Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 153 Entries. Saturday, February 10 View Page Watch out you guys!! I'm enlarging the pumpkin patch. Bigger plants...bigger pumpkins....right?   Wednesday, February 21 View Page Dave's super poop!! 5 yds turkey manure blended with 10 yds of garden blend consisting of peat, mushroom manure and sand. Also notice the 10 bags of perlite in the background to be blended in when cultivating. Beside the perlite is 2 yds of biochar. Will be learning how to use it properly at the convention this weekend.   Wednesday, February 21 View Page 10 for 10! Test germination of 10 - 5 year old seeds. Chan 1040's and Chan 988's. Have lots if anyone interested send me an email.   Monday, February 26 View Page My poop pile is working. As you can see the bare soil in the patch is 32F and the manure pile is chugging nicely at 44F. Had a great and informative time in Portland. Got to meet many of the "Greats" in pumpkin land with travelling buds Glenn and Scott. We're pumped and ready to grow!!!   Monday, March 12 View Page Pumpkin growers do better in Hawaii !   Monday, March 12 View Page Was able to drive on the soil today so I decided to sub soil. That's when you drag a long finger or rake through the ground to break up what's underneath. This doesn't get done enough even by professional farmers. Rake is in up position.   Monday, March 12 View Page Rake is down loosening soil at a depth of 16 inches.   Monday, March 12 View Page 15 yds of black gold spread throughout the gardens and pumpkin patch.   Thursday, March 22 View Page Manure has been spread but not cultivated. Its too early to cultivate in my patch as there is still a lot rain expected in the next month.   Sunday, March 25 View Page This is what 1 yard of biochar looks like. Good thing I bought 2 yards to do the whole patch.   Wednesday, April 4 View Page Desperate times calls for desperate measures!! The forecast was for a lot of serious rainfall in the near future so I'm trying to keep my soil drier by covering with my green house poly.   Thursday, April 19 View Page What a difference a day makes !!Spread the Perlite and cultivated the patch. I have cultivated the patch on this day for most seasons.   Friday, April 20 View Page Thanks to a fellow Canadian, Jody, for a great idea for setting out soil heating cables. This will simplify next season greatly. I always wanted to try 2 48 ft cables so that's what I have on a 6' x 6' piece of safety fencing.   Friday, April 20 View Page Heating cables buried and a little extra "goodness" to till into the planting area.   Friday, April 20 View Page Temperature of the soil today. This will give some idea of how the sun and soil heating cables are working.   Friday, April 20 View Page A little poly and we're done....for # 1.   Friday, April 20 View Page Soil is too dry!!!!   Friday, April 20 View Page TaDahhhhh!!! A house fit for a 2002 Tobeck.   Saturday, April 21 View Page More Perlite and cultivation.   Sunday, April 22 View Page Couldn't sleep last night. Causes were seed sprouting/rotting/ too old/sweaty armpit anxiety syndrome. However it was all for naught!! Woke up to these this morning. we're off to the races!   Sunday, April 22 View Page There was always something I didn't like about burying heat cables. I always think its a 10 min job but takes much longer. Today I figured out why. I had to dig 1 cu yard of soil just to bury the d**m cables...and then put all back in the hole!   Sunday, April 22 View Page I think hoop house # 2 is good enough for a Neptune 2008.   Wednesday, April 25 View Page One of the best garden tools in the shed. This little cultivator will loosen up the hardest of compacted soils. I used it in this planting hole as the soil was compacted at about 10 inches. I loosened up the soil and added a half bag of Promix. The heating cables were placed on top   Wednesday, April 25 View Page Heating cables on top of the Promix. Have never placed Promix so deep so it will be interesting to see how the plant grows.   Wednesday, April 25 View Page 420 CFM fan controlled by a thermostat but it couldn't keep up with the heat produced on this hot day. Door open and fan running full blast.Temperature reached 100 F !!   Thursday, April 26 View Page My grow op. All seeds are pretty much doing well except the 2002 Tobeck. What a disappointment. Had high hopes for all that 2145 McMullen testosterone.1803 Hoelke is the best with the 2008 Neptune a close second.   Sunday, April 29 View Page If you don't have 1 of these you need to get one! It gives you a reading of the strength of a solution in ppm's. The question is how much fertlizer should I use? Glenn (North Shore Boyz) gave me the idea to use a mild fertilizer solution on my starters. I have never added fertilizers to my starters as I thought Promix already had some. The starters have never looked better!   Sunday, April 29 View Page As you can see my fertilizer mix is 171 ppm's. In my 2 liter watering can I added 1/8th tsp 20-20-20 (because my wife always uses that for beautiful flowers). That gave me about 120 ppm (really only 100 because our water has 20 ppms of ?) then I added 1 tsp of liquid kelp to get a total of 171 ppm. This is a nice weak solution for tender plants. When the plants are in full swing I'm applying stuff at 1000-1200 ppm. Never had any burns. Cost of this ppm meter is about $30.   Wednesday, May 2 View Page Still too hot. Will need to open the other end.   Wednesday, May 2 View Page Getting the #2 patch ready for Janet to grow her prize winning Nana Rea 1327   Thursday, May 3 View Page Rea 1327 beauties. These are being started for the neighbors local weigh off. Thank you Nana!!   Thursday, May 3 View Page The germination stand is full.   Friday, May 4 View Page And you thought chopsticks were just eating!! Always have trouble training vine to grow nicely in the right direction. This year I've used the most convenient thing in the kitchen to start training the vine early.   Saturday, May 5 View Page Hoop 1 Neptune 2008 Planted May 2nd   Saturday, May 5 View Page Hoop 2 Hoelke 1803 Planted May 1st. Poor picture but you can see the burns. However its actually better than it looks and is growing.   Saturday, May 5 View Page Hoop 3 Chan 1043 Planted May 5th. Hoop 3 is much smaller than 1 or 2 so we'll see if all that work building big hoops is worth it in the end. Check it out Oct 15th   Thursday, May 10 View Page Compared my Neptune 2008 to previous years' pics on May 10th and we're pretty much right on schedule. However, the main vine seems to be a bit thicker than other years. The Hoelke 1803 and the Chan 1043 look very similar. Some how I always feel that I'm behind at this stage. It's hurry up and wait!   Friday, May 11 View Page Installed a flood light up a tree. Now I can work on the patch all night.   Friday, May 11 View Page It's great for closing the hoops after dark when you get home late.   Saturday, May 12 View Page This morning I thought I would post a pic of the Remay covering the hoop over the plant. It made a huge difference to stop the leaves from getting sunburnt. Thanks to Glenn for suggesting this as I was tunnel vision on increasing air circulation and trying to keep full sun on the plants. It's too hot !   Saturday, May 12 View Page I had a brain wave ! I searched for a light meter app on my Samsung smart phone and bingo !! The app is called Lux Light. You can read the time and you can see the reading. Research has suggested that 50,000 is ideal. We are twice that amount with new grenhouse poly. No wonder the leaves were burning.   Saturday, May 12 View Page This reading is at leaf level under the ReMay. Wow !...the intensity was cut in half...perfect! The reading in the previous post was taken also at leaf level for an accurate comparison.   Saturday, May 12 View Page And just to demonstrate the effectiveness of ReMay, you can see the shadow line in the soil. That just saved me a lot of money because shade cloth is very expensive. Cheers...that discovery was worth another beer.   Wednesday, May 16 View Page My son, Aaron's 39th birthday!! Pic of the Chan 1043.   Wednesday, May 16 View Page The Neptune 2008   Wednesday, May 16 View Page Hoelke 1803. All plants this year are very stocky. I hear that's a good trait in young plants. I placed the digital thermometer beside the primary vine for comparison.   Tuesday, May 22 View Page Thank you Nana Rea ! These are the starters of her 1327'S and 1134's for the neighbor's pumpkin challenge weigh off.   Tuesday, May 22 View Page It looks pretty ! Will it make any difference? These are Netafim overhead sprinklers. Stay tuned.   Sunday, May 27 View Page Can't remember the last day we had measurable rain here. Using more water than normal. I'm glad I plumbed 3 zones of Netafim. Even though they should be watering equally, I find that I need to give 1 of the plants a little extra water once in a while. Easy to do with 3 zones and not over saturating the other plants.   Sunday, May 27 View Page A week ago the Hoelke 1803 was limp and lying on the ground. I thought an animal had attacked it. Just a lack of water! This plant has been my most aggressive grower and it needed more water than the others.   Sunday, May 27 View Page The Neptune 2008. This is my thickest stockiest plant. Looks good. Great "bones" for the future.   Sunday, May 27 View Page This is the Chan 1043. All plants pretty much the same at this point. Also, this was the 1st day of vine burying...but only the main vine on all 3. All secondaries approximately 1 foot long.   Monday, May 28 View Page There was some discussion about patch shoes being an urban legend. Not true. I've been using "Twinkle Toes " since 2009!   Monday, June 4 View Page Plants are about the same length as previous years but much stockier robust.   Monday, June 4 View Page In other years I would foliar or drench the plants every 2nd or 3rd day. This year I have not given the plants any ferts since planting other than the nutrients in my vine burying mixture.   Monday, June 4 View Page Since all the plants are so happy I've sent in another soil sample for analysis to see what needs to be improved/tweeked before pollination. Interestingly the Patons are doing the same thing.   Wednesday, June 6 View Page As you can see that I haven't had my coffee or even woken up yet! But at 6 am I was happy playing with my new toy....a battery powered sprayer. Put it to good use by spraying the plants with a fungicide...bravo ws   Monday, June 18 View Page This the Neptune 2008. Its coming along nicely but as soon as the secondaries escaped the hoop house I started to get some sun burning on the exposed leaves. ReMay covering the poly on the hoop house was the perfect shading for all the plants. The Hoelke 1803 is in exactly the same size hoop house and is about 2 ft longer. For reference the hoop house is 14 x 20 ft.   Tuesday, June 19 View Page What a strange year! My largest plants at this date. My most females at this date. My earliest pollination at this date But, I have no open male flowers. Many thanks to Steve for some of his 1137 Rea flowers for pollinating the 1803 Hoelke. I'm off to Scott's at 5 am to pick up some flowers for the 2008 Neptune pollination this morning.   Wednesday, June 20 View Page It's interesting that every one of my females open at 7 am for that last 10 years. Since I had no open male flowers I needed to drive 50 miles at 5:30 am to harvest some from Scott's patch.   Wednesday, June 20 View Page Thanks for the Holland 2363 males !! So....2008 Neptune X 2363 Holland   Wednesday, June 20 View Page I just had to show you my blue berry plant. They have been amazing this year and are starting to ripen right now. We have been eating blue berries for 2 days.   Wednesday, June 20 View Page Last year the blue berries were hit hard by starlings. This year we're ready for them.   Saturday, June 23 View Page Chan 1043 X Neptune 2008 !st female on main vine   Tuesday, June 26 View Page Neptune 2008 x Hoelke 1803   Tuesday, June 26 View Page Hoelke 1803 x Neptune 2008 Both pollinations this morning at 19 ft.   Wednesday, June 27 View Page DAP7 Neptune 2008   Wednesday, June 27 View Page DAP 8 Hoelke 1803   Wednesday, June 27 View Page DAP Chan 1043   Wednesday, June 27 View Page Hoelke 1803 under the greenhouse. About 30 ft wide and 24 ft long. It's been my fastest and largest plant.....ever!   Wednesday, June 27 View Page My "new to me" method of vine burying. I used to place all the vines under the Netafim drip lines. This year I've allowed the vines to grow over them. A huge saving of time and energy. Then I generously cover the vines with a burying mixture and soak the mixture with a mixture of liquid kelp and yucca. The yucca is a surfactant that helps the water penetrate the soil easier. You can see the extra roots(looks like a bean sprout) coming out of the top of the vine. I try to cover them as soon as possible because they tend to dry up quickly.   Friday, July 6 View Page Chan 1043 #1 DAP 14   Friday, July 6 View Page Neptune 2008 DAP 11   Friday, July 6 View Page Hoelke 1803 DAP 18 Width 37 ft !   Monday, July 9 View Page Neptune #1 DAP 20 Circ 59   Monday, July 9 View Page Patch almost filled   Monday, July 9 View Page Correction Hoelke 1803 #1 DAP 20 Circ 59   Tuesday, July 10 View Page Neptune 2008 #1 DAP 20 Circ 54   Tuesday, July 10 View Page Chan 1043 stem starting to split. Fingers are crossed.   Tuesday, July 10 View Page Janet's Rea 1327 #2 Pollinated this morning with Neptune 2008   Thursday, July 12 View Page YESSSS !! there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow   Thursday, July 12 View Page Neptune 2008 #1 DAP 22 Circ 65 Neptune #2 culled. Still have #3 on the vine and will wait another few days to cull.   Thursday, July 12 View Page One Janet's amazing flower gardens.   Friday, July 13 View Page Chan 1043 #1 DAP 20 Circ 60 OTT 151   Monday, July 16 View Page Getting lots of leaf burn with these hot cloudless sunny days. I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier but just covering the young growing areas with some ReMay cloth really does the job. This pic shows the ReMay right after I've watered with the overhead system. Water goes right through so no need to remove it for watering. I've been putting it on in the morning before it gets hot and removing it after the sun passes.   Monday, July 16 View Page Another one of Janet's beautiful flower beds.   Thursday, July 19 View Page Hoelke 1803 x Chan 1339 DAP 30 Ott 247 Weight 338   Friday, July 20 View Page The white ghost. Healthiest looking plant with the smallest kin. Neptune 2008 DAP 30 Circ 75 OTT 178   Monday, July 23 View Page Chan 1043 DAP 30 Ott 253 Weight 362   Monday, July 23 View Page Sunrise in the patch. This the Hoelke 1803 covered with ReeMay. I used to build a sun cover over each pumpkin and that was difficult on the plant around the pumpkin and my back. This is so much easier and I have never had such clean beautiful flawless skins. Easy to manage and dries very very quickly.   Sunday, July 29 View Page 1803 Hoelke DAP 40 Circ 135 Ott 309 Wt 647   Sunday, July 29 View Page My new (1 week old) ReeMay blanket. I've been using pieces of ReeMay to cover the pumpkins this year with great success. So I asked Janet to sewed 3 layers together of 10' x 10'. It doesn't retain water and dries very quickly even though my overhead irrigation system wets it at least once a day. Its very light and I have never had scratch free pumpkins until this year. It blocks the harsh sun that we've had this year and the skin is as smooth as a babies b*m.   Monday, July 30 View Page Last night the dew point equaled the night time temperature. That's the perfect scenario for powdery mildew to grow and that it did last night. Each of 4 plants got 1 tbsp. Bravo in 2 gallons water through the Ryobi power sprayer. Also saw a lot of aphids so Merit will sprayed soon.   Monday, July 30 View Page Neptune 2008 DAP 40 No change since DAP 32.....pumpkin and the plant are perfect but no change for 8 days. It's a goner!! Backups were removed on DAP 23 and 24 so I pollinated another 4 days ago.   Tuesday, July 31 View Page A pic of Janet's patch growing the 1327 Rea. DAP 20 Ott 156   Thursday, August 2 View Page "The Beast" Chan 1043 DAP 40 Circ 133 Ott 313 Wt 617   Wednesday, August 8 View Page Hoelke 1803 DAP 50 Circ 149 Ott 341   Thursday, August 9 View Page Janet's beautiful Rea   Thursday, August 9 View Page has a stem split !!   Thursday, August 9 View Page This is the Dr Glenn Dixon stem surgery technique. Hope it works. Will keep you posted.   Friday, August 10 View Page 12 hrs after surgery and the crack is opening up as planned. It put on 11 lbs in the last 12 hrs which is a good sign that the pumpkin is still alive.   Saturday, August 11 View Page The stem split on the Rea. 1) surgery on day of split 2) 3 days post surgery Also developed another split on opposite side   Saturday, August 11 View Page 2nd stem split on the Rea showing the cuts made to stop further damage. Must be working...it gained 25 lbs yesterday.   Sunday, August 12 View Page The saga of the splits. Gained 22 lbs last night and splits are opening wider.   Tuesday, August 14 View Page "The Crack" It's amazing that this crack is only 5 days old!! but shows the importance of early treatment. It's still gaining weight.   Tuesday, August 14 View Page Nice roots on a secondary demonstrating the importance of well cultivated loose soil, good vine burying and a good vine burying mixture.   Wednesday, August 15 View Page Crack is 1 inch wide and the pumpkin averaged 23 lbs each night for 2 days. New cracks are developing on the stem and will be watched closely. DAP 37 OTT 258   Wednesday, August 15 View Page My attempt to keep rain and irrigation water from entering the hollow stem.   Wednesday, August 15 View Page Chan 1043 Picture is today DAP 56 OTT DAP 50 349 (forgot to post DAP 50)   Friday, August 17 View Page The plastic cover created some condensation so I replaced that with a fan. Seems to look better. Still gaining.   Friday, August 17 View Page A rare look inside a pumpkin !!   Saturday, August 18 View Page Hoelke 1803 DAP 60 Ott 364   Saturday, August 18 View Page Rea 1327 DAP 40 Ott 266 This is the pumpkin with the massive split. Thank you Glenna !   Monday, August 20 View Page The saga of the split stem continues. The new stem split can be seen through the original crack on the right side.   Monday, August 20 View Page You can see the super sharp knife blade I used to make a new slit through the stem to release any pressure that may be building up. Got my fingers crossed....again !   Monday, August 20 View Page This morning 12 hrs after making the cut you can see the skin has opened. Stay tuned.   Wednesday, August 22 View Page All 3 stem splits still widening but the kin is still alive and packing the weight on.   Wednesday, August 22 View Page Re stem splits: all cuts and splits dusted with sulphur powder Chan 1043 DAP 60 Ott 372   Tuesday, August 28 View Page Hoelke 1803 DAP 70 Ott 371 Our cool/cold evenings are really slowing this one down.   Tuesday, August 28 View Page Rea 1327 What a beauty....eh? DAP 50 Ott 296.....and growing well.   Tuesday, August 28 View Page More stem splits on the Rea since the last posting. It's definitely my personal best/worst split stem! Amazingly it's my fastest growing pumpkin!   Tuesday, August 28 View Page Same pic...right side up   Wednesday, September 5 View Page The Rea DAP 58 Ott 307   Wednesday, September 5 View Page The Rea's stem.....amazing eh?   Wednesday, September 5 View Page The Hoelke DAP 78 Ott 381   Wednesday, September 5 View Page The Chan DAP 74 Ott 389   Monday, September 17 View Page And the splits go on....sounds like a song. Rea is still growing. Amazing ...eh? The Chan and Hoelke are too difficult to measure when growth is so slow or not happening at all. Have placed sticks beside each to monitor growing. Maybe Hoelke is still growing but Chan has stopped.   Friday, September 21 View Page There just isn't any more room for more cracks!!!!!   Saturday, September 22 View Page Rea DAP 75 Ott 321 and still growing !!!   Sunday, September 23 View Page No pictures of the Hoelke and Chan because they look the same.   Sunday, September 23 View Page .…..BUT they're still growing !!!! Hoelke DAP 96 Ott 387 Chan 1043 DAP 92 Ott 399   Tuesday, September 25 View Page Ahhhh….ain't that cute !!! This what happens when you have great seeds( thank you Glenna) , a lot of cow s**t, a lot of sun, a little water and very little attention. Notice the lack of leaves and the abundance of weeds...lol. Farmer Jim and his band of merry growers have done it again. These 2 kins have a guessimated weight of 500 lbs each ! The largest of the gang who all grew Rea 1327's is about 700lbs. All are bright orange.   Wednesday, October 3 View Page The new lifter worked like a charm(thanks for the straps Lee). Do you think the tractor is big enough?..lol The Hoelke had a perfectly flat bottom so high hopes for a heavy weight at Krause Berry Farm on Sat Oct 6th.   Wednesday, October 3 View Page A very pretty Rea ! Bottom had a huge dome so I'm thinking it will go light. Kids just love giant pumpkins...don't they?   Monday, October 8 View Page A perfect day at the Krause Berry Farm weigh off especially for Janet whose pumpkin was chosen for the Howard Dill Award. Janet started out wanting to grow a pumpkin all by herself with no help from me. Her only criteria was to grow a bright orange pumpkin for the driveway. She said....."size doesn't matter" !!!She also thinks I suffer from OCD and spend way too much time babying my kins. So here is her secret to growing a Howard Dill winner. July 10 was DAP 1...up to that point she fertilized once a week with 20-20-20. ( 1 tbsp. / gallon drench) July 29 she fertilized with 1 1/2 cups 20-20-20 Aug 18 1 cup TKO (0-29-26) Sept 3 2 cups 20-20-20 That's it! She uses 20-20-20 for all her flowers and she said I'm going to use it for the pumpkin. How much of her success was pure luck? How much was skill? She trained the primary and secondary vines and removed all tertiaries and female flowers. Maybe a great way to simplify the growing process for a novice.   Monday, October 8 View Page A great day for me as well. A personal best of 1379 lbs... good enough to place 2nd at the Krause Berry Farm weigh off with a Hoelke 1803. After attending the convention in Portland, I quickly realized that the top growers worked extremely hard to achieve their huge results. So my motto for growing this year was " what more can I do to grow a really big one". I'm exhausted! but worth it at the same time. The good news is that there is still another bigger kin still growing in the patch. It's a Chan 1043 that I hope to take to the Terminator Weigh off   Monday, October 8 View Page Many thanks to Glenna Rea and Ryan Hoelke for the great seeds. As I asked Cindy one time for her number tip on growing big ones and her reply was "genetics, genetics, genetics". Thanks to my growing buddies Glenn Dixon and Scott Carley and to everyone else I contacted by email to ask for advice. Every one of you gave me valuable tips and tricks without hesitation. Thanks to Kirstin Carley for all her hard work organizing our weighoff.   Friday, October 12 View Page Getting ready for the long drive to the Terminator. New extra large pallet 5 ft x 4 ft to carry the big one.   Friday, October 12 View Page We have had a phenomenal October with warm afternoons every day. The Chan 1043 is still growing.   Saturday, October 13 View Page Glenna you'll love this! All 1327 Rea's. Farmer Jim's weigh off Friday October 12th.   Saturday, October 13 View Page The boys handballing 400 pounders !!   Saturday, October 13 View Page Great fun, lots of beer and hotdogs made for a perfect Friday afternoon. And btw guess what the 1st prize was....a case of beer!! Now the boys want to grow 2 plants each. We've got them hooked!...lol.   Wednesday, October 24 View Page Congratulations to Steve for his huge win as "Grower of the Year" !!! Congratulations and thanks to the PGVG for hosting an amazing event at Tualatin Oregon. Jim Sherwood and his band of merry growers were super organized, friendly and generous. What a show at the regatta!! So, once again thanks from my wife Janet and I for really wonderful weekend of silliness and fun.   Wednesday, October 24 View Page We had high hopes for the biggest pumpkin I've ever grown....   Wednesday, October 24 View Page ...but it turned out to be an airbag. Having said that it was a very successful growing year that gave us a 2nd, 4th, 6th and a Howard Dill award. So the Chan 1363 and the Chan 1379 both broke my previous PB of 1339 lbs.   Wednesday, October 24 View Page Floating the giants.   Wednesday, October 24 View Page Getting the "boats" ready.   Wednesday, October 24 View Page Let the race begin!   Wednesday, October 24 View Page ...and the best decorated pumpkin/boat is Cindy's floating tropical island !! Also take note of the 2 person boats!! These get a head start because they're like "paddling the Titanic".   Monday, October 29 View Page My job is done!!   Thursday, November 1 View Page Cinderella is on her way.   Monday, November 19 View Page If you remember the Rea 1327 stem split very dramatically. Lots of surgery later and the pumpkin continued to grow nicely. It went on to become the Love 892 and an HD winner. Check out the next entry to see what the area underneath the stem looked like.   Monday, November 19 View Page As you can see a lot of pumpkin grew under that horrible looking stem. Pretty amazing....eh?