Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 28 Entries. Saturday, April 17 View Page And....we are off!!   Wednesday, April 21 View Page Daletas 2469 is the first one up!   Saturday, April 24 View Page First transplant. Root structure is great.   Wednesday, April 28 View Page Something new this year and sort of an experiment. My patch has under 8 hours of sunlight this time of year. I added a panel of LED lights over the planting site and hung it from the canopy. It’s on a pulley and can be adjusted depending on the height of the plant. Don’t worry about it falling. It has two safety straps just in case!   Wednesday, April 28 View Page Here’s the frame for the light panel I built. Pretty Frankenstein-ish but I think it’s going to work!!   Saturday, May 1 View Page 3 seedlings hit the patch today. They will fight it out for the right to be grown!   Wednesday, June 2 View Page Plant is growing very well now. We are having near perfect weather. The main vine is just over 3 feet long. Fed liquid Azos today and a just a little sea greens.   Wednesday, June 2 View Page Overnight growth was over 6”   Sunday, June 13 View Page First female bud worth considering. She will land around 10 feet.   Wednesday, June 23 View Page Pollination day. This one is at 12’. Woke up to zero male flowers!   Wednesday, June 23 View Page Had to drive 2 hours in LA traffic to get flowers from Chris Dunn’s patch. Thanks for rescuing me Chris!!   Wednesday, June 23 View Page She is a beautiful 5 lobe with great symmetry!   Monday, June 28 View Page Third pollination on the main. This one is at 15’. All three have been five lobes. This one is nice enough but I will grow the one at 12’ if it takes. It’s a better flower and a better spot.   Friday, July 2 View Page Trying the Paton Pot Method this year. The first pollination will be culled tomorrow in favor of the second fruit.   Sunday, July 4 View Page Culled to one fruit today   Sunday, July 4 View Page Placed the grow mat and plywood under the chosen one. It’s go time now!!   Thursday, July 8 View Page Day 15. 22% gain in the past 24 hours.   Friday, July 9 View Page Day 16 - first double digit gain.   Sunday, July 11 View Page Day 18 I’ve got the smallest plant I’ve ever had behind the fruit. Maybe 200-225 square feet. I think the nitrogen was too low an combined with the cool spring the plant just seemed to grow slowly. Still, the fruit is showing decent daily gains and has potential to be a pb.   Monday, July 12 View Page 2nd tissue test back from Western Labs. They do a great job processing all the samples and I bet they are swamped. Anyway the low Mn is certainly a concern. I knew it was low from the first test and haven’t done enough to bring it up. Working on that now along with the other red areas. Bad time to have these micronutrients so far off the mark.   Monday, July 19 View Page Humming along at a decent, if not record-breaking pace. The plant tolerates the heat very well. Minor flagging is only in places where the plant isn’t yet rooted in well. A personal best is still within reach so that’s good news!   Wednesday, July 28 View Page Third tissue sample. Micronutrients dropped off even further. I have to get this fixed next year. Started the season without enough N and P. Pretty much explains how the growth hasn’t been strong.   Thursday, August 12 View Page Day 50 The growth has slowed to around 10 lbs per day. We’ve had some wicked heat and humidity. The plant is getting tired and is now in the shade almost as long as it is in the sunlight. Hopping it holds at this pace!   Sunday, August 22 View Page Step 1 - attach an anchor point - to the foundation of the house.   Monday, August 23 View Page Day 60- we had a a week of cool and mostly cloudy weather in the past 10 days. Rare for August that’s for sure. Growth picked up just a little. Personal best is still possible!   Wednesday, September 1 View Page Day 70. Still growing at about 7 lbs per day. Plant is pretty shot. Still hopeful that this will be a personal best.   Friday, September 10 View Page Day 79 - as per the usual, my pumpkin has stopped growing. It will have to go heavy to be a personal best. It’s got great genetics and feels solid so I’m still hopeful that will happen. 14 days until the weighoff!   Monday, September 27 View Page A successful season for sure. 3rd place and an HDA, my second. 906 Donahue 1791 Werner x 2469 Daletas