Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 73 Entries. Wednesday, January 13 View Page All in this year, my goals are a green jacket to go with new personal best. Should be less distractions this year. Already added 10 yards of compost in the fall it's been sitting on top of my mustard crop.   Wednesday, March 3 View Page Test plants look good, these came from my 826.5   Wednesday, March 3 View Page Picture for above entry   Friday, March 5 View Page Soil test sent out today   Friday, March 5 View Page Soil test sent out today   Thursday, March 11 View Page Soil is not even in the ball park of where it needs to be, but I will work on it till it is. 4000+ pounds this year on 3 fruit is my goal.   Saturday, March 13 View Page 15 bags of perlite, I worked it out with a local nursery to purchase at cost.   Monday, March 22 View Page Just finish watching the California pumpkin growers webinar. Wow! Well worth the $20 may have not only helped me this year but cut my learning curve for the next 5 years. Thank you to all that made the zoom webinar possibly and available.   Tuesday, March 23 View Page I added peat moss, 15 bags of perlite, 40 pounds of lime, 300 pounds of gypsum and tilled it in. I'll added 1/2 the amendments from my soil test just before planting time localized to half the patch around the plants. And the other half as the the plant grows. I ran out of gas on my tractor so the till was good but will need to be hit again once amendments are added.   Friday, April 2 View Page Started my backup and early plants. My 817 Bayuk and 826.5 Bayuk   Monday, April 5 View Page My 826.5 Bayuk from last year has popped its root and is in a one gallon pot. Should be up in two to three days.   Tuesday, April 6 View Page Last till of alfalfa meal, kelp meal and gypsum.   Tuesday, April 6 View Page Last till of alfalfa meal, kelp meal and gypsum   Tuesday, April 6 View Page Final lineup is set and fuses have been lit, Tiger king 2350 1858 schmit- I grew this seed last year and it when 20% heavy for me. 1711.5 faulk   Thursday, April 8 View Page We got roots!   Monday, April 26 View Page Pumpkin plants went into the ground today. High of 76 low of 59   Monday, April 26 View Page East end plants   Thursday, April 29 View Page Three days in the hoops outside have done wonders for growth. The plants are greening up nicely and the temps have been good with 70s during the day and mid 50s at night last night stayed in the 60s   Wednesday, May 5 View Page All plants doing well and have been adjusting to hoop house life . This is my 826.5 Bayuk from last year. I have high Hope's for bv this seed and the cross I make this year to be a foundation for a seed line for years to come.   Thursday, May 13 View Page 2294 noel not pictured is also moving along nicely.   Friday, May 14 View Page Plants will be uncovered tomorrow and be free and open. My 826.5 Bayuk has been leading the pack since root pop. Followed my the 2350 Gienger, 2294 Noel and 1858 Schmidt   Saturday, May 15 View Page Good weather this week to let the plants out. Should be a mix of sun, overcast and rain with good overnight temperatures.   Monday, May 17 View Page Gave the plants a shot of fertilizer high in nitrogen, hope it helps to green them up.   Tuesday, May 18 View Page Too early for this baby pumpkin, but it is a good sign on the 2350 Geinger   Tuesday, May 18 View Page Too early for this baby pumpkin, but it is a good sign on the 2350 Geinger   Sunday, May 23 View Page Foliar fed calcium nitrate this morning.   Sunday, May 23 View Page Foliar fed calcium nitrate this morning, 1858 schmidt green up the most out of the 4 plants   Sunday, June 6 View Page 17' long still have leaf burn issues on the leaf 5th back from the tip. Other than that very strong plant.   Sunday, June 6 View Page Easiest growing plant in the patch. 15' long   Sunday, June 6 View Page Side vines are still thin but main is normal thickness. Waiting for tissue test to come back to adjust fertilizer program going into fruit set time. Plant is 17' long   Sunday, June 6 View Page 14' long. Plant is stiff and a bit hard to train. This area has the most clay soil and will need heavy ammendment in fall and spring.   Saturday, June 12 View Page We have had a lot of rain this past week It is kicking in a lot of secondary growth and plants are look beautiful but staying ahead of the cover crop/weeds has been changing.   Sunday, June 13 View Page 2350 Gienger x self at 16' out. Was a perfect 70 degrees this morning. Mild amount of dew and potential for 90 degree day. I plan for this to be the back up for a 20' one that will be ready in 4 or 5 days.   Sunday, June 13 View Page Side view of the 2350 Gienger   Sunday, June 13 View Page Temperatures hot pretty hot and humid, I rotated out ice jugs and had row cover over fruit all day. Hope she took.   Monday, June 14 View Page My wife pollinated the 1858 Schmit x 2350 Gienger this morning temps have been cool in the more just shy of 70 but the day time gets up to 90.   Monday, June 14 View Page Another warm pollination   Tuesday, June 15 View Page The rest of this weeks forcast looks pretty good for pollination. I have one attempt on each one of the plants in this time frame for the best opportunity at my goal weights. I gave a micronutrient foliar yesterday even along with a merit 75 branch. I followed that up with 100 gallons of water with 3 tsp of boron. I am wait on my cal-mag to show up so I can foliar   Wednesday, June 16 View Page 2294 Noel x 2350 Gienger Cool morning with mid 80s as high today.   Friday, June 18 View Page 2350 Gienger June 13th pollination @ 5 DAP I'm am working the secondary that is attached to the node around to the other side of the main and I'm slowly moving the pumpkin into position. This is a several day process that I do during warmer parts of the day   Tuesday, June 22 View Page 2350 Gienger @ 9 DAP let's see what she does in the next 24hrs. Tomorrow she will get mill fabric and sand underneath to protect the bottom and help her to slide as she grows.   Wednesday, June 23 View Page 2350 Gienger today @ 10 DAP put on mill fabric and got her beach. 32" circ- 22" ss- 23" sb   Sunday, June 27 View Page Day 14 on the 2350 Gienger "tiger king" I officially named this fruit Carol...   Sunday, June 27 View Page Hopefully picture is right side up   Monday, June 28 View Page 826.5 Bayuk x 2350 Gienger today at 11 DAP, 18 feet out on the main   Wednesday, June 30 View Page Day 17 on the 2350 Gienger "Carol", shes sitting at 73" in circumference   Saturday, July 3 View Page "Carol" has my best day 20 numbers that I have had. Plant growth is slow but steady. I have around 400 sqft to fill in.   Tuesday, July 6 View Page Losing the 826.5 to foaming stump I have been battling the last week. Its weird it's in the root ball. My thought is it's either a root disease or the roots got tangled and are pinching each other off causing pressure and rot. I have cleaned up with peroxide cut away some stump and have a fan on it. If it gets worse in the next few days I will have to get rid of the stump to save the plant.   Thursday, July 8 View Page Cut the stump off the 826.5 Bayuk as it had not improved. I found white spots on roots so I thing the cause is that my clay soil in that part of the patch may have packed down reducing air in soil and caused root rot.   Thursday, July 8 View Page Sent out another tissue test on the 2350 Gienger today. I want to make my final tweaks to my fertilizer program for mid season growth. All plants are still growing slowly but fruits are picking up pace.   Friday, July 9 View Page 2294 Noel today at 20 DAP. "Sarah" is not the biggest pumpkin at this day but estimates at 150 pounds she has the biggest and more aggressive plant behind her so we shall see if she can over take her sister Carol who is 10 feet in circumference today.   Sunday, July 11 View Page Been rainy this week, not much sunshine temps have been in the 80s   Monday, July 12 View Page Lost the 826.5 Bayuk to BES on day 25. She estimated on day 24 at 391 pounds and was doing 40+ pounds per day. We have had 4 straight days with rain. I think because she had a deformed lobe at pollination that the sudden growth caused that lobe to put strain on the blossom end. I silicone the split to try and grow it out for seeds as it was pollinated with the 2350 Gienger.   Monday, July 12 View Page After I silicone   Wednesday, July 14 View Page July 14th. 826.5 Bayuk split and will be cut off and dissected on Sunday. Had rain the last 5 out of 7 days.   Sunday, July 18 View Page Wall thickness wa good on the 826.5 Bayuk, I suspect a twist in the deformed blossom and the weight of the top caused the split with the rapid growth during the rainy week. This is a DMG 617 Bayuk UOW, it was 299 ott on day 31. I will dry and test seeds in three to four weeks.   Wednesday, July 21 View Page DAY 38 on Carol, the 2350 Gienger x self. Last weeks weather was not good so hopefully this week is better so the gains stay up.   Tuesday, July 27 View Page 2294 Noel today at 38 days old. She averaged 54 pound the last 7 days   Saturday, July 31 View Page The road to a growers jacket is a long and winding one...   Saturday, August 7 View Page Weekly update   Saturday, August 14 View Page Weekly update   Saturday, August 21 View Page One weigh off in the books and I placed third at the Kentucky state fair with my now 1088 Bayuk grown from the 1858 Schmit x 2350 Gienger. This pumpkin was only 59 days old. And went 10% heavy. I also want to congratulate Dwight Slone on a new Kentucky state record at 1663 pounds! Hopefully I can make a run at it with my next two.   Tuesday, August 24 View Page Had to cut 3 feet of main and stump off Carol today, with 4 weeks till the weigh off. I have been fighting two soft spots on opposite sides of a secondary junction. I have no electricity in the patch so with out a fan it wasn't worth it traveling down the main. I decided to cut to clean meat and sustain the pumpkin. Should be fine as she still has 850sqft of healthy plant. Powdery mildew is starting to creep in on the first few sets of secondarys. I sprayed eagle 20 yesterday evening.   Saturday, September 18 View Page What an awesome day spent with family and friends. I enjoyed the fellowship of other growers and the lasting emotional moment of becoming the New Kentucky state record! Thank you so much to everyone who showed support, the site workers and coordinators. One more pumpkin left in the patch to get my growers jacket and she may just break the record again...   Sunday, September 19 View Page 1883 Bayuk Kentucky state record   Tuesday, September 28 View Page 1883 Bayuk stood up on display in my front yard.   Wednesday, September 29 View Page Bitter sweet, last watering of the season. One more weigh off on Saturday. We pick "Sarah" 2294 Alex Noel x 2350 Travis Gienger this Friday. We will see if that scale matches the tape... we find out the total weight of all three fruit to confirm my goal of 3 fruit weighing over 4,000 pounds to earn my growers jacket. It has been a great season and I am truly blessed.   Sunday, October 3 View Page Yesterday was a bitter sweet day to put it lightly. it was a day I had been working hard for not just this year but since 2013 when I grew my first competition pumpkin of 416 pounds. I grew it for my daughter to use as Cinderella's carriage for Halloween. Move forward 8 years to yesterday when I showed that not only can a 2,000 pound pumpkin be grown in Kentucky but maybe just maybe one day we can bring the world record back home to the United States of America! I would be lying if I said I wasn't hurt. The pumpkin had a soft spot on the underside which makes it disqualified from competition, It hurt, it still does and it probably will until next spring but it gives me the confidence to go after it next year knowing it CAN be done. Thank you ALL for the kind words and support and to my family who knows the countless hours, early mornings and late nights it takes to grow a 2376 pound pumpkin! Thank you all! I want to congratulate every grower that made it to the scale with a sound fruit it is truly an accomplishment. This was a great year and I am truly blessed! Grow em BIG ~ Scott ????   Wednesday, October 6 View Page Awesome carving done on my 1883 Bayuk by Drew Smith.   Wednesday, October 6 View Page Drew Smith , great guys and props to him for taking on a huge canvas!   Wednesday, October 6 View Page Last picture before the 2376 Bayuk (left) and the 1883 Bayuk (right) are carved. I grew 5347 pounds of pumpkin on three fruit and feel like I still left something on the table. I learned a lot about my patch this year, about myself and about other people. Grower, true giant pumpkin growers are great people and thank you all that cheered me on this season and who gave me a hug or and uplifting words when I needed it on the final scale. I really wanted that jacket this year. I trust in our lord and he has a plan, I am blessed   Sunday, November 14 View Page 9 yards of leaf compost plowed in. It was about 50% finished. It will break down the rest of the way over the winter and early spring. I "accidentally" plowed up and additional 800 sqft. I suppose I shouldn't let that virgin area go to waste. Lol   Monday, December 20 View Page 2376 Bayuk (2294.5 Noel x 2350 Gienger)