Leaving town in a few hours so there will be no updates for at least ten days. Things are going quite well so I hate to leave. My secretary is going to check on things and make sure the water is working and the shade cloths are in place but they are basically on auto pilot. In the patch there a total of eleven pumpkins. I couldn't bring myself to cut the pumpkins on the back main vines (good reason to never pollinate them in the first place) Perhaps I will when I get back depending on how they perform.
Had a chance to look through my weather data. July average high was 87.5, highest temp 97, average low 52.3 (2.5 degrees warmer then any previous year that I have been keeping records) lowest temp 43.9 ( have had mulitple 30's in years past). Does this account for the better then average start???
The 1101 is begining to color up very nicely. The 670 although growing well is already developing deep ribs - not a good sign.
FOUR WEEKS UNTIL THE EASTERN IDAHO STATE FAIR.
August 13th,
Just got back from Alaska. We had a great time. I will try to post some pictures at some point. First thing I did when I returned was to run to the patch to check things out. It will take me several days to get things straightened out there. 10 days of uncontrolled growth causes the patch to look like heck. One casualty while away. The 670 Daigle back main fruit had grown very little and on further inspection was found to have a soft bottom. It was culled estimated wieght of 214 pounds. I may try to harvest the seeds as they could be great starter seeds. The rest of the patch actually held pretty good news. If things can hold together!!? Here are the latest measurements
Pumpkin Position OTT in inches Est weight using old formulas 10 Day Average Gain
1101 Northrup Main Vine 283 460 20.2
1101 Northrup Back Main 250 321 17
670 Daigle Main Vine 276 428 16.5
981 Zunino 266 384 16.5
504 Christensen 255 340 18.2
848 MacKenzie 180 127 9.9
331 Christensen 267 388 20.2
1225 Jutras 290 494 20.6
1223 Reiss Main Vine 262 368 18.5
1233 Reiss Back Main Vine 214 206 11.2
Pictures starting at the left upper and going in a clockwise direction are as follows.
1101 Northrup, Main vine pumpkin. Nice shape and great color. I'm a little worried about that crease down the right had side of the pumpkin. Afraid its destined to split but there are no obvious Dill rings anywhere in teh patch
1233 Reiss, Again good color. A little behind on size but the plant and pumpkin are about a week behind the rest.
1225 Jutras, This is the biggest pumpkin in the patch (not the prettiest). It tapes at 542#.
331 Christensen, this is my son's plant The pumpkin slowed considerably the last 3 days (10#/day) Others are growing this seed and it is producing rather ugly but true green squash.
Long gourd, this is the biggest at 18.5 Inches. not setting any records here
848 MacKenzie, My son's squash. It was rather late getting gowing and it has slowed even more then his pumpkin.
504 Christensen, This is my daughters pumpkin, hence all the weeds in the foreground, background, and everywhere in the patch for that matter. It is showing decent color as well.
670 Daigle, "Butt Crack". The only named pumpkin in the patch. Named for an obvious reason. Not giving this one much hope as I expect it to split along that deep crack. If nothing else changes I will take this one the fair as I doubt it will hold together until end of September. Estimated at 452# but very difficult to measure as the stem end is very odd shape but can't be seen on this photo.
There are also pumpkins on the back main vines of the 1101 and 1233. Both look similar in shape and color to the main vine pumpkins only smaller.
Can't say that I am suprised by this. Found it today when I checked the pumpkins. It is on the pumpkin named "Butt Crack". I was unable to check the pumpkins yesterday because of work so I am unsure whether this happened today or yesterday. I caulked it up with a silicone caulk. It might not rot before the Eastern Idaho State Fair but I'm sure it would rot before the 10 day fair was over. I will probably cut it next week and take it to the local county fair. I've never taken a pumpkin there but it is a nice pretty orange and will be worth the publicity. Leaving it another week might let the seeds mature as it crossed with itself. Also with luck it will grow to over 500 pounds (the magic weight to get it listed in the AGGC).
Never trust the weatherman! Forcast low was for 45. This is a picture of my son's pumpkin plant. His squash looks identical. I think it is safe to say his season is over. He had 90% leaf kill on both his 331 and his 848. I had about 40% kill on the 981 and 20% on both the 1225 and the 504. Talk about being sick. Woke up a little late this morning at 730 and there was still frost on the grass. I knew we were in trouble then but it was too late to due anything about it. The microclimates spared the other plants in the patch. It amazing how much difference 50-100 feet can make in the temps in the patch. I'm sure this will affect the final weights of my other pumpkins as well. I feel sick for my son as these were his only plants. Growing pumpkins in Idaho sucks! We've had two nights with low temps over 60 degrees. I really think the only way to compete with the big boys is grow in a greenhouse.
August 23rd,
Funny Story. Went to cut the 670 Daigle from the vine and move it. It taped at 294.5 inches or 516 pounds by the chart I was using (542 by the new chart). I figured it would go light because 1) my pumpkins always go light, 2) it was thin enough to crack through the wall, 3) it had good color and most of my good colored pumpkins go light. So I took all the members of my family out to lift this thing out of the garden. We were able to roll it up and get it on the tarp. Then we all five heaved and we couldn't even get it off the ground. I figured wow this thing must be heavy so I called my father and my home teachers and now have 8 people lifting it (granted 4 of them are kids 9-14 yrs old) and we get it about 2 inches off the ground. I then call another neighbor who is able to come over. We finally manage to get it out of the garden and to the scale. It weighs a whopping 659.5 pounds!!! 22 % heavy over the new charts. Too bad this thing had a whole in it. Had I known how heavy it was I would have chanced it and kept it growing until the Eastern Idaho State fair next week. Who knows if it is still good perhaps it will show up at the fair anyway.
This could be an awesome seed as I self pollinated this pumpkin
1101 pumpkin in the background tapes at 600 pounds. I hope it weighs 22% heavy The crack (and caulk) is visible just about the dogs head