Jeff's Great Pumpkin Challenge

 The plants have held tight with the insect damage - at least the damage does not appear to be getting worse.  The 1257 pumpkin and the 1713 pumpkin are gaining wait but in reality the daily gain is pathetic compared to what should be occurring.   This morning the 1257 pumpkin taped at 355 pounds at DAP41.   BTW, I had to move the t-post that can be seen in the upper left hand corner of the image. The pumpkin is encroaching on it (within an inch). The 1713 pumpkin taped at 310 pounds at DAP35  (heavier than the 1257 at DAP35). If you read the previous post a week ago (you can read that by clicking  here ), I discussed the two hail impacts that broke through the skin and causing "leaking".  I rednecked it by attaching pieces of latex band with glue, not knowing if it would help or hurt the issue.  Well, it looks like it worked!  The two hail impact spots are noted by the arrows on the image above.  Both spots "healed".  BTW...

The Good...we're still getting periodic rains and the Giants have made "some" progress.   The Bad...the plants are starting to show disease and some insect damage which will limit weight gain.   The UGLY...a thunderstorm two days ago on the 10th had hail ranging from dime to a few golf ball sized.  There was a fair amount of quarter sized hail.  As luck would have it, the pumpkin on the 1713 Lancaster plant sustained 2 impacts that broke the skin.  Plus, the plants themselves took hits damaging leaves and vines. It's a bummer since the 1713 Lancaster pumpkin had started to pick up on the daily weight gain.  Last week that pumpkin taped out at around 144 pounds.  This morning at DAP 28 it taped out at 240 pounds and was ahead of the pace of the state fair pumpkin from 2017. The two impacts from the hail were deep enough that the "wounds" started to ooze.  So I rednecked it and glued pieces of elastic/rubber banding over the damaged spots....

In the last posting (click  here  if you missed it),  I mentioned that the soil could have become compacted from too much rain.  It was a very wet last 3 weeks of July (SW KS standards).  I'm firmly believing that compacted soil has occurred, impacting the growth the pumpkins.  The weight gain on the giants has been less than stellar.   This morning the pumpkin on the 1257 plant was taped at 215 pounds - last week it was ~119 lbs.  The daily weight gain appears to have slowed the past few days to only 10 pounds a day.  That is pathetic as the DAP27 (days after pollination) should be well in excess of 25 lbs!  Here was that pumpkin this morning..... The weight gain of the pumpkin on the 1713 plant is averaging a bit more, but still not what it should be doing at DAP 21.  This morning it was taped at 144 pounds - last week it was ~59 lbs. On the 250 plant, I did cull the six lobed pumpkin as it was not gaining any size at...

I have the giants (and field pumpkins, okra, tomatoes, etc.) on a drip system that runs every morning so I keep a consistent water profile.  However, this month (after the 6th) has been very wet.  Another 1.58" fell Sunday evening/night.  The soil is saturated.  Now I fear that this water logged soil is now compacted (it has a fair amount of clay) and is "choking" the massive root system of the giant pumpkins.  It's also been overcast the past few days. A week ago in that post (read it by clicking  here ), the pumpkin on the 1257 plant was ~ 39 pounds at DAP13.  With the rapid and exponentially increasing weight gain, I thought there was a chance that the pumpkin would be as high as 160 pounds as of this morning (DAP20).  But, it looks like it has slowed down on growth (hopefully temporary).   This morning the estimated weight was 119 pounds.  That is now behind the weight of the state fair 542.5 pound pumpkin from 3 years ago....

Well, first off it's been a crazy week in July across the area.  Copious amounts of rain has fallen (but with high winds) across the area.  At my location,  I measured 4.25 inches during this past week (for SW KS in July that is a lot) but with 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 inches within the county!  This rain has mitigated hot temperatures and as a result the giants have responded - as well as the field pumpkins and WEEDS!  I'm pretty pumped at this point as a couple pumpkins have REALLY accelerated in growth! The 250 Wallace plant is "out-of-control" in growth!  Look at the plant this morning and compare to just 8 days ago! Click here to see what it looked like on the 14th. The very first pumpkin to get pollinated on the 5th was open pollinated (by bees) and had been slow growing.  It appears to be done so I'm removing it.  It actually lost weight during the past few days.  Here it was this morning... It was around 16 pounds.  Bye-bye pu...

The struggle continues with the giants this year but progress had been made since the last post on the 29th.  Each plant now has a potential female pumpkin as described below... This morning here was the 250 plant and it has made a lot of growth since the 29th.. The first pumpkin on this plant was one pollinated by bees and it occurred as I was not home on that morning of the 5th.  Thus, I don't know what the pollinator host plant was, although it's likely it was carried by bees from its own male flowers (250 x 250).  That is not preferred (not knowing as genetics are in question).  Here was that pumpkin this morning sitting at an estimated 1.8 pounds on DAP8 (8 days after pollination)... A weight of 1.8 pounds at DAP8 is not good (pathetic I would say).  I will likely terminate this pumpkin.  A second pumpkin (but on a secondary vine) was pollinated this morning (by me) from pollen from the 1713.5 Lancaster plant.  If this one take...

June weather - it's been crazy!  Dodge City will end up being the 5th or 6th windiest June on record.  There have been some extreme wind events (19 days with 40 MPH and higher gusts) with the storm on the 21st producing the strongest (70-75 MPH here at the hacienda).  On top of that has been just one wet period with the remainder being exceedingly dry.  The giant pumpkins have suffered ill effects.  But despite Ma Nature throwing just about everything at my attempt to grow a giant, the plants have made progress.  If you go to the the post I did on the 18th (you can read it by clicking  here ) I have a comparison from the 1st through the 18th.  Since the 18th further good growth has take place.  But - gosh there ALWAYS seems to be a "but".... About 5 days ago I fed them a concoction from Agronis, a company that produces various agriculture supplements.  I obviously used too much, well I'm guessing.  A few days later and the main ...