We are going to try to keep a diary of our growing season this year. This will be the start of our 26th season that Elaine and I have been growing giant pumpkins. It is unquestionably the strangest start to any season with all that is going on in the country and the world. This will be the first time that we have ever started a season not knowing for sure if it will be possible to attend a weigh-off in the fall.
We have decided to put in 2 AG’s this year and hope for the best. We live 20 minutes south of Port Elgin along the shores of Lake Huron. Living so close to the shore of the lake has its pros and cons. In the spring time the lake really hurts us by keeping the temperature down with the cold winds coming off the lake. In the fall it helps us because the lake gives us heat off its warmed water. We rarely get a frost until well into October.
We are going to use soil heating cables for the first time this year. Hoping that it will help us with our cooler spring weather. We purchased the cables from Amazon---140W/120V/1.7A 48 feet long. They are supposed to have a built in thermostat. Time will tell if they are any good.
Here we have attached the cable to some plastic fencing with tie wraps. Trying to keep a 3” spacing as per the instructions. Still have not been able to get into patch yet to install cables. The instructions say to lay the cables on a bed of sand
We have started the germination process today. The seeds we will grow this year, if they germinate will be the 2016 Lancaster & 2118 Barron, plus a couple of backups.
Just a little one for Doug haha
I was wrong, Doug found one more tomato. He wants to grow this one out to get the seeds. It's from the 5.36 Lyons. He really likes this seed line.
He thinks it will end up to be around 5 lbs.
Today I went to Doug Court's house to help him document the examination and weighing of his final tomato of the season. This tomato has caused him a bit of anxiety over the last couple of days. He called me a week ago to say that he still had a fairly big tomato, but it was growing in such a way that he could only see the front part of the tomato. Three days ago Doug calls to tell me that he cut part of the plant away to get a better look at the tomato and noticed that there were two stems going down into the center, so he thought it has to be two tomatoes growing together. Then Doug calls yesterday saying he has removed the tomato and thinks it’s now one.
This is a look at the stem. We believe the stem split at some point and as the tomato grew larger the stem halves grew apart giving the illusion of two stems.
A few more pictures of different sides. This was grown from a 5.36 Lyons (Domingo)
I recorded a video of the examination and weighing of the 6.48 Court tomato. Link below
Congratulations to Doug for a great tomato season!
The beautiful weather we had in the past three days, has given us a chance to clean up the garden. We still had two healthy cabbage plants still growing in the garden. We are thinking, we would like to try and get some seed from the cabbages next year, but have never tried it before. I asked Art Johnston and John Butler at Woodbridge for some advice on the process. They told me to dig up the cabbage with as much root as possible and replant it into a large container. Keep them in a root cellar for the winter and then replant next spring. So that is what we have done. (Picture below)
The vines and vegetation have been removed as well as the heating cables. The patch has been leveled with a disk. Next will be the application of manure.
For the past few years a famer has offered us manure. He lives about 8 Km away so it takes me a little over an hour round trip including loading and unloading time for a load of manure. I spent most of the day today getting manure.
The next nice day we need to get our old manure spreader out and put it to work.
Leaving for Woodbridge Saturday Morning
The weather was decent and we had a good drive. We were the first to weigh a pumpkin at Port Elgin and the last to weigh a pumpkin at Woodbridge.
Here we are getting unloaded.
Getting hooked up to go to the scale
We were very happy to have another pumpkin go heavy for us. It was estimating around 1536 lbs. and actually weighed 1699lbs. About 10 % heavy.
Good for 2nd place.
1699 Mackenzie (2016 Lancaster X 2118 Barron)
Congrats to Jim & Kelsey Bryson for getting first place for their pumpkin weighing in at 1782.2 lbs.
We managed to get first for our field pumpkin (below) weighing 98.4 lbs.
Thank you very much Dave McCallum and the Woodbridge Fair committee for organizing and providing us with a GPC weigh-off in these trying times.
Good luck tommoro you guys
Good luck tomorrow
This is loading day for our last pumpkin. We wanted to start early to get some of the vines out of the way before lifting the pumpkin.
Ready for the first lift.
The bottom looks good. On to the pallet it goes. We measured the 2016 Lancaster after we placed it on the pallet. We actually lost a few OTT inches from the last measurement in the garden. This one was hard to measure because of its shape. So, after three of us carefully measured the fruit flat on the pallet the official measurement for the 2016 Lancaster will be 413”.
We even had a special guest stop for a visit. Doug Court, he gave the pumpkin a few thumps and a blessing.
Off to Woodbridge tomorrow. Good luck and safe travels to everyone.
Congrats you guys. Huge pumpkin!
Weigh off day is finally here. We were the first pumpkin in line to unload and weigh today. Lots of changes this year because of Covid 19. The pumpkinfest committee did an excellent job to keep things moving smoothly and safely. The growers really appreciated the opportunity of having a place to get their summers worth of hard work officially weighed/measure. With all the things that are going on right now we are very lucky Port Elgin was able to do this for us.
Ready to place on the scale
On the scale
We were both totally shocked that it went over 200 lbs. heavy (1812.5 lbs.). 264 lb. increase of our personal best. It was good enough for third place. Congratulations go to the Hunt/Lyons team taking first place with 1939.5 LB beauty. Also, congrats to John Matesa who wasn’t far behind with a1897 lb. pumpkin for second place.
Good luck tomorrow Bob and Elaine. Hope you get your new PB
Today was loading day for our 2118 Barron. This is always an anxious time for us. That first peak under the pumpkin to check that everything is ok. This one looks good. The bottom is nice and flat.
Next, on to the pallet.
We measured the pumpkin after we put it on the pallet. Sometimes, the numbers change a bit after it is removed from the garden. So, the official measurement will be 420" OTT. We are happy with that because its the biggest one we have every measured in our patch.
All loaded up and ready for Port Elgin tomorrow .
Good luck to everyone traveling to Port Elgin. Stay Safe.
We were in the patch this morning just after sunrise. We took one last OTT measurement of the season. Growth has slowed to a point were it becomes difficult to notice any significant change in the tape measure. We did gain a few OTT inches over the last 10 days and we are now tied with our previous personal best (2016) measurement. At this point we are basically competing with ourselves. We have two Pumpkins that measure very close to the same OTT. So, we have two chances at bettering our personal best. To us that is what it’s all about. Trying to get a little better each year if possible.
When we were leaving the patch after watering this morning I noticed a couple of stray unburied vines on the Lancaster plant that I missed spraying. I decided to leave them and come back later to see what they would look like.
The leaves looked very limp after a few hours of sunlight. So, we think the watering does help after a frost.
Below is a look at the leaves of the Lancaster plant in the afternoon today. We think the whole plant would have been limp if it wasn’t for the watering.
Overall, the leaves are getting very tired looking, but we only have a couple of weeks left to try and keep them as healthy as possible. It looks like we will have another chance of frost tonight. We have the pump hooked up and ready for the morning if needed.
Hard frost here this morning too. Grass was all white.
I hope that works for you as we had ground frost here in Hanover this morning...Dave
Woke up to frost this morning. Went to the patch before sunrise to water the leaves. Hoping this will help minimize any damage. There are different beliefs about frost that indicates washing if off will not help. However, the frost damage was imminent and we had nothing to lose.
The water was actually warm from our storage tank; which we have covered in black plastic.
I was outside with a flashlight this morning at 05:00 checking for frost and it looks like we missed it. The temperature was 4° C. Hope everyone else missed it as well.
We measured both pumpkins today. It’s been 8 days since the last measurement. The 2016 Lancaster has slowed considerably. It averaged 8 lbs per day since the last measurement. Now estimating 1487 lbs.
We are closely watching this sag line that is slowly developing
Below is the 2118 Barron that has continued to be a steady grower all season. It has actually passed the Lancaster this week. It is now estimating 1511 lbs. Averaging 13 lbs per day. We are getting very close to our personal best measurement. Only 3 more inches OTT to get to our best ever OTT measurement. They are forecasting some very cold nights for the next week. A low of 3 ° C tonight with a chance of frost. We don’t usually get a frost this early because we live so close to the shore of Lake Huron. So fingers are crossed. A frost would end things fast.
Another Tomato entry for team three. Video below.
We haven’t updated the pumpkin weights for a while. We measured the two of them today. They both still seem to be growing at the same pace. They are almost measuring exactly the same OTT measurements with the Lancaster slightly ahead by 2 OTT inches. The Lancaster is a hard one to measure because of its shape, so we don’t really know which is our largest. The only thing we are dreaming for in this crazy year is to beat our personal best of 1548.5 lbs. set in 2016. The way things are going right now we might have a chance to do that.
Below is a look at our 2016 Lancaster that measures 401” OTT for an estimated weight of 1421 lbs.
Actually,we are very surprised that we have not lost it yet because of its shape. Now we a watching a sag line that is starting to develop.
Next is our 2118 Barron that is trying desperately to keep up with the Lancaster. It measures 399” OTT for an estimated weight of 1402 lbs.
We have one cabbage plant that is doing OK. It is getting a very firm head on it now. The other cabbages have not really developed much of a head.
Here we are trying to determine the diameter of the head. Very close to 15” across.
This will be my 3rd entry for team 3. Video below.
The cracks are OK as long as the tomato isn't leaking
Another tomato entry for team 3. This will be my second entry. I took a short video of the examination and weighing. I don’t have a whole lot of experience with tomatoes so Zeke if you are watching this you can be the judge of the tomato. It has a lot of stress cracks and marks and I wasn’t sure if they are allowed or not. I'm going to link it to a YouTube video because its hard to upload a video here because the file size is too large.
Thanks Bob. Video worked good
This will be my first tomato entry for team three. I can’t believe how fast these things ripen. A week ago it was completely green. I do have some others with a bigger circumference but Zeke said to weigh all of them and he will only count the biggest two from each team member. I have already lost one tomato that developed blossom end rot so I need to at least get this one weighed in case disaster strikes some of the others. This one measures 19” and was grown off the 5.23 Lyons.
I took a short video clip of me weighing this tomato just to see if it would upload correctly to this diary. I apologize if it doesn’t work.
Some pictures
So the final weight was 2 lbs 11.6 oz or 2.72 lbs (team three)
Good growing you two
We measured our two pumpkins today. It’s been 11 days since the last measurement. Despite its shape the 2016 Lancaster has been outgrowing the Barron. Over the last 11 days the Lancaster has averaged 31 lbs per day and now estimates to be 1101 lbs.
The stem end is so low that we had to dig out the soil below it to make room for it.
The 2118 Barron is still growing, but only averaging 25 lbs per day for the last 11 days. Now estimating 1114 lbs.
This will be my tomato update for the GVGO contest (team 3). Below is a look at my row of 9 plants. I lost all of the early mega blooms, but some others are growing that are doing OK. No signs of maturing yet.
Next is a look at my 4 best tomato’s. So far they are all in the 18" to 20" range
Doug Court is the leader of our team. He sent me a picture of his largest tomato. Four days ago it measured 25" circumference and still growing.
This is the stem end of the 2118 Barron. We have been monitoring this for the last few days. The shoulder is starting to put a lot of pressure on the vine. It was very tight. A few more days and it would have been ripped from the stem. So, this morning we decided it was time to do something about it.
We wrapped thick layers of foam around the pumpkin and put a couple of old nylon slings around the pumpkin. We used a tractor as an anchor point only.
We hooked up a Come Along to slowly put tension in the line. The plan was to pull it back from the vine at the same time as turning it slightly clockwise. It took a lot more pressure than I thought it would to move this thing. There was a lot of creaking sounds going on before it started to move. That started to worry us a bit, but it was just the slings stretching.
This is a look at the stem after we finished. Hopefully that will be enough slack for the rest of the season.
A week has passed since the downpour of rain. It looks like the fruit have made it through intact. Today was the first time we watered since the rain. We measured the pumpkins today and the weight gains have slowed. This has been a relatively cool week, especially the nights. Also, we have not given any fertilizer this week because we were worried about a season ending split. So far, both of our pumpkins are on track to beat our personal best.
Below is the 2016 Lancaster. It measures 755 lbs now and has grown 28 ½ lbs. per day the last 6 days.
Next is the 2118 Barron that measures 840 lbs and gaining 25 ½ per day.
Our cabbage haven’t really done well. This is our best one that is finally starting to form a head.
The Mangel-wurzel is slowly growing
How does the saying go “Be careful what you wish for”. We needed rain but
3 ¾ “inches is not what we wanted yesterday. We went out to check on the damage (if any) this morning. The 2118 Barron plant suffered the most. Part of the plant has collapsed. For some reason the Lancaster plant didn’t have any fallen leaves.
Standing here looking at the sheet all I can think of is Erwin Schrödinger's cat.
The cat is alive at least for today! So far, so good but the next few days will be stressful. At least they are forecasting cooler temperatures here for the next three days (low 20’s). That may help us.
We measured the Barron fruit and its estimated weight is 687 lbs, for a gain of 284 lbs in the last 8 days for an average daily gain of 35 ½ lbs
Next is the 2016 Lancaster. We are not liking the shape of this one. The blossom end is looking strange.
It still seems to be growing well because it now measures 583 lbs, for an 8 day gain of 292 lbs and an average daily gain of 36 ½ lbs.
We received ½” of rain this past week, but we could use a little more. The 2016 Lancaster was 25 days old this morning. Today’s measurements 101”+70”+63” = 233” OTT for an estimate of 291 lbs. Total gain for the last 7 days was 187 lb. (Roughly 26 lbs. per day)
Next is the 2118 Barron (day 27) 115”+73 ½”+71”= 259 ½” OTT today (estimated 403 lbs.) for a total gain of 212 lbs. in the last 7 days. Roughly 30 lbs. per day.
Just when we thought we were done with vine burying, the field pumpkins have kicked into gear. We have been pruning, training and burying the same way as the AG’s . We have been removing a lot of female flower because we don’t want a pollination until August.
This is one of our Mangel-wurzel’s.
We still haven’t received any significant rain. We got 3/10” four days ago but that is all. We have been watering every day and the plants are growing well. About 75% of the vines have been terminated, so far. We put up the shelters over the fruit.
Below is a look at our 2016 Lancaster at day 18. It measures 69 ½” in circumference, growing approximately 5” a day
Below is our 2118 Barron that was 20 Days old this morning. We took its first OTT measurement this morning 86”+58.5”+ 57.5”= Total 202” We really like the shape of this one.
Our area has really gone through a hit or miss rain situation in the last few days. We have not received any rain, but regions very close to us got 1 ¼” two days ago. It looks like the heat spell has finally broken, but we need rain badly.
Below, is a look at our 2016 Lancaster that turned 10 days old this morning. Hopefully it is set. The fruit on the Barron plant grew 7” in circumference yesterday.
The shade structures we put up seem to helping a lot, preventing most of the damage from this intense heat spell. We have been giving between 90 and 100 gallons of water to each plant every day. We bury vines every fourth day and will soon have to start terminating vines.
The first flower we pollinated on the 2118 Barron is 10 days old today. It measured 32” (circumference) this morning. It has a good shape and still looks shinny. We are hopeful that it will not abort.
The tomatoes have started to form a few mega blooms. We put up crude shade structures on the plants that have mega blooms with the hope that it will help with pollination in this heat.
We had a female flower open on the 2016 Lancaster this morning. Another 5 lobe flower crossed with the 2118 Barron. This heat wave has us a bit worried if the pollination will set.
The 2106 Lancaster doesn’t like the heat at all. Almost every secondary vine has UV leaf damage at the end of the vine from yesterday’s sun. The Barron plant has a little damage, but not very much. Below is one of the Lancaster side vines.
We decided today to put up a quick and temporary shade structure along the tips of the secondary vines of each plant. It looks like they are calling for this heat to stay with us for a while yet.
Another beautiful week and the plants continue to grow well. We had our first female open this morning on the 2118 Barron
A nice five lobe flower, 13 feet out on the main, crossed with the 2016 Lancaster (4 males used). Only one more female flower on the main, of this plant at 16 feet, but it will be 5 or 6 days before it blooms.
This is the 2118 Barron plant. It is the more aggressive of our two plants. It also tolerates the sun better.
Below is our 2016 Lancaster. It has a female at 13 feet that should bloom in a few days. We still haven’t seen any cucumber beetles, yet this year.
This is how we apply our water to the pumpkins. 1 ½” fire hose attached to a gas Honda pressure pump. Drip irrigation would be better, but we are not equipped for that. We have two 500 gallon storage tanks. One is on a wagon and one is stationary on the ground. We have two sources for our water. The farm well pump will fill up one 500 gallon tank in 1 hour and 15 minutes. Or, we have a natural spring on the farm that my grandfather tapped into with a pipe over 100 years ago and was used to water our cattle up until 20 years ago. To use the spring we just drive the water wagon to the spring and throw in the hose. This time of year the spring slows down and it takes 7-8 hours to get 500 gallons. When we use the spring water it makes us feel like we are not wasting water, because the spring keeps flowing day and night whether you are using it or not.
In the first week of April we started some rhubarb plants from seed. They seem to be growing well. We tried doing this last year on a smaller scale and had great success growing from seed. This year we have 25 plants.
This is a look at our strawberry patch. The berries are just starting to ripen now.
Summer weather seems to be here to stay. The plants are finally kicking into gear. Below is the 2016 Lancaster
Next is the 2118 Barron. Both plants have females at the tips.
We started two field pumpkin plants on the 6th of June. This one is the 175 MacKinnon
Next is the 163 MacKinnon
This has been a very windy and cold week. The plants are continuing to grow. This is the 2016 Lancaster it is 6’ long now.
Below is the 2118 Baron it is 6 ½’ long now.
This is our first female flower on the 2118 Barron. We will not be keeping it, because it is only at 6’ on the main vine.
The pumpkins are finally starting to grow better after our setback. The plants are not very long yet but at least they are growing. Below is a picture of the 2118 Barron.
This is the 2016 Lancaster. Both plants are about the same size.
The first week of March we started some Mangel-wurzel seeds from the GVGO seed pack. We have never grown them before. We have 4 plants in the ground. Below is a picture of one of them. We also planted 9 tomato plants yesterday
Well, the past week has been very challenging for us in the pumpkin patch. The young pumpkin plants have not progressed as fast as they should have. We believe, it was caused by sunburn on the tender leaves. We should have put up a screen of some sort to block some of the sun. Also, we should have hardened the plants off better. Basically, for the last week the plants didn’t grow much at all. Today, we decided to cut off the damaged leaves because we were sick of looking at them. Below is a picture of the 2118 Barron after we removed the damaged leaves. It looks very naked now, but we hope the worst is over. The main vine looks like it is just starting to poke out a bit.
This is a look at our four cabbage plants. Thanks to John Butler for the seeds
We started the plants a little later than maybe we should have, but hopefully they will be alright.
The first morning after planting the pumpkins. We used the hoop frames to contain some heat around the young plants. The measured air temperature inside the hoop this morning was 60° F and the soil temperature was 70° F
This is the 2118 Barron getting opened up. The low last night was 43° F
After a series of very cold days and nights the weather looks like it is finally starting to warm up. We decided that today was the day to plant.
Below is a picture of the 2016 Lancaster that we wanted to grow this year. As you can see the first true leaf has an issue. We have seen this condition many times in other years, Sort of a wrinkling of the first true leaves. We are not sure what causes this, but in the past it usually grows out to be a normal plant.
We have decided to double plant this seedling with one of the backup plants just in case. Will wait to see if the Lancaster plant looks normal, before removing the other plant.
Here are the two plants in the ground. 1771.1 Hunt on the left and 2016 Lancaster on the right.
The soil heating cables seem to be working well. The temperature fell to -6 Celsius last night. The soil temperature in the heating cable zone was 65 degrees Fahrenheit, first thing in the morning. Outside of the heating cable area, but still inside the tent the soil was 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Outside of the tent the soil was below 40 degrees.
Below is the 2118 Barron in the ground.
This past week has been very cold here. Chance of flurries the next two days with very low night time temperatures. Will likely wait until next Tuesday or Wednesday to plant pumpkins. We now have power to the patch.
Today we are making some hoop frames that will be used for the night time cover up of the pumpkin plants inside the tents. The frame was made from cedar and the hoops are made from heavy wire.
We covered the frames with emergency blanket material. We are hoping this will reflect some of the radiated heat from the soil and keep the area around the young plants warmer. The frames are very light.
Serious pumpkin growing for sure
Another beautiful day allowed us to get the two tents put up today
The tents are 10’ X 10’. The next undertaking is getting power to the patch. The nearest electrical panel is not very close to the garden. Thanks to Lonnie for the help determining the correct wire gauge and breaker size to use.
After 36 hours @80 degrees in the germination box all seeds have sprouted
It has been very cold here lately, but today it got up to 10 degrees. So, it is starting to warm up. We started preparing the two growing sites. First we did a deep dig to loosen up the sub soil.
After we loosened the soil with a broadfork. We put down a bed of sand for the heating cables to lay on.
Heating cables installed with the fencing facing up to provide a bit of protection when it is removed in the fall
Planting site after the soil has been placed over the heating cables. We positioned a pot in the area were the pumpkin will be planted, so that we don’t lose track of where the plant should be placed. Also, we placed some bamboo canes at the corners of the heating cables, so that the perimeter is marked for safety. We will put up the tents tomorrow.