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Friday, April 12
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I mowed and tilled my cover crop under and then put on clear greenhouse plastic. I do the plastic cover every year so I can warm up the soil and get some solarizing effect to kill weeds and pathogens in the soil. I grew a monoculture of triticale for my cover crop over the winter. By the time I cut and tilled it, it was very woody so it took a long time to decompose. I don’t think I would go this route again.
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Monday, May 6
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I had a couple seedling casualties this year due to rabbits and deer. First time that has happened but learned my lesson the hard way that I need to cover the seedlings. Here is the 2501 Bernstrom that I am growing this year
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Wednesday, June 5
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Everything going along on schedule. This was right before the long stretch of hot weather we had that caused a lot of damage to my plant. Burnt leaves and many terminated vines from burn damage.
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Tuesday, June 25
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We had a visitor. I’ve never seen a bear here before so this was a little startling. He came back three times over the Summer. Luckily, he never messed with the pumpkin. I definitely took bear spray with me if I had to go into the patch after dark after this encounter.
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Friday, June 28
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Pollenated my pumpkin on 6/28. Was a four lober. The main vine growing tip had terminated from sunburn damage so this was the last female flower on the main vine. Luckily the pollination took. This forced me to grow in a pitch fork pattern to get any plant growth past the pumpkin.
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Wednesday, July 3
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Here she is on day 11. 31.5in CC.
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Tuesday, July 16
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Day 25. 113in CC
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Friday, July 19
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Day 28 128in CC
Here are pitchforked tertiaries growing towards me.
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Sunday, July 21
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Day 30 136in CC 291OTT
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Tuesday, August 13
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Day 53 188in CC
This pumpkin never had huge daily weight gains but grew steady for a long period of time. Last year's pumpkin grew much faster but didn't grow as long.
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Tuesday, August 27
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Need a bigger measuring tape. Hope I can get this one to the finish line.
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Wednesday, August 28
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239 Toboyek
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Tuesday, September 10
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Day 80 207CC
The stem developed a soft spot and the estimated weight was approximately 1700lbs. I had a decision to make. Do I harvest early and take it to an early weighoff? I decided that since the early weighoffs are so far away it would only be worth it if it was a new state record. So, I set up the tripod to get a weight.
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Tuesday, September 10
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Much to my surprise it weighed 1843lbs! My state record last year was 1845.5lbs. The pumpkin was still connected to the vine so this wasn’t an accurate weight. I decided that I might still be getting 3-4lbs a day of growth. The State Fair of Virginia weigh off is on 9/28. If I could keep get going three more weeks I could break the record. So, I decided to keep her on the vine.
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Thursday, September 26
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The next three weeks, there wasn’t any measurable growth with the measuring tape. The stem issues were a daily battle with hydrogen peroxide and alcohol.
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Friday, September 27
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Then yesterday, I went out to do my daily checks and stem maintenance and I found this. I haven’t opened her up yet but I think she is rotting from the inside. Two days before the weigh off!
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Friday, September 27
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Final measurements are below. I will cut it open this weekend to harvest seeds.
Day 96
207.5 CC
113FB
108SS
428.5 OTT
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dpriceute - 2024 Grower Diary 
