Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 26 Entries. Friday, August 15 View Page I couldn't tell you exactly when this fruit was pollinated but it is around the 15th of July. it is the 746 Snyder X the 904 Stelts, and the weeds all around and the lack of vine-burying and general care do not do this pumpkin justice. i JUST a few days ago got this digital camera working (3.3 MP Olympus) and the software is not 'taking' to my computer. i can, however, put the SD card into a reader that simply plugs-into the USB port, but it seems like an extra step. Anyway, the pic(s) look a little on the light side but that could just be because they are from so far away. THIS weekend of the 16th and 17th of August are to be devoted to vine-burying and weed-killing, with no other distractions other than the lawn, which really needs it.... Friday, August 15 View Page okey-dokey, this is the 904 Stelts fruit and it is X SELF. so, should be a good seed from this one. i hope i can get another 904 sometime before next spring :) it was poll'd on the 12th of July, my earliest this year; seems that EVERYthing for me was about 1-2 weeks behind any other year for me. however, the plants are (knock on wood) super-healthy, nice and green and we have been getting amazing amounts of rain here in NY in early August. it could be a rerun of '06 when i had my 912.5. in this very spot. gotta get some support under the main vine here. tomorrow. lol. Friday, August 15 View Page oyyy, here be the 912 Holland (X 904 Stelts) fruit. the 912 is the same cross as the 940 Mombert '00. i tell ye, the plant that this is on is one of those ones that just amazes you every time you go out to it. i pruned it last week, around the 7th-10th or so, and now it has filled-in and the leaves are really huge and there was an explosion of growth as well from all the rain we have been having. yeeeoww! so i'm like, uh-oh, what's gonna happen once i powder all the vines with Bio-Grow Endo+ and bury them like a good boy??? oh, that's right----it always comes to me.... a Personal Best-Breaker! man, i hope so. i think this fruit was poll'd on the 25th of July, oh yes, by the 904 Stelts. nice cross? i hope so. Friday, August 15 View Page the cross on this one is 940 Vincent '07 X 944 Alberts '07 (845 Bobier X 1180 Daletas) X (1231.3 Pukos X 998.6 Pukos) haaH? haAH? hAAH? (elbowing you, lol) ahem...this plant has about the thickest vines on it of any i have grown and has been a stellar producer of all the goodies such as males, females and exemplary vine growth. howzat for a seed-resume'? the fruits (2) however, have this trickle of green throughout their usual light yellow starting pumpkin skin, which i hope they "grow out of", ha ha, or if it just doesn't get any more intense, it will just make for a very interesting pumpkin skin at the weighoff. this fruit is too big for me to safely move to put the underlayment under it, but i'll find help soon. lousy picture, but as i get better at it.... Friday, August 15 View Page this one should be the reverse cross of the previous fruit, so 944 Alberts X 940 Vincent (1231.3 X 998.6) X (845 Bobier X 1180 Daletas). the wooden stake (a paint-stirring stick from the hardware store----go get some!) got a little misplaced when the underlayment was put in-place. just a guess on pollination date of 7-18-08. it is a SerioUS wheel of a pumpkin, and is genetically-geared-toward leaning away from the vine, lol. it has a split at the stem that has not gone into the cavity and therefore i intend to do SOMETHING to prop 'er up in the right direction. the alternative is to slowly let it 'tip over' and have the vine grow across the top of the fruit Cinderella-Style (oooohhh, HOT!) err, i mean, porch-pumpkin style but that could end in disaster so i'll think about that tomorrow, lol---- there is a backup open-pollinated one on an early side vine, doing the same thing. it COULD be the weigh i positioned the underlayment under the fruit. not entirely flat, perhaps. Friday, August 15 View Page took ALL of these pictures before work so i could at least show my coworkers SOMETHING, lol, and why not use them for this as well... this is the 1231.3 Pukos fruit (X 940 Vincent) and is for sure the fastest-growing fruit of the bunch. once i get vines buried i'll feel more like actually measuring and keeping-up-on details like a REAL grower and taking more close-up pics to boot, lol. 's it for now. eric Wednesday, September 3 View Page well, the absolute WORST has happened to my 912 Holland as of this Tuesday morning. it has a split into the side of it (in next pic) and this was not visible until i had gone-around the other side of it to pinpoint where i was gonna put a sprinkler on the plant; upon going around to the back side of the plant, i nearly tripped over a fruit that had been there apparently for a week or two, lol, and said out loud, "Oh, i can't have another fruit on this plant. i want the BIG ONE to grow on the main!" probably just in my head. well, it was a struggle to remove that fruit as i didn't have my stem-cutter with me, and once it got tossed aside? well, THAT'S WHEN i saw the split in the side of the main fruit. boy, this stinks. so the Holland 912, although growing right along and having ZERO problems otherwise, ended-up being one of my horror stories. what could i have done, have had some sort of Calcium supplement in the mix just in case there were any problems? maybe. this plant had not been watered, fertilized or additionally pruned since about July 25th when the main fruit had been pollinated and it was just-about to get a lot of attention. anyway, i hope i can convince Joel and a few others to grow the 912. same cross as the Mombert 940 '00 and i pollinated it with the 904 Stelts---i hope the innards are not getting too far gone as we are having some heat here in NY at the moment. duct tape should help a little bit until i get a minute or 2 to remove seeds. excellent, big-leafed plant and the stem and blossom were perfect! a few pics: Wednesday, September 3 View Page i hoped at first it was a SLUG... Wednesday, September 3 View Page this blossom end rocks! errr, ROCKED. Thursday, September 18 View Page well, it has been a very, very long time since i've posted, so hopefully over the next couple days i'll make up for lost time, but nothing toooo great to report. i started out with like 10 plants and everything seemed to be behind last year by about two weeks; the first pollination on my 904 Stelts was on the 12th of July, for instance. here is a pic of the 940 Vincent (X 944 Alberts '07 (1231.3 Pukos X 998.6 Pukos)) that developed a blossom-end hole at the edge of the blossom nub itself. i had been monitoring a pinhole into the STEM for a couple days and when i had gone around the fruit to marvel at its potential (still), that's when i noticed the death blow to my season. well, it WAS my biggest pumpkin. measurements on about 9-11-'08 are: C=122 SS=86.5 EE=81.5 290" total, and since i have never taken the time to find an updated chart to go by, by the 2005 chart this equates to 518 pounds. even at 10 pounds per day for the rest of the month, this would have been a nice fruit to show-off at the way-off, with it funky colorings, lol... Thursday, September 18 View Page the stem on it was pretty darned hefty--- as well as the rest of the plant; looking forward to growing this seed again soon. Friday, September 19 View Page here is the other side, depicting this fruit as being just the right blend of lobiness and chunk, lol. i hope 'lobiness' is a word. well, if wasn't, it is now! Friday, September 19 View Page okay, i swear, the LAST pic of the 940 Vincent plant for now... Tuesday, September 30 View Page this will have to be the lamest diary i have had yet, lol, but when my BIGGEST pumpkin took a dive i lost some enthusiasm about the other things that make this spobby an enjoyable venture: color and shape! but, it's back. i am down to 5 pumpkins altogether, and this is one of them, of course: the 746 Snyder, poll'd by the 904 Stelts. pardon the "beauty mark", as it was not yet a hole until i stuck a piece of folded-over wire (done so ironically, so as to NOT create a hole but to test for one, lol) and with minimal, TESTING force, it went into the seed chamber and so about an hour later, (i forget WHY it took me so long) i filled-in the hole with Perma$$x Gasket Maker and so far, so good. it has been about 3 weeks and no news will be good news! eric g Tuesday, September 30 View Page i love these kinds of stems. looks like someone just kinda glued it on there, with ZERO problems looming for it. nice color or what? eg Tuesday, September 30 View Page whoops! measurements as of 9-29-08: C=108.5 SS=72.5 EE=68.5 =249.5"=335# est. 08 i may measure it again just before it gets sold, but had to do it now and i am glad i did. Monday, October 6 View Page well, moving on, this pic was from 9-29-08. it is the 1231.3 Pukos poll'd by the 940 Vincent and judging by the 940 Vincent (and the 1231.3's) characteristics, i can easily hope that the two mixed together will be present in the seeds from this one. it has been sold to a farm market place for their Haunted House... measurements and another pic next page--- Monday, October 6 View Page okay, what i would call the 'left side' of the fruit, and the measures are: C=106 EE=70 SS=72 =248" =329# EST. Gerry '08 mmmmm, hmmmm...... Monday, October 6 View Page ...and the very shapely stem end of the fruit, lol... and that is it for this fruit. traveled very well to the point of sale. i guess, a benefit of growing them on a flat surface such as underlayment is the nice, flaaaaat bottom, lol... Thursday, October 9 View Page ummm, well, here is almost the last pumpkin i have still actually on-the-vine, although the frost has come through and done-in my plants, i have seen. 904 Stelts X SELF here on 10-2-08; C=112" SS=78" EE=73" =263"=390 EST. Gerry '08. chances are i will be carving-out this fruit myself, unless that potential buyer actually calls me (!). well, at least i would get ALL of the seeds back if i did it myself. 904 SELFed sounds good to me! eg Thursday, October 9 View Page left side----ORANGE! Friday, October 10 View Page ...annnnnd the stem end. i will forever and ALWAYS take a fruit to a weighoff now. turns out, i could have at LEAST sold this pumpkin to a guy that was commenting that he would have bought about a 400-pound pumpkin if the guy he was talking about would have brought it to the Oswego weighoff. Auuugh! and ME without a fruit, thinking (justifiably so) that i didn't stand a chance against the potential contestants. live and learn. mostly live! eric g Tuesday, November 4 View Page well, if not for fear of me winning the weighoff out from under anyone, better look-out for me and my DRUMS this winter! ha ha i WAS playing SOMETHING during this shot, and my cousin had said i should SMILE more when i play...so...maybe i overdid it, lol!!! eg Tuesday, November 11 View Page well, it's been a little while now and my seeds are done drying and intentions have moved-onto things like obtaining manure and yard and patch cleanup, but, in the meantime here are a few pics of my 1446.5 Werner fruit, pollinated by the 912 Holland, which is the same cross as the 940 Mombert '00. THAT cross escapes me but the 940 '00 is a seriously- desirable orange-producing seed. so, nice cross, we hope! Tuesday, November 11 View Page i selected this picture of the 1446.5 because the label-stake is there and has all the information on it for all time. there is no estimated weight on it, but i could GUESS that it weighed about 180#, and was sold to a coworker and the pic on the next page is that of the fruit carved out and lit for Halloween. amazing what can be done, even with an (est.) 180-pounder! Wednesday, November 12 View Page well, it's been a whole day, but here's that pic of the 1446.5 X 912. see, i DO deliver, if i have the chance! ha ha