Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 192 Entries. Wednesday, January 9 View Page Welcome to 2008, we had a warm sunny day here yesterday, so I turned my compost pile again. I have been getting a good turn in about every 3 weeks or so. The hay is not breaking down as fast as I thought and the pine laiden manure I got still has visible pine shavings, but every time I drop a shovel into the pile, massive steam clouds come out of the center. This leads me to believe it si working, especially since the middle and bottom compost has that charred look! Turning is essential and the microbes are feasting on the brown, green, and molasses that make this pile up. I still have 4 months of serious composting to do, so this pile is right on target. Wednesday, January 30 View Page Well, got a day over 40 degrees yesterday, so another turn onthe pile. Here my daughter clicks a pic of me tossing the pile (yes I do it by hand) to get air to my microbial friends that break down my pile. Through the winter the heat and steam is still very evident. My next pic shows some of the steam coming off the compost pile. Wednesday, January 30 View Page THe pic was taken like I was in one of Batman's rivals lairs. lol.. Anyhow, you can see the darknes of the soil and how the breakdown is getting the hay finally. I need to continue to cook off the weedseed in the pile and the turning helps. After my turning, I recover with plastic and will give her another toss in 3-4 more weeks. Wednesday, January 30 View Page I have to continue these efforts because of that guy in Honesdale. I appreciate you waiting up for me Ned and not going over the 1000 pound mark without me. Godd Bless you.. lol.. This year I am definitely putting in my only 1502 and the other seed right now is a toss up between Larry Checkon's 1440 (998 X 1354) or possibly Bill Bobier's 1402. Monday, February 18 View Page TOday was another turn of the compost pile, it wasnt steaming anymore, so I believe it has stopped working, for now. The remains are pitch black, which I am happy about. I would like to get some more cooking out of the pile though, so after the complete pile turn (about an hour and a half with shovel), I added another 3 cups of molasses (spread over 30 gallons of water) to the pile. Recovered and hoping for some more cooking. As for the shed, I have put up a new rack to help organize my pumpkin stuff. Everything from Warrior T to Eagle 20EW, to calcium, powdered kelp, mill fabric, and much more now neatly stored instead of heaped into the shed. Now to keep it that way will be another chore! Monday, March 17 View Page Spread my manure over the patch on Sunday, looks totally amazing with the black cover on it. Before I spread the compost, I added 25 pounds of humic acid, and 10 pounds of powdered seaweed. This will sit for another 2 weeks then get a till when the ground thaws some and gets a bit drier. I plan on sending a soil sample of this off to A and L when it gets composted and sits a few days. Worms galorein the compost, that was a nice site to see. Monday, March 17 View Page Here is the top half of the 2 racks I bought for 20 bucks at the local video store. They werent using it anymore and it was a great organizer for me. My shed is now manageable. Monday, March 17 View Page Bottom half of the racks. The racks were 7 ft tall and 4 ft wide, nice way to get stuff off the floor! Sunday, April 13 View Page Finished tilling mypatch 2 days ago, looks great with the addition of 12 cubic yards (4 truckloads) of new compost. Before the till, I added 20 pounds of humic acid and a 4 pound bag of powdered kelp that was for making liquid seaweed. Today we had a beginner's seminar in Elmira and while the turnout wasnt tremendous, I believe we had a few people really in to serious work for 2008. Andy Wolf, Matt Verschneider, Matt Teeter and myself all took part in helping through out the day with Andy doing 95 percent of the work. He does a wonderful presentation. I also got another bag of humic acid today, along with 2 pounds of Mycho fungi, and Neptunes Harvest liquid kelp and seaweed. Bring on 2008! Friday, April 25 View Page Here Ned is pictured after a long offseason and not hitting 1000 pounds. I told him if he got 1000 piercings he can get 1000 pounds. Not sure I would have done it, but glad to see he is willing to do anything for the 1/2 fruit. As for the hair, he has always been a rebel. Monday, April 28 View Page Final till done on the patch, here is a view of my black gold patch looking back into my yard. Green pastures with the great weather we have been having, and lots of manure in the patch giving a great black on green pic. I think Ned has been here though, as the weedseed he spread was bringing up a bunch of crapweeds. This leads me to believe I will be doing lots of tending to the patch this year to curb weed growth. Monday, April 28 View Page My grandfather was a big influence on my growing large fruits and veggies. He always tried growing the longest cucumber and the biggest tomato against my great Aunt Helen (his sister). As a kid, this always peeked my interest, somehow bringing me to this point in my life - growing AG's. Pictured here is the horseshoe he always had on the fence post entering his garden, the only thing I truely wanted when he passed away. He visited my patch in 1998 (he passed away later that year) and was tickled to see how big the leaves on the pumpkin plants could get. I have a pic somewhere of his visit, I will try to dig it up. Monday, April 28 View Page The swingset pictured here should be getting removed this year, as the rust is setting in, and my kids are now 15 and 10. HMM, let me see.... My patch on the right, my small veggie garden on the left.. Swing set removal.. pricelesssss!! Look out bigger patch in the near future!~ Monday, April 28 View Page This years lineup, with many backups and extra plants for friends. From left to right - 1502 Wallace, 992 Sandercock, 671 Tanner, Teeter 1092, Checkon 1011.5, and Bobier 1402.5. I will be using the 1502 and the 1402.5 as my mains, with backups being the Teeter 1092, Checkon 1011.5, and Sandercock 992. After I get comfortable with my 2 main plants, I will give the other plants away to a good home. Man, I have actually contemplated putting the 992 Sandercock in to beat Ned with his own seed. How sweet (or bitter) would that be Ned? Monday, April 28 View Page Last pic of the day, showing the seeds starting their soak on 4/27. I soaked them for about 6 hours in a solution of powdered kelp, fish emulsion, and a sprinkle of mycho fungi. I later transfered the seeds on same day into paper towels soaked in this mixture then put into plastic baggies. I prepared my cooler with a heating pad on medium placed on bottom, a dish towel on top of that to keep the seeds off the direct heat, then placed the baggies laying down on the towel. Covered loosely to keep internal heat around 80 degrees. Everything is going great so far. Best of luck to you all, especially Ned. May you finish a close second to me my friend, 1402 to 1399. ( I want a 1400 lb jacket!!!) Tuesday, April 29 View Page The 1502 has broken the seed coat, woohoo! I will be transplanting it tonite to a pot and hoping others have made the move to get of their shell. Great to see that the one you really want to grow is the first one to crack it's coat. Now hoping the next sign of life is the 1402.5 Bobier! Tuesday, April 29 View Page This is a shot of the 1502 after less than 48 hours in the baggie and paper towel. Very nice and aggressive!! I also had my 1402.5 Bobier pop today along with my 1011 Checkon. Nothing like starting out with a Wallace, Bobier, and CHeckon all shining like stars! Tuesday, April 29 View Page Here the 3 newly sprung seedlings are in there mixture under 75 watt lamps with plenty of heat to help them continue on this journey. That darn 992 of Neds has no sign of coming out of its coat yet. I think Ned needs to send it some good luck signals. Tuesday, April 29 View Page The remaining seeds lay in the heating pad chamber. You can see the heating pad (orange) under the green towel. On top is the 4 remaining seeds left to spring. Ned 992, Teeters 2 1092's, and Gordon Tanners 671. They should be fine, just some are quicker than others. Thursday, May 1 View Page My 1502 shed it's seed coat tonite, and the 1402.45 and the 1011.5 will be in the same position tomorrow at this time. Exciting times here, just hoping the weather gets warm soon. BTW, I think Ned sent some bad vibes, because his seed I started didnt answer the call. I started 7 seeds, 6 made it, the Sandercock one not being strong enough!!! I will try it again next year! Thursday, May 29 View Page Dear Ned, I read your diary post and found that I too am having trouble with getting the plant to grow in these cold nights. The past two nights we have had frosts, and tonite is in the 40 ish area. When will the madness stop? On the bright side, I took out the rusty 15 year old swing set that was between my guinea garden and my patch. After running it by my wife, I now have an extra 600 or so square feet of patch, allowing me to run another plant in a flag pattern. I feel privelidged to put a Checkon plant (1011) in my patch for the 9th time in 11 years. Here is to hoping this is the one that takes me over the 1000 pound plateau. Gettin er done in Sayre, Rocky **You better get your game face on! Monday, June 2 View Page The swing set came down (used to be between the long gourd poles on the middle and the shed on the right after 15 years of kids and the onset of rust. In its place another 600 sq ft of tilled ground. I still have 3 truckloads of composted horse manure to come and make this soil start to sing. The lucky "backup" plant that becomes the cherry popper for the virgin soil is the CHeckon 1011.5. Monday, June 2 View Page Here is the CHeckon plant, looking at growing toward the shed in a semi flag pattern this year. I am hoping it isnt flatvining, as I do see some of it, but hope it grows out of that. Right now I am using the slide of the old swing set to put over the plant at night when the weather looks windy to give it a wind break. Hey Ned, our weather is changing, as you will soon see by my 1402 Bobier!!!!!! I hope you are ready for a battle this year!!! Monday, June 2 View Page A quick pick of my cloches over the 2 main plants. On the left next to the hedgerow is the 1402.5 Bobier and on the right is the 1502 Wallace. Both plants will be coming outof these shelters over the next week, expectations of 55-60 degree nights and 80 degree days.. THey should be roaring across the patch in no time! Monday, June 2 View Page Here is the first look at the 1502 Wallace, not overly aggressive, yet chugging along slowly with the weather we have had. After reading the Back Yard Giants by Susan Warren, I am giving the 1502 ALOT of leeway. This plant has quite a storied past, and I am hoping to add to it with my 2008 version. Im giving her everything I got Ron and Dick! Monday, June 2 View Page Here is my monster of a plant (for the cold nights we have been having) in the 1402.5 Bobier. This plant is down and vining already and at 2 ft in length. I started all of my plants (seeds) on APril 27th, so this is 36 days into the growth cycle of the plant. The other two plants havent even started reaching skyward yet and this baby is running like Prefontaine. How do you like them apples Ned? Monday, June 2 View Page One more of the 1402.5 from the front side. You can see the vine stretching out and is only a day away from reaching across the entire cloche structure. I havent checked on Matt Teeter yet, but I know he has the NY boys all scared as he is one of the most improved growers over the past 2 years from where he started. Talk to you soon Matt! Monday, June 2 View Page Oops``~~~!!!! Here is that pic of the front side of the 1402.5. Sunday, June 8 View Page Here is the 1402.5 Bobier, now at 7 feet in length. Buried the main for about 5 ft today and am starting to direct the 2 ft secondaries. I love this plant. Dont get nervous Ned, it is only June 8th. Sunday, June 8 View Page This is my 1502 Wallace, growing nicely now and down on the ground running. The leaves take their time elevating, as you can see the ones by the tip seem to lay on the ground. Sunday, June 8 View Page Here is a pic of all three plants, the 1402 on the left, 1502 on the right, and the 1101 in the middle front. The 1402 had grown into the wind break so I had to take it down and have put it up 5 more feet back. Sunday, June 8 View Page Here is the 1101 that made the cut when I decided to expand. Very small, possible double vine, but still chugging along. Friday, June 13 View Page Here is the 1402.5 as of today. Sunny nice days have been a big help, but we need some good growing rain. Soil is very dry as we have had one tornadic type shower in the past 4 weeks that brought a bunch of rain, but in such a short period. However, I am happy to report that this is one of my best looking plants ever. Sorry to hear about Ned and the Honesdale storm system, we had it blow just south of us, I know how hard we had wind blowing, cant imagine what they got. I am sure he will make it all work, I need the push for competition! Friday, June 13 View Page You can see here the 1502 has picked up the pace and is nearing the same size as the 1402. I have been burying vines and secondaries with mycho fungi and hunic acid at every node, so this could be helping. Friday, June 13 View Page This is the new part of my patch, with 6 inches of nice composted horse manure. I brought in 3 trailer loads in the past week (trailer in pic) and have to till it this weekend. I have the 1101.5 CHeckon pictured here to grow in that direction, problem is a double vine. Hoping it corrects itself soon. If not I will cut off main and train a secondary to become the main. THanks to my bud Mike Murphy for the wonderfully dark poop. Monday, June 16 View Page We finally got some great rain over the weekend, here is pictured a nice steady rain that soaked in wonderfully. I wanted to till in my 3 loads of composted horse manure, but the soil is WAY too wet now. We have been blessed with amazing weather for the first time in years. My plants have never been this nice at this time of year. I hate to say that, but it seems I am waiting for something bad to happen every day! lol... Monday, June 16 View Page Here is the 1402 today, with the first flower of the season. It came right at my main stump (the main runs upward and the sides run left and right in this pic. My main has now reached the 13 ft mark with 5 and 6 ft secondaries. Luckily I buried vines yesterday because we got another rain late last night. I was worried about the moisture, but now we seem to be right where we need to be. Monday, June 16 View Page Here is a side pic of my 1402, main tip on the left...Gorgeous, aint she? I do need some more fish and seaweed Andy!! I am down to less than a cup!! Monday, June 16 View Page Here is the 1502 in the forefront, main on this beauty is now at 10 ft, 3-4 ft secondaries. 1402 above that by hedgerow, and the 1101 Checkon on the left heading toward the new section of the patch. Monday, June 16 View Page Here is a pic of a double vine, for all of you who wanted to see one. THe 1101 CHeckon is not correcting itself, so I may be cutting off the main very soon and train a secondary to be my new main. Wednesday, June 18 View Page Nice visit with Andy Wolf and family. Andy toured my patch and helped me decide on some issues at hand, and also brought me some fish and seaweed I so desperately needed. The 1101 Checkon got "pinched" today, as Andy and I operated and got it headed in the right direction. I have 2 main vine sets on the 1402.5 Bobier ready, one at 10, the next at 12 ft. The ten will be taken off, I will take a shot at the 12 ft one, which should be in about 7 - 10 days. The 1502 is catching up nicely, just pacing itself at the 10-11 ft mark. Sorry to hear of the golf ball sized hail Ned, I feel bad, I ordered dime sized hail to try and slow down my competition, but it came larger than I wanted. I hope you pull through.. Rained all day here, wont be stepping foot in the patch for a day or two now. Saturday, June 21 View Page I have a nice female on the 1402.5 Bobier out around 12 ft, which may be ready by the middle of this week, depending on the weather. I already took a main vine female off at around 10 ft, too early. I have always set those early ones, but it is such a waste of plant energy. This morning I sprayed the plant with the year's first dose of Warrior T. Before applying the Warrior T, I gave each plant 4 gallons of fish/seaweed/calcium foliar and drench. Soil si pretty wet right now from a weeks worth of rain, so I am staying out of patch as much as possible. 1502 is doing great, female showing in the lead cluster around 12 ft also, but a week behind the 1402. As for the 1101 Checkon, that plant is not doing much. It may end up getting pulled in favor of decent room for the upcoming 2 plants. Monday, June 23 View Page Pic today after covering females on the plants with yellow mesh to keep the birds from pecking a hole in young females. I have had that happen too much not to cover them. Applied more calcium/fish/seaweed drench to the soil, 5 gallons per plant. I want to ensure plenty of calcium to be available through the root system. Plant seems to love the extra care this year with fish and seaweed. Pollenating by the weekend, the 1402 is 13 ft out (of a 15 ft main) and the 1502 is 10 ft out (on a 12.5 ft main). 1101 is not ready but looking much better after cutting the double vine to one. THought about a visit to Honesdale when I went through Scranton the other day Ned, hows the recovery from hail coming? Monday, June 23 View Page Here is the mesh I prop over the female to keep the birds off. I also had to cut the leaf from this junction already due to the fact it was growing from underneath the fruit and would have been major problems. I have another option on each plant 2 ft farther out so if these do not take I will have nice backup/option. Friday, June 27 View Page Here is my first catch of the year, my house skunk, if you will. We always catch one a year, probably the same one, although this one is very small and young. My wife will not let me put a blanket over him and put him in the car, so I just opened the door to the cage and let the varmit go. He ran straight across the edge of my deck, and under the deck he went. I looked under and he has a home under there! So now I have to try and recatch the fella and move him elsewhere. Not sure how, but will find a way. I am actually thinking of taking him to Honesdale, far far away.. Friday, June 27 View Page Here is the first lady ready for some males to stop by tomorrow morning and show her a good time. I think she (being of 1402.5 Bobier blood) will entertain some 1502 Wallace pollen. Friday, June 27 View Page These do not look like friendly skies! GOt some heavy rain from this storm, no hail thank God. Soil is very wet from last week and half of rain. Buried vines just before this storm hit. Some concern over a few leaves showing limpness. Not sure if this is heat, bug bites, bad timing of application of Eagle20EW or Warrior T, or what. Watering heavily and hoping for the best. Friday, June 27 View Page Here it heaves show some type of damage and happenings, the ones in the back with some discoloration and the one in the middle shows the "dead leaf and limp" look I talked about in the last post. It was something that happened when these leaves were developing (on this plant only) as it is this age type leaf that is showing the damage, none before, and none after. Saturday, June 28 View Page First female (1402.5 Bobier, 12 ft out), gave her some pollen today from the 1502 Wallace. I like the cross and this is a nice looking set. Saturday, June 28 View Page Here she is all tied up. Some people wonder why growers take these pics and post. I do it so each year I can verify and check dates that I pollenated, got to certain stages, etc. I am very grateful to Ken and John for this service. Thanks guys. Saturday, June 28 View Page Here is a typical problem I face and am wondering how most people handle it. It seems that on most of my females, the leaf wants to grow from underneath the stem of the new female, while the secondary is always in the way too. I have been cutting the leaf and secondary off early, but was wondering what others do. Email me if you have a way of making this work. As you can see from the tied up female in my last post, I cut everything away early and let just the pumpkin go, but always wondered who leaves what when I do this. Sunday, June 29 View Page Here we are on Sunday,6/29 in the AM, patch is filling in amazingly well. Bad weather all around me, missing me north,. south, east, and west of me. Hail, wind, etc.. Not here.. God must be in my patch this year wanting me to finally have that 1000 pounder!!!! The one day old set on the 1402 is showing signs of successful set because it tripled in size in 24 hours. Next pic is the first set on my 1502. Sunday, June 29 View Page Here is my first set, a 1502 female 11 ft out, 4 lobe, crossed with the 1402.5 Bobier. Secured the flower with a tendril and am ready to make a run with the Wallace plant. Now all I need is a blessing from Ron and Dick and I am on my way.. Tuesday, July 1 View Page Pollenated my second female on the 1402.5 Bobier, this one 15 ft out and is a 5 lober. Crossed it with 3 males from the 1502 Wallace. Starting to eliminate all male flowers now so by July 10th, The plant will be shut down except for filling out the patch with the secondaries. Main vines on each plant ar 20 ft (1402.5) and 16 ft (1502). Tuesday, July 1 View Page 5 lober on the second female on the 1402 pictured here. She is 15 ft out. Tuesday, July 1 View Page Three fellas here from the 1502 clan, damn New Englanders always comin down here havin there way with us local folk. Poor gal, she never had a chance. Tuesday, July 1 View Page Here is a pic for all the newbies out there, a stripped down male looking like a q-tip full of pollen. Gently pull the flower off from around it and you can rub it all over the female, making a perfect cross. Be sure to close the female up afterward to ensure no stray pollen, I use a tendril, some use bread ties, etc.. Tuesday, July 1 View Page This first set on the 1402.5 is now 3 days old, already showing major growth. I am very happy with the start of this fruit, one to debate whether to keep or cut. This one is a 4 lober, 12 ft out - set on June 28th. I pollenated my second one today on the 1402.5, this one 5 lobes and 15 ft out. This is the fun part of the hobby, which one to keep!! Tuesday, July 1 View Page Tonites patch shot, an overhead from a ladder. The closest plant is the 1502, the furthest one is the 1402.5, and the one on the left is the 1101 CHeckon. I almost pulled this plant to give the 1302 more room, but instead I cut the back 2 ft of leaves from the 1101 to make room for the last 2 ft of main vine growth on the 1402. Got crowded fast and I need another 200 sq ft of room for the 1402. Tuesday, July 1 View Page THe drench and foliar crew, all together for a photo op. Bottom left are the gallons of fish and seaweed, withthe bottle above them on the pail the combo gallon bucket of fish/seaweed. Last two are the nutrical and molasses I add for to make up my batches of drench. I use about 15 gallons of this mix every 7-10 days per plant. Wednesday, July 2 View Page Pollenated 1502 female # 2, 5 lober, 14 ft out crossed with the 1402.5. I also terminated the main on the 1402.5 today at 22 ft. I should have all my side vines finished in about 2 weeks and have the 1402 shut down for fruit maximization by then. Matt Teeter stopped by tonite and can attest to the plants gorgeous state. I also buried more vines tonite and gave a super watering after an 87 degree day. I am still having a lot of leaf wilt or burning, something I do not think I can avoid without being there all day with occasional misting. All totalled, I have 2 fruit on each plant set, and am just about done with male flower growing. Time to shift focus to the fruit and hope for awesome weather. Forecast average over next 10 days has 80 and 60, day and night. Sunday, July 6 View Page Cutting a secondary out to make room for my mill fabric under the pumpkin, I wanted to show people the effect of myochoriza fungi and humic acid addition when trenching and burying secondaries and mains. Here is a pic of a secondary I took out after being buried two weeks and look at all of the offshoot roots and extra uptake my plants get compared to non users of the mycho and humic. I am sold on its benefits!! Sunday, July 6 View Page Here is a pic of the 8 day old fruit on the 1402.5 Bobier. It's coming fast and furious! I still havent gotten a name for it yet, any ideas? Monday, July 7 View Page Tomorrow morning, two wonderful marks... First, it is the pollenation of the first female flower on the 1101 CHeckon. I didnt think this plant would make it, big time double vine and I almost pulled it as it was starting to crowd my 1402. Left it and it is now looking great. Has 400 sq ft of new (virgin)soil to run around and play in. Second mark is the 10 day mark for the 1402 Bobier female at 12 ft. It is looking great, and I am hoping for a nice measurement. Looking for 27 inches, which is the first benchmark to shoot for to attain 1200 pounds plus. While I am ahead of my friend in Honesdale, I fear he is hiding something out there and could be a sandbaggin Honesdalite. Tuesday, July 8 View Page Pollenated 1101 CHeckon female, 12 ft out, 5 lober X 1502 Wallace. Pics to follow today... Tuesday, July 8 View Page Here are the healthy, protected leaves. They look nice and huge, almost waxy and highly polished. These leaves (from the 1402)are protected from the wind by my asparagus patch and are treated the same as the ones I am about to show you on the 1502 Wallace. Tuesday, July 8 View Page Here is a close up of the leaves, notice the drooping down, wilted edges. This is supposedly wind and heat damage? Next pic shows the same leaves a week later, with some yellowing from damage, but fully grown and recovered. Tuesday, July 8 View Page Here you can see the yellowed edges, but the leaves some how pull through the tough times. I water the heck out of them to try and help them along. I would think it was an overdose or burn from an application of some sort, but the 1402 has no burn or wind damage look to it at all. It is protected from the wind. THoughts?> Tuesday, July 8 View Page Today was the first pollenation onthe 1101 CHeckon, one which double fined and was corrected with some help by Andy Wolf. 5 lober, x 1502 Wallace, 12 ft out. Took the pic early morning as I had to go to work. I spread her legs open and shoved the pollen in. Tied her up and left her lying there. Wow, did that sound off color. If you are a pumpkin grower, you understood every word of that! Tuesday, July 8 View Page Now for the exciting news. 31.5 (call it 32) inches for day ten measurment this year on the 1402 set. 27 inches is the standard, so I am flying above the charts right now. Lets hope it all holds together. Very exciting to be here. Not sure of my best 10 day measurement.. Gonna do some research to find out.. Thursday, July 10 View Page Here is the patch, as I stand in the west (which is where my wind comes from) of it. If you notice the whispy asparagus tops on the left, that wind break has been protecting the 1402 Bobier plant. This plant is not ill from the leaf wilt as the latest leaves on the 1502 Wallace are. The 1502 is in the open to the heat and wind, and this is where my problem is. If it were a spraying issue, both plant's leaves would look the same. 1402 on the left, 1502 onthe right, and the 1101 CHeckon in the front of the 1402 also providing protection to the 1402. On another note, the 10 day measurement on the 1502 Wallace fruit at 10 ft is 27 inches, right at the benchmark. Measuring second fruit today on the 1402 and will possibly make the cut down to the one fruit at day 20. I want to give each a fair shot at making it to the big show. Thanks for the moon Andy (see Ned's diary)! I see you fellas never give up, plants are coming back nicely. Reminds me of my plants in mid May... haahaa.. Just kiddin fellas.. I hope you get back on track after all the hail... You guys usually have the high water problem, so you can say now officially.." Come hail or high water.." Thursday, July 10 View Page Put all my eggs on one basket today. Inthe offseason I talked extensively one night with Larry Checkon about hitting the 1000 pound mark. One topic stuck to my mind. Set one, and go for it. I went to day 10 with 2 fruit on my 1402 Bobier, the first at 12 ft, the second at 15 ft. The first one hit 32 inches at day ten, while the 15 ft one only hit 24 inches at day ten. Instead of wasting the plants energy on 2 fruit for ten more days, I have decided to go for broke and have just the one. If something goes wrong with it, I grew one hell of a plant for nothing. As for the 1502, I am down to 2 fruit also, 27 inches on the 10 fter, and tomorrow is day ten on the 13 fter. I am pretty sure which fruit I will be going with on this plant also. Stay tuned.. Sunday, July 13 View Page Cut down to one fruit on the 1502 yesterday, July 12th. Fruit is very steady growing, nothing jumping out like the other plant, but chugging along. All plants have one fruit on them. I may set a few more on the 1101 just for the heck of it, 10 day mark will let me know what I am going to do with the plant. Tuesday, July 15 View Page Here is the 1502 Wallace, day 16. I took total OTT measurements today for the first time, this one is a decent, but lagging 48-34-33=115" OTT, or 39 pounds. Very small and slow growth, compared to the sister plant next door, the 1402.5. Fasten your seatbelts!!! Here comes "Da Tuna"! Tuesday, July 15 View Page Here is my monster grower, Da Tuna. Hoping this pace continues the rest of the growing season, I figure if it does I will be in the 2400 pound range.. lol.. Next pic will show the front of this baby, with its 17 day measurements. Tuesday, July 15 View Page Da Tuna is all white meat albacore here, none of that crappy canned tuna. Took first measurement of the year for OTT< and she checked in at 66-46-47=159"OTT, or 91 pounds. You can see that I have already started loosening the main vine to allow for the fruit to rise. I figure at 4 inches a day, THis fruit in 3 days should be at 78-52-54=185" or 137 pounds. Lets play around some more.. Projections for the 1st of August brings me to about 294" OTT or 513 pounds. I can't wait to look back and see how close I am at this guessing game.. lol.. How you like me now Ned! (TOby Keith reference there my friend....) GOtta set a face pace for the Honesdale wrecking crew.. .They come hard, fast, furious...Never know how much sandbaggin they actually do out in those parts of the woods.. Tuesday, July 15 View Page Here you get an overview of my patch from the roof of the house. I have circled and labeled each plant. The 1402.5 is completely filled in, almost 500 sq ft of plant. The 1502 Wallace is around 500 sq ft also, but has about another 100 sq ft to go. The Checkon 1101 is my play plant, and will run into the new area where the swingset used to be on the left. Wednesday, July 16 View Page Here comes the rollercoaster ride.. Playin around in the patch tonite, I decided, what the heck! I will give it a measure again to see what kind of daily gain I am getting at day 18. Today the 1402 measured in at 72-50-50=172" or 113 pounds. That is a 21.6 pound gain from yesterdays measurement! WOWOWWEEE... Very hot today and tomorrow, got nearly an inch of rain on the patch tonite, so I expect things to be moving at a much faster rate than I think my ticker can handle.. lol.. I have a pic of the root system from under a walkboard coming up.. Next frame.. Wednesday, July 16 View Page THis is the root system underneath my walk board. I lifted up the board to check for moles,and was wowed by the network underneath. I sprinkled some more mycho fungi on them and laid the walk board back down. This is a good illustration on how sensative the rootsystem is underneath the surface, showing that you should never walk on your prepared patch once the plant grows you out to the edges.Too many hidden roots you didnt know existed! I honestly think my rootsystem can reach to Honesdale and suck some nutrients from Neds patch. It is only about 90 miles or so to Honesdale, so it may be possible with these AG's! Friday, July 18 View Page Quick look at what a Postmaster in a small town (Mayberry RFD like) does during the day. Feet up, watchin the window for an occasional customer.. Thk god we have the internet so I can browse bigpumpkins.com to pass the time! I will be back out carrying mail soon enough. Friday, July 18 View Page Here is day 19 on the 1502, made a nice stride last 2 days. UP to 10 pounds a day and gaining momentum, I am getting a better feeling about this nice looking fruit. Something about that 1068 gene... Consistent... Today measured 63-44-42=149 or 76 pounds. Friday, July 18 View Page Here is the butt side of the 1402.5. Basketball comes up to the blossom. Measurements now are 82-56-56=194"OTT or 156.5 pounds. Oh yeah, this is day 20 for the wonderful lookin fruit so I want to give you a front side pic also.. Friday, July 18 View Page How white can a fruit get!! Da Tuna is truely an great white... TOtal albacore.. She is averaging 20 pounds a day for past 3 days, and put on 25 pounds since last nights measurements. Exciting times in Sayre... How goes it Ned? Friday, July 18 View Page Day ten on the 1101 CHeckon plant.. This ball is solid as can be, and very hard to move. Crack in the stem, but I have had worse grow to decent weight with same type crack.. 25 inches on day 10, so within realm of possible decent fruit. Not counting on much from the 1101, but she could surprise me.. Wednesday, July 23 View Page Rain rain.. go away.. come again another day... WOW.. It rained, and rained, and rained so much today I was starting to use my walk boards to build an arc.. Wasnt sure I was gonna float away or what.. THis is ridiculous..I am very scared at this point about DA TUNA.. We have gotten so much rain in the past 24 hours I think she may blow. If it happens, it happens.. Here is a pic (next one) of the blossom end, I have put some captan on it, but I think it may be a tad bit too much rain.. Wednesday, July 23 View Page This is the blossom end of DA TUNA,off my 1402.5 Bobier. Growth rates have been off the charts, and this rain is taking even too far actually. You can see some serious crack marks in what is the blossom end. Ned, it is definitely the case of the turtle and the hare. You may beat me after all.. Wednesday, July 23 View Page Side view of DA TUNA... She is massive, ghostly white, and large and in charge.. Day 25 measurements.... 104-68-67=239"OTT or app. 282.5 pounds. Wednesday, July 23 View Page I have been working hard on elevating the main vine.. I have gotten it up pretty well, but could probably use more in a few weeks. Better than it was.. Wednesday, July 23 View Page THis fella worked in my patch today, and boy is he whipped..There's no place like Gnome. Wednesday, July 23 View Page Here is the 1502.5 Wallace fruit, behind my big one, but chugging along at a nice even pace. All systems look great here.. Day 24 measurements are 86-57-56=199"OTT or app. 168 pounds. I also worked on main vine elevation with this plant. Wednesday, July 23 View Page Here is my surprise fruit, this one from the 1101 CHeckon. Round as a baseball, stem area is cracked bigtime, but she looks solid. Day 15 and she is at 47 inches circ. Saturday, July 26 View Page Here is the 1502 fruit, growing at a steady pace. 95-63-62=220"OTT or 223 pounds app. Problem possibly arising with this plant, some white powdery substance found coming from the vine near the stump. This could possibly be foaming stump rot, but I am not sure. I will examine further tomorrow and hopefully find the best thing to do with it. No serious foaming here, but there has been something coming from the vine that left a chalky white substance on top. Saturday, July 26 View Page Here is DA TUNA, growing still at an alarming rate. Several cracks formed onthe blossom area ring, concerns me a little. 114-73-73=260"OTT or app 360 pounds. This plant is amazing, just hoping everything holds together. 3 days ago we got an unbelievable amount of rain, and I think a growth surge could have caused the cracks. Aslong as they remain superficial, we are okay. The 1101 Checkon is also picking up pace.Numbers are 56-43-40=139"OTT or 64 pounds. Sunday, July 27 View Page Today I dug out my stump areas to get total sun and try to dry everything out. I dug out about half a produce isle's worth of cabbage and lettuce it seemed. These new growth type offshoots keep coming and coming.. I took out about 7 or 8 per plant, and now the stump area is drying out. I tried not to disturb the root area much, just got total sun into the area that was covered in dirt. Hope this helps. Sunday, July 27 View Page Here is the 1402.5 Bobier stump, which was completely under soil as I had covered it earlier in the season to try and get more rooting. Stumps do not shoot off extra tap roots like regular vines do, so after some calls and research, I have learned (something I am never to proud to admit) to keep the stump area dry and uncovered. Sunday, July 27 View Page Here is the 1502 stump area, an undertaking that was much worse than that of the 1402. This plant has some foaming stump going on, but no "rot" as of yet showing externally. After digging the first 2 ft of stump out, I rinsed most of the foaming area with peroxide/water mixture (10-1) and then brushed with captan to help reduce fungal problems. I will leave this area open and try to avoid any future waterings in the area. I will make a post or two later as I prepare to head out to NYC on vacation tomorrow morning for the week. I will not be home for my 30 day measuyrement, so I will be like Ned in Honesdale who missed his 20 day measuring. THis guy just keeps coming... Kinda like Freddy and Jason.. Just when you think it is over.. Here comes Ned!@!!! Sunday, July 27 View Page Leaving for NYC in the morning, so here is the latest measurements.. 1402.5 Bobier(day 29) - 117-75-73=265"OTT or 380 lbs by chart. 1502 Wallace (day 28) - 98-65-63=226"OTT or 241 lbs by chart. 1101 Checkon (day 19) - 59-42-45=146"OTT or 72 lbs by chart. I have drench the soil tonite so it should be good for 2 days. I have waterer coming in to check on soil and also have constructed tarp topping for my stump area to keep them dry. Time will tell with everything.. Saturday, August 2 View Page Overhead shot of the patch from the roof of the house. You can see the two fruits in the middleof the green,with two blue coverings over the sump areas of both plants. After one week, the stump areas look great, drying up very nicely.I drenched both plant areas tonite, had my father inlaw do a great job of waterin while I was gone. Saturday, August 2 View Page Here is the 1402.5 Bobier fruit at day 34. Still growing 25-30 pounds a day, she is setting course to finish over 1000 pounds. Currently, the marks are 130-82-81=293"OTT or 509 pounds. Hoping we are going heavythe entire way! If all goes well, should be over 1000 in 2 weeks.. Saturday, August 2 View Page Here, the 1502 Wallace fruit is steadily growing into a very respectable fruit, now nearing the 400 pound mark. Measuring 114-73-71=258"OTT or 352 pounds, she still has great potential. Saturday, August 2 View Page Found out that I better get Lady Liberty on my side before Ned Sandercock gets to her. Here she lets me hold the torch to guide the poor, tired, meek into the country. Saturday, August 2 View Page I really needed to get my game face on, so I searched for one that would scare Ned and Andy a bit... Saturday, August 2 View Page I was thinking of visiting the Honesdale patches, and also needed to keep the soil compaction down a bit, so I found these nice shoes for visit. Saturday, August 2 View Page I know the ratZ are big in NYZ, but thiZ one iZ ridiculouZ. ThiZ iZ an omen that the rat getZ the money Eddie... Saturday, August 2 View Page After my 1000 pounder comes in, I have finally found the ride I will take home from the contest.. Friday, August 8 View Page Da Tuna finally reached day 40, still ahead of the 1000 pound bench mark, but slowing way down due to 52 degree nights and 63 degree daytime temps. Rain, cold, miserable last 48 hours with no relief in sight. Hoping nicer weather catches on soon. Friday, August 8 View Page Here is the nice shoulders of my 1402.5 BObier fruit. She is filling out nicely, hovering in the 650 range. Todays day 40 measurements are 143-89.5-86.5=319OTT. Benchmark for 1000 pounds is 134.5 in circ. Friday, August 8 View Page Here is the stem split on the 1502 fruit. It is open on top and bottom, and treated with captan. I will be putting a fan out in the patch on this spot once the area dries out a bit more. Day 39 measurements are 128-82-78=288OTT or 484 pounds by chart. Friday, August 8 View Page Side view of the 1502 Wallace fruit crossed with the 1402.5 Bobier. Starting to orange up a bit. Friday, August 8 View Page Here is the leaner, the 1101 CHeckon X 1502 Wallace fruit. Too hard to measure with the lean on it as it is so I stopped measuring. In the 225 pound range I would guestimate. Saturday, August 9 View Page Just some text updates tonite as the 1502 hit day 40. Measured 130-83-79=292"OTT or 503 lbs by charts. Interesting to note, this fruit has put on 2 inches a day in circumference, every day since August 1st. Very steady, but not jumping off the page type numbers. By the charts, she is 4.5 inches off the pace for 1000 pounds. As for the 1402.5, she sits now at 145-90-87=322"OTT or 670.5lbs. This baby thumps hard, so I am betting for much more than that 670. Gotta send a serious message to Honesdale Ned that I mean business this year! Thursday, August 14 View Page I found this monster slug here in Sayre, crawled all the way from Honesdale.. Sometimes slugs are faster than rabbits.... Next pics will tell you why Ned... Thursday, August 14 View Page Here is the black hole that sucked the life out of my pumpkin universe for 2008. DA TUNA did a nice job keeping me very excited this year about growing, something I havent had for a few years. I feel I am back on board. Looks like the Honesdale cartel will take over the northeastern PA lead with his fruits!!! Thursday, August 14 View Page DA TUNA blew out today sometime after gaining 41.7 pounds over a 24 hour period. I went 5 nights at less than 53 degree night time temps. Today the temp rose to 83 degrees and the ground took to the water that had been laying there. Life goes one, especially with southern comfort there to help me through.. Thursday, August 14 View Page Now that DA TUNA is gone from "official" rankings, the 1502 fruit becomes my front runner.. Da Tuna checked out (well, cracked, that is) at 153-93-91=337 or right at 800 pounds. The 1502 fruit is now coming in at a respectable 138-87-81=306 or app 600 pounds. Tuesday, August 19 View Page Here is a pic of a bisection of the now named Rockwell 879UOW. 1402.5 X 1502 Wallace. Solid fruit complete through out, except for the small 6 inch internal crack by the blossom end. WEalls 8-10 inches thick everywhere, not one single fault other than the season ending BES. Tuesday, August 19 View Page Here is the first cut,you can see the section removed that the walls are completely solid. Sad to see a fruit that was oinly 50 days old weighing 879 and not making it to the 1000 mark. Good sized seeds but average count. Tuesday, August 19 View Page Here is the stump/basal crown area, some serious down roots to help get the plant on its way. Tuesday, August 19 View Page Before the saw found the skin, here you can see the 879 and the weight that laid over the blossom end area, possibly adding to the downfall of the season. Tuesday, August 19 View Page Here is my next best hope, the 1502 fruit that now measures 144-89.5-84=317.5 or 675 pounds. Very low and long fruit. Has stem split, but has been treated and stopped future cracking. Wednesday, September 3 View Page Okay Ned, you forced me out of the caves I have been in since the downfall of my 1402.5 Bobier fruit. The final weight there was 879 pounds, and with this fruit I may just get there still. This one pictured is my 1502 Wallace and I am excited about this one. It wont get to 1000 pounds, but should set my official best (which still stands at 803 pounds - the year we tied in Altoona). Wednesday, September 3 View Page This fruit has had a stem split on it for about 6 weeks now, or since she weighed approximately 300 pounds. It dried up nicely and Shouldnt be a problem. Some deeper ribs starting to form. Wednesday, September 3 View Page Here is my lone fruit on my 1101 Checkon plant.This fruit is one ugly SOB. I have had a soft spot in the past 2 days on the front of the fruit, so I have been scraping it with a spoon and applying captan. Hoping to heal the wound. This plant was a double vine early on and got it fixed during a visit from Andy Wolf. The fruit pictured may go in the 500 pound range, but that is about it. Huge shoulders and no ass, almost like me. Friday, September 12 View Page My Checkon 1011 had a soft spot on the outside, but was just that, on the outside. I didnt want it to go any further into the fruit, so I scraped with a spoon, got it clean, washed with 10/1 water/bleach mix and patted dry. After all that, I dusted with captan (next pic). Friday, September 12 View Page Here is a lite dusting to stop any fungal attack. I know this fruit will never compete with the Sandercocks and Boxes of the world, but I was shocked to see the 1101 fruits measurements. It is akward shape, so I dont trust these numbers, but she tapes 155-81-87=323"OTT or 676 pounds! Friday, September 12 View Page Here is a side shot of this beastly monster. It grew into my asparagus patch. Friday, September 12 View Page Here is a shot of my patch ready for the incoming rain this weekend. I have had a stem split forever on my 1502 fruit, so I am always trying to keep it dry. I have that captan dusting on the 1101 Checkon fruit (the one on the left) so I want to keep that dry also so I have tarped them up for the weekend. Now for some 1502 info! Friday, September 12 View Page My favorite beer is finally out! Sam Adams doesnt release this but once a year, so I am enjoying my first case of the season! Friday, September 12 View Page Here is nice side shot of the 1502 Wallace fruit. Very long and slowing down to a crawl, she is nearing the 900 pound mark. Todays measurements were 160-95.5-89=344.5 or by the 2008 OTT chart on GPC, 860 pounds. I would need to go almost 20 percent heavy to get to 1000 pounds, so I am hoping for another 50 pounds the last 3 weeks or so.. That could make my wishes more like 10 percent.. lol.. Friday, September 12 View Page Here is a rare shot of the fruits ass end. With all the rain, I pulled up the first two secondaries by the fruit to slow down the intake somewhat. The mud on the right side of its blossom end if from me pulling up the vines. The blossom end is tucked under in the dark, but still in great shape and fully intact. Friday, September 12 View Page One last look, you can see the slight dill ring that is in the 1502 fruit because of that week long cold snap we had in mid August. You can almost track those dill rings by the bad weather streak. It seems to be fine, so all we can do is hope. Sunday, September 14 View Page Pic of the pathetic looking patch at the end of season. I weeded yesterday for 2 hours, and after taking all of the weeds out, it looks very empty! I do have to say that my back is completely out (spasm'd up real good) after that weeding session. Sunday, September 14 View Page Getting ready to put her to bed for the night. 90 degree temps today after 2 days of rain makes me nervous. I cut quite a few secondaries off yesterday to slow down the intake and pray she doesnt blow. The catastrophic stem split seems to be holding, I keep her dry and plenty of captan on the split. This 1502 plant may not have ever jumped up and made me say wow this year, but it was very consistent and chugged alogn at a great pace the entire time. Sunday, September 14 View Page Here is the top hole of my stem split on my 1502 fruit. THese are not fatal every time. I got her nice and dry, she has kept very well with this split for nearly 2 months. Friday, September 19 View Page A picture of Ned's work place. Some great sales tactics at work here. Seriously, I was delivering mail this week and saw this stand and was amazed at the wonderful pricing of decorative gourds. Friday, September 19 View Page Here is the 1502 fruit, 84 days old as of the 20th. The weigh off I want to take it to is at Bradley Farms, problem here is the fact it isnt until the 12th of October. The fruit will be 104 days old at that point, kinda scary. That means my fruit will be older than Ned's jokes. I have given thought of taking this to Cooperstown or Altoona instead, just so I can be there to see the fruit hit the scales. If I wait for Bradley there are two problems. FIrst problem is it may not make it that far and the second is the fact I can only drop my fruit off. I have to coach a small fry football game that day and if it is my first 1000 pounder I really want to be there to hear it announced. Friday, September 19 View Page Here is a closer side image of the fruit. In the lower right of the fruit you can see the rib and dill ring intersection that scares me. I have given thought to cut the fruit from the plant now to ensure the fruit is intact for a weigh off. I also want to keep the weight on, I dont care if it gains more now so I want to leave it on. I may just start cutting secondaries off every day from now until October 12. Friday, September 19 View Page Here is my set up of a fan to keep the stem split dry. I use it when it is very dry and warm out to keep the stem from getting wet or damp. Plenty of captan on there too. Friday, September 19 View Page Last one today showing the patch and how awful it looks this time of year. We had freeze last night and I have cut alot back. The grass clippings collection inthe back is where the 1402.5 Bobier was. Blankets at night tucked in to keep the baby warm in hopes I have enough to keep Ned off my arse. THat fella sure can grow giant pumpkins... Saturday, September 27 View Page Cooperstown, 2008. Amazing weigh off, the New York boys and girls have this weigh off stuff down to a science. Tied in with a local festival to bring the season to a close, this weigh off definitely is the coup de gras so to speak of the weekends festivities. Here is a pic showing Bill Bobier waiting the storm out. Bill is an amazing judge, inspecting the fruits with a brush and thingee to check stem splits, etc... To his left, our right is Randy Sundstrom (in the camo) talking it up with Matt Teeter and Vic. Saturday, September 27 View Page This is Andy Wolf's watermelon in his sons wagon... But what is that in the bottom? That my friends..... Is a squash entry that I promised I wouldnt tell his name, but I can show his picture.... (Next frame) Saturday, September 27 View Page Here is Matt Teeter and Vic again riding out the storm with Craig Lembke. The man to the left is one fella many will recognize, and is sorta like Madonna.. One name.. even he only needs one initial... This my friends is the squash owner of the last pic! "G"eeee... I wonder who it might be? Saturday, September 27 View Page Onto some pumpkins... Here is Ned Sandercock unloading his beastly fruit from his 845. This baby had to go heavy with all of the build up in posts through out the year, right? The other fruit is Andy Boxes monster off from his 898 Knauss. With 898 genes in that ribbed out freaky looking thing, and Neds monkey on my back all the time.. I had no chance... Saturday, September 27 View Page Here are the two fruits of my arch nemesis'... Neds in front, and the ribby freaky thing in the back is Andys.. I will say this much, they make some great Applejack-hooch-fuzzycider-whatever you want to call it.. Always a good time with you fellas.. Saturday, September 27 View Page Here the three of us get a photo op in front of our fruits.. ned, Andy, then myself from the left and the fruits are in the same order.. That small ugly fruit in the front is mine, but oh what lurks in pumpkins that grow on top of asparagus plants.... Stay tuned... Saturday, September 27 View Page Well, I went first.... My fruit was smaller than those monsters from Honesdale and the Dyberry patch... so I probably should just get it out of the way... There goes my fruit to the scale... Taping 319.. should go about 675 or so.... Holy crap.. that scale is moving boys.. The monkey is on my back... oh my.. what is that weight?.... I'll wait for the announcer... Eight Hundred.... yeah.. yeah... eight hundred and twenty pounds! woohooo!!!! Where the hell did that monkey go Ned? But wait.. The Honesdale duo are up next... Elation falls back to the waiting game.. 20 percent heavy to the charts, but will it be enough? New personal best (for an official fruit) and still am nervous... Saturday, September 27 View Page First there was that darned "gotta be heavy" 898 Knauss fruit.. Did you see the ribs? Andy is on the scale with his.... Six hundred..... oh my... Six hundred and..eighty one pounds... Did I hear right? 681? Wow.. I thought for sure that was it.. but sheeesh.. Andy and I battle, but nothing like the next fella.. Here comes Ned... Oh my.. that monster is measuring 325 inches.. Got me by 6 inches.. but how is the weight? Saturday, September 27 View Page Ned steps up to the plate (baseballtown reference) and will probably hit this one out of the park.. I am done. .I know it.. Six.. now seven.. no.... Six.. the scale is really jumping.... What is it?... Settles in... 692.. Oh my!!! The monkey is gone... for now... Andy was also wuoted as saying.. "I cant believe I lost to BOTH of you today!!!"... Dont worry Andy... there is next week... Or maybe there is a conspiracy? ... Stay tuned.. As for the rest of the weigh off.. Here are a few pics.. Saturday, September 27 View Page Is this the monkey that was on my back? Found this guy in the baseball hall of fame.... Had to share the photo... Saturday, September 27 View Page Here is a pic of Craig Lembke's pumpkin, with Randy and Deb Sundstroms winning entry just behind it. Randy and Deb not only won the money, but more importantly.. the title of 2008 GPC site Cooperstown NY champion..Congrats to the Sundstroms..1248 pounds... Enjoy the ride... You two have earned it.. Saturday, September 27 View Page Here is Randy and Deb net to their winning monster.. It weigh light, but sill got enough for the 4 grand and title. In the last pic I forgot to mention Craig Lembke's fruit weighed 909.5 and was good for 5th place. Saturday, September 27 View Page Here is Tom Privitera's (bohica) 7th place fruit, the newly named 895 Privitera. Tom is always quick with the hello in chat each night,and I truely enjoyed meeting this fella. The one thing I like about Tom is he tells it like it is.. Many thanks to the lifting crew which Tom was a part of. A few others I recognized in the lifting crew was Bill Bobier and Randy Sundstrom. While I drank Octoberfest beer and sipped on Applejack, these hard working fellas never stopped. Another big shout out goes to Bill Cartwright (spelling), Andy Wolf and family, and many more I simply can not remember. The weigh off was great, even with the rotten weather. Saturday, September 27 View Page One very fun person I met here that I have talked with over the years is Laral Keys. This fun loving grower checked in with the pictured 898 pound pumpkin. Laral's fruit went 6 percent heavy and was grown from her own 781. I originally thought it was from the Teeter 1010, but I see onGPC it was not. Congrats Laural!! Saturday, September 27 View Page Here is the man, Andy Wolf with his 664.5 exhibition fruit that was grown from an801.5 Stelts. THe color was nice, as is most other 801.5 offspring. Congrats also to Karl Haist for setting a new US record in the squash department. 1177 pounds! WOWee... The Hilstolskys who had the record were on hand and say they have one coming to Altoona next week that could reclaim the title.. Stay tuned... Congrats to Vicki Reynolds and her long gourd win at 95.5 inches. Vicki and Matt helped me out so much this week, I owe them big time. Super people are those two.. In closing.. nice seeing old acquaintances, and also putting faces to the Bp chat room names. Nice seeing Matt Verschneider (although that wasnt until late!!), Brian Staring (pumpkinbrat), Glenn Andrews, Eric Gerry, Joe Pukos (as always), the aforementioned Bill Bobier and his crew, Ron Gage (thanks for the amazing offer of a trailer last week!) and many more I cant seem to remember because of my short term memory and old age. I truely had a great time. Best of luck with the rest of the weigh offs this year, and may Ned and Andy continue to weigh just below my fruits weights! No conspiracy, I promise!! Friday, October 3 View Page Made my tripod today, here is the beginning of the cutting. I ripped off a triangle of 6.5 inches down the 4 x 4 and left 1.5 inches on the top as recommended by team-pumpkin.org. Bart has put together some fine powerpoints and pictures to help. Friday, October 3 View Page Next in order to drill the hole for the 16 inch carrier bolt, you must measure up the place to drill. I lined up at the base of the 6.5 inch cut on each side of the middle beam, and then drew a straight line across. The outside beams have an angled cut, so be careful with those. Friday, October 3 View Page Everything is lined up, ready for assembly. Friday, October 3 View Page Here is the drill holes, this is time consuming to think each thing through exactly. THe other night in chat though made me stop thinking so hard about getting it exactly perfect. "I aint makin cabinets for the WhiteHouse!"... Yeah.. but this is just as fragile..I want it right! Friday, October 3 View Page The components of a tripod, less the wood. Here is a pic of the tools needed and the pieces.. 12 ft of chain, shackle/linkring, hoist, pumpkin lifting ring, 1/2 x 16 inch carrier bolt, 2 washers and nut for that bolt, ruler, pen, and 1/2 inch drill bit. I drilled the 1/2 inch hole and then bored it out a bit to make it less snug and easier to get the bolt in. Friday, October 3 View Page A bit windy today, but here is the total assembly. Three 16 ft 4 x 4s, assembled with bolt and nut, wrapped at top with chain and linked together with 3500 lb test shackle. Hung from the shacle is the 1 ton hoist which has a 10 ft hang. On that is the pumpkin lifting ring, thanks to the PGPGA for the wonderful ring. These rings are available at pgpga.com. Must have item. Friday, October 3 View Page Here is the chain wrapping, with the hoist assembly hung below it. Friday, October 3 View Page No monkeys here, just plain old lets get er done mentality. This 1502 Wallace fruit goes in the 900 pound range, I will take anything over my new best of last week which was 820. Best of luck to Ned and Andy tomorrow in Altoona, I wish I could be there. I will be watching and hoping you both go over a thousand pounds. We may heckle each other at times, but I truely want to see one of the three of us hit the thousand pound mark some day soon! We have been doing this too long combined to not get lucky one year!! Sunday, October 5 View Page Front lawn display assembled yesterday. The Haybails on the right will be replaced with my Bradley Farms fruit (from the 1502 Wallace) when that weigh off is done. Thanks TO Matt and Vic for the gourds for my display. Sunday, October 5 View Page My 11 year old son Sam carrying the banner for the Athens High School marching band. My daughter is in the band and they needed someone to carry it. Uniform didnt fit too well, but he enjoyed the position! Saturday, October 11 View Page THe patch 2 days ago after a major freeze ended any and all green leaves. Tonite I built the tripod and got it ready for tomorrow mornings lift. In doing so, I took the fruit up into the air about 3 ft so I could get a look under and she is solid. My 1502 has a small concave section, but shouldnt cost me too much. Saturday, October 11 View Page Here is the 1502 with the blankets off. I told you it was a serious beast from the east!! THing almost seems to be alive! Saturday, October 11 View Page Seriously, that is from a front lawn display in South Waverly, PA. I was delivering mail today and had to get a pic of that mean looking pumpkin!! Here is a headstone I found for my friend Ned. You must be one ugly guy Ned to see your own reflection, then die. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder Ned, and I think you are beautiful... (You owe me 10 bucks for saying that Andy)... Saturday, October 11 View Page Not sure how the Biz and Whiz made it thiz far eazt, but found poor ol Eddie in thizzz front lawn dizzplay. Saturday, October 11 View Page Plenty more pics to follow tomorrow, but I will give you my final numbers on the 1502 fruit. I moved it about 1 ft to the left after the lift, and the numbers I got that seem to be accurate are 162-96-92=350 or 900 lbs on the nose. I need about 11.5 percent heavy to get to that 1000 pound mark. THe last fruit in the 2008 version of Rocky vs Ned, so I really need all of the pumpkin communities positive vibes to get me over that mark!!! Neds best is 992, so give me more!!! Monday, October 13 View Page Super day at Bradley Farms, here Matt Teeter is inspecting his fruit before it hits the scales. Randy Sundstrom is getting ready to celebrate beating Matt by 3 pounds! Teeter ended up at 1047, Randy and Deb came in at 1050. Congrats to all.. Monday, October 13 View Page Like a kid at Christmas, Matt looks WAY TOO excited about winning the Howard Dill award! Matt and Vic gave me a lot of help this year and I truely am blessed to have them as my growing friends locally. THanks guys.. Monday, October 13 View Page Here is a group shot of most of the competition at Bradleys. From left to right: The Pauls, Matt Verschneider, Deb and Randy Sunstrom, Matt Teeter, "THE LEGEND" Joe Pukos, Andy Wolf, Rocky Rockwell, John and Dave Hilstolsky, Christian Hilstolsky, and the Slingerlands of Troy. The Emcee loved referring to Joe as "The Legend"... Monday, October 13 View Page Here is my pumpkin the morning of the Bradley Farms contest, had to wash the captan off, so I fan dried it after the washing everything went well on this day! Monday, October 13 View Page Here Matt and I are with the 919 Rockwell getting ready to load it for the contest. Thanks to Team Pumpkin for a wonderful design on the tripod. Monday, October 13 View Page DOnt you just love these two amazing growers? Randy and Deb are some of the top growers in the world and we are fortunate to have them in the NYSGPGA company. ALways there for a helping hand, loading pumpkins, lifting, recording, but dang it guys, let someone else win for a change!! lol.. Great season for great people.. Congrats. Monday, October 13 View Page The front lawn display with the 919 on the right, and the 820 on the left. Should be one fun time trying to sculpt these two! I have to get a beer and chair and stare at them to get some ideas.. Lowes sells a dremel tool they call a pumpkin carver which I will be buying this year. Alot better than scraping the fruits skin, that takes forever! Tuesday, October 28 View Page Here is the pumpkins I gave effort to sculpting. THe one on the left is the 820 which I took to Cooperstown and the right fruit is the 919 I weighed in at Bradley Farms. I was amazed at the deep orange color of the 1502 Wallace (919) insides compared to the pale white of the 1011 Checkon (820). I did my best to make them look like Andy and Ned. Tuesday, October 28 View Page Here is the full display. On Halloween night I will use my Boo lights (one orange, one black) to make these babies look half way decent. I was thinking about putting some lights inside, but I think it would take a dedicated Nuclear reactor to light them up. Tuesday, October 28 View Page Here is the patch after fall prepping. I added 65 bags of mulched maple leaves, 40 pounds of humic acid, 120 pounds of garden lime, and gave it all a rough till. If I get manure in, it will be piled and turned all winter with fresh leaves added every turn to keep the fires burning. I looked around behind me and found Neds monkey staring at me... I paid him the money to stay on Neds back, and he scurried back to Honesdale to assume his position. "Monkey Free in 09" is my motto... Tuesday, October 28 View Page In a wrap up of 2009, I feel I made strides but have a ways to go. I did my first soil test in 2 years and made ammendments to fix the short comings. Magnesium, Calcium, and low PH all tell me that with a decent limestone application I can help fix all of those in one shot. I will be adding kelp meal for the first time this spring, along with another 40 pounds of humic acid, and also fix whatever another soil test this spring tells me to do. Grew 3 plants - 1502 Wallace - got a 919 pound pumpkin. Crossed it with the 1402.5 Bobier. 1402.5 Bobier - Most fun I had growing a fruit, ever. THe plant was very aggressive, fruit was aggressive, all around rollercoaster ride. Nearly flawless pumpkin, except for the 2 inch blossom end split. Ended up as the 879 UOW. I used plenty of calcium in all foliars and drenches, so not sure how much calcium actually helps reduce BES. 1011 CHeckon - "Oh By the Way" plant, put it in when the swingset was removed from next to the patch and I took over another 1000 sq ft of ground. Patch is now 2000 sq ft in size. The 1011 was really never looked after, except for the fixing of a double vine that Andy Wolf helped me terminate and correct a month into the season. After that this fruit blossomed to 820 pounds and was my biggest official pumpkin ever until the 919 came 2 weeks later. I crossed the 1011 with the 1502 Wallace. Should be great cross. Looking forward to next season... So far I am definite on one seed, the 1207 Young and have a 1385 Jutras which is looking like the front runner for spot # 2. Sam, my son, is going to grow green in 2009, so he will get my 3rd spot. I could squeeze in a 3rd pumpkin, but some logistics would have to be worked out. Cya next season! Look out Ned.... 2009 is WAR!!!! Wednesday, October 29 View Page Had to get a shot of the 919 after I added hair to it today. My son Sam(on the left between the pumpkins) and the kids from across the street (Jacob, Nathan, and Lucas) pose with the fruits. Wednesday, October 29 View Page I got the lighting up and running tonite for the pumpkins and tomorrow nights trick or treat event. Here is the 919 with its orange glow and nice new hair! Wednesday, October 29 View Page The 820 showing its inner desire to become a squash. THis fella has some teeth and is very hungry! Wednesday, October 29 View Page Combo shot of what the kids get to see tomorrow. I am very proud of the size and the amateur effort that didnt turn out too bad! I will be retrieving seeds from these babies on Sunday and out to the compost pile with them immediately after that. So much work for less than a week of ohhs and ahhs at Halloween! Thursday, November 6 View Page This is the 919, cutting her down and heading to the compost pile. The walls were very uniform. One spot where there was a dill ring, but even that spot was 5 inches from doom. Amazing how we can look at a spot for a month and wonder if she is going to hold up just to find out you werent even close to disaster! Thursday, November 6 View Page Side view of the 919. The walls were averaging 6 inches thick around, shoulders up to 10 inches thick. Thursday, November 6 View Page Had some seeds germinate on me in the shell of the pumpkin. Here is one that was ready to be transplanted! I'll send it to Honesdale so Ned can get an early start on our competition for next year. Thursday, November 6 View Page The monkey on MY back is still hanging around. Here he is needling me as he sits on top of the 919 pile of rubbish. Thursday, November 6 View Page The monkey was amazed at the amount of pumpkin soup from the 820 when we cut it open. Serious decay had begun and that wonderful smell of a fresh pot of that internal liquid could gag even a maggot. The monkey was loving it though, chuckling at another year of sub 1000 pound pumpkins. DAMN YOU MONKEY!!! Thursday, November 6 View Page The monkey was not so happy when he saw the wonderful seeds I pulled out of each fruit. The 919 seeds are the prettiest seeds I have ever pulled, if you can understand what I mean by that. Big, thick, heavy seeds. The monkey rolled his eyes at me and said maybe next year is the year. Pack your bags monkey... Go back to Honesdale where you belong.. Monday, November 17 View Page Finally about 3-4 inches of winter rye coming up which should help with the early nitrogen releases in the spring along with helping the soil tilth. Wednesday, December 10 View Page A pic of the load of composted black horse manure sitting in the corner of my patch. Many thanks to Mike Murphy, a buddy of mine for coming up with this stuff. I will try to get one more load fromhim in the spring. The winter rye is looking nice, should be up 6 inches or more in the spring so I can get a little extra nitrogen into the soil. Happy Holidays Ned, I looked it up, 2009 is the Year of the Monkey".. Should be interesting!