Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 65 Entries. Monday, April 28 View Page 2008 Isom Patch For those of you who don't know me, this is Matthew Isom out in Salem, Oregon. I've grown AGs seriously since 1999 and have been generally pumpkin obsessed ever since I was about 8 years old. I'm now 46, an age that seems to be very common among pumpkin growers (mid-life crisis? If so, my wife (Dana) can count herself relatively lucky!) My patch is 2100 sq. ft., 30' X 70 and we're growing four plants this year ("less is more"): 1041.5 McKie (thanks Dan!!!) 983.5 Isom 06 (1370 X 1225), grew 1220.5 for Rod Raunig 937.5 Isom 07 (1446.5 X 998.6) 1689 Jutras (thanks Joe!) More later on why I chose these seeds, the crosses I intend to make, and patch prep. Let me just finish by saying that I'm keeping a diary this year for two reasons: 1. people who meticulously keep track of what they do are the "heavy hitters"--there's not as much "luck" as they would lead us to believe (they're just trying to make us feel ok about our less-than-stellar performance ) I'd have to write all this stuff down in a notebook somewhere, so I might as well type it here 2. the main reason weights have gone up so dramatically is that people share ideas. Monday, April 28 View Page Fall Patch prep for 2008 season All quantities are for the 2100 sq. ft. patch October 2007 6 yards fresh dairy solids/washed dairy manure 6" maple leaves 200 pounds gypsum Tilled Covered patch with another 6" maple leaves (probably a mistake) and then spread 40 pounds calcium nitrate over the leaves and sprayed a bacterial solution of 1 qt. bottle of septic tank sludge remover and 1 pt. molasses (not enough, probably) Tuesday, April 29 View Page Soil Test (4/1) and Spring 2008 Ammendments Here are Western Laboratories' recommendations and what I put on to meet those numbers: Recommendations (per 1000 sq. ft./per 2000 sq. ft.): N 3.6# / 7.2 P 1.7# / 3.4 K 0 S 0.5# 1.0 Zn 1.1oz /2.2 oz Cu 0.3oz /0.6 oz B 0.1oz 0.2 oz I put on: 10# Bone Meal (3-15-0) .3 N, 1.5 P 10# Ironite (1-0-1) .1 N, .1 K 15# 25-4-8-6-3 3.15 N, .6 P 1.2 K .9 S .45 Fe 4# 16-16-16 .64 N .64 P .64 K 10# Calcium Nit(15-0-0) 1.5 N TOTALS 5.69# N 2.74# P 1.94# K 0.9 S I plan to add more Nitrogen later when the vines start to run and perhaps more throughout the season, either as CaNO3 or liquid fish I'm getting a second soil test from UMass in a few days to see if I met my numbers and will adjust if needed Thursday, May 1 View Page My Lineup: 1041.5 McKie (842X1068) The potential of this one blows the mind. 20% heavy, kept growing right up to the end, etc. That's why it gets my biggest plot and why it will be the pollinator for most of my pumpkins this year. I'm really excited to see what it can bring to some of the ORANGE AND HUGE genetic lines I've been trying to breed the last two seasons. 1689 Jutras (998.6 X 1225) So much bigger than anything ever grown before 2008. Wow, and it didn't have sag lines or interior splitting. The 1689 will be the pollinator for my 983.5 and will bring together virtually every great genetic line in the world: (998.6 (including 898, 723, 846, 845), 1225 (including 705 and 845), 1370) 937.5 Isom 07 (1446.5 X 998.6) I've got to grow my own or nobody else will. 983.5 Isom 06 (1370 X 1225) I didn't grow this one last year and was VERY sorry I didn't when Rod Raunig grew a 1220.5 off it that weighed 20% heavy (grown in 400 sq. ft. too!) You only have to be beaten by your own seed once to vow to never let it happen again. 1524 Starr (227 Leland X 985 Werner). I'm growing this at the opposite end of the plot from the 983.5 just in case the 983.5 gets eaten by a deer or something. 983.5. Another 983.5. This is the "control" plant for my experimental plants, which all get 36 sq. ft., grown Anaconda pruning style. 395 Isom 07 (955 Brinkley X 998.6) My 3 yr. old, James, grew this one last year with a little help from Dad. Now he's growing his own seed! Anaconda. 846 Isom 06 (1253 Sperry X 1200 Trumm). This one has never been grown but on paper has virtually the same genetics as all of the 1068 X 1370s that are out there. Emily, my 5 year-old will grow this one as an anaconda. 1038 Isom 06 (1200 Trumm X open) . Nadia, my 8 year-old, will be growing her own seed (ok, Dad helped a LOT on this one). Anaconda. 1020 Isom 07 (998.6 X 955 Brinkley). This baby should be orange! Friday, May 2 View Page I've been having a hard time figuring out how to get diagrams and pictures into my diary, so any of you out there who know me, a quick e-mail would help if you don't see a picture or two here. I'm trying to post a picture of my PB, the 1038 Isom 06 with me and my daughter Nadia as well as a picture of the firebreathing pumpkin Sunday, May 11 View Page Watered each plant with 2 gallons Biomin Calcium soluition (2Tablespoons per gal) with an additional teaspoon (1/2, maybe) of calcium nitrate dissolved in there to give the plants a much needed boost of nitrogen. I just got back my second soil test of the spring, this one from UMass, and my Nitrogen level was still only 8 ppm after adding my fertilizers last month. Hmmmm. Maybe all those decaying leaves (mostly gone now, but . . .) are still eating up my nitrogen. Weird, I really thought that adding CaNO3 and the granular fertilizers would bring me up to at least 20 or 30 ppm Nitrogen, so I guess I'll have to just keep hitting the plants with fish fertilizer and calcium nitrate. I'll just go by the color of the leaves like everybody says to do, although I'm no expert there. At this point the 983.5 Isom and 937.5 Isom are both ahead of the 1041.5 and the 1689. All of my experimental plants were put in the patch on Wednesday and are in Walls-o-water at this point. Tuesday, May 13 View Page Plants finally starting to take off. 983.5 Isom leads the pack with a vigorous 3rd leaf and 4th leaf ready to emerge. Against my better judgment I gave each plant two gallons of fish solution (1/2 strength) since plants still aren't quite the gree I'd like to see. Since the 1041.5 and 1689 are lagging behind, I tried hooking up a space heater I bought at Goodwill but I think it blew the circuit breaker--or worse, the wiring in the house. Even worse, it's not my house! Wednesday, May 14 View Page PLANTS STARTED APRIL 13. SET OUT APRIL 26. 4TH LEAF EMERGING MAY 14TH. I just noticed that I write a lot but forget to include some of the most important information! So there it is. Will remove the top of the cloches tonight so that plants can get some sun tomorrow and so they won't fry when temperatures hit 90. Friday, May 16 View Page STUPID MISTAKES I've already made this year: 1. LEAVES WEREN'T ALL TILLED IN AND DIDN'T COMPOSE ALL THE WAY. Nitrogen is being robbed. 2. WHITE PLASTIC FOR CLOCHES. Stupid mistake that has kept temperature too low in cloches and basically set me back a week. Bummer. At least I started early! 3. DIDN'T GET A GOOD ENOUGH TILL DONE IN FALL. And with the wet spring, premium sites had to be planted in before they were completely ready. 4. BURNED SOME LEAVES BY PUTTING TOO MUCH FISH FERTILIZER ON THEM. Nothing goes on the leaves for a while. 5. NO BUG CONTROL. Should have put down some Merit or at least sprayed seedlings with NEEM Oil. Weird white rim on leaves caused by ? spider mites? aphids? already. I get it every year. Saturday, May 17 View Page FINAL TILL TODAY. DIRT HAS NEVER LOOKED BETTER. I swear, that stuff is so nice I just about took a bite. Very soft, very black--basically the kind of stuff that turns you on if you're a pumpkin grower Monday, May 19 View Page VINES ARE THINKING ABOUT STARTING TO RUN. Very exciting. I'll probably mess up and give them too much Calcium Nitrate and they'll start to freak out like meth-heads or something. I'm a believer in "Natural," but when you're at 8 ppm Nitrogen, you have to resort to drugs for energy. WATERED WITH KELP TODAY. Tuesday, May 20 View Page Here's a picture of the 983.5 Isom pumpkin from two years ago. My 983.5 plant is leading the way at this point but could be surpassed by the 937.5 plant that's a few days younger. But why am I talking about plant size at this point? In my limited experience plant size has nothing to do with pumpkin size (literally nothing) and, in fact, there almost seems to be a reciprocal relationship: big burly plant, wimpy pumpkin. Scrawny, skinny vine, big pumpkin. Weird. Has anybody else noticed this? Wednesday, May 21 View Page Here's a picture of my 1020 Isom 07 EST, which is a 998.6 X 995 Brinkley. As you can see from the marvelous color and shape, this baby should produce orange offspring (especially with the 955 as pollinator). I'm growing it only as an experimental plant because I was too worried about it splitting. We'll see how solid a little pumpkin it will grow in 36 sq. ft. Wednesday, May 21 View Page "American Gothic." Here we are with our 1038 from two years ago. We couldn't resist posing as the quintessential American couple getting in touch with the simple joys of life--growing a big pumpkin, of course! Friday, May 23 View Page Vines 6" today. Added 1-2 tablespooons calcium nitrate around each plant in a 2' circle. Also raked in about 6 Starbucks silver bags of coffee grounds per plant. Coffee grounds sure give the soil a nice texture. I actually enjoy running my fingers through it--no gloves for me! Sunday, June 1 View Page Pretty sure I haven't been watering enough. I'll add it to my list of stupid things I've done this year. I'll give the plants a good soaking tomorrow and will start brewing my first batch of tea (another stupid thing I've done was not brew tea three weeks ago when I first got my pump). Oh well. Very very busy with the end of school, teaching my SAT class at night, and trying to spend quality time with the three kids and my wife, Dana. Sunday, June 1 View Page Here's a picture of me, Dana, Nadia, Emily, and James in the backpack Sunday, June 1 View Page Here's another one of James and yours truly Sunday, June 1 View Page And the 1038 as a Fire Breath Grinch (YES, I WILL POST INSTRUCTIONS FOR MAKING A SAFE FIRE-BREATHING PUMPKIN LATER, WHEN HALLOWEEN COMES UP AGAIN) Tuesday, June 3 View Page Plants finally starting to look a decent green for once. Thursday, June 5 View Page With the kind of weather we've been having this spring I'm starting to wonder if this might not be the great year I was hoping it would be for me (and the Northwest in general). Man, highs ten full degrees below normal for pretty much a month. In retrospect, I guess I should have built a heat controlled dome over my plants--have you seen The Truman Show? Main vine 18-24" (should be about 10' by now considering that I started seeds SEVEN AND A HALF WEEKS AGO!) Saturday, June 7 View Page Watered about 40 gallons per plant today. I dug my hand into my soft dirt about two feet from the stump to see if I had roots out that far yet (I really thought that I would by now) and I didn't find any. No big surprise considering that the ground was bone dry. Sometimes I'm such an idiot. What kind of person keeps making stupid mistakes nine years in a row? The kind who doesn't keep meticulous records, so hopefully this journalistic experience will help me next year. So, in retrospect, I'd say that the ground should be drenched--and I mean DRENCHED--in a 3' circle 1 week after planting and repeat twice a week in ever increasing circles so that 4 weeks after planting it's a 4' circle, 5 weeks, 5'--something like that Saturday, June 7 View Page I also gave each plant close to 1 cup of dry fish powder spread over a 4' circle around the plant and worked it into the soil with my fingers. I know that too much nitrogen could make my vines brittle, etc., but I really want them to grow fast to make up for lost time (yeah, yeah, I know, steady wins the race, don't overdo it . . . but the leaves just don't look green enough to me and I think that it has to do with my partially decomposed organic material eating up most of this nitrogen. So, in other words, if you're reading this and you put a bunch of chicken manure on in the fall or for one reason or another have a decent nitrogen level (remember, mine was 8 ppm, which is pathetic), your plants have completely different needs, of course. Saturday, June 7 View Page Planning on hitting my plants with Malathion in a day or so since I'm starting to experience the return of the mystery bugs. Weird white almost powdery looking stuff around the very rim (and rim only) of emerging leaves. If you have any idea what this is, please contact me with a tip. Thanks. [email protected] Thursday, June 12 View Page Instead of complaining about the weather, I think I'll focus on the positive. My plants have a strong, vibrant green color that they've never had before at this stage. I'm a real believer in powdered fish fertilizer now! I think my obsession with nitrogen levels is paying off. Of course, the easy way to have solved this problem years ago would have been to visit an expert's patch, look at his leaves, and then keep adding nitrogen (slowly) until mine were the same shade. Duh. Speaking of nitrogen, I'm doing a little experiment with two of my 395 Isom plants (no greenhouse). The backup 395 was started a couple of days later than the primary 395 and was a bit smaller. I've been hitting it with lots of calcium nitrate to try to determine "how much is too much." Today it got 1/2 cup. Last week, another 1/2 cup (the other 395 got nothing today and 1/4 cup last week). So far the old adage 'less is more' doesn't seem to apply to nitrogen. The backup looks better and is catching up. I think I've probably underdone it in the nitrogen department in the past because I've been so worried about the "More-on principle." I'm still a firm believer in avoiding synthetic fertilizers, especially keeping the synthetic phosphorus down, but nitrogen and water are areas I've skimped on too much in the past, I think. I'm basically going to keep pouring on the fertilizer with this experimental plant until I kill it. Stay tuned! Friday, June 13 View Page Now that school's out (I teach high school, for those who don't know me) I can get serious about growing pumpkins! Time to install my watering system and get the tea brewer going!! Friday, June 13 View Page To do list: (I might as well write it here) 1. Spray plants with baking soda and milk solution to prevent powdery mildew. Repeat every three weeks. 2. Spray with Malathion to keep away little bugs that always attack my leaves about this point 3. Hook up watering system--under leaf canopy Dan mini-sprinklers; overhead, Holland's yellow whizzers. Ball joints to enable alternating watering--overhead day 1, under canopy day 2, etc. 4. Buy Mauzzi injector for watering system 5. Buy nifty triangular trenching tool Saturday, June 14 View Page On a positive note, both my 983.5 and 937.5 plants have little pumpkins at about 5' out--I just noticed them yesterday. Not that I'll want to pollinate that close to the stump, but it probably means that those plants will have plenty of female flowers, so I'll be able to pollinate whenever I feel the urge (hmm, "pollinate," "urge," I must be feeling sexually frustrated this morning!) Some of my leaves have holes chewed in them. What evil bug from Hell does this? I've got to get up to the patch ASAP to spray! First I've got to finish watching CareBears with my 5 year old, though. Got to keep those priorities straight! Sunday, June 15 View Page DIARY PAGES VIEWING ORDER. It was kind of amazing to see how much impassioned response we received on the "old way" vs. "new way" viewing order issue during the last 24 hours. Almost 100 people chimed in and Ken finally had to stop the madness before a religious war was started or I was tracked down and strung up on a tree. Wow. I had no idea my suggestion would receive so much negative response. It started getting so heated that I tried to start up a "fightthesmears.com" website but it was already taken! I'll look forward to the new viewing order option if Ken gets a chance to add it. Sunday, June 15 View Page Started brewing my first batch of tea this afternoon. This tea business is something I'm going to really get into. I might even get out a microscope and start looking at paramecium and other beasties. Fun. Sunday, June 22 View Page Just letting the pumpkins do their thing. Watering every two days. Decided not to spray with malathion or any other bug spray until things get worse as chemicals could impede growth Saturday, June 28 View Page Lots of work in the patch today. Set up the automatic watering system. Not quite on par with some of you out there (former NASA employees, etc), but I'm glad to finally have the thing on a timer. Heck, only 19.95 to buy a timer. Should have done this years ago! Plants are growing about 6" per day right now. Is that about right for the Pacific Northwest? A pumpkin opened at 6' today, so that vine is about 9' or so Tuesday, July 1 View Page Remember the backup 395 plant that I tried to kill with calcium nitrate to determine toxic levels of nitrogen? It surpassed my primary 395 plant! So, . . . more nitrogen next year for me. I haven't been using enough. We always tread the razor's edge between too much and not enough. Oh well. I decided not to give me main plants any more N since pollination time is coming up soon. Speaking of which, I've decided that it's more important to wait until the 10th of July and have 13-15 feet of vine behind my pumpkin than it would be to pollinate now at the 7' range. Again, hard to know what the right course of action is but . . . Well, let's put it this way: more plant is more power and a higher rate of growth. I'm waiting. But, NEXT year I'm going do everything in my power to get 15' of vine before June 25th. I like the idea of having my pumpkin (fruit) growing duriing the longest days of the year Tuesday, July 1 View Page We've decided to take a 2-3 week vacation starting July 17th so that means that I've made a conscious decision to focus more on raising kids and less on growing pumpkins. They will only be 3,4 and 9 once and Seaworld beckons. Tuesday, July 1 View Page But I should add that I've got the automatic watering system going and all pumpkins will be started and have vines positioned by then! We're still hoping for a personal best in the Isom patch Wednesday, July 2 View Page Applied another batch of compost tea. Watered 1 hour overhead. Thursday, July 3 View Page I'm resisting the temptation to pollinate at 8' tomorrow. It's the classic dilemma: do I pollinate now so that the fruit has an extra week or ten days or do I wait until the 12th or so when I have females open at 13' or so? I'm going to wait. I need a real powerhouse behind that pumpkin (I've never had a fruit farther out than 11' and I figure that's why I haven't grown a real monster (we all have to cling to some excuse or other, right?!)). My goal was to set those babies at 15' out by the 30th of June, but that will have to be next year. An earlier set would give me ten extra days of growth (last ten days amounts to only about 50 pounds, usually) AND my summer days would be a few minutes longer, giving me a few more pounds. So, I've given up on 1600 pounds but I figure 1500 is still a possibility (yeah, right!). One thing's for sure, if my fruit isn't set at least 10' out I won't be growing a 1200 pounder or more(I can't think of any that have ever been less than 10')so I'm waiting Thursday, July 3 View Page I should also add that the days and nights are perfect temperatures right now so I'll get the extra 5' of vine pretty fast. I put a stake in the ground at 5:00 pm on July 2nd and I'll let you all know when I've got the extra 5'. I'm guessing that it will be a new record rate for me--let's say 8" per day or 8 days for 5'. We'll see (my vines have been growing more like 5-6" per day recently and in Oregon we don't usually see the amazing rate of growth some of you do where the nights are warm. Thursday, July 3 View Page Watered overhead from 3 am to 4:30. Root zone should be good and soaked with two waterings withing 24 hours. Will move watering time to 4 am to avoid powdery mildew. I'm going to water more starting now. My vines look skinnier than usual and I'm wondering if it's because I don't have enough water. Grrrr. Saturday, July 5 View Page Gave each plant 1/2 cup calcium nitrate--the leaves weren't looking green enough. Thursday, July 10 View Page Watering every day now that it is hot. Hopefully will get under the canopy watering system set up in a day or two and will alternate every day (sorry if I've already said that two or three times. Just reminding myself). I liked Cliff Warren's question about what we're all planning on doing to anticipate disaster before it strikes. Here's a copy of my posting to the message board with one addition--the growing season's that ended in disaster because I did not follow my own advice! Great post, Cliff. I've been trying to address this a bit in my diary. Here's my short list: 1. (2006) Milk and or baking soda every three weeks starting now to prevent powdery mildew. 2. Merit or other bug zapper. 3. (1999)Sand or mill fabric under all competition fruit (these are pretty obvious--sorry) 4. (2007) Prop up vine so there is no stem stress. This might have caused my 1020 EST off the 998.6 to go down last year. 5. (2005)Perfectly balance tall fruit early on so it grows upright. 6. (1999)Water heavily every other day to prevent disease (I have to admit that I'm watering every day right now, though) 7. Cover fruit with white sheet only for duration of season. Cover small fruit, too 8. (1999)Move vine instead of pumpkin when positioning 9. (every year)Consider pollinating farther out on the main vine before July 12 to see if that fruit grows faster. 10. (every year) Calendar in, in advance, all plans for fertilizing, watering, bug and fungus control (if you're spacey like I am) Thursday, July 10 View Page Sorry about that apostrophe "s" in "season's" Thursday, July 10 View Page Fruit shape on 1041.5 McKie and 1689 looks great--nice and long and they are the kind of yellow that should turn to orange beauties later on. Yay!! 937.5 Isom fruits are all too spherical for my taste but the girls will like it (future Cinderella carriage) Sunday, July 13 View Page Crosses made this year: Today, 983.5 Isom (1370X1225) X 1041.5. Yesterday, 1041.5 McKie X 1689. 937.5 Isom (1446.5 X 998.6) X 983.5 Isom. 1689 Jutras X 983.5 Isom (7/4) and will make my last pollination tomorrow morning, a second fruit further out on the 1689. That one will be 1689 X 1041.5 Tuesday, July 15 View Page Was discouraged to see that a free range chicken decided to peck my strong growing perfectly shaped pumpkin on the 1689. This morning I was feeling despondent and about to give up, tonight reason has returned and I've decided to put in a couple of hours tomorrow to get things as ready as possible before our road trip Thursday, July 17 View Page Well, I'm doing what most pumpkin growers would consider unthinkable--leaving my patch for three weeks in July and August. And I haven't even decided which pumpkins to cull! The pumpkin gods always toy with us and the earlier sets on the 1041.5 and 1689 and perfect shapes and look so temptingly larger than the ones farther out . . . but, I'm pretty sure that I'll have one of my friends watching the patch chop those babies off in a week to twelve days. The 1689 pumpkin is basketball sized (11" long, 8" wide--sorry, no tape measure, just flying by the seat of my pants and estimating measurements by the width of my hand (9 1/2 inch hand) and was pollinated on the 4th of July. So, 13 days old and only a basketball. Not going to win Half Moon Bay with that, probably, plus that's the one the crazed chicked decided to peck. I'll see how big the two pumpkins 6' further down the vine are in ten days and make a decision (but those ones already have the mill fabric under them, so the decision is pretty much made). The 1041.5 pumpkins are a tougher choice: a perfect shaped pumpkin (long and no signs of flattening out or bulging in the blossom end) and the other pumpkin is 2 1/2 farther down the main vine. That one has a shape that is basically the same but shows (or is my mind playing tricks on me?) early signs of possibly flattening out or bulging in the blossom end. We'll see, but, again the second one has the mill fabric under it! All vines were buried today and watered in and the timer is set to water every morning from 4:30 to 6:09. That's quite a bit of water but, hey, I am growing giant pumpkins, after all, and some excesses can be in order (sometimes--will monitor this) Thursday, July 17 View Page My vines seem to be growing 5 or 6" per day, so in 18 days I should have another 8 feet of vine in all directions. We'll see. Once the pumpkins start taking the energy of the plant the vine growth slows down dramatically, and that's about when that change should take place. According to the Pap Wallace timetable, I have ten days to terminate side vines. I've already terminated three side vines on each side (at 13') and in ten days (27th) it will be time to terminate three more. All of the others I will let grow indefinitely and will bend around to head down the patch in the direction of the main vine. That's what I did last year (did it will all vines, actually) and this year's approach will be pretty much what Don Young did last year. Thursday, July 17 View Page If my quick calculation is correct, my pumpkins set on the 15th of July will have 81 days to grow until weigh off (Canby) and more time if I wait for HMB or Terminator. I can accept that. Most pumpkins only pack on--what? 5% from days 80 to 95 (and that's in the Northwest where they don't really ever stop growing (mine never have, anyway). It's worth it to go with the 15' set on the 1689 plant rather than the 9' set that's 11 days younger. Monday, August 4 View Page BACK FROM VACATION. Seaworld, Disneyland, Zion National Park and Park City were all great. I was going to say, "were great BUT the pumpkin plants suffered. . . " I've decided that I'm not going to allow myself any "buts", though, as they are a crutch. Instead, I'll just accept that I'll only have time to do a good job with one plant (the 1041.5) and the rest of my time will be spent with family this year. The 1041.5 pumpkin was leading the pack when I headed up to the patch after sixteen days away (that's always a very exciting moment)and the 1041.5 was the only pumpkin that didn't let me down. It was 63" in circumference at, what, day 18, I think, so that makes it the fastest growing pumpkin I've ever had. I just got back from burying vines on the 1041 and the 1689 plants (1689 is bigger but only 88" at day 29, so quite a bit behind as far as growth rate goes). Plants are ready for a shot of fish fertilizer and it's time to spray milk and baking soda. Monday, August 4 View Page "It's worth it to go with the pumpkin set farther out on the 1689 plant . . ." Yeah, it WOULD have been. If I had been truly committed to that thinking I would have ripped the earlier pumpkin off the plant before I left on vacation. As it was, the later set never developed at the right rate because the pumpkin upstream was sapping all the energy. Oh, well. Going with the 7/4 pollination pumpkin on the 1689 even though it's only about 9' out (that's the one that's at 88" on day 30. Friday, August 8 View Page 1041.5 McKie at 201"OTT today, August 8th. 181 pounds according to old chart (I go by the old charts since most of my pumpkins tend to weigh a bit light since I try to grow orange pumpkins and most of them are light). So, 1041 was pollinated 7/12 and that means that it hit day 20 on August 1st and it was right at 60" circum (earlier I had thought that it was ahead of this pace but I was wrong)and today, on day 27, the measurements were 58.5- 56.5 - 86 =201OTT. I'm not sure if that's a PB for me or not, but its the best I've got this year. Saturday, August 9 View Page PGVG patch tour tomorrow, so it will be exciting to see some truly big pumpkins. I'm excited to hear how Thad and Steve's pumpkins measure up to their 1524 and 1408 from last year at this point. Monday, August 11 View Page Tour was great. Everybody seems to have pumpkins ahead of last year's pace, so that's exciting. I'll measure in the morning to see if I'm ahead of pace (mine, not theirs!)too Monday, August 11 View Page Kahuna's new benchmarks for 1200 pounds are interesting (and intimidating). I'm behind that, obviously, but am comforting myself a bit with the thought that up here in the Pacific Northwest we have more than average September weight gains, so I'm thinking that I could be about 5% behind Kahuna's numbers and still hit 1200#. That means that I should still be around 107 on day 30, though, so . . . now I have two hopes: 1) that I can pour on the fertilizer and water and catch up or 2) that the 1041.5 McKie will weigh heavy! Tuesday, August 12 View Page 1041.5 McKie hit day 30 today and I feel ok about where it is: 99-65-61 = 224OTT or 244 pounds. I sure wanted to make it to at least 100 circumference today, but I'm pouring it on and look forward to a good 10 days and will report at day 40. The skin on this one still looks baby smooth. Tuesday, August 12 View Page 1041.5 McKie 229" 1689 Jutras 267" 937.5 Isom 237" 983.5 Isom 5" 983.5 pumpkin is not developing so I'll chop it and let the one pollinated yesterday take over. So, is there a weigh off in November?! Because of slower growing rates, I added 2 cups fertilizer to each plant this morning. Slow release 24 N 6 P 8 K 6 S 3 Fe. Good stuff, in my opinion. Thursday, August 14 View Page It looks like my fertilizer is making a difference. Weight gains were up today. I'll report in a day or two since a one day gain isn't too accurate. Somewhere in the 7-8" OTT gain, though, so that's better. I watered under the leaf canopy a bit today to get the spots that have been missed by the overhead. Saturday, August 16 View Page Saturday morning measurements: 1689 296 OTT = 526 pounds. Looking nice, just like my 1020 off the 998.6 last year (which is interesting considering that Jutras's 1689 didn't look like that, but . . . Will be very orange, large shoulders. 1041.5 255 OTT = 349 pounds. Still looks very young, which is exciting (soft skin). Will be my biggest pumpkin 937.5 256 OTT = 353 pounds. Very round, tall, and orange. Not very long and too indented at blossom but will get oohs and ahhs at the weigh off 983.5 11 OTT = 2 ounces. We'll find out how an August 12th pollination turns out! All other pumpkins are off the plant now. 1020 Isom 45" circumference yesterday according to my daughter, Nadia. Very nice shape and will be very orange. Only 36 sq. ft. for this plant. Tuesday, August 19 View Page Growing my 983.5 pumpkin right on a pallet. Mill fabric over a pallet, that is. Somebody recommended that I try putting plywood under the mill fabric so that the ground under the pumpkin stays flat. I figure this will work, too. Tuesday, August 19 View Page Can't get my watering system to keep the ground uniformly moist. Have been spending a fair amount of time watering by hand under the leaf canopy. Hopefully the time investment will pay off Wednesday, August 20 View Page Big storm coming through so I figured it's a good time to hit the plants with calcium nitrate (nitrogen won't burn off in the heat). Gave each plant one cup, maybe only 3/4. The thing is, I succumbed to the moron principle today like many growers do when they're not on track to win their weigh off: I figured if a little fertilizer is good, more is better, so I put more-on until I added too much (I'm guessing). In addition to the 1 cup of cano3, I put on one quart of slow release 24N-6P-4K-6S-3Fe. We'll see what happens. My three day growth for the 1041.5 was still under 30 pounds per day (more like 20 or so)so I went drastic. I probably should have really poured on the liquid kelp, but I'm out of it right now. My personal best (1038) was grown using granular fertilizer, too. Thursday, August 21 View Page 1689 Jutras = 305OTT 937.5 Isom = 280OTT 1041.5 McKie= 277OTT Applied compost tea today. Turned on heating cable for 1041 and 1689 plants Sunday, August 24 View Page Last 8 days only 16lbs/day for the 1041.5 and only 11 for the 1689, so the downward spiral has begun. Oh well. I realize now that water was my big problem--that dumb watering system of mine just didn't keep the soil wet at the edges of the patch (only a 10' diameter circle around the stump stayed sufficiently moist). It's not like I didn't try. I set up an entire under-the-canopy system but just didn't have nearly enough flow for it to run (100' of hose really cuts down the flow. I'll measure it and report later, but that's my problem.) I really hope to go with the pressurized system next year and the 1100 gallon tank. It will be overhead watering with lawn sprinklers the rest of the way this season. I hope for at least 200 pounds per pumpkin in Sept. but that will still leave me, well, not that great. Bummer. Here are today's measurements. 1041.5 McKie day 43: 125-78-83 = 286 OTT or 479 pounds 1689 Jutras day 51: 144-86-83 = 313OTT or 614 pounds 937.5 Isom day 46 (I think): 286OTT--so the McKie caught up 983.5 Isom day 12: 24-18-17=59OTT or 6 pounds. I'm glad that I've got a late fruit set so that now I can try to remedy my water problem and see it this one can grow faster. In 28 days it will hit day 40 on the 21st of Sept and if it's packing on 35 pounds per day, I'll know what my problem was. If not, at least I'll be able to spend the winter trying to figure out why I can't grow a big pumpkin! Friday, August 29 View Page 1041 measurements = 299OTT today 1689 = 325OTT Automated watering system seems to have gone on the fritz. It's tough growing pumpkins at a remote location because I don't see what's going on every day. I'll water like crazy tomorrow, but I have to say I'm not sweating it too much. Friday, September 5 View Page 1689 still leading the pack and might for the duration of the season. 1689: 334OTT 1041: 311OTT 937.5: 309