Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 44 Entries. Monday, April 21 View Page Started germinating 1068 Papez, 1200 Est Checkon, 1232 Bailey & 620 Gerry. Conditions used: we paper towels inside a foil "to go" container. Oven temperature maintained at approximately 28 degrees C (~ 83 degrees F). Decision to be made is to go with 3 or 4 plants based on the size of my patch - 25' x 45' Monday, April 21 View Page Seeds ready to germinate Saturday, May 17 View Page The 1068 Papez is coming along after experiencing a little bit of stress from a couple cold nights. Western New York weather doesn't want to break away from the low 40 degree nights. Damage was caused by two nights at 31 degrees. I guess my lights weren't close enough to the plant. Anyway - I'll keep fertilizing, watering & keeping the plant warm at night until we reach a consistent 50 degrees. Saturday, May 17 View Page Second season growning Eric's seed. Last season yielded the 528 after being pollinated in late July. Plant was put in the ground on May 10th. Saturday, May 17 View Page 1200 Est Checkon was put in the ground on May 10th and has been nicely protected early on. It's starting to take off now. Unfortunately the vine is growing in the wrong direction and will need to be trained. Hopefully an untested start on the rise here! Saturday, May 17 View Page 1232 Bailey was planted on May 10th and is doing well. Sunday, June 1 View Page Fence went up today. I notice hoof prints from a wandering Doe in the patch sniffing the 620 Gerry. No harm thus far. I'm hoping 2008 isn't a battle like 2007 was. Heather was a big help putting in the fence. The picture is Heather visiting a local farm with her nursery school. Saturday, June 7 View Page What a difference a couple weeks make. The 1068 Papez is finally picking up the pace after the cold nights in May. Thank goodness for the greenhouses. The vines about 4 1/2 feet now. My guess is a week behind schedule. Weather is warm now. Bring on the sun! Saturday, June 7 View Page Here's the 1200 Est. Checkon. Vines about 7 - 8 feet. Started burying the vine today & removed the greenhouse. Actually I had too since it was starting to bust out! Now that's a good thing! Plenty of secondaries coming off and already a couple feet long themselves. Go Baby Go!!! Saturday, June 7 View Page My 1232 Bailey is disappointing thus far. I just moved the greenhouse on this one today. I'll keep the door open and use it as a wind block. Hoping the warm weather get this guy growing. Vine is only about 1 1/2 feet long. Otherwise it's healthy. Saturday, June 7 View Page Hummmm...My 620 Gerry just doesn't want to lay down. The vine is up a foot in the air. Perhaps tomorrow. This grew the nice orange 528 lber last year. Plenty of time yet. Seeing the 528 didn't get set until the end of July. Put the greenhouse over it today to block the wind mostly. I'll keep the door open on this one. Wednesday, June 11 View Page Saw my first female today on the 1068 Papez. Too bad the plant is still small. The pumpkin is about 6 - 7 feet out. I'll take it off later. Keeping up with the feeding rotation - M/W/F. The 1200 Checkon is really putting on some plant mass. I expect the main vine to be out around 10 feet by the end of this week. 620 Gerry & 1232 Bailey are finally growing. I'll pull the greenhouse this coming weekend. Sunday, June 15 View Page OK - females on all four plants. I removed them from the mains on the 1068 Papez, 620 Gerry & 1232 Bailey. They were too close to the stump & the Gerry & Bailey are just too small. The next one to appear on the 1068 Papez will be a keeper. I may have a keeper on the 1200 Checkon although it's only 11' out from the stump. The Checkon is also showing open male flowers. This and the Papez should be on target for the first week of July if all goes well. All plants are buried nicely. A really bad storm came through last night and everything held up well. The bamboo and burying did the trick. Monday, June 16 View Page Cucumber Beatles have been spotted and took out one of the leaves on the 1200 Checkon - I did a quick Orthonex pray this morning but will need to get some Sevin to make sure they are properly controlled. I'll need the Sevin anyway for the Jap Beatles Monday, June 16 View Page 8 p.m. - hail storm moved through the area. Ugh....quarter size holes on all four plants. Naturally the Papez & Checkon took the worst of it. Season may be in jeopardy for those two plants. Monday, June 16 View Page Couldn't resist adding a photo of the 1068 Papez with the hail damage. Monday, June 16 View Page Here's the whole 1068 Papez plant with hail damage. Monday, June 16 View Page 1200 Checkon close up with hail damage. Monday, June 16 View Page Here's most of the 1200 Est Checkon after the hail storm. Hope it makes it!!! Sunday, June 22 View Page Bad weather last night again - heavy rain, wind and hail - 1608 Papez main has a partial break one node back from viable female. Just put dirt over it and we'll see what happens. I will leave the secondaries alone for now. May need to train a secondary a the new primary. 1200 Est Checkon looks good - females finally starting to grow on main - three found on secondaries. 620 Gerry & 1232 Bailey are still lagging behind. Wednesday, June 25 View Page Females all over the 1200 Est Checkon - 3 on main and 5 or so on secondaries. They will be ready for pollinating this weekend and next week. The 1068 Papez has the best candidate ready to pollinate (long stem in particular) but nearest the partial break on the main. There are atleast 4 females on the secondaries looking good too. 620 Gerry has a female on the main - plant is still smallish (only out at 9'). I intend to pollinate that one at the end of next week. 1232 Bailey is a slow mover - no females on the vine yet. Friday, June 27 View Page Well the day has finally come. First pollination attempt for 2008 - 1068 Papez bloom - selfed. Crazy thing at 6 to 6:25 a.m. (fertilizing time) flower not open. Went inside for a quick shower & prep for work. Figured I'd take a quick look again before leaving at 7:30 a.m. and look what I found. This one may not make it seeing it's two nodes down from the partial stem break on the main. However the main is still growing strong with another candidate two nodes up from this one. Also pollinated one on the 1200 Est. Checkon this morning (not pictured). It was on a secondary vine but also was closed before coming back out this morning. I also selfed this bloom as well. Checkon female on the main should be ready tomorrow. Some issues on the main with the flowers not opening, we'll see... Friday, June 27 View Page Well it finally came - the first pollination of 2008! Here's the 1068 Papez that was selfed @ 7:30 this morning. It's only two nodes up from the partial main break but may be a worthy candidate. Without the sun around here in WNY flowers are opening late. At 6 - 6:25 a.m. this girl was closed. Good thing I checked again before leaving for work! Hoping rain doesn't cause any problems today. It's covered with a container to prevent any problems. Friday, June 27 View Page Another view of the 1068 Papez - great stem length. It's every bit of 3" possibly more. Can't say I've ever had one this far off the node at this early stage. Friday, June 27 View Page I was also greeted with a bloom on the 1200 Est Checkon. It is on a secondary but looked really healthy and viable. I also selfed this female and covered it to protect it from rain. The Checkon should have a female ready on the main tomorrow about 15' out. The first main female flower never developed and opened - perhaps a residual effect from the hail damage a couple weeks ago. This plant is really big - about 15' x 15' already. Monday, June 30 View Page Pollinated another on the main of the 1068 Papez this morning. This time everything bagged, tagged & dry from the rain the night before. That's now three pollinated on the Papez - 2 on main, 1 on a secondary (really just a test pollination). Cuke beatles are problematic - controlling with Sevin at the moment. Tuesday, July 1 View Page Pollinated secondaries on the 1068 Papez and 1200 Est Checkon this morning. Looks like the first one on the 620 Gerry main will be ready tomorrow @ 11'. Thursday, July 3 View Page Pollinated first on 1232 Bailey at 10' out. Plant is still smallish side. Thursday, July 3 View Page Also pollinated a second one on the main of the 1200 Est Checkon - it's about 16' out. The one just up stream looks pretty good and is about the size of a baseball - this is the female that I posted as being wet - guess not. The same baseball size comment can be said about it's sister on the back main. Other secondaries have pollination attempts made just incase issues occur on the mains. I'll work to get some pics later this week. Thursday, July 3 View Page Pollinated on the secondaries of the 1068 Papez this morning. Partial break healed itself after being buryed a a couple weeks. The first pollination attempt didn't take on this plant (only two nodes up from the break). It looks like the second attempt on the main is OK. Time will tell here. The plant is healthly after all the hail and cuke beatles. Thursday, July 10 View Page Checked the circ on the 1200 Est Checkon today. It's day 12 and it's 32". OK I suppose. The plant is really beat - the entire center is yellow and dead. A combination of too much water & hail storms have taken its toll. I can't imagine this pumpking going much more than 200 lbs at this point. A real disappointment. All other offsping have been removed, vines are being buryied & terminated per plan. Sunday, July 13 View Page On our way with the 1200 Checkon. Circ at 39" on day 14. To bad the plant is in poor health. All old growth leaves on the main are dead and removed from the vine. Sunday, July 13 View Page The 620 Gerry is growing well. The plant is still on the smallish side with the pumpkin at day 12 starting to pick up the pace. Sunday, July 13 View Page Here's the 1068 Papez at Day 13. This fruit is slow growing. There's concern about an abort. The dull appearance has been there since day one and is the same as other culled pollinated offspring. Keeping my fingers crossed here. The plant is very healthy (actually the best in my patch) and fruit positioned well. Monday, July 21 View Page SVB observed flying off the 620 Gerry - WOW! are they fast. Hope no eggs were laid... Saturday, July 26 View Page Finally some growth on the 1068 Papez - OTT @ 180" on Day 26. Adjusted the pumpkin to day so the set and blossom are parallel to the ground. Blossom end is imploding. Saturday, July 26 View Page 620 Gerry on Day 24. OTT about 152" Saturday, July 26 View Page 1232 Bailey on Day 23. OTT @ 151" The color is great! Should be a real beauty. Saturday, July 26 View Page Day 28 on the 1200 Est Checkon. Growth is slow @ just under 9 lbs per day this week. Small plants will do that to ya...OTT @ 178" Thursday, August 7 View Page Day 38 Papez - 300 lbs. Found why it's only growing at 12 lbs per day. Big 6" node at main break found about 4' up stream. This guy may only be back fed. Forecasted nights are cold (50's) for the next week & heavy rains. Too bad...This is by far the worst year I've experienced growing. July had 17 days with heavy thunderstorms & highs in the 70's, nights in the low 60's. August is looking worse at this point. Saturday, August 30 View Page Haven't posted in a while. The cold nights have brough what was already slow growth down to a crawl. 1068 Papez here with OTT ~ 278". Re-wrapped the pumpkin in a blanket & covered with a tarp to contain heat. This weeks weather looks promising - days @ 80 degress & nights @ 57 degrees. That's better than 70's & 40's... Still hoping to beat last years PB of 528lbs.... Saturday, August 30 View Page Had to post this one of the 1232 Bailey. The shape & color are great! Weight is approximately 275 lbs. Saturday, October 4 View Page Final photo of the 1068 Papez from the Clarence Weigh-off. My helpers in the photo had a lot of fun. The pumpkin went 5% heavy and came in at 493 lbs now the 493 Kubiak '08). Saturday, October 4 View Page Here's the surprise of the season. The 1232 Bailey weighed in at 352.5 lbs. That's 13% heavy!!! It taped 312 lbs. This photo has the whole family. Now the 352 Kubiak '08. We brought this baby home and put it in front of the house.