldnt let them go. Sorry you couldn't go Rose. I could pour money down into the sewer drainhole that is family court, but I trust that someday this conflict will end squarely in my favor.   Wednesday, October 5 View Page Lets end this on a better note. It wasnt a standout at the weigh off, but its sufficiently photogenic here.   Saturday, October 8 View Page Where did it go and what did it weigh!!! Ivy's plant was looking very good but the pumpkin growth stopped due to a large stem/pumpkin crack. The leaf area here is 200 sq ft or more, not sure if the vines and pumpkin exceeded 150... I'd better get out the measuring tape again.   Saturday, October 8 View Page Confirmed my concern, it looks like we exceeded 150 sq ft. 70+120 +15 = 205 or so... Oops. I blame the poor sets, it seemed like we were not getting good pollinations so we had to allow more growth rather than dead ending everything on time. One thing I can see is that the area occupied by the pumpkin should be surrounded by some vines and leaves, to make the best use of every space possible.   Tuesday, October 11 View Page Ginormous stump on Ivy's 150 plant. These initial secondaries were huge too and I suspect they contributed very little to the pumpkin because they were pushing new growth and new females all year long. In hindsight, with an earlier set located more in the middle of the plant, I think we could have gotten a bigger pumpkin and also not gone over 150 square feet.   Tuesday, October 11 View Page The rooting was ok. The soil here is not deep and it doesnt hold much water. The stump was full of small centipedes which I think are for the most part harmless saprotrophs. Ideally I would not overhead irrigate onto the stump or main vine. This plant battled against vine rot all year long. In a weird way, I think the centipedes may have helped keep the wounds clean and slowed the rot down, whereas the frequent irrigation probably sped it up. Next pic is gross so skip it unless your stomach is asleep.   Tuesday, October 11 View Page Friend or foe, idk, but they had better find a new home quick. The lawnmower is on its way... Next year = some improvements hopefully.   Sunday, October 16 View Page I guess we don't have a pic on the scale but just trying here to comply with the contest rules as best we can for the 150 sq ft contest. Rose's pumpkin did make it to the weigh off and her plant was under 150 ft. It weighed 362.5 which was right to chart.   Thursday, October 20 View Page The guess the weight contest is over. I taped it at 550 ish. It seemed to have a high bubble shape and a light thump to it s, so was it 500? 600?   Thursday, October 20 View Page Feels rather heavy...   Thursday, October 20 View Page Thats kilos. 320 kilos = 705.5 lbs! 16% heavy over the final measurement, and the second biggest pumpkin we have grown! Sure, its not 1705... but I think its really good for what was, six months ago, a narrow & infertile strip of ground. My expectations were not quite that high. It was a no-till and mostly no-hoop house grow, with just a standard oscillating sprinkler. Looking back, there's multiple ways it could have gone even heavier... If we had done everything right, maybe it would have been a truly respectable and legit 150 sq ft entry.   Thursday, October 20 View Page Deducting a bit for the strap and the bit of uncut vine, maybe we'll call this the 703.5 or 704 uow "Ivy" pumpkin. Grown off the 1621.5 or 1627.5 Holland I believe. Holland's seeds seem to like this dirt!