Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 128 Entries. Thursday, February 13 View Page Here's the yard near the end of 2013, had to have a new weep field for the septic tank. I had just reseeded the grass in 2012, looks like I will be doing it again this year. The black X will be a new pumpkin patch in 2015 ,had a pool there for 20 years, am glad its gone, put it was nice to use after pouring concrete all day. The N in the background is the north plot I had a herbicide problems with last year.I plan on growing a 1872 Wallace 12 there and a 978 Geyelin 13 male x 288 buglio 13 female. The Geyelin will just be used for pollen then pulled for lack of room.   Thursday, February 13 View Page We were dry last year, and the year before, we just get missed by the rain within a few miles of us each time. I took this photo about 30 minutes after it was dug, pretty dusty. The well we have is only 60 feet deep with water up to 30 feet, I'll be checking my water levels this year to see if pumping lowers it any, I have 3 neighbors living within a 1/8 mile and they had to dig there wells to over 150 feet, makes me wonder whats up.   Tuesday, February 18 View Page The dogs eat pretty good over the winter,they have brought back enough parts to make 6 deer this year, sometimes it looks like a scene from a horror movie in the back yard. Some are killed along the road ,most are from the neighbor cleaning deer for some extra cash   Wednesday, February 19 View Page I don't know why anyone would own a Ford, but if you like them and would like this Tin you can have it for the price of postage. This is for Anderson ford mercury in Clinton IL. Has a population of about 7200 so I don't know how many of these were made, I don't even know how I got it. The wife dug it out of the closet and thought it may work for seeds.   Wednesday, February 19 View Page forgot.. The tin is about 6.5" wide and 2" deep   Monday, February 24 View Page I have used this container once, the last year I grew about 10 years ago, it worked good but you need some muscle to use it. I cut this from a 12" pvc pipe, I don't have the original bottom board it was was covered with laminate, like the type used for kitchen countertops, you want it to be smooth. This is just showing an example. you set this in the hole with the container where you want the plant, then kneel down on the white spots in the photo, place your left hand on the container and pull the board out with your right hand, then cut your tape and remove the sides. The problem is that you have to carry this by hand to your plant site, or use a very smooth rolling wagon with a helper   Sunday, March 2 View Page the beginning of winter can be so nice   Sunday, March 2 View Page and summer can get tough ( I love cats)   Tuesday, March 4 View Page Back during the first week of Nov I hauled in 11 loads of leaves and 10 trailers of manure, I spread out 4" of leaves and 2" of manure onto 2 plots and the rest was piled for compost. This was my first serious try at composting and my first success , it was turned twice be for Christmas and temps were over 110F twice, the snowblade on the mower worked fairly good , and this pile will be for my 2015 plot The leaves come from 9 miles away and the manure from 1/8 mile, you can see my new water tote in the background, trying to drain the last of some sticky feed grade vitamin E from the tank. I may have to flush it with hot water this spring .   Monday, March 10 View Page I have 3 ways to get to my patches one goes through the farmers field which is usually to slick, another drops down into a ditch, and the third is a short steep upgrade so there went my trailer lights last fall. I welded new brackets and raised the lights close to a foot, doesn't look that much in the photo but its a big difference. I like using the loadhandler I have but when you first start unloading the ratchet will spring back about half a turn so I can only really get about 1/4 of a turn each time. I added another ratchet to the other side of the trailer and it stops it from back turning now, saves even more time , I think it only takes about 5 minutes to unload manure now. There is a lot of hidden work growing AG's   Sunday, March 16 View Page Not much to look at, this is where I start flowers for the wife and plants for me, I have six 4 FT fixtures, each with 2 bulbs 12 bulbs in total. I can switch off or on the amount needed. I have them connected together three fixtures on one set and three on the other one, one set is made up of high output fixtures, those three are almost to heavy for one person to move up and down, so I would not recommend connecting more than three in the bank, the arrow shows the bracket connecting them together. The entire area is covered with 2 emergency blankets bought in the camping section of wally world, in our 45F room the temp under the lights can hit 90, so you adjust the foil to regulate the heat   Sunday, March 16 View Page Here they are completely covered , at one end I have a 120 volt computer fan to strengthen the plants to the wind   Sunday, March 16 View Page The emergency blanket, if you cut this , you need to apply tape to the end of the cut, a rip stop. If cut a mighty hamster could tear it to pieces. The blanket can be found from $1 to $3 each   Tuesday, March 25 View Page These two make a pretty good pair when it comes to varmint control, Tucker the smaller one smells the worst but He is great for finding moles ,voles and anything else close to the ground or even under ground, both dogs came from the dog pound. Tucker had just recovered from a broken hip after getting hit by a school bus, Lobo is the black dog I am guessing He ran away from home since He is deathly afraid of thunder, gunshots or anything else thats loud unfortunetlly He will kill anything He can catch, not other dogs but squirrels to fawns are on his list.He is one of the sweetiest dogs I have had and has the best manners, but He lets Tucker rule the roost Got the plastic on the two houses but need to move them onto the planting areas also got more snow but it looks like the weather is heading to warmer times   Thursday, March 27 View Page Got the houses over the planting holes yesterday, its raining now with a chance of 3/4 inch, 4 more days of rain predicted over the next week. Connected my soil warming cables to some old livestock fencing , maybe I will get started digging out a planting hole in the walk-in greenhouse today thinking it will help dry the soil out if I get it dug and spread out some, put my myko in the fridge a week ago . Night temps are predicted to stay just above freezing all week, it was 70 in the greenhouse yesterday   Friday, March 28 View Page dug my 2 planting holes that will be heated today, I am way out of shape :) but the temperature was great for doing some labor, went about 12" deep added 10 gallons of horse manure and humus. then refilled the hole and added Humus ,kelp, dried molasses , pumpkin power and some other goodies, mixed this into the top 8". Right after that the temp 7" down was 42F   Friday, March 28 View Page So your a tough guy? I was surprised finding about 2 dozen worms in the north hole, the ground wasn't frozen, but I had a few shovels full that where close to it.   Wednesday, April 2 View Page Turned on the heating cables and covered the area with plastic as a test to see how soon they will be put into use. Day one from 3PM to 9PM the temp went from 55.2F to 58.4F but during the night I had a 1degree loss. The next day I covered the plastic with a blanket the temp was 57.4 at 7AM and went to 64 by 9PM, during the night the temp rose another 1.3, no drop in night temps. I will shut them off and give myself 3 to 4 days be for planting time to warm up the soil.   Sunday, April 13 View Page WIND thats about it, anywhere from 25 to 40 MPH ,I know were going to get it every year but its really annoying, both greenhouses are still standing. I plan to start my 1217.5 zappa 11 and 1872 Wallace 12 on April 16th The 978 Geyelin 13 and 288 buglio 13 wont have a green house so I may start those april 30th Crappie are biting good near the hot water discharge area from the power plant   Wednesday, April 16 View Page The morning temp was 28F ,inside the greenhouse it was 45, I have my soil cables on and also this can heater I made,its on dusk to dawn controlled by a photocell used for Christmas lights. The up coming week has lows in the upper 40s to mid 50s , tomorrow I will start my seeds. I also set up some wind fence to help keep the wind down on the greenhouses   Saturday, April 26 View Page The 1217.5 zappa 11 sprouted after 65 hours comming up on 4/21/13 I had a 1789 wallace 11 germing the same way as the zappa but it failed to germ after 7 days. I have started my other 1789 today 4/25 We are not getting the predicted rains they forecast ,we actually dont need any right now but I am hoping this year isnt a repeat of the last 2 years, I think this is the first time in 20 years that the farmers field downhill from my yard is dry, usually its so wet their tractors leave 6 inch ruts through it, even the corn grows poorly there.   Sunday, April 27 View Page Got the 1217.5 Zappa planted yesterday, soil temp 72. I have it figured, out when they say its going to rain they actually mean wind.   Wednesday, April 30 View Page I am pretty disappointed in myself my second and last 1789 Wallace has failed to sprout, after the first one failed I planted the second one and placed two practice seeds in with it too, I placed them near the outside edge with the Wallace in the center. The practice seeds germinated in three days and I cut them off with scissors, maybe it was drier near the outside than in the center, I don't fault the seed. I will try my 1744.5 fulk 2013 a cross of the 220 Debacco x 1789 Wallace I plan on crossing it with the 1546 Shenoha 13 third time hopefully the charm. I am calling my hut inside the greenhouse the dutch oven, outside temps are 49 inside the greenhouse they are 64 and inside the dutch oven it is 80F We did get 8/10 of an inch of rain, cloudy and in the upper 40s to low 50s I added a 65watt cfl to the hut today to help boost the light levels   Tuesday, May 6 View Page The 1546 Shenoha 13 sprouted yesterday after about 76 hours I caught it pushing up soil and placed it in the sun , one of the nicest days for weather ,sunny and low 70s. The 1744.5 fulk 2013 was pushing up soil too, but is slow getting out above ground, I gently loosened the soil up around it today, I could see the cots 14 hours ago .   Saturday, May 10 View Page Here is the 1217.5 zappa at 19 days, its gotten some wind damage I need to use longer skewers, one leaf is tattered and one has a bent stem. The growth has picked up and its still shaded by the over head plastic,I think I will roll up the roof as soon as the predicted heavy rains are over   Saturday, May 10 View Page These plants are 5 days old, the right is the 1546 Shenoha the left is the 1744.5 fulk, I am having doubts on which one to use as the female, and which is the male, the male would be pulled after pollination. I like the looks of the Shenoha   Saturday, May 10 View Page here is the pic..duh   Saturday, May 10 View Page I made my own pipe clamps,just couldn't see spending so much for premade ones, I have pipe that is 3/4 inch and I believe this is high pressure 1" water line, first I cut the slot out using a table saw, some I had to fine tune using a grinder with a cutting blade, they work great. sorry for the blurry pic   Monday, May 12 View Page Got the 1546 Shenoha and the 1744.5 fulk in the ground yesterday the Fulk has a greenhouse and heat cables, I decided to use it as the female since I only had one seed. The shenoha will be the male no ground cables but I will be able to use the "dutch oven" to cover it if the temps drop   Tuesday, May 13 View Page Monday evening the wife told me she unplugged the soil cables for the Zappa on the previous Friday, blatant Sabotage or maybe its revenge for me killing some of her flowers with roundup, will keep a mental note of this. No harm done I went and checked the soil temps, the unheated ground by the Shenoha was 72F the Zappa area was 74F, this was at 6" deep am sure they will drop over the next week lows in the upper 40s rainy and highs in the lower 60s   Saturday, May 17 View Page Temps this morning were 36F I had covered the 1546 shenoha the night before with a small hut and two layers of plastic it also had a 40 watt bulb in a metal can, it stayed at 55F, the leaf on the left has sagged since the day I transplanted the root ball broke so I figured that was the cause, not sure now but its not getting worse. The plants been cold ,wet and cloudy for 5 straight days, need to get a new camera my old one is busted and I don't like taking my tablet out to the garden for photos.   Saturday, May 17 View Page The 1744 fulked did well staying at 50 during the night,it got a few hours of direct sun today after 5 days of clouds, right after opening up the roof it clouded over again   Saturday, May 17 View Page The zappa 1217.5 needs some sunlight at 26 days its barely had any direct sunlight but it is vining, looks like sun in the forecast this week. The local weather station calls for a wetter and cooler year than normal, for me that would be great.   Saturday, May 17 View Page Its hard to see in the photo but last fall I tilled out a ditch that's about 80 feet long, it goes down two sides of the north plot to drain water away faster, I had standing water for 2 weeks in the corner of my north plot last year , its always been a wet area of the yard. To wet in the spring and dust through the summer, these recent rains got my new grass to sprout well and maybe no more watering from me   Monday, May 19 View Page Was sealing up the greenhouses last night, and did a bad thing,broke the growing tip off the Zappa, I bumped the bamboo stake I was using to keep it growing in the right direction, just a tweak and plunk off it came. I will remember that moment for quite awhile.   Thursday, May 22 View Page Plants spent their first night outside without being covered, got their first rain also, weather looks good for the next week, still mad about breaking the zappa but I will train a side vine into a new main.   Thursday, May 22 View Page Having a problem , my fulk and shenoha have these bad leaves ,I hope it isn't the same thing that I had last year people thought was from 2-4-d, here is last years photo http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=206116   Thursday, May 22 View Page Here is the fulk it doesn't look the same as last years, but this is a younger leaf, this area was amended and I gave it a 1/3 dose of MG 15-30-15 8 days after it was transplanted. This is the same plot where the where the previous linked photo was taken.   Thursday, May 22 View Page Here is the shenoha , this plot had the same problem last year but no where near as severe , the soil was tested at western labs last fall. The zappa is growing in this plot also and doesn't have this problem. The shenoha got the 15-30-15 fert the same day of the fulk   Thursday, May 22 View Page The zappa is beaten bruised and broken ,you can see the grow tip I snapped off ,this plant is 20 feet from the shenoha, are the holes in the leaves similar to what is being talked about in this recent post http://www.bigpumpkins.com/MsgBoard/ViewThread.asp?b=6&p=509103 I know I've asked a lot of questions and used a few links but can anyone give some opinions on this. Could it be as simple as getting the leaves wet from the fertilizer I used ( cant remember if I did)   Wednesday, May 28 View Page The 1217.5 Zappa plant has landed, it had 3 vines after I snapped off the main so I picked the fastest growing one to use as a main. The 1744.5 Fulk is out growing the 1546 Shenoha but to be fair the the shenoha's soil was unheated and not amended either. I had my 288 buglio outside for less than 24 hours when a deer hate it, it also ate all the leaves off of a small oak tree I had, both were less than 40 feet from the Fulk plant, I think a female has a fawn about 200 ft from the garden, haven't looked yet ,the dog will probably find it first. Sprayed all plants with Merit and tilled around all of them, need to get the wind fence moved . The 978 Geyelin sprouted a few days ago, it has no stalk showing above the soil line the underside of the cot leaves are laying on the soil, after a day or so I scraped back enough soil so air could get under the cots, not sure what I will do about replacing the 288 buglio   Friday, May 30 View Page I am going to replace my 288 buglio with a 835.5 podraza 2011, I wont be going for size just wanting to try my hand at making a nice orange pumpkin. Here is my other 288 buglio it never broke through the soil it had one leaf and no tap root   Friday, May 30 View Page I am behind tending to plants and posting photos, after I get off work its been raining or after dark,This is the zappa the photo taken a few days ago at day 30   Friday, May 30 View Page Here is the shenoha on the right the fulk on the left both are 23 days, the shenoha is smaller but didn't have soil cables or amendments added, the photo was taken 2 days ago. I think my leaf problem may have been from the can heaters I was using at night,the over all temp was good in the huts that were covering them but I think those bad leaves where the ones closest to the can.   Monday, June 2 View Page The Shenoha is getting yellow, I sprayed it with a 10-10-10 foliar and added some magnesium, the soil may have to much leaf matter that's unbroken down also it seems to wet here this year.   Monday, June 2 View Page The zappa has gotten wind damage today, several leaves have broken stems I had a silt fence but it wasn't enough. There are plenty of male flowers and I have a female about 7 feet out.   Monday, June 2 View Page I got the second fence up today, the green snow fence, I may add some landscape fabric to the upper half. Planted some winter squash seedling around the patches, hopefully the vine borers will like those over the AG plants. I cant believe I am sick of hot weather all ready today it was cloudy with a wind.   Tuesday, June 3 View Page I have been to the future..the above photo is before 5/28/14 not sure why it says August   Wednesday, June 4 View Page Something has eaten 3 of my winter squash seedlings, I figure either a mouse or rabbit, will set out some mouse traps, if I don't kill it then maybe some hair will be left behind to tell me what it is.These seedling only 20 to 30 feet from my pumpkins. Havent seen the patch today, storms all night with heavy rain and wind during node burying yesterday I found a crack in the Fulk plant and the main was a kink in it, may get pictures up later today.   Monday, June 9 View Page I had at least 3 seeds this year with only one cot this is the 835.5 podraza at 12 days the other seed sprouted ok. I had a buglio seed and one other that also did this,the only thing I gave them was seed starting mix, myko and a soak in seaweed mix. The germing temp stayed between 86 and 88F.   Monday, June 9 View Page The 1217.5 Zappa is at 9FT today and 48 days old, I pollenated a 5 lobe female at 7 FT my first female flower of the season with the only male flower I had that also came from this plant, a self cross. I resprayed merit 5 days ago and set out 2 SVB traps , havent caught any so far. I finished the last bit of drip tape today after the photos, after losing a few winter squash plants and the 288 buglio to a critter I set out 6 mouse traps, havent lost a plant since then but nothing has set off a trap either, it must be very smart.   Monday, June 9 View Page I am going to get kicked out of Shazzys drinking hole for this one , the 1546 Shenoha at 34 days, gave it a weak foliar spray of 10-10-10 last week with magnesium, and a recent foliar spray of fish   Monday, June 9 View Page This 1744.5 Fulk is at 7 FT on day 34 day, to bad I didnt have this one planted at the time as the Zappa. I have no room to be spared from the farmers weed killer.   Tuesday, June 17 View Page Buried vines yesterday they predict 4 days of rain and temps in the low 90s so at least I got that done, had plans to set up the misters but I got wimpy from the heat. The fulk had a node with double everything ,2 female flowers, two leaves, two tendrils the rest of that vine normal but I have found several spots with double flowers Here is the single cot podraza on day 19 its starting to vine but is deformed   Tuesday, June 17 View Page The 1217.5 zappa is chugging right along this stem seems extra long to me at 6" long at 8 dap. I wish I could stop the wind better a wood fence might be to much for the wife   Tuesday, June 17 View Page Pollenated this 5 lobe 1217.5 Zappa today, only had one male to use from the 1744.5 Fulk, it is about 11 feet out hope it takes the male didn't seem to have much pollen. Sprayed Merit also and haven't found any SVB in the traps but did see a squash bug on the fulk.When I stopped trying to grow AG pumpkins about 14 years ago, I had thousands of squash bugs and cucumber beetles, haven't seen any cucumber and just 3 squash this year   Thursday, June 19 View Page Just noticed from this photo how bloated up some of my leaves are on the 1744 fulk, I did give it a 15-30-15 drench last week, but surprised if there is to much nitrogen. The temps have been in the 90s this week, at 6:30 this morning it was fair at 72, I iced the flowers and had shade over them the 2 previous days . I don't think I will keep these two females the left one was a 4 lobe, and the right was a 3 and a half   Thursday, June 19 View Page forgot ..didn't have the right regulators for my misters, and have some scorched leaves today, the hardware store doesn't have them so I ordered from online, temperature should be in the low 80s in a few days, and have been running the drip tape   Saturday, June 21 View Page The first pumpkin, set at 7' on the 1217.5 Zappa, measured 25" in cir yesterday that's 11 days dap I am happy with that. Yesterday I covered a female at the 12' mark thinking it would open tomorrow but was surprised to see it open, its a large 5 lobe and I used a male 1546 Shenoha to pollenate it with, this will be the keeper if it takes. This would actually be the first pumpkin I have grown that wasn't a open pollination, a 900 pounder this year would make me happy but have dreams of a 1200. I stated above that the 1744.5 fulk had a node with double parts, it also has tendrils that have the shape of a celery stalk, and have found nodes with 3 roots instead of 2, the more roots the better I guess, but is this very common ? I think the zappa cross is going to have me in a good mood all day !   Tuesday, June 24 View Page pollenated a 5 lobe on the 1744 fulk this morning with the 1217 Zappa, the first crossing of a 4 lobe didn't take ,I think the next one which was a 3.5 lobe took but I wont be keeping it, tomorrow I should have another chance to cross the Fulk. Terminating vines started a few days ago, a few got out of hand growing past the patch. The first pumpkin on the 1217.5 Zappa is growing nicely but doesn't have much plant behind it, the next cross didn't take, don't know yet if the third one has took but have high hopes for it. My back hates these early morning patch visits, there's no fun to it   Wednesday, June 25 View Page Finally remembered I had bought some long arm pruners last year , at least the season wasn't completely over they sure make collecting male flowers easier. I thought I was going to have another female to pollenate today on the Fulk but it was a deformed 4 lobe with seeds . I am sure having a lot of odd growth with this plant, someone said it may be stress that caused it, I don't know what it would have been. I may have to grow on a side vine.   Sunday, June 29 View Page Culled this pumpkin today from the 9' position on the 1217.5 zappa, I cut 3/4 of the way through the stem yesterday and by the looks it still grew quite a bit overnight. Circumference measurement says its 83 pounds on day 20. This is the first pumpkin over 10 pounds that I have culled, doesn't seem right but I hope the one set at 12' is the better choice.   Tuesday, July 1 View Page Looks like the other 2 pumpkins on the zappa have aborted they seem to be dulling and haven't grown I only have one more chance to pollenate on the main be for it grows out of the patch and into a pile of rock and concrete, it should be opening tomorrow. We got 2" of rain in a hours time yesterday with the heat index at 99F, tomorrow may be cooler for the pollination of the zappa   Sunday, July 13 View Page Removed a basket ball size pumpkin from the Fulk today set at 18 ft, it hadn't grown for close to a week but kept up hope for it ,have one more set at 22ft and another chance to pollenate at 27 ft in a few days. Last year the plant growing in this plot aborted every thing, I think the only thing that is similar between the two would be the walnut shells in the soil and I still have small walnut trees sprouting in this plot. The plant looks good so I doubt juglone is the problem   Friday, July 18 View Page This is the 835.5 Podraza it doesn't get very much direct sun light and what it does get, is before noon,it just reached the 18 foot mark with first chance of pollenating the main at 12' mark in a few days. Hoping to cross it with a male from the 978 Geyelin, size doesn't matter on this one, just wanting a orange seed, this plant didn't get any amendments except for foliar sprays and a small amount of Myko   Friday, July 18 View Page This is my poor 978 Geyelin that I wanted for male flowers, I knew I was putting it in a spot without much direct sunlight, I had marked out the spot last year, put the trees filled in more than I expected and now it just gets direct light from 8AM to 10AM I also forget to take in to account that this was the year for corn to be planted next to my property instead of beans it took away valuable morning light also. Measures a massive 7' and has had two flowers   Friday, July 18 View Page This is the 1546 Shenoha that was also planted for male flowers, it has pollenated the 1217.5 zappa . I couldn't bear to pull it out and have let it grow wild in its tiny spot, never has grown secondary's very well they would reach about 5" long or less and stop growing.   Friday, July 18 View Page The shenoha pumpkin set at 7' on a 16' main, don't let the tag confuse you ,it was pollenated by the 1217.5 zappa on 7-2-14, I think this pumpkin on its tiny plant is outgrowing my large Zappa   Friday, July 18 View Page Here is the 1217.5 Zappa crossed with the 1546 Shenoha. I am not sure about its position on the main but its around 24' Thinking that I should have kept the cull I made. This plant still has a smaller pumpkin set on one of the first secondary's   Friday, July 18 View Page I don't know where I went wrong with the 1744.5 fulk, it is in a Christmas tree pattern with the first 4 secondary's grown back, it measures 30 feet long and 30 wide. I have lost every pumpkin on this plant, after the fall amendment's I used 15-30-15 twice on the plant,9-3-4 pumpkin power during vine burying and fish in a foliar spray. I think it was either the fish or possible the merit I was spraying every 10 days. I have a possible set, but it is on a tertiary on one of the first secondary's . You can barely make out the stump by the pvc pipe and the pollenated female to the right of it, the pumpkin will be growing about 7 feet from the stump. Some pumpkins aborted when at the size of a basket ball, and some bean size pumpkins just fell off the vine if barely touched, I never directly sprayed anything on them   Sunday, July 20 View Page Sprayed for cucumber beetles yesterday using Bifen I/T had around 50 or so on the fulk and a dozen on the zappa plant. I had winter squash as a svb trap and pulled most of them out, didn't want to have to spray them too. I haven't seen any cucumber beets today   Sunday, July 20 View Page Here is the 1546 shenoha 18 dap the first crack showed about a week ago the next two were 2 days ago   Sunday, July 20 View Page it also has this scarring on one side, its always been kept in the shade.   Wednesday, July 23 View Page Measured my zappa pumpkin yesterday 61" @20dap today was 67" The name for this pumpkin is Francine..Zappa=Frank zappa= Francine The shenoha increased 2" overnight to 50" The cuck beetles seem wiped out from the bifen spray, also pollenated 4 females on the 835.5 Podraza over the last 2 days   Wednesday, July 23 View Page I posted a question in the Other Gardening General Discussion forum about my sweet corn having tassles and no husks at all, corn is aprox 6' and was given 21-0-0 ammonium sulphate when it was knee high. The rain has been around one inch per week and no other ferts were given, where the ear should be looks like what I would call a sucker. I haven't grown corn in many years but this looks wrong to me, let me know what you think, here is just a plot picture   Wednesday, July 23 View Page one of the "ears"   Wednesday, July 23 View Page another with the great graphics, these are at the height of where ears should be   Friday, July 25 View Page Posting this for advice ,this has to be a foamer doesn't it, I saw this last week and when I toughed it and it fell off in a dust. This photo is from today, both times it has came from this same spot, Ive read of splitting the crown just below the surface to about 4" up and setting something inside to hold it open, also to drill it and use peroxide   Friday, July 25 View Page Went out to put a fan the stump of the zappa, the white foam is nearly dried up, a good sign I hope Here it is the 1217.5 zappa day 23 75"cur 112 pounds a 17 pound increase over the last 24 hours   Saturday, July 26 View Page cut into the foaming stump, lots of liquid inside   Saturday, July 26 View Page cut through the underside of vine using a short 3" knife, the ooze went to the right farther down into the stump, so I filled it with peroxide and let it soak about 15 minutes   Saturday, July 26 View Page cut a 5 " slit down the underside and cleaned out any soft or discolored tissue I found, again I let the fan blow for 20 minutes and it was actually getting dry already then I poured sulfur onto a sheet of metal and blew it inside the cavity with a rubber hose. you can see through the upper hole through the long slit in the bottom   Saturday, July 26 View Page It is hot muggy and mostly cloudy today with a chance of storms, I will leave the fan on and cover with a table if it rains.   Sunday, July 27 View Page We have had just under 3" of rain in the 24 hours after operating in the main for the foaming problem, I don't see how the small tables people use for keeping their stumps dry can do any good, I have a 4' sq of insulating board over mine and its soaking wet. Rain so far this year per week May -1st week .6 2nd week 2.5 3rd week .2 4th week 3.3 June-1st week 2.4 2nd week 1.5 3rd week 1. 4th week 1. july 1st week 2.5 2nd week 1.7 3rd week 1.4 last 24 hrs 2.8 A bit too much at times but I will take it over the last 3 years of drought   Sunday, July 27 View Page That didn't show up on the above page like I wanted mays totol 6.6 " june 5.9" July 5.6" and counting,havent added 2.8 from last night and yesterday   Monday, July 28 View Page The 1217.5 zappa was gained an average of 23 pounds per day over the last 3 days, bring it to 182. The leaking seems to have stopped and stump is dry on the inside as far I can see and feel. I think you guys say the top is pushing over the blossom end, on the zappa the area above the blossom is out growing the area below it, like its stuck to the ground. I do have sand and fabric under it but I am going to try to block it up with foam to change the shape.   Tuesday, July 29 View Page Here is a problem I have had for over a week, I thought it was either a lack nitrogen or magnesium, but two foliar sprays of each hasn't helped and its getting worse. It started at the end of the main on the 1744 fulk and is traveling towards the stump.This pic is how it starts   Tuesday, July 29 View Page In the latter stages   Tuesday, July 29 View Page A leaf from the first few secondary's, looks fine to me can anyone tell me what this is   Tuesday, July 29 View Page I have good news and more bad the zappa gained 28 pounds in 24 hours bring it to 210 pounds, the stump is still dry inside and out. The shenoha ( in picture)which had been gaining an inch per day maxed out at 55" and is turning soft   Thursday, July 31 View Page Its been decided that the plant has YVD, I went out to give it a look, thought maybe for the fun of it I would chop it back severely just to see what would happen. Nooooooooooo found this today, two svb one dead, one still squirming , I had been spraying every 10 days with merit, but not in the last 14 days, this should have been overkill. Last year I had two plants one died from svb rot, the 1217.5 zappa never got them, same thing this year, so far the zappa is not infected , could it be the plant,or the flowers planted near the zappa, or just plain luck   Thursday, July 31 View Page The villain..   Monday, August 4 View Page This was the 1546 shenoha that was grown for male flowers, a small plant that had very few secondary's that where rooted to the ground.Just read that the thin walls near the blossom end could be from too small of a plant   Monday, August 4 View Page a secondary from the 1744.5 Fulk that I just pulled from the patch , it had YVD and SVB some of the secondary roots where closer to a quarter in size than to a nickel. I burned this plant to kill the SVB grubs   Monday, August 4 View Page stump of the 1217.5 zappa   Saturday, August 9 View Page had a 73 pound gain in the last 7 days bring it to a est 283, its been cool wet and cloudy for nearly a week. Put a fan and fungicide on the stem yesterday, a small crack is appearing where stem meets skin it also started to ooze a bit, we have had some days with several inches of rain, no rain forecasted today I hope the sun doesn't shine to bright.   Saturday, August 16 View Page only a 7 pound gain in last week, should have gotten out the electric blanket the pumpkin is always cool to cold . I don't think I will keep up with much feeding now ,save the money and products for next year. I think this pumpkin will go to a local zoo , my wife and I did volunteer work there for several years   Tuesday, August 19 View Page Sun was out most of the day yesterday, its been about 2 weeks with no sun or just an hour or two, now the forecast is calling for temps in the 90s Here is the new plot , tore a bicep when I was almost done moving the ties thought it was a rotor cuff injury at first lost my 835.5 podraza x 978 Geyelin pumpkin to rot, didn't have any seeds inside   Monday, August 25 View Page These two pumpkins were the last 2 I had growing on the 835.5 podraza the smaller one tapes 156 pounds and grew on the first secondary it has crack and started to rot. The larger was on the main an OTT of 300 pounds, it had been getting cracks for a few weeks and blew out after the temperature went up 20 degrees with 3 days of rain. This plant didn't have a watering system   Monday, August 25 View Page where can you buy caulk in gallon jugs.... I cut out the stem just to get a good look I have another small pumpkin on the 978 Geyelin and the zappa is OTT at 297 pounds, it is only gaining a few pounds per week.   Wednesday, September 3 View Page Doing the dirt shuffle, I had to lower the upper right corner of the bed by 8" and moved that soil to the lower left, then the compost pile was spread out over the upper end(black arrow)I am getting free black dirt that will be loaded onto my truck and that I will place where the yellow lines are.   Wednesday, September 3 View Page lost the 300# zappa pumpkin to rot, glad I didn't lean on this one I would have been elbow deep in rotten guts, from the looks of the inside it rotted from the stem cracks.   Tuesday, September 30 View Page A picture of my wife standing next to Brexton Halls 1,626.50 pumpkin that would have been the Illinos state record , but was beaten 8 days earlier by Gene McMullens 1,692 , Brextons looked like a boulder.   Tuesday, September 30 View Page Lots of big pumpkins at Bengstons Farm in Illinois, this only shows about half of them   Tuesday, September 30 View Page The champion at Bengstons was Jackson Gehweiler with his 1692 pounder. You have Mark ,Shazzy ,Chad Gehweiler,Jackson Gehweiler and I believe that's Goerge (sorry if I have any names wrong   Tuesday, September 30 View Page Not quite sure what Mark is looking at   Tuesday, September 30 View Page Just a small selection of pumpkins squash and gourds for sell   Tuesday, September 30 View Page I finished adding dirt to my new plot last week hand loading and unloading close to 10 tons of soil.(I weighed one trailer). This plot is a mixture of soil types the left side being different than the right so my neighbor came down with his small loader and scraped off about 10" of soil putting it into a pile, then spreading it back out. I wanted that done before getting soil tests , and laying down amendments My new plot has electric and two water supply lines, one line from the well is for misters and the other is going to be fed by a tote   Saturday, November 22 View Page bought this hand pump to add oil to the transmission of my lawn mower, but I think I will try it next spring for products that I only need a few ounces of, if I like the way it works I will buy one for each jug   Sunday, November 23 View Page if you don't have handles on your post driver I would advise you to add them, got 7 stiches in my thumb after the driver snagged up and my hand kept going down, one of the wire hooks caught my thumb. Happened 3 weeks ago and its still tingles once in awhile   Wednesday, November 26 View Page Last year a lot of my drip tape came to an end out in the tilled area of the garden, mostly due to an odd shaped plot.I would have to do a lot of walking back and forth moving tape in-out-left -right and of course the ground was wet. I found an old toy I had that hadn't worked for 20 years and got it up and running. Here it is.I think with a bit of work I could attach a stirrup hoe to the back end ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AETOFm0oVU&feature=youtu.be   Saturday, December 6 View Page Here is a thermostat I put together for $12, it can control heat mats , underground cables or greenhouse basically anything under 10AMP I will post links to amazon. The directions for the operation are not very good but other than that it seems to work great, you can set it to a 1 degree variance, meaning you could set it to turn off at 95F and turn back on at 94F. Prices fluctuate I got mine for $10 There are several models so check carefully before buying, some are in Fahrenheit or Celsius, 110v or 220v. This model will control one device and be set to turn something on to heat, or turn something on to cool http://www.amazon.com/Docooler-Temperature-Controller-Thermocouple-Fahrenheit/dp/B00F05UI8O/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1417878406&sr=1-1&keywords=Docooler+10A+110V+Digital Another type has 2 relays so it can control 2 devices , one to cool(like a fan) and another to heat (heat mat) http://www.amazon.com/Elitech-All-Purpose-Temperature-Controller-Thermostat/dp/B008KVCPH2/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1417288077&sr=1-1&keywords=Temperature+Controller%2B+Sensor+2+Relay+Output Yet another type will read humidity and control devices for that http://www.amazon.com/IMAGE%C2%AE-Digital-Humidity-Control-Controller/dp/B009VY1ANM/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1417878515&sr=1-1&keywords=IMAGE%C2%AE+110V+Digital+Air+Humidity+Control+Controller+WH8040+Range+1%25~99%25+RH+HM-40+Type   Saturday, December 6 View Page I have several old computer switch boxes and used those as my case, you can buy plastic "project boxes" and use those instead,as long as its protected from water its fine so it could be used without a box.   Saturday, December 6 View Page First I pulled out the switch, I am saving it so when my neighbor comes by , going to ask him if He could soldier a few wires for me..   Saturday, December 6 View Page The lines matched up pretty close for the hole, its going to get butchered anyway   Saturday, December 6 View Page Used a step bit to enlarge the hole where the switch was located   Saturday, December 6 View Page Need new snips ,it isn't that pretty but no ones looking? The plastic project boxes may be easier , but after I made this first one I made the next 2 in about one hour each(bought 2 and got one free)   Saturday, December 6 View Page Fine tuned it some with an air tool   Saturday, December 6 View Page Used the air tool to grind off the solder points so they would damage any of the new wiring   Saturday, December 6 View Page This is the wiring for a single relay type (to control one device) notice the 3 blocks for connecting the wires, the right block is for the probe, the middle is for power to the thermostat the white and black wire can be switched it doesn't matter. The left block is the hot wire to the device these two wires can be switched around also, doesn't matter   Saturday, December 6 View Page Drilled a hole through the plastic connecter and ran the probe wire through it, didn't need to use a rubber grommet   Saturday, December 6 View Page Drilled for the power in and power out wires, just used a extension cord for those   Saturday, December 6 View Page oops   Saturday, December 6 View Page added a ground wire to the metal box   Saturday, December 6 View Page the wiring   Saturday, December 6 View Page Done   Saturday, December 6 View Page you can find several you tube videos on doing this ,most show it using a project box , this one is the 2 relay controller, a winter project for you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I-iwFLykxs just search Docooler 10A 110V Digital Temperature   Wednesday, December 17 View Page I did a test of my thermostat , left it outside for 2 weeks under a 5 gallon bucket, its been damp, raining and several full days of fog and it still works. I hope this means it will keep working in the greenhouse this spring I am kind of glad its drying up for a change, even if it does freeze up