Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 40 Entries. Tuesday, May 16 View Page Here’s the 2560 Gienger. The plants were started on April 19th and put outside on April 28th. The plants doing really good, just need to try get it to lay down.   Tuesday, May 16 View Page Here’s Harper with her 1953 Daletas, it’s growing good to like the 2560. Just need to try get it to lay down.   Tuesday, May 16 View Page The 1109 Jutras is figuring life out now and starting to do good, hopefully we can get a big squash again this year!   Tuesday, May 16 View Page The 1989.5 Conway is about 5 feet long and starting to grow some secondaries. It’s been a really fast grower.   Tuesday, May 16 View Page I raised the greenhouse 3 feet from last year. Having the extra height has done wonders for keeping it cooler. I didn’t put any shade cloth on it this year, and have all the fans on the top blowing the hot air out.   Tuesday, May 16 View Page I installed a soil moisture probe this year that reads the soil moisture levels every minute or 5 minutes. I’m really trying to focus on how much water the plant actually needs so I’m not overwatering. I also found out my river waters ph was 8.4. So all these years I’ve unknowingly used very high ph water. Each watering this year I’ll get the ph levels to around 6.8, it should help out a ton for allowing the plants have everything available!   Thursday, June 8 View Page 2560 Gienger plant. It’s been a really good plant, have a female opening on Saturday probably around 12 feet and another one around 15 feet that’ll open next week.   Thursday, June 8 View Page 1953 Daletas. It’s growing good as well, there’s a female on the tip of the vine so probably around the 20th of June.   Thursday, June 8 View Page 1109 Jutras. It’s growing like a weed now!   Thursday, June 8 View Page 1989.5 Conway. It’s been a very fast good growing plant. Pollinated it this morning with the 2560 Gienger at 15 feet!   Thursday, June 8 View Page 1989.5 Conway x 2560 Gienger   Thursday, June 8 View Page Harper was busy helping me weed last night, funny how she walks up to the leaves and has to hit them like she’s giving them a high five haha!   Tuesday, July 25 View Page Another really good week of shrinking the girls! The pumpkins are loving the warmer weather. Briars pumpkin Joy has been doing 60 pounds a day for the last 3 out of 4 days! I’ve really been concentrating on getting the soil really healthy this year and getting the water ph perfect each time! Hopefully we can keep them growing good! 2560 Gienger x 1989.5 Conway 38 days old. 797 pounds. 49.7 pound 7 day average.   Tuesday, July 25 View Page Cinderella. 1989.5 Conway x 2560 Gienger. 990 pounds, 7 day average 41.4 pounds   Tuesday, July 25 View Page Ariel. 1109 Jutras x self. 680 pounds. 40 days old   Tuesday, July 25 View Page Bernstrom Girls. 1953 Daletas x 2560 Gienger. 33 days old 459 pounds. 35 pound 7 day average.   Friday, July 28 View Page Happy Friday from the Bernstrom girls and Briars pumpkin Joy! The last 5 days it’s averaging 61.6 pounds a day!   Friday, August 4 View Page Happy Friday from the Bernstrom Girls! 2560 Gienger x 1989.5 Conway. 48 dap 395” 1365 pounds   Wednesday, August 9 View Page Joy is 1616 pounds on day 53, averaging 51.5 lbs/day for the last 8 days. 2560 Gienger x 1989.5 Conway   Wednesday, August 9 View Page Bernstrom Girls is 1170 pounds on day 50, averaging 44.4 lbs/day for the last 8 days.   Wednesday, August 9 View Page Cinderella is 1506 pounds on day 62, averaging 31.1 lbs/day for the last 8 days.   Wednesday, August 9 View Page Ariel is 1080 pounds on day 56, averaging 22 lbs/day for the last 8 days.   Thursday, August 17 View Page Shrinking pumpkin girl time! The pumpkins and squash are still growing and doing great! The extended weather forecast looks great for growing! I applied the last round of fungicide through the drip tape to keep the plants in great shape, and will know be watching the soil moisture sensors to see when we have to start backing off on the water. The next couple months till the weighoffs could be exciting and nerve wracking haha! Joy. 1878 pounds, avg 37.4lbs/day for the week. 60 days old 2560 Gienger x 1989.5 Conway   Thursday, August 17 View Page Bernstrom Girls. 1394 pounds, avg 32lbs/day for the week. 57 days old 1953 Daletas x 2560 Gienger   Thursday, August 17 View Page Cinderella. 1660 pounds, avg 22lbs/day for the week. 69 days old. 1989.5 Conway x 2560 Gienger   Thursday, August 17 View Page Ariel. 1178 pounds, avg 14lbs/day for the week. 63 days old 1109 Jutras x self   Monday, August 21 View Page I’ve grown pumpkins for 11 years and have grown some big ones, but never have had one weigh or estimate over 2000 pounds! This morning on day 65, Joy is estimated at 2015 pounds! Happy Monday from Briar and her big pumpkin!!   Friday, August 25 View Page The girls keep shrinking! The stress is already starting to kick in haha! The first weighoff is September 23rd then the next two aren’t until October 7th and 14th! All the pumpkins and squash are still in good shape with great plants behind them! With the current watering the soil moisture probes are still staying in the same range. Thanks to our awesome neighbors for watering them this week when we were gone! This will be the last update with the weights till they hit the scale, hopefully special things are coming at the scales! Joy. 2121 pounds with a 26.5lb, 4 day average. 2560 Gienger x 1989.5 Conway 69dap   Friday, August 25 View Page Bernstrom Girls. 1616 pounds with a 26.3lb, 6 day average.   Friday, August 25 View Page Cinderella. 1818 pounds with a 22.4lb, 9 day average. 1989.5 Conway x 2560 Gienger 78dap   Friday, August 25 View Page Ariel. 1263 pounds with a 9.3lb, 9 day average. 1109 Jutras x self. 72 dap   Sunday, September 3 View Page So here’s what Briars pumpkin Joy looks like from a tape measure perspective, the circle is the circumference of the pumpkin, 19 1/2 feet!??   Monday, September 4 View Page The girls are still shrinking at a good pace! All three pumpkins and squash are still doing good with healthy plants helping them! The Bernstrom Girls pumpkin is the smallest pumpkin in the patch at 1793 pounds! Getting closer to the first weighoff in Altoona Wisconsin on September 23rd! Briar’s pumpkin Joy is getting very very big, and still having good daily averages! We’re doing our best to get it to the Stillwater Harvest Fest in Stillwater Minnesota on Saturday October 14th! The nerves are being tested every day! Day 79, 2560 Gienger x 1989.5 Conway   Saturday, September 9 View Page Happy Saturday from Harper and the Bernstrom Girls pumpkin! She’s showing how big it’s getting haha! 1953 Daletas x 2560 Gienger. Should be around 1860 pounds   Saturday, September 16 View Page Briars pumpkin Joy is still averaging around 11 pounds a day! Just to put in perspective on how very big it is, only the World Record and North American Record pumpkins are the only two pumpkins to ever have bigger dimensions then it at the scales! As Deion Sanders and Tom Brady say, We’re Coming and Lets Go!! 28 days till Stillwater Harvest Fest!!   Sunday, September 24 View Page Harpers pumpkin Cinderella weighed in at 2131 pounds, 8% heavy, at the River Prairie Ginormous Pumpkin Festival in Altoona Wisconsin. Good enough for 2nd place, such a fun, well run weighoff! The 2131 is my new personal best! The 1953 and 2560 are patiently waiting to get weighed!   Sunday, September 24 View Page Blakes squash Ariel weighed in at 1352 pounds today at the River Prairie Ginormous Pumpkin Festival in Altoona Wisconsin. Good enough for second place, it sure stayed nice and green all year!   Monday, September 25 View Page The next big pumpkin to get weighed is The Bernstrom Girls pumpkin on October 7th in Roland Manitoba, and the Bernstrom girls will be coming with! Hopefully we can get another 2000 pound pumpkin to the scales!   Monday, October 16 View Page We weren’t able to set a new world record, but we were able to win Stillwater Harvest Fest with a 2501 pound pumpkin!! Having so many family and friends show up to watch was just amazing! Being able to bring the pumpkin to Stillwater was so special being able to share it with the best growing community in the world! The friendships that have been made with the fellow growers is amazing! Congratulations to everyone and for us to set a new world record for the Top 10 average at a weighoff spot! The final OTT was 515” so it was the biggest OTT ever for an officially weighed pumpkin. By crossing the 1989.5 Conway that grew our 2131 this year that was 8% heavy should make for a really good cross! Throw some heavy into that big shell! Time to clean up the patch and get ready for next year!   Sunday, November 12 View Page The girls are helping package up the seeds, they’re great little helpers!