Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 68 Entries. Tuesday, September 19 View Page Hi everyone, I’m Lillian from the Tweed Valley Australia, I’m yet to grow a giant pumpkin but I’m totally obsessed with trying. I love bigpumpkin.com and seeing all the incredible giant pumpkins that you all grow it’s truly amazing! You all make it look so easy.. it’s such a challenge for me but I’m learning a lot from you all. So thank you! So my lineup for this year is.. 2252 Paton , 2075 Connolly , 867kg Oliver . Planted on the first week of Aug. All the seeds were given to me by my good friend Dale who I can’t thank enough for all his help. Hopefully I can grow something half decent this year .. fingers crossed. Let the fun begin ?????? This pic is my 867kg Oliver this morning   Tuesday, September 19 View Page This is my setup for the 867kg Oliver   Tuesday, September 19 View Page The 2252 Paton   Tuesday, September 19 View Page The 2075 Connolly   Tuesday, September 19 View Page The 2075 Connolly and 2252 Paton will be grown in an open paddock   Sunday, October 1 View Page Beautiful sunrise over the pumpkin patch this morning. Relentless strong winds for the past 24 hours gusts up to 22 knots.. not ideal. Surprisingly there was no damage to the pumpkin plants thank goodness. My plants are really on the move now with day temps around 27oC and night temps around 17oC The Paton is on this end and the Connolly is on the far end growing towards the Paton. I can’t bring myself to pull one out as we can’t get seed like this over here anymore unfortunately. No doubt it’s going to end up one big mess but that’s me always breaking the big pumpkin rules haha. Hope for the best. Have a great day everyone! :)   Sunday, October 1 View Page 2252 Paton   Sunday, October 1 View Page 2075 Connolly   Sunday, October 1 View Page 867kg Oliver in the pumpkin house. I might have done a sneaky pollination yesterday to see what happens.. I know this is a BIG no no as the vine is so small, but I can’t help myself. I seem to like learning the hard way :)   Monday, October 2 View Page Strong winds predicted for later in the week so I made a windbreak today, hopefully it’s good enough to do the job.   Monday, October 2 View Page Windbreak is on the north and northeast side of the patch.   Sunday, October 15 View Page I lost the 2075 Connolly to what looks like Mosaic virus.. I’m not sure but it’s definitely got some virus and it had to go.   Sunday, October 15 View Page I replaced the Connolly with the 717 kg Oliver that was kindly given to me. Beautiful plant very grateful to have it.. thanks again so much Dale! I didn’t plant it in the exact same spot, hopefully it will be okay.   Sunday, October 15 View Page The 2252 Paton nicely coming along   Sunday, October 15 View Page Good growth on the 867kg Oliver also.   Sunday, October 15 View Page I’ve got a couple of watermelon plants on the go.. hopefully they’ll do okay. No expectations here haha   Monday, October 23 View Page 2252 Paton still growing well after strong winds snapped the tip off the main vine.   Monday, October 23 View Page My first pollination on the 2252 Paton Day 6.   Monday, October 23 View Page The 867kg Oliver also growing well.. pollinated the second pumpkin this morning.   Monday, October 23 View Page My first successful pollination on the 867kg Oliver… Day 18   Monday, October 30 View Page This is the 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver Day 13 .. I love how fast these things grow. It’s so exciting!! If only I can grow this beauty out to 250 -300kg I’ll be over the moon. Gosh I hope so.. actually I’ll be more than happy with 200kg haha. I’ll keep dreaming :)   Monday, October 30 View Page 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver .. Day 13   Monday, October 30 View Page 2252 Paton Looking okay considering all the strong winds we’ve had in the past 10 weeks.   Thursday, November 2 View Page 2252 Paton.. Day 16 :)   Thursday, November 2 View Page 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver .. Day 16 Growing so fast at the moment. I can’t wait to run the tape over it on Day 20.   Monday, November 6 View Page 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver .. A cold, wet and dreary Day 20 OTT 135 and growing nicely. Hopefully the warm sunny weather returns for a good day 25   Monday, November 6 View Page Side view   Monday, November 6 View Page Side view   Tuesday, November 7 View Page 2252 Paton.. I’m really happy with the growth of this plant it’s still growing like crazy. I only feed it our custom hydroponic solution that we developed over 30 years ago. We use it on everything we grow on our farm and I’m really glad giant pumpkins seem to love it too. The second fruit I have set on this vine is pollinated with its self mainly for its seeds. I hope the plant can handle growing two fruit.. we will see. Fingers crossed. I water by hand and with only 5 or 6 T- tape running under it. The overhead sprinkler is only used on really hot days just for cooling the plant quickly. Day Temps 26oC Night Temps 18oC   Saturday, November 11 View Page 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver DAP 25.. OTT 171 a gain of 36 I’m happy with that :)   Sunday, November 12 View Page This is the 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver DAP 25.. OTT 171 a gain of 36 I’m really happy with that gain now I’ve just got to keep it going.. gosh it’s exciting! Looking forward to Day 30 Day temps 29oC Night temps 19oC   Thursday, November 16 View Page 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver DAP 30.. OTT 209 a gain of 38 This is now actually the biggest pumpkin I’ve ever grown haha. So I’m very pleased with today’s figures.   Thursday, November 16 View Page And I finally have a watermelon on the go.. it’s kind of doing it’s own thing I haven’t spent much time on it at all. It’s growing well.   Tuesday, November 21 View Page 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver DAP 35 .. OTT 234.5 a gain of 25.5 The cold wet weather isn’t helping but she’s still growing well nice and steady.   Tuesday, November 21 View Page Side view. I love her shape I think she’s a beauty :)   Tuesday, November 21 View Page My watermelon is powering along at the moment. I hope it can keep up this pace.   Tuesday, November 21 View Page 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver DAP 35 .. OTT 234.5   Thursday, November 23 View Page A Pretty-Faced Wallaby in the flower garden. Also known as the Whiptail Wallaby. I love having them around they’re so beautiful and fascinating. We have many of them in our area and here on the farm. But they do so much damage unfortunately so fencing all our crops is a must.   Thursday, November 23 View Page A Pretty-Faced Wallaby in the flower garden. Also known as the Whiptail Wallaby. I love having them around they’re so beautiful and fascinating. We have many of them in our area and here on the farm. But they do so much damage unfortunately so fencing all our crops is a must.   Thursday, November 23 View Page In the flower garden   Sunday, November 26 View Page 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver DAP 40.. OTT 255 a gain of 21   Sunday, November 26 View Page 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver DAP 40.. OTT 255 a gain of 21   Sunday, December 3 View Page 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver DAP 45 .. OTT 272   Sunday, December 3 View Page 717kg Oliver x 2252 Paton at DAP 16 and growing fast. Looking forward to running the tape over this one at day 20. It just might be my biggest day 20 yet.   Sunday, December 3 View Page 717kg Oliver x 2252 Paton at DAP 16 and growing fast. Looking forward to running the tape over this one at day 20. It just might be my biggest day 20 yet.   Sunday, December 3 View Page My watermelon is doing well so far at Day 20 today I’m guessing it weighs around 20kg.   Sunday, December 3 View Page My watermelon is doing well so far at Day 20 today I’m guessing it weighs around 20kg.   Wednesday, December 6 View Page 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver DAP 50 .. OTT 287 a gain of 15 . 46 days till the weigh off. I really hope we make it there.   Wednesday, December 6 View Page Side view. The biggest pumpkin I’ve ever grown by far :)   Thursday, December 7 View Page 717 kg Oliver x 2252 Paton DAP 20.. OTT 160 My biggest day 20 so far. Day temps 30.c .. Night temps 20.c   Tuesday, December 12 View Page Hi guys, I’d really like to thank you for your lovely words of encouragement and support it means the world to me and I’m very grateful. You’re my kind of beautiful people and I’m so glad I found you.. and to my amazing pumpkin mates here at home too thank you so much. Now let’s talk pumpkins.. My 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver DAP 55 .. OTT 300 !!! Yes it’s a miracle! haha. I really hope I can make Ian and Dale proud in just over 5 weeks. Still a long way to go yet tho.   Tuesday, December 12 View Page New pumpkin house for my 717kg Oliver x 2252 Paton complete with fancy Xmas lights haha   Tuesday, December 12 View Page 717 kg Oliver x 2252 Paton DAP 25.. OTT 198 a gain of 38 I couldn’t be happier with that gain. I get so excited to tape every 5 days it’s so much fun. I must say I’ve had to ask Santa for a longer tape measure for Xmas this year haha Have a great week everyone! :)   Sunday, December 17 View Page 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver DAP 60.. OTT 306 a gain of 6 for the past 4 days. She’s slowing down now but I’m still happy with little gains   Sunday, December 17 View Page I’ve had a couple of issues with the stem on the Paton this week with a little soft spot it’s not deep just on the surface thank goodness and also a old stem split on the pumpkin was a bit moist (not sure if it was just wet from the storm we had the night before ) So I dusted them heavily with sulphur powder and have the fan on constantly. It seems to have dried up now but I think I’ll keep the fan going for a while yet.   Sunday, December 17 View Page 717kg Oliver x 2252 Paton DAP 30.. OTT 226 a gain of 28 and growing well. I call her Mozzarella because that’s what she looks like haha Day temps 32.c .. Night temps 21.c and very high humidity   Sunday, December 17 View Page 717kg Oliver x 2252 Paton DAP 30   Sunday, December 17 View Page The old stem split on the Paton this morning.. looks dry to me..!? but I’m not so sure. I guess I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing and hope for the best. It is worrying me :/   Monday, December 18 View Page Had to share.. late last night when I was changing over my pumpkin spotlights I noticed this incredible moth on my pawpaw. I’ve never seen one like this before.. Apparently it’s a Green fruit piercing Moth or Eudocima Salaminia . Pretty cool hey!   Monday, December 18 View Page The Green fruit piercing moth living up to it’s name.   Monday, December 25 View Page Merry Christmas everyone! It’s Boxing Day here today. We had a lovely Christmas very hot 35.c and very humid with a wild evening storm that flattened my pumpkin vines. Hopefully they’ll stand back up again. Christmas Day was also my day 70 on the Paton OTT 314 a gain of 4 in the past 5 days. A gain is a gain so I’m happy and it’s still growing. I can’t believe that we’ve gotten to day 70 it’s a big deal for me. All is going well so far but if we don’t make it.. well we will have good seed and I love this cross the 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver is pretty special and I can’t wait to grow it next year :) I hope everyone has a beautiful day.. enjoy!*   Monday, December 25 View Page Merry Christmas everyone! It’s Boxing Day here today. We had a lovely Christmas very hot 35.c and very humid with a wild evening storm that flattened my pumpkin vines. Hopefully they’ll stand back up again. Christmas Day was also my day 70 on the Paton OTT 314 a gain of 4 in the past 5 days. A gain is a gain so I’m happy and it’s still growing. I can’t believe that we’ve gotten to day 70 it’s a big deal for me. All is going well so far but if we don’t make it.. well we will have good seed and I love this cross the 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver is pretty special and I can’t wait to grow it next year :) I hope everyone has a beautiful day.. enjoy!*   Monday, December 25 View Page 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver day 70   Tuesday, December 26 View Page A late severe storm on Boxing Day has made a real mess of the 717kg Oliver vine with lots of small hail and gale force winds. My vine wasn’t looking real good before but now it looks terrible. More storms forecast for every day this week   Tuesday, December 26 View Page After the storm   Wednesday, December 27 View Page 717kg Oliver x 2252 Paton DAP 40 .. OTT 258 a gain of 14 . It’ll be interesting to see if it continues to grow with so much hail damage to the vine. Most of the leaves are shredded.   Saturday, December 30 View Page 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver DAP 75.. OTT 318 a gain of 4 Slow and steady now and I couldn’t be happier with her. Less than 3 weeks to go!! Wishing everyone a happy and fruitful new year *2024*   Saturday, December 30 View Page Farewell 2023