And Then there Were Two

I hated to do it, but it had to be done.  I pulled the 1415 plant in favor of the 282 plant.  The 1415 was getting very close to the end of the hoop house.  Even had a flower on it open today. But since that main vine dented I couldn't go with it.  The 282 plant is 5-6 days behind it and it hasn't ever had good color.  It is growing well however, so I hope that once it gets wired up that it will turn into a better looking plant.  I hate playing catchup however.

Looking at pictures from my 1421 plant from 2013 on this same date, I'm doing okay.  The 282 is maybe a foot shorter than it on this same date.

The 1985 plant so far looks like a champ.  Not overly aggressive, but not a slow grower either.  Still growing 6+ inches a day right now so it is on target.  It will probably be out of the hoop house by the end of this week at its current growth rate.  I'm liking having these bigger hoop houses this year.

1985 Miller

282 Scherber

Let the Season Begin!

It never really feels like the season has started until the pumpkin patch is tilled.  I did just that today.  Next step: start the seeds on April 15th.

Today I tilled in about 70lbs gypsum, 2lbs kelp meal, 4 bails of peat moss, 2lbs sugar, manganese, 20lbs humid acid and  20lbs azomite.  The soil looked very good.  In the next few days I'll plant a cover crop of winter rye in all but the planting area.  That will be tilled under in June when the vines start running.

Stan is the Man

Usually I don't like to post weights and measurements for the pumpkins because only the scale tells the truth.  But this morning's measurements show that Stanley the pumpkin put on 37 pounds yesterday which is a single day best for any pumpkin I have ever grown.  And since the pumpkin is on day 28 I think there still room to see some higher numbers in the coming days.  I'd really like to see one 40 pound day, but no much more than that.  More importantly I'd like to see two weeks of big growth days.

Latest Pictures from the Pumpkin Patch

The first picture is of the 1421 Stelts (Stanely) and the second is the 1775 Starr (Elbert).  Elbert was a really disappointing pumpkin early on but I still have hope for it.  At day 20 it is the shiniest that it has ever been and over the last few days its circumference measurements increase in inches have been on par with what they should be right now so maybe it is just a late bloomer.

Stanely is by far the best pumpkin I have ever had.  The 10 day measurement I think was the only measurement that I've had that was behind any previous pumpkin that I've grown in the past.  It has just been a fantastic plant so far.  The one thing that I would like to see out of this plant still is more vine growth after the pumpkin.  I think for this plant to continue to drive the pumpkin in the later part of the year I need a bunch of new growth and at this point I'm not seeing it like I would like.  However, my hope is once the vines after the pumpkin get rooted I can start seeing some better results.  This plant seems to root very well.

The vine growing on the 1421 hasn't ever been aggressive but hasn't ever been slow either.  It has been a descent grower.  The main vine is already as long as last year's plant and we still have two more months to go.

This evening I gave the 1775 plant some liquid seaweed to encourage it a little.

Pollinated the 1421 Stelts Today at 12 Feet

Today I pollinated the 1421 female that is at 12 feet out on the main vine with the 220 Debacco.  The 220 Debacco is an interesting plant.  Matt Debacco took a cutting of the world record plant grown from the 1725 Harp seed and "cloned" it, growing it in a greenhouse during the winter.  That winter he also grew a seed from the 2009 world record pumpkin and then crossed the two together and got a 220 pound pumpkin, from which my pollinator plant came from.  Growing and pollinating a plant during the winter is not an easy thing to do so kudos to Matt for pulling it off.  The plant that the pollen came from looks 90% 1725 in its traits and very little if any 1409 Miller in it which is probably a good thing. 

Weather in Denver will be 90 today which isn't too bad.  I have the female shaded and gave the plant a little extra water this morning.  However the next three days will be 95-100 degrees.  If a plant is stressed it will abort the pumpkin so we have to pray over the next few days that this pollination will take. We will know that for sure in about 10 days.

This female is an almost perfect specimen.  There are 4 lobes, which is what I prefer and they are decently formed and the female is positioned very nicely on the vine.  Now we just need her to grow big!  If this pollination takes it will probably be my keeper pumpkin and I'll name it Stanley.

This evening I gave the plants a mixture of Metalosate Calcium, humic acid and Lithovit.

Naming Your Pumpkin

It's crazy I know, but every year I name my pumpkins.   I think it is kind of a fun thing to do and it gives a little personality to the pumpkins.  My past pumpkins:

• DillBoy - 755lbs
• HailBoy - RIP - tornado took this one at at about 35lbs
• RedemptionBoy and LarryBoy - 868lbs and 820lbs
• Ricky and Jerry - Jerry was about 550lbs went it went down due to rot.  Ricky was 924lbs and a beautiful pumpkin.  Should have gone over 1,000 pounds but slowed way down due to a split.
• Christine - 837lbs.  Too hot that year to grow much of anything.

This years pumpkin will be named, drum roll please:  Elbert and Stanley.

My grandpa was named Elbert and a world class gardner.  I've seen carrots that came out of his garden that were as big around as your wrist.  In honor of him I'm going to name one of the pumpkins after him.  Elbert is also the name of the highest mountain in Colorado.  A great 14er which I climbed a few years back.  So maybe this pumpkin can become Mt. Elbert.

Stanley is the name of my father-in-law and also the name of my oldest and one of my best of friends.  Also seems like a good name for a pumpkin.  So hopefully Elbert and Stanley can get me over that 1,000 pound mark this year.  I'm feeling good about where I'm at right now.  The weather has been fairly good, the plants seem happy and my soil and setup I think is the best I've had since I started growing in this patch.  Time will tell.  Pray for a big pumpkin for me.

Kudos to the Wife, The Hoop House is Off

1421 Stelts

Let me take a moment to give a big thanks to my wife and the help she gives me in growing my pumpkins.  I should put "help" in quotes because she usually doesn't look at my pumpkin plants for the first two months and then after that maybe 3-4 times before harvest.  However, she puts up with me wasting a lot of time in the patch and listening to me talk about pumpkins throughout the season and to put up with that is more than any women should have to endure. 

This evening she did help me a lot by helping me take the hoop houses off of the plants.  This was not an easy and a little scary task.  Last season I lost the main vine on a plant when I and another person were removing the hoop houses.  That set that plant back a week.  This year it even more challenging because the 1421 plant was 2 days over due in taking the hoop house off the plant and the main must have grown 10 inches today we we had to be very careful in taking the hoop house off.  My wife was a champ however and things went perfectly.

When you take the hoop houses off what used to look like a big plant looks very small.  Both the 1775 and the 1421 plants are getting ready to explode however.  By this time next week the plants will literally have doubled in size or more.  In two weeks we should be pollinating the pumpkins and then we are off to the races.

Today I gave the patch a spray down of Biotamax and Azos.  I also gave the plants some CalCarb because it is going to be hot tomorrow.

Hardening Off the Pumpkin Plant

Before putting the pumpkin plant in the ground I'll be hardening off the plant. Many growers do this by putting the plants in the garage at night for a few nights You usually don't have worry about a hard freeze in the garage or frost. Hardening off a plant is important because when a plant isn't hardened off it can have a hard time with cold temperatures or the bright sun. By controlling the temperature you can get the plant ready for the great outdoors in a way that won't hurt the plant.

Monster Big Pumpkins

A great grower who I've been privileged to spend some time with talking pumpkins over a plate of buffalo wings is Ron Wallace. Super nice guy and former giant pumpkin world-record holder (1,502 pounds). I just found out that Ron had the big one get away from him. In the later part of August he had a pumpkin estimating at about 1,780 pounds go down on him because of a pin hole split after 4 inches of rain. It still had more than 40 days of growing left and based on his best estimates it would have ended up around 2,100 to 2,200 pounds! just amazing.

As for my little pumpkin, it is still growing as of the last measurement. Two weeks from today I plan on cutting it off from the vine. At this point the pumpkin still seems solid so I think there is a descent chance of it making it. Today I'll be giving the plant some seaweed and calcium.

The 656 Johnson AKA Jerry

I took the final measurements on "Jerry" today because I will be cutting it open to get the seeds out. The 868 measures 142 inches in circumference and has an estimated weight of 656 pounds. So now the pumpkin (pictured below) will be known as the 656 Johnson (868 Johnson x 1725 Harp).

Pictures from the Pumpkin Patch

The 1204 Scherber AKA "Ricky"

Dear Jerry Seinfeld. I hope this pumpkin proves two things. First, giant pumpkin don't have to be ugly. Second, this pumpkin was named after Ricky Gervais and hopefully it proves that the "British" don't have to be ugly (if you watched me on NBC you'll know what I am talking about).

I Hope Sulfur Powder Isn't Overly Toxic

Four weeks from today is the vine cutting. At this point I'm just hoping that I have a pumpkin at that time. The 1204 pumpkin is still holding together but I'd give it a 40% chance that it will still be around by the weigh-off at Jared's on September 24th. Growth has slowed down considerably. I'm praying that it will make it.

The 868 pumpkin is growing slow as well but still growing. I continue to get splits on the face of the pumpkin and those splits have now started to go into the stem area where I found a little rot forming. I am hoping that sulfur powder isn't overly toxic because I've used a fair amount of it and bleach around the stem. I also re-covered pumpkin face area to help it dry out.

We have had three days in a row of record heat in Denver. You can't water the pumpkin plants enough when it gets this way. I watered 25 minutes more than I usually do yesterday and when I was checking the soil this morning there were still areas that were a bit drier than I would prefer. Hard to get the pumpkins to do to much growth when it is this warm. Looking forward to some relief.

The Pumpkin Plants are Aging

At this time of year you start to see a lot of aging in the plants and pumpkin growth has slowed down a lot. The oldest leaves have died off, most of the leaves look tired and now the youngest leaves on the edges of the plant are doing a good portion of the work to make the pumpkin grow. I usually see a lot of sucker vines popping up on the plant this time of year. A hormonal change has happened in the plant and it knows it is coming down to the last month of growth and it is doing everything it can to produce more posterity. I find these sucker vines irritating and pain to get rid of. There is a fine balance between going into the plant to get these vines out and not damaging the older leaves when you do so. One thing you have to watch for is new pumpkins growing in the patch. Even with a watchful eye, I've pulled out 60 pound pumpkins that were well hidden in the vines.

The last couple of days I've given the plants NutriCal, calcium and Fish & Seaweed. Very slow growth on the 868 pumpkin. The 1204 is still growing quickly for this time of year.

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A New Hope

At 150 pounds smaller than my big pumpkin, the 868 pumpkin (aka Jerry) is where I am hoping now to get over 1,000 pounds this year. It is my last hope. There are 47 growing days left until the weigh-off at Nick's Nursery so as of right now my plan is to take it their. If I can get about 39 more inches on this pumpkin I should make the 1,000 pound mark. This pumpkin was a later pollination on July 4th so it will be 95 days old then which is young enough that it should be still growing a little by weigh-off time if the weather is good.

The picture to the right makes this pumpkin look more orange than it really is in normal light. The morning orange sky I think made the pumpkin less pale orange than how it really looks. As you can see there are no dill rings so far for this pumpkin and very light ribbing.

RIP Ricky; The 1204 Pumpkin is Dead

I am very sorry to announce that Ricky the pumpkin formed a crack into the cavity this morning and as a result will not be going to any weigh-offs this year. An internal crack called a Dill Ring formed inside the pumpkin and intersected a deep rib and split the pumpkin open this morning. Nothing could be done about it and it happens to a lot of growers. Ricky, also known as the big pumpkin, was on pace to easily break my personal best weight of 868 pounds. If it stayed on track it probably would have hit about 1,100 pounds. I'll take measurements on it this evening to get an unofficial weight.

This pumpkin was named "Ricky" after Ricky Gervais whom I took a wise crack at while on NBC's The Marriage Ref this summer. The cross of the pumpkin is 1204 Scherber x 1810 Stevens (in other words I crossed my pumpkin with a seed from last year's World Record pumpkin). Seeds will be available in a month at http://seeds.denverpumpkins.com.

As the saying goes, "If you ain't blowin them you ain't growing em." But the saying also goes, "If you are blowin them then you ain't showing em."

The other pumpkin, Jerry, is still growing and the cracks on it are of a different kind and of less concern so we will put our efforts into that pumpkin now. Pictured below is the little split that caused all of the trouble.

The Pumpkins Are Getting Hard to Measure These Days

It has gotten kind of difficult to the measure the 1204 Scherber pumpkin (AKA Ricky) these days. It has lots of ribs and none of the ribs follow a consistent path so measuring and measuring consistently has become a challenge. Yesterday I found that the spot that I have been measuring on no longer is the biggest path around the pumpkin as other ribs have started to bulge out more.

With my measurements I'm mostly looking to find out if the pumpkin is growing properly and if I need to give the plants more water or more fertilizer. These days I've been a bit busy so every other day or every third day do I get a chance to put a measuring tape around the pumpkins. Today's circumference measurement on the 1204 pumpkin was 151 inches.

Slower Pumpkin Growth This Week

Growth on both of the pumpkins have been a little disappointing this week. I think the hotter weather we had in Denver the previous few days had and impact on growth. I gave the plants a little more water the last two days and an extra helping of Fish & Seaweed tonight to help them kick back into gear. I also gave the plants a little calcium this evening.

Sun!

Today is the first day in about 10 or 11 days the we didn't cloud up. Full sun and almost not a cloud in the sky. I think we hit about 91 degrees in the pumpkin patch today. Actually had to mist the plants 5 or 6 times today. The new leaves couldn't figure out what the big, bright ball of gas was in the sky. They had never seen it before.

This evening I gave the plants some CalCarb to help with the heat stress. It is going to be back to warm again for the next week or so.

Burying Vines, Burying Vines, Burying Vines

I don't know how growers who have 6 Atlantic Giant pumpkin plants keep up with them this time of year unless they are retired or dentists (he, he, he). I only have my two plants and I can't keep up with the weeds and vines on these things. As mentioned before, both plants have been very aggressive growers lately with all of the rain and I got behind on burying the vines because of all of the mud. the last few days I've been burying vines and I still haven't got them all buried. I know the difference between the men and the boys this time of year so I just say to myself, "What is Barry, Gary, Joe, Pete, Gary, Marc, Ron, Jim and all of the rest of the RMGVG growers doing right now?" and then I start throwing some more dirt on the vines. It can be exhausting though. I'm sure 12 years from now they will find me lying dead in the patch from a coronary. Not a bad way to go, but it will probably be the year that I finally break the state record which will be a bummer.

This evening I sprayed 1 cup of fish & seaweed with some manganese on both plants (in a light rain) and then two hours later I sprayed 2 tablespoons of blood meal on both plants. I think a lot of nitrogen has leached from the soil so I'm trying to get it back up to par.