Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 58 Entries. Saturday, April 3 View Page This is a new patch for me. I will be growing with my good pumpkin buddy Jim (Duster) who has generously allowed me to grow right next to his patch. We amended the soil last fall with lots of leaves and manure and also adjusted the pH. Jim grew a cover crop but I wasn't able to because I had so many leaves that needed to compost over the winter. Not to often you see a pumpkin patch with full utility hook ups. None the less, there it is. I can work around it. Let the tilling begin. Saturday, April 3 View Page Here we are after the tilling. Starting to look like an urban farm. Added a little more soil sulfur to help keep the pH down during the season. Our soil pH tends to rise throughout the season due to our alkaline water. Also added gypsum, iron, kelp meal and some Activate 80 humic acid. Should make a nice place for a couple special seeds to grow in....thanks Eddy Z :-) Sunday, April 25 View Page It's time for the 2010 season to begin. Here is this years lineup. Sunday, April 25 View Page Seeds filed and tips carefully chipped away for quick starting. Soaked seeds in plain water for 45 minutes then off to the incubator wrapped in a damp paper towel and placed in a sealed plastic sandwich bag. Incubator set at a nice toasty 88°. Monday, April 26 View Page 24 Hours later, we have liftoff! The 901 Hunt is coming to life. The 1475 looks like another few hours and it should wake up too. 901 moved to a pot filled with Supersoil and a good dose of Pumpkin Pro Mycorrhizae. Meanwhile, over at Fredricks Farms (Dusters place) we completed setup of the main patch. Fence put up, sprinker system installed, final till...just waiting for the plants now. Keeping our fingers crossed that Jim's 991 germinates. 901 X 991 and the reverse cross is the plan this year if all goes right. Tuesday, April 27 View Page 1475 Revier germinated in 30 hours. Moved to its container and placed back in the incubator. Both seeds should be up in a couple days. Wednesday, April 28 View Page Here comes the 901 Hunt! It's been 68 hours from the time I started soaking this seed till now. The 901 seems to be eager to get to business. The 1475 Revier is just starting to crack the top of the soil. The weather sure needs to improve around here. It's been a cool and wet spring so far. Sunday, May 2 View Page The 1475 Revier (shown) and the 901 Hunt were both transplanted into their patches today. Both plants look great with vigorous root systems. Sunday, May 2 View Page These are my patch guardians. If something creeps on the ground in the patch these guys are on it in a flash. These guys can be real characters. I dumped a bucket of compost on the ground which had a few bugs in it and these guys came running from every direction to gobble them up right at my feet. Sunday, May 2 View Page Another one of my patch guardians keeping watch. Wednesday, May 19 View Page I went over to Fredricks Farms (Dusters place) to do some weeding today. The 901 Hunt is growing great. This plant is ahead of all our other plants and so far the most aggressive. Here is a not so great picture of the 901 Hunt. Wednesday, May 19 View Page The 1475 Revier is also doing just fine. Won't be long before plants start running. Weather has been very mild so far this spring with most days in the 60's or 70's. Still haven't had a day in the 90's yet this year which is a little unusual. Monday, May 24 View Page The weather has been unusually cool. None the less, the 901 Hunt seems that it burns very easily on the newest growth even in the low to mid 70's daytime temps. Monday, May 24 View Page ...So up goes the temporary shade cloth cover. Jim and I are waiting for our huge piece of 22% shade cloth to be delivered. In the meantime this will have to do. Sunday, June 6 View Page The warm weather has finally arrived. The 901 Hunt is really taking off now. By far the most aggressive plant. With the warm weather, Jim & I have had to scramble to get larger pieces of shade cloth put up to protect the plants until our patch size piece of shade cloth arrives. We are expecting it to be delivered in the coming week. Pictures to follow in a couple days. The 1475 Revier is also doing great. Jim's 991 Urena blew up its main vine a few days ago. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will have flowers to pollinate the 901 with when its time. Wednesday, June 9 View Page 901 Hunt growing well. Time to start burying and training vines. The temporary shade cloth protection is sort of an eyesore. The patch will be entirely covered in a shade cloth structure this weekend. Friday, June 18 View Page The 1475 Revier is growing well. I wish I had a larger area to grow this plant in. It gets only about 200 sq ft. and then after that I have to get creative with where to send the vines out at. My plants in this spot have been known to invade my neighbors yard in past years. Luckily they don't mind. The 1475 has been trouble free so far. It is in no hurry to put out a pumpkin though. Looks like the first pumpkin is going to be out around 15 feet on the main. Note, one of my patch guardian lizards on the left.... Friday, June 18 View Page ...my daughter and I have trained several of our lizards to eat from our hands. I caught this one in action eating from my daughters hand. Friday, June 18 View Page These are my daughters favorite lizards. They're called California whip tails. She found out the hard way why they are called whip tails. Wanting to get a closer look, whack! Right across the face! These guys are fairly good size to. Over a foot long. Wednesday, June 23 View Page Tomorrow is pollination day for the 901 Hunt. This is the first female out at about 12 feet. This one will be pollinated with the 1475 Revier (1207 Young X 1385 Jutras) I was hoping to have made a cross with the 991 Urena but Jim had to pull his plant since it kept blowing up its main vine. Wednesday, June 23 View Page Here is a shot of the 901 Hunt. Its been keeping me busy with pruning and burying vines. I've been trying to get every single root innoculated with Pumpkin pro myco, kelp powder and humic acid powder. It's alot of work but hopefully it will pay off down the line. I am a little concerned because some of my leaves are in less than perfect shape due to getting cooked in the direct sun that shines around the edges of the patch where the shade cloth does not cover the plant in the afternoon. I like my leaves to be in perfect shape as much as I can. This plant does not tolerate heat well at all until the leaves harden a bit. If I weren't using shade cloth this plant would probably be in really bad shape. I tried 22% shade cloth over the plant but it bacame obvious that 22% was not enough so 40% is now being used and it works fine. Thursday, June 24 View Page Jims 1424 Werner in the front and my 901 Hunt in the back. Wednesday, June 30 View Page 1475 Revier pollinated today: 1475 Revier (1207 Young X 1385 Jutras) X 901 Hunt (1093 Hunt x 898 Knauss. I think it should be a very good cross. Sunday, July 4 View Page Day 10 measurement on the 901 Hunt plant... 28" Circ. co2 applications began yesterday. The 901 and 1475 have both been getting weekly CT, kelp, humic acid applications since vining started. Tuesday, July 6 View Page I tested a new organic product called Organocide on a few leaves of the 1475 to see if there were going to be any burn issues. I went with the lower rate of 1 1/2 oz. per gallon. (2oz, per gallon is the higher rate). After 2 days I see no problems or any sign of burn. I purposely applied the product to leaves that receive direct sunlight as opposed to the rest of my plant with is under shade cloth. So it looks like good news. An organic solution to bugs and powdery mildew. I hope it works as it claims. Thursday, July 8 View Page Pumpkin on the 901 Hunt. Day 14, 44" circ. Looks like she is going to be a nice orange color. Thursday, July 8 View Page The pumpkin on the 901 Hunt received a bed of mill fabric today. And... Thursday, July 8 View Page ...a pumpkin hut to grow big under. The weather has been great for earthquakes ( had a 5.4 shaker that shook pretty good yesterday) but very lousy for pumpkin growing the last few days. It's been cool with highs in the 60's to low 70's and barely any sign of the sun. What happened to summer? Speaking of earthquakes, this year has been the worst I can ever remember. We have had at least 12 quakes since Easter day when the 7.2 hit and quite a few of those quakes shook pretty good too! Adds a little excitement to the day (or night). Monday, July 12 View Page Since I was on the subject of Earthquakes last post here are a couple pictures of the ground near the epicenter of the 7.2 quake that hit on Easter Day. If I was near where the quake hit and saw the ground crack like this...well, I think I would probably have to clean my pants if you know what I mean. Monday, July 12 View Page Another shot... Monday, July 12 View Page A road with natural speed bumps. Wednesday, July 14 View Page 901 Hunt: Day 20 69.25 circ. 1475 Revier coming up on day 20 in a few days. I don't expect a huge pumpkin from it since it has only about 200 sq/ft. to grow in. It is a nice plant though and pumpkin gained almost 5" in circ today. Sunday, July 18 View Page Some of our lizards that guard my patch layed eggs about 2 months back so we put the eggs in the pumpkin seed germinator box and waited...... Sunday, July 18 View Page ...After 53 days they hatched! Sunday, July 18 View Page These guys are real small but they have big appetites. We plan to raise them until they get a little larger so the other lizards won't eat them when they are on their own. Its been a good learning adventure for my kids. Sunday, July 18 View Page Temps have been over 100° the last 3 days but the plants are taking it in stride thanks in large part to growing under shade cloth. 901 Hunt is gaining weight in the 20's on a daily basis. Hope it will get in the 30's or more. All plant growth has been terminated because the 500 sqft. area is filled up. Saturday, July 24 View Page 901 Hunt Day 30. 105 CC 305 lbs. Averaging in the low 20's per day. I'm not complaining though because this is by far the biggest pumpkin I have had at day 30. It's nice to be able to grow in some decent soil for a change. Thanks Jim for sharing half your patch with me. My PB is a measely 500 pounds so I would say I have a real good chance of blowing away my previous PB in a week and a half or so. Aphids are starting to show up now so plant was sprayed with Organocide to knock them down. I have been impressed with the Organocide. My summer squash had some PM show up on the leaves so I give it a spraying with Organocide and it knocked it right out. Seems to be a nice dual purpose spray. Monday, August 9 View Page Something is lurking in the patch! Tuesday, August 10 View Page 901 Hunt parked in its garage. Day 46 and doing fine. She seems to thump heavy. Friday, August 27 View Page Day 64 on the 901 Hunt 310" OTT 629 lbs. By far a personal best for me! She's still growing but slowly. Saturday, August 28 View Page The 1475 Revier taping around 370 lbs. Still growing slowly. Wednesday, October 6 View Page Weigh day has come and gone and all had a great time. Each year seems to bring more and more people out to enjoy the day. Its great how growing pumpkins becomes a way to meet neighbors you might not ever meet otherwise. New grower Tom came to check out our pumpkins even though it was his wedding day. I thought that was pretty funny...not so sure his soon to be wife would think that it was funny. Special thanks goes out to Sonrise Church for coming out to help lift the pumpkins. Wednesday, October 6 View Page One of our local news stations came out to do a story on our pumpkins and spent about 3 hours with us. They did a great job telling the story on the news that night. Wednesday, October 6 View Page Our lifting crew moving my pumpkin to the scale. Will it go heavy? Keeping my fingers crossed that it does. Measurements: 144cc 86ss 83ee...313 OTT estimated weight 647 lbs. Wednesday, October 6 View Page And the weight is..... Wednesday, October 6 View Page Woohoo! A new personal best for me! She went 12% heavy! Must have been those 898knauss genes. Wednesday, October 6 View Page After our pumpkins were weighed they were loaded up to go on display at a local church. Wednesday, October 6 View Page Fellow grower John placing Jim's pumpkin down on the tarp all by himself. He's very strong as you can see! LOL Wednesday, October 6 View Page Our pumpkins being placed in postion for display at church. Wednesday, October 6 View Page Family shot of my beautiful wife and kids. I'm sure glad they tolerate this crazy hobby of ours. Special thanks goes out to Jim for sharing his patch with me this year. We had a great time growing together and discovered a few new products along the way. Special thanks also goes out to Eddy Z. One of the most generous people on BP for making it possible for me to grow the 901 Hunt this year. I hope I can return the favor for you someday. Thursday, October 7 View Page Here is the link to the story the news did on Jim and I. http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local-beat/It_s_the_Great_Pumpkin___San_Diego.html Monday, November 1 View Page Another Halloween approaching and how will I out do last years Jack-O-Lanterns. It took some time to figure out what kind of face to put on them, so here goes... Monday, November 1 View Page Here is Jim's 860 that I carved up first. It's coming out pretty good! Monday, November 1 View Page My 727 and Jim's 860 nearly done. Just have the smaller jack-o-lanterns to do. Monday, November 1 View Page It's the 727 George on a jack-o-lantern eating rampage!!! Monday, November 1 View Page The angry 860 Fredricks seems to be enjoying the demise of the smaller jack-o-lanterns. Monday, November 1 View Page Halloween was a big event at my place this year. We had over 200 trick or treaters this year. The kids really loved the pumpkins...several were so excited about the pumpkins they forgot to ask for candy! Some of the smaller kids were afraid of them and wouldn't get close the them. We all had a great time. Its just as much fun to watch the kids and their parents reactions to the pumpkins as it is to growing these things. Monday, November 1 View Page Daytime shot. Both pumpkins had very good seed counts if anyone is interested. The pumpkin on the left is the 727 George (901 Hunt X 1475 Revier) 12% heavy. Contact me for seeds. The pumpkin on the right is the 860 Fredricks (1424 Werner X 1475 Revier) Contact Duster for seeds.