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Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 132 Entries.
Thursday, March 7 View Page
A couple days ago one of my pumpkin growing friends asked me if I was going to do a diary this year. I replied, “Heck no! I want to spend my time growing bigger pumpkins, not writing about the work I’m doing to grow them.” But today as I was working in my patch, I started thinking of things which actually would make doing a diary interesting (to me AND the other people reading it). Now I find myself making my first 2024 diary entry. Funny how that happens sometimes. I’m not sure if I should thank my friend, Jeff, or block his number from my phone.
 
Thursday, March 7 View Page
My first thought was to document the accumulation of dirt on my hands as the season progresses. While I will do this, on its own it probably isn’t enough to make this an interesting read.
 
Thursday, March 7 View Page
I grew a cover crop of mustard in my greenhouse this year with the hope that it will supress disease.
 
Thursday, March 7 View Page
When I started to realize low long it was going to take me to plow it in by going back & forth over a small area to really chop it up and then water it heavily before moving on to another section, I had the thought of why not keep a log of how many hours I spend in my patch this season here in my diary?
 
Thursday, March 7 View Page
I was following this painfully slow plow-then water-then plow-then water pattern because I could think of no better way considering that I had been told that a significant part of the stuff that will kill the bad buys in my soil will “gas off” in the first 20 minutes the mustard is chopped up.
 
Thursday, March 7 View Page
Six hours later, after obsessing on what a waste of time this was, I had another thought: why not use my diary to create a “Crowd Sourcing Forum” to get other people’s ideas on why we do the things we do???? Now I actually do think that is an interesting idea! And thanks to the new “diary comments” it is actually possible here on bigpumpkins.com!
 
Thursday, March 7 View Page
As I kept plowing & watering I kept having visions of mustard gas from World War I wafting across no-man’s-land into the enemy trenches killing the bad guys. Yet I saw no deadly mustard gas doing its job of killing the bad guys lurking in my soil. And the first 20 minutes were supposedly the most important!
 
Thursday, March 7 View Page
Meanwhile, my hands just kept getting dirtier. And I kept wondering if the idea of “it being super important to water it enough during this critical first 20 minutes so the soil will form a crust which will trap the gas so it will hang around & kill the bad guys” was really just a load of crap that had been passed down from grower to grower, and eventually to me??? What do you think? I’m going to do a little research & see if I can learn something…or if someone out there who actually has some factual information on how this works, that would be even better!
 
Thursday, March 7 View Page
I also have been told that the best time to plow in your cover crop is just as it starts to bloom because that is when it has the highest levels of nutrients & is most beneficial for your soil. What do you think?
 
Thursday, March 7 View Page
I think the real reason to plow in a cover crop just before it begins flowering in full force, is because once it flowers & is pollinated you get lots of unwanted seeds which just get plowed into your patch. What do you think?
 
Thursday, March 7 View Page
Anyway, after my first day of actual labor in my patch I have officially logged 6 hours & 21 minutes in my quest of growing pumpkins that I hope will end up bigger than this one, which won last year at Elk Grove.
 
Tuesday, March 12 View Page
I’ve done some “internet research” & found a University of Michigan report which provides an understandable explanation of how “mustard fumigation” works: “the process works as so: when plant cells are damaged such as by chopping, glucose plates are released and come in contact with an enzyme (myrosinase). In the presence of water, the reaction produces the natural gas isothiocyanate (ITC). ITC is responsible for the suppressive effects of the practice.”
 
Thursday, March 28 View Page
Last fall I added 20 yards of composted green waste to my outdoor patch.
 
Thursday, March 28 View Page
I added 20 bags of composted chicken manure to my greenhouse patch. This was the first time I’ve added any manure compost to my patch since moving to Eugene.
 
Thursday, March 28 View Page
I will be using TerraTrove MT-17 which is a biological product that helps convert organics such as manure & compost into readily available nutrients for plants. It is one of the products Travis used last year in growing his world record. Ron Root also used it & had fantastic results too.
 
Thursday, March 28 View Page
I’ve been getting my heating cables ready to go.
 
Thursday, March 28 View Page
I zip tie the cables to a piece of wire fencing. By doing this it makes it possible to dig them up & re-use them the next year. Any that I have ever buried without the fence wire were destroyed when I dug them up!
 
Thursday, March 28 View Page
This year I will bury them with the zip ties up toward the top of the soil which I hope will make it easier to locate them when it comes time to dig them up next fall.
 
Thursday, March 28 View Page
As you may know, Dave Chan set a 300+ pound personal best with his 2212 which won the Hard Rock Weighoff in California last fall.
 
Thursday, March 28 View Page
If you followed Dave’s diary last year you were aware that he used CO2 for the first time last year. At the lunch after Half Moon Bay I sat with Dave & his wife, Janet. While we were sitting there I asked Dave what he did different this year & he responded “Nothing really.” Then Janet jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow & said, “What do you mean? You used CO2!” Thanks for keeping him honest Janet! This is a pic of his CO2 setup from his 2023 diary.
 
Thursday, March 28 View Page
Dave’s success & big jump in his personal best led me down the path of obsessing & learning about CO2 over the winter. Our atmosphere contains about 380-400 ppm of C02. It is a fact that the ideal CO2 level for most plants (including giant pumpkins) is between 750-1200 ppm.
 
Thursday, April 4 View Page
For the past week I have been hard at work amending my patch. I think my dog, Cleo, is the only one who likes the process of adding amendments. She loves to run around like a wild animal in the freshly tilled soil. She really loves rolling around in kelp meal, and she REALLY loves eating blood meal. I'm glad she likes it, because I hate it!
 
Thursday, April 4 View Page
I have two separate growing areas. This is the soil test for my patch in my neighbor's (the Putnam's) backyard. I like the 6.7 pH! I don't like the super-high numbers for Potassium and Magnesium. I also don't like the ratio of Calcium to Magnesium in the CEC. My organic matter is on the high-side as well, but my patch is well-drained & is a sandy loam, so I have been pretty much disease-free in the three years I have grown in this patch.
 
Thursday, April 4 View Page
This is the soil test form my greenhouse which is located in my back yard, probably 75 meters away from the "Putnam Patch." Overall the test results are quite similar to the results from the Putnam Patch. The organic matter percentage is a little lower, which makes sense because I added about 20 yards of green waste to the Putnam Patch last fall.
 
Thursday, April 4 View Page
I am a big believer in the Langley Soil Calculator. For the last 8 years or so I have sent my soil test results to Cecil Weston & he has run them through the calculator for me. I have had great success in the years when I have closely followed his recommendations for amendments. Here are his recommendations for the Putnam Patch.
 
Thursday, April 4 View Page
...and these are Cecil's recommendations for my greenhouse.
 
Thursday, April 4 View Page
To get my ratios where they need to be I need a LOT of gypsum. 3500 pounds of gypsum! In the past couple of years I've added between 1000-1500 pounds of gypsum each year. At about $12 per 50 pound bag the 3500 pounds of gypsum would cost $840! Cecil suggested that I find a place that I could buy it in bulk totes. So I did, and ended up paying $100/ton. Cecil is the best!
 
Thursday, April 4 View Page
You haven't lived until you've spread 3500 pounds of gypsum by hand.
 
Thursday, April 4 View Page
I spent about six hours spreading gypsum in my greenhouse and another five hours spreading it in the Putnam Patch. I guess I got better at it on the second day.
 
Thursday, April 4 View Page
Then I tilled it in.
 
Thursday, April 4 View Page
Luckily the clearance for my tractor is almost exactly the same as my height. I built an enclosure for the purpose of containing CO2 inside my greenhouse & it is just tall enough so I can walk underneath it without bending over. I left the ends open to make doing my amendments easier. When it came time to till in the amendments I was relieved that my tractor would fit too! Usually the only luck I have is BAD LUCK. Maybe this is a good sign!
 
Thursday, April 4 View Page
This is what my alfalfa meal, kelp meal, & blood meal looked like before being tilled in. You can also see my CO2 enclosure, which is not closed up completely yet. The reason for the enclosure is to decrease the area/volume where the supplemental CO2 will be used.
 
Thursday, April 4 View Page
One of the things I like most about growing giant pumpkins is doing the work. I love the process of executing a plan over several months. One part that I DON'T like is mixing & incorporating micro-nutrients into my patch as part of the soil amending process. But I do it anyway. One thing that makes it fun is taking and using things from the kitchen which my wife thinks are hers. This whisk is an awesome kitchen utensil which can be used for growing pumpkins if your wife does not find out.
 
Thursday, April 4 View Page
Micronutrients like Boron (Borax), Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Ferris Sulfate, etc. generally are added in small quantities & need to be mixed with something to create enough "mass" to cover your entire patch evenly.
 
Thursday, April 4 View Page
I mix my micronutrients with bagged sand. I use a stainless steel measuring cup to measure them out & my wife's favorite whisk to mix them up. If I do it when she is at work she'll never find out!
 
Thursday, April 4 View Page
My final mix of the micro-nutrients is pouring the blend back & forth between a couple plastic flip-top bins several times, just to make sure everything is distributed evenly. I wear a mask when I mix this stuff. I hate wearing masks. Maybe it is needing to wear a mask that makes me not like doing my soil amendments?
 
Thursday, April 4 View Page
I just had dinner with my wife & she asked me what I did today. I told her I did some diary entries about doing my patch amendments. Then she started asking questions about my diary. She never asks about my diary. The next thing I knew she was looking at my diary! I'm pretty sure someone tipped her off about my use of her kitchen utensils.
 
Wednesday, April 10 View Page
The first cucumber beetle of the year!
 
Wednesday, April 10 View Page
The “Putnam Patch” is ready to go! Amended, tilled, & hoop houses built!
 
Wednesday, April 10 View Page
Last night I filed the edges of my seeds with my wife’s emery board. What would I do without her & all of her useful gadgets? These are the seeds I am starting!
 
Wednesday, April 10 View Page
This morning I’m soaking my seeds in water with a little peroxide. I split them into 2 groups: thin/white seeds & thick/tan seeds. The white ones will soak for a couple hours & the tan ones will get another hour or two. I have them all marked for easy identification. I like to mark them mainly with letters rather than numbers (weights). After a few days of being moist 3’s, 6’s, & 8’s, and 1’s & 7’s can look a lot alike!
 
Thursday, April 11 View Page
When I was marking my seeds before soaking them yesterday I put a big “X” on the two 1620 Pritchard seeds. 24 hours later they are the first & only seeds showing their root. “X” marks the spot! I rolled my seeds in moist paper towels & put them in zip lock baggies & then into a giant igloo cooler with a heat mat controlled by a thermostat set to 89 degrees.
 
Thursday, April 11 View Page
To stay one step ahead of the sprouting seeds, I made these up this morning. Each one contains about 7 cups of Black Gold Seedling Mix, 1/4 teaspoon of Myco Seed Treat, 1/16th cup of Wow Mycorrhizae, & 1.5 cups of water. These pots are now in the igloo cooler warming up for what will happen next!
 
Thursday, April 11 View Page
I mixed these two products together before putting them into the seed starting mix. Last year I tried mixing them to use as my seed burying mix…but as I recall the Myco Seed Treat somehow drew moisture out of the atmosphere & caused the mix to clump. Has anyone else experienced this?
 
Saturday, April 13 View Page
Day 3: Here’s what wants to grow! 2-1620 Pritchard’s, 2560 Gienger, & 2501 Bernstrom. I put them in pots after they started showing a root. Of the twelve seeds I started the only one not showing any sign of life is the 1300 Gienger. I hope it starts. I have/had high hopes for it!
 
Saturday, April 13 View Page
This is interesting! 73 degrees, 65% humidity, & 1173 ppm CO2 in my greenhouse this morning. This is without any CO2 supplementation! When the greenhouse is opened up it has been reading about 405-410 ppm. My soil is generating CO2 at nearly perfect levels! That is crazy!!! When my plants begin growing they will quickly use up the CO2 & it will fall. Then my Trolmaster will turn on my burner & keep it up around 1000ppm (or what ever level I set it to).
 
Saturday, April 13 View Page
Over the winter I spent a lot of time thinking about basic science. I focused on how & why things grow. As pumpkin growers the science begins with photosynthesis. Three things are required for photosynthesis: light, water & CO2…actually four things if you count the plant.
 
Saturday, April 13 View Page
Liebig’s Law of Limitation is the next basic concept of science we should focus on. We test pH, we test electrical conductivity, we have soil tests done, we add amendments, but most of us do not take the time to understand the science of what these things mean & how they impact the growth of our plants & the size of our fruit. Most of us just do these things because someone told us we should. I know I hadn’t really thought about basic science since I had been in college many years ago. Shame on us! And shame on me!!!
 
Saturday, April 13 View Page
Organic Chemistry is another topic we should be thinking about. Organic Chemistry is the study of compounds which contain carbon in their structure & how they combine with other elements…such as oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium & the other trace elements which we test for. It is the “how they combine” part that we should really care about. Some elements are needed in larger quantities than others in order for a plant to grow & produce fruit at its ideal best. That’s why be care about pH & ratios. Yes, it is ALL about science! The better we understand it, the better job we can do of growing plants which will achieve our goals!
 
Saturday, April 13 View Page
Liebig’s Law of Limitation tells us that it is the element (or elements) which becomes scarce during the growing process which will limit our plants’ growth & their ability to produce larger fruit. The scientific fact that our atmosphere contains about 400ppm of CO2, combined with the fact that the optimal CO2 levels for crops is between 700 & 1200ppm, tells me that we need to supplement our CO2 levels up to “ideal levels.” This chart illustrates how CO2 levels in greenhouses fluctuate over the course of the day when there are plants present with photosynthesis occurring.
 
Saturday, April 13 View Page
By understanding this line of scientific logic we can see that our plants are being grown at CO2 levels which are less than ideal…and therefore we should be supplementing our CO2 levels. I can’t believe it took me 22 years of growing these things to grasp this reality & do something about it!
 
Saturday, April 13 View Page
I think most of us consider using CO2 to be similar to athletes using performance enhancing drugs. I know I did, until I started to think about the fact that CO2 is one of the basic required elements for photosynthesis & that every plant already uses it…plants just need more CO2 to grow at “ideal” levels. There are rules which ban PED’s in sports; there are not rules in growing giant vegetables which ban CO2 supplementation. Our society has conditioned us to believe that using things which give its user a competitive edge is cheating. As pumpkin growers we use mycorrhizae, fertilizers, biostimulants, biologicals, & everything else that can help give us an advantage!
 
Tuesday, April 23 View Page
Ah, the age-old question: “Is it better to plant a $50 tree in a $5 hole, or a $5 tree in a $50 hole?” No worries here because these are some of the finest holes time & money can create. If I was getting planted I’d take these holes any day!
 
Wednesday, April 24 View Page
I think these are more like $75 trees (2501 Bernstroms). The holes are at least $500 holes. Between amendments, biologicals, heating cables, heaters, the little enclosure, the 30’x40’ co2 enclosure, co2 burner, propane, lights, greenhouse, and who knows what else, this is about as deluxe a place to be planted as you can find anywhere.
 
Wednesday, April 24 View Page
Here’s a look at the whole set-up!
 
Wednesday, April 24 View Page
After weeks of getting everything ready for planting, it is a great relief to get these plants in the ground!
 
Wednesday, April 24 View Page
These are some serious lights. Thanks to my friend, Sam Felten for loaning them to me for the season! They are LEDs so they don’t require a lot of power to run & they don’t get too hot. They are fully programable. The color spectrum can be changed too. To suit my exacting needs, I have them set to turn on at 6:00am & off at 9:00pm. Just what the doctor ordered!
 
Wednesday, April 24 View Page
To cover my warming boxes over night I am using 2” rigid insulation. I built the boxes so a half sheet of insulation fits perfectly on top. I will re-use the insulation as padding between my pumpkins & the pallets they will be put on to go to contests. I’m either very environmentally conscious or just plain old-fashioned cheap.
 
Friday, April 26 View Page
What’s your VPD? Vapor Pressure Deficit: the difference between the amount of water vapor that is in the air and the maximum amount of vapor the air can hold before it is saturated. As the temperature rises the air can hold more vapor. As it falls it can hold less. Ideally when we are growing plants we want to provide them with a VPD between .8 & 1.1. I had never thought about this before I started learning about CO2. I did know that young plants like warm humid conditions. Now I have a target to shoot for!
 
Friday, April 26 View Page
My wife sent me this today. And I thought she didn’t care!
 
Saturday, April 27 View Page
My friend, Dave Chan, asked me to share a little more about the environmental controller that I am using for my greenhouse. It is a TrolMaster HCS-1. I bought mine used although it appears to be un-used (just pre-owned) on E-bay for $125. They retail new for $328. It comes with a temperature/humidity/light sensor. You can add sensors and switches(solenoids) for lights, fans, etc.
 
Saturday, April 27 View Page
This is TrolMaster’s description of the unit. It does include use of the TrolMaster app, so it can be monitored & run remotely by a smartphone.
 
Saturday, May 4 View Page
I think guys like Chris Rodebaugh are game changers. They’re smart, young, analytical, hard working, & willing to try new things. Many of us “old growers” quite simply are stuck in our ways. You might say that we have become victims of our own success. Lots of us believe that because we have been successful that we should just keep on doing the things we have always done, year-after-year. Meanwhile the Rodebaughs, the Kisamores, the Marintzers, the Giengers, etc., keep learning, trying new things, and raising the bar! This year my focus is to be open to new ideas which scientifically make sense & to fight my tendency to keep doing the same old things…just because they are what I’ve always done.
 
Saturday, May 4 View Page
After my first year living & growing in Oregon I decided to build this greenhouse. I built it pretty much because the best growers in the PNW all grow in greenhouses, so I decided that I should too. This is the view I have each morning when I wake up! My friend, Steve, (who has a greenhouse which is even bigger than this one) likes to remind me that this is also the same view that my wife has each morning when she wakes up.
 
Saturday, May 4 View Page
I named my greenhouse “Pumpkin Henge” because it was my goal to grow really heavy-to-the-chart pumpkins. I’m surprised that Steve doesn’t remind me that it is really going to hurt if one of the concrete pumpkins falls off the “henge” & lands on my head. I’m sure after it happens he will have a good laugh. I do my best to amuse him.
 
Saturday, May 4 View Page
This picture explains today’s rant: I am trying some different things this year. The 8’x8’ “warming enclosure” in the front is where I have a 1620 Pritchard & a 1965 Rodebaugh growing. Behind it is my 30’x45’ super-sealed up CO2 playground where I am growing a 2560 Gienger (with a 1620 Pritchard backup) & a couple 2501 Bernstrom’s.
 
Saturday, May 4 View Page
Here is a look at the 1620 Pritchard (left) & the 1965 Rodebaugh.
 
Saturday, May 4 View Page
This is the 1620 Pritchard which has led the pack since the beginning. It’s enclosure has been at least 70 degrees constantly since these plants have been in it. Unfortunately the 1965 growing next to it will probably be culled in the next several days.
 
Saturday, May 4 View Page
My 2560 Gienger’s main touched down yesterday! The rocket-ship 1620 Pritchard next to it will be culled soon, as space in the 4’x4’ warming enclosure is quickly running out. During warm & sunny days I take the tops off all my inner enclosures, but it still gets REALLY hot & humid in this “CO2 enclosure.” A couple days ago I let it get up to 115 degrees before rolling up my outer greenhouse sides to let some cooler air in. You could see steam pouring out the side of the greenhouse as it vaporized in the 65 degree outside air. It was awesome to see. In just a few minutes CO2 levels dropped from 1285 to 500ppm. Then I closed it back up & it stayed about 100 degrees with 1200ppm CO2 & 70% humidity for the rest of the afternoon.
 
Saturday, May 4 View Page
These 2501 Bernstrom’s look fantastic as too! The one on the left’s main found its way to the ground yesterday.
 
Saturday, May 4 View Page
In my outside patch I have a 16’x8’ & a 10’x8’ greenhouse for getting plants started. The plants in the larger hut are about a day behind the ones in Pumpkin Henge.
 
Saturday, May 4 View Page
This is my 1300 Gienger (reverse cross of the 2560). It was started at the same time as my other seeds! It took 7 days to start growing a root & today it finally has a decent looking leaf (day 24). Every instinct I have developed from growing these things for 22 years tells me to cull it. Travis told me not to give up on it. Last year Tom Montsma had the same bad start going on his 1300 Gienger. He ended up growing a 2360 from it! This is going to be a real test of my patience & willingness to try something I wouldn’t have ever considered in the past.
 
Monday, May 6 View Page
Last night I made my first two culls. These were easy choices as the keepers were clearly better plants than the ones I took out. I wish they were all this easy.
 
Monday, May 6 View Page
I need to decide which of these two plants to keep in the next couple days. The 2560 Gienger has a split in the stem where it folded over as it emerges from the ground. The 1620 Pritchard is perfect & a little more vigorous. The 2560 is what I was planning to grow here…but is it compromised??? What do you think? I’m asking for some bigpumpkins.com crowdsourcing advice here! I really am interested in your input, but ask that you to first take a look at my next couple diary entries which have the “stats” on the seeds these two plants were grown from.
 
Monday, May 6 View Page
The 1620 Pritchard has been grown once. It produced the 2140 Pritchard which was 16% heavy. When John Pritchard sent me this seed he included a long, handwritten note explaining that the 1620 he grew was exceptional. Nobody would take the time to write a note like he wrote me unless they REALLY believed it had great potential. It germinated in less than 24 hours for me & has led all of my other seeds from day one. Plus it grew a beauty for John.
 
Monday, May 6 View Page
“Maverick” the 2560 Gienger grew four pumpkins over 2000 pounds last year & it is going to be grown like crazy this year. It will win many contests this year. It grows gigantic fruit which aren’t particularly heavy. It was grown twenty-one times last year, its first year out. I kind of feel like if I can do some Pumpkin Henge “go heavy magic” with this plant I might be able to give Travis, Steve, & Ron a run for their money at Half Moon Bay this fall. But my plant is already less than perfect on day 26! How much does a split like mine has matter????
 
Monday, May 13 View Page
The first female of the season is always exciting! This one is on my 1620 Pritchard (of course) about 8 feet out.
 
Monday, May 20 View Page
Today is day 39 for my 2501 Bernstrom plant. If everyone who is growing the 2501 Bernstrom this year has one that looks this nice, then there are going to be some real slungers grown off it this year! Remember the guy from the south who used to have a diary & called ‘em slungers???
 
Monday, May 20 View Page
Man these lights are awesome, and I’m pretty sure my electric bill is going to be awesome too. Travis probably has a sponsor that gives him free electricity.
 
Monday, May 20 View Page
I’ve been working on my t-tape. I have a love/hate relationship with t-tape. I love how it evenly distributes water & whatever I put in it. I hate how it can leak unless you get it put together just right. I used to use the end clips you can buy for the t-tape & it drove me nuts for years. Then my friend Jim showed me a better way to close the ends!
 
Monday, May 20 View Page
First you fold up the end of your t-tape. I fold mine four times.
 
Monday, May 20 View Page
Then you crease what you folded down the middle & slide it into a little piece of t-tape.
 
Monday, May 20 View Page
When water fills the t-tape it expands inside the piece that it has been inserted in to & this magically tightens everything up & stops water from coming out of the end! Absolutely brilliant. Real farmers have probably been doing this for a hundred years, but I’m just a city boy. Thanks Jim for sharing the ways of real ag professionals with me!
 
Tuesday, May 21 View Page
If I had it in my hands yesterday but I can’t find it anywhere today, all I have to do is remember to check the dryer & I can usually find it. Just another reason why my wife loves that I’m a pumpkin grower! At least this time it wasn’t something of hers from the kitchen. Ah, that reminds me that I need to grab the nice glass measuring cup before I head back outside.
 
Saturday, May 25 View Page
The 2497 Root & 2287 Sadiq both needed more space & I needed some space to bury their vines so I took down their hoop house today. Both plants look fantastic & are growing crazy fast!
 
Sunday, May 26 View Page
Today the 2501 Bernstrom’s main vine ran out of room in its enclosure inside the big greenhouse. I could have turned the main so it could stay in a few more days, but I realized that if the plant gets much bigger that it is going to be really difficult to take the enclosure down without damaging the plant.
 
Monday, May 27 View Page
These plants have adapted very well from being in the comfy confines of their 20’x 8.5’ hot house to the harsh real world. The 2287 Sadiq is at 13’ (front) and the 2497 Root is at 12.5’. Both plants had floppy leaves on Thursday when their hot house was taken down. Now they have sturdy leaves. It is amazing how that happened so quickly.
 
Monday, May 27 View Page
This is my 1300 Gienger. It was started at the same time as all my others, and it is sooooooooooo far behind! Finally it is starting to act like it wants to grow something. On the envelope which the seed came in Travis wrote: “DO NOT KILL!!! This is 1 of 3 remaining seeds from the 1300.” The 1300 Gienger has been grown once & produced the 2360 Montsma. The plant which grew that fruit started REALLY slowly too!
 
Friday, May 31 View Page
Today I talked with two different growers & the topic of adjusting the pH of the solution we feed to our plants came up. For years I had no idea why we should adjust the pH of our soil (let alone the slurry of things we feed our plants). I just did what I was told to do. This chart is a great way to understand why we should adjust pH! Basically, different elements are more (or less) available to our plants at different pH’s. If your pH falls outside of the range where an element is available to our plants, you might as well not even add it to your soil or feeding mix!
 
Friday, May 31 View Page
Here is a version of the Mulder’s Diagram that Brandon mentioned in his comments on my previous entry. I hadn’t seen this before, so thanks Brandon it is very interesting. This is a great example of what I like about the new “comments” feature in the diary section. I’m a big believer that together we are better & smarter than any one of us.
 
Friday, May 31 View Page
I put up a 30’ x 40’ piece of 30% shade cloth over my two big outside plants today. It is supposed to get hot next week!
 
Wednesday, June 5 View Page
OK, it is contest time here at Vineman’s Pumpkin Diary!!!! The first person who can answer this question correctly will win a set of my 2024 seeds…and they are going to be fantastic! Sorry Jim & Sam you are not eligible for this contest. Here is the question: Why do I have on only one sock?
 
Saturday, June 8 View Page
I got myself a cubic yard of worm castings to add to my vine burying mix. Thanks Pete Casper’s for the great idea!
 
Saturday, June 8 View Page
The worm castings are gorgeous! I’ve been mixing about one part of castings with two parts of my amended & balanced soil for the burying mix. It has a smooth & soft texture & does a great job of absorbing water. This is certainly the best burying mix I’ve ever had.
 
Saturday, June 8 View Page
Here is the five lobe female I pollinated on my 2501 Bernstrom yesterday (June 6). It is sitting at 19’ & has 20 side vines before it. This baby is gonna be an old fashioned SLUNGER! Tomorrow morning it gets its 100 ppm allocation of Florel.
 
Wednesday, June 12 View Page
I have been applying Florel to all of my “keepers” 48 hours after pollination. It needs to be mixed to 100 ppm in distilled water. I use a spray bottle to apply it to the fruit. I leave the blossom on the fruit until after the Florel is applied so the mixture does not get onto the “lobes”. I have not been using Florel on my back-up fruit (the next female on the vine which I would consider growing that has been pollinated). Florel will extend the time the fruit is in the cell division stage…which hopefully means that it will form more cells so that when it moves into the cellular expansion stage there will be more cells to expand resulting in a bigger pumpkin!
 
Thursday, June 13 View Page
My wife’s view of the patch keeps changing! I’m finishing up my pollinations, so it is a good time to use my diary to document what I have pollinated.
 
Thursday, June 13 View Page
A 5 lobe female on the 2501 Bernstrom was pollinated on June 6th with the 1620 Pritchard at 18’. There are 24 secondaries before the fruit & as of today 10 are terminated. In the next week this plant will be at 35’ & all of the side vines before the fruit will be terminated. I’ve never had a plant like this one before! I think it is going to grow a real SLUNGER!!!
 
Friday, June 14 View Page
The 2287 Sadiq had a 4 lobe female pollinated on June 6th. It is at 14’ & was pollinated with the 2501 Bernstrom. It has 16 side vines before the fruit & 3 have been terminated.
 
Friday, June 14 View Page
The 2497 Root was pollinated on June 9th at 12.5’. It is a 5 lobe fruit pollinated with the 2501 Bernstrom. There are 17 side vines before the fruit & 2 have been terminated.
 
Friday, June 14 View Page
The 2560 Gienger was pollinated on June 10th at 18’ with the 2501 Bernstrom. It is a 4 lobe fruit & has 25 side vines before it & 8 have been terminated.
 
Friday, June 14 View Page
The 1620 Pritchard was my best plant…until I cooked its main vine & it stalled out for a couple weeks before it kicked back into grow mode. I re-trained a secondary as the main & was able to set a 4 lobe fruit on June 10th at 13’. There are 25 secondaries before the fruit & 14 have been terminated! Another female will be opening tomorrow at 16.5’.
 
Friday, June 14 View Page
Last, but not least is the 1300 Gienger which is finally growing like it should! It has a female showing at 12.5’ which will be opening in about a week-still historically early for a pollination!
 
Friday, June 14 View Page
I pollinated some back-ups this morning & found this female with seeds in the blossom. If you’ve never seen one of these before, now you have! Personally, I would only grow a female like this as a last resort; you will end up with a pumpkin with a super-thin blossom end that is likely to end up with a blossom end split.
 
Saturday, June 15 View Page
I pollinated what I hope will be my keeper on my 2287 Sadiq this morning. It was a 4 lobe female at 18’ (20 side vines before it) & I used pollen from my 2501 Bernstrom. It will replace the fruit in this pic. I don’t like how the base of the pumpkin’s stem & the secondary are conjoined on the baby in this pic. I figure that irregular things generally lead to problems at some point when growing these things. If I can avoid a problem in the future I will!
 
Wednesday, June 19 View Page
I stopped by one of our PGVG member’s house yesterday to check out his patch. He has done a lot of work amending his soil to follow Cecil’s recommendations derived from the soil calculator. He got an early start & had great initial growth while the plants were in his 8’x10’ hot houses. Since they have been outside their growth has slowed down. The plant shown in this pic is growing leaves with yellow edges after being outside. I have an idea about what the problem is…but we are interested in what your thoughts might be. Post them here! Let’s see if we can help him figure out what’s wrong!!!
 
Thursday, June 20 View Page
June has been an extremely busy month here at Pumpkin Henge. Just ask Cleo!
 
Thursday, June 20 View Page
Last week my son, Owen graduated from his Masters program at the University of Oregon. He was the class valedictorian & even gave the speech at the graduation ceremony. That was super cool! He also has a job waiting for him this fall! Wow!!!
 
Thursday, June 20 View Page
My extremely capable 87 year old father was here visiting from California last week. He may have come because of graduation, but he helped me in the patch a lot! It is always great to spend time with him. He was here for Father’s Day. If you ask me, there is nothing quite like working in the patch on Father’s Day with your dad & son! My dad agrees; my son does not!
 
Thursday, June 20 View Page
We built 5’x5’ raised platforms to grow the pumpkins on. Someone who is smarter than me figured out that by growing fruit off the ground that the blossom end is less likely to disappear under the fruit as it grows and potentially lead to season ending problems. The theory is that the ground temperature generally is colder than the temperature of the air. This causes the portion of the fruit which is in contact with the ground to grow slower than the rest of the fruit…causing the blossom end to roll under. It makes sense, so we built some platforms to give it a try.
 
Thursday, June 20 View Page
Let’s talk about perhaps the most death-defying act we undertake each year as pumpkin growers: setting up our “keepers” for growing. First of all, it MUST be hot when you do this, or you will break vines & potentially end your season early.
 
Thursday, June 20 View Page
It is important to protect your fruit when you are moving it & positioning vines. I like to put a piece of cardboard under the fruit so it will slide easily while protecting its bottom. I also cover it with a piece of a t-shirt. Once I used an old towel & it scratched the heck out of the fruit. Whatever you use it MUST be smooth!
 
Thursday, June 20 View Page
I screwed the corners of my mill fabric to the platform. Then I put about 2 cups of sand on the mill fabric. A second piece of mill fabric will be placed on top of the sand. The only reason the sand is there is to create a surface which will allow us to slide our fruit on when it is large. Think of the sand as ball bearings between the two pieces of mill fabric.
 
Thursday, June 20 View Page
You absolutely will need help when doing this! Don’t attempt to do it alone, or you will be sorry when you break a vine, or crack the space between your fruit & vines. I’m fortunate to have Owen (who has been forced into doing this for many years), my friend/fellow grower/greenhouse expert -Sam Felten, & Owen’s girlfriend -Maya to help with the procedure.
 
Thursday, June 20 View Page
I like to align the fruit with the main vine as it comes away from the plant. Where the fruit, the main vine, & the secondary vine at the fruit all come together I move the main one lateral direction - the secondary the other lateral direction - and the fruit straight ahead. I have ramped up the main vine with soil as it leads up to the platform. Now it’s time to grow some fruit! Hold onto your hat!!!
 
Thursday, June 20 View Page
Of course everything that was uprooted to move the vines gets re-buried with more mychorizae. Then it gets watered well to help it begin recovering.
 
Sunday, June 23 View Page
This morning I had a female open which had “seeds in the blossom.” This is a good pic of what is actually going on when this happens. As they say, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”
 
Sunday, June 30 View Page
One of the things I like about growing fruit on raised platforms is the fact that you can run drip lines underneath the platforms. I have always disliked winding drip lines around my pumpkin’s growing spots. Hopefully it will also make rodent damage less of a threat too.
 
Monday, July 1 View Page
It is hard to believe that it is July! 4 of my 6 fruit are at or past the day 20 mark & their plants are kicking over into fruit growing mode, so it is time to make sure they never go hungry! I’m starting to run some 0-0-25 at low levels & will ramp it up over the next 10 days or so. Throughout fruit growing season I use 5:2 Kelp/Humic every day! Since I’ve been using 5:2 & 0-0-25 all of my fruit have been going crazy heavy to the chart. In the past 3 years my big fruit have been anywhere from 9% to 22% heavy when they hit the scales. Yes, I grow genetics which generally go heavy, but I feel like I can usually go twice the percent heavy of the other ones grown from the same genetics.
 
Monday, July 1 View Page
I test the feeding slurry’s pH & adjust it with pH down. I shoot for 6.5-6.8 pH.
 
Thursday, July 4 View Page
Happy Independence Day everyone! I’m celebrating by giving my basal crowns (back in Kansas where I grew up we would have called them stumps) some much needed attention. I had all sorts of new vines starting to grow & broken old leaves starting to rot. I cut them all off & did one of my favorite pumpkin growing jobs: I sprayed the places where I cut them off the vine with Hydrogen Peroxide. It wasn’t your household 3% solution either. It was 34%-spray it on the bad spot & watch it foam up hydrogen peroxide! It was almost as much fun as putting salt on a slug. Then I put a fan on the cleaned up wounds. In few hours everything will be dry & ready for the next three months.
 
Thursday, July 4 View Page
Here at Vineman’s diary we do our best to keep you from making the same stupid mistakes I always seem to make. This is what your hands will look like if you get 34% hydrogen peroxide on them! I poured it out of the gallon jug into my spray bottle & put the lid back on the jug. My mistake was is picking up the jug without rinsing it off. Smart guys like Jim Sherwood & Jim Ford would never make a mistake like this.
 
Saturday, July 6 View Page
My 2287 Sadiq fruit is going to be wheel shaped. I’m not a fan of wheel shaped fruit because they usually blossom end split on me. If you look carefully at this pic you can almost see the dividing line between the thin blossom end and the thicker shoulders. This pic scares the heck out of me. I grew one once on a pallet with the stem down & it made it to the end. I’ll see if I can find a pic of it.
 
Sunday, July 7 View Page
This was my 1578 Pugh from 2013. When I saw it was going to be a wheel I decided to grow it on a pallet with the stem down. Maybe I will do it with the 2287 Sadiq wheel I have going now. I believe that this is the best way to keep a wheel from splitting. It is a real pain to set up, but it worked for me 11 years ago…back when you could be 4th at Half Moon Bay with a 1578 pound pumpkin!
 
Monday, July 8 View Page
Here is another pic of the pumpkin that has been keeping me awake at night. I look at this pic & know in the end it can’t turn out good. Just like a JLo movie. My wife loves JLo movies. I hate them, they are all the same, they are all a waste of my time, but I still watch them with my wife. However, there was one exception recently: The Mother. Maybe this means that there is a slim chance that this pumpkin could turn out good??? I guess I’m going to grow it & hope it isn’t the same bad movie I have seen too many times.
 
Wednesday, July 10 View Page
Jlo came through as expected this morning. At least it was a short movie this time.
 
Thursday, July 11 View Page
Having a day 34 slunger like this one helps ease the pain of losing JLo! After eight consecutive daily gains of 46+ pounds this white beast is closing in on 600 pounds. This pumpkin is now officially known as “The Slunger.” Travis seems to think that if you can string together thirty days of 50+ pounds a day that you have a shot at 3,000 pounds. I’m not greedy; I’d be happy with 120 pounds less (30 days x 4 lbs). The 2880 Pugh has a nice ring to it.
 
Thursday, July 11 View Page
A grower was asking me today about positioning a fruit to grow. Here is what The Slunger’s vines look like leading up to the fruit. The secondary at the fruit is really tight as you can see by how straight it is. I adjusted it right after taking this pic, so now it has some slack, like the main vine does before & after the fruit.
 
Thursday, July 11 View Page
My 2560 Gienger hit day 30 today & measured 259” OTT, which is 400.7 pounds! This is just a few pounds ahead of The Slunger’s day 30. This looks like it is going to be a rare orange 2560 fruit! The pollinating plant of the 2560 grew the orange 1300 Gienger…it has been grown only once & produced the new Wisconsin state record, the 2350 Montsma, which was orange & heavy!
 
Thursday, July 11 View Page
My 1620 Pritchard also hit DAP 30 today. It was 236” OTT which is 303 pounds. Compared to the other two, this is a little disappointing. But historically for fruit I have grown this is a solid DAP number. Last year my 1686.5 Stelts fruit which ended up weighing 1940 lbs (9% heavy) was only taping 177.9 pounds on day 30. There is a long way to go until contest time!
 
Thursday, July 11 View Page
The Slunger’s plant is running out of room! It is still growing like crazy. Usually a fruit which is growing like The Slunger is growing will slow down the vegetative growth to almost nothing, but that is not the case here! What should I do????
 
Thursday, July 11 View Page
This is what I did! I tore out the first secondary on each side of the 1620 Pritchard plant, which I had “swooped backward.” This gives the 2501 plant another 150 square feet to grow vines. This was an easy decision for me. New roots are “hungrier” than old roots, so I think this extra space to grow more roots & leaves will benefit The Slunger more than it will hurt the 1620 Pritchard fruit. If I’m going to get this baby up to 2880 pounds, it is going to need all the leaves & roots it wants to grow!
 

 

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