Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 42 Entries. Friday, March 31 View Page Seeds will get soaked tonight I am growing 2 plants this year. I'm going to start 4 seeds and see which ones make the cut. 2 x 1469 Marshall ----> 2145.5 McMullen x 1317 Clementz 1 x 1864 Wallace ----> 1790.5 Wallace x 1625.5 Gantner 1 x 1642.5 Wallace ---> 2230.5 Wallace x 1625.5 Gantner I will start updating and posting pictures. With my kids a bit older I hope to keep a better Diary this year. Good Luck to all!   Saturday, April 1 View Page It's go time here is a picture of the lineup!   Saturday, April 1 View Page Who's jealous of my awesome Germination Station?   Saturday, April 1 View Page Fall cover crop was tilling in at the end of February and a new cover crop with amendments was tilled in and planted in early March.   Sunday, April 9 View Page Kade and Dad getting ready to plant the girls.   Sunday, April 9 View Page Patch Shot   Sunday, April 9 View Page roots of the 1864 Wallace   Sunday, April 9 View Page 1864 Wallace and the 1642.5 Wallace planted side by side...Let's see which one makes the cut.   Sunday, April 9 View Page Kade is getting more involved this year. He gets the most important job of all...Planting the 1469 Marshall all by himself...dad wasn't nervous at all!   Sunday, April 9 View Page Job well done Kade! The 1469 Marshall was successfully planted!   Sunday, April 16 View Page Here is the 1864 Wallace been in the ground one week and it hasn't skipped a beat   Sunday, April 16 View Page 1642.5 Wallace also been in the ground 1 week and it is looking perfect.   Sunday, April 23 View Page 1642.5 Wallace starting to vine   Sunday, April 23 View Page 1864 Wallace also starting to vine   Sunday, April 30 View Page Well looks like i chose one of the coldest April's in recent history to start my plants early and the electricity turned off during the on one night when it got below freezing. One hot house plant made it through with any issues the others well they got a bit frosty! Here is the 1642.5 Wallace still looking good and with nice weather in the forecast he should do well! I have backup plants that i may need to go with i'll take pictures of the frost damage tomorrow. I'm going to give them a week or two to see if they come out of it.   Sunday, May 7 View Page After a very cool/cold april and start to may the last few days have been very warm and the evenings have been very mild. The plants have really responded now. they are taking off, you can see them grow day by day now.   Sunday, May 14 View Page Wow it is amazing what a week of sun can do for these plants! 1645.5 is really stretching out there now...As the monkey said when he got his peter caught in the grinder....It won't be long now!   Sunday, May 21 View Page 1642.5 really starting to run now around 6 foot long there is a baby at 5 foot which will be removed. Last few days it has been very cool and the plant has out grown his hot house not sure how i'll cover him now if i need to!   Sunday, May 28 View Page 1642.5 Wallace coming along nicely around 10 foot long main. There was a very cool and cloudy start to the week so growth slowed a bit but temps have warmed and growth has really started to take off.   Sunday, June 4 View Page 1642.5 Wallace The side vines took off this week.   Sunday, June 4 View Page Kade with the 1642.5 at 11.5 feet out on the main. I will pollinate this one because it should open in the next 4 or 5 days....the weather should be very nice and in Kansas we can't be picky when it comes to pollination time. One side has 9 side vines the other has 10 before the pumpkin. The "One" is in the tip of the pumpkin plant right now looking like a Jun 13-14 pollination date that would be ideal. I really want to get one set af   Wednesday, June 7 View Page Here is my idea for a vine pattern to make use of the vine next to the pumpkin   Friday, June 9 View Page Pollinated the 1642.5 x self. I only had two male flowers on the plant, I want to cross it with the 1469 Marshall but there wasn't any male flowers opening yet.   Sunday, June 11 View Page 1642.5 Wallace Sorry for the dark picture I took it late last night...i'll try to get a better one tonight. Side vine terminations will begin this week. Plant looks very healthy. First pollination at 11.5 feet looks like it took I will pollinate another one on Wednesday morning at 13.5 - 14 feet out.   Wednesday, June 14 View Page Pollinated the 1642.5 Wallace x 1469 Marshall at 14 feet very nice looking 4 lobe pumpkin. The first pollination at 11.5 feet is doing great it will be a tough decision in a few days.   Wednesday, June 14 View Page Had a patch spy stop by last night. My good friend Chris Weber came to check things out. His user name is cmweber...no doubt about it he will be the Kansas record holder one day...Hopefully he falls 1 pound short of me this year! Good luck Chris and thanks for visiting.   Saturday, June 17 View Page Here is some of the holes in the leaves from the hail...nothing major but I definitely don't have a purty of a plant no more.   Saturday, June 17 View Page A little close up picture. Just a note after each hail storm i sprayed the plants with a fungicide not sure if it helps or hurts but i'm not taking any chances.   Sunday, June 18 View Page Crazy week two hail storms the second storm took out my pollination at 13.5 feet so i'm going with the pollination at 11.5 feet. It would have been a very difficult decision so i guess mother nature made the decision for me. This is day 10 if you look closely you can see 3 hail marks on the pumpkin....I'm sure over time the hail marks will be much easier to see!   Monday, June 19 View Page Here is a day 10 patch view with the pumpkin and the boards in place. If anybody notices any glaring issues please with my setup please let me know.   Monday, June 19 View Page forgot the image of the day 10 patch view   Monday, June 19 View Page upright   Monday, June 19 View Page Pollinated backup 1642.5 wallace x 1469 Marshall. Nice 5 lobe pumpkin   Saturday, June 24 View Page Made a little video i hope to make one each day that i'm home showing the pumpkin as it grows...we'll see what happens https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApyAQ3lXOVY&t=1s   Sunday, June 25 View Page My buddy Chris came over to check the pumpkin out today 1642 Wallace dap 16 Since he was here we took a measurement it is measuring big I will let everyone else know what it's measurement is on day 20   Friday, June 30 View Page Day 21 is she done???   Thursday, July 6 View Page Aborts have started in Kansas I'm having a tough time with the 1642.5 Wallace but the plant looks great so i'm not giving up on getting one to take. The 1469 Marshall is on day 12 and looking good so far. My phone isn't posting pictures so i'm just posting the video links for updates https://youtu.be/yn9gaboy6WI   Monday, July 10 View Page Not sure if i can keep this one going through the upcoming weeks of heat but it sure would be nice to see how this shape turns out 1469 Marshall x 1642.5 Wallace   Wednesday, July 12 View Page Okay today i'll post a not so good picture/video tomorrow hopefully i'll have a happier video/picture of the 1469 Marshall on day 20. this is the 1642.5 Wallace...I tried my best but I think the hail hitting right when squash bugs appeared took out my plant due to disease. I had to pull 2 of my zucchini plants due to squash bugs so i'm guessing that is what got this plant...too bad it was a beast when it was disease free. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUSHGh99sx4   Friday, July 14 View Page On to some better news I'm all in now! I have one plant left and one pumpkin so either this one grows or it's on to next year. 1469 Marshall i'll be measuring every 10 days tell me what you think it weighs if it continues to grow i'll have a seed give away along with some extra prizes at the end of the season. https://youtu.be/6XbBDdJUNx4   Monday, July 24 View Page 1469 Marshall x 1642.5 Wallace Day 30. It fell a little short of my Day 30 goal but still a nice pumpkin. With the week of 100 degree heat I'm just glad it's still growing hopefully it will continue to do so. I made a video of us measuring the pumpkin https://youtu.be/mn8ueKayhFM   Monday, August 21 View Page the first 1469 Marshall stopped growing on day 34 around 650 pounds but we're still having fun with it! I say the first one stopped because i don't give up i have one set at 40-50 feet out day 13...it's Kansas never give up weather looks great!