2001 Growers Log - July
Things have been pretty busy and I never did a real update in June. I pollinated the first flower on the Cramer 824 plant 20 days ago and its coming along nicely. Measurement today was 28 inches circumference and 48.5 inches OTT. There are two more pollinated further down the vine but still very small. I've already placed styrofoam underneath the pumpkin as well as the vine to either side of it.
This photo shows the entire plant. The pumpkin can be seen just to the right of center in the photo. The pole at the back is for the web cam which updates a photo of the patch every 10 minutes on my main web page. The quality is not great, and in strong sunlight the image tends to wash out. The best views are when its cloudy out, or in the evening as the sun is setting. The webcam appears to be pretty popular. I've had some days with over 200 hits on the web page which is more than I usually get in a week. With only one plant this year its been much easier to keep the weeds and tertiary vines under control. The tip of the main vine can be seen at the far left the the patch. Rather than terminate it there (as I did last year) I'm leaving a path for the main to to turn back along the fence (to the left of the walking board by the fence) and grow back the length of the garden. I'll be pinching off any secondary vines on the main vine from this point on. Will it make a difference? I guess we'll see in October ;-) I hope to switch the web cam over to the pumpkin itself, but I will wait to see which of the ones pollinated so far does the best before doing so.
I guess the photo says it all. Its been a great week as far as I'm concerned. Todays measurements (Day 27) are 53 inches circumference and 121.5 inches OTT. That a gain of 25 inches circumferences in a week (average 3.57 inches/day) and a 53 inch gain OTT (average 7.57 inches/day). Estimated weight (using OTT table prepared by David Martin, Jan 2001) 44.5 pounds.
Its been another good week in the patch as you can see in the photo above. Current measurements are 77 inches circumference and 173 inches OTT. Estimated weight is 115 pounds for a gain of 70.5 pounds on the week. The black bar at the base of the pumpkin is one foot long. This shade structure will be replaced very shortly since it is too small.
The web cam has been repositioned (see photo above) to look straight at the pumpkin. The view is good most of the time except when it gets too bright (eg. late afternoon with the sun glaring off the fence). One big improvement with the web cam was from a suggestion from Chad Zimmerman from Colby, Kansas , USA who suggested putting the lens from a cheap pair of sunglasses over the webcam lens. As it happens, one of my kids had broken thier sunglasses the day before so I fished them out of the trash (cleaned them up) and removed one lens which I taped over the webcam. Much improved picture! It does not get rid of all the glare but it sure cuts it down considerably. Thanks again for the suggestion Chad!
Seeing the photos of the pumpkin in the tiny shade structure (above) prompted me into action so I built a new shade structure from cpvc pipe, 2 x 4's and an 8 x 10 tarp. Turned out pretty good. We'll have to wait and see if it can stand up to heavy winds. Photos below show the pumpkin uncovered after I removed the small shade (side and back views, black bar is 1 foot long), a view of the whole shade, and finally a shot looking at the pumpkin under the shade.
Its a cloudy rainy afternoon in Medicine Hat. The measurements on the pumpkin this morning (Day 41) were 92 inches circumference and 212 inches OTT for an estimated 201 pounds. That's a gain of 86 pounds over the past week averaging about 12.3 pounds/day.
The nights have been very cool over the past week, although daytime temperatures are still pretty high. Growth for the week is a little slower. Measurements this morning show a circumference of 103 inches and an OTT of 234 inches for an estimated weight of 267 pounds. That's a gain of 66 pounds for this week (down from last weeks 87 pounds) and an average gain of 9.4 pounds per day. The graph below is a comparison of the growth of my 1999 personal best (553.5) and this years pumpkin. As you can see the weight estimates are pretty close in relation to the pollination dates, but since this years was pollinated earlier its about 5 days ahead of the 553.5 by date.
