Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 104 Entries. Wednesday, January 3 View Page I test just about everything that goes into our patch. I also test roots of my plants to see just what they are "hosting". Here is a test of the roots and surrounding soil from where our new patch was put in. These are typical results for grass roots, all roots will "host" some sort of pathogens, I just wanted to make sure that the results were favorable before moving forward. Pythium will show on lawns in mid to late summer during high heat, moisture and humidity. (same time/conditions as on pumpkin plants) It will look like a blackish, greasy spot on your lawn. In the golf course industry they also call it grease spot. Harry the Plant Pathologist is very good to work with, he fully explains everything so its easy to understand. I also like his enthusiasm as noted in his note below the test. lol   Wednesday, January 31 View Page Dave & Peggy Miller from Iowa stopped over the WOW Warehouse this morning to pick up some supplies and talk pumpkins! Was great to meet and talk with both of you.   Wednesday, January 31 View Page Thanks Dave for the Iowa growers hat!   Tuesday, February 13 View Page My last day at the Country Club was yesterday, 33 years the last 10 as General Manager.   Friday, March 2 View Page What an honor it was to induct my good friend Steve Connolly into the GPC Hall Of Fame last weekend. I have know Steve for 20 years, he has given back to the hobby through his research, education, and dedication to the SNGPG newsletter.   Wednesday, March 28 View Page First time I have seen the patch in about 6 weeks! Will be assembling greenhouses and putting them in place as soon as patch dries out.   Wednesday, March 28 View Page I like to start a test batch of seedlings before "go time" These seedling will get transplanted later today into 1 gallon pots. When starting my competition seeds I will take some of the soil and roots from these 1-gallon plants and mix that in with more seed starter and Pumpkin Pro Inoculant. This is called "source soil" as it is collected from beneath host, and includes spores, fungal hyphae and host root material from an original plant of the same species. I have been emailed many times asking if my Premium 1 pound Inoculant is the same as the Pumpkin Pro, yes it is, same product different size packaging. The 1 pound I developed for the small indoor growers market.   Thursday, March 29 View Page Started my tomato seeds yesterday. I use the same seed starting mixture for all my vegetable plants.   Thursday, March 29 View Page Giant Tomato seeds started, Thank you Pork for the seeds! Also started: San Marzano, ( Thanks Sergio ) Pineapple (my favorite)! Old German, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Wild Boar Beauty King, Brandywine, Giant Oxheart, Brandywine Orange and Tomato Morado Gigante ( Thank you Reuben )   Thursday, March 29 View Page Last fall me and Pap we happy that we did not have to rake up any Black Walnuts as the squirrels removed all of them. Well I found their stash when I went up to the top of the barn to inspect the greenhouses, there are a few big piles scattered about!   Friday, March 30 View Page World Record Bell Pepper plants are starting to grow.   Friday, March 30 View Page Felt like spring today as we hit 62! Lots of cleanup to do after winter tree removal, with the white pines and black walnut tress gone our new patch will be treated to more early morning sun.   Friday, March 30 View Page Last falls cover crop of winter rye is starting to grow as well. We have 2 patches that we will be working on this summer for 2019. Both will receive mustard cover crops for bio fumigation with one patch also getting solarized with clear plastic.   Saturday, March 31 View Page Started working on the greenhouses today. My job was to cut all the re bar.   Saturday, March 31 View Page I have to give all the credit to Joe for the greenhouse design and build. I am just a laborer!   Tuesday, April 3 View Page Here is last falls soil test report on our new garden for this year.   Tuesday, April 3 View Page Here is the spring test after all the fall amendments. Not bad for the first go around, I will adjust when the ground is dry and ready to till.   Friday, April 6 View Page We finally had a day that it did not rain and the weather was ok to do some greenhouse work. The doors were finished along with PVC cut and glued and re bar installed at Steve and Joe's patch. Looks like we need another 3 full days before all 3 are fully installed.   Friday, April 6 View Page Steve was in charge of cutting all the metal, Look at that balance he displays holding the bar down with his left foot cutting on a sturdy log, always safety first! lol   Friday, April 6 View Page Joe, The greenhouse designer, makes all the precise cuts on pvc and wood for door frames.   Friday, April 6 View Page My job was to finish putting together the doors along with gluing the pvc.   Friday, April 6 View Page Re bar 4 ft on center pounded in.   Friday, April 6 View Page Starting to take shape!   Friday, April 6 View Page Tomato seeds have all started to germinate. The 8.22 Pork Chop is looking nice!   Monday, April 9 View Page Finally looks like this week I can get the greenhouses out. 6 of the normal size 5x7 and one 20 x 60 that will go over 2 plants. Today I scribe out a line to amend soil where greenhouses will be placed. I will go back around June 1 and amend the rest of the patch. Sometimes we get heavy early season rains and I feel it is washing nutrients away, that is why we opt for a split apply on nutrients. The 20 x 60 house will have to have all nutrients down later this week as we would not have the option to go back in and add more later. The goal on the bigger greenhouse will be a June 15th pollination at 15 plus ft out.   Wednesday, April 11 View Page Getting our seed starting mixture ready! ! 1 Bag of Black Gold, 2 cups of Worm Casting, 2 Tablespoons of Azos Powder and 1/4 cup Pumpkin Pro Premium Mycorrhizal Inoculant!   Wednesday, April 25 View Page Sorry I have not updated my diary in a few weeks as I have been extremely busy. I will try and catch everyone up today on what has been taking place here, and then I will doing weekly updates throughout the season. Thank you everyone for your support of WOW and I wish everyone the best of luck this year!   Wednesday, April 25 View Page Here is the finished 20x40 greenhouse. This was allot of work done in mostly unpleasant weather. Special thanks to Joe Jutras for his research and leadership of the build.   Thursday, April 26 View Page Plants going outside again today, final day will be planting tomorrow!   Thursday, April 26 View Page Watering system installed and ready to go!   Thursday, April 26 View Page When transplanting to 1 gallon pots its easy to notice the early "aggressive ones" This 2145 is very fast out of the gates!   Thursday, April 26 View Page Soil temp just over 70 degrees at 8 inches down. These Jump Start 24 ft heating cables are doing the job.   Thursday, April 26 View Page Had to add a small amount of gypsum to balance our calcium for proper base saturation. What has seemed to work in our patch is 75-80% Calcium, 12-15% Magnesium and 8-10% Potassium Base Saturation. We have sandy loam soil and nutrients leach quickly, so that is why we have to bump the numbers up a bit. Pap back in action on the tiller!   Thursday, April 26 View Page Thanks to all for emailing me with suggestions and comments on growing in a larger greenhouse. We will have some challenges and I am sure will make some mistakes as this year will be a big learning curve for all of us. Here totally closed on a 63 degree day the inside temp rockets to well over 100 degrees.   Friday, April 27 View Page Made some new Quonset Hut style cages to go over the plants when in the greenhouse.   Saturday, April 28 View Page All plants were planted yesterday. In my planting holes I add the following: 2 Tablespoons Pumpkin Pro Mycorrhizae, 1-Tablespoon Azos Powder. 2 cups Worm Castings, 2 teaspoons of RootShield Plus, 1 ounce Blood Meal, and 3 of my WOW Super Starter Paks. First watering contained Companion at 2 teaspoons per gallon, Essential at 1 tablespoon per gallon and 12-12-12 with salicylic acid at 3 teaspoons per gallon of water. Triple 12 + key ingredient is salicylic acid (SA), the active ingredient in aspirin. A natural plant hormone (phytohormone), SA is produced in small quantities by all plants, and is present in high concentrations in willow trees. Next watering will contain TKO phosphite.   Saturday, April 28 View Page Roots in 1 gallon pot are really exploding as the Pumpkin Pro and Azos are doing the job!   Saturday, April 28 View Page Since the Jump Start Heating cables are working so good I decided to add them under the big greenhouse. The air temp is plenty warm but the soil temp was still a bit cool.   Saturday, April 28 View Page 2145 number 1   Saturday, April 28 View Page 2624   Saturday, April 28 View Page 1937   Saturday, April 28 View Page 2145 number 2   Saturday, April 28 View Page 2145 number 3   Saturday, April 28 View Page 2150. I did not have hope for this one as the top of the seed kind of broke when I was placing it in the soil, but it germinated and started to straighten out over the last few days. I did really well the last time I planted a self seed (1725 grew the 2009 ) so I wanted to give this one a try.   Saturday, April 28 View Page As you can see I run my hand around the plant making a circle so when we water it is contained around the young plant. The late "great" John Castellucci taught me this 28 years ago as he grew the best tomato plants I had ever seen. You can also see the cattle fence over the plants, at night a 100 wt light bulb is placed inside about 14 inches from the plant. We then cover the cattle fence with a light blanket. This method keeps the plants around 60 degrees.   Saturday, April 28 View Page Last in Paps 2261   Wednesday, May 2 View Page Transplanted some WR Bell Pepper, and tomato plants yesterday and moved them to the big greenhouse.   Wednesday, May 2 View Page Plats will be a nice size when they get planted in the vegetable garden in about 20 days.   Wednesday, May 2 View Page I will have time this year to adjust my water pH for optimum nutrient uptake. Seems like 6-6.2 water pH is the sweet spot. This pH pen from Blue lab is not cheap but they are the best in the business.   Wednesday, May 2 View Page Ph rises to 7.4 after adding some nutrients   Wednesday, May 2 View Page just a tad over 2 table spoons of pH down in 48 gallons brings the pH down very close to perfect. I will re test in am before applying.   Friday, May 4 View Page Was very windy yesterday, had to fix a few roofs on our small greenhouses.   Friday, May 4 View Page Pap converted my old sneakers to make my "Air Wallace" patch shoes about 10 years ago. They are great for cruising around the patch. I use them allot with the back pack sprayer on when spraying plants. This certainly speeds things up as I can walk around the plants freely without any compaction.   Friday, May 4 View Page Gardens for 2019 had winter rye tilled under yesterday. Next up mustard in one patch and zinnias in the other.   Tuesday, May 8 View Page Hello All! I have been working on a new version of my WOW Starter Paks for the retail sector. Home gardeners want a "once and done" method for fertilizing so I have added a 90 day time release fertilizer to the Starter Paks. These paks are now available for field trials on your favorite vegetables, flowers and herbs. If you would like to take part and enter to win up to $400 in WOW products for the best photo using the new "once and done" please email: tonya@wallacewow.com and I will ship a trial sample out to you along with directions. Unfortunately I can only send this product out in the US for this season. Thank you, I really appreciate everyone's support. Ron   Wednesday, May 9 View Page All plants doing well, drenched with TKO yesterday at 1/4 oz per gallon of water. Starting weekly additions of triple 12 tomorrow. Here is the 2150, I did not think it was going to make it as it was a horrible looking seedling but it has made a nice recovery.   Wednesday, May 9 View Page 1937   Wednesday, May 9 View Page 2261   Wednesday, May 9 View Page 2145   Wednesday, May 9 View Page 2145 New patch   Wednesday, May 9 View Page 2363   Wednesday, May 9 View Page 2145 Big Greenhouse   Wednesday, May 9 View Page 2624 big greenhouse   Wednesday, May 9 View Page Almost time to cut what i call the "kick stand leave" At this point I just dig out under this leave a little so the vine can start to come down. I apply just a slight bit of pressure with bamboo on the back few leaves, helping to tilt the plant forward a bit. By the weekend the kick stand leave will be cut, I try to keep it as long as I can as the plants have few leaves now.   Wednesday, May 9 View Page Here is a close up as I use a piece of bamboo to adjust the fall of the main vine, it also helps stabilize the plant.   Sunday, May 20 View Page Weekly update, was mostly a cloudy and cool week with a few inches of rain. Plants are growing well and will color back up this week with consistent temps on the way. Here is the 2145 growing in the big greenhouse, main vine is just over 7 ft as this plant is really starting to roll!   Sunday, May 20 View Page Making my first 25 gallon batch of Wonder Brew Compost Tea. When the tea is finished I will add Companion and Essential.   Sunday, May 20 View Page 2624 growing in big greenhouse. I have noticed that this plant does not like the heat as I have scorched a few leaves on the plant.   Sunday, May 20 View Page 2363 getting ready to "hit the wall" on the 5x7 greenhouse.   Sunday, May 20 View Page The 2150   Sunday, May 20 View Page 2145 planted in our old patch   Sunday, May 20 View Page 2150 started very slowly but is starting to grow a bit faster now   Sunday, May 20 View Page 1937   Sunday, May 20 View Page 2145 growing in our new patch   Thursday, May 24 View Page 8.22 Pork Chop in the ground today, using my new season long starter pak on it.   Friday, June 1 View Page About a week behind on the diary but will catch everyone up today. Last week it was time to spread the rest of our amendments before we could remove the greenhouses and do a final till. Nutrients added: Kelp meal, Humic Acid, Borax, K Mag, Copper, Manganese, Promag (magnesium oxide) and 0-0-50   Friday, June 1 View Page Mustard starting to grow very nice as we prepare this patch for next year.   Friday, June 1 View Page Patch Tour! 1937   Friday, June 1 View Page 2261   Friday, June 1 View Page 2145   Friday, June 1 View Page 2150   Friday, June 1 View Page 2363 growing in the new patch.. Great thing about the new patch is no weeds.   Friday, June 1 View Page 2145 Growing in new patch   Friday, June 1 View Page 2145 Growing in greenhouse   Friday, June 1 View Page 2624 Growing in greenhouse. Leaning allot about growing in this type of greenhouse. The 2624 is really starting to turn it on, it does not like the heat so I have had to roll sides up on any day close to 80 or higher as I have burnt a few leaves. The 2145 next to it takes the heat a bit better. Looks like another 10 days or so and we will have to remove the plastic as they will be "out the door" Dont know what we will end up with but the big greenhouse will have served its purpose to provide a earlier pollination on a much bigger plant. Next years modifications will include an over head misting system.   Friday, June 1 View Page Here is a photo of my 2009 that grew the 2307 in 2016. Photo was taken on June 1 This is a good example of how fast these plants can kick it in gear! There was on 1 side vine on each side that was on the ground at this point, the plant was slow and spindly then took off shortly after.   Friday, June 1 View Page Water is placed in 50 gallons drums and by the next day it is nice and warm. A standard submersible pump will do the job applying nice pressure using a 75 ft hose. This weeks biological "treasure bath" consisted of: Azos Blue, Companion, Essential, Seaweed and Humic/Fulvic Acid. We also started to ramp up our Born, and other micro nutrients that the plant at times has a hard time taking in. 2 ounces of Epson Salts for sulfur and magnesium was also added to 50 gallons of water.   Thursday, June 7 View Page Yesterday was greenhouse removal day. The plants were inside the big house 5 weeks and did what the teams goal was, to be able to pollinate around June 15th on a bigger plant. We will see by the end of the season if our plan was successful as we all know there is allot more involved than a bigger earlier plant to grow a BIG pumpkin.   Thursday, June 7 View Page We started at Steve Sperry's patch. Here Steve is with a very aggressive 2363 Holland plant. He also had a beautiful garden of lettuce that was growing in his greenhouse.   Thursday, June 7 View Page Here is our patch with the 2145 and 2624 planted back to back 5-ft apart. We really enjoyed the 20 day crops of baby Spinach, Arugula, and Mesclun greens that you see in the lower left and right of the photo.   Thursday, June 7 View Page Here is the "Greenhouse Team" Joe Jutras, designer, and team leader, Steve Sperry, metal fabricator and laborer, and me wiggle wire expert and gopher! lol Hey Joe knows my lack of carpentry skills as I told him many times I failed shop class in High School! We had allot of fun building and growing in the houses and we have talked about slight modifications for next year. Thank you to all who emailed me with suggestions, tips and comments about growing in a bigger greenhouse.   Monday, July 9 View Page Patch update: 2145x1937 Pollinated 6/21 This plant was a very fast grower, because of that it took lots of leaf burn over the past few weeks.   Monday, July 9 View Page 2261x2145 Pollinated 6/21   Monday, July 9 View Page 1937x2624 Pollinated 6/19 Love the shape so far on this one, the plant took very little if any leaf burn.   Monday, July 9 View Page 2150x2261 Pollinated 6/20 First one did not make it, so I am happy I have one set on this plant.   Monday, July 9 View Page 2624x2145 Pollinated 6/19 Like the shape on this one as well, its been a bit slow out of the gates but looks like it is starting to ramp up now.   Monday, July 9 View Page Here is a photo showing how many vines we "turn" and run past the pumpkin. four on each side of the pumpkin. These vines will run till they reach the end of the patch.   Monday, July 9 View Page 2363x2145 Pollinated 6/20   Monday, July 9 View Page 2145x2624 Pollinated June 14th This was one of our greenhouse plants as we wanted to keep one early set this year. Over the last 4-5 days you can see a big difference every day in the growth of this pumpkin.   Monday, July 9 View Page 2145x2624 Pollinated 6/18 I liked the thought of the 2145x2624 so much I did the same cross on two of them.   Monday, July 9 View Page I am trying something new this year, to make up for the burnt leafs that our on the plants I let third stage growth develop and pinched out the vine and left the new leaf. As you can see the new leaf on the left and the burnt leaf next to it. The burnt leafs will age much faster so I figured letting some new leaves develop now at this stage of the pumpkin growth will not hold much back and the new leaf's could help for the late August/September stretch run.   Monday, July 9 View Page Every day someone stops by the farm to say hello. The best part about the hobby for us is how many friends we have made. Gene LaRaviere pulled my trailer home a few weeks ago after a "mechanical breakdown" more on that one another time...   Monday, July 9 View Page Found this guy a few weeks ago sitting in the patch at 6:30 am!   Monday, July 9 View Page This photo from 2003 hangs in our carriage house. Friends from New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania came down and stayed for a New England patch tour. Dave Stelts sent us the photo the reference to "look at all the athletes" on the photo started because of a conversation about calling this a "sport or a hobby"? How many growers can you recognize in the photo? Some of us look a bit older now.....