Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 101 Entries. Friday, March 18 View Page The 2016 Season Begins!   Friday, March 18 View Page Western Labs recommendations.   Saturday, March 19 View Page Good rule of thumb, Do not till in undissolved fertilizer into patch before taking soil sample. I screwed up my phosphorous and increased my potassium, the fertilizer was "Nutri-Aid 0-52-34 Blossom Booster and Fruit Finisher. Last year P:79ppm, this year P:148 and last year K:411ppm, this year K:624ppm. This new grower still has a lot to learn! ;)   Sunday, March 20 View Page Terminator and me with my mom's pumpkin, "Chilly" went 162% heavy in the background. I forgot to add this picture last year.   Sunday, March 20 View Page Also, Terminator went 13% heavy!   Sunday, March 20 View Page Terminator's wall thickness!   Sunday, March 20 View Page Thick Pumpkin!   Sunday, March 20 View Page Terminator's insides.   Sunday, March 20 View Page Terminator knows something is in store for 2016.   Wednesday, March 30 View Page Today, I order parts for my new irrigation system from www.dripworks.com. : )   Thursday, March 31 View Page Today, I got a package from UPS that was a fish tank air pump, AWESOME! :)   Saturday, April 2 View Page Today, I put together one hot house structure. Will set it up in the patch on the 15th of April when the gardens plots open. I plan on starting my seeds on the 13th of April.   Wednesday, April 6 View Page Today, I was working to get my irrigation system ready. My Dripworks order was delivered to my house Yesterday. :)   Wednesday, April 13 View Page Today, I filled five 4" pots with Burpree Seed Starting Mix moistened with water. Foil placed on the bottom and plastic wrap held with rubber bands placed on heat mat to warm soil planting tomorrow. I will plant: 2-504 Chandler 15(Rocky), 1-438 Chandler 15(Terminator), 1-251 Chandler 15, and 1-100 Chandler 14. The 438, 251, and 100 will compete to pollinate one 504 Chandler. I will be growing only one plant this year and fumigating the southern half of my pumpkin patch with a cover crop of mustard.   Sunday, April 17 View Page Set up hot houses yesterday and applied some "good stuff" to the planting sites.   Sunday, April 17 View Page Also, my sister, my brother and I have broad forked more than half of the whole 3600sqft garden.   Sunday, April 24 View Page All but one (438, Terminator) were re-potted into larger pots. They were so pot bound. The plastic pots are cut down the sides with the bottoms cut off and duck taped back together.   Monday, April 25 View Page I added some bone meal to the patch. I will not be adding blood meal, but my family is getting a load of composted horse manure.   Monday, May 9 View Page On Wednesday, I plan on planting my pumpkin plants in the patch.   Saturday, May 28 View Page Here is one of the Rocky plants(504 Chandler 15). Has been in the ground 2 weeks and 3 days.   Saturday, May 28 View Page This is the second Rocky plant. It was planted the same day as the first one.   Saturday, May 28 View Page Pollinator plant#1 is Chilly( 251 Chandler 15) 162% heavy!   Saturday, May 28 View Page Pollinator plant#2 is Terminator (438 Chandler 15) 13% heavy!   Saturday, May 28 View Page Pollinator plant#3 is My brother Benjamin's pumpkin ( 100 Chandler 14) 18% light!   Saturday, May 28 View Page The 251, 438, and the 100 Chandler were planted the same day on the 11th of May as the 2 main Rocky plants.   Friday, June 3 View Page I removed one of my kins from Rocky because it was growing slower than the other one. The larger one has a 2' main vine and growing secondaries.   Saturday, June 4 View Page The 504 Chandler 15 and Me. The plant has been in the ground for 3 weeks and 3 days.   Saturday, June 4 View Page Another picture of Rocky.   Monday, June 6 View Page My kins were fed with fish powder. I buried some leaf nodes with pumpkin pro and pumpkin power. I hand watered and used drip emitters to water the kins. My main plant (Rocky) looks to be getting some UV damage. I will put up a shade structure to help block some sun. Also, yesterday and today I sprayed Rhino Skin on all of the plants in my families garden including my kins.   Monday, June 6 View Page Never forget this day! 72 years ago was D-Day!   Saturday, June 18 View Page Me and the 504 Chandler(Rocky). The plant is a month and 8 days old.   Thursday, June 23 View Page This morning, I pollinated a female blossom 13' from the stump on my 504 Chandler(Rocky) with 2 male flowers from my 438 Chandler(Terminator). I was going to use 3 flowers, but one did not open this morning. The female flower has 5 lobes that were almost uniform in shape. The main is about 15' out. I hope the pollination takes hold. : )   Saturday, June 25 View Page This morning I applied Anthesis by a fine spray mist to the fruit of the female flower on the 504 Chandler 1% heavy(Rocky) crossed with the 438 Chandler 13% heavy(Terminator). Fingers crossed. : )   Saturday, June 25 View Page Dap:2 - 504 x 438 was sprayed with Anthesis in the morning.   Saturday, June 25 View Page The 504 Chandler(Rocky) is 1 month and 2 weeks old.   Saturday, June 25 View Page Another picture of the 504 Chandler 15(Rocky).   Tuesday, June 28 View Page I pollinated a second female blossom out 15' from stump on my 504 Chandler 15(Rocky) with 3 females from the 251 Chandler 15.   Sunday, July 3 View Page 504 Chandler 15(Rocky) x 438 Chandler 15(Terminator) Dap10: 16-1/4" cc. I think I might call my pumpkin, "Scarface" due to two parallel scratches on the top of the kin.   Tuesday, July 5 View Page Was working on the Scarface's cave.   Friday, July 8 View Page Dap15 for Scarface(504 Chandler x 438 Chandler) is now 32.5"cc. The kin has started to grow a little more to the left of the blossom end. I hope this this one does not abort, fingers crossed. I was thinking of stop feeding the kin for now to try to keep the kin from aborting. I also culled off the kin(504 Chandler x 100 Chandler) 18' out because the fruit was growing very slowly. I left a kin(504 Chandler x 251 Chandler) 15' out to act as a backup if Scarface aborts.   Wednesday, July 13 View Page Today, I culled off my backup kin(504 Chandler x 251 Chandler). It was at Dap15 today and it was barely even growing. Yesterday, I cut a wedge into half of its stem and then the rest today. I measured my kin today(Scarface), it is at Dap20 at 52-3/4"cc, 39-1/4"ss, 39-1/2"fb, and the OTT: 81.5". If I can keep Scarface growing at least 2-3/4" per day in cc for 40 days straight to be very close to 1,000 pounds, Wish me luck! : )   Wednesday, July 13 View Page Also, I hope the kin goes heavy to the charts with help from "Anthesis" that was applied 48 hours after pollination.   Wednesday, July 13 View Page Correction the OTT should of been 131.5"   Wednesday, July 13 View Page Scarface's Dap 20   Wednesday, July 13 View Page Scarface's kin cave   Thursday, July 14 View Page Dap 21; cc:56-5/8"   Friday, July 15 View Page Dap 22; cc:59-1/2"   Saturday, July 16 View Page Dap 23; cc:63-1/4"   Sunday, July 17 View Page Dap 24; cc:65"   Monday, July 18 View Page Scarface's Dap 25; cc:68-1/2", ss:49", fb:50", and the OTT:167-1/2"   Tuesday, July 19 View Page Dap 26; cc:71-1/4"   Wednesday, July 20 View Page Dap 27; cc:73-1/2"   Thursday, July 21 View Page Dap 28; cc:76"   Friday, July 22 View Page Dap 29; cc:78". It has been too damn hot and more on the way. I have been putting a wet towel on Scarface to keep her cool. The T-storm yesterday had some damage to my plant and some to my family's garden. : (   Saturday, July 23 View Page Scarface's Dap 30; cc: 80-1/4", ss: 57", fb: 57", and OTT: 194-1/4".   Sunday, July 24 View Page Crazy Weather! First the weather was very hot for a couple of days and now three days with heavy rain. Two days ago the garden received about 1.3", Yesterday was 1.4", and today we are receiving more rain! : (   Sunday, July 24 View Page Dap 31: cc: 82-1/2".   Monday, July 25 View Page Dap 32: cc: 84"   Tuesday, July 26 View Page Dap 33: cc: 86".   Wednesday, July 27 View Page Dap 34: cc: 86-1/2". Hot day, today.   Thursday, July 28 View Page Scarface's Dap 35; cc: 88", ss: 62-1/2", fb: 60-1/2", and OTT: 211". I might not reach 1,000 pounds, but I still can get a new PB. I want to try to beat the Aurora, IL record of 682 pounds. I was close last year at 504 pounds for my biggest kin ever grown! : )   Friday, July 29 View Page Dap 36: cc: 88-3/4"   Saturday, July 30 View Page Dap 37: cc: 90-1/2"   Sunday, July 31 View Page Dap 38: cc: 93"   Tuesday, August 2 View Page Scarface's Dap 40; cc:94", ss: 66-1/2", fb: 65-1/2", and OTT: 226"   Tuesday, August 2 View Page Scarface's blossom end at Dap 40.   Wednesday, August 3 View Page Dap 41: cc: 94-3/4"   Friday, August 5 View Page Dap43: cc: 96"   Sunday, August 7 View Page Dap 45: cc: 97-1/2"   Sunday, August 7 View Page Forgot this! ss: 69-1/4", fb: 67-1/4", and OTT: 233-1/4"   Sunday, August 7 View Page Big deep split on the top of the stem and treated with peroxide.   Monday, August 8 View Page Dap46: cc: 99"   Wednesday, August 10 View Page Dap48: cc: 100"! : )   Friday, August 12 View Page Scarface's Dap 50; cc: 101.5", ss: 71-1/4", fb: 69", and OTT: 241-3/4"   Friday, August 12 View Page Another picture of Scarface at Dap 50.   Wednesday, August 17 View Page Scarface's Dap: 55; cc: 102", ss: 72-1/2", fb: 70", and OTT: 244.5"   Wednesday, August 17 View Page Stem view of Scarface at Dap 60. The green continues to spread, I hope this kin will go heavy.   Wednesday, August 17 View Page Oops, I meant Dap 55!   Monday, August 22 View Page Dap 60; cc: 103-1/4", ss: 73", fb: 71", and OTT: 247-1/4"   Monday, August 22 View Page Another picture of Scarface at Dap 60.   Saturday, August 27 View Page Dap 65; cc: 105", ss: 74", fb: 72-1/4", and OTT: 251-1/4"   Saturday, August 27 View Page Another picture at Dap 65.   Saturday, August 27 View Page Another view of Scarface.   Sunday, September 4 View Page A couple of days ago I finally found out why my plant as a whole had slowed down and has been under attack since Scarface's Dap 25 by SVBs. Also, my stem is under attack. I treated it with peroxide. Back on Thursday I sprayed the whole plant and the stem of Scarface with a Malathion/funginil spray to kill the SVBs and SBs.   Wednesday, September 7 View Page Bma113 glad to hear you enjoyed the seeds. Keep those pumpkins going BIG. : ) : )   Sunday, September 11 View Page Never forget what this day means. 9/11/2001   Tuesday, September 20 View Page Pictures of Scarface after she was cut off the plant because it almost all dead with the main vine rotted. Also, I removed the whole plant after the cutting. This the blossom end view.   Tuesday, September 20 View Page Left side view. I was trying to keep Scarface from drying out, but did not really work.   Tuesday, September 20 View Page Stem view of Scarface, there is a lot of green. By looking at the picture you can see where there was a blanket covering her. By a border that shows the spread of the green color.   Tuesday, September 20 View Page Here is the right side view.   Tuesday, September 20 View Page This is the top view.   Wednesday, September 21 View Page Back on Sunday, I had to cut Scarface off the main vine because the plant was mostly dead with the main vine rotting down its length mostly due to svbs. Today, I checked Scarface and her stem was starting to get soft due to covering her with a thin blanket then getting wet from the 1" of rain we received earlier today. I moved the blanket away from stem and pushed her back a little bit to be more protected by her shelter. I really hope the stem does not rot. : (   Saturday, October 1 View Page Me and Rocky, Lifted her last year with no see Lee's last 13" lifting ring. Awesome Pumpkin!!! : )   Saturday, October 1 View Page Another picture of me and Rocky from last year. : )   Saturday, October 1 View Page Rocky's final weight. 504 lbs!!!   Saturday, October 1 View Page Taking Rocky's final cc measurement.   Saturday, October 1 View Page My mom(Biddy Goat) helping me with measurement Rocky.   Saturday, October 1 View Page Taking Rocky out of her jail.   Saturday, October 1 View Page Another picture of Rocky.   Saturday, October 1 View Page What is the deal with the pictures turned to the left?! : (   Monday, October 3 View Page My brother and I were finally able to bring Scarface home! She weights: 417 lbs!!! 12.4% heavy! Awesome pumpkin! : )