Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 79 Entries. Monday, May 17 View Page Time to start my 2010 diary. This is my 688 from last year grown off the 1207 Young. Monday, May 17 View Page My line up this year is 1129 Pierpont, 1199 Werner, 1116 Traylor and 1026 Young. Tuesday, May 18 View Page This is the 1129 Pierpont. This plant is incredible. Started on April 17 and put into the garden on April 27.The vine is about 12" long with leafs that are 14" X 14". Tuesday, May 18 View Page This is the 1199 Werner. I need some advise on this one. It started with 3 cots. Then the first true leaf turn all the way to the left. Now it grew two leafs together in the center. The plant seems to be some kind of mutant. I started a 1462 Gibson right away for a back up. Could someone tell me if they have ever seen this before and if I should pull it for the Gibson plant??? Tuesday, May 18 View Page Another pic of the 1199 Werner. Tuesday, May 18 View Page This is the 1116 Traylor. This plant has been very aggressive from the start. Started on April 24 put into the garden on May 5. Tuesday, May 18 View Page The 1026 Young is on the left and the 1424 Werner is on the right. Tuesday, May 25 View Page Here is a view of the patch. Love sitting on my deck looking over the garden. Tuesday, May 25 View Page Here is the 1129 Pierpont. Vine is just over 3 feet and secondarys are just over one foot. Great growing plant. Never had one this size this early. Tuesday, May 25 View Page Another view of the 1129. Tuesday, May 25 View Page This is the 1199 Werner. I pulled from my patch yesterday because it was double vining. Very aggesive growing and was my 2nd biggest. I put a 1462 Gibson in place of it. Tuesday, May 25 View Page This is a close up view of the 1199 double vine. Tuesday, May 25 View Page 1116 Traylor. Nice plant just starting to take off. Tuesday, May 25 View Page 1462 Gibson. Sunday, June 6 View Page This is the 1129 Pierpont. The main is at 7'10" today. This plant is the biggest I have ever had at this time. Sunday, June 6 View Page This is the 1026 Young. Big leaves and a huge stump but very little vine. The vine is growing extremly slow but has the biggest stump of any of my plants. Sunday, June 6 View Page The 1462 Gibson is on the left and the 1424 Werner is on the right. Not sure yet which one to pull but need to real soon. Both are growing very good. Sunday, June 6 View Page This is the 1116 Traylor. Sad day last Monday when i broke the main. It was about 2' out when "STUPID" me try to put some pressure on it to get it to lay down. I know better too. The new main I am trianing is coming out of the stump and looks as good as the main was. It just hit the 2' mark today. Lost about a week because of it. Sunday, June 6 View Page 1116 Traylor Thursday, June 10 View Page Back view of the 1129. Those secondarys are just over 7' each. Thursday, June 10 View Page Side view of the 1129. Just went over 9' today. Very easy to grow plant with lots of vigor. Thursday, June 10 View Page 1026 Young. Everything about this plant is big and ridged. The main now has a kink in it and wants to grow off to the side. It is soo thick it will not bend very easily. Never had one like this and not sure how to tend it. Thursday, June 10 View Page Here is a close up of the main with the kink. I put a lot of dirt under it and made a ramp with the dirt for the main to slowly come down to have support. Thursday, June 10 View Page Here is an overhead pic of the 1116. I broke the main just past the stump 11 days ago. The new main just hit 3' today. Thursday, June 10 View Page On the right is the 1462 and on the left is the 1424. Still not decided which one yet to pull. I am leaning toward growing the 1424. Thursday, June 10 View Page This is my own 688 seed from last year. Monday, June 21 View Page 1129 Pierpont at 13'6". Secondary's at 12'. Should be pollinating the 1st one at 11' in a couple of days. Monday, June 21 View Page Here is the baby. Can't wait to get started. Monday, June 21 View Page 1026 Young at 5'. Still a slow grower but everything is big on this plant. Monday, June 21 View Page 1116 Traylor at 7'. Can you tell which one is the main. Funny growing plant after I broke the main. The main is the one to the left. There is a vine growing straight back at the same length and the secondary's are also the same length. I am going to let the vine out the back also grow in a christmas tree pattern. Monday, June 21 View Page 1462 Gibson at 3'4". Monday, June 21 View Page My own 688 Gaboury at 3'6". Wednesday, June 23 View Page Pollinated my first one of the season on the 1129 at 11'. It was a 5 lobe and used the 1116 Traylor. Will have another one at 13' by this weekend on the same plant. Sunday, June 27 View Page Pollinated the 2nd one on the 1129 today at 13'. Will have to be considered "open" as I was at camp when it opened. I got to it at 7:30 am but nothing was tied off. Tuesday, June 29 View Page This is a view from the back of the 1129. Tuesday, June 29 View Page A view from the front of the 1129. This plant is at 18' with two pumpkins pollinated. Tuesday, June 29 View Page This is the first one I pollinated on 6/23 at 11' on the 1129. Tuesday, June 29 View Page This is the 2nd one I pollinated at 13' on the 1129. Tuesday, June 29 View Page This one is 15' and should be opening in a couple days. Tuesday, June 29 View Page 1116 Traylor at 10' Tuesday, June 29 View Page 1462 Gibson at 8' Tuesday, June 29 View Page 1026 Young at 11' Tuesday, June 29 View Page Front view of 1026 Young. Secondarys are really starting to take off. Getting between 5" and 7" per day of growth. Tuesday, June 29 View Page My own 688 at 9' Friday, July 2 View Page Pollinated the 3rd one today at 15' on the 1129. This will be my last one on this plant that I pollinate. Wednesday, July 7 View Page Pollinated my first one on the 1026 Young July 5 with the 1129. 6 Lober. Wednesday, July 7 View Page Pollinated the first one on the 1116 Traylor with the 1129 on July 6. 4 lober. Friday, July 9 View Page Pollinated the first one on the 688 yesterday 7/8 with the 1026. 4 lobes at 10'. Thursday, July 22 View Page Here is the 1129 at day 23. OTT 219" 229 lbs. Thursday, July 22 View Page Whats that hiding under that blanket. That blanket is made from 100% burn proof material. The company I work for makes material for all the aerospace companys like NASA, Boeing, Learjet. This was off quality cloth so I thought nothing is too good for my pumpkins and put it to good use. Thursday, July 22 View Page Here it is....... the 1026 Young. OTT is 176" 125 lbs. Thursday, July 22 View Page The 688 is growing good. This plant gets nothing from me. I do not water or bury vines. I do weed it but that is it. Thursday, July 22 View Page Here is the pumpkin on the 688. It is around 50 lbs. Thursday, July 22 View Page 1116 Traylor at day 12. 29" C Thursday, July 22 View Page The 1462 Gibson at day 14. 33" C Thursday, July 22 View Page Not a empty spot in the garden....a sea of green. Tuesday, August 3 View Page this is my 688 at OTT 245" EST 318 lbs Tuesday, August 3 View Page This is the 1026 Young. This pumpkin has been putting on 29 lbs per day for the last 11 days. Today's numbers are 287" OTT EST 502 lbs. Tuesday, August 3 View Page The 1129 Pierpont at 294" OTT EST 539 Lbs. This pumpkin is really starting to turn orange. Hope it keeps going. Has been doing 25 lbs per day for the past week. Tuesday, August 3 View Page The 1462 Gibson at 219" OTT EST 229 lbs. Tuesday, August 3 View Page The 1116 Traylor at 190" OTT EST 152 lbs. Wednesday, August 11 View Page Lost my biggest pumpkin yesterday to a blossom end split. The pumpkin was on the 1026 Young. It was 36 days old and taping 725 lbs. Never had one grow so fast. The day before it put on 50 lbs in a 24 hour period. I filled the hole with toilet ring wax, put a layer of saran wrap over that, then another layer of wax over that. Hopefully I can keep it growing. It was over my personal best of 696 lbs. Monday, August 30 View Page 1026 Young at around 940 lbs. This is the one that split on the blossom at 725 lbs. I patched the hole and has still been growing up to this past week but I think the end is near. No growth for the past 5 days. I will wait a few more days and cut it up if it dosn't grow anymore. Monday, August 30 View Page Here is a look at the end that split. It is close to 3" wide in the center. Monday, August 30 View Page 1129 Pierpont at around 900 lbs. The growth has slowed way down to 6 lbs a day. Monday, August 30 View Page 1462 Gibson around 860 lbs. Still doing 25 lbs a day. Monday, August 30 View Page 1116 Traylor around 525 lbs. This is my ugly pumpkin this year. You can put your whole arm under this thing where it grew up into itself. Very deformed pumpkin. Monday, August 30 View Page Yesterday was our first weigh off this season at Windsor Fair. The fair record was 843 lbs set two years ago. This year a 2nd year grower came in and crushed the old record with a pumpkin weighing 1094 lbs. A big CONGRATULATIONS to Chip Button for his monster. Ed Pierpont also had a big one weighing in at 1058 lbs. These two guys put in the work and deserve all the credit for it. In the picture Ed's is on the left and Chip's is on the right of it. Here is a link to the local paper artical. http://www.kjonline.com/news/windsor-fair-opens-with-big-fun-and-even-bigger-pumpkins_2010-08-29.html Saturday, September 25 View Page Last Friday 9/17 was our weighoff and I made a personal best with the 1129 Pierpont. The OTT was 353" (923) but it came in 11% heavy at 1012.5 lbs. My first one over 1000 lbs. I couldn't be happier. I hope my other one goes heavy. Will find out next week. Saturday, October 2 View Page Here is the 1462 Gibson fruit loaded and ready to head for the weigh off on Saturday. Saturday, October 2 View Page Also had the 1116 Traylor loaded on the right. Monday, October 4 View Page They had over 80 fruit show up to be weighed. There was a line up the road waiting when we got there. Monday, October 4 View Page Look at all the fruits. We knew it was going to be a long day. Monday, October 4 View Page There were some big ones coming in. Monday, October 4 View Page look at these beauties grown by Ed Pierpont. Monday, October 4 View Page Here is a group with the top 6 growers all sharing some growing tips. Starting in the back going from left to right is Hiram Watson, Chip Button, and me. In the front from left to right is Bill Rondonis, Unknown, Ed Pierpont, and his brother Steve. Monday, October 4 View Page When mine hit the scales I couldn't believe it. A new personal best....1327.5 LBS. It was tapping 1230 lbs. I couldn't have been happier. What a great year it has been with two pumpkins over 1000 lbs. I couldn't have done it without the help from my good friend Ed Pierpont. Thank you Alan Gibson for a great seed. Monday, October 4 View Page Here is another good friend of mine Chip Button. He has had a great year. Look at this monster he showed up with....1458.5 LBS. This was his 3rd pumpkin this year over 1000 lbs. (1094 + 1180 + 1458.5) = 3732.5 lbs of pumpkins. I don't think anyone in this state has grown that many pounds in one year. Monday, October 4 View Page Here is the winner Ed Pierpont with a beauty weighing in at 1471 LBS grown off the 1161. I never seen one so orange and big together as this one was. Couldn't have happen to a better guy. He is one of the hardest working guys I know at growing these monsters.