Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 314 Entries. Sunday, February 28 View Page After spreading composted manure, apples, and mulched leaves this past fall, my neighbor tilled it all in for me. Thanks Jay! Sunday, February 28 View Page Almost finished. We had some real nice weather in early November in 09. Sunday, February 28 View Page For any of the newer growers, this is what you do not want to happen. Notice how the pumpkin is almost sitting on the main vine. I tried to move it a little every day, but the shoulders were growing fast and kept pressure on the vine. You may notice the stem starts to split from the vine a little. Sunday, February 28 View Page Just a neat picture I thought I would share. My boys and I were fishing on the Shanango River. Monday, March 1 View Page Entry 3 was last years pumpkin, just to clarify. Thursday, March 25 View Page This is the grow box that I built in my basement. Thursday, March 25 View Page Here is my OS cross giant cabbage at approximately one week old. Thursday, March 25 View Page os cross cabbage 2 weeks old. Thursday, March 25 View Page This is my best cc watermelon (183 Neptune). It is about 1 week old. Thursday, March 25 View Page cabbage at 3 weeks. Thursday, March 25 View Page 191 Holloway at about 1 week old. I had trouble germinating these seeds. It seems that they needed soaked much longer than the Neptune seeds. The Holloway seeds had a much thicker seed coat, and I believe the longer soaking helped soften them. Thursday, March 25 View Page That last entry was a 183 Neptune also. My 191's are a full week behind. Thursday, March 25 View Page This is my biggest for its age (2 weeks)183 Neptune.It is in a cat litter bucket inverted with the lid still on. It should be very easy to transplant with little stress. Thursday, March 25 View Page Cabbages are about 1 month old. They seem to be growing very fast.They need to be outside real soon so I have a fan blowing on them to toughen them up (thanks MMM). I have to harden them off as they are outgrowing the coffee cans. I hope to have them out in the garden in a week. Thursday, March 25 View Page This has been the warmest March that I can remember. 1 month until the main event starts, PUMPKINS !!! Sunday, March 28 View Page Anyone know what is wrong with my cc melon leaves? It seems to be mainly on the newer leaves. They have some yellow ares and they seem to be sort of wrinkled or curly looking. Sunday, March 28 View Page Here is another pic of the leaves that have me a little concerned. Sunday, March 28 View Page This is what the entire plant looks like. It still seems to be growing ok.The only things that I can figure is maybe the plant was too close to the light, or it doesn't like the well water on the leaves.Maybe it could use some natural sun ?? If anyone has any ideas please email me. Thursday, April 1 View Page Almost forgot to mention, I spotted powder mildew starting on all my plants. Just a few dots, but it is trying. I cut all infected leaves and disposed of them far away. I will have to spray every 5 days now. Saturday, April 10 View Page Just an update. I have been setting them out in the extremely warm weather. Seems like they are growing pretty good. Thursday, April 22 View Page These yellow flies were all over my compost pile. Does anyone know what they are and if they are bad in any way? Thursday, April 22 View Page Entire patch is tilled and 6 hoop houses are up.The houses have been up since the first week of April warming the soil. Thursday, April 22 View Page I wanted to start one a little early. This is the 763 Young 09 (1502 Wallace x 1385 Jutras). Thursday, April 22 View Page It grew a little the first day, so the planting must have been ok. I have a small space heater in the hoop house and the temp near the top stays around 70 during the night. Thursday, April 22 View Page Here is my line up for this season : 763 Young 09 (1502 Wallace x 1385 Jutras)already in the ground 696 Holder 09 (1156 Hunt x 1154 Doucet) 648 Young 09 (695 Young x 1385 Jutras) 1158 Whittier 07 DMG (1005.9 Werner x 998.6 Pukos) Back up plants - 270 est Young (1385 x 1502),761 Palkovich 07 uow (1193 Rose x 582 Hester),837.5 Pukos 04 (419 Pukos 02 x open), and 581 Hester 04 (582 Hester x 940 Mombart 98). Thursday, April 22 View Page Thank you again John Young, Rick Holder, and anyone else that sent me seeds. I am going to start all of my line up this Sat.or Sun. Thursday, April 22 View Page I was inspecting my os cross cabbages and found that some of the inner leaves are getting these holes and markings on them. The bigger outer leaves seem fine so I don't thick it is cabbage moths.It looks kind of like some type of fungus possibly. Any ideas anyone ? Thursday, April 22 View Page Here is my other cabbage plant, same thing on it. Thursday, April 22 View Page These are some mucho nacho Jalapeno's that I started. My wife came up with the Walmart clear plastic container idea. It works great, carry it outside if the weather is nice and back in for night. If it is a little cool you can just crack the lid open and you have a minnie greenhouse. We got the 3 inch plastic containers at the dollar store (4 for $1.00) and they should last forever. Thursday, April 22 View Page Here is a closer look at the jalapenos and containers that they are in. Sunday, April 25 View Page I started my seeds yesterday at 11:30 am, soaked for 4 hrs, then put into the germination box. Later tonight or tomorrow morning the will hopefully all be in starter mix. Wednesday, April 28 View Page I am having a lot of trouble getting certain seeds to germinate. My own seeds from my 202 last year (all 3) sprouted a root. I had 100% success with them during trial runs also. 6 out of the 9 have sprouted a root so far. The 270 young est,1158 Whittier, and 837.5 pukos and 3 of my 202's (back ups) have sprouted a root and will hopefully be up soon. Wednesday, April 28 View Page The seeds that have not shown any signs of life are the 696 Holder, 648 young (2 of them),761 Palkovich,and 581 Hester. I carefully cracked them open and put the seeds back into the wet paper towel to see if they will start. At 22 hours still no sign of life. Wednesday, April 28 View Page Yesterday, the 27th I started another 696 Holder, a 1012 Sundin/08 dmg, and a 855 Butler/08. Hopefully one of these will pop. Saturday, May 1 View Page One of the first two 648 Youngs has sprouted a root. It took 3 1/2 days !!, very slow. It is just starting to break through the soil. I am amazed at how different seeds from different pumpkins germinate at different rates. Some are MUCH slower than others.I was going into pannic mode so I have started a THIRD batch. Saturday, May 1 View Page Yesterday I started a 3rd batch. 700 Young (21% heavy, I like that !!) 416 Emmons - older seed, hope it sprouts, Massive seed 1103 Kuhn Monday, May 3 View Page That last post is a little screwed up. The 416 Emmons is a massive seed and it is an older seed. I also started an 1103 Kuhn. Monday, May 3 View Page I was up at 3:30 am Sat morning thinking about what was going on with my first batch of seeds. So I got up at 4:20am and went to check them out. Here is what I did wrong ... I had mixed some Espomo bio-tone fertilizer with beneficial bacteria in with my promix. What was I thinking !, I new better. I guess since it was a mild dose of (4-3-3) I figured a little would not hurt. Well it did, it killed a few seeds. Must have been high in salts because when I dug a few seeds up out of the promix, the root grew about 1.5 inches and then dried up. I should have experimented with that stuff when I did some trial runs over the winter. Lesson learned !! I did throw out the starter mix, and mixed up a new batch of straight pro mix. Monday, May 3 View Page My 2nd 648 Young, 889 Sundstrom, and 855 Butler are poking out and should be up by Tuesday morning. Monday, May 3 View Page The seeds I ruined were a 648 young, (the 2nd one is looking good),one of my 696 Holders (2nd one is in a paper towel, Rick said they are slow),a 837.5 pukos, and a 581 Hester. Sorry to the growers that gave me them , that won't happen again. Monday, May 3 View Page I can't get any pics up until I get this computer fixed. Wednesday, May 5 View Page The 696 Holder has sprouted a root this morning. I also got a very big surprise yesterday evening when I checked on their progress.Some of the seeds that I thought were ruined because of my mistake, suddenly sprouted ! Last Sat. morning when I dumped the pots (with the starter mix I tainted) and got the bad seeds out, I soaked them in some water for a few minutes to try to rinse them and maybe rehydrate the dried up root.I never thought it would help them because they were so bad.I wish I took pics to show just how bad they were. After they soaked in the water a while I put them into some new starter mix.I put a special label on them saying "restart", so I did not get them confused with my other 648 I started. To my surprise, the 837.5 Pukos and the 648 young came back to life. They are both up and looking good.I think I may put both 648's in the same hoop and keep the stronger one. Saturday, May 22 View Page This is the 763 Young at 1 week in the ground.This pic was taken 3 weeks ago. Saturday, May 22 View Page This is the 763 at 3 weeks in the ground. Saturday, May 22 View Page Pic taken on May 5th. This is a os cross cabbage,with a 6 gallon bucket for reference. They are really starting to grow. They are heading up nicely, and putting on nearly an inch a day on the total diameter. Saturday, May 22 View Page A few leaves froze on May 12th on one of my cc melons, even with a hoop house over it. It got down to 27 or 28. The highest 5 or 6 leaves turned black and dried up . The plant seems to be fine. Saturday, May 22 View Page In case anyone is tired of spending $$$ on tomato stakes that rot in 1 or 2 seasons, maybe give these a try. 10 foot pcs of plastic conduit, 89 cents each. Cut them in half, now you have a 5 ft. stake that should last many years and cost much less than those wooden stakes. I used them to hold my fence up this year . Sunday, May 23 View Page The rains washed a lot of dirt out of my patch yesterday evening :( Sunday, May 23 View Page very wet. No storms, just a lot of slow moving rain clouds. Sunday, May 23 View Page Some Jalapenos and a few more pumpkin plants ready to go in later this week if the soil dries out enough. Sunday, May 23 View Page This is the 763 Young. The main is about 3 ft long and the amazing thing is how wide and big the leaves are !The plant leaves are touching the sides which is around 5 ft wide. The first set of side vines are 10-12 inches. We are expecting warm and sunny weather this week so it may out grow the hoop house. Sunday, May 23 View Page The 763 vines are very yellow as you can see. Hopefully it will produce some nice color on the pumpkin, if it gets that far. Sunday, May 23 View Page This is looking at the main from the other side on the 763. Sunday, May 23 View Page These are the mucho nacho jalapeno plants that I started from seeds. I am not sure what I will get for fruit. I did not know that they were a hybrid variety when I planted them. They are very stocky and do look good. Sunday, May 23 View Page These 2 look like twins. On the left is the 837.5 Pukos and the right is the 889 Sundstrom. I will probably cut one out later this week. If anyone has any input on which one may give me a better chance at orange offspring, please email me. Sunday, May 23 View Page These are both 648 Youngs. The one on the left was put in about a week earlier. I will probably cull that one in a week or two since it is on the side of the mound. Sunday, May 23 View Page On the right is the 696 Holder that I had some trouble getting it to germinate. It was slow to germ, but it is looking good and I really want to grow this one. This should be a good week to see what it will do in the good weather forcasted. The plant on the left is the 855 Butler. Sunday, May 23 View Page This is the best looking garlic that I have ever grown. I gave it some prime ground and it definitely paid off. Sunday, May 23 View Page Oops, forgot to rotate the last entry :( Sunday, May 23 View Page I believe this is the 191 Neptune cc melon plant. It is starting to shoot out new growth all over it. Sunday, May 23 View Page Most of my melon plants are getting these currled up leaves.When they were in pots the leaves were nice and flat. Then after I transplanted them the new growth started to look like this. I am thinking they were needing more water. I still have a few in pots and they did the same thing so I don't think it has any thing to do with them being out of the pots. Any ideas from any of you melon growers ??? Sunday, May 23 View Page These os cross cabbages are really impressing me ! I thought they were a gonner from some type of fungal attack or something else . I still don't know what the problem was, but they are really growing fast right now ! I will set a bucket or something beside it for the next update. Sunday, May 23 View Page The heads look to be bigger than a soft ball, and over all diameter of the plant is approaching 30 inches ! I would be very happy if the heads made it to basketball size. Thursday, May 27 View Page This is a pic of the 763 Young. All this congestion growing from the bottom is causing a lot of problems. I have never seen leaves growing from the bottom of the vine like this. That kept the main off of the ground about an inch and my first secondary vine kinked when it touched down. It is now cracked open on both sides. I put some captan on it to try to dry it. I will cut it off if I see any problems. Some of the large tendrils were also acting as kickstands. I trimmed them off also. Thursday, May 27 View Page Here is the kinked secondary vine. Notice the leaf stalk beneath it. If I see this in the future, I will take action quicker to prevent problems. Thursday, May 27 View Page Some of the prunning. Thursday, May 27 View Page Oh yeah, as of yesterday, the 763 is now out of the hoop house. I also did a soil drench this morning for ants with bayer. I found tiny bits of yellow dust sitting on top of my main vine. It was exactly the same color of the main vine. My guess is that the bigger red ants are chewing on it somewhere. Yesterday I saw a red ant carrying a yellow piece of something, but didn't think much of it. I will have to spray tonight so the next time they take a nibble it will be the last. Thursday, May 27 View Page Here is another example of the strange growth. The leaf stalk is on the bottom, and the secondary is on the top. I am tryin to slowly move them with stakes. If it does't work the leaf will get cut off. Thursday, May 27 View Page Somehow I forgot to one this hoop house on my morning rounds. I noticed it was shut at around 10:00 am. I felt the heat pour out when I opened it. It looks like some of the leaves got burned on the 889 Sundstrom. The 837.5 Pukos (on the left)looks ok. Maybe that is a sign to keep the pukos plant ??? Thursday, May 27 View Page I got the veges in last night and finished this morning. Tomatos and jalapenos for salsa. One zuchini for now, a few cucumber for now, and 6 sweet italian peppers. Watered the cabbages this morning so the heads don't split when the next rain comes. Thursday, May 27 View Page Entry 68 should read : Somehow I forgot to open this hoop house on my morning rounds yesterday..... Wednesday, June 2 View Page As of Memorial day, all backups were culled in the main patch. Final line up is : 696 Holder 648 Young 763 Young 889 Sundstrom In my vege garden I am doing a flag pattern with the 700 Young or the 270 Young. I will cull one in a few weeks. Thursday, June 3 View Page This is the 763 Young. Main vine is around 10 ft with the first female flower spotted. Also saw one on a secondary. Secondaries are near 6 foot long. Besides a few sun burned leaves the plant seems to be very healthy at this point. Thursday, June 3 View Page 700 Young, a possible candidate for the flag pattern ,seems to be a faster grower. Thursday, June 3 View Page This is the 270 Young, the other possible candidate for the flag pattern. It seems to be a much slower grower than the 700. I am hoping to keep this one for the color potential. Thursday, June 3 View Page I had planned on throwing this melon plant away but it looked to nice to do that . So I put it in the pumpkin patch. I don't even know of hand what seed it is. Thursday, June 3 View Page I think this is the 889 Sundstrom. It is one of the nicer growing plants I have. I badly burned a few leaves because dummy me, forgot to open this hoop house until 10 am one morning. It recoverd well, and should out grow the hoop in a week. Thursday, June 3 View Page This is the 183 Neptune melon. It will be out of the hoop today or tomorrow. The melons really stepped it up this week in growth. Thursday, June 3 View Page 191 Holloway. Growing great, out of hoop maybe today. I am pinching off females on all three melon plants. Thursday, June 3 View Page This is the os cross cabbage. Leaf growth seems to have stopped but the head is gaining daily. As of June 2nd I would say it is basketball sized. I try to dust it every week if it rains. No bug problems to speak of other than a lot of slugs this year. I am wondering how long these heads will continue to grow ? Thursday, June 3 View Page This is an overhead pic. with a 6 gallon bucket for reference. Thursday, June 3 View Page This is a dwarf blue berry plant my Mom gave my kids. It seems to be doing good. Thursday, June 3 View Page All of the storms went south of my location last night. Lucked out again. Sunday, June 6 View Page A few of my 763 leaves took some wind damage this morning. Nothing too serious. Also, my 696 Holder main snapped !! It broke in the hoop house which was closed for the night. Yesterday I moved some dirt I had stacked under it, so it would slowly drop on its own. I must have removed too much. Sorry Rick. I will have to train a secondary to be the new main. Bummer. Sunday, June 6 View Page On a good note all the other plants look great. The 889 Sundstrom is really growing very aggresive. It will be out of the hoop in a day or two. Saturday, June 12 View Page Pollinated 1st female on the 763 Young yesterday, the 11th of June , about 10 ft out. I am seeing a lot of females on the side vines, around 15 of them. Pinched off most of them. Another one on the main, around 14 foot in a few days. Saturday, June 12 View Page It seems from the research that I did, 2 out of the three cc melons I have are getting Downy mildew. Sunday, June 13 View Page This is the 763 Young. Today is the 14th, and it seems like the pollination took. When should I cut that secondary off ? Sunday, June 13 View Page Here is a pic of the fruit with that secondary vine. When should I cut it off ? Sunday, June 13 View Page This is the 889 Sundstrom . This plant is growing some wierd stuff ! It seems to be spacing out the leaf nodes rather far apart, and it through a flat vine from a secondary. I cut part of the flat/double vine to see if it will turn normal again. There is also a double (siamese)male flower growing from the main. This is my second biggest plant at the moment, around 9 ft long. Sunday, June 13 View Page Please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe this is downy mildew on two of my melon plants. I sprayed fungicide, hopefully it is not too late. Sunday, June 13 View Page This is my biggest cc melon, the 183 Neptune. I attempted to set a melon on June 11th. I will probably cull it if it was successful because I want to set one closer to the end of June if possible. Sunday, June 13 View Page This is a pic of my os cross cabbage. Over the past week the head has turned flat. Does anyone know why it went flat ? Sunday, June 13 View Page All my other plants are doing well. I will probably take down the rest of the hoops in a few days, then set up my sprinkler system. Sunday, June 20 View Page This is the first pollinated fruit at day 10. 19 1/4 inches circ. It is about 11 feet out on main. The second pollinated fruit is at 15 foot out, and the third is about 19 feet out which got pollinated this morning ( fathers Day). Sunday, June 20 View Page Saturday the 19th of June, the 889 Sundstrom was pollinated with the 763 young. Sunday, June 20 View Page The 270 and 700 Young are growing good. The 696 Holder is picking up after the main vine setback (snapped main). The 648 Young is looking great. The 763 Young is the easiest plant so far to vine train. Some of my other plants main and secondaries want to "reach for the sky", and they take more care. Sunday, June 20 View Page All plants are healthy looking and very few bug sightings. Sunday, June 20 View Page A pic of a problem leaf I had to prune with a beer can for reference. I believe it measued 23"x 26". It was off of the 696 Holder plant. Sunday, June 20 View Page This is the first on the 889 Sundstrom, pollinated by my wife (I went fishing) on 6/19. Sunday, June 20 View Page This is the 763 Young, now around 24 foot long main, the longest secondaries are 15 foot. I plan on starting to terminate some of the secondary growth today. Sunday, June 20 View Page Here is a stump shot of the 763. I found a few cracks about 10 inches up from the stump. I dusted them with captan and they seem fine. Sunday, June 20 View Page Vege garden with the 270 Young in the background. All veges are looking good. First Jalapenos are 2 inches long. Picked a few zuchinis a few days ago. Sunday, June 20 View Page cc melons are growing good. Thursday, June 24 View Page Two of my melon plants got open pollinated afew days ago. Probably selfed because of the distance between them but not sure. They were the 191 Holloway and the 183 Neptune. They are around 5 days old and a little smaller than a 12 oz can. Thursday, June 24 View Page I was trying to adjust the main in advance on the 889 Sundstrom so my next pollination would have a good vine position and snapped it. Note: Don't touch vines until after noon. When will I learn this. At least I have one set before the break and one ready soon before the break. Thursday, June 24 View Page I terminated the main on the 763 Young at roughly 25 foot, and terminated 3/4's of the secondaries on it. Three pumpkins are pollinated on the main and a few on sides just in case. Growth on the first pollinated fruit is slower than other growers that are growing this seed. I am watching #2, and 3, and should have one to go with in a week or two. Thursday, June 24 View Page The 648 Young is looking great. This plant does not get leaf burn like the 763 does. 1st female should be ready around 10 ft out. I will be extra carefull not to snap this main !! The 696 Holder is vining out nice. The new main is around 8 ft. I don't see any females yet. The 700 and 270 Young plants are doing good. They are in my vege garden and I will be pulling the 700 out in a week. I only have room for one flag pattern here, around 215 sq ft. The 270 looks a little healthier, bigger main and leaves. Pics soon... Thursday, June 24 View Page Here is the 191 Holloway. This pic was taken on the 21st, so I would estimate pollination on the 19th. So I am saying it should be 5 days old. Earlier today I posted it was smaller than a 12 oz can, but it is already bigger than that. I am surprised how fast it is growing with such a small vine. Thursday, June 24 View Page This is the 889 main that I snapped this morning. The night before I was adjusting it and heard some of the fibers breaking so I stopped. This morning I noticed that there was some oozing where it must have fractured. I am sure it would have healed if I would have left it alone, but I didn't . At least it is broken in front of 2 fruits.I will have to do a pitchfork pattern with the remaining space I have (7-8 feet). Thursday, June 24 View Page I dusted the break with captan and than later cut the 7 or 8 inches off, right up to the un-pollinated fruit.I will not have to worry about vine position with this one :) Thursday, June 24 View Page 696 Holder took some wind damage with those big leaves today. I am out of equipment for wind breaks so the 696 and 648 are unprotected. Notice how the left secondary is as long as the "NEW" main. Anyone who has broken a main can figure out why this plant looks the way it does. lol Thursday, June 24 View Page The 696 Holder does have a female at 8 ft. and will have a second at 11 or 12 ft.I am thinking I may cross it with the 763 or the 648 to get more big and orange genes in it. Thursday, June 24 View Page Note for self: All 3 763 Young pollinations have been selfed. Thursday, June 24 View Page 648 Young, looking great. 1st pollination in a few days. Thursday, June 24 View Page I got up on a ladder for a few shots. 763 Young, almost totally dead ended. I have a few more vines to terminate. Biggest sides are 15 ft. main around 25 ft. I can see roots close to 15 feet from the stump !!! We got close to an inch of rain today, hopefully fruit #1 won't blow up. I think I will only put 3 plants in this plot next season, I would prefer to grow these plants bigger. Thursday, June 24 View Page An overhead shot at the 889 Sundstrom. It will be out of room in a week or two. It has around 500 sq ft to grow in. Thursday, June 24 View Page I can't remember if I posted this pic yet. It is the 191, taken today. It is a little bigger than a 12 oz can as of this evening. Found another one that is growing rapidly on the same plant. Saturday, June 26 View Page Pollinated 889 sundstrom #2 this morning x 648 Young,(12 ft out) Pollinated 648 Young #1 this morning x 696 Holder ,(9.5 ft out) Monday, June 28 View Page I have a tarp up for shade, but did not have anything directly over this melon, and this is what happened. Either a rabbit or groundhog took a taste. I have a white sheet over it now. Monday, June 28 View Page This is the 191 Holloway at 10 days old this morning the 28th of June. 71.5 ott, not sure about weight yet. Monday, June 28 View Page 22.5 inch circumference. Monday, June 28 View Page This is a pic of the Holloway plant, really not that big yet. I was digging 5-6 foot away from the stump burying some pumpkin vines and was surprised to be seeing the melon roots that far ! I have been stepping on a lot of them for 2 months. I will have to put in a few walking boards next year. Monday, June 28 View Page 183 Neptune, also open pollinated. Probably at 8 days on the 28th of June. It is a little smaller than the Holloway. Monday, June 28 View Page Cabbages are still heading up but seems that the leave are done growing. I think these will be done growing soon. The slugs have been hitting them hard, and they are really looking weathered as you'll see in the next photo. Monday, June 28 View Page looking old Monday, June 28 View Page Really amazing how far these roots travel. This is the 763 Young and the roots are 8-9 ft off to the side and 5 ft behind the stump.I have never used walking boards until this year, no wonder I could never grow these. Monday, June 28 View Page Speaking of STUMPS. I took the same pic 10 days ago(several entries back) and I can see a real difference in girth. It is slightly bigger than the can now. Thank you John for the great seed !!!! Monday, June 28 View Page Here it is, 763 at 18 days. 150.5 "ott, 78 lbs. Averaged 15 pounds a day the last three days. Monday, June 28 View Page Pollinated the 696 Holder x 763 Young. 1st pollination is around 9 ft out. Wednesday, June 30 View Page Day 20 measurment(June 30th) on the 763 Young, 172 OTT, 113 LBS. 17.5 lbs/ day last two days. I would expect it to slow down a bit with the cooler nights here, mid 40's. Wednesday, June 30 View Page Yesterday the 29th, was day 10 on #1 pollination on the 889 Sundstrom. I could not lift it to get the tape under it by myself,(first time for that !!!) so I did ott instead of circumference. OTT was 71" (close to basketball size). Pollination #2 is looking like it took. Thursday, July 1 View Page poll #2 on 648 Young X 270 Young, July 1st, 13 ft out. Cold morning 46 degrees at 6:30 am. Saturday, July 3 View Page 763 Young at day 23. Taping at 200",171 lbs. Should have a pb in two days. Even in the cold spell the last 3 days (mid 40's at night), it put on 19 lbs/ day the last 3 days, up from 17 lbs/ day earlier in the week. Saturday, July 3 View Page This was #2 on the 763. I have one more on the 2nd secondary on the left side that I will keep for several days more. It is growing very rapidly but it will probably be culled. Saturday, July 3 View Page This is a pic of a cull from the 700 Young. I took the 700 out. It looks like it would have been a very high pumpkin. It was growing fine but I went with the 270 Young hoping for some nice color. Sorry John. Saturday, July 3 View Page The 700 Young was also nice and low to the ground which was nice on windy days. But maybe it was smaller because the soil is not the best in this new area. Saturday, July 3 View Page Fruit growing on the 889 Sundstrom. Not a lot of plant behind it(around 200 sq.ft)so I am not sure how big it may get. Saturday, July 3 View Page I even have a decent vine posision on this one. (889) Saturday, July 3 View Page 763 from a distance. Saturday, July 3 View Page This is the 696 Holder. If I had not snapped the main it would probably be my biggest plant, especially because of the late start it had. The lower right of the pic is all tertiary growth behind the stump. The left side is just starting to get what is actually 4th stage growth, since the main is a secondary from that side. Sunday, July 4 View Page The last pic is to big to enter. Sunday, July 4 View Page 191 Holloway is doing good, 90" ott Sunday, July 4 View Page The 183 Neptune melon is nearly identical to the 191. Sunday, July 4 View Page This is one that I culled from the 191 Holloway. Only one on it now. Sunday, July 4 View Page My cabbage season is now over. I fertilized them Thursday evening and Sat morning they both split open! I guess I was not giving them enough water. They weighed much less than I thought they would. Weight was around 22 lbs each. Heads were around 14 inches accross. Sunday, July 4 View Page My kids with the split cabbages. Sunday, July 4 View Page This is a 11 day old fruit on the 270 Young crossed with the 763 Young.Very nice shape. Sunday, July 4 View Page This morning July 4th, #3 pollination on the 270 X 648 Young. Female flower baged and pollen inside over night. Tuesday, July 6 View Page I checked the 763 Young to see if the heat wave has helped in weight gains. Yes it did. The last 3 days it averaged 27 lbs/ day. 139 pounds the last 6 days if I did my math correct. No record pace by any means but I already surpassed my pb. It is starting to turn a darker yellow, pics over the weekend when it hits day 30. Tuesday, July 6 View Page Forgot to put the #'s down. 763 Young, day 26- 229" ott,around 252 pounds. Also culled the final off of the 2nd side vine on the left side. It was day 12 for it and measured 27.5 " circumference. Down to one on this plant. Hooked up a water timer today. 11:00 am - 5:00pm on for 15 minutes every hour. Friday, July 9 View Page 763 young at 29 days old. The last 3 days it put on 33 pounds/day. Taping at 258", 353 pounds. We are expecting some rain today which may keep the pounds going. One of the shoulders are only about an inch from touching the vine. I have a 1" thick pc of foam wedged between the vine and the pumpkin . I will have to keep a close eye on it and may cut the main off out in front if it gets worse. Friday, July 9 View Page My daughter standing right in front of the 763. Friday, July 9 View Page Oops , I should have got that beer can out before I took that last picture. Don't worry she did not drink it, It was only 10:30 am.LOL Friday, July 9 View Page My melon plants are slowely going down to something. The next pic is what the infected leaves look like. Please email what it looks like it may be. Friday, July 9 View Page Melon leaf infected with something. It is spreading out from the stump. Friday, July 16 View Page This is a 111 pound cull from the 889 Sundstrom plant. I let my son have fun destroying it.It was at day 21 and taped almost to chart at 172" ott. I have only one on the main at around 13 ft out. Friday, July 16 View Page This is my one and only pumpkin on the 889 plant. Today is day 20 and it taped at 186.5 ott, 141 pounds. I like the shape, almost round. The plant is almost totally terminated. I should have everything cut and buried in a few more days. Friday, July 16 View Page The 763 young is really impressing me. The last 10 days it averaged 30 pounds a day. It taped at 301" for 552 pounds this morning. The root system is all the way up to the front of the plant (over 20 feet). I feel if I had a under the canopy watering system, I could pack on more pounds. Maybe next year . Friday, July 16 View Page Side shot of the 763 fruit. That big rib hides some of the can on top. Friday, July 16 View Page On the 648 young plant I have 2 pollinations, possibly 3. I will put some numbers in the next update. This plant is almost totally terminated also. It has close to 400 sq ft of space. Looks like it will be orange ! Friday, July 16 View Page This is from the 270 Young plant. It is growing in a flag pattern and has about 270 ft to grow in.I am very impressed with the vine thickness considering it is only 3 ft from the corner of the garden. The plant is very tall as is the fruit. It is taping at 200 inches for 171 pounds. Not huge but I am going to grow several yard pumpkins from this one. Friday, July 16 View Page A shot of the main patch. This is about half of it. Friday, July 16 View Page This is the 183 Neptune. The plant is dying quickly.The fruit is still putting on weight.It has averaged just over 3 lbs a day for the last 9 days. It taped at 132 ott for 73 lbs. this morning. I am a little dissapointed that the plant is dying but only 2 pounds to my goal of 75 lbs. Friday, July 16 View Page This is the 191 Holloway.It is also dying. Averaged just over 2 lbs a day the last 9 days.It taped at 123 ott, for 61 pounds this morning. I may fertilize tonight to see if growth picks up. Friday, July 16 View Page Pic of the vege garden with the 270 flag pattern to the left side. These are the nicest looking tomato plants I have grown. I pruned off a lot of suckers which seems to have made the plant a lot stockier. Some of the bases are over 1 inch thick. Tuesday, July 20 View Page Day 24 for the 889 Sundstrom - 232 ott,260 pounds. Averaging 30 pounds a day the last 4 days. Day 40 for the 763 Young - 316.5 ott, 639 pounds. Dissapointing, it is down to averaging 21 pounds a day. I am hoping some fertilizer will pick things back up for a while. Tuesday, July 20 View Page I have one set on the main of the 696 Holder. Nice size and color, great vine position. I also have one set on a side vine for back up for another week. I will post #'s on day 20. Tuesday, July 20 View Page I have one set on the 648 Young that is growing nicely with nice color also. Also have a back up on a side for a while. Plant is around 400 sq ft. Totally dead ended. Tuesday, July 20 View Page I taped my dying melons. Growth has really slowed down. 191 Holloway gained around 1.5 pounds in the last 4 days. Taped at 124.5, 62.5 pounds The 183 Neptune only gained a little over 4 lbs the last 4 days. Taped at 135 OTT, 77.4 pounds. Tuesday, July 20 View Page Plant health on pumpkins looks to be good at this point. I am trimming off some of the old and beat up leaves, and back filling with new growth when I can. Thursday, July 22 View Page Taped my 889 Sundstrom fruit today, day 26 to see how it compared to my 763 fruit when it was the same age. The 889 is 77 pounds heavier for its age. Looks to be a very light colored fruit and rather round so far. It put on at least 33 pounds/day the last 2 days. It is taping over 300 pounds today. Thursday, July 22 View Page I culled the last 2 fruits today. One from the 696 Holder, and one from the 648 Young. The culls both came from side vines ( in the 30-40 pound range). As far as the remaining fruits , one each on the main, the 696 is growing much faster than the 648. The vine position on both is very good. That would be the best things that I learned this season. Thursday, July 22 View Page Attempted to pollinate one on the 270 Young this morning. I put an ice pack with a cooler over top of it. I have been struggling getting sets lately. I used the ice on the sets on the 648 and 696, and they both took. Thursday, July 22 View Page Tonight I will be spraying a mixture of green cure, neptunes fish & seaweed, and 0-0-25 , as long as this mornings test spray went ok. Tuesday, July 27 View Page My melons are finished. They both went done with downy mildew. This is what it looks like on the leaves. I am going to leave the melons on the vine a while longer. Tuesday, July 27 View Page The 889 Sundstrom is developing some stretch marks the past 2 days. We got over 1 inch of rain over the weekend. I try to keep the soil moist but 1 1/4 of water is a large amount. It is putting on close to 30 a day. At day 29 it measured 271.5 ott, 409 pounds. Tuesday, July 27 View Page This is the 648 Young at day 20. 71.5 circ.- 163 ott,97 pounds. Tuesday, July 27 View Page 696 Holder at day 20. The biggest from my patch for it's age. 82" circ. - 188.5 ott, 145 pounds. This pumpkin is really surprising me for the fact that it gets the least amount of direct sunlight in the patch and it is the smallest plant, around 400 sq ft. Right now it gets full sun from 11 am- 6:30 pm. It is in the best soil though. Tuesday, July 27 View Page This is the 270 young at day 35. Not huge, but it is only a small flag pattern plant, probably only covering around 190 sq ft.It measured 253 ott, 333 lbs. It is tough to get a good pic because it is right up against my fence with plastic (wind protection).I had to move my fence out twice already. I will add some better pics another time. Tuesday, July 27 View Page The 763 Young, at day 50. 90"(side to side), 93.5"(stem to blossem), 166" (circ). 350 ott, 859 pounds. Still growing like mad, 30 lbs a day or better. It is ribbing up and getting more orange by the day. I would think that it should be slowing down soon.That is a cat litter bucket(4 gallon maybe)for size reference. Tuesday, July 27 View Page A shot of my main patch. The 696 Holder is up front, followed by the 648 Young. Next is the 763 Young that got an earlier start, and last is the 889 Sundstrom. Tuesday, July 27 View Page This is what is left. Plant is almost all gone. Tuesday, July 27 View Page Picture was to big for the last entry. Tuesday, July 27 View Page Cukes produced great this year, with a lot of big ones. Tuesday, July 27 View Page Correction, Today is day 47 for the 763 Young. Wednesday, July 28 View Page I spotted a few spots of pm starting on a few leaves on the 696 Holder yesterday evening. I cut the leaves off and sprayed more fungicide. I have been rotating every 7- 10 days with ortho garden disease and green cure. I better step it up to 5-7 days just to be safe. Sunday, August 1 View Page The 696 Holder is averaging 19 pounds a day for the last 3 days. day 25, 226 ott, 241 pounds. Sunday, August 1 View Page The 648 young is averaging around 16 pounds a day for the last 5 days. ott is 203", 178 pounds. Sunday, August 1 View Page This is pic of the stem end of the 648 Young. Sunday, August 1 View Page I am switching to a more updated ott chart. The 2008 Sellflug chart. It seems like weights are a few pounds heavier on this chart then the older one I was using. LOL, Maybe I should keep on using that old chart so they will go heavy at weigh time, then I won't be so dissapointed if they go light. Sunday, August 1 View Page Oops, that should have read, "2008 Stellflug ott chart". Sunday, August 1 View Page The 889 Sundstrom at 36 days old, has averaged 30 lbs/ day the last 7 days. The stretch marks from earlier this week are healing fine.314 ott, 653 lbs. Still looks young with vey light ribbing . Starting to see some very light orange in some areas.I am a little concerned with stem stress on this one. The main was cut near pollination time because I broke the main in June. The main goes straight into the stem, but the stem is growing high into the air. I don't know how much longer this one will stay connected. Sunday, August 1 View Page A side shot of the 889. Sunday, August 1 View Page The 763 is 52 days old today. I was very surprised to see that it averaged 40 pounds/day over the last 5 days. OTT is 370", 1060 pounds. cc is 177 inches. It is a rather low and wide pumpkin. With that kind of growth things can definitely go bad, as you'll see in the next pic.... Sunday, August 1 View Page After I took the sheet off I found a small split in a rib. It appears that it is healing with sap , so I will have to keep my eye on it. I don't like the deep ribbing that is happening, it looks like an accident waiting to happen ! Sunday, August 1 View Page A different angle of the 763 Young. 2 Gallon watering can for reference.The vine / stem juction still looks good and could handle some more growth in my opinion. Sunday, August 1 View Page One more of the 763 . Sunday, August 1 View Page You can notice that in the last pic, the split is in what appears to be a sag line starting, right under the watering can. It runs perpendicular to the ribs. Bummer !!! Monday, August 2 View Page Sad to say , but the 763 is officially over. The rib splits that I found yesterday morning are now all the way into the cavity.The splits seem to be where a sag line was developing perpendicular to the ribs.I actually see a third split starting on the very top. I will probably cut it open this weekend for my daughters b-day party.I think I will cut a hole in the top and let the kids have fun getting the seeds out of it. Yesterdays ott was 370 inches (1060 lbs est.)at day 52. Monday, August 2 View Page This is the other small split about 3 feet away on the other side. It looks almost identicle to the other one. Monday, August 2 View Page This is a pic of the blossem end on the 270 young. The blossem is just getting squashed. I am not sure what is going to happen with this one . I think I actually got another one set on the main about 30 feet away from this one, finally. I had 5 or 6 aborts between them on the main vine. Wednesday, August 4 View Page Soil drench of bayer this morning and watered in. Applied 40 % milk/water as foliar for pm prevention. Wednesday, August 4 View Page I decided to patch the 3 rib splits with silicon on Monday morning on the 763.( Thank you Sergio!!) If it will hold together a few more weeks I will get it weighed as dmg.If it makes it to the weigh off I will take the patches off and see if it healed when I get there. So far it seems to be ok. Friday, August 6 View Page A pic of myself behind the 763. I took a mess of photos with my kids poseing with it because it may be going down any day now :{, :{ Friday, August 6 View Page A pic of my melons that were very young. They only grew for about 30 days.They went down with downy mildew. The girthier one is the 183 Neptune, and it taped at 87 pounds.(actual weight was 91.2 pounds). The 191 Holloway taped at 72.9 and weighed in at 72 lbs even. It was my first year growing them and enjoyed them. I learned a great deal and will grow them next season. Friday, August 6 View Page Some other #'s. 648 Young x 696 Holder Day 30- Aug 6th, 238 ott, 293 lbs. aver 23 lbs last 5 days 696 Holder x 763 Youung Day 30- 256 ott, 361 pounds. averaging 24 lbs last 5 days 889 Sundstrom x 648 Young Day 41- 331 ott, 763 lbs. averaging 22 lbs the last 5 days Saturday, August 7 View Page The 763 taped a few inches bigger around the cir. but it is difficult because of the ribs to get an accurate measurement. The other 2 measurements were only about 1 inch bigger than 5 days ago. Very little growth if any at all. I got 375" ott, 1104 pounds. Saturday, August 7 View Page Drenched 0-0-25 last night to try to "kick things up a notch" on the 889 and 763. Monday, August 9 View Page I was very surprised that the inside looked mature since the fruit was only about 30 days old. It tasted as good as it looks. Monday, August 9 View Page The finished product that I made for my daughters 3rd b-day party. No, you can't carry it by the handle.Smoked a turkey too, excellent !! Monday, August 9 View Page Is their a problem with my plant or are these just showing age ? The first secondary seems to be the worst. I have replaced a lot of the leaves near the stump already. Monday, August 9 View Page Here is a close up. Wednesday, August 11 View Page This is a pic of a leaf that had some pm under the overlap in the back of the leaf. I found a lot of leaves with pm starting to grow in that hidden area.I switched the overlap so that the pm was now on top. Then I sprayed 3% peroxide directly on the pm and rubbed it off with an old tooth brush. I don't know if that is the best way to try to stop it, but i read about using peroxide to fight pm on a organic website. So far it has dissapeared from the leaves that were infected. Wednesday, August 11 View Page 696 Holder at day 35: 281" ott,472 pounds, dropped down to 22 lbs/ day for the last 5 days. Wednesday, August 11 View Page 648 Young at day 35: 262.5" ott, 388 lbs, Down to 19 lbs/day average for the last 5 days. Wednesday, August 11 View Page 889 Sundstrom 46 days old: 340.5" ott,826 lbs. Down to 14 lbs / day average for the last 5 days. Wednesday, August 11 View Page I have been having issues with vine rot on my 763 plant this week. It was not getting any better so I decided to cut the main off from the stump side of the fruit. In the pic you can see that the entire vine between 2 different secondary junctions was all rotted. It was full of nasty, cloudy water . I am hopeing that it will stay out from entering the fruit.I have around 100-150 sq ft of plant out in front of the 763 to keep feeding it. I saw some new sap balls on the skin of it so maybe it is still growing a little. My main goal at this point is to keep the fruit from rotting, I really don't care if it grows anymore , but any growth would be a plus :) Wednesday, August 11 View Page A few of the secondary junctions behind the pumpkin are spewing juice out.This is several feet behind the fruit heading toward the stump. The stump seems to be ok. Wednesday, August 11 View Page A cross section of the vine I cut off. There was a thin coating of grey jelly on the very center. Definately a problem going on. Monday, August 16 View Page Todays numbers: Aug. 16th 648 Young - day 40, 280 ott, 467 pounds, 16 pounds a day last 5 days. This is my best shaped fruit. 696 Holder - day 40, 296 ott,550 lbs, 15.5 lbs/ day last 5 889 Sundstrom - day 51 , 350 ott, 900 lbs. 14.5 lbs/ day 763 Young has not rotted yet. It looks like it has put a little weight on since the splits. I am now thinking that the splits may not be the reason for the sudden growth stoppage, I am sure that the rotting vines have played a big part. Day 67 - 185.5 " circumference, 379 ott, 1139 pounds. More orange and more cantaloping happening. Some notes for July : put on 889 pounds on in July averaged 28.7 pounds a day in July 40 lbs/ day the last 5 days in July before the splits A lot of rain before splits (2.5 INCHES) I have mice under it, caught one with a trap. Last night I set the trap again and something took the trap !!Probably stuck on a coons nose. Saturday, August 21 View Page Something bad is going on with my leaves. It almost looks like sunburn,which may be possible. They start to turn a greyish green color, then the next day they get crispy and shrivel up. It seems to be happening on several of my plants. I have not been using my overhead system because of some minor pm issues, but I am going to restart the overhead watering today. Anyone know what is going on with my leaves ? Saturday, August 21 View Page Here is a close up of one. Saturday, August 21 View Page I have never seen a flower like this one. It looked like a male flower from the outside, but when I looked at the inside .... Saturday, August 21 View Page A few big mucho nacho jalapenos. Saturday, August 21 View Page My plants are starting to suffer between minor pm and something that I am not sure about. I don't know if it is from the plants minor suffering or I am not feeding them enough,but all my fruits are slowing way down. I am going to water under the canopy a little more often and hit them harder with 0-0-25 this week. Saturday, August 21 View Page Some #'s Day 45 for the 648 young. 292" ott,528 pounds. Down to 12 pounds a day for the last 5 days. This fruit has a really nice shape.Never got more than a 23 lbs a day average and that was back near day 30. I may have screwed up and hit them too early with 0-0-25, but not sure. I will need to take better notes next season. Saturday, August 21 View Page Day 45 for the 696 Holder x 763 Young- 306 ott, 606 lbs. Not bad but growth has really slowed way down way too early. Down to 11 pounds a day for the last 5 days. Saturday, August 21 View Page The 889 Sundstrom at day 56 - 353" ott, 923 pounds. Down to 4.6 pounds/day for the last 5 days. This plant is still very healthy over all. I did not expect the growth to go down hill this fast. Around day 36 it started to drop in gains. Note - Next season no potassium until day 40. Saturday, August 21 View Page The 763 Young is still attached to the front of the plant.This part of the plant still seems to be healthy. The rot near the stem seems to be under control ,so I am leaving the fruit hooked on as long as I feel it is safe. It will be cut off on the 29th or 30th and hopefully be safely on my trailer for the August 31st weigh off. I hope to meet some growers there , even if I don't have anything to take. Monday, August 23 View Page I cut the 763 Young totally from the rest of the main vine yesterday. The stem looks to be in great shape, nice and solid. Even tonight it was still solid. Tuesday evening, I hope to have it loaded and then taken to a nearby grain farm to get weighed. If I get it loaded safely I will peel of the patches to see if any miracles happened. Monday, August 23 View Page My daily gains have been all slowing down. We got 1.25 inches of rain a few days ago, so I decided to check and see if my gains increased. Yes, they went up a lot. I need to water more ! Wednesday, August 25 View Page A pic of the 763 Young before harvesting. Wednesday, August 25 View Page Ready to pick it up. Wednesday, August 25 View Page This fruit had a real wide ass on it. I measured my trailers width and then measured on each side of the fruit to the trailer. The pumpkin was 1/4 inch shy of 5 foot wide. Almost as long , but only 32 inches high. Wednesday, August 25 View Page Weighed it at the local grain farm. The folks there were happy to weigh it for me. Wednesday, August 25 View Page I had to leave the lifter on because the strap was stuck between the pallet and the pumpkin. The pumpkins circumference was over two feet bigger than the bottom strap.Pumpkins circumference was over 15 feet. Strap was just under 13 foot. I weighed the lifter and straps at home after we unloaded it and subtracted 15 more pounds from the total weight. Wednesday, August 25 View Page Smashed my personal best by 955 pounds. Fruit is now the "1157 Zappa 2010 dmg". Unofficial I guess. Fruit was only around 52 days when it stopped growing on Aug 1st.It may have put on a few pounds after the split, but I think the stoppage was from the infection in the plant. Either way, this pumpkin could still be growing if not for the infection. As stated before, it put on 889 pounds in the month of July. It was pollinated on june 10th, about 9 foot out.350 feet of plant behind it, about 150 feet in front of it.The 5 days before the splits it put on a average of 40 pounds a day. 2 days after the splits I noticed the infection starting only 2 feet behind the fruit on the main vine/seconday junctions.It kept getting worse day by day.About 2 weeks ago I cut it from the main on the stump side and 2 days ago I cut it from the remaining main in front. I am going to keep it on a pallet covered with a tarp, hopefully until October. If it has seeds they will be free to growers some time in November.It was selfed, so it should retain the same great genes as the 763 Young. Wednesday, August 25 View Page Thank you Rick Fare for loading and unloading, and a big thanks goes out to Bill Faulk for lending me his pumpkin lifter. Thursday, August 26 View Page The 696 Holder is doing well. Gains have increased some with recent rain.I am struggling with leaves starting to wilt , then they turn brown onthe edges, and in a day or two they are totally brown and shriveled up. Thursday, August 26 View Page Stem side of the 696. Very nice orange color on this one. Thursday, August 26 View Page The 648 Young is doing good. Didn't feel like measuring today. I may start to measure every 10 days from here out since growth has been below 20 pounds a day. This pumpkin is still holding a nice shape I crossed it with the 696 Holder (1154 Doucet and 1156 Hunt). This is one I would like to get weighed to see if it still has the heavy genes. Thursday, August 26 View Page The 889 Sundstrom is doing well. Last time I checked not much growth. Hopefully the inside is thickening. This is probably my best chance to get an official 1000 pounder. Thursday, August 26 View Page A pic of my leaves that are dying fast. It is happening on both the 696 and 648 plants. They seem to wilt slightly, then a day or two later the edges turn brown.Another day or two and the leaves are totally brown and dried up.It is happening on the secondaries and seems to affect consecutive leaves, like it is spreading by the vine. I don't see anything wrong with the vines, and no mites or aphids. Any ideas ??? Thursday, August 26 View Page Here is what they look like after at the end. Friday, August 27 View Page I taped the 270 Young x 763 Young (1385 Jutras x 1502 Wallace)this morning. This is the 270 sq ft flag pattern plant. Pollinated on June 22nd. only 7 ft out. Day 66 - 315", 659 lbs. 10 day average is 10 lbs / day. This plant has been my easiest to maintain mainly because of the small size, but I am not getting the crazy non-stop 3rd stage growth like my other plants have been sending out all season. Maybe because the root system is smaller. Tuesday, August 31 View Page I found these on my 270 plant a few days ago.I think these are aphid nymphs and eggs, but not sure. I sprayed a heavy dose of bayer on the leaves. Doesn't really matter anymore because...... Tuesday, August 31 View Page We took it to the Canfield fair today. Tuesday, August 31 View Page My first official weigh off. It went a little light, 645 pounds. It was taping around 678 pounds. This one should end up being my smallest . I have 3 more to weigh. Tuesday, August 31 View Page This is a pic of my 645, where it will stay until after the fair is over next week. Considering how small this plant was grown, and how little water it got throughout the season, I may grow a seed from this fruit next season. It was crossed with the 763 Young ,which grew my 1157. Tuesday, August 31 View Page Their were some real nice ones at the fair.Have not heard the results yet. Got to meet some of the best growers in the world. It was kind of hecktic with all of the traffic going through the weigh off area, but very nice to meet some growers. Tuesday, August 31 View Page Todays numbers. 648 Young day 55,306.5 ott, 608 lbs. averaged 8 lbs / day last 10 days. cooler weather most of the days. 696 Holder, day 55 -327" ott, 736 pounds. A big drop in gains, 5 lbs / day last 5 days. I am going to hit them hard with the 0-0-25 and some fish and seaweed tonight. 889 Sundstrom, day 66- 355" ott, 938 lbs. Down to 1.5 lbs/ day average last 10 days. Getting some green color now. White, salmon, and green. I forgot pics, and it is too hot to go back out. Wednesday, September 1 View Page I was pulling some of my vines out from the 270 Young plant and found this rotting section about 3 ft out from the stump. Rotting from the inside out , just like some of my 763 vines are doing.I wish I new the cause of this. I am letting a late pollination grow on the rest of the stumpless plant, out close to 28 ft on a secondary vine. Wednesday, September 1 View Page Even though this plant (763 Young) was suffering from some sort of vine rot, you probably would not no it from this picture.This is one aggressive plant that I will definately grow next year. It has been putting out 3rd stage growth all season and still is . Since I cut the main from the fruit several weeks ago, I am letting it do what it wants.If I have some spray left over I will use it on this plant, but that is all. I have several nice fruits growing on this non stop plant. It actually looks to be my healthiest plant ! Wednesday, September 1 View Page Here is a fruit covered up on the 763.It is about the size of a 5 gallon bucket. Wednesday, September 1 View Page This is another on on the 763 Young, but this is growing on the plant that was out in front of my 1157 fruit that I grew this year. About 100 sq. ft. of plant feeding it. I am hopeing to get a few small ones for decorations and carving. Wednesday, September 1 View Page This is my 696 Holder plant that is slowly dying from an unknown cause.I did some weeding today and the vines all seem good and solid.It almost seems like the plant has two different issues. Some of the leaves are turing a yellowish color and then the edges turn brown, and some leaves start to wilt a little on the edges and in a few days start to get brown and crispy on the edges then eventually totally srivel up. Wednesday, September 1 View Page These are leaves on my 889 Sundstrom plant.Are they just getting old, or is something wrong ? These are the oldest leaves on the plant. Thursday, September 2 View Page Some more leaf pics on the 696 Holder plant. This is the first stage. I checked for mites again, and came up empty again.I am leaning toward a plant disease, possibly downy mildew ? Thursday, September 2 View Page Second stage problems. Thursday, September 2 View Page 3rd stage, You can see how the edges start to yellow, then some spots that look to be angular are mixed in the yellow, and then the edges start to get brown and curl up. The season is over for this plant. I notice that even the new 3rd stage growth is not growing anymore. I would just like to get a diagnosis, so I know for next season. Thursday, September 2 View Page A final picture of the 696 that is going down hill fast. A lot of leaves are gone in the center. I would say that I lost 50 % of the leaves. I guess I will leave the fruit hooked on the vine as long as possible to get some mature seeds.The cross is 696 Holder (1156 Hunt x 1154 Doucet) x 763 Young (1502 Wallace x 1385 Jutras ). The fruit that is on this plant is very orange with some lighter fleck throughout. Tuesday, September 7 View Page What do you do with an extra 90 pound water melon ? Make wine ! This is my first attempt at water melon wine. We got 3 gallon of juice out of it, perfect for my 3 gallon carboy (glass jug for wine making). If it turns out good, I will post the recipe in the recipe section next year. Tuesday, September 7 View Page Day 61 for the 648 Young yesterday Sept. 6th - 310 ott, 629 lbs. 3.5 lbs / day average the last 6 days. Day 61 for the 696 Holder - 328 ott, 743 lbs. maybe 1 lb / day average last 6 days. This plant is dying and it must be hurting growth. The 889 Sundstrom is my only hope to break into the 1000 pound club officially. The past 20 days this fruit has been slowly declining in growth. Six days ago when I checked it, it was only averaging only about 1.5 lbs / day.Surprisingly this fruit has picked back up !! It averaged 8 lbs /day the last 6 days, NICE !! Day 72 361.5 ott, 986 lbs. Warm weather today but a major cold front comming in tonight. Friday, September 10 View Page 696 Holder, taken on the 7th. Friday, September 10 View Page 648 Young, taken on the 7th. This one I crossed with the 696 Holder (1156 Hunt x 1154 Doucet). Friday, September 10 View Page My wife behind the 889 Sundstrom fruit. This pumpkin is still growing. Putting on about 6 lbs a day now. I forget how many inches it measured but the weight is 1,010 est. I am hoping it puts on another 80 lbs or so in the next 3 weeks, in case it goes 10% light at the scale. That should keep me over the 1000 pound threashold. It sounds solid when thumped, but you never know. Friday, September 10 View Page Side view of the 889. This was crossed with the 648 Young. Wednesday, September 22 View Page Unloading my 645 from the fair 2 weeks ago.We flipped it so it is sitting on the blossem end. I think we will carve this one. Wednesday, September 22 View Page I taped the 648 Young today. Day 76, 321 ott, 697 pounds. It has picked up from3.5 lbs /day, up to 6.2 lbs/day for the last 10 days. Seems to like this warm spell. The 696 Holder surprised me too. Day 76, 334 ott, 783 lbs. on day 61 this fruit was only averaging around 1 lb/day, it is up to 3.4 lbs per day for the last 10 days. Wednesday, September 22 View Page I did not check the 889 Sundstrom. I will let it go until next Friday Oct.1st, when I pick it.The last time I checked it, it only gained 9 lbs in 7 days. I am hoping with this warm spell, that it ramps up like the other 2 did. Sunday, September 26 View Page My little Sophia posing with the 696 Holder fruit. Sunday, September 26 View Page One more with me and Sophia. Sunday, September 26 View Page My 1157 has been under a tarp for over a month.I uncovered it last weekend to show some friends and noticed some rotten spots on top. So this weekend I decided to cut it open to hopefully get some seeds from it. I was surprised how easy it was to cut through it with a wood saw ! Sunday, September 26 View Page A little tough to push over 500 pounds apart, but I got it. Sunday, September 26 View Page You can clearly see the dill ring that finished this pumpkin early :( , Also the stem end was about 10 inches thick, and the majority of the blossem end was 5-6 inches thick. Sunday, September 26 View Page Here is a good picture of a half section. Sunday, September 26 View Page My kids and my neighbors enjoyed helping extract seeds. Thanks neighbors !! Sunday, September 26 View Page Yes !!, there were some good seeds in it. I am glad I did not hesitate to cut it open, because some seeds were getting mold on them ( around 45). I got around 210 mature ones, and saw a lot of immature seeds, which surprised me. Sunday, September 26 View Page Rest in peace 1157. That was a lot of chopping with a shovel !!I am going to be sore tomorrow.I put the entire chopped up 1157 in my new patch area (the pcs cover around 6 feet x 38 feet). Sunday, September 26 View Page These seeds (1157 Zappa 2010 dmg) are free to any growers.They will be ready in a few weeks. Thursday, September 30 View Page I loaded the 648 Young today and took it to a local grain farm to get weighed. It sounded like a boulder when thumped, and it did go HEAVY.I got a good ott measurement on the pallet. 329 ott, 749 est. Actual weight is 856 pounds,about 14% heavy if I did my math correct.(Unofficial weight) Heaviness is one of this seeds traits. I will try to get some pics tomorrow of the pumpkin. "856 Zappa 10 est, 14 % heavy" Tuesday, October 5 View Page John, these next few pics are of my "856 Zappa 10 est, 14% heavy" from your 648 seed. Blossem end Tuesday, October 5 View Page Side view of the "856 Zappa 10 est" The walls should be thick !! Tuesday, October 5 View Page Stem end of my 856 est This fruit was crossed with my 772, which was very orange, and has orange genetics behind it. I believe the 648 seed that produced this 856 had some good orange genes also. This cross should produce orange offspring. I will probably plant this one next year to maybe get a heavy orange fruit. Tuesday, October 5 View Page Pre weigh off photo at ovgpg Tuesday, October 5 View Page One,of my 2 entries heading on the scale. Weight was 772 lbs. My first official GPC weight. A few people asked for seeds from this fruit. I just want to state that it was crossed with my 1157, so I don't think it will produce orange as well as my 856 seed should, (if it has any seeds). Tuesday, October 5 View Page My 889 Sundstrom fruit getting weighed.I am hoping for 1000 or better. I taped it in the patch 3 days earlier and got an ott of 369", for 1052. When they taped it at the weigh off they measured it 6 " bigger !! for 375 " 1104 est. Tuesday, October 5 View Page It weighed 1127 !! I think it went 2 % heavy with their ott measurment. I was very happy to see it break 1k. 1127 Zappa 10 (889 Sundstrom x 648 Young )This may be a HEAVY cross for next season. Tuesday, October 5 View Page I can't remember this guys name, sorry, but he had the biggest wheel I ever saw. He drove 6 hrs or more from NY to bring his fruit. He got 3rd place. My kids probably could have taken a bath in that thing ! Tuesday, October 5 View Page Bad back lighting on those last photos. If any one at the weighoff snapped any pics of my two entries, please give me an e mail. I would love to have a pic without the back lighting. Tuesday, October 5 View Page My 1127 after it got weighed. Tuesday, October 5 View Page I think this is Quinn's fruit heading to the scale. Monster !!! Tuesday, October 5 View Page The winner, Jeff ( Bodene ). Tuesday, October 5 View Page My son holding the 648 Young stump. Tuesday, October 5 View Page This years totals: My main patch (4 plants) 772 Zappa 10 856 Zappa 10 1127 Zappa 10 1157 Zappa dmg 10 est 3912 lbs + My flag pattern plant that I was hoping to get several pumpkins from, but had major pollination problems (aborts) ended up at 645 Zappa 10 My total weight for 2010 was 4,557 pounds. A pretty good first year.Several things I need to get beter on, like keeping the plant healthy after mid August. Tuesday, October 12 View Page This is the stump from the 763 Young plant. Even though this plant came down with some kind of smelly bacterial infection, it never totally died. It kept on growing . I let some more fruits get open polinated to see if any would grow for decoration pumpkins. A lot of them were seeping that nasty liqued ,like some of the vines were , so they ended up rotting. I managed to get one around 150 pounds, as I have in a upcoming photo. Tuesday, October 12 View Page This is are display this year. I have noticed a lot of vehicles slowing down on the street, LOL . Tuesday, October 12 View Page a closer view. Tuesday, October 12 View Page My wife and I made this big spider. For some reason there are real little spiders all over the pumpkins too. Tuesday, October 12 View Page I got all my plants ripped out and did the initial till last weekend. Saturday, October 30 View Page A pic of my 856 est 10, carved. 14 % heavy, seeds available, e mail if interested.( 648 Young x 696 Holder). This may be a decent orange cross, but I did not dig deep into the background. Saturday, October 30 View Page Roughing in a face. My wife finished this one. This is the "645 Zappa 10 ", it went a few pounds light. Seed was the 270 Young (1385 Jutras x 1502 Wallace) x 763 Young (1502 Wallace x 1385 jutras). I got around 700 seeds from this pumpkin, and they are available if interested. (3 weeks from now they will be dry). Saturday, October 30 View Page This is my "1127 Zappa 10". I decided at the last minute to do a carving. I did this in 3.5 hours. I need to get some better tools for this . Saturday, October 30 View Page Here is the finished product on the 645. Saturday, October 30 View Page Forgot to rotate the last pic. Saturday, October 30 View Page Here is a closer view of the 645. Saturday, October 30 View Page Our display all carved up. Saturday, October 30 View Page My kids posing before going trick or treating . Saturday, October 30 View Page Some seeds from my 1127. They will also be available to anyone whom is interested, in 3 weeks. "1127 Zappa 10" 889 Sundstrom x 648 Young. This cross should go heavy. Saturday, October 30 View Page Starting to put my line up together for next season. Saturday, October 30 View Page This was a BIG suprise! Thanks again Jeff. If it does not see dirt in 2011, it will in 2012. Tuesday, November 23 View Page fall 2009 soil results Tuesday, November 23 View Page Fall 2010 soil test results. This is a newly tilled area with only minimal manure and mulched leaves.Need to add some N.