Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 41 Entries. Monday, January 19 View Page Please join me for a mail haul! Monday, January 19 View Page Package 1: My magic white fabric. I know it looks more grey here but trust me its bright white once its out in sunlight. I loved this specific fabric and would never use any other. I couldn't find it on Amazon anymore so I tracked down the factory in China that makes it and bought some in bulk. The amount I got should last me for at least 2 years and probably 3 if I continue growing around 2400sqf of plant. Monday, January 19 View Page Package 2: Jim Ford's book. I really like Moby Mike's video with Jim ford and he seems like a funny guy and a good grower so I thought I'd get his book. I'll let you know what I think. Also, watching too much TikTok over the winter has melted my brain so I need to start reading again lol. Monday, January 19 View Page Package 3: A 2154 Sperry from the SNGPG auction. Last spring, Steve offered me a 2 pack of these and I declined because I had too many good seeds already (Including his 2465 and 2198). I think this is without a doubt the most slept on seed currently and I hope to see high level growers plant it this year. Tuesday, January 20 View Page Package 4: I traded some seeds for this cool paleolithic weapon with a guy on Facebook. I feel like this deals +10% extra damage to forest demons or something. Sunday, February 8 View Page Found this on the merch page. A great last minute valentines gift! Thursday, February 12 View Page In the game Pokemon X/Y there is a Pokemon named Pumpkaboo. It's a haunted jack-o-lantern/bat creature and it comes in a variety of sizes: small, medium, large and giant. Every time you encounter a Pumpkaboo there is a 1% chance it's giant. It looks like kid Nick liked giant pumpkins too because I caught 14 of them for some reason. Thursday, February 19 View Page I got to meet with some great growers last night like Jim Ford, Travis Gienger, Brandon Dawson, Russ Pugh, Dave chan and many others. Here are some of the conclusions I drew from our discussion: - In the early season, temperature is king. This includes both soil and air temperature so you must control both if you want an early pollination. In about 2 months I'll show you how I intend to do that. - Almost every high level grower waters multiple times a day and it seems like the more often you water the better. Last year I watered 1x-2x per day depending on rain and I'm going to try to increase that drastically. I'm not 100% sure how i'm going to do that but I have some ideas. - It seems like high level growers are very split on biology. Almost all the guys in this call were very pro biology but then you have guys like Matt D, Steve Geddes and others who don't really buy into the hype and they grow huge pumpkins. I think I'm going to take the middle road and only use Rootshield+ (Tons Tuesday, February 24 View Page I'll never doubt that f-ing groundhog again. Saturday, March 14 View Page These 2 felted cats were made by Maurice. They are modeled off of my girlfriend's cats and she loved them! He made one more thing but I can't reveal that one yet... Thursday, March 19 View Page Practice seedlings: This year I am planning on transplanting my seedlings only once, from these 18oz "solo cup" sized clear cups directly into the ground after I get a glimpse of the 1st true leaf direction. I think the less time spent under grow lights and in a pot the better. Given my horrible track record of grow tent failures I think it's best to minimize my time growing indoors. These are just in Jiffy seed starting mix. I am keeping bags over them to create a warm/humid microclimate. The clear cups will allow me to see how rootbound these get in their 1 week of life. Monday, March 23 View Page Cots w/ cupped and burnt edges and 1st true leaf w/ deep wrinkling and burnt edges. These are in 100% seed starter so there's no chance it's nutrient burn. I swear the LED light panel's I've used since 2024 are just not good for pumpkins because my seedling are either burnt to hell or leggy, and they get this yellowing/necrosis either way. I grew my seedlings in a mini greenhouse last year w/ natural sunlight and they looked great so that makes me think it's a light issue as well. Wednesday, March 25 View Page Strange Soil Report: - PH has dropped from 6.5 to 6.0. It may have just been the samples I took but that's strange because I've put down a lot of lime over the past 2 years. Lime is cheap so that's not the end of the world. - Soil texture is now loam and my CEC has gone from 11 to18 which I love to see. - OM has stayed the same. I was going to add a few yards of leaf compost but seeing as my CEC has gone up and my PH has gone down, I don't really feel the need to do this given my history of soil disease. - Phosphorus has doubled even though I haven't added anything heavy in P and I fertilize with low P blends. That's just a mystery. - Calcium has increased by about 40% which is awesome. Most likely due to last years 600+lbs of gypsum. - Potassium Has increased by about 40% as well which is good. I'm still going to have to add some 0-0-50 or langbeinite. - Magnesium has dropped a negligible amount. I'm not sure how to add magnesium that will "stick around". I feel like Epsom salts will just wash away after a few rainy days. - Manganese has slightly dropped. Once again I'm not sure how to get manganese sulfate to stick around. - Boron has stayed the same. I'm going to add amino acid chelated boron this year instead of borax since I have a feeling it will stay in the soil longer. Time to play around in the Langley calculator. Sunday, March 29 View Page 720lbs of gypsum. We don't have much calcium in our soil here in Connecticut so this is our best option. Sunday, March 29 View Page Here's how the Langley calculator is looking. I wasn't sure what to add for hydrogen PPM so I think the base saturation section is off. Yesterday at the SNGPG spring meeting, Steve Sperry told me something to the effect of "Don't try to make everything perfect, just push things in the right direction" and thats how I'm feeling about this plan. Will every ratio be near perfect? No, but they're either close or headed in the right direction. Friday, April 3 View Page I used Matt's PAR meter to figure out my light intensity in my grow tent. Here are the number's I got: 12": 480PAR 18": 297PAR 30": 189PAR 34": 174Par A good approximation for estimating light intensity (at least for my setup): Light Intensity = 6085.5 * (height^-1.02777) So I should be starting the seedlings at around 30" and when the first true leaf opens I can probably get away with going up to about 20" Saturday, April 4 View Page This year's soil amendments (left to right): - 50lbs SOP - 720lbs Gypsum: last bag pictured - 120lbs Dolomitic lime in the patch and 40lbs around the perimeter - 90lbs Mustard seed meal - 5lbs Rootsheild+ Granules - 3lbs Borax - 5lbs Manganese sulfate Now for my least favorite part of the season, tilling! There's a rainstorm tomorrow so I have to get it done now so the mustard can activate after it's been mixed into the soil. Sunday, April 12 View Page Seed starting round 1: Today I'm starting my seeds for my 2 full sized plants. First choices: - 2587 Debacco DMG: Grown 15 minutes from me, massive and heavy, insane plant health and sustained growth until the end, pollinator was a very aggressive 2670 plant belonging to Hayden R. Easy choice! - 2465 Sperry: Proven monster maker, would have had even better results last year if a few big ones didn't go down to rot right at the end. Backups: - 1727 Jacobus: People say this seed is "bomb-proof" AKA it splits way less than other top seeds. I think that makes for a good backup and maybe pollinator. They're ugly too which I like. - 2198 Sperry: Easy choice, this is only a backup because the seed is kinda beat up. I still give it an 80% chance of sprouting though. Sunday, April 12 View Page Planting hole prep: 1. Dig 3'x3' hole 10"-12" deep 2. Mix in a bag of miracle grow perlite to the excavated soil. This both feeds and aerates the soil as it has a small amount of fertilizer in it. I also added a very small amount of coir based seed starter just to get rid of it. I actually don't want much OM near my stump since I want it to drain nicely. 3. Install heating cables. I attached the main wire to a pole to make things neater. These cables are the 24' ones off of Ron's site. I know people like the giant gutter cables but I think these will suffice. 4. Backfill with mixed soil and repeat. Sunday, April 12 View Page 3.5ish hours in a warm bath of 50/50 water and 3% peroxide to try and avoid mold. Sunday, April 12 View Page Then into the paper towels. The layers go like this: towel, heating pad set to 90, seeds w/ thermostat sensor in them, another towel on top. I prefer the "Jamie cup" method but I can't do that this time for a reason that is too uninteresting to explain. Sunday, April 12 View Page This year I'm spacing my drip lines 12" instead of 18". 50% more work but I think it'll be worth it. My goal this year is to just do everything 10% better than last year and this is an example of that. Sunday, April 12 View Page Seedling mix: - 3 Parts Black Gold seed starting mix - 1 Part Black Gold Natural and Organic potting mix - 1 Part perlite This is based on the recipe Travis Geinger uses Monday, April 13 View Page The 1727 Jacobus sprouted in about 28 hours which is a good sign that my germination conditions are dialed in. Hopefully the rest of the cast joins in over the next 24-48 hours. Monday, April 13 View Page Idea: After getting your seedling mix to "1 or 2 drops" moist and adding your seed, weigh the whole pot so that you know how much water to add in the future to get back to that "Ideal" moisture level. You'll have to add a few grams each time to account for the growing plant but it'll be a good approximation to avoid over/under watering. Wednesday, April 15 View Page After broadforking I noticed the ground surface was too uneven to put my white fabric down so I took a loop hoe and flattened out the patch surface. This probably took 3 hours. This hobby is not for people who value leisure! Or time! Or money! Friday, April 17 View Page 5 Days after soaking. They're looking ok. The 2198 is most likely a dud though. That's ok though, with my luck I'd get another pretty orange one. Saturday, April 18 View Page Today I put down my white fabric and then Matt came to help me put together my new greenhouse frames. The patch is really coming together. I should be ready for transplanting next weekend. Too bad the weather is looking awful for the foreseeable future. Wednesday, April 22 View Page The seedlings are starting to get that sickly look that scream "Put me outside!!!". Well I would love to but... Wednesday, April 22 View Page This is my to do list of things that need to be done before transplanting. Wednesday, April 22 View Page And this is the 10 day forecast, so I should really have all that stuff done by Friday evening. I've got my work cut out for me. Friday, April 24 View Page Here's how I'm anchoring my greenhouses: - 8 Cinderblocks/brownstone chunks around the perimeter of the frame. - 6 T-posts driven 3' into the ground and then tied off to the frame. I really hope this is enough because I've had issues with wind for the past 2 seasons. Ive also put some wind fencing around the patch so that should help. Friday, April 24 View Page Now I just have to get the heat system set up and then transplant. Man I'm tired. Saturday, April 25 View Page Transplanted this morning. It's nice and toasty in there. These are the 2587's and the 2465's look essentially the same. I always hate indoor growing so I'm happy that phase is over. Saturday, April 25 View Page Started some more seeds. The 2507 is my first choice for my 150 square foot plant and the rest are just interesting backups (2154 Sperry, 2115 Barron, 2390 Urena) Sunday, April 26 View Page I've never posted using the app before so this is a test. Everyone is posting their glowing greenhouses so here's mine. Monday, April 27 View Page First casualty of the year. Corn seed maggots in the stem of one of my 2587's. I've never had this problem once so I guess it had to happen eventually. I applied imidacloprid and diatomaceous earth to the rest of the plants. This is why we start lots of seeds! Wednesday, April 29 View Page I had a feeling I'd find my remaining 2587 like this. It hadn't grown an inch since transplanting despite beautiful weather. I have backups but I am kinda heartbroken. Wednesday, April 29 View Page Giant pumpkin growing is like life. When bad things happen you can either learn your lesson and keep pressing on or you can mope about it. I'll alot myself about 30 minutes of moping and then go to Home Depot to buy Sevin powder. Wednesday, April 29 View Page At least the 2465 Sperry's are growing. Albeit a bit slower than I'd like to see but that's fine. Wednesday, April 29 View Page I worked some Carbaryl into this planting area and also sprinkled some into the planting hole of this 1727 Jacobus backup. Honestly a 2465 Sperry x 1727 Jacobus sounds like a cool cross.