Needless to say the 659.5 took first place at the Madison County Fair. In fact it was the only pumpkin there. So far it seems to be holding up well. I will reexamine it on Thursday and if it still looks good I will probably take it to the Eastern Idaho State Fair. Also will take my smallest pumpkin in the patch which is the pumpkin on the back main vine on the 1233 Reiss (estimated at 427 pounds)
Measured the pumpkins last night and to say the least I was pleasently surprised. Two of the pumpkins put on 19 pounds/day over the past three days. That includes the big one on the 1225 Jutras. It is now estimated at 720 pounds. My 847 did not hit 720 pounds until September 6th. The second biggest pumpkin managed only a measly 13lbs/day over the same time period. It is now at 680 pounds but it looks much better then the pumpkin on the 1225. Still worried about a split occuring down a flat rib. With luck one of these two pumpkins will make a new personal best for me.
Even Blake's plants that were frozen down have been putting on weight. His pumpkin managed 11.5#/day and his squash 8.5#/day, and that is with 80-90% of his leaves gone.
My soil tests that I took yesterday came back today.
pH 8.0 the same compared to last year, will this begin to drop if I add more sulfur to neutralize the free lime. ?
% lime -2% down from 7% applied a large amount of sulfur last fall.
OM 6.43 % up from 5.1%
Nitrates low 7ppm
Ammonium (low) 3 ppm
Phosphorus (very high) 138
character sandy loam
Calcium (adequate) 2460ppm
potassium (high) 464 ppm, down from 1011 time for more manure this fall
Magnesium (low) 208 ppm
Manganese (very low)3 ppm
zinc (very high) 6.3 ppm
Recomendations 26# elemental sulfur /acre last year the recomendations were for 59#/acre and I put on 500# on my 2/3 acre garden.
August 30th,
I'm sitting on pins and needles for the next three nights. Forcast low for tonight is 38 degrees. If it's that in town it will freeze here. Tomorrow the forcast is for 33 degrees and the following night is for 34 degrees. Could be into the high 20's at my house. I've reprogrammed the sprinklers to start at 4am and run for 4 hours. The patch will be water logged but if can prevent freezing.