Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 127 Entries. Friday, March 21 View Page Lanterra Update > Another year begins. Finally the sun has poked its head above the equator and now the march into spring has begun. We are all fresh from the convention so now its time to get down to business. Joe has set the bar mighty high this year. The GVGO hopes to climb the ladder by several rungs this year with a coordinated effort at growing using many of the new tactics plus a couple of our own new skills too. Here I'm pictured at Pumpkinville NY, with my PB the 1134 Landry 07 (500 Northrup X 901 Leonard) I hope to see many of you at the GVGO spring party at my home on Saturday April 5th, Please help us welcome world record holder Joe & Sue Jutras. The annual GVGO seminar is taking place on April 6th in Thornton, Ontario at 9am. The Cost is $5 for lunch, GVGO members, and 25 for a new membership at the door. Saturday, April 5 View Page Lanterra Update > Its still too wet to do anything outside so off I went to the hydroponic store to buy some Humic acid and a good quality spreader sticker. I ahad already purchased a Coco wet earlier in January so is was looking for another good product to spend some of my hard earned money on. I walked out of Home Grown Hydroponics with a jug of Dutch Nutrient Formula Black. I intend to use this product in my teas and as a foliar spray. Another large sum of cash has departed my rather saggy wallet. Saturday, April 5 View Page LanTerra Update > the GVGO party date has arrived Joe & Sue get here at about 3:30 pm and we have one heck of a good time. About 30 growers and their wives attend the pre-GVGO seminar welcome BBQ for the world record holder Joe Jutras. It was such an honor to host this event. Notables in attendance are Al & Sharon Eaton and GVGO Pres Phil & treasurer Jane Hunt along with GPC vice pres. Dave & Barb McCallum. Sunday, April 6 View Page GVGO Seminar Update > Certainly a good time was had by all as this edition of the seminar focused on advanced grower education & awards. Joe Jutras did an excellent presentation for us as we were all ears simply glued to his every word. Chris Lyons was selling the new Giant Tomatoes book for a very reasonable price and my brother and I quickly scooped up two of them. I purchased bags of kelp meal and humic acid along with 20 liters of molasses in the GVGO's annual version of a growers co-op. Sunday, April 6 View Page LanTerra Update > Good friends in this hobby are really synonymous in this sport and I am blessed to have several in the pumpkin world. During the party Frank Catapano plunked into my hands a nice plump 898 Knauss seed. He said he could not grow it and it needed a good home. Needless to say Frank is one of the most kind hearted growers we have in the GVGO and has vigorously supported the all of us. Thanks Frank.... Tuesday, April 8 View Page LanTerra Update > Still a bit too wet to work in the patch. Instead I concentrate on the front yard and get it ready for airation & fertilization next week. I prunned all of the front trees and picked up all of the ground debris. Another purchase today has 20 pounds of AM 120 on it's way to LanTerra. I now have three types of fungi to try out this year. Mykes from Premier Bio tech and Joel Hollands Bio Endo. I wonder which one will work best? Monday, April 14 View Page LanTerra Update > Too busy at work and too wet in the patch. A difficult spring has yet again another problem at work arising which demands more of my time. Will it ever end? Eventually I hope so but not soon enough. I may have to cut back on my planting program to compensate for the delayed start to my season. The wet patch has delayed any work for at least the next few days. The saving factor is I can concentrate on just the planting sites and get them done in a day or two. The rest of the patches will get done as time permits. However I am seriously thinking of dialing back to only 5 plants for this year. The grass is still not green yet and we had snow on Sunday morning. There is a lot of work to do. I am going to narrow down the field to just a few of my very best seeds. This years adventures will include a 998 Pukos, 898 Knauss, 1134 Landry at Cornerstone and at home just a couple will be a 752* Landry and a 1385 Jutras. If I get more time a 1446 Werner and 1502 Wallace are on the short list. Growing less plants was the main focus of my advanced GVGO how to grow seminar. I really laid it onto the group of 70 mostly expierenced growers that attended. So I guess I need to take my own advice. Sunday, April 20 View Page Honda in the garden, This front tine beauty starts first pull every time! Monday, April 21 View Page LanTerra Update > The nice weather continues. A high of 70*f takes me back out to the patch today to begin final preparations for the seedlings to come in the next few weeks. Pictured is the 1134 On the scale at Pumpkinville. On tap today is starting the first brew of compost tea with worm castings and a soil drench of molasses to the newly prepared planting areas. I also need to start a new compost pile. I have about twenty bags of leaves and yard clippings that will make a good pile start. I plan to add Humic acid and some kelp meal to the pile as well. Seed starting begins this morning. I set out to soak 12 or so 227 Landry 04 which I intend to use as a sort of cover crop that is pre-inoculated. I have also started a dozen or so 194 hunt watermelons. All seeds are in a bath of warm water with worm castings, humic acid, kelp meal & jump start a myco product I have been using for seed starting. Monday, April 21 View Page Seed Starting Update > Off and running and into the pill box go the first batches of seeds. After a 12 hour soaking they are placed into the pill boxes with a multiple layer of paper towel moistened with the special soaking sauce. I have also sprinkled a pinch of RTI Symbios into each compartment. The compartments are then closed and each pill box is placed over top of heating pad and covered with a couple of dish towels. With luck they should all begin to germinate in 24 to 36 hours in their individual humidity controlled environments. I have tried several seed starting methods and this gives me the highest rate of success. In this old picture from last year you can see that the seed in the Wednesday compartment has germinated. With a short prominent tap root this seedling will be quickly potted up and placed under the lights to emerge from the soil. I have tried seeds with just plain water and some with the special sauce mix. Both tactics seam to work nearly equally well. Wednesday, April 23 View Page Seed Starting Update > after less than 36 hours a few of the AGP & Watermelon seeds have started to sprout. This is accomplished without filing them just a simply soaking in special sauce and placing in the pill box. Friday, April 25 View Page LanTerra Update > More rototilling and more rototilling. after two full days I'm still not yet finished all of the patch areas. Good news is the electricity is turned on and I will begin to work on the water soon. The hoop houses are built and waiting to go as each of the three AGP planting sites are now ready and raring to go. At home will grow the 998 Pukos in the prime spot in patch 3 which has produced the Woodbridge winner and the near record 1073* two years ago. Also at home in patch 2 will be the WR producer 1055* Pitura and my own 752* Landry 07 848* x 1420 LaRue. As several growers have tried to blend in some size genetics into the 848* seed line this is my attempt to get a true green squash with a larger case size with shallower ribs. The 1055* fits the bill as it tends to grow nice a smooth pumpkin with shallow ribs. Crossed with the 752* it might result in something larger with vigor. Sunday, April 27 View Page LanTerra Update > Wow miss a few days in the diary and miss a lot. The seed starting continues now with all of the big name seeds in the pill boxes waiting to pop. First out and into a pot was the world record squash producer the 1055* Pitura and one of my 752* Landry 07 848 x 1420 Larue. Waiting for a home are the 998, 1502, 1385 Jutras 07, 898, 776, 1446, 4-1134 & 2 - 235 Donker watermelons. Yet to start soak in the morning are two 127.5 Urena LG's resting comfortably in the freezer. The first batch of watermelon seeds resulted in 5 potted 194 Hunts now beginning to thrive and compete for light. The first two batches of AGP seeds which will be used as type of an inoculated mycorrhizal cover crop on one plant at Cornerstone and LanTerra. I have about twenty of these guys thrusting up from orange plastic beer drinking cups I had placed them in. Sunday, April 27 View Page Cornerstone Update > I'm a bit behind in the journal entries due to a hectic weekend. Friday begins with a trip to the Cornerstone patches and a meeting with Roy. The expanded patches will increase in size in order to grow jack-o-lanterns right on site. However only 5 competitive AGP's will be grown on site. Heading for the fresh composted soil are the 1502, 898, 1446, 1385 Jutras & 1134 Landry. Each plant will get a heated hoop house and receive the highest care possible. Monday, May 5 View Page LanTerra Update > Monday begins the start of a new year in the garden and with it a chance at the largest squash ever grown. After two years in a row of near misses growing squash I like the my chances with the 1055* Pitura. It tends to grow nice smooth surface fruits with shallow ribbing unlike the deep ribs of the 848* 1st generation fruit. Dave and I had a lengthy discussion about this at Port Elgin last year as we watched a couple of 1055* off spring march to the scale. Patch 1 > In goes the World record producer 1055* Pitura and its back up the 1134 Landry 07. The 8' x 6' hoop house is heated with a 500w halogen light and kept cool using a nitrogen charged auto vent cylinder. Both Plants receive a generous helping of RTI Symbios Pumpkin Pro. I hope to be able to achieve good early vine growth. I have left lots of room, 10' from the edge of the patch to allow for some back vine growth off of the rear main which I am calling wing back growth. Other than that the eventual winner in patch 1 will be pretty much a traditional tree. The first two vines will be angled back to the south from the main crown about 25* or more from perpendicular. This should give all of the vines & leaves plenty of room to spread and allow for good air circulation. Thursday, May 8 View Page LanTerra Update > Thursday and My first day of from work in awhile as I try to resurface from and incredible challenge at work that envolves 2 - 90 Ton grove Cranes and several hundreds of man hours. I'm back in the patches today after a very good meeting last night with the Woodbridge Weigh-off GPC committee that saw us start to formulate plans for a very exciting event to be held on Saturday of the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday weekend. There will be some serious prize money this year as we hope to drive traffic and sponsorship to much higher levels at this years event. Thursday, May 8 View Page Lanterra Update > Its wet outside and cool after about a 1/2" of rainfall last night and yesterday. The cool cloudy day is just the way to introduce a couple of new additions into patch # 3. Patch # 3 > Welcomes the addition of the 998 Pukos and its back up plant the 1134 Landry 07. Both plants are placed in an 8' X 6' hoop house that is heated with a 500w halogen light. Each plant receives a generous helping of RTI symbios Pumpkin Pro and new for this year a smattering of slow release 6 month fertilizer at 19-6-13. OMG. I can hear every one now. After months of professing about the need to limit ferts here is the kahuna adding them. Low phos won't hurt the myco and the slow release 6 month time clock is just the ticket I was looking for to supplement the patch 3 nutrients which are often locked away. Each plant only received a dibbled tablespoon in its planting hole. So there's no real secrets here the 998 will be grown in a traditional style tree form with some angled back vines and a bit of wing back growth. Monday, May 12 View Page Cornerstone update > Finally planting day has arrived. After several weather induced mis-starts I was able to secure a quick day off from work and get some time with my plants. Cool and cloudy today offers the perfect planting conditions for the 9 plants that hit the dirt today. Placed earthward were the 898 Knauss and 287 Landry 04 back-up. 1134 Landry 07 and 287 Landry 04 back-up. 1502 Wallace 06 and 287 Landry back-up. 1385 Jutras 07 and 752* Landry back-up. 1446 Werner 06 no back-up. Monday, May 12 View Page Cornerstone Planting Day Details > No soil prep is required because of course as you all know soil is our business. A quick run in the front end loader, out to the Compost or Quad mix pile is all that is usually required. However based on past results this years pumpkin mix has been fortified with the following extra ingredients. A liberal application of sulphur to bring pH down a bit by full vine set time. This along with additions of Humic Acid and Kelp Meal help to give the patch all things good for the new plants. This year I have decided to add a 6 month slow release 10-10-10 product that I hope will smooth out the curves in the road ahead. I am trying to provided consistent amounts of nutrients all season long in all of my patches this summer. This is something I learned in my first course last winter at the University of Guelph. The additional NPK will not be harmful to Myco due to the slow release and we have never lost a fruit at Roy's due to splitting, in now over 5 years of growing on site. I believe we can push the envelope a bit using the Quad mix as bate we might just be able to nurse these babies beyond the threshold of glory. Monday, May 12 View Page Cornerstone Planting Details 2 > Ah, its nice to just kick back with a brown beverage while writing this truly amazing a descriptive planting story. LOL.... Here at Cornerstone all plants are getting Joel's Bio-Endo product. My biggest challenge will be exactly how will I try to reinoculate the patches over the next 5 months. I have a partial plan but it really is not that good considering drenches don't work too good. Agro K is the name most of you will recognise. I really like the 10-8-8 product that Craig sells and of course the best thing ever produced for living plants 10X Symspray. Molasses is a mainstay at both of my patch locations. It is vital for keeping all of those bacterals and funguys happy. So watering in each plant was accomplished using 3 gallons of water mixed with 2oz each of 10-8-8, 10x symspray and molasses. Monday, May 12 View Page Cornerstone Planting Day Update 3 > Brown bottle update, on my second of a few today but the darn thing is frozen as I placed it in the freezer right next to the Urena long gourd seeds the need to begin soaking. All 5 of the eventual winners at the home of compost heaven are placed in heated hoop houses(a cornerstone first). All are going to be traditional trees with the exception of the 1446 Werner which be a tree with strong back wings at nearly 75* or more allowing for bigger and more robust leaf development. This is an experiment that I hope will work fine. It really just allows for half again the spacing between each row of leaves. The additional room will provide for better air flow and should allow the leaves to expand well beyond a normal baby elephant size to huge monsterous elephant size. More radiation on the same size plant means increased export from the leaf and therefore hopefully bigger fruit. Each side vine will be curled back in succession and given lots of room to bloom. One other neat trick that I am trying today is starting each hill with a larger quantity of steaming hot fresh compost...Hmm, why in hec...well the death of all those little soil buggers will certainly begin to accumulate and start a little greenhouse effect inside the hoop house. If I'm right the CO2 ppm could rise well beyond 1000ppm. Quad Mix*R is certainly a good thing. Monday, May 19 View Page LanTerra Update > All plants are doing well. Notable development in patch 1 is the 1134 backup plant is larger and stronger than the 1055* Pitura. The 998 Pukos looks good. All plants here are a bit behind the Cornerstone plants though. I am not exactly sure why? They are all in heated houses and receive the same protection and care. The LanTerra plants in patch 1 & 2 (1055 & 752* + 1134 backups) went in a week earlier and the patch 3 plant the 998 Pukos went in 4 days earlier than the Cornerstone plants. It must be the compost at Cornerstone giving off Co2. Monday, May 19 View Page Cornerstone Update > I am having an ok start. I may have lost the 1502 Wallace due to heat issue in the hoop house. I hope it may come back. I have already put in a backup of my 752* Landry - 848* x 1429 LaRue 07. It was the only good plant I had left in the basement. It sure was pot bound with several roots twirled around the bottom of the pot. The 1446 Werner and 1385 Jutras are getting larger. I can't believe their size after only a week in the ground. I used fresh quad mix and compost right from the Conveyor belt. Man was it hot stuff. Teaming with microbes and C02. I think the C02 coming from this stuff is what is driving the plants to grow so quickly. The 898 and the 1134 are doing OK after wilting a bit in the heat last week. The Weatherman called for 68*f but by the time I got to the yard it was nearly over 80*f. Roy had opened the hoop houses but the damage was done. Friday, May 23 View Page Howard Dill Tribute > What can you say about a man who grows the largest pumpkins in the world? If perhaps you happened to have no knowledge of growing vegetables and genetic plant biology the answer for most would be fairly simple. However for those more inclined to understand the intricacies of the Dills, Atlantic Giant Pumpkins (AGP) the answer swells to a topic that reaches beyond comprehension of folks who trod about their daily chores. You see, it’s obvious to me that the father of The AGP, Howard Dill spawned a new revolution when for years he toiled with a few seeds in his backyard. The revolution I’m talking about is now a throng of growers that includes the best of gardeners right on down to the happy youngsters that form 4H clubs across the continent who fling the Dill seeds earthward. From, hobbyist and expeierenced and to those just wishing to grow a sizable porch decoration on October 31st, Howard Dill has decorated us all. He has for more than a generation helped us to adorn our gardens with the largest vegetable mankind can produce. Friday, May 23 View Page Continued > So large is this throng that today from a mere humble beginning near the birthplace of Canada’s most famous “Golden Pond” and the beginnings of our beloved sport of hockey did this man create another. The sport of growing Giant Pumpkins was born right from his hands and transferred down to each of us. Pondering this it is easy to wander down to a time past all of the web sites, the clubs, the governing bodies, the fund raisers, the conventions, the gatherings at patch tours and all of the competitions and regattas to an era when it was just Howard and his dirt. If you could close your eyes and consume the pumpkin world in a flash back you would find Mr. Howard Dill peering over the patch in wonderment at what he had created. It is truly an amazing story of how such a simple seed produced such a long time ago in Windsor, Nova Scotia, became such a success for a man of such humble quality. The never ending story begins each year at this time for most of us as we begin to dream the dream that Howard spawned so many years ago. This remarkable Canadian leaves us now with tremendous memories and seed bank full of wonderful Orange shimmering fruit. To the father of my favorite pastime, I say thanks and goodbye not with sorrow but with glee and hope of the big one to come. Saturday, May 24 View Page LanTerra Update > Not much to do around here yet. Waiting game begins for the major part of vine growth to begin. Things are certainly a little slow at LanTerra as compared to Cornerstone where the plants are jumping out of the ground. The 1385 Jutras and 1446 both look major league strong with main vine growth now getting ready to land. Yesterday I planted the remaining 7 plants I left as back ups in the 2 acre plot for some Halloween pumpkins. In the photo you can see a few of the nearly 100 plants that are waiting to pop and be sent to Cornerstone for a date with Roy's dirt. All of the seeds in these beer cups have been pregerminated 5 at a time in the pill boxes. Last years crop is extremely virile as 100% have germinated to date. Saturday, May 24 View Page LanTerra Update > Yet to go in here at the home world are 3 Long gourds, 2 - 127 Urena 07 & 1 - 125.75 Urena. The 127's are still trying to germinate today in the pill box after 3 days. I had placed them in the freezer for about 3 weeks before hand and soaked them fro about 24 hours? Yikes I may have gone a bit overboard. The 125.75 was not frozen and only left in a humic acid and kelp meal mixture for about 20 hours and it popped in less than a day in the pill box. Saturday, May 24 View Page The Pumpkin Wives > From left To right. Dawn Northrup, Shannon Landry, Barb McCallum & Jane Hunt. Getting to together for a great weekend of shopping and the Queen Rock show in Toronto a couple of weekends ago. Dawn put together a fabulous DVD of their tour, packed with a zillion pictures of these four little angels terrorizing the downtown Toronto area. Saturday, May 24 View Page Lanterra Update > Today's work list includes a quick drench of fish, seaweed, molasses, humic acid & calcium. Then in goes 3 these 7 seven watermelon plants. They consist of either 235 Donkers 07 or 194 Hunt 06. Saturday, May 24 View Page Fungal Storage Plant > Ah...which one is the real competition plant? Hmmmmm! I know the 752* Landry 07 is in here somewhere. Saturday, May 24 View Page LanTerra Waking up on a bright & sunny may 24th. Patch 1 on the left 1055 Pitura and 1134 Landry 07 back up Patch 2 on the right the fungal plant 752* Landry 07 and several back up endo fungi storage plants. Some off the storage plants are larger than the competition fruit. Saturday, May 24 View Page Patch # 3, with the 998 Pukos and a rather frantic dove inside seeking the warmth of the lights. Saturday, May 24 View Page 1055* Pitura Left is catching up in size to the 1134 Landry backup plant. The weeds need to go real soon they are getting a bit large. Saturday, May 24 View Page The 998 Pukos on the left with its backup plant another 1134 Landry 07. Again the weeds need to go soon as they are really starting to get to point where pulling them may disrupt the main plant roots. The holes left by them will be filled in using Myco dibbled down into the soil. I am toying a bit with the idea to aerate the soil by pulling small shallow plugs from around the crown on an infrequent basis. Sunday, May 25 View Page LanTerra Blog > Unable to sleep or reset my clock from weeks of getting up at 4am, I arise this morning as the Robbin begins to sing his daily song of life. The brisk morning air settles in as the clear skies radiate any of the nights lingering temperatures. The frost has all but left us for another season as the plants happily commence to spreading their wings. The chores are mounting now with each passing day as the yard and garden slowly transform into the annual Eden of wonder. There is still so much to do and there never seams to be enough ticks left to tock on the daily clock. Feathered friends never finish their tiresome daily rounds. Broodingly they arise each day to feed the hungry mouths of the unrelenting hatchlings. Obsessed by nature’s procreative instinct, the grower resembles Robin and his cousins in the determination and efforts deemed necessary to proceed up the ladder to pumpkin Ville. Time is the limiting factor that most growers often overlook. Too, little results in unattended growth and inattentive plants. The balance of time versus chore is often found as the gardener rests his tiresome back in the solace on the fresh spring air. Driven by desire to sire the most prevalent of fruit the former surly grower emerges each morning from his den refreshed and rejuvenated by the wonderful sites and smells that only Mother Nature can provide. Inspired by the chore of propagation this Gardner awaits the results of his early morning encounters hopefully ending in a progeny of such size and girth that few are able to fathom. The efforts of his laborious chores mount as each day passes the grower hopes early bird will assuredly garner the worm. Singing from the highest branch. Proudly each morning the Robbin proclaims it has been a worthwhile effort. Thursday, May 29 View Page LanTerra Update > Heavy to moderate frost develops of the morning of the 28th. The frostyness was scary for me. I came home late from work at 12:30am to a temp of 5*C. Satisfied that the night air would stay warm enough I settled in to watch TV, Andromeda Strain at 1am on A&E. At 2;30 I checked the temp and found to my horrors that it read a quickly plunging 1.5*C. Needless to say I rushed out the door at 3am with 3 jugs of hot water to cover my 3 melons. They suffered a bit of damaged. All other plants are doing well. Thursday, May 29 View Page Cornerstone Update > Oppourtunity knocks and then quickly the challenge is lost. Thats what has happen with my 1502. The heat speel of last week finally has finished it off. The backup planted afetr the backup went down will be the 752* Landry 07, 848* x 1420. I may now be able to sib this one with the other 752* growing at LanTerra. Cornerstone Final line looks like this 1134 Landry 07 898 Knauss 1385 Jutras 07 752* Landry 07 1446 Werner 06 LanTerra Final seed list 998 Pukos 1055* Pitura 752* Landry Tuesday, June 3 View Page Cornerstone Update > All plants are doing well here at the home of quad mix heaven. The new 100 yards or so of fresh screened composted soil is doing a tremendous job of providing lots of microbes for the plant roots. Culling season has arrived as I lopped off the head of the companion back-up plants next to the 898 Knauss and the 1385 Jutras. With only one more cull to come the transition to wild vine growth is about to quickly commence. The 1446 Werner is on the ground and running. With a strong thick dark green vine it looks to be a fabulous producer. Followed closely behind is the 1385 Jutras that has leaves so large they almost touch the sides of the hoop house. The 898 stunt a tad bit by heat early on has recovered to firmly hold the third spot. Picking up the anchor position are both of the 1134 Landry 07. Not really that much smaller their main vines are a tad yellower in color and both are of equal size nearly on the ground too. Bringing up the rear is 752* Landry, backup that was put after both the 1502 and it backup were lost. The weigh-off date for Cornerstone is September 20th with top prize of 1000 dollars Can. Planting continues here in the field area as I now have about 1 acre of seedlings planted after several days of coolish temperatures they adapted very well. There is still about another acre to plant over the next few days. Last weeks frost was mostly a non event for the field crop as only 5 plants had to be replaced yesterday and they consisted of AGP backups that I had decided to put in. Tuesday, June 3 View Page LanTerra Update > Not much to report this week here at the home world except that the home land defense system has failed the watermelons. Frost that five letter word had sneaked into my patches last week with a plague of black death. All three are alive but just barely. I haven't yet been able to bring myself around to culling yet although I should have begun this dreaded chore by now. I will wait a bit yet to see what happens. Still the largest plant in the yard is the backup 1134 Landry growing next to the sure keeper 1055* Pitura. After a slow start the 998 Pukos is looking stronger and and stronger each day. In patch 2 the many 752* Landry fungal plants are widely growing out of control. With so many plants in a small area its fun to watch them all grow and compete for size. This little experiment may turn out to surprise a few of us. With a favourable weather report and good vine growth coming soon I will star to rototill each patch again soon. The water barrels are filled to the top and I finally weeded each hoop house. Tuesday, June 3 View Page Cornerstone Update > I thought I would keep you apprised of another little trick I am trying this season. The 1446 Werner plant is huge by all usually standards for this time of year at Cornerstone. Now this could be simply attributed to Co2 gas trapped in the hoop or the new larger heated hoop house structures. This plant was put in by itself without back up. I have fed it plenty of molasses and symspray as I have watched it grow. From day one it has been more vigorous then the rest. This plant is also getting more myco then the others. I have been unearthing the soil until I find fresh roots to which I quickly sprinkle some Bio-Endo product then cover and water. This really not the dibble tactic we talked about at the GVGO seminar but I don't believe this will hurt the plant at all. Very carefully I have managed to produce a fresh myco ring around the plant out about four feet from the base in the area of new fast growing roots. If there is any Phosphorus reduction in colonisation this plant will be able to quickly grow into and colonise the new fresh myco. Will it help, is the question, I quess only a long term answer can be found in late September. Friday, June 13 View Page Cornerstone Update > Weigh-Off date has been moved to Saturday, October 25th. Scary here at the yard today as an early morning cloud burst produces pea sized hail for about two minutes. Intense lightning but no winds allows the plants to survive without damage. The hoop houses are gone, now its time for wind breaks. The 1446 Werner is still the patch leader followed closely by the 1385 Jutras. Friday, June 13 View Page LanTerra Update > Stormy around here the last week or so. Night storms raged for three nights in a row. Several hours of sleep were lost due to the nightly light shows. It is pretty hard to sleep with severe thunder storms rolling about your patch at night. The plants here are doing fine by average date standards. The 752* Landry 07 is completely out of its hoop house and the 1055* Pitura is just covered on the top part of the hoops. The 998 Pukos is in fine shape but a small problem developed when the main decided to run to west instead of the east. It is finally turned right now after a week of slight movements and staking. Cucumber beetles and Squash bugs are here already and they have been dispatched to the grave yard with a quick spray of Ambush. Rototiller is broken so I will need another option before the large vine burring begins. In years past I would hand turn the ground with a jabbing motion only lifting a thin slice from the top layer of soil. Its a lot of work but I've done it before. Friday, June 13 View Page 1200 pound OTT Benchmarks. These files can be found at the links listed below. http://www.gvgo.ca/articles/index.html#files http://www.greatpumpkincommonwealth.com/resources.php Thursday, June 19 View Page LanTerra Update > All things are good here at home. I finally got the rototiller fixed and finished all three patches today. I have a nice sore back that I'm nursing with a few brown bottles late this afternoon. A picture of my favourite book, Teaming with Microbes. It is a must read for all pumpkin growers. The weather here has been cool the last three days and I managed to recover two of the plants at home. I seam to be way behind every one else around me. I know Jordan and Phil Hunt have me smoked and by the look of John Vincent's patches he has got me beat by a wide margin. I am not too worried by the slow pace yet just hoping for warmer weather. The storms here at home were pretty gentle by what struck the rest of the province. I have no damage at all. There has been no return of the cuc's or squash bugs I guess due to the chilly last few days. Vine burying is going well using the AM120 product at home and Bio-endo at Cornerstone. I have no luck with watermelons and have lost two of them and killed another plant with a spray that I used on the AGP's. I reserved lots of room for they and no the patch sits empty. Buckwheat will go in soon. Thursday, June 19 View Page Cornerstone Update > Great progress here this week and thankfully no damage from the hail storm last Friday. The 1446 Werner is marching right along and should be good to pollinate by early July. It is a very nice plant and looks really strong too. 1385 Jutras main was turned after growing the wrong way by about 180*. sadly after the turn there is not much room on the west side for the vines. However the east sides will be about a good 15' wide. The plant is progressing well and is right on schedule. 898 Knauss, slowed out of the gate due to heat shock it recovered quickly and is vining nicely now. 1134 Landry, A hard cull last week as both plants were slightly out of alignment. The turn on the keeper plant was completed very quickly and painlessly. This plant should given me a nice large orange progeny to compete with at one of the GPC shows for Howard Dill plaque. 752* Landry, This plant is the backup to the primary 1502 Wallace and the 752* that were lost due to heat shock in the first week. Surprisingly strong and vigorous it is coming along nicely and catching up quickly on the rest of the field. Time will tell if I can get a fruit to set on it in prime time. Squash take longer to shift to fruit production but the main benefit of this plant is this generation may throw orange due the 1420 LaRue pollination of last year. Monday, June 23 View Page LanTerra Update > Well it was only a matter of time. Everybody else in the province has had a kick at this cat so I guess it was my turn this time. My wife and I headed out the Air Show at CFB Borden. We went to see the Snowbirds and a couple of CF18 hornets zoom about the sky. The Borden Air Base is only about 7 miles due west of my home. On Saturday we could see the planes darting about the sky from our backyard deck. Pretty cool eh! Lets go see them on Sunday. OK then. We arrive at the base and get a very detailed car search by an MP from New Brunswick and then head out to the runway and tarmac. Overhead the skies were filled with developing boomers. We watched the show and I quickly became distracted from the clouds by the CF 18 racing by us first silently then at 600 miles an hour. Then the horrific sound appeared. But not just one there were two. Those organizing storm clouds began to concentrate and suddenly lightning was off to the east of us but fairly close by. I hate to miss a good storm! But the jets screaming about were a bigger priority anyways. On the bucket list Snowbirds and CF18 jets rank higher than a mere thunderstorm. I began to wonder about the hail though. I watched those clouds and even saw some brief rotating formations too. I was sure that my plants could be safe. Well I was wrong. We got home at 6pm and found my plants had survived hail that appeared to be nearly golf ball in size. They are now pocked marked with several holes in each leaf. OMG the jets were fun to see but I think HAIL ranks higher on the bucket list and I missed it. The plants will live. Wednesday, June 25 View Page LanTerra Update > The warmer weather returns today and hopefully so does the rain. Timely rainfall is what is best for the plants at this stage of bud formation. There is no need to for the plants to suffer from lack of water and calcium at this critical time. The coolish spring did have one benefit in moderate and consistent rainfall. As long as it doesn't get too hot the fruit from these plants should be highly sustainable and resistant to BES. With all of the new tactics I'm using this year calcium within the fruit should be well distributed to the distal end. The cuc's are back and to celebrate I thru them a bifenthrin party. Listed for cuc's, squash bug and vine borers it is much easier on the plant then sevin. I have more chems in my war chest but they are all somewhat taboo in this country. The 998 Pukos if off and starting to look like the dream plant it has been for other folks. In cool weather it gained well over 2' in three days. I never thought the plants would be ready but all three are producing males and females are only a few days away. The best looks to be the 1055* Pitura at about 10' on the main. The hail damage from Sunday was really only a minor concern. Thankfully the season continues to look very, very good. Wednesday, June 25 View Page Cornerstone Update > A call for fresh compost has the boys bringing over several bucket fulls right from the conveyor belt. Unlimited supplies ensure plenty of good fresh microbes are available to populate the Cornerstone soil. Burring continues to be the major chore along with spraying as cucs have been detected in the Jack-0-Lantern plants. Each node is getting Boi-Endo and fresh compost. Each vine section gets a good hearty drench of water with molasses or symspray 10x to feed the hungry little bastards and some soluble 10-8-8 from Agro-K. Time release 10-10-10 ferts are broadcast ahead of vine growth. The 1446 Werner is right on track followed closely by the 898 Knauss and 1385 Jutras each should have now problem for prime pollination's. The 752* Landry and 1134 Landry are further behind and may be pollinated toward the end of the July 10th window. Tuesday, July 1 View Page Pollinations Update > 4 out of 8 plants at the Cornerstone and LanTerra patches now have an active main vine fruit. Listed below are the first few pollinations I've done. Cucumber beatles have been getting the upper hand this week in the second major hatch of the season. I needed to spray Sevin to get back in control. June 28. Alberta, 1385 Jutras x 1446 Werner, 10', 5L, 3M -F, mishaped blossom. June 28. Bravo, 898 Knauss x 998 Pukos, 8', 5L, 1M - F. June 28. Clumsy, 1055* Pitura X Self, 11', 5L, 1M - F. July 1. Dimple, 998 Pukos x Self, 12', 5L, 2M - F. Tuesday, July 1 View Page Polinnation Update > Two more from Cornerstone this morning. This now makes 6 of 8 plants with active main vine fruit. June 28. Alberta, 1385 Jutras x 1446 Werner, 10', 5L, 3M -F, mishaped blossom. June 28. Bravo, 898 Knauss x 998 Pukos, 8', 5L, 1M - F. June 28. Clumsy, 1055* Pitura X Self, 11', 5L, 1M - F. July 1. Dimple, 998 Pukos x Self, 12', 5L, 2M - F. July 1. Echo, 1446 Werner 06 x 1385 Jutras 07, 13', 4L,1M-F. July 1, Fauna, 752* Landry x 1446 Wernee, 8', 4L, 3M - F. Wednesday, July 2 View Page LanTerra Blog > A Lofty Goal Pollination time has crept upon us very quickly this year. Prime time is now and this grower is greedily soaking up the flowers faster than a colony of honey bees at sundown. The weather is perfect for pollinating and the bright sun brings out a nice dark farmers tan. Although I've done much more this year to prepare for the progeny to come this week there just never seems to be enough time to get it all done. The chores are endless and the vine burring is so tiresome with the extra work of trenching and spreading and dimpling and pinching and staking. Well it is easy to say its a lot of work. I would guess this grower has easily shed 20 pounds of extra girth tending the flock up to this point in time. The exercise is a benefit. With the reduction in chores about to happen soon I think I will start too quickly build up my strength again for the long winter to come. Calorie storage is something I do extreme very well, in fact you could say I'm one of the very best around. Ah, but the best is rather a lofty goal for a grower of giants. The next few days will surely decide my fate as I flounder toward the holly grail of purely percieved misplaced pumpkin pleasurement. My expectations are so high and the fruit growth is so obscure. The clock moves slower at this time of year. Just get me to day 10 or 20 and let me measure away. Which one to I keep, which one do I cull. That is the question I face. Decision time is rolling near and fate of my selections stands in the balance of Octobers scale. Wednesday, July 2 View Page Pollination Update > Rolling along here I go again today with another pollination. Now with 7 of 8 plants with active main vine progeny beginning to bulge their way above the canopy. June 28. Alberta, 1385 Jutras x 1446 Werner, 10', 5L, 3M -F, mishaped blossom. June 28. Bravo, 898 Knauss x 998 Pukos, 8', 5L, 1M - F. June 28. Clumsy, 1055* Pitura X Self, 11', 5L, 1M - F. July 1. Dimple, 998 Pukos x Self, 12', 5L, 2M - F. July 1. Echo, 1446 Werner 06 x 1385 Jutras 07, 13', 4L,1M-F. July 1. Fauna, 752*C Landry x 1446 Werner, 8', 4L, 3M - F. July 2. Gusto, 752*L Landry x 1055* Pitura, 14', 5L, 1M - F. Thursday, July 10 View Page Lanterra Update > Here at home things are very good with multiple sets on all plants from June 28th to July9th. Fruit growth is on the slow side to the bench marks but they are all solid contenders so far. It looks like my 848* X 1420 cross will go orange. The 998 and 1055* are moving along. The rain has been perfect and timely. There have been a few cool nights and only one real warm day that caused some minor flagging. At Cornerstone my 1134 is struggling a bit for some unknown reason. The four other plants all have multiple sets with the best being the 752* Landry 07. The 1446 Werner, 898 Knauss and 1385 Jutras have all aborted one fruit each. This may have been caused by heavy rain the mornings of their pollination attempts. Vine burring is now nearing an end as I have begun to terminate some side vines. I am not bothering with tea and instead I am using 100% fresh compost from Cornerstone to bury the vines watered in with molasses and myco. I have seen two rounds of cuc beetles and one of squash bugs. Two vine borers have been sighted in the patches. Spraying is a large chore especially when trying to reach the underside of the leaves. I have been religiously spraying all plants at seven day intervals with humic acid and calcium. Thursday, July 10 View Page Lanterra Update > I have had two belts of hail with minor leaf damage and no wind damage at all. The weeds are horrific due to the timely rainfall. I'm running low on molasses but have good supplies of fish, myco & seaweed. I have only watered a couple of times and really have only setup 2 of 8 drip lines. All my pollination's are done this year using fresh flowers and are closed pollination's. At this point I'm pretty much finished with pollinating flowers. I will shift gears to fruit growth and culling season. The fun begins now as I really like to measure the fruit daily. I have recently done one soil sample and one tissue sample and the results have been favourable beyond my best hope. On the bad side, I was really wishing that the 1134 would have been a stronger plant. On Tuesday I had an accident with a deer that nearly destroyed both my car and me. The 5am encounter with mother nature was a wake up call. $7500.00 in damages to my Dodge Magnum. Luckily the deer went under the car and not over it as it hit right in the rad and hood in front of the drivers steering wheel. Yikes...................the Kahuna lives to play pumpkin for a few more days............ Thursday, July 10 View Page LanTerra Testing > I was very pleased with my leaf tissue numbers for my 998 plant. My Ca numbers look good and have landed above the maximum range in Ron's article but below his 1502 fruit. At 3.58% Ca or very high, I'm pretty happy. But there is more work to do. The numbers are hard to compare though. Is this an indication of Dr Lindermans theroy of Calcium movement with Humic acid? I don't know. I can tell you one thing this grower will be drenching regularly with Ca and Humic acid and with foliar sprays too. I will run some more tests to determine a bit more information. So far including my soil testing all things look good. However you just never know about these things. A fruit can go down at any time. Saturday, July 12 View Page Cornerstone Update > Things here are much improved from the past weeks report. Thanks to Roy's hard work this week the plants here are all way way ahead of any traditional date benchmarks we have ever had at the yard. Since Tuesday we have moved by hand more than 20 yards of fresh compost. Placed around all of the plants for vine burring. This mornings effort amongst the five plants took about 4 hours of trimming, burring and staking. Another inch or so of rain this week has the plants marching for heaven. No signs of any active bug damage after last Mondays spraying. The best fruit in the patches are Fauna, 752* Landry 07 x 1446 Werner 06 on Day 11 = 27" Hardy, 1385 Jutras 07 x 1446 Werner 07 on Day 9 = 24" Fatso, 898 Knauss x 998 Jutras on Day 9 = 22" A few more days yet for any recordable measurements on fruit from the 1134 Landry 07 and the 1446 Werner 06. The Werner plant is a bit worrisome in that I have another strong run away growing plant that is yet again failing to shift gears and grow fruit. I should hit such plants with more phos near year to force them to slow down vine growth. This plant has many many strong vines and wing back growth that is just about completed. It will all be wasted if the fruit don't stop aborting. We've lost two on the main already and now must rely on an open fruit on the main (July 11) at 18' and a couple of prospects on the sides. Saturday, July 12 View Page LanTerra Update > No need to water as we have plenty falling from the heavens. With no sign of the traditional drought period we are annually faced with here in this part of the province growth has been phenomenal lately. Although fruit growth is largely unspectacular here is a brief run down of what on the vines. Dimple,998 Jutras x self, Jul 1st, 12'. Day 11 = 27 Gusto, 752* Landry X 1055*, Jul 2n, 14'. Day 10 = 28" Clumsy, 1055* Pitura x 998, June 28, 11'. Day 14 = 38" All three look to be keepers. Special numbers this week are 3.58 and 7.1. HUH? 3.58% calcium in the leaves of the 998 and 7.1 pH in patch 1 home of the 1055*. What a tremendous bonus it is to get a fruit to set on the first attempt on July 1st of a squash plant. I will keep my eye closly on clumsy as she can still abort yet. If it stays together I should be bang on good with this bugger. Friday, July 18 View Page LanTerra Update > Things are a bit slow here at home with only one of three plants just slightly ahead of the benchmarks. I am not worried about the pace of growth just yet as slow and steady wins the race. All plants look very good and the tissues samples confirm this. I continue to spray calcium at regular intervals just in case. I have been rotating four calcium products, Vigor Cal, Vigor Cal Phos & Cal Mag all Agro K & Calcimax. Friday, July 18 View Page Cornerstone Update > Slow fruit growth here too. Of the 5 plants here at the landscape yard all are down to one fruit except the 1134. There have been only a few cucumber beetles each time I head out to the yard as my regular spraying is working well. The 1385 Jutras was left with a faster growing fruit on a side vine so I kept it. A recent tissue sample was very good indicating sufficient nutrients for all macros & micros. Although it was not as high in Calcium as an earlier sample from the 998 at Lanterra BES should be kept at bay for the summer. Without any data to support an actual satisfactory level to prevent BES its hard to determine exactly what percentages of Calcium and Boron are adequate to limit damages causes by uncontrolled fruit growth and limited calcium supply to the fruit. The 752* Landry fruit is in a bad position growing over the vine. The 1446 Werner plant is mostly terminated except for a few side vines and growth should pick up now. The 898 has a great fruit on the main that will be a contender. Saturday, July 19 View Page Cornerstone Update > Finally the weather co-operates an evening rainfall yesterday is followed by another hot humid day. The Corn Heat Units are piling up the last few days with warm nights. The plants have responded nicely as gains on some of them are now 5 and 6" per day. There are still a few troublesome plants like the 1446 Werner that just can't seam to get rolling as the fruit on it that (Nutty x 752*, July 4) gained only 2" compared to the 6" gain on (Xray x 752*, July 5) the 898 Knauss fruit yesterday. Pictured is the cull from the 898 Knauss set behind a jack-o-latern plant. The cull was (Fatso x 998, July 3)older than the keeper fruit Xray on the main vine and had poor positioning on the 1st north side vine. Saturday, July 19 View Page LanTerra Update > For the first time this month I actually have to water. We have missed all of the thunderstorms here at home for three days in a row as they have tracked to the north and south by only a few miles. Elmo was so upset that we barely slept at all Wednesday and Thursday nights due to thunder and lightning raging outside. The little bugger can sleep during the day prance about all night long panting away. For me and Shannon sharing turns calming him down has been a challenge. Pictured is the 1055* Pitura world record producer. The fruit (Clumsy x self, June 28, 11' main)is a bit slower than I would like but it gained 5" yesterday so it is picking up. Saturday, July 19 View Page LanTerra Update > The 752* Landry in the protected area of patch 2 lined with 6 to 8' tall cedars. This early morning photo is taken the day after (Gusto x 1055*, July 2, 5L, 1M, 14' main vine)the fruit gained 7". Gusto is now well ahead of the 1200 pound benchmark. The key questions yet be determined are will she stay together and will it beat Dave Stelts. Saturday, July 19 View Page LanTerra Update > Its jungle out there! With all of this summers rain the weeds are getting out of control. This the 998 Pukos plant literally surrounded by weeds. I whack them down and they keep coming back. The main fruit here is Dimple x Self, 5L 2M at 12' on July 1. Dimple gained 6" in CC yesterday and now is catching back up to the 1200 pound benchmark. Tuesday, July 22 View Page LanTerra Update > another 2 + inches of rain this morning and lightning bolt that nearly blew the house down at 7am. That makes it about 5" in past seven days. I can't even get near the plants to spray them its so wet. There are some good numbers to report. Gusto, July 2, 752* Landry 07 X 1055* Pitura. Day 20 = 73 + 55 + 52 = 180. This one is a pumpkin I'm liking this one a lot, but it's got to stay together for me. Numbers like this often show up in my patches but the fruit always split. I'll be keeping my fingers and toes crossed at all times until the end. Wednesday, July 23 View Page LanTerra Update > Rain, rain go away.......OMG another three deluges since yesterday afternoons update and more to come. Heavy periodic rain fall & thunder storms have dumped another 2" or so is the last 24 hours. Travelling up the highway last night I could see that lightning was flashing every several seconds to the north west. I arrived at home last night after 1 am hoping to head out to the garden a spray the plants but was turned back by another intense storm with a 1" or more dumping and super charged lightning bolts flying about the neighbourhood. I am getting worried that in the absence of spraying the plants might slow down. There is now so much fresh nitrogen in the grow that growth may become explosive. Blowing up the fruit is something i can do at the very best level of any grower around. I don't need any more help from the rain Gods for this. If the sun ever manages to poke its head out the the fruit will pop that's for sure. Monday, July 28 View Page LanTerra Update > Yet again the heavens open up since my last post 5 days ago we have received another dumping of approximately 5 more inches bringing the July total to nearly 10"+. It sure is a far cry from last years 3 week and 5 week droughts. It was so dry last summer I lost all my grass in the front yard and had to reseed this spring. But not this year. Grass cutting has been a twice a week chore all season long. The pumpkins are still doing fine with two of the three LanTerra fruit tracking ahead of the 1200 pound benchmarks. My own 752* Landry is the patch leader. 752* Landry 07 (848* x 1420) Gusto July 2, x 1055* Day 25 = 225" OTT 998 Pukos Dimple July, X self Day 25 = 219" OTT 1055* Pitura, this plant and fruit has me climbing the walls it now has a sunken blossom end that feels to be spongy like it is not think and the fruit has started to rib out. Like in all of my prior years the June 28th pollination is vastly under-performing. It is well behind the benchmarks and I fear it will eventually split wide open when it does start to pop with some weight gains. Thursday, July 31 View Page Pumpkin Wives Update > After several weeks of way above normal rainfall you can only imagine what the flower beds of a pumpkin growers yard look like. Here is Shannon unhappily directing the flow of some fresh Cedar Mulch I distributed into the beds. We spent a few hours on Tuesday cleaning up the yard bed areas and flowers. Lots of weeds this year like never before. Shannon flies out in the morning for her East coast patch tour and visit with Dawn Northrup. I never in a million years thought that it would be possible for my wife to actually enjoy my hobby. It's nice that she can relax in good company of some of the best people there is to know. As for me, I get to go to work this weekend while fretting over my fruit on the vines. Thursday, July 31 View Page LanTerra Update > Rain and thunderstorms again yesterday drive the July totals to nearly 10 inches. Two storms rage by during the early morning and late afternoon. They both just miss our town by a few miles and only dump a couple of tenths of rain. With the rain along has come the early appearance of Powdery Mildew. I have sprayed a systemic fungicide that I found stored away in the basement. Although there is no sign of PM at home there is some on the 898 Knauss plant at Cornerstone. Pictured is the backyard flower bed that I can no longer take care of. Too many weeds signal an end to bare earth. I built this bed just last year in hopes that I could have a nice bed up close to the house. However pumpkins are so demanding I could never find the time to hoe this bed. I finally gave into the demands of high maintenance yard work and mulched the whole area. Thursday, July 31 View Page LanTerra Update > Termination......Yahoo the day has finally come....No more vines to bury...Ahh.....However the spray program has now been increased with the arrival of PM in the area. I'm hoping for a nice warm and dry August to continue the roll that some of my fruit are now starting go on. Day 30 is arriving daily and there are some pretty darn good numbers for the last day of July. Gusto, 752* Landry x 1055* Pitura July 2nd. Day 29 = 109 + 82 + 73 = 263" Gusto is a nice round slightly ribbed yellow fruit with great vine postioning and room to grow. The 752* plant is very healthy and on the small side at only about 500 sq ft. A pleasant surprize the 752* has displayed some vigor and easily shifted to fruit production in July. Unless I screw this one up it should go well north 1k. Thursday, July 31 View Page LanTerra Update > Now drenching with calcium, mag, molasses and myco as required. I'm holding back on the K supplements for another week or two yet until I get past peak growth. The special GVGO foliar mix is being applied religiously every 7 days to all plants regardless of size. Dimple, 998 Pukos X Self, 12' on the main. July 1st. Day 30 = 104 + 80 + 75 = 259". Another smallish plant at just over 500 sq.ft. Dimple also has good vine position and has been a consistent steady performer in the western edge of LanTerra patch # 3. I am a little concerned that the blossom end appears to be a tad bit soft when compressed. The fruit is nearly identical to the gusto in shape except I just need to raise the main vine and peduncle end a bit more to keep the blossom from sinking inside. Thursday, July 31 View Page LanTerra Update > I have just about given up on Clumsy the 1055* Pitura x self. At last measurement it was only gaining 3" per day and on Tuesday July 29th, Day 31 it was only 93" CC. Very small for its age and with a deep sunken blossom end time is not too long for this fruit. Although it could make it to the 800 to 900 pound level it will test my patience as my time is better served with the other plants. Thursday, July 31 View Page Cornerstone Update > 5 Plants and 5 fruit. Too pretty good fruit, one average fruit, one below average and one not so good. Xray, 898 Knauss X 752* Landry. Day 26 = 99" pretty good Upton, 1134 Landry x 752* Landry. Day 24 = 80" Pretty good Fauna, 752* Landry x 1446 Werner. Day 30 = 105" Average Nutty, 1446 Werner x 752* Landry. Day 27 = 87" Below average Hardy, 1385 Jutras x 1446 Werner. Day 28 = 85" Not so good. The 898 has some PM areas already which I have sprayed this morning. I'm heading out again in a few minutes to hit it with Baking Soda & Oil. Gaining 4,5'cc per day past 6 days. The 752* is a main vine fruit that is growing as a pancake and most likely will not achieve great size. gaining 4.8" CC per day 1134 Landry 07. May represent the best hope at Cornerstone with a 6 day gain average of 4.8"CC it is the growth leader at the landscape yard. 1446 Werner, an incredibly strong and wild growing plant at over 900 sq ft. that can't shift to fruit production. I trimmed it back very strongly today. Gaining only 3.5"CC per day. 1385 Jutras, just about at the end of the line for this plant, Hardy is only gaining 2.8"CC per day. Sunday, August 3 View Page LanTerra Update > All three fruit here at home are now past Day 30 with the best on my own 752* Landry 07 nearing 300" OTT. I am a full ten days ahead of last years pace for my 1134 growth and with luck I can run a couple of these fruit a bit further than last year. All three plants are getting drenches now with little to no nitrogen component. I picked up a hydroponic chelation product that I have put into the drench mixture along with calcium in hopes that it combined with humic acid will do the job and enhance uptake of the pumpkin wonder nutrient. If there was ever a chance that fruit could go heavy I think this would be the year due to all my extra efforts. The key goal is to keep the plants growing by delaying senescence and prolonging growth into September. I am still waiting on root sample tests that were sent to RTI to determine the colonization level in each plant. So far tissue testing has been very favourable for all elements including Calcium. I however remain very cautious of BES and its dreaded season ending finality. Sunday, August 3 View Page LanTerra Blog > Day 30...the fear strikes me each time I walk up to the patch and lift the sheet. "SPLIT or NO SPLIT". Howie Mandel could not say it any firmer. The deal is that BES time is creeping around the corner. Just a rainfall and a sunny high evapotranspirational day away. I hate this time of the season. The numbers run through my head like a kaleidoscope of horrors. CC, EE, SS.. They all add up to speculation and dreams of what could have been. For years at home here I lost every monster fruit on the vines. Left annually with only the meager-est of progeny is consolation for what should have been. Heartache and sweat are all that usually remains after that first glimpse of the fruits smiling rear end. Banished to the outer limits of growers being know as the blow up King is really not a good thing. Determined this year to solidify any and all sinks with the thickest of all possible walls no stone has been unturned. Several new tricks are being implemented across the province in hopes of returning the trophy home. Guarded optimism rules the day. I head out to the patch muttering NO SPLIT, NO SPLIT, NO SPLIT...Now thats the DEAL I want...... Sunday, August 3 View Page Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC), Humic Acid and Atlantic Giant Pumpkins (AGP). Humic acid is one of the major components of organic substances. It is dark brown and a major component of soil organic matter. Humic acid and its cousins Fulvic acid and Humus can be found in most soils, manure, marsh water courses and boggy peat moss. These substances are the end result of years decaying plant organic matter which has been continually broken down from its prior Humus form. Humic acid can also be found in overlying coal deposits called leonardite in various forms and compostion. In the garden humic acid is simply the best natural chelating (nutrient holder) product Mother Nature can offer. Cation Exchange Capacity or simply the total amount of nutrient a particular soil can hold is raised by its porosity. By supercharging the CEC of the surrounding soil it can hold calcium and other nutrients in easy uptake able forms ready for roots to feed upon. Humic acid contains numerous negatively charged (-) anions that attract or hold onto positively charged cations in the soil. These cations include a host of elements good for growing vegetables. Calcium (Ca++), Ammonium (+), Magnesium (+), and Iron (+) are main ones we focus on. This chelation or carrying of cations or holding onto is probably the most important role of humic acids with respect to the garden. The cation exchange capacity (CEC) of most popular brands of humic acid is in the range of 500 to 600 milliequivalents (me) per 100 grams. This is about five times greater than the CEC of good quality peat moss and twice as high as the CEC of soil humus. Sunday, August 3 View Page Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC), Humic Acid and Atlantic Giant Pumpkins (AGP). Humic acid also prevents soil leaching of calcium and other positive charged ions by binding them to the molecules. It allows mycorrhizae fungi to flourish and easily colonize plant roots by providing a plethora of nutrients in an easy to open storage bin. The fungi are able to easily garner and exchange other elements and thus share their required nutrients and transport them directly into the root zone. Humic acid is an excellent supplement to fertilizers and is often used to improve nutrient absorption. Humic acid is often a very worthwhile investment and is considered the best natural storage container and holder of nutrients. Does it work? Drive by a nearby marsh or wetland and find out for yourself. Muck soils found in marshy wetlands are often used to grow vegetables. The Holland marsh in Central Ontario is one of the provinces best productive areas of vegetables thanks largely to the accumulation of the HA built up in the soil. These are the chief benefits of adding HA to the soil when growing the AGP. Humate and Humic Acid, Dr. Wayne R. Kussow, Department of Soil Science, University of Wisconsin – Madison http://www.hort.wisc.edu/cran/pubs_archive/newsletters/1996/8_5_96%20newsletter.pdf Cation Exchange, University of Florida Exchange http://nutrients.ifas.ufl.edu/nutrient%20pages/BSFpages/CatExchange.htm Wednesday, August 6 View Page LanTerra Update > Well if I had a million dollars I'd be rich. I've gotten so good at predicting BES I should have bet the farm because I would have won large. That rainfall I talked about a couple of days ago came in the form of three 1" dumpings laden with lightning. Oh and that other prediction a bright and sunny high evapo-transpiration day came today. I just knew this was going to happen.... Down she goes.... Gusto my 752* fruit splits wide open Day 35 = 130 + 90 +85 = 305" OTT or 600 pounds. And so begins another year of dreams. I'll rip that plant up in a day or two after my anger subsides a bit then in goes the cover crop. Thursday, August 7 View Page Lanterra Update > Today was another lightning filled day. Storms with hail raged all day long to the east and west of us here in Thornton just south of Barrie. We escaped them all day long thanks to a strong lake breeze off Georgian Bay that cooled the air enough to prevent storm formation. I have never seen a lake storm inhibit effect like this before. It really was uncanny today. The area of clear air was directly proportional to the size of the Bay and extended all the way down to the Holland Marsh and was as wide as the Bay. Once the breeze calmed down around 5 o'clock I could see the clouds forming to the north of Barrie. They had already started to form tops reaching high up into the jet stream. I decided to take a nap after dinner confident that we were going to get hammered again. I slept about 45 minutes when the first clap of thunder woke me up at 6:45pm. Well we got another 1/2" dumping. Just what I don't need. More rain. These popcorn storms are neat to watch and fun to track on radar but they are absolutely reeking havoc on my plants roots. We must be dam near 20" of rain in the past 5 weeks here in Thornton. The mosquitoes are just starting to get to be horrendous too. I was even swatting them in my office this week at work. On Tuesday I went out to work on Jet Scream in the morning inspecting some of the restraints at about 8am with the sun high up and 2 hours old the bastards were circling me like buzzards at the last supper. Thursday, August 7 View Page LanTerra Update > Discussed by the patch events the last few days I plan to rip apart the 752 patch # 2 area and plant a Sorghum like Sundan grass called Martin. I bought a 50 pound bag today and will get spread at 1lb./1000sq.ft. Martin has a good fibrous roots system that can go fairly deep. Final height is 3 to 4' and will provide lots of green manure not to mention it will colonize mycorrhisal fungi too. Friday, August 8 View Page Cornerstone Update > Smile your fruit is on split TV. Wow after five years of growing at the yard we finally have a splitter. This is the second split fruit of the year for me. This is a picture of Fauna off the other 752* Landry 07. It saddly split wide open and now is only just another could have been fruit. I didn't even measure it but it is likely around 290" OTT on Day 38. Friday, August 8 View Page Cornerstone Update > Surprize the 1446 Werner plant starts to kick into gear. This is a picture of the bird bath fruit Nutty x 752* Landry 07. Day 35 = 131 + 71 + 74 = 276. Not too bad and well on its way to the 1200 pound level it it stays together. Nutty went from D27 = 87" on July 31st to D35 = 131 today. Just doing the CC math an incredible number of 45.5 pounds per day is calculated. However its small SS and EE numbers bring the average down to the mid 30's Friday, August 8 View Page LanTerra Update > Unbelievable.........That's the story of this years rainfall. Another drenching last night. This time Elmo wakes me up at 2am panting and stewing over the impending doom and deluge soon to befall the LanTerra plantation of purely perceived pumpkin pleasurement. Like any good dog Elmo is happily sleeping at my side this afternoon. I just wish he could sleep through Mother Natures anti-slumber parties. Lightning dances all over the skies in show that is hauntingly similar to the Martian creatures descending to earth in bright bolts from the heavens in War of the Worlds. This Fire and brimstone event last an hour and drops another .5" of rain on the patches. This brings the 24 hour total to another 1" on top of the swamp land that has become Central Ontario. Enough already is all can say to the rain Gods. Friday, August 8 View Page Lanterra Update > Its not all bad news. The good news finds the 998 Pukos plant is getting a second wind. Dimple, 998 Pukos x Self, July 1. Day 38 = 126 + 85 + 92 = 303" OTT or 588 pounds Gaining 27.2 lbs per day last 8 days. Or 30.5 the last two days. A bit on the slow side. Sustainable growth is a good thing! I'll take it. Now please turn off the rain tap! Saturday, August 9 View Page Cornerstone Update > Yup, another 1/4" more rain this morning. Just as I start to spray for PM the sun disappears behind a cold fronts approaching cloud bank. I manage to get some of the remaining Immunox and Bifen I have left applied to the plants. It was mostly dry on the leaves by the time it started to rain. PM is a large problem on the 898 Knauss and now the 1385 Jutras. If it ever stops raining I will get some baking soda on the plants this afternoon and stop whats already there on contact. The Cuc Bugs are there but not too much damage. Nutty 1446 Werner x 752* Landry 07. Day 36 = 134"CC. Gain of 3" or 34 pounds. Xray, 898 Knauss X 752* Landry 07. This fruit also gains 3" CC and looks very good too. Upton, 1134 Landry x 752* Landry 07. Upton is a side vine fruit that is 107"CC on Day 33. Not a stunning pace but it could be a good one down the road. Hardy, 1385 Jutras x 1446 Werner. Another side vine fruit that was mishaped in the blossom. Growth is less than average. This one will struggle to reach 800 pounds. Wednesday, August 13 View Page LanTerra Update > The final day for Gutso, a pumpkin from squash background. I cut it from the vine and hope to get the patch turned over as soon as it dries up a bit. I like the cross so I will keep most of the seeds. 752* Landry x 1055* Pitura, Down to BES Day 41 = 142 + 94 + 90 = 326" OTT or 729 Pounds UOW. Wednesday, August 13 View Page LanTerra Update > A shot of the blossom end on the 998 Pukos. This is Dimple from July 1st to today at roughly 330" OTT on Day 43. The numbers are pretty good and I like this pumpkin a lot. It has a nice tight button end on the blossom and is just starting to rib out at the mid 700 pound range. Wednesday, August 13 View Page LanTerra Update > another side angle shot of Dimple on the 998 Pukos. Wednesday, August 13 View Page LanTerra Update > This is a shot of some of the side vines from the 998 plant. I put in some major weeding time yesterday and got the whole plant done. It was a lot of work as I spent more than 3 hours. While I was at it I distributed about 3 pounds of myco around the plant and reburried all of the vines in a inch or two of fresh quad mix soil from the landscape yard. This is the most extensive reinnoculation of a plant that I have ever done. Wednesday, August 13 View Page Side Vine photo Wednesday, August 13 View Page LanTerra Update > Ok the green fruit of the prior pic was the 1055* Pitura, Clumsy from June 28. She has got real deep ribs and is looking rather old. At only 292 yesterday she will break any records but it the only green fruit I've got. There are some concerns with Clumsy that I'm watching closely. The blossom end is sunken and retains water. There is also a problem around the button with fissure that goes in about 3/8". Wednesday, August 13 View Page LanTerra Update > After three days away the rain has returned. Another 1/2" falls this morning with more thunder storms to come in the next three days. So far since July began we have had 16.5". This is a record for the area. No sign of PM here at home. Chopped down the 752 plant yesterday but its too wet to work out there today. seed still need to come out of the 729 Landry 08, 752* Landry x 1055* Pitura. Growth is on the slow side of 30 - 35 pounds per day on Dimple the 998 fruit. The mosquitoes are as big horse flies and bite real hard. Wednesday, August 13 View Page LanTerra Storm Update > Here it dam well comes agian. This one may have hail in it. Tracking toward the SSW! When does a thunder storm ever travel that way? I guess in 2008 anything can happen. Sunday, August 17 View Page LanTerra Update > now AKA Big Kahuna 7 after officially starting the 2009 season on Friday August 15Th. Pictured is my brother Wally helping me out by rototilling patch # 2. Wally is a novice grower from Windsor ON. He has just about reached 500 pounds in his first year of growing. In the foreground is the 729 Landry 08, off the 752* Landry 07 fruit that split a few days ago. Sunday, August 17 View Page LanTerra Update > Wally is getting a lesson in spraying this morning. Fresh applications of Serenade, Baking Soda, Spraytech Oil and Mollasses are helping to keep PM in check on my two remaining plants at home. So far despite extremely heavy rainfall and cool nights with thick dew there is no sign of PM. Sunday, August 17 View Page LanTerra Update > Wally and the sprayer. Sunday, August 17 View Page Harvesting the seeds from the 729 Landry 08. Seeds are available to anyone who wants some Send me an email and I will get them out to you when they have dried. Sunday, August 17 View Page This picture was taken to demostrate the calcified seed nodules from this pumpkin. They were very hard and were something that I had never really noticed before. The consist of cylindrical spears about 2" long. Three of them can be seen in this photo. The fruit was very thick walled which is kind of unusual for a splitter. Sunday, August 17 View Page This is shot of the blossom end of the 729. Remarkable the blossom end area was 6" thick but yet it still split on the fissure that developed deeply into the blossom. This is not what I expected and lends support to either genetic issues or deformation of the blossom end. Sunday, August 17 View Page This is another shot of the area near the blossom end. Very thick in an area I thought would be thin Monday, August 18 View Page Cornerstone Update > After last weeks loss of two fruit to BES Roy and I are a bit shell shocked. Gingerly we lifted up the sheets this morning expecting the worst. Still intact, all remaining plants and pumpkins are good to go. Here is Roy with Xray off the 898 Knauss, Day 42 at 148 + 83 + 89 or 320". Xray is pretty much right on track of the 1200 pound OTT Benchmark and maybe even a day or so ahead of schedule. The other two fruit that had split last week had extremely thick walls and were very heavy. We are expecting that Xray will be very due to not only the genetics but its treatment. We are giving this fruit the very special GVGO sauce mix every 7 days. Monday, August 18 View Page Cornerstone Update > This is a side shot of the 898 fruit Xray. Its not a very high fruit being slung back on the stem end. The blossom is nice tight button that we don't believe could ever split. It is already at 148"CC and looks to be very dense. The 898 plant was the first of all the plants to show PM three weeks ago. I have manged to halt its progression with aggressive sprays of immunox, Daconil Quadris and Baking Soda. Today was spray day with the 898 being treated to a top and bottom foliar spray of the GVGO special secret sauce mix and Daconil. Tuesday, August 19 View Page Lanterra Blog > WEW! It started out here in Thornton awfully crusty. The skies blackened and Elmo my pure bred cocker spaniel ran around in circles as if the world was going to end. With thunder approaching I flipped off the AC in the house and settled down for a good ear splitting boomer of a storm. The red line on Radar was rather ominous as I watched it creep toward my town. As the front reached town the winds began to roar and hail started to clang off the cars parked in the driveway. I sat very uncomfortably in my porch rocking chair as my wife peaked her head outside. Shannon did not see the danger approaching until she heard the first few clangs of hail hitting her new car. OMG the pumpkins go cover them up she blurted. Too late, as the skies opened up in a watery deluge that has so often been seen here this summer. I had thought of covering up the fruit but rejected the idea due to length of time it would take. I began to regret that decision as soon as the storm started to savage LanTerra. I rocked back and forth on that porch like an expectant father in a waiting room. I waited for the infrequent hail stones to become more frequent. I scouted the clouds for signs of rotation. I watched in horror as the winds blew and howled across my patches. I listened for the sound of the storm to change. Lighting jumped from cloud to ground and boomed about every few seconds. The rain pounded down but the storm never became a monster. It never crossed the threshold to severity and damage causer. It never produced more than but a few sharp pea sized projectiles upon the patches. Elmo and I settled back down and rested, assured that the air was calming and pumpkinville was safe for another day. Tuesday, August 19 View Page Cornerstone Update > Last evenings rainfall tally is about a half inch. Pretty timely as it had not rained for the past several days. First thing after the rain is a quick re-application of Baking Soda and oil mixed with a bit of Agro K 10-8-8. The whole mixture is sprayed with 100% maple leaf tea, 2 oz of Serenade and an 1oz of 10X Symspray. The baking Soda concoction is slowing down the progression of PM to almost nothing left now on the 898 plant. There is in fact no newly infected leaves on the plant as it continues to grow. The leaf tea is an idea that comes from Brant Timm. I have steeped a fresh anerobic brew for todays spray batch. Tuesday, August 26 View Page Cornerstone Update > The weather is on a great dry run now. After the deluge we endured for a few months has given way to a coolish dry air mass that now is 8 days since the last significant rainfall. King of the patch at Cornerstone is the 898 Knauss fruit X ray now on day 50 at 158 + 96 + 86 = 340 or 826 pounds. This fruit is huge and has a nice snout with hardly any ribbing. It is still gaining in the twenties per day. I think it could easily finish at 385" or better. The trend of most Knauss fruit is largely heavy and this one should be no different. At several percent heavy this one is a contender for the largest Knauss ever grown and possibly a new Canadian record. Tuesday, August 26 View Page LanTerra Update > a welcome day off from work has me out in patch # 1 rototilling this sunny afternoon. The 75* degree temperature is just fine for the fruit. After Rototilling I spread over the remainder of patch a couple of pounds of the Sorghum/Sudan grass, variety Martin seed. Just now starting to break the surface from the first seeding batch from August 15th. The sprinklers are running for about two hours every other day as the 898 and 1055* fruit continue to grow. They are bit behind the other Ontario growers that I know of. However they always have been slightly behind. I'm happy with the pace as I hope to get the 998 fruit to 400" and the 1055* fruit to 365". I am pretty confident that they will also weigh heavy to chart based on the results we've seen so far in ontario. Both of these numbers should place me high up the leader board in pumpkin and squash at Port Elgin. From what I've heard of the GVGO patch tour. To place in the top ten at Port Elgin you will need to reach above at least 1200+ Thursday, August 28 View Page Sourghum/Sundan Grass > type Martin just starting to pop up in the inoculated soil of patch # 1. Thursday, August 28 View Page Dimple 998 > July 1st, X self on Day 58. No too baddly ribbed yet. I believe this one can still pack on another 300 to 400 pound yet. Dimple now is at 1000 pounds. Thursday, August 28 View Page A side shot of Dimple. Thursday, August 28 View Page Clumsy from a distance covered up. Clumsy, 1055* Pitura, June 28th, X self. Approaching 900 pounds. I did not think this fruit would make it. The 1055* is rather deeply ribbed and has a deep sunken blossom end. But it is still gaining 18.5 per day over the last week. This one could end up around 1150 or so. Thursday, August 28 View Page A close up shot of Clumsy. Take note of the deep blossom end which I have to dry out each morning. Saturday, September 13 View Page LanTerra Update > The end is near as the season is quickly drawing to a close. A few nights ago the temperature dropped to a bone chilling 43*f. While the plants are chugging along with ease there is finality creapping into the patches. Here is a shot of the 998 Pukos. Dimple, July 1st x self is still growing at a steady pace that could possibly compete with the best of the fruit at Port Elgin. With no sign of PM or any pest problems the 998 is in fine shape and could put on another 100 pounds or so. Pest management this season has been relatively easy to control. The cool wet summer kept most of the major pests down below damaging threshold points which often require spraying. Instead this summer has seen a drastic reduction in the use of pesticides. I have not sprayed any chemical controls since the last week of July. Despite a growing abundance of squash vine borer and for the first time spotted cucumber beetles it has been a damage free year. I try to practice IPM at all times and this was the best season I had in six years of growing Saturday, September 13 View Page LanTerra Update > Fall patch prep has been completed in patch 2 and this is a shot of the Sorghum/Sundan grass planted last month. Now at 6 to 8" tall. Saturday, September 13 View Page Filling in nicely Saturday, September 13 View Page LanTerra Update > Hiding under the blankets in Patch # 1 is Clumsy. 1055* Pitura x self, June 28. I almost gave up on this plant due to a deep sunken blossom end that I though would never make it to October weigh-off. I focused back on it in mid August and it continues to reward my efforts and should challenge for first place at Port Elgin. Clumsy will need to go real heavy to test the squash world record. I only did one test this season due to cost reduction plus the knowledge that my soil is just about right were I wanted it to be. The test I did confirmed that this patch was nearly perfect for growing with OM at 8% and PH of 7.0. Ca has never been a concern for my soil and at 4500ppm I was very happy. Clumsy grew happily all summer long in this patch. Never popping big daily gains kept it together. Saturday, September 13 View Page Discovery Show taping at LanTerra. The Daily Planet show host Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies gets down with a small plant we set up to demonstrate the hoop house conditions in early May. Producer Jeff Berman sets the scene for us. Saturday, September 13 View Page The pollination segment has Jeff on the left directing Ed for the shot to come. This scene took several takes to get right. Daily Planet is primarily a science show based upon new technology and green earth things. The Atlantic Giant pumpkins fit right in very well. Jeff tried to include some of the techniques we use in growing the giants. He featured seed filling and germination to hoop house growth. Then next onto pollination and fruit growth and watering. Saturday, September 13 View Page Filming of the last part of the show was a promotion for Port Elgin and The GPC. I managed to get in several comments about the roll the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth plays in todays hobby. Unfortunately I was bit tongue tied and it took me a few takes to spit out my lines correctly Saturday, September 13 View Page Lisa (Pumpkinfestgirl)and Sally (seedsforsale) helping out with the show taping. Saturday, September 13 View Page Frank Catapano & Phil Hunt checking out some photos of the taping. Saturday, September 13 View Page Franks main vine from his 772 Pourier. Saturday, September 13 View Page Canadian viewers can watch the Atlantic Giant Segment on the show sometime during the week of the 29th of September. US viewers can tune into the web site below when the final cut is posted up. Ed's wikapedia bio is linked below as well. http://www.discoverychannel.ca/content/?pid=183 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Robertson Wednesday, September 24 View Page LanTerra Update > Warmer weather this week has the night time temperatures staying above 50*F. The pumpkins will put on another few pounds in the next few days. With no PM or insect problems the 998 plant is in the best shape I have ever seen for this late in the season. I continue to spray as required using the GVGO special sauce mix. I have 5 remain fruit left after starting with 8 plants which is not too shabby. 3 of them are well over 1000 provide they all weigh to chart! Staring with the 998 Pukos, Dimple July 1st x self will finish the season north of 380" which should be a new personal best for me. I was hoping to top last year 387" with something 400" or better but if it weighs heavy the goal is accomplished just the same. I don't expect this fruit to go light for several reasons. Leaf tissue samples taken earlier in the year placed the calcium content at more than 3.5% and I had one test come back at 12% although I think there was something wrong with it. Root samples taken in late July confirmed Myco colonization with Arbuscules and Hyphae readily present in the fine hair roots. Soil samples were spot on for what I consider a great foundation with numbers of OM at 9% PH 7.1, CEC 22, Ca 3500ppm and Phos around 67ppm the patch was primed to accept lots of good producing Myco. The soil was very sticky in the root samples suggesting there might be a fair bit of glomalin built up in the soil. So there you have it If I had to guess I would say Dimple hits the scale at nearly 1200 but weighs about 1320 or more. This will not be big enough to win at Port Elgin but I will be happy with 1300+. Sunday, September 28 View Page Weigh-off day update > after travelling for nearly 10 by car yesterday to Pembroke and back Shannon and I are resting this morning while we wait for next weeks Port Elgin events to unfold. The late night journey on HWY # 60 through Algonquin park was extremely dark through a driving rainfall. The leaves are utterly amazing though with fire reds an vibrant oranges all the way in the mornings travel. Pictured is Phil and Jane Hunt proud winners of the Huglis weigh-off in Ontario. Tuesday, October 21 View Page LanTerra Update > After a disappointing weigh off season the work continues for next year. With only the Cornerstone weigh-off left to go in Ontario growers had better get patch prep completed quickly. The snow is flying today and its cold outside. I'm already completed on three planting sites. Patch 2 at home was completed in August and yesterday I worked on patch 3 with its 2700 sq ft area now ready to go. Gratefull at the help Roy Lee of Cornerstone provided and my golf buddy Ken who worked all day running the equipment. I rented an excavator and dug in 200 feet of drainage tile graded to runoff the ground water out of the patch. We removed three trees and trucked in 18 yards of sand and fresh compost mixed together. The mix was graded around the patch to form a crown in the middle then we added 30 pounds of 46-0-0, 40 pounds of kelp meal, 75 pounds of humic acid, 50 pounds of calcium magnesium sulfate and 30 pounds of sulphur. I worked well into the evening as after the grading operation I deep dug the whole patch to 18" with the bucket to relieve compaction caused by the grading. A final tilling is all that remains to be done. Tuesday, October 21 View Page LanTerra Update > The patch # 3 renovation in detail. Starting at 7 am in the morning the bright new machine arrives much to my delight. I have half of one wobbly trench dug by the time Roy arrives a 9 am. Roy laughs at my work and begins to dig away the remainder of the trenches. Ken gets on the scene at 11 am and completes the job of the trenches and removes a couple of nasty trees. He moves another 6 yard pile of two year old compost onto the patch and we are away and running as Roy starts to bring load after load of new Pumpkin Mix soil to the patch. Deep in the ground we have placed three lines of drainage tile burried about 2.5' down. Although the machine rental cost nearly 400 somolyens it was well worth the cost. The trenches were dug in a few hours and about 200 hundred feet of tile are laid in three rows under the well compacted clay soil. After back filling, the next step in the process was to import more than 25 yards of sand mixed with fresh municipal compost from the Cornerstone yard. Roy has come through for me again and supplied all of the materials free of charge. He premixed the two materials on site at his Landscape yard so all that remained was spreading. Wednesday, November 19 View Page Lanterra Update > full steam ahead! 80*F today! Worked on the patches today spreading my amendments and tilling them in. I am only lighly tilling the surface about 3 or 4 " deep to remove weeds and hopefully keep them at bay. Patch 1 was completed today along with the three planting sites in total at home. Wednesday, December 31 View Page LanTerra Update > Happy new year. Here we are relaxing just after the completion of the Cornerstone weigh-off. After a long 2 month rest at home I'm finally able to get back to work next week. I have been spending my time reading a lot books. There are several good ones that I have enjoyed. Here is brief a run down of what I have been spending my time with. Physiology of crop production: While it is full of technical science jargon it has been filled with tremendous amounts of information. It is really a super advanced book filled with published studies an journal documents at times written in a narrative view point. An excellent resource. Soil science simplified: A great read for growers at mid skill levels. Its is packed full of information in an easy to understand format. Botany for Gardeners: Another excellent resource book for those interested in how plants function. It is mid level to advanced book that at times can get full of jargon. Teaming with Microbes: My all time favourite. I have just begun my 3rd time reading it. This is truely the best learning book I've ever set eyes on. Backyard Giants: Everything about this story is so familar. It is such a good book and well worth the time spent kicking back and learning all about Ron and pap.