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Cincinnati, OH

My eventful day of care for Punky comes to an end. Battled the bores and the plant seems to recover. I continued a watchful eye on her throughout the entire day, good thing I did. Once she recovered, I came across yet ANOTHER FOE A MOLE who roamed into my yard to pave new road . A big mistake on his part, I was already angry as heck at the borers so I certainly was not gonna take this intrusion. I saw him digging right where I had buried one of the side chutes, cut off his escape route and dug him up. I snapped a picture of him to put in my diary (coming soon)and proceeded to, (sorry in advance to any animal lovers out there) KILL HIM! I mutilated him with my anger of his trespassing! My baby is doing much better, she even managed to grow 1" in the last 12 hrs. despite the major surgery and the potential devastating effects of that darn mole. I feel she will return the efforts of my work by picking up tonight as though she hadn't missed a beat. I promised on making her life comfortable. I will give her a new bed to lie on and hopefully nurse her back to full health. Now the side chutes are coming with a vengence. I've trained a few to travel back to the stump to provide shade in place of the dying adults from the borers. 7 Borers in all, 3 in the main vine holding "Punky" I got all out but one near the stump I could not find even with open incision to find him. I was scared to go further with the cut so I sprayed a good amount of the insecticide directly into the wound, alongside the main vine, and even the underside of the leaves. I watered her down after and every 30 min. all day. At this point, the hard work seems to be paying off. Amazing that a plant with so many enemies can withstand what many plants cannot handle. Are we all aware of the story of Jonah? God provided shade to him by growing a gigantic gourd overnite. That story is not so far fetched as you watch these Giant Pumpkins grow.

7/16/2009 9:47:20 PM

Cincinnati, OH

Soryy, I double posted this story.

7/16/2009 9:48:18 PM

Cincinnati, OH

New pictures added showing the mole

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryView.asp?season=2009&grower=51223&action=L

7/16/2009 10:25:06 PM

Minnesota

Hey pumpkinator, how do you grow such good tomatoes. Is it the soil? I looked at your diary, they looked to be 7 ft tall.

7/16/2009 10:59:00 PM

Glosta

Sorry to hear about "punky" I hope he recovers well. But please do devulge the recipe for your tomato soil.

7/17/2009 1:29:38 AM

Cincinnati, OH

Yes, it is the soil on the Tomatoe plants..i'll post the mixture to my diary soon. They are almost 7 ft, I thought about staking them higher, I havn't decided yet. I must also add that I have sprayed NOTHING on these plants, they have not had any bugs whatsoever. Well, that's not exactly true...I have 2 little buddies helping out as well..spiders that I have welcomed to my jungle. The soil must help as a natural bug repellent.

7/17/2009 9:00:55 AM

Cincinnati, OH

Punky is alive and well, grew an additional inch last night makeing 2" total for the 24 hour period. I was not expecting that, I was thinking she would stop growing for a day or so. I have got to get the right insecticide/fungicide to use the rest of the season.
I have to continue a watchful eye, i'll be keeping my promise to her.

7/17/2009 9:05:44 AM