Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 80 Entries. Monday, May 25 View Page 3 plants in the ground. 1738 Barron, 1969 Haist and my 835 Podraza. In looking at prior years I see I am behind but the 1738 and 1969 are almost on the ground with the 1969 in the lead. The 835(870 wolf x 1332 wolf) is more of a genetics plant to get solid orange maybe a cross with a 359. Also planning to try a long gourd and giant tomato's.   Monday, June 1 View Page 1969 Haist, With what Im seeing this could be a big seed. Been in the cold frame since 5-10-15. Pulled the frames today after 2 cold and rainy days. Tremendous root growth at the nodes with roots already 2-3 feet away from the main vine. Everywhere I dug for burying dirt I hit roots.   Monday, June 1 View Page 1738 Barron, its doing well but compared to the 1969 its behind by about 3-4 days. Another issue is that I used the flimsy soil cables in this spot and the heavy duty cable for the 1969. I don't think the flimsy cables work as well seems a lot less output and overall warming.   Monday, June 1 View Page 1969 , didn't show up with 1st post   Friday, June 12 View Page Marble size female on 1969 haist at about 10.5 ft. I'll say pollination about 6-21. This one will be the keeper, has to be as the plant is running out of room. Should be able to maneuver the vine to get maybe 1 more pollination if this one doesn't take. Main tip female on the 1738 barron. Based on its growth Im guessing a 6-27 pollination give or take 2 days. This plant is very thick, thick vines, thick stalks, thick leaves. 835 Podraza is only about 2.5 feet long but its a genetic plant for orange and has received no care other than watering and some merit. FP's have 1st true leaves and will go in next week, LG is in and has the basketball pole to grow up. Macoy and foss giant tomatoes will go in as well.   Wednesday, June 17 View Page Long gourd, its next to the basketball pole, never grew one before so we will see if it will establish itself in the little area I gave it. Used the RAW products grow fert. on it.   Wednesday, June 17 View Page 157 haist field pumpkins   Wednesday, June 17 View Page 835 Podraza, I stuck this one in with no care and its actually quite robust. Its for a genetics plant for orange but ive grown some big ones on lawn before.   Wednesday, June 17 View Page 1738 barron, moderate growth but bulky.   Wednesday, June 17 View Page 1738 barron female, already snipped the leaf as they always scratch the pumpkin   Wednesday, June 17 View Page 1969 haist, put this one in the smaller area of the patch and its already filling it in.   Wednesday, June 17 View Page 1969 female, opening probably this weekend   Monday, June 22 View Page past 3 days the secondary's and the main seen here decided to shoot straight up, we have had quite a bit of rain and my guess is with the heat nitrogen freed up.   Monday, June 22 View Page despite ramping up soil and anchoring it down I came out to see that the main must have levered during the non stop wind yesterday. Any thoughts? That pumpkin was to be the keeper. Next one is in the tip so at least 10 days out. Terminate at the pumpkin and pitchfork it with that secondary as the new main? Let it ride and grow it normally...that main will be a real problem to move away from the pumpkin?   Monday, June 22 View Page this is the ramped up main, pic didn't attach to the post   Monday, June 22 View Page cracked main again   Monday, June 29 View Page 1969 Haist day 8, some issues with the plant producing few males. So far its shiny and look sgood   Monday, June 29 View Page 1738 barron, 4 days old crossed with a 1916 barron, notice the crack in the main. Not sure I trust this one. crack is closed but it may act as a stress riser as the pumpkin grows. Have another on the main either wed or thurs. 1st is at 13 feet 2nd will be at 16.5 ft   Monday, June 29 View Page not sure why my pics don't attach to the posts? anyway this is the 4 day old 1738 barron   Tuesday, July 7 View Page 1738 Barron poll 6-25 x 1916 Barron this one slow as was everything with the rain and cold we had for 4 straight days. Its now starting to take off.   Tuesday, July 7 View Page 2nd set on the main of the 1738 poll 7-2-15 x 1916 Barron The 1st one looks great and the crack is healed over so????   Tuesday, July 7 View Page 1969 Haist x 1738 barron poll 6-26-15 The 1st set on the 1969 from 6-21-15 aborted. About 90% of the males on this plant are malformed or no pollen.   Tuesday, July 7 View Page Long Gourd I was given by Ray Waterman. Ive never grown one of these so we will see how it turns out. Its being trained up the basketball pole.   Tuesday, July 7 View Page 5 Giant tomatoes this year from Foss and McCoy. this one is the 4.57 McCoy. Using the RAW products on the gourd and the tomatoes   Friday, July 10 View Page 1738 barron poll 6-25, steadily increasing, up to 3.5-4 in cc per day, some consistent warm sunny weather will help. Shape seems good and the crack in the main is covered over and stable. Alot of plant is ready to push this one   Sunday, July 12 View Page 1969 haist plant   Sunday, July 12 View Page 1969 haist male..about 95% of the males look like this....all females aborted by day 15. what do you do to a sterile plant   Sunday, July 12 View Page Pull it out!! Major disappointment, like most sterile plants it looked really good and was a spectacular grower   Sunday, July 12 View Page These roots were everywhere   Sunday, July 12 View Page Transplanted 2 125 haist FP's (selfed 81 wolf) and a 4.57 McCoy tomato The FP's wilted rapidly as I couldn't get a large enough root ball, really loose. we will see how they do, each got a gallon of fertilizer   Sunday, July 12 View Page Holy smokes did it get hot out!! No clouds full UV exposure and.......flagging Note to self do not transplant field pumpkins on what turns out to be the hottest day of the summer so far. they fried, had trim off leaves and the crispy tissue. started 2 more and will maybe have something for Halloween if these 2 don't come around. front end of the 1738 flagged, put up the shade netting and misted and it came around.   Tuesday, July 14 View Page 1738 filling out   Wednesday, July 15 View Page rooftop pic of the plant, 32' long, 17 feet wide but all secondary's before the pumpkin are 11-12 feet long due to turning them and training forward.   Wednesday, July 15 View Page pattern used to get more length on the secondary's in a smaller space. Im running out of space on the vines past the pumpkin but they will have the lawn to go through.   Monday, July 20 View Page OTT 176 did 10 inches OTT since yesterday. All other sets main and sides have aborted. Ill try for some insurance sets when they come up on the main. Still have a lot of secondary's to terminate before and after the pumpkin I want to fill in as much tilled space as I can. The main and secondary growth slowed to a crawl when the pumpkin started growing bigger last week. Day 25 today but Im calling it day 21 due to the cold and rain for 4 days after pollination when the pumpkin did nothing, didn't lay down till day 8.   Tuesday, July 21 View Page long gourd, added some wire fencing for it to attach to, about 13' tall. Females are showing up.   Tuesday, July 21 View Page My little 835 x 359 foss. Not much plant but its looking good, same shape as the pollinator of the 835 (my 1079 off the 1332 wolf)   Tuesday, July 21 View Page 1738, picking up steam, too big to take top down pics. Looks like it will be orange. 10 in ott gain past 24 hours and increasing daily. I think I am not watering enough as the surface soil was quite dry. I think ill start a schedule of multiple periods of drip and overhead watering to keep it moist all the time. So far no disease. Fungacides include daconil, agrifos and eagle. I also think the root shield is working. Pesticides include A LOT of merit, foliar and drench and bifen. No sign of white flies, aphids or mites. All other sets aborted on the main and sides Ill keep pollinating on the sides as insurance. 14 sides yet to terminate when the space fills out.   Thursday, July 23 View Page Been cleaning out snot from my little 835 Podraza plant. Operated this morning under a general anesthesia and performed a thorough debridement. Placed it in the ICU with fan and fungicide application. I only need this one to get to the point of having seeds.   Thursday, July 23 View Page this 835 is impressive with no plant and the snot and no fertilizers its plugging along. cross is 835 Podraza x 359 foss.   Sunday, July 26 View Page Despite multiple surgical debridement's and medicinal treatment the patients prospect for recovery is poor. This goop stinks and is drawing flies. I stripped necrotic tissue back 3 times today and it just keeps turning yellow brown within hours. About 1/4 of the stem is gone at this point. Too bad this little guy was growing well. I will probably pull it tomorrow.   Monday, July 27 View Page 1738 Barron, ramping up its daily gains by about 6#/day. Over 30#/day as of this morning. Plant is healthy and is doing well with heavier watering.   Sunday, August 9 View Page color on the 1738 crossed with the 1916   Sunday, August 9 View Page looking good despite the weather, very long.   Sunday, August 9 View Page LG doing well at about 10 ft, I have another at about 14 ft growing through the hoop   Saturday, August 15 View Page very sad day, I had to send my best friend home this morning. Merlin had advanced hemangiosarcoma causing pericardial effusion. He had a pericardiocentisis on 7-17 and we had almost 4 great weeks with him. The effusion returned yesterday and the procedure was done again but didn't work the fluid returned less than 10 hours later.   Saturday, August 15 View Page Merlin was a titled stockdog in ASCA, AHBA and AKC on sheep and ducks.   Saturday, August 15 View Page He was a great patch protector, kept out all the lookey-loos   Saturday, August 15 View Page From An AHBA sheep trial   Sunday, August 16 View Page 86in and going strong, Ill have to get a board on it soon to angle it and start digging a hole.   Sunday, August 16 View Page Swish! 62 inches and 14feet high. Not sure if both gourds on the same plant is good bad or indifferent. Sprayed daconil for some PM spoting   Wednesday, August 26 View Page I was asked to give a seminar at the Erie County Fair, the 3rd largest county fair in existence. That was not the title I gave them.   Wednesday, August 26 View Page 1738 barron, weather has been like mid September here and growth has slowed tremendously at least its pretty and given the genetics it should go heavy. Has potential to be a PB, the cross is with the 1916 barron.   Wednesday, August 26 View Page Larger patch shot, large plant is still healthy but its just not putting on the weight. Im hoping for some September weight from the plant after the pumpkin as its terminated and heavily rooted in at this point.   Wednesday, August 26 View Page long gourd growing through the basketball hoop. 2 are on the single plant. This one was starting to bending over the inner portion of the hoop so I angled it out. Its at 100" and still going. The earlier set has sort of stalled at 98".   Wednesday, August 26 View Page LG plant is quite robust with some DM/PM under control with eagle/daconil. not sure on the genetics, I obtained the seedling from Ray Waterman   Wednesday, September 2 View Page Picked a LG today. It was the smaller of the 2 on the plant. It had not grown in almost 2 weeks so it was done. I figured cutting it may push more to the other one even though this one wasn't growing. 96" even What do you do with a 96" LG?   Sunday, September 6 View Page 1st giant tomato ive grown off the 5.84 foss. More to come off the 4.57 McCoy and the 7.1 foss Thanks for the seeds Bill   Sunday, September 13 View Page The one on the left was picked today. Lousy rabbit got to it, saw the rabbits eating the eating tomatoes and didn't think to protect this one. The one on the right weighted 2.03# this one is heavier by feel.   Sunday, September 13 View Page That should have said the one on the right with the chew marks was picked today   Saturday, September 26 View Page Attended the Williamsville Pumpkin Weigh Off Today. Took 1st Place with the 1162.5 Podraza, a new PB. This pumpkin wont show up in the GPC listing as this weigh off is independent. The final tape OTT is 357.5 and 15.6% heavy!!! The cross is 1738 Barron X 1916 Barron. The 1916 was grown by Andy Wolf, his pumpkin went down early and no further sets due to deer eating all the tips, but the pumpkin would have been long and orange. This cross should produce long heavy orange pumpkins. I also took my biggest tomato--2.5#, open pollination off the 4.57 McCoy 1 of my LG's at 95" and a FP at 33.5# Overall a nice day and a fun weigh off   Saturday, September 26 View Page 1162.5 side view   Saturday, September 26 View Page blossom end   Saturday, September 26 View Page other side   Saturday, September 26 View Page stem end, heavy green showing through   Saturday, September 26 View Page Perfectly healthy stump with thick white roots   Saturday, September 26 View Page My 95 year old grandma helping load the pumpkin   Thursday, October 29 View Page Opened the 1162 (1738 barron x 1916 barron). Impressively thick as it was 16% heavy . Pic taken from the right side near the blossom.   Thursday, October 29 View Page Cavity is tiny. decent seed count. I expect alot out of this seed next year!   Thursday, October 29 View Page seeds seemed quite large to me biggest any of my pumpkins has produced!   Saturday, October 31 View Page 1162 face carved in it   Saturday, October 31 View Page lit up   Saturday, October 31 View Page nice wolf carving I did   Sunday, November 1 View Page 1162 in half   Sunday, November 1 View Page blossom end   Sunday, November 1 View Page shoulders   Sunday, November 1 View Page inside blossom end   Sunday, November 1 View Page inside blossom end   Sunday, November 1 View Page Cut the 1162 in half, walls were 6-14 inches thick. Shoulders were the thickest 14 inches and Blossom end 6-7 inches thick. At 16% heavy it shows with a very symmetric distribution of mass. Email me if your interested in growing it, seed count was decent about 150 currently drying. cross is 1738 Barron (1730 werner x 2009 Wallace)x 1916 Barron (2009 Wallace x 1730 barron) should be long heavy and orange   Sunday, November 22 View Page This is what it looked like last year at this time in West Seneca NY just south of Buffalo. 7 feet of snow over 2.5 days. No snow yet this year but its forecast for later tonight