Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 156 Entries. Sunday, March 16 View Page 2008 pumpkinseason started for me in Canada at the Niagara Growers Convention. Here's a pic of me with some of the many US and Canada friends i met there.I will use Bp nicnames. Lipumpkin(G),bourney(lonnie),buddyG,bart,peacewayne,sludgepumpkin(dan),Bohica(tom), don young and me.   Sunday, March 16 View Page These are the pumpkins i grew in 2007.   Thursday, April 24 View Page Soaked and planted the following seeds in potting soil today : 1502wallace,707toftness,1248ford,1207young, 5 of my 1297ghaye and 5 of my 1174ghaye.Planning on 6 plants plus backup's.Two of the three greenhouses are up ,last one will be finished this next saturday. Weather isn't to warm yet, but i think soil temperature will be ok in greenhouses by planting time.   Friday, April 25 View Page A pumpkin seedling popped up on the compost pile.   Friday, April 25 View Page Today last hands were layed on building up greenhouses.This one will house 2 plants and it's in the same spot where i grew my 1297 and 1174 last season.   Sunday, April 27 View Page Improved germination box seems to work fine.1502wallace,1174ghaye and 1297ghaye are up after 3! days.My previous pb was 4 days.Waiting for 1207young,1248ford and 707toftness now.   Thursday, May 1 View Page front : 1174ghaye,1207young,1502wallace back : 1297ghaye,1174ghaye,1248ford 707toftness didn't pop up yet.   Thursday, May 1 View Page Planning...   Friday, May 2 View Page Transplanting day.4plants and their backups will go in today. 1502wallace,1248ford,1174 and 1297ghaye.Backups will be all 1174's and 1297's. 1207young will have to wait a couple of days.   Friday, May 2 View Page 1297ghaye . Notice how the roots have outgrown container in only 5 days.   Friday, May 2 View Page 1297ghaye(front) and 1502wallace will be grown back to back plants,8ft.apart. In the other greenhouse i planted 1248ford and 1174ghaye.   Sunday, May 4 View Page Nice surprise this morning : 707toftness is alive and kicking! Took 10 days, but looks like very healthy seedling.Looks like 1207young is deformed plant ,but i planted another one last wednesday and that one broke soil today too.   Monday, May 12 View Page 1297ghaye   Monday, May 12 View Page 1502wallace   Monday, May 12 View Page 1174ghaye   Monday, May 12 View Page 1248ford   Friday, May 16 View Page 877ghaye is the last one to go in patch.I'm growing this one instead of 707tofness or 1207young , since those both turned out to be mutant plants. A late start, but we have some late weighoffs in europe.   Saturday, May 17 View Page Rainy day here.. So i decided to try the compost tea thing.I'm not what you would call a believer, but i'm gonna give it a try.Almost every 'big' grower i talked to at niagara used it , so... I use a 5500l/h airpump and 4 kingsize airstones. Compost and melasses are in stocking.   Saturday, May 17 View Page Here's a video of the brewer : http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=duC5D_GZjgg   Friday, May 30 View Page 1248ford plant , 33 days old, 4 weeks since transplanting. 1502wallace is leading the pack, followed by my 1297 and 1174 and the 1248, all about same size. 877 ghaye is 10 days younger and doing well. All backups are culled.   Friday, June 6 View Page 1502wallace plant, 40 days old. in the back is the 1297ghaye plant, also 40 days old. I started to bury some vines and pinching of tertiaries. Yesterday i saw some aphids on the leafs and in the evening i sprayed them with 'confidor'.   Friday, June 13 View Page 1502wallace plant.Another 32 liters of rain yesterday.   Friday, June 13 View Page Female flowerbud on the 1502wallace at 11,5ft(3,45m)from stump. Also female buds on the 1174 and 1297ghaye and the 1248ford, all about 10 - 11 ft.out.Male flowers on every plant.   Wednesday, June 18 View Page First pollination of the 2008 season. 1502wallace*1248ford , fourlobber,11.5 ft. out. Next female bud is about 16ft.out.Will take at least a week before it will open.   Friday, June 20 View Page 1502wallace plant. there's a second female bud now, about 16ft.out.Main vine is about 18ft.long.   Friday, June 20 View Page This was a pumpkinplant.I couldn't believe my eyses when i saw this. I was in Kasterlee yesterday night fr a meeting with other growers.10 minutes of hail last sunday ruined the 2008 season fr some of the Kasterlee growers.This pic is from Herman Boonen's patch.   Friday, June 20 View Page Marc Verhofstede from 'humus bvba ' was in Kasterlee to tell us some things about the preparation and use of compost and compost tea.   Friday, June 20 View Page Belgian growers discussing on how to grow biggest in europe again this season. I was very impressed by the 1041mckie plant i saw in Luc's patch! This one fortunatly is grown in a greenhouse so it survived the hailstorm.   Sunday, June 22 View Page A bird massacred female bud on 1297plant, 15ft out. 1248bud, ready to pollinate tomorrow was picked too, but not that bad. Covered all buds . Pollinated one on the 1174 yesterday with a 1297male 10 ft out.   Tuesday, June 24 View Page 1502wallace*1248ford ,17ft out , 4 lobes.   Wednesday, June 25 View Page Every year i'm faced with new challenges. This pic shows rabbit damnage on a driphose. I allready had to replace 6 hoses.Why do they do this ? Thirsty? Never seen it in previous years.   Wednesday, June 25 View Page After i took measures to prevent the rabbit from digging into greenhouse, he simply chewed his way in.Grrrrrrr !!!!   Wednesday, June 25 View Page Today i finally succeeded to keep him outside! I also had to make a fence arround the tunnel greenhouse. Dang rabbits costed me a day of work. Great hobby!   Wednesday, June 25 View Page 1174ghaye*1248ford 14ft out.   Friday, June 27 View Page 1502wallace plant is about 8,5 meters long now (26ft.) 4 lober i pollinated on june 24 , 17ft out will propably keeper.   Friday, June 27 View Page 1297ghaye plant. No fruit set yet. First one had seeds in the blossom, second female bud was eaten by a bird. Next one better be a good one, it's allready 20ft.out.   Friday, June 27 View Page 1174ghaye plant.   Friday, June 27 View Page Fruit on the 1174.Pollinated 2 days ago.Will propably be keeper, i allready bended the vine away from fruit.   Friday, June 27 View Page 1248ford plant.Will pollinate one on this plant tomorrow, another one in a day or 5.   Saturday, June 28 View Page 1248ford*1502wallace ,4 lobes ,14ft.   Sunday, June 29 View Page 1502wallace*open.4 lobes 23ft.   Tuesday, July 1 View Page Another deformed female on my 1297 plant. Deformed lobes and some seeds outside.I'm allready 24ft out , and still haven't seen a decent female flower.i also noticed half of the males are deformed. I will give it one more week to see if i can get an acceptable fruit set, if not 1297 plant will become the first victim of the season.   Tuesday, July 1 View Page Culled a fruit of the 1502wallace.   Friday, July 4 View Page 1248ford plant. Two pumpkins set , another one will be pollinated tomorrow .Still have to decide wich one will be the keeper.   Friday, July 4 View Page 1174ghaye.Keeper fruit pollinated on june 25.   Friday, July 4 View Page 877ghaye plant. 1 pumpkin set, but keeper will be set propably july 7.   Friday, July 4 View Page Fruit on the 1502wallace plant, set june 24. This one had all i takes to grow a worldclass giant pumpkin, but i got a disease in the plant called 'Beet Pseudo-Yellows Virus '.It's a kind of mosaicvirus witch occurs only on cucurbits in greenhouses. I had it on some plants in former years , but never knew what it was. Leafs in the crown are allready turning brown and crispy. Still hope to get a new pb out of it.   Friday, July 4 View Page 1297ghaye plant , planted back to back on the 1502wallace plant has no virus, no spidermites , no aphids .....and no pumpkin. One of the darkgreenest and healthiest plants i ever had, an all females so far had deformed lobes and seeds in the blossom.Next one will open by july 10 i think, but i don't have much hope it will be a normal female.   Saturday, July 5 View Page 1248ford*1502wallace, 4 lobes. 18ft.   Tuesday, July 8 View Page 877ghaye*1502wallace , 4 lobes 14ft.   Friday, July 11 View Page This is the base(crown and 2 oldest sidevines) of my 1297ghaye plant.   Friday, July 11 View Page And this is the base of my 1502wallace plant, planted same date and back to back 7ft. apart from 1297 plant. 'Beet yellows 'virus makes those leafs kind of premature aging.Still get some hope to keep the plant more or less in condition to grow a decent size of pumpkin.   Friday, July 11 View Page Fruit on the 1502wallace plant . 17 days old and 50,5" circ.   Friday, July 11 View Page Culled 'seeds in blossom' fruit of my 1297 plant. No way i could ever grow a fruit like this to what i call a 'decent' size. Waiting for a more or less normal fruit on this plant.   Friday, July 11 View Page Fruit on the 1174 plant , 16 days old 40"circ.   Friday, July 11 View Page 1248ford.Not sure if this one will be the keeper, although i allready bent away the vine and put sand and all.Maybe i was a little bit to sure of myself.Next fruit has better shape. I will see how both will be gaining now for a day or 5 , and make final decision than.   Sunday, July 13 View Page Finally a normal shaped female on mv of 1297. 5 lober,26ft.out. Pollinated it with 1502wallace, but i forgot to ziplock males yesterday , so it's an open pollination.   Monday, July 14 View Page Day 20 for 1502wallace fruit. Circ. is 58"   Monday, July 14 View Page We have lots of vegetable waste from our store, where we make soups, salads etc.   Monday, July 14 View Page Vegetable waste has to be mixed with other stuff to make good compost. I use mainly straw and woodshavings for that purpose.   Monday, July 14 View Page This compost pile is a mix of straw, horsemanure,vegetable waste , and some grassclippings witch some of the neighbours bring to me.   Monday, July 14 View Page In bins like this one i compost a mix of woodshavings, vegetable waste , grasclippings and a little bit of horsemanure.   Monday, July 14 View Page This is stuff from a pile from last year. It's spread in patch where i will grow 2 AG plants next year.   Monday, July 14 View Page Stuff is full of red wrigglers   Monday, July 14 View Page Fieldpumpkins   Tuesday, July 15 View Page Compost tilled in.Covercrop (yellow mustard )in.   Tuesday, July 15 View Page Day 20 for fruit on the 1174ghaye plant.Circ is 51,5"   Friday, July 18 View Page Day 20 for the 1248ford fruit.Circ: 62.5" Scar is from birdattack when it was a little bud.   Thursday, July 24 View Page Day 30 for my fruit on the 1502wallace plant. Est.weight is 172lbs(78kg). Don't think this one is gonna give me a new personal best.   Friday, July 25 View Page 1174 day30 170lbs est.   Saturday, July 26 View Page 1297 day 10 : 25" circ.   Monday, July 28 View Page 1248ford, day 30. 138kg/304lbs. Gains increased a lot here last 5 days on all of my pumpkins thanks to high day and night temps.Very hot and humid now after a couple of weeks of very cool weather.   Tuesday, July 29 View Page 877ghaye. Day 20. circ. 71,5" ott 168" .Est.wgt.: 111lbs 50kg. If i had to put my money on one of my pumpkins it would be this one.   Saturday, August 2 View Page 1248ford and 1174ghaye plants.   Saturday, August 2 View Page 1248ford day 35. Est.wgt. 458lbs/208kg.Gained 31 lbs/day (14kg) for the last 5 days.   Thursday, August 7 View Page 1248ford. Day 40. est.wgt. is 595lbs(270kg).27lbs/day   Thursday, August 7 View Page 877ghaye on day 30.est.wgt.:286lbs(130kg).   Thursday, August 7 View Page 1502wallace fruit. 476lbs(216kg) est.on day 44.   Thursday, August 7 View Page 1174ghaye. est.wgt. : 353lbs (160kg).Day : 43.   Thursday, August 7 View Page 1297ghaye.day : 23. Est.wgt.: 168lbs(76kg)   Friday, August 8 View Page Noticed some white fluid on the stump of 1297ghaye plant. Found a ver tiny spot on the stump where it was foaming a little.Cutted it open and noticed a bad smell so i decided yo cut main vine from stump   Friday, August 8 View Page Main vine brown at the inside.I started to cut it of before every secondary.At 11'th secondary the stump was green and healthy inside.Means i lost stump and half of the plant.   Friday, August 8 View Page The remaining part of main vine and 12 secondaries.(and pumpkin)   Saturday, August 9 View Page Cleaned up the amputated part of the 1297 plant. This is what rests. Pic shows buried vines with driphoses running through the plant. It's a lot of work in june , but it works well and i need half of the water compared to overhead system.Another advantage is that because of the leafs don't getting wet , i can let the system run any part of the day or night.   Tuesday, August 12 View Page 1248ford day 45 . 716lbs(325kg)est. 24lbs(11kg)/day.   Tuesday, August 12 View Page 1502wallace day 49. 547lbs(248kg)est. 14lbs(6kg/day) This one developped a stemsplit on august 11. I cutted it open a little wider both sides and put a hairdryer on it for a couple of hours to dry it up.   Tuesday, August 12 View Page 877ghaye day 35. 392lbs (178kg) est. 21lbs(10kg/day)   Tuesday, August 12 View Page 1297ghaye on day 28.269lbs(122kg) 20lbs(9kg)/day   Friday, August 22 View Page 1297ghaye.Day 38.Est.wgt.is 459lbs(208kg).Only 400ft. of plant left and no stump.Still gaining 19lbs(8,5kg)/day.   Friday, August 22 View Page Yesterday i noticed some week spots on stump and main vine of my 1502wallace plant. I had to amputate stump and about 7ft.of the main vine. Fruit is 59 days old today and it's est.wgt. is 666lbs(302kg).Pace is 12lbs(5.5kg)/day) The two plants in my biggest greenhouse are growing without stump now.   Friday, August 22 View Page 877ghaye.At day 45 est.wgt. is 555lbs(252kg). 16lbs(7,5kg)/day   Friday, August 22 View Page 1174ghaye.Day 58. Est.wgt.: 495lbs(222kg).   Friday, August 22 View Page Fruit on my 1248ford plant at day 55.Est.wgt.is 887lbs(405kg) Pace is 17lbs(8kg)/day.   Saturday, August 23 View Page This is the blossom end of my 1297ghaye fruit. First victim of the 2008 season.   Wednesday, August 27 View Page Day 50 for 877ghaye fruit.Est.wgt.is 633lbs(287kg). Doing 15lbs(7kg)/day.   Wednesday, August 27 View Page Day 60 for the fruit on 1248ford plant. Est. wgt. is 948lbs(430kg). Gains dropped to 11lbs (5kg)/day.   Monday, September 1 View Page My pumpkin on the 1248ford plant is 65 days old today and the est.weight is 1000lbs(454,5kg).Keeps putting on weight slow but steady 11lbs(5kg)/day.   Saturday, September 6 View Page Fruit on my 1248ford plant is still gaining 11lbs(5kg)/day. On day 70 it's est.wgt. is 1055lbs(478kg).   Saturday, September 6 View Page I have two fruits going on my longgourd plant.   Saturday, September 6 View Page 1502wallace,74 days old and taping 777lbs(350kg).   Saturday, September 6 View Page 877ghaye caught up with the 1502 today and on day 60 it tapes 777lbs(350kg).14lbs(6.5kg)/day   Saturday, September 6 View Page This is my marrow plant and fruit from a seed i found in my EGVGA seedpackage.   Tuesday, September 16 View Page The fruit on my 1248ford plant is 80 days old now and very hard to measure.If i take the smallest circ.(in ribs) it's est at 1090lbs.If i take widest possible circ. it tapes 1170lbs. but that's not a correct horizontal circ. measurement.So i take something in between and get at an est.wgt. of 1130lbs(512.5kg).Gained 75lbs in last 10 days.   Tuesday, September 16 View Page A closer look at the fruit.   Tuesday, September 16 View Page The 877ghaye plant is growing partially outside and partially inside a 10*32ft greenhouse.Stump ,main vine and fruit are inside.Sidevines are 12ft.long.   Tuesday, September 16 View Page Pumpkin on my 877ghaye plant is 70 days old today and it tapes 871 lbs.(395kg).It gained 100lbs(45kg) in the last ten days.   Tuesday, September 16 View Page This is what's left of my 1502 wallace plant.Pumpkin is still gaining though,and put on 4.5lbs(2kg) a day during the last 10 days.Est.wgt.is 816lbs.(370kg)   Saturday, September 20 View Page Today my good friend Luc Bex came bye for his annual visit. I picked up the fruit at my 1174plant (260kg est.) and removed plant to concentrate in this greenhouse on the 1248fruit in the pic .   Tuesday, September 23 View Page Fruit of the 1174ghaye plant just fitted in my brothers van.I drove to a friend who has a digital scale to weigh it.Scale told 358,5kg (790lbs). Had to remeasure on pallet... Est. : 593lbs . So 33% heavy .. never had anything that % heavy.it was grown in spot where i grew 1297 last year.   Friday, September 26 View Page Pumpkin on my 1502Wallace plant gained 40lbs(18kg)during the last 10 days and it's est.wgt. is now 855lbs(388kg) Fruit is 94 days old today.   Friday, September 26 View Page 877ghaye fruit at day 80. Est.wgt. is 930lbs(422kg). Gained 60lbs(27kg) last 10 days.This one will stay on the vine for another 30 days if all goes well.   Friday, September 26 View Page 1248ford,day 90.Est.wgt. is 1206lbs(547kg). Hoping for another 50lbs in the 8 days to go now.   Friday, October 3 View Page Plastic removed . Lifting day today !   Friday, October 3 View Page Putting the straps.Rain !   Friday, October 3 View Page Ready ... everything went smooth   Friday, October 3 View Page Always a good feeling when a fruit is safe on the pallet.   Friday, October 3 View Page Pumpkins of the 1502wallace and 1248ford , ready for weighoffs and locked up for the night.   Monday, October 6 View Page Weighoff today !!! Arrival at Duisburg (belgium).   Monday, October 6 View Page Brad Wursten from the netherlands and me taped and 'thumped' my 1248ford fruit.Tape says 1234lbs.Will it go heavy? Target is new pb (1297lbs).   Monday, October 6 View Page Weighing started.   Monday, October 6 View Page Leo Cuypers with two huge squashes !   Monday, October 6 View Page Iwan Horde brought a very beautifull pumpkin.New pb for him : 438kg(965lbs.)   Monday, October 6 View Page Leo Cuypers grew a very low and wide pumpkin. It weighed in at 498kg (1098lbs).   Monday, October 6 View Page My pumpkin brought to the scale....   Monday, October 6 View Page 1357lbs . A new Belgian and European record! First one in belgium over 600kg.   Monday, October 6 View Page Celebrating!!.. My 1248ford fruit is now 1357ghaye08. It went 10% heavy.   Monday, October 6 View Page My friends from Kasterlee.   Monday, October 6 View Page Two happy growers.   Monday, October 6 View Page Getting our prizes.End of a fantastic day !   Tuesday, October 7 View Page On sunday oct.5 i took my fruit of the 1502wallace to gpc weighoff in erfststad near köln, germany. It fitted in my brothers van, so no trailer.   Tuesday, October 7 View Page Scary ... lol   Tuesday, October 7 View Page Andreas Wild and me with the 1502wallace fruit.   Tuesday, October 7 View Page Andreas and me with his fruit of the 800ruegger   Tuesday, October 7 View Page A Tv crew was present.   Tuesday, October 7 View Page Part of the lineup.   Tuesday, October 7 View Page My favorite part of weighoffs...   Tuesday, October 7 View Page Andreas fruit on the scale. 352kg.. he was very happy with it.It only taped 297.5kg.   Tuesday, October 7 View Page My fruit prepared for lifting.   Tuesday, October 7 View Page 1008lbs.!!!! Good enough for first place . 1502wallace fruit is now 1008ghaye08. It went 17.5% heavy and it was pollinated by the 1248ford that grew my 1357. It was a great day and i met some very nice people here.. thx. all !   Wednesday, October 15 View Page Arrival at Ludwigsburg castle(germany) for the european weighoff on oct.12.   Wednesday, October 15 View Page Robert jaser and his fruit.   Wednesday, October 15 View Page My friend from Italy ,Sergio (moro) was also in lb. He brought 3 bags of gypsum for me.Thx Sergio.. Now i can grow big in 2009.   Wednesday, October 15 View Page Growers meeting.   Wednesday, October 15 View Page Anders' beauty prepared to be lifted.In the lifting crew you see roger ruegger and the jaser 's at the left.   Wednesday, October 15 View Page Beat Jucker ,Anders, Owen Olsen,Robert Jaser on the podium. The guy handing the envelopes is the main sponsor of the event.   Wednesday, October 15 View Page It's better to kiss a miss than to miss a kiss...   Wednesday, October 15 View Page See that smile when camera crew told me they missed the kissing part and i had to do it all over?   Wednesday, October 15 View Page The 3 winning pumpkins and growers.   Wednesday, October 15 View Page I had to say goodbye to my pumpkin as it will stay at ludwigsburg castle for exposition.Seeds will be retrieved for me by Owen.Thanks for that Owen. And thanks to all the people i met in lb. It was a great day!   Friday, October 24 View Page Picked up the fruit of my 877ghaye plant.It will be weighed at Kasterlee weigh-off on sunday oct.26 . 877ghaye07 was 820sandvic*1209wells.So grandparents of this pumpkin are : 670daigle, 869calai , 1370rose and 1225jutras.   Monday, October 27 View Page Another view.   Monday, October 27 View Page Another weighoff...   Monday, October 27 View Page Kasterlee , oct.26   Monday, October 27 View Page Jonas with his 438kg(965lbs) fruit of a 1297ghaye seed.   Monday, October 27 View Page Pumpkin of my 877ghaye plant weighed in at 480,1kg(1058lbs). Second place , 7kg (15lbs) short for first place.   Monday, October 27 View Page 1058ghaye loaded for his trip to Koksijde at belgian coast. 1357ghaye is at exposition in Ludwigsburg near Stuttgart. 1008ghaye is on display in Köln central station. 790ghaye(uow) is in front of a restaurant in Liège. So my pumpkins are all over europe, and i had to borrow one from a friend(grower) for display in front of my store...lol