Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 27 Entries. Monday, March 10 View Page I decided to keep a grower diary here to track my first year attempt at giant pumpkins. Goal for this year is to get one pumpkin to a GPC weigh off. I started the season by applying well composted beef feedlot manure in March. We raise our own beef so I have a good supply of manure. The site I selected for my pumpkin patch was sweet corn last year and crop field for many years before that. Soil samples were pulled at this time.   Saturday, March 29 View Page Soil results showed a need for calcium more than anything else. Here I am blending some gypsum, pel lime, alfalfa pellets and granular boron as I load the spreader.   Saturday, March 29 View Page This is how everyone spreads amendments on their patch right? The spreader is equipped with scales so I can get the rate dialed in just right. My 5 year old son is all about helping on the farm and the pumpkin patch.   Monday, April 21 View Page Seed starting day, here is the lineup. I put up simple hoop houses, no heating cables this year. I am starting a little later than some to avoid some cold weather.   Friday, April 25 View Page Had a stuck shell on the 2021 Hoornstra. I was able to remove it by squeezing the sides with a pair of pliers enough to get it to crack.   Monday, April 28 View Page This 2344.5 Wallace is pretty slow and wonky looking.   Monday, May 5 View Page 2344.5 Wallace still looking weird. The first and second leaf are coming out at the same time. I have 2 of these so this one is not going in the patch.   Wednesday, May 7 View Page Planting day. I wanted to have these outside soon, but the weather has been awful. This spring has been so incredibly wet. I think this 1727 Jacobus is looking pretty good.   Saturday, May 10 View Page Finally some sun, hoops are vented and I am watching the temp. I need the ground to dry out so I can give the whole patch another burndown spray to hit a few emerged weeks and final till. Deciding on wind fence is the next thing to figure out.   Tuesday, May 13 View Page Seeing some yellow speckling on the leaves on a couple of the plants. Not sure if it is related to excessive moisture or what. A storm came up the other day while I was at work and a bunch of water came in through the open end of the hoop house. Overall the plants seem to be growing pretty well.   Friday, May 16 View Page 2196 Zappa is looking good. 25 days after soak, in the patch for 9 days. We have had come cool nights and cloudy days. This plant and the 2344.5 Wallace are on the east side of the patch and are doing better than the 2 plants on the west side.   Friday, May 16 View Page 2344.5 Wallace   Friday, May 16 View Page 2021 Hoornstra On the west side of the patch I have struggled with excessive water running into the hoop houses. This plant and the 1727 Jacobus look a little yellow, haven't been able to get the nitrogen in them like the other 2 plants.   Friday, May 16 View Page 1727 Jacobus 25 days after soak, 9 days in the patch   Friday, May 16 View Page 1727 Jacobus 25 days after soak, 9 days in the patch   Friday, May 16 View Page We are under a severe thunderstorm watch with the possibility of 75+ mph wind, large hail and tornadoes this evening. Added some additional protection inside the hoop house, hopefully we don't get much in the way of storms. We need it to stop raining for a while.   Tuesday, May 20 View Page Got some weeding done yesterday. Noticed the roots at the soil surface on the two plants that are a little behind. I'm not happy with how cloddy the soil is, but that is a product of trying to work it too wet. I have decided next year that I want to try adding material to the area of the hoops to improve my drainage. Maybe a bunch of perlite.   Tuesday, May 20 View Page 2021 Hoornstra, color is improving though still not the dark green I would like to see. Here you can see the roots at the soil surface   Tuesday, May 20 View Page My 12 year old daughter is growing a 2250 Schmidt, I gave her an area 10ft x 20ft to work with. No hoop house, we planted it late enough that the weather should have been ok but there has been a lot of rain and this week the highs are in the low 60s. This also gives me another option for pollination.   Saturday, May 24 View Page Laying down and really starting to take off in spite of the cold and cloudy weather.   Sunday, May 25 View Page Yesterday and today have been getting ready for the pumpkins to come out of the hoop houses. I have had a big flush of weeds since the initial till for incorporating amendments, yesterday while the plants can still be sealed up in the hoop houses I sprayed with Glyphosate and Glufosinate to kill any emerged weeds. I gave them 24hrs to take in the herbicide before I tilled. I considered applying Dual as a pre-emerge herbicide since it does have a pumpkin label but ultimately decided against it. I also sprayed Ridomil Gold fungicide with my herbicide application. I applied Urea at about 35 units of nitrogen per acre ( as a farmer I have to think in terms of a rate per acre). I applied 9lb urea on 5200sq ft. My thinking this gets me a base rate down then I will make applications of a 28-0-0-5S UAN/ATS blend in my irrigation water for the rest of my nitrogen. I broadcast a granular Imidocloprid product. Today I tilled everything, I was happy with how it worked up, this spring has been a real challenge with very frequent rain. But the patch got dry enough to get a nice result. Plans for the coming week are to get walking boards down, hoop houses off and the wind fence around the patch. The forecast looks to be cooler than average for the better part of a week yet so I am trying to keep the pumpkins in their hoops as long as I can but I think the 2344 Wallace will be out of room by about Wednesday.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page I pulled a new soil sample last week and got the results back today. Phosphorus is very high, just a result of using manure, I'm wondering if this will tie up zinc. Maybe potassium should be a bit higher? Though I had added potash not long before I pulled this sample. Boron appears to be lower than I need. Based on my research I was shooting for 3-5ppm. I am trying to decide on the best way to address this. I'm not going to be able to have drip irrigation so I can't add it evenly that way. Maybe I can get the sprinklers setup soon and add it that way. For today I'll add some borax to my watering cans along with my nitrogen. I'm thinking my pot   Sunday, June 1 View Page I got the wind fence up, walking boards down and pulled the hoops. Got most of the irrigation setup done, lacking a couple fittings to get that finished up. The patch ended up bigger than originally intended, plenty of room I guess.   Sunday, June 1 View Page I need to weed where the edges of the hoop houses were. My plants are smaller than a lot I see on here but I think they look healthy.   Sunday, June 1 View Page 2344 Wallace   Sunday, June 1 View Page 2196 Zappa   Monday, June 2 View Page Crazy to have 44 degrees on June 2nd. Weather looks to be better this week thankfully.