D Clement diary 2017

Congrats on a great year. The light ones sting for a few days but hauling in almost 3000 pounds to a weighoff is pretty special.

The winter wheat is up in next years patch I grew a cover crop of buckwheat in this patch over the summer and tilled it in before it went to seed along with 700lbs of calcium sulfate, 500lbs of black earth humic and 4 large square bales of chopped wheat straw

It was a great day in Wellington the rain held off and the sun came out for a bit. The 1803 weighed in at 1476 it was 9% lite to the chart but good enough for 2nd place and a new PB

All loaded and looking forward to a good nites sleep, I hope the rain holds off tommoro and it's a great day good luck to all and safe travels

It's so nice to have great neighbors

Both the1585 and 1803 were crossed with the 1756 H/J I pulled the 1756 plant in early August because I couldn't get a pollination to take

thats two nice fruit Dan. ive always liked that 1585 Werner as its usually nice orange and can be quite heavy. you have nice colour coming through now on the 1585.

did you cross both the 1803 and the 1585? should be sure fire orange on the next generation if you did.

Anyway, great season, and good luck in the next couple of weeks. hope they weigh well for you.

1803 Hoelke today

1585 Werner today

Both fruit are down to about 1 inch a day which I'm happy with the 1803 has finally stopped cracking with 3 fans going 24/7 all look to be healing so far , it has a circumference of 202 inches today

Hi Ryan, i have been doing regular foliar and drenches all along the only thing I stopped doing on the 1803 is the cal max drenches it usually cracks after the cal max drench I have been covering with extra blankets most of the summer at nites I still water every morning and nite I don't moisture test just keep soil good and moist gardens are on a old tile drained field,I thought the 1803 would have been done long ago so what ever happens I don't worry too much about it yet maybe a week or so before Wellington I will lol,the total size of this plant was 570 sq ft. I am down to about half of that now for good leaves,I wish I could have given it more room it's a great orange seed good luck to you Ryan and hope to see you in the county.

nice fruit Dan. Whats your plan with the 1803? Have you been pushing it with feed and water or taking it easy with the water and all of those crazy cracks. im curious what your mental state is at every morning when you check under the blanket lol. Still pushing it?

It defintely wants to keep growing but the skin certainly doesnt feel the same way. do you put blankets on the fruit during the cold nights? may help keeping the skin more soft and willing to move at night.

1585 Werner day 61

Dap 65 and 1803 averaging 17 lbs last 8 days, if it makes it to weigh day it will for sure be the most battle scarred I have grown

it will either be wellington or woodbridge. wellington is the closest and travelling with a baby has been a chore so far, not sure you you guys did it lol. the wife has family in toronto so woodbridge is an easy 20 minute commute in the morning of the weighoff.

we havent even talked about it to be honest, but we'll have to soon. id love to see yours in person. nothing better than a big PB. thats what its all about. hope it finishes strong for you. you deserve it.

What's the old personal best Dan?

Good info and pics John

Sorry, didn't see this post til now. Here are a couple pictures of ones that were saved by cutting the stem to relieve the stress and by also cutting across the crack when it is ripping into the pumpkin. This will usually stop it from continuing.

1803 this morning

1803 Hoelke dap 57 OTT 384 average a little over 22lbs the last week ran out of day lite will post a pic soon

1585 Werner dap 50 OTT 355 average 26lbs last 13 days both plants servived last nites frost

This is the first and only spot of PM I have on my two remaining plants as you can see it's a spot under another leaf that I missed with the spray, i use TKO one week and Sitko the next with all the damp weather we have had this year I'm very impressed how well these products perform

Yes Ryan I end the the main vine when I choose the fruit to grow then curl the last 3 secondary's around and let them grow as much as I have room for this fruit had a slight angle to it and I didn't get it straight to the vine in time it pushed back as it grew there is a S curve but it's a vertical one, I didn't realize how close in numbers are pumpkins were wow, but I think with the later pollination and some cool weather moving in the growth curve mite be short but here's hoping it's a small plant but the later leaves still look good

You've got the nice cream coloured fleck in that one. My 1572 had that...I always liked that blotched colour. Did you dead head the vine there right away or after you did the surgery in order to relieve more vine stress?

So far so good on the split this was my fault as I didn't move fruit ahead enough when it was smaller, it grew fast and back putting pressure on the vine and stem, I've been up at 4am the last 3 days watering under the leaves by hand to keep the patches good and moist like they have been all summer the neighbor thinks I've lost my mind

Dan thats a big number with a split stem and a poor weather season. I just checked and last year on the 1463 (1803 plant) I was day 50 on August 24th and 372 OTT. You're right on it for inches on Day 50 that's for sure. It seems to be cruising pretty steady for you at almost 300 pounds in the last 10 days.

Keep it rolling, looks like your PB is going down by a lot if you can keep it in one piece. Good luck down the stretch. Hoping for Good weather for you.

1803 Hoelke dap 50 366 ott

Dap 37 on the 1585 Werner OTT 308 , 35.5 average last 10 days this plant has lots of weathered leaves so I let secondaries grow out on one side to 45 ft because I had room when I pulled the 1756 H/J

1803 Hoelke dap 40 OTT 330. Average 40 lbs last 6 days

Thanks Phil that's just what I did last nite when I got home everything good so far

Hi guys sorry for the delay. I was up at the camp.

I use a sharp knife & start from the split. Slice 1/2 way deep into the center of the stem (length way with the blade) & cut towards the plant. You only need to cut @ 1-2" (depending on the split) along the vine to relieve the pressure. Do the same if the other side is splitting. When your done, sulfur the inside & cut lines & put a fan on it. We have one that we're dealing with now & that is what we did.

If it splits deep into the pumpkin, we will put a small slice (2" long) across the end of the split & that will sometimes stop the pumpkin from splitting through. Not always though. Some you just can't stop from splitting. Sulfur all areas that you cut. Don't worry they will heal over

Good luck

Thanks Ryan I think I figured out what to do from big pumpkin archives sure hope it works

There's probably guys that know how to try and save that stem. I don't have much experience with stem splits but the experienced guys do and may chime in.

I've seen people save them because I've seen pumpkins at weighoffs that you can see right through both sides of the stem. They cut them open to relieve stress and expose to air to prevent rot, but honestly I don't know how exactly it's done. Maybe someone will give a quick plan of attack.

1803 today

Came home to find this tonite on the 1803 no smell and no ooze but it's deep sprayed with alcohol patched with sulphur alcohol paste and put fan on wasn't going to measure till Saturday but it mite be done so today was dap 38 OTT 319

Just keep those leaves healthy and it will keep cruising. Nice numbers.

1803 Hoelke 7 day average 39 lbs could be a new PB fingers crossed

They do look similar Ryan but I don't think I can top yours lol

This is the 1585 Werner at day 27 240 OTT this plant is high maintenance lots of sunburned leaves and we haven't had a lot of sun and it doesn't like the wind either

looks good dan. very similar shape and colour to mine last year.

This is the split in the main on the 1803 that happened in early June from a wind storm about 3 feet ahead of the stump, I was going to pull the plant but John Vincent said he had seen a lot worse glad I listened

1803 Hoelke starting to pick back up after a couple cool days and lots of cool nites

Sorry forgot to mention that's the 1803 Hoelke

Going to be nice and orange.

215lbs

I have a fruit at 211 inches at day 20 how much is that?

Can someone tell me where I can get an updated measuring chart I've been using one from 2009

Done thanks guys!

I'm with Ryan on this. Trim the crap off & just leave 1 vine to act as your main.

I would just trim it to resemble a normal vine. Keep one secondary and remove the male and extra tendrils. I'd remove the female unless you really want it as backup.