Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 77 Entries. Friday, January 1 View Page Happy New Year From sleepy Pine Run, Linden, PA. The patch expanded for 2010,covered with fresh snow and the winter springs still running! Sunday, March 14 View Page After a week of warm weather and now 1.45 inches of rain this weekend, the spring thaw is happening. All the snow and frost from the woods on the hill behind us has turned to water. Now the water from the runoff and winter springs is flowing freely down the hill and into the run. This is the new patch for this year. It is a continuation of my current patch, adding 65 feet to this end. Last fall was a struggle to get much patch prep done. At least the sod was killed off and some mushroom mulch was distributed. Sunday, March 14 View Page With the addition of 65 feet to the back of our patch and 25 feet to the front, we now have 250 feet by 20 feet to plant pumpkins and other veggies. 5000 square feet. I would like to widen the patch but our hill on one side and the run on the other side prohibit a width more than 20 feet. This year I want to change my plant orientation to allow more secondary vine growth. With 250 feet in length I will have room to rotate and prepare areas for next years pumpkins. I will probably only grow six plants this year. Sunday, April 4 View Page Yesterday was manure spreading day in the patch. My neighbor Clyde spreading pen manure from the seven dry cows living in his barn. Just a light coating. Sunday, April 4 View Page I drove over to a friend's farm yesterday afternoon to get some composted manure. This is scenic Lycoming County at it's best. The manure is stored up on the hill by the woods. Sunday, April 4 View Page These guys have been spreading manure for the past few days. Eldon called me in the morning and said they were nearing the back of the 15 ft. wide pile and they were into some good manure for my patch. Sunday, April 4 View Page This manure pile is one of the best kept secrets in the area. This farmer used to milk cows. Now he raises dairy heifers, some steers and hauls cattle with three tractor trailers. So he stockpiles the manure from late spring through summer, fall and winter, then hauls it onto the fields right before he works his ground the following spring. So here we have a 100 ft. long pile of manure that has been composting for about nine months. I just need to pick some that looks good to haul home to the pumpkin patch. Sunday, April 4 View Page The manure loaded on my truck. Now the fun begins (the shoveling). It took an hour and a half to unload the truck last night and I am feeling it this morning! Sunday, April 25 View Page Patch tillage update, chisel plowing and adding some nitrogen. ....not quite my patch, although good river bottom soil just across the Susquehanna River from Scottie DiMarco's patch. One of my customer getting ready to plant corn. Sunday, April 25 View Page Back to reality, patch tillage on April 11th. First the Troybilt, then the old front tine Snapper. Tilled is my amendments and winter wheat cover crop. My new section in the foreground. Sunday, April 25 View Page After last season, I never though I would be wishing for rain again. It was getting dry around here. It was great for patch work. Today, I welcomed the rain. We received a 1/2 inch so far. Seeds are in the germination box as of the evening of 4/23 my wife's birthday. I figured starting the seeds on Deb's birthday will give me luck to reach that 1K goal this year. Soon those pup tents will hopefully be occupied by Lengel, Snyder, Breznick, Werner, Stelts, Wallace, Gerhardt, Rea, Klinker, etc. Oh yea, I can't forget a DiMarco? Monday, May 31 View Page May has been a very intense month. It is the busiest month for me in the ag retail and custom application business. The weather has been very cooperative for my customers to get their crops planted, fertitilized, and sprayed. I have had little time to update my diary. Here is a view I discovered from a hill on a customer's farm while checking a wheat field the end of April. A tree farm in full color on the next hill. Monday, May 31 View Page My final pumpkin line up for the 2010 growing season is as follows. Finalized yesterday. Planted in the patch on 5/3: 980 Klinker 09, 1208.5 Checkon 09, 650 Lengel 09, then the cold weather hit and my other potted plants were stressed. Hence, they died before they hit the patch. On 5/22 the 501 Rea 09 and the 335 Gerry made it to the patch. The rest made it on Saturday the 29th, the 172 Lengel 09, 818.5 Snyder 09. My new patch has the 856 Harnica 09, 845 Dimarco and the 1004 Mohr 08. The neighbor got the 956 Marsh 08. Here is the most aggressive plant the 980 Klinker 09 on May 18th. Sunday, June 13 View Page The 980 Klinker on the run. Great growing weather. Saturday's rains totaled .45 inches. Very warm and humid this morning which means the stomates should be wide open. So, I applied 1/2 tablespoon of CO2 per gallon to the underside of the leaves on my first planted pumpkins. I then applied some Harpin protein ( Messenger) to all the plants. Sunday, June 13 View Page I ran into fellow pumpkin grower John Carpenter yesterday on my way home from a morning at the office. He ask if Scott DiMarco made it to my place this morning. John said DiMarco was carrying a bunch of pumpkin flowers with him. I think I found his tracks in my patch near my 1208.5 Checkon. See picture. Really, Scott's plants look great this year so far. They are way ahead of mine. He dropped off a couple bags of High Cal Lime. Thanks Scott. Sunday, June 20 View Page Yesterday I stopped to see Scott DiMarco's patch. Of course, he is a very famous giant pumpkin grower in the Williamsport area, so he needs to keep his patch protected and the public out. I was hoping to sneak in and check things out before he saw me. It didn't work! Sunday, June 20 View Page I found Scott chasing a neighborhood cat out of his 1502 plant and sprinkling a handful of slug bait around the patch. As always his garden looks spectacular. His pumpkin plants are about 2-3 weeks ahead of mine. I am in the hills and he is in the river valley. Monday, June 21 View Page My wonderful sons, Zach and Seth, helping in the patch on Father's Day. We were burying vines and pinching off early females. They are standing at my 501 Rea 09 plant. It is slightly behind my first three plants. It is 1385 Jutras x 993 Vincent/McGill. Monday, June 21 View Page The boys admiring the 1208.5 Checkon 09 yesterday. My plants are really taking off. With the threat of thunderstorms the next three days, I sprayed Bravo, Kocide, and Baythroid on the pumpkins and the tomatoes tonight. I did see a grasshopper in the patch tonight so I am glad I added an insecticide to my spray. Sunday, June 27 View Page It has now been a couple days since I noticed the tip of the main vine on my 980 Klinker damaged and not growing. It looks like severe wind damage, but is likely damage from me either looking for a little female or I just squished it while in the vine burying process. It also has been very hot here with no recent precipitation. So, it basically stopped at 12 ft. with all the females before that pinched off. So what do you do? I emailed Pap Wallace. He suggested I wait a couple more days and see if the tip starts to grow and to start training a secondary close to the tip to be the main. Thanks Pap. So much for my "early" pollination this year. Even though it sounds like I am two weeks behind most growers this year already. Sunday, June 27 View Page Woke up this morning to the sound of thunder and a welcomed downpour. It rained 4 tenths between 4:30 and 6 a.m. Hopefully that should help the Klinker. We will see in a couple days. A forecast of 92 today and another chance of showers tonight and Monday, then a little cooler. Thursday, July 1 View Page I am still waiting patiently for some females to open. The nightly temperature has been in the 40's which is a far cry from the lows of last week in the 60's an 70's. Some much for a June pollination! I should have set one at 8 or 10 feet. My next goal it the 4th of July. Last year I pollinated one on July 3rd. Tonight, Deb and I were preparing for the hot dry weather forecast for the next week. We ran some drip tape. Highs predicted in the mid 90's by next Tuesday and Wednesday with no rain. We will finish hooking up the drip lines tomorrow night. My mains are now out about 12 to 15 feet with no pollination yet. Monday, July 5 View Page HOT & DRY! Mid 90's today and for the next few days. I have my drip irrigation running but the high temps and the low humidity are wilting the plants. I set up old seed corn signs as shade for my vine tips and where my pumpkins have been pollinated. At 1:00 pm today at my 980 Klinker it was 92 degrees in the shade and 110 on the ground in the sun just outside the tip of the Klinker. This is the plant that the main vine tip quit growing 2 weeks ago. I trained a secondary and now there is a female flower showing in the vine tip. I am crossing my fingers! The immature leaves on the secondary vines, towards the tips, are burning up. Monday, July 5 View Page Pollinations so far are as follows: 7/3 1208.5 Checkon with the 980 Klinker. 7/4 a S.V. Checkon with the 650 Lengel. Today, 7/5 650 Lengel with the 501 Rea. I hope they do not abort with this excessive heat. Last year, I was complaining because the temperatures were too cool. July 09 temps did not reach the 90's all month. Saturday, July 10 View Page The end of my vines took the extreme heat very hard this week. I hope my pollinations will take. Yesterday, with highs in the upper 80's the plants did not do their defensive wilt they have had to do with the temps in the mid to high 90's. Saturday, July 10 View Page One inch of rain over night...hoorah! Saturday, July 10 View Page A welcome sight of rain water droplets clinging to a tendril on my 360 Sloan genetics plant. Saturday, July 10 View Page A beautiful 5-lober on the 980 Klinker ready to pollinate this morning. It is a secondary vine female. I pollinated it due to my main vine tip drying up a few weeks ago and having to train a secondary as the new main vine. I am still waiting to pollinate one on the new main. The secondary female was pollinated with 2 males from my 335 Gerry. 980 Klinker (1161 Rodonis x 904 Stelts) with the 335 Gerry ( 746 Snyder x 904 Stelts). Saturday, July 10 View Page You can really see how the excessive heat burned up the immature leaves on the vine ends of the 980 Klinker. I hope the passing of last night's cold front ended the last very hot and very dry period in the pumpkin patch. Actually the vines grew quite a bit and there was plenty of moisture under the plants from the drip irrigation. Tuesday, August 3 View Page Seth with the 1208.5 Checkon yesterday on Day 30. Gained 29 pounds in the last day. Look at those stretch marks. Thursday, August 5 View Page Day 20 for my 501 Rea (1385 Jutras x 993 Vincent/McGill). OTT measurement 196. Looks like a big and orange, with any luck. Thursday, August 19 View Page This is my 172 Lengel. My only contender to take the Howard Dill Award from Mr. Carson (Orange with Envy, and I am envious) at the Altoona Weighoff. Watch out Jim! The 172 was from a pumpkin my wife pollinated last year August 1st, while I was at a meeting. It is also the pumpkin I broke off the vine while attempting to reposition it in September, hence the 172. (335 Gerry x 845 Dimarco). This year's cross is the 172 Lengel x 956 Marsh. Friday, August 20 View Page After work tonight, I removed my three rows of sweet corn fodder and tilled the area to plant a cover crop before the forecasted rain on Sunday. Friday, August 20 View Page My cover crop in this area consists of Austrian winter peas, Oats and Groundhog tillage radishes. The winter peas will fix nitrogen for next year. The oats will add organic matter through their fibrous root system and fall top growth. The tillage radishes will produce lots of organic matter, take up nutrients and store them for next season. They also will break up any compaction with their large penetrating tap root. Friday, August 20 View Page This mix is equivalent to 20 lbs/acre of Austrian winter peas, 7 lbs/acre of Groundhog tillage radishes, and 1 bushel of oats per acre. It should be planted in my area of PA, August to early September for its full benefit. In my area it will die out when we have a hard freeze. Friday, August 20 View Page Last year, one of my customers planted Groundhog tillage radishes after taking off a crop of snap beans. They were planted with hairy vetch in August. This picture was taken September 29th last year. By the beginning of November, the radishes were 18 to 21 inches long. Great soil penetration. This picture shows the radishes on the hairy vetch. Friday, August 20 View Page Here is a colleague of mine with a radish in that same field on November 4th last year. Unbelievable amounts of organic matter from the root and the top growth as seen in the background. That root takes up a pile of nutrients from the soil and stores them over the winter. The radish decays by early spring and the nutrients are once again available. Saturday, August 21 View Page The 172 Lengel may be a contender for the Howard Dill award at Altoona. Now Ned has some great looking orange pumpkins. Looks like Orange With Envy may have lots of competition. On the 18th she taped 237 OTT , Day 30. Saturday, August 21 View Page Sorry wrong picture in the previous post. This is the real 172 Lengel. Saturday, August 21 View Page Two posts ago you saw my 501 Rea. This is my fasted growing pumpkin. 5 Day measurements are way ahead of my other pumpkins. Friday was Day 35 and it measured 296 OTT. I am praying that with some luck this fruit will hit the 1K mark, my goal for this year. Even a Praying Mantis flew in for some help praying. Nana Rea has a good one here. Sunday, August 22 View Page Moved Seth back to Penn State this morning for his sophomore year. Got there 9:30 AM, left at 9:40 AM. Maybe a record time? Everything in the trunk of the Camry, parked right at his dorm floor door and his room was four doors in on the right. His roommate help unload and it does not get much easier than that. Deb is smiling this year. Last year she cried. Sunday, August 22 View Page Seth in his dorm room, 148 Simmons Hall. Yesterday he spent a couple hours in the pumpkin patch with me. I will miss his help. Have a great year Seth. Sunday, August 22 View Page Fellow pumpkin grower Bill Zimmerman, Indiana County, PA stopped in to see my patch today on his way to Williamsport to attend some of the Little League World Series games. He traveled 2 1/2 hours to watch the kids play today. A great sports experience! We had two inches of rain in the form of hard downpours over night and early this morning. The plants loved the rain. Monday, August 23 View Page My 1208.5 Checkon 321 OTT Sunday. Tuesday, August 31 View Page 501 Rea. Day 45 148-91-87 326 OTT Tuesday, August 31 View Page Seth with our sunflowers. He is 6'01". Sunday, September 12 View Page This is Deb's friend's daughter, Marley, on the "gnarly" 650 Lengel at 320 OTT, 691 lbs. Day 65. Marley is visiting from Delaware. The 650 Lengel certainly looks a whole lot prettier with Marley on it! Sunday, September 12 View Page Deb and I stopped at Scott DiMarco's patch today. Here they are examining his 985 Werner. They are trying to figure out the best way to measure this beast to squeeze out every inch. Upon examination of Scott's tape, compared to mine, his seems to have shorter intervals between the inch marks. Maybe it just looked that way without my glasses! His still measures more than my biggest. Sunday, September 12 View Page Here is my 1208.5 Checkon. 9-11-10 Day 70. 348 OTT and rock solid. Should be a PR for me, with any luck. Sunday, September 12 View Page Orange and shapely describes our 172 Lengel. Today day 55. 302 OTT, 583Lbs. Sunday, September 12 View Page My orange monster. My 501 Rea. 9-09-10 Day 55. 339 OTT. With a little heat and some luck this could also be a PR for me. I wish I could have had a June pollination with this girl. 501 Rea x 172 Lengel. Sunday, September 12 View Page Day 60 for my 335 Gerry. 331 OTT on about 150 Sq.Ft. The 335 was the female of last year's 172. This year the 335 Gerry was crossed with the 980 Klinker. Sunday, September 12 View Page 980 Klinker 9-10-10 Day 60 326 OTT approx. 729 lbs. Pear shaped but still growing and very solid. 980 Klinker is the 1161 Rodonis x 904 Stelts. Crossed with the 818.5 Snyder. Sunday, September 12 View Page Kevin Snyder's 818.5. 290 OTT est. 518lbs. Great looking pumpkin for conditions. Broke the main vine bud off early, leaving 3 vines. Pollinated at 6 feet on one of the three "mains". Grown in partial afternoon shade, thanks to my neighbors two maple trees, on 150 sq. ft. of plant. Sorry Kevin tnis is not a fair trial for this seed. Still growing 5 pounds a day. Crossed this pumpkin with the 360 Slone. Saturday, September 18 View Page Once again, I caught Scott DiMarco socializing with my 501 Rea. It is like he is trying to steal a girlfriend! He really likes her. When he stops in he always has his pumpkin size reference tool, a 16 oz. can. Saturday, September 18 View Page Last night we loaded my 650 Lengel. Scott showed up to supervise after work. The 650 is going to a garden center in Bucks County. Scott is not impressed with the size of this pumpkin as indicated by his gesture. It is taping 691 lbs. After only one sports beverage and supper it was off to the local feed mill before it closed for a weight. Saturday, September 18 View Page The 700 Lengel 2010 UOW. (650 Lengel x 501 Rea) It weighed 700 at the feed mill. The pallet was weight before we loaded the pumpkin. Hopefully I will get some seeds back. Last year they sold the pumpkin they got from me. They did get the seeds back for me. Friday, September 24 View Page Last night Deb's Aunt Nancy and Uncle Ralph enjoyed a tour of the patch before dinner. They really liked the 172 Lengel which really is brightened by the evening sun shining on it. They made their annual migration north last week, after the Alabama game, in their RV from Florida to Happy Valley for the PSU football season. Thursday, September 30 View Page We harvested our PGPGA Altoona weigh off pumpkins yesterday with the forecast of 3 to 6 inches of rain Thursday. The orange 172 Lengel and the 1208.5 Checkon are safe at the top of our driveway and ready to load Friday night. Thursday, September 30 View Page The run by the pumpkin patch out of its bank late this afternoon. I just checked the rain gauge and it had 3.25 inches in so far. It is a lot better than 6 inches right now. I am glad we took those pumpkins out yesterday. Thursday, September 30 View Page Yesterday we also lifted the 335 Gerry out of the patch. Neighbor Todd Allen was kind enough to take the time to bring the loader up to the patch and lift the pumpkins out for us. Thursday, September 30 View Page Thanks to Scott DiMarco for the use of his scale. It was fairly accurate for unofficial weights. Compared to the scales last year at Altoona it was within a few pounds. Thursday, September 30 View Page The 335 Gerry is now the 640 Lengel 10 U.O.W., SOLD. Friday, October 1 View Page I should have grabbed my pitch fork for this picture. Friday, October 1 View Page Seth came home from PSU to go with us to Altoona. Pumpkins loaded and read to go. Meeting the convoy at 5 a.m.! Friday, October 1 View Page Zach and my mother Gloria. Thanks Zach for hauling a pumpkin for us. Today is mom's birthday. Happy Birthday Mom! Tomorrow mom will experience her first giant pumpkin weigh off. Life doesn't get any better than that! Monday, October 4 View Page The 674 Lengel 10. Deb with her 172 Lengel at Altoona weighing in at 674 lbs. Congratulations Dear! Monday, October 4 View Page Scott DiMarco breaks 1000 lbs with a 1014 at Altoona. Congratulations Scott! Monday, October 4 View Page I hit my goal of breaking the 1K with 1093.5 lbs with my 1208.5 Checkon 09 at 15% heavy. Monday, October 4 View Page Scott and I are the first members of the Williamsport Giant Pumpkin Growers Assoc. to break the 1000 Lbs. mark. Of course, we have a friendly rivalry going this year. I have picked up a lot of growing tips from Scott over the past three years of growing. And, yes Scott, those tips were good enough for me to grow a pumpkin bigger than yours this year! Thanks! Monday, October 4 View Page Charles Baylor of West Virginia planted my 813 Lengel 09 this year and brought a 961 lb pumpkins from it to the Altoona weigh off. Great job Charles! Monday, October 4 View Page Seth with my seventh place plaque. Seth was a big help at the weigh off. Adding registration info into the computer, then spending the day attaching and detaching the lifters and bringing pumpkins to and from the scales. A special thanks to all those growers who volunteered and worked hard at this weigh off, making it a success, when they could have just sat back and watched. Monday, October 4 View Page Kevin Snyder with his third place 1223 grown on a 1236 Harp. Congratulations Kevin! Monday, October 4 View Page Larry Checkon with his second place 1324 lb. pumpkin. Monday, October 4 View Page First place at Altoona, Gerry Checkon with 1381 lbs. Grown from a 1288 Wallace. Great Growing Gerry! Monday, October 4 View Page Famous faces in the crowd. Ned Sandercock from Honesdale, PA. (From the famous Rocky and Ned monkey rivalry on BP) Ned and his kids brought some nice pumpkins to the weigh off Saturday. Monday, October 4 View Page Altoona top five pumpkins. Joe Yohe 4th, Kevin Snyder 3rd, Gerry Checkon 1st, Larry Checkon 2nd, Arden Fry 5th.