| 1016 Christensen 2007 dmg |
| 1071 Christensen 2007 dmg |
| 2007 Year in Review These seeds are available for the asking, and a self addressed bubble pack. See the free seed link. If you get tired of looking at orange pumpkins you may not want to continue reading. |
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| From the humble beginnings in a Pepsi cup in April to the BEST year I've ever had. I wish I could take all the credit but I think most of my success this year is due to global warming (man I love it, I don't care what Al Gore says I hope it continues). Actually it was the significantly warmer nights we had this year. I have no idea what to credit those to but I was glad they were here. The sad part about it is that the weather is one thing I can't control so "doing it again" is mostly up to the weather not to me. Even with my fantastic year I still had a set back on June 19th. That day froze and Blake lost his plants. I estimatated the leaf damage to the 869.5 (which eventually grew my 1071) and the 857 (which grew my 876 and 1016) at 40%. What would have been grown if that would not have happened? Below is a list of my pumpkins from the year. Included is a brief synopsis of the pumpkin. As you can see I have an ORANGE pumpkin fetish. I could probably get even bigger if I would grow the big genetics instead of the orange ones, but I want ones that actually look like a pumpkin. |
| 744.5 Christensen 2007 |
| This pumpkin was grown on the main vine of 500 Northrup and pollinated with the 869.5 Calai. I had hoped for bright orange. The color actually isn't too bad but the cantaloping is heavy. This plant started the strongest and fastest yet finished the weakest. The race is not always won by the fastest horse out of the starting blocks. The main vine was killed by the frost and I had to retrain a secondary as the main. This put the back main vine fruit ahead for the season and I never could bring myself to cull either fruit. This plant did not get the end of season care that the others did because it had the samllest pumpkins. |
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| 774.5 Christensen 2007 |
| This is the pumpkin off of the back main vine of the 500 Northrup. It is the same cross as as above. I didn't do to well on that one. I should have used something else. Still a nice looking pumpkin but it is heavily cantaloped. |
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| 852.5 Karie Christensen 2007 |
| My wife decided that if she wanted to spend any time with me this summer perhaps she should grow a pumpkin. Not a bad attempt for her first. This pumpkin was not the "chosen one". The chosen one which was 3' upvine from this one grew to about 150# but by then it was showing a heavy sag line across the middle and it was culled as did't think it would make it through the season.. This one was slow and steady. For most of the season my wife was mildly upset at me for culling the bigger pumpkin but this one didn't turn out too bad after all. This is grown on my 857 from last year. It was pollinated with the 670 Daigle. This one should grow big, orange fruit. |
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| 859.5 Christensen 2007 dmg |
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| This pumpkin was the star of the patch.....untill it split. It developed a hole in at at a Dill ring in mid August. At that time it was 125# heavier then my 1040, and 225# heavier then my 1071. This is the third time I have grown the 670 Daigle and they have split the last two times. I still have two more in the basement, trying to decide if I will plant it again. (that's not to say its up for trade). Pollinated with the 869.5 Calai. It should grow Big Orange pumpkins. I will be planting this seed in 2008 |
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| 876 Christensen 2007 |
| This was grown on the main vine of my 857. As a main vine fruit it is supposed to do the best and be the heaviest. Therefore I couldn't bring myself to cull it. The back main vine fruit did better all season long but this one isn't too shaby if I say myself. This one was a personal best for about 1/2 an hour. Pollinated with the 869.5 Calai. This should grow big and orange (beginning to be a common theme, and that is not by accident). This one will find its way into the patch in 2008. |
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| I was highly disappointed to lift this one on the day of weighoff and find a 1" crack underneath it. It is off of my 857 from last year. If I say so myself- Great shape and color. Pollinated with the 670 Daigle. This one will be planted next year as well. |
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| 1040 Christensen 2007 |
| This was the first pumpkin pollinated this year (June 22) it just kept growing and growing. It did slow down the last month and I wasn't sure it was going to make it. This is grown off the 1101 Northrup (I love this seed and hope to be growing it again in 2008), pollinated with the 869.5 Calai. Interesting ribs and little growths off of the pumpkin. I have never seen this before. I will be planting this seed in 2008. This is the new Idaho State Record |
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| This pumpkin kind of caught me be surprise. In mid August it was several hundred pounds behind my largest as was still cream yellow in color. It really put on the weight the last month or so and the color really become obvious. This seed did not disappoint me. I am glad I used it as a pollinator throughout the patch this year. It was pollinated with itself as well. It should provide orange genetics for years to come. If the lobe on the left had developed this pumpkin could have been 1200#. It split at that point with about 2 weeks to go to the wieghoff. Because of its grotesque shape I didn't trust the measurements on this pumpkin, but as it turned out they were not too far off.I will be planting this one as well |
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| It's going to be tough to beat this year but I will try. Reading through the above it seems that my seed lineup is nearly made up for next year. I want to plant the following. 857 Christensen 859.5 Christensen 876 Christensen 1040 Christensen 1016 Christensen 1071 Christensen 1101 Northrup This year I only planted 6 plants (if I count my wife's as one of mine). I will have room for 10 if I use the smaller sized plants. I had taken the philosophy that I needed the larger plant size here in Idaho with my poor weather, but that may not be the case. the 1071 was grown on one of my small plants (750 sq ft) and it was seriously damaged by the June frost. My wife grew her 852 on a small plant as well and as mentioned above I had to cull the "chosen one" off of that plant. Perhaps I should start growing the smaller plants. Food for thought for the winter. |