I have not been too diligent in posting to the diary this year. Sorry
The pumpkins still remain behind but are begining to grow. The 1101 Northrup is in the lead with about a 4 foot main vine, the 670 Daigle is next with about a 2 foot vine. Unfortunatly it is a double vine. Hopefully it will split an straiten out. Will keep secondaries to train for a new main vineif it does work out.
Mixed the Peters Plant food and seaweed extract in the fertilizer injector yesterday so that the entire garden is getting a dose of fertilizer with every watering.
The camera came back from the repair shop today. With luck I will get some pics posted by the weekend
Finally have some pictures to show! The 1101 is the best plant it has about a 5 foot vine. Didn't measure exactly but the stirrup hoe is beside the plant in the picture.
My Daughter's 504 Christensen is just about as big as the 1101. It is double planted with the 689 Sandercock. Unfortunatly I can't talk an 8 year old into saving the smaller plant so I will problably end up culling the 689.
The 670 is a double vine. I'm hoping it will straighten out. I am growing it in a double Christmas tree style anyway so the first secondary will be trained backwards as a main vine anyway so it shouldn't be a big problem.
The 1225 Jutras is kind of the forgotten plant. Its doing okay but I have to look up the name of it because I forget what I planted.
The 1233 Reiss is the slow plant in the patch. It has a very weak main vine and is not growing well.
The 1048 Companion and the 891 Zunino are still double planted. Waiting to one to declare itslelf as the leader before I cull one.
The greenhouses typically come done around June 20th
Things are beginning to grow. I buried the first vines yesterday. The plants are getting large enough that I can begin to shape them. Most of them I am growing in a double christmas tree style. The main vine grows one direction with the secondaries growing at right angles. The this gives a vague look of a christmas tree as the plant ages. The double part comes from the first secondary is turned 180 degrees from the main vine and grown backwards and is pruned as if it was the main vine. I know that most growers in the pumpkin world have gone away from this style but I grew my biggest pumpkin ever on this style and I am going the try it again. It also allows you set two pumpkins per plant and then in early August I will cull off the lesser pumpkin.
Typically the greenhouses come down about the 19th. Not sure the plants will be quite ready for that but we will see.
June 16th
Had a male flower open on the 1101 yesterday. I hadn't been paying attention and didn't find it untill today. That is another milestone that I have kept track of. Not quite sure of the significance of it but it is easy to see and record. Last year tied my earliest opening on June 11th. Two females are showing on the 1101. One on the main vine at 8 foot and another on a secondary vine. Typically about 8-9 days before a female opens after it first appears. It will still be too close to the stump to pollinate.
Actually measured the 1101 today. The vine is at the 8 foot mark, the 670 is at 6 feet but the good news is that the flat vine looks like it is splitting into two vines!! The others are lagging behind somewhat. My daughter culled the 689 today. The good news is that the 504 that she is left with looks good. Unfortunatly the worst looking plants in the whole patch are my sons. The best of his three is one from his own seed last year. The 756 and 848 are the smallest plants in the whole garden. Not sure what the difference is. They have all been treated the same. He's a little behind in weeding but that is not the problem at this early stage.
Took some of the pruned leaves and harvest the stalks to send off for a tissue sample. This will give me an analysis of what nutrients I need to apply.