Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 91 Entries. Friday, February 7 View Page 7.5 Radach 2019 Polination date and parent weights witheld :)   Friday, February 7 View Page He is growing so fast. 8 weeks old now. Meanwhile, daddy is getting ready to gear up for Pumpkin season. Going to grow all orange this year.   Thursday, February 13 View Page I am breaking in a virgin patch this year. Patch A is my main patch where I grew my three largest Pumpkins. 1223 in 2014, 899.5 in 2015 and 885 in 2018. Patch B is where I grew the 814.5 that won the 150 Square foot contest in 2014. That Patch has struggled with disease since which is part of the reason that I took last season off to grow Mustard. Patch C is my new patch. Last fall I dug up the front lawn. I completely excavated the top 12" of soil and went down to 24" in a 10 x 10 area around the planting site. I then laid the soil back in alternating layers of manure, compost and native soil tilling with each layer. I then tested the soil ,added amendments and planted some winter rye. My plan is to put an 18' x 20' hoop house over pretty much the entire patch.   Saturday, February 15 View Page Ive got the armature up for the greenhouse. it measures 18' x 10'. I will use this to support a framework of PVC for the hoop house.   Friday, February 21 View Page I got the center section of the greenhouse frame finished. I will finish off the sides and add the plastic after the soil is amended. I also did the first till on the patch and sent in Soil Samples. The Puyallup Fair Weighoff is on September 4th. It seems like in the past I have always been taking 60-70 day old pumpkins with growth left in them so this year I am starting Early. I am going to germinate on March 1st.   Tuesday, February 25 View Page I am perplexed. On The left is My soil test from the fall. I added 2 pounds of manganese sulfate 1 pound of Borax, 2 bottles of liquid gypsum, 3 pounds of triple super phosphate and 10 pounds of 0-5-25. On the left is my new soil test from the spring. Its almost like everything I added just washed out. Numbers for Calcium Potassium, Phosphorus all went down, Manganese stayed the same and Boron just went up a little. On top of that Organic matter decreased by almost 50% and my lime percentage disappeared. I have no idea what is going on. I started a thread on the Soil message board if anyone wants to chime in.   Sunday, March 1 View Page I finished the Greenhouse frame yesterday. It is very sturdy and I am happy with it. If the rain holds off to day I will put the plastic on. I also got the amendments tilled in. After e-mailing with Stan Pugh and analyzing some more of my past planting and pollination dates, I have decided to hold of 10 days and start my seed for this patch on the 11th. I think this should still allow me to get a late may-Early June Pollination and it will also allow the sun to get a little higher in the sky. Right now the shadow line of my house is falling around the mid point of the Greenhouse.   Wednesday, March 11 View Page The Greenhouse is all buttoned up. Its quite the structure. Its pretty big for my residential neighborhood. But everyone in the neighborhood loves my Pumpkins so hopefully it doesn't bother anyone.   Wednesday, March 11 View Page The interior of the Greenhouse is nice and roomy. no more ducking and crawling through tine hoop houses to work on vine burying and such.   Wednesday, March 11 View Page I have had a lot of bad fortune with soil heating cables failing on me in the past so this year I am trying something new. This is a gutter heating cable designed to keep gutters from icing up in cold climates. I attached it to a piece of wire fencing with zip ties. this allowed me to get the pattern evenly laid out ahead of time rather than trying to lay it out in the hole. The fencing should also make it easier to pull the cable up after the season is over. I also think that the wire mesh may help to spread out the heat and radiate it better. The Cable is plugged into a digital thermostat with a soil probe to keep the soil at whatever temp I need it. The other night it was 32 degrees outside and my soil was sitting right at 70 degrees.   Wednesday, March 11 View Page Today is My Birthday and I decided to celebrate by starting my seeds for the Puyallup fair. The chosen seed is the 2152 Gantner. I also started 3 of my 770 Radach Seeds as backups. Somebody once told me the way to achieve big things is to set big goals. So My Goals with this Pumpkin are big. 1. I want to win 1st place at the Puyallup Fair with this Pumpkin. 2. I want to win the Howard Dill Award at the Puyallup Fair with this Pumkin 3. I want to reclaim the Island County record that I lost to Lee Roof a couple of years ago. I need to beat 1548 pounds. This means I need to beat my personal best by 325 pounds.   Sunday, March 15 View Page Success!   Sunday, March 15 View Page Plants transplanted into bigger pots and under the grow light.   Sunday, March 22 View Page So far so good. 2152 Gantner   Sunday, March 29 View Page transplanted the 2152 Gantner into the greenhouse this morning. It could have gone a little better. I tried to be careful but I still lost a lot of dirt and broke off some roots while removing it from the pot. Anyway it's in the ground now and ready to roll.   Sunday, March 29 View Page I also planted one of the 770 Radachs as a backup. The Gantner has bigger leaves but is also a bit more leggy. Not sure why. They were next to each other under the same grow light. Must be genetics.   Sunday, April 5 View Page mostly good news on the 2152 Gantner. Growth is progressing nicely. I am using a heat lamp for the first time and you can really tell the difference compared to the 770 in the background which doesnt have above ground heat. Greenhouses do great at heating in the day but at night I found the temperature would drop and only be a degree or two warmer than the exterior temperature. Last night the exterior temp got down to 39 degrees and with the lamp on it, the temp gauge right next to the plant only dipped to 61 degrees.   Sunday, April 5 View Page The heat lamp is not without its issues however. You have to be really careful not to toast your plant. I have also had two bulbs explode. The second one caused a couple of glass shards to rip small holes in the leaves. I believe the issue is moisture. Condensation collects on the plastic of the greenhouse and then when the wind blows it literally rains inside. There are some small vent holes in the reflector and I think water got through those holes. The temperature shock of the cold water on the hot glass caused the explosion. I fashioned a shield to keep water away from those holes. Hopefully that does the trick. I also added some old window screen as a safety net to catch any breaking glass from future explosions. I am also looking for a more water resistant heat bulb.   Sunday, April 5 View Page Yesterday I tilled for my other two plants. I am going to put my 770 in this spot.   Sunday, April 5 View Page The 571 Grubbs will get the old main driveway patch that has done so well for me in the past.   Sunday, April 5 View Page started three 770 Radachs, two 571 Grubbs and one 808 Grubbs. I will give the 808 to my dad to grow.   Thursday, April 9 View Page 5 of 6 germinated. One of my 770s was a dud. I have two others though. Full speed ahead.   Sunday, April 12 View Page The 2152 Gantner chugging along. One month since it went in the germination chamber. The fourth leaf has opened and the vine tip has formed.   Sunday, April 12 View Page The second round of plants are chilling under the grow light and looking fabulous.   Sunday, April 12 View Page Our little guy is 4 months old today. I may be biased but isn't he the cutest baby you've ever seen? I think I should get a Howard Dill award for this one :)   Monday, April 13 View Page This leaf looks off to me. Any Suggestions. Its the 4th true leaf. The third true leaf in the following picture had the same look when it started out and never quite recovered. You can see it in the next photo.   Monday, April 13 View Page Third true leaf.   Sunday, April 19 View Page The 2152 Gantner is doing okay but not gangbusters yet. It's got 6 true leaves open and the vine will be touching down soon.   Sunday, April 19 View Page The newest leaves are looking a bit better than the previous ones did but still not as healthy and robust as I would like.   Sunday, April 19 View Page I put the 770 Radach in the ground today in the hoop house.   Sunday, April 19 View Page I ran out of staples in the staple gun while working on the last greenhouse so the 571 Grubbs will have to wait until tomorrow to go in the ground.   Sunday, April 26 View Page The 2152 Gantner is on the ground and about 4.5 feet long.   Sunday, April 26 View Page The 770 Radach after a week in the patch   Sunday, April 26 View Page The 571 Grubbs. It has been really over cast the last few days and this plant is still getting a bit of shadow from the garage at this time of year so I moved the grow light out into the patch to help it out. I also moved the heat lamp off of the 2152 and onto this one.   Sunday, May 3 View Page The 2152 Gantner is about 7.5 feet long. I need to get my soda can in there for scale. The big leaves are close to 2 feet wide. I started vine burying this week. The leaves that I was worried about earlier have sort of a dimpled appearance to them now. The newer leaves look better but there is kind of a splotchiness to the color that I have never really seen on my plants before. The side vines are not quite as aggressive as I would like. And one sort of self terminated.   Sunday, May 3 View Page The 770 Radach is doing pretty well. The fourth true leaf is out.   Sunday, May 3 View Page The 571 Grubbs is doing fabulous the heat lamp really helps. The 5th true leaf is open and it's getting ready to vine out.   Tuesday, May 5 View Page The 770 Radach is doing pretty well. The fourth true leaf is out.   Sunday, May 10 View Page The 2152 is about 11 feet long. My gut still tells me there is something wrong with this plant. The vine seems thin and the secondaries dont have the vigor I would like to see. The color on the newer leaves is looking a little better though without the splotchiness that the older leaves have.   Sunday, May 10 View Page end view of the 2152 Gantner. I have started burying some of the side vines. I am hoping to pollinate at around 16-17 feet and I would like a pumpkin set by June 1st. That would give me a solid 90 days until harvest for the Puyallup Fair   Sunday, May 10 View Page the 770 radach is doing okay. After 2 weeks of cold and overcast skyscrapers we have had a few stunner days. Highs yesterday and today were over 80. I think O might have gotten a bit of leaf burn on this plant.   Sunday, May 10 View Page I couldn't be more pleased with the 571 Grubs. It's super healthy with nice deep green color and a stout vine. It should be on the ground and running within a couple days.   Sunday, May 17 View Page the 2152 Gantner is now 15 feet long. And has reached the end of the greenhouse.   Sunday, May 17 View Page End view of the 2152 Gantner. Still worried about the lack of aggressiveness on the side vines.   Sunday, May 17 View Page finally got a female flower on the tip of the 2152. Looks like it is going to be at about 18 feet on the main vine.   Sunday, May 17 View Page the 770 Radach is only about 3.5 feet long. It took some heat damage in the recent heat wave. It also threw double leaves at one node. It went back to a single node after that but I am keeping an eye on it for genetic abnormalities.   Sunday, May 17 View Page believe it or not the 770 already has a female on it that will be at about 4 feet out.   Sunday, May 17 View Page The 571 Grubbs is still doing really well. It's about 6 feet long. I started burying a few nodes on the main vine this week.   Thursday, May 21 View Page What a revoltant development this is. Found this massive split on the main vine of the 2152 today. I am not sure what this means for the prognosis of the future pumpkin. I believe that the nutrients travel in the tissue parallel to the vine. The center of the vine is just a hollow tube and not crucial to the plant. all of that is still connected so theoretically as long as I keep it clean and free of disease I should be okay. on the plus side look at all of the great root growth out of the top of the vine on that node right at the end of the split. Looks like my new additions to my vine burying strategy are working.   Sunday, May 31 View Page The 2152 Gantner in the greenhouse. Still weak growth on the secondaries. Several of them have had axial splits. Some have self terminated and the ones that haven't just don't have any vigor. very thin vines and slow growing. I think there is an issue in the soil   Sunday, May 31 View Page The 2152 Gantner is at about 20 feet long and well out the end of the greenhouse. I wish I would have gotten a female a few feet further in than I did.   Sunday, May 31 View Page Much like everything else with this plant, the hopeful keeper on the 2152 has been a disappointment. It has developed much slower than I was expecting. It's still several days away from blooming. This one had better take because I am running out of room.   Sunday, May 31 View Page The 770 Radach has got some crazy things going on with the side vines but I am slowly maneuvering everything into position.   Sunday, May 31 View Page the 571 grubs is doing great. It's about 10 feet long and out the end of the greenhouse. The soil is just so much more healthy on this side of the driveway. I am not sure why. There is nothing glaring in the soil analysis. Could be a soil pathogen or something on the other side.   Sunday, May 31 View Page The 571 Grubs has some massive leaves on it. Well over 2 feet wide. I have stopped all nitrogen fertilizer at this point.   Sunday, May 31 View Page Here is the hopeful keeper on the 571 Grubs. It should be at about 13 feet on the vine when it grows out.   Sunday, June 7 View Page The 2152 Gantner is starting to fill up the greenhouse. I have terminated a few side vines on each side.   Sunday, June 7 View Page still waiting on the first female to bloom. It looks like it could be tomorrow. It's a week later than I would have preferred. If I pollinate tomorrow that will make 88 days till the Puyallyup Fair. This is pretty much my only chance unless I go with something on a sidevine. The next on the main is way out on the tip and probably wont be blooming til July at this rate.   Sunday, June 7 View Page The 770 Radach is kind of a mess but still growing.   Sunday, June 7 View Page The 571 Grubbs is still rolling. I put out the dirt trays for the side vines yesterday. I plan to terminate the main vine at the pumpkin once I get it set.   Sunday, June 7 View Page The hopeful keeper on the 571. Still around a week away from blooming.   Monday, June 8 View Page I self pollinated the 2152 Gantner this morning. 88 Days until the Puyallup fair. Grow baby grow! I had to pry the petals open a bit because it was a cool morning and it hadn't fully opened on its own yet. Other than that I am pretty happy with the look of the lobes.   Sunday, June 14 View Page The 2152 Gantner has had its problems but its still an impressive looking plant. This is the biggest plant I have ever had.   Sunday, June 14 View Page This is the pumpkin on the 2152. 6 days after pollination. Too soon to tell of it has taken or not. Should know by next week. The weather has been kind of nasty this week. Rain every day and we never made it above 65 degrees. Things are suppose to warm up a bit by the end of this week so hopefully that will be timed perfect with the growth taking off.   Sunday, June 14 View Page The 770 Radach is just not great the biggest leaves are only about 15" wide and it is just growing slow. This was may problem patch in the past. I grew mustard last year in the hopes of correcting whatever is going on here but it seems like there is still something wrong. The plants in this spot just don't grow well any more.   Sunday, June 14 View Page That was the wrong photo for the last post. This is the 770.   Sunday, June 14 View Page This is the one that will probably be the keeper on the 770 Radach. Looking like a week and a half or so until it blooms.   Sunday, June 14 View Page Here is the 571 Grubbs plant. I was planning on terminating the main vine at the pumpkin. However several side vines petered out and self terminated so I am concerned about not having enough plant. So I changed course and am going to try and reroute the main vine back into the dirt and keep it going. I put the chair over the pumpkin to keep the rain off during pollination.   Sunday, June 14 View Page I pollinated the hopeful keeper on the 571 Grubbs this morning. I was hoping to use the 770 Radach to get a dark orange cross. Unfortunately there were no flowers ready on the 770 today. I could have self pollinated it but this seed has already been self pollinated for two generations and I didn't want to risk some messed up genetics by doing it again. So I used the 2152 Gantner to pollinate. The Gantner seems to be hit or miss on the level of orange that it produces. Hopefully I luck out and get a nice one.   Thursday, June 25 View Page well I am 0-2 on hopeful keepers. I had this one set up in the perfect spot to grow on the 571 Grubbs but the pollination didn't take.   Thursday, June 25 View Page I have decided to switch up strategies and use this earlier pollination on the 571 Grubbs as my fruit for the Puyallup Fair. I didn't write down the pollination date because I wasn't planning on keeping it but I think it was some time around June 5th. Which would put it at 91 days old for the fair. Obviously it's in an awkward spot and it's only at about 10 feet on the vine but I am going for it.   Thursday, June 25 View Page Now I begin the process of maneuvering it into a position where it can grow.   Thursday, June 25 View Page this is the latest pollination on the 2152 Gantner from 6-19. It looks to be doing well at 9" circumference on day 6. This will now be my pumpkin for the Christianson's Nursery weigh off.   Tuesday, June 30 View Page day 25 on the 571 Grubbs. My scale object would not look at the camera. The Pumpkin is measuring 50.5" circumference and 123.5" OTT for an estimated weight of 45 pounds. It's been adding a little over 3 inches a day in circumference for the last several days. Should be about ready to take off if the weather would cooperate. The plant is a lot smaller than I would like for this stage and it doesn't have monster genetics so I am not expecting it to be that huge. Just hoping I can get above the mothers weight of 571 pounds and win a Howard Dill award with it.   Tuesday, June 30 View Page this is the keeper on the 2152 Gantner. Crossing my fingers that this one sticks as I haven't been able to get anything else to set. It's at 18" circumference on day 11 and added 2.5" in circumference since yesterday.   Sunday, July 5 View Page Day 30 on the 571 Grubbs. 64" circumference 154" OTT for an estimated weight of 85 pounds.   Sunday, July 5 View Page here is 5 days of growth on the 571 Grubbs. It put on 13.5" of circumference and an estimated 40 pounds for a daily average of 8 pounds per day. That's actually not great growth but we had a terrible stretch of weather. Monday though Thursday were all overcast and or raining and we didn't even break 60 degrees for daytime highs. Friday and Saturday had some sun but it was still cool staying in the 60s. The Pumpkins need sun and warmth to really pack on that weight.   Sunday, July 5 View Page Day 16 on the 2152 Gantner. Measuring 27.5" in circumference. I am really liking what I am seeing so far for color. Hopefully this will go orange.   Sunday, July 5 View Page The 770 Radach plant is terrible. Weak small leaves and the blossoms have been mostly deformed. I am not sure that I will be getting a Pumpkin on this plant. I pollinated this one on 7-2 and I really need it to set.   Tuesday, July 21 View Page We were out of town on vacation for the last week. I put the drip irrigation on a timer and let the pumpkins do their thing. They were noticeably bigger when we got home.   Tuesday, July 21 View Page The growth wasn't as good as I was hoping for. The 571 Grubbs at day 45 is at 100" circumference, 235" OTT for an estimated weight of 297 pounds. Over the last 10 days it only averaged 13.9 pounds per day. I am also very confused by the color on this one. The Mother seed was a dark Orange Howard Dill winner and it was selfed. This one doesn't look to have a speck of orange in it. very disappointing.   Tuesday, July 21 View Page the 2152 Gantner on day 31 is at 73" circumference 185" OTT for an estimated weight of 149 pounds. Its averaging about 13.7 pounds per day.   Tuesday, July 21 View Page unfortunately it also has developed a surface split. It's pretty shallow and I think it will probably be ok but it's not going to be pretty.   Saturday, July 25 View Page Day 50 for the 571 Grubbs. 109.5" circumference 261.5" ott. Estimated weight 362 pounds. 5 day average 13 pounds per day. It was a pretty cool and cloudy week. It's supposed to be super nice and warm over the next few days we will see if that gives it a boost.   Saturday, July 25 View Page Day 36 for the 2152 Gantner. 86.5" Circumference, 214" OTT. Estimated weight 227 pounds. 5 day average 15.6 pounds per day.   Tuesday, August 4 View Page Shadow puppets on the 2152. Miles gives it a thumbs up   Wednesday, August 5 View Page Day 60 on the 571 Grubbs. 121" circumference, 275" OTT, estimated weight 468 pounds. 5 day average 10.4 pounds per day.   Wednesday, August 5 View Page Had to put the can up where he couldn't reach it. This one is starting to get some good color. I feel like it will polish up well. Just got word that there will be no Howard dill award at the skagit weighoff. Not even sure if any other weighoffs will be happening.   Wednesday, August 5 View Page day 46 for the 2152 Gantner. 101.5" circumference, 248" OTT, estimated weight 347 pounds. 5 day average 12.8 pounds per day.   Monday, August 24 View Page Day 80 for the 571 Grubbs. 134" circumference, 303.5" OTT, estimated weight 623 pounds. 5 day average 5.4 pounds per day. Shooting for 700 pounds for this one. I still have no idea how this one ended up white. The 571 was a bright Orange Howard Dill winner grown from the 1734 Clementz and it was selfed so it should have had those orange genes locked in. Oh well, Hopefully it will at least go heavy.   Monday, August 24 View Page Day 66 for the 2152 Gantner. 115" circumference, 280" OTT estimated weight 493 pounds, 5 day average, 6.6 pounds per day. Hoping this one will make it to 600 pounds. I feel like this one is going to go heavy small ribs means less air under the estimating tape and its got some cantalouping going on which seems to translate to heavy pumpkins as well.