Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 25 Entries. Sunday, April 20 View Page Meet daisy and petunia, this my first try at giant pumpkins, The seeds are off ebay, supposed to be from a 300 pounder. I started them on April 13 the wet paper towel on a plate on top of a dark refrigerator these two sprouted on 15. I put them in dirt and on the 17th the first one sprouted 4 hours later the other one came out. Daisy was the first one up and has a stockier stem. Petunia came out and tried to make up for the 4 hours and is a little leggy. It was a beautiful day and in the mid 60s so they have been in full sun every day, but I bring them in when it cools off in the evening. Yesterday I took the backhoe and dug two holes in the garden and filled them with some good compost. I still want to till in some manure and fertilizer. Like I said it is my first year and my seed stock could be from a jack-o lantern but I will still have fun doing it. If these don’t get very big, next year I will probably be looking for seeds. Tuesday, May 13 View Page Had Daisy and Petunia outside on April 28 and a storm came through when I was not home. The wind and rain put a small kink in Petunia's stem. I got out some bamboo skewer’s and twister ties and fixed her best I could. She recovered perfectly over the next few days. I finally got to put them in the garden on May 2, I retiled where they were to be planted and added miracle grow and blood meal and tilled it some more. After planting the girls I put in some wind breaks and some wire cages. The rabbits here have a taste for new plants. The last two weeks the weather hasn’t been the best, a lot of wind, rain and cold. Sunday, June 29 View Page It has been a while since I posted but here are the latest pics and info for Daisy. Main vine 12’ 2 “ with a female flower at 10’ and 12’ she has 12 total vines with a combined length of 63’ not sure which flower to set but I want to get one started. Tuesday, July 1 View Page I thinking this might open in the morning, not sure yet, she just doesnt have the 5 sided shape on the bloom yet but close. If not in the morning, the next day for sure. have her bagged up and three males. Read in okies diary about how she took the bag off her flower and it opened, I had the same thing this morning, it took about ten seconds, very neat, going to take a video of it tomorrow morning. Wednesday, July 2 View Page http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEsFd9uzWhM Wednesday, July 2 View Page OK im sure, well pretty sure, well maybe, it could happen. yeah i think it will go in the morning, it will be a good day for it to, 87 here today and 72 for the high tomorrow. her and three males bagged. Wish me luck. Thursday, July 3 View Page Had to sit back and have a smoke this morning, boy did that feel good! Had a rain last night and early this morning, good thing i used a zip lock. Used the two best looking males. My other plant, Petunia, she is about 2/3 the size of Daisy, will flower tomorrow for the first time about 12 feet out. I am going to use males from daisy on her. Friday, July 4 View Page Petunia opened this morning, what a perfect flower. 5 lobes and everything in it place. Pollenated her and bagged her back up. Seeing this flower this morning got me thinking about the flower I pollenated yesterday. It was 5 lobes but just wasnt as pretty and symetrical on the inside. I have read about seeds in the blossom and am now starting to wonder. I will go out and try to take a pic and post it. dark out so will see. Friday, July 4 View Page Here is a pic of the flower I pollenated on Daisy yesterday. If you look to the left of the blossom you can see the bottom is not perfect. If anybody sees this and has any ideas let me know. Everything else about this looks perfect to me, long stem, fruit looks good, about double the size was yesterday. Posting that next. I have another female 2 1/2 feet down that will get pollenated tomorrow. funny thing is the blossom, one half has the nice yellow with the green lines, the other half is still green, hmmmm this is all happening on my big plant. Friday, July 4 View Page Not a very good pic for size. Should of stuck something next to it. Sunday, July 6 View Page Pic of Daisy's #1 pumpkin. 3 days old. The rubber band on the blossom is prviding gental constant pressure to pull the pumpkin around to 90 degrees. Sunday, July 6 View Page Pollenated second flower on Daisy this morning. Pic is Petunia's first flower pollenated 2 days ago. Sunday, July 6 View Page Pollenated second flower on Daisy this morning. Pic is Petunia's first flower pollenated 2 days ago. Tuesday, July 8 View Page This cant be good, almost an inch of rain in less then 15 minutes. Wednesday, July 9 View Page Daisy #1 pumpkin. 6 days old, rubber band worked great, now at 90 degrees. Best one day growth yet. Wednesday, July 9 View Page Petunia pumpkin #1 Short and fat. 5 days old. Wednesday, July 9 View Page Daisy #2 3 days old. Just a hair bigger then daisy #1 at 3 days. Wednesday, July 9 View Page Petunia #2 2 days old Wednesday, July 9 View Page Daisy #3 pollenated 7-9 Friday, July 11 View Page Daisy's #1 pumpkin under a new shade tent I made. Sunday, July 13 View Page Day 10 for daisy's #1 pumpkin, the over the top measurement was 70.5 I am very happy with this as these seeds are from ebay. Now I have to hope it keeps growing and doesnt stall out. The #2 pumpkin on the same plant is just a hair bigger for it's age. I had some concerns about the pumpkin pushing the vine up and wished I had the "growing giant pumpkins 2" purchased 13 days ago. It is still not here. I decided to call Terry Marchand, a grower in my area. Terry was very nice and I ended up making a trip to his place to see his patch. I had a very interesting day and learned a lot. Thanks Terry for the tour and all the information. Did I mention Terry has grown the 6th and 9th largest pumpkins in the state of Indiana. Sunday, July 13 View Page Petunia #1 pumpkin day 9 This pumpkin is so round it has the exact same measurement ss and fb Sunday, July 13 View Page Oh the roller coaster ride of growing giant pumpkins, one minute your on a big high and the next thing you know you find problems.Found three svb's tonight, was hoping that I wouldnt have a problem with them because I havent grown pumpkins or squashin this garden for years, well another lesson learned. All three were females. Tomorrow Ill spray. Tuesday, July 15 View Page Sprayed yesterday with triazicide and saw no more svb's last night. Pic is of Daisy 1, 12 days old. The ott is 87.3 with a one day gain of 4.3 pounds. Thats up from 3.8 two days in a row. Maybe she liked triazicide. lol Tuesday, July 15 View Page Petunia 1 really liked the triazicide she put on a whopping 4.9 pounds and at day 11 has an ott of 79.8 I noticed that she is getting some shoulders on her stem end. They may of had a few other things added to the patch besides triazicide, :)