It looks like 2021 will be an interesting season for me and I have been keeping a low profile until I was cleared to work in the garden again. My shoulder has improved significantly over the past few months and although it won't be 100% I think that it is good enough for me to grow a few pumpkins this season.
I was able to get the planting sites and hoop houses up early although my cover crop was really sparse after the chickens spent weeks eating the seeds. Only two AG's this year for me and maybe a field pumpkin tomatoes and some other vegetables
The heater cables have been tested so everything is a go. The soil PH is at 7.6 now so the patch will need a major application of sulfur to bring it down a bit. The wind fencing needs a lot of work but I am still not ready to pound in "T" posts yet and I am concerned about potentially damaging winds on Friday.
I suddenly found myself with more space at home due to a change in my life so the plants were brought into my living room from the usually hot solarium. In the past there was a problem with them becoming leggy from the heat and it looks like it is working. The 1450 Fifolt plant on the left is one of the best starts I have ever seen and the 2226.7 Boonen/Herman beside it is looking good as well. There are several mangel wurzels and a few kohlrabi plants that are ready to go in the ground now as well. I am tempted to plant the pumpkins this weekend but I need a reliable heat source in case of a deep freeze in the coming weeks.
The weather was not co-operating over the past week for me to work the main patch but it looks like things are going to change in the coming week.
I did plant a 1450 Fifolt plant on May 2nd which is the earliest I have ever put a pumpkin out. I held back planting my other pumpkin due to uncertainties about hoop house heaters for both hoop houses.
After one week it appears that the 1450 Fifolt is growing well although the tip really wants to go straight up. It is amazing how well the plants respond to the warm soil provided by the heater cables.
For the first week or two the plants are kept under a row cover canopy for extra frost protection and to keep them in the shade. My plants go from my living room to the patch in one day so they have to be heavily shaded. Now that the sun is coming back there is shade cloth on the hoop house as well.
The 2226.7 Boonen/Herman finally got planted on May 8th. It was a little overdue and the brown marks on the leaves were caused by the grow lights.
The mangelwurzels which are fodder beets got planted today. They are very light sensitive and will collapse in 30 minutes if exposed to daylight. They need to be kept under double shade protection for now. In the past my plants got some sun exposure while at home but not this year. Lesson learned.
Also got the Kohlrabi plants in the ground. There did not seem to be any issues with sun light which is probably due to their heavy leaves but I am not taking any chances and they are being protected from all the elements.
The weather has really switched things up in the patch as a stretch of hot and sunny conditions have set in for a while. This should really give the plants a good spurt of early season growth.
The 1450 Fifolt plant finally dropped it's tip and is running now. The main vine is now over 30" and it is holding up well with the 35C heat in the hoop house. I think with the overnight temperatures staying above 10C this week that it will only accelerate it's pace now. Hopefully won't need the heaters anymore.
The 2226.7 Boonen/Herman plant is a little behind and had some issues with leaf burn but it seems to be over that now. The tip is still up a little but it is starting to vine now.
The mangelwurzels are still sensitive to the sunlight so they are still under shade for now. The new leaves are not effected so they will get over this problem soon.
With a lot of help from Phil and Jane Hunt, last years side of the patch was covered with two layers of greenhouse plastic. The timing could not be better to take advantage of the early hot and sunny weather. I am hoping that the solarization will reduce the weed seeds and pathogens in the soil.
The 1450 Fifolt plant has really taken off now with the main vine over 5 and a half feet long. I pre-cut three holes in the side of the hoop house to let the side vines get out this week. The side vines on the East side are much longer at this time but the ones on the west side are starting to get going now. The hoop house will have to be opened up all around by next weekend as the main vine is growing by 6-7 inches a day now.
The first pumpkin of the season on the 1450 Fifolt plant. I think the hot weather last week might have stressed the plant into producing an early fruit. It's much too soon and it was pinched off immediately.
The 2226.7 Boonen/Herman plant is still running behind but the tip has finally dropped and it is doing better now. The main vine did get a slight kink in it but I think it will be OK. The side vines are just beginning to get going and I began burying the vines on both plants this past weekend.
The second pumpkin of the season on the 2226.7 Boonen/Herman plant. Looks very round and light in colour. I have been foliar spraying the plants with TKO every week which amongst other things it helps to improve a pumpkins chance of being pollinated successfully and can improve seed count. Or so I have been told. I also started to add a Calcium and boron mix to the feeding routine now.
My tomato plants are a little behind from last year but should be ready to go in another week or so. I also have a field pumpkin going from the 174 MacKinnon.
After some early week heat the patch experienced some unfavorable cold nights that caused me some issues with the pumpkin plants.
When I took an early morning look at the 1450 Fifolt plant I thought everything was fine and although some of the leaves looked dark, I just thought it was due to the low light conditions. When I retuned an hour later tend to the plant I found that about half of the plant was severely wilting. It appears to be frost damage although no frost was observed anywhere around the area and it was very selective with some leaves cooked and some not touched. It was a head scratcher for sure and although it will be a set back I think the plant will recover quickly as it is the best early season growth I have ever had.
Despite the cold nights the main vine has reached over 7 feet now and luckily the growing tip and some side vines that were already out of the hoop were not damaged.
The 2226.7 Boonen/Herman plant was unaffected and is doing well. The main vine is around 5 and a half feet long and once I get some side vines anchored I will be setting it free from the confines of the hoop house. Burying vines is a lot easier when you don't have to work inside the hoop house.
The 1450 Fifolt plant has shaken off the affects of the frost damage and seems to have recovered and is growing well now. I put shade over the plants so the heat would not stress them this week and it helps reduce the wind at this important transition time. I am keeping the main tip under shade as well so it does not get fried in the heat.
I am watching a small pumpkin imbedded in the main tip that should be ready in about 10 days or so. It would be nice to get an early pollination on this plant and take advantage of the prime growing weather and sunshine.
The 2226.7 Boonen/Herman plant is also doing well with no real issues and hoping for a fruit set a little later in June.
The mangelwurzels or fodder beets are doing well, even in the heat. For some reason I did not till this area and the soil is very lumpy this year. Not sure how it will effect the outcome
The kohlrabi plants are also doing well now despite the hot weather.
A few weeks have gone by and everything seems to be looking good. The weather has been a roller coaster but I am happy with where I am now.
The 1450 Fifolt plant has completely overcome the frost damage and is doing well. There were a few side vines that were not growing and I terminated them to allow the good ones to take over and keep the plant's canopy open and is keeping the leaf stalks shorter and stronger, I hope.
This is the 1450 Fifolt x 2226.7 at day 3. It is at 13 ft. and was the fourth one on the main vine. The first ones had longer stems but I really liked it's position and distance on the vine. The June 20th pollination is the earliest I have ever had.
The 2226.7 Boonen/Herman plant is doing great as well. There was also a few side vines that were barely growing so I terminated them and will keep the canopy more open.
Finally got a fruit pollinated on the 2226.7 plant today at 13 feet. It was crossed with the 1450 and it was so cold this morning that it did not open until 10:30 after being in sunlight for about 30 minutes.
I have eight tomato plants growing this season. They were all planted on June 5th and they all look good at this time.
The mangel wurzel plants look real good now. All plants are on automatic water timers now and it makes it so much easier to control the amount of water they get during the week
The past several days have been very challenging for the post pollination period of my pumpkins due to some extreme weather conditions.
It has been said to be careful what you wish for because you might get it. A month and a half of rain over a few days with one inch falling in 30 minutes with hail and high winds.
The mangel wurzels seemed to be the most affected but it really does not take much to knock them over.
The 2226.7 Boonen/Herman plant really did not experience any significant damage and still looks really good. The entire space should be filled out in two weeks at about 600 sq ft. Almost no hail holes in the leaves and my only explanation is that the leaves were all tilted up during the storm.
The 2226.7 Fruit at day 11. A bit of a slacker as it was only 18" on day 10 but it put on good growth going into day 11. The weather might have been a factor in the slow start with saturated soil and several overcast days.
The mark on top of it was caused by a hail stone
The 1450 Fifolt on day 14. Also off to slow start but it seems to be doing OK now. I am a little concerned about how it is growing and there is some damage around the blossom due to me trying to clean it when it was wet and dirty. Within a few days I will know if these issues will be a problem.
Both pumpkins have plywood and mill fabric under them so I am committed to them now. There is only one back-up on each plant for now.
Not sure what is going on this year but every one of my tomato plants have a double or mega-bloom on them now. The plants are not really that big and last year there were none until August.