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2004 Pumpkin Diary |
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Due to the fact that I am beginning this web page rather late in the season this page is incomplete |
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September 3 |
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We cut two pumpkins for the state Fair. I cut my biggest as it developed a hole in on Sunday. The pumpkin weighed in at 717 pounds. I was a little dissappointed with the weight as it was under the charts by 40-90# depending on the chart used. Judging will be tomorrow but it should be first place.
Blake cut his small pumpkin. He decided to let his big one grow hoping to get it over 500 pounds. It ended up at 420 pounds and weighed over that charts by 50 pounds. It should be good enough for second at the Fair. |
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Blake with his 420 lb Pumpkin. Not bad for his first attempt |
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717 Christensen 2004 with me and my youngest |
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September 5th, |
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Made it down to the Eastern Idaho State Fair last night, no new entries. Official results
Pumpkins
-First Place- Brian Christensen 717 pounds,(four time defending champ 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004). Officially this pumpkin is Damaged DMG because of the hole in the end. |
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-Second Place Blake Christensen 420 pounds
-Third Place Harold Jorgenson 384 pounds
-Fourth Place Cliff Warren 361 pounds
Squash
-First Place Cliff Warren 361pounds
-Second Place Harold Jorgensnon 191 pounds |
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Tempurature on the thermometer read 32.5 degrees yesterday morning. I had got up at 4 and started the sprinklers. Damage to the plants seemed to have been minimal. This morning at 1:30 temp was still 43 degrees so I turned off the alarm. When I awoke I found that it had frosted again. Wasn't as cold on the thermometer but the damage was more severe because the sprinklers were not on. Most affected are Blake's plant and the 1016. The 927 LaRue is under cover and did fine. It has my biggest pumpkin on it 324" OTT. Gives me an estimated weight of 731 by the new equations or 682 by the old equations. I will continue to use the old equations because my pumpkins almost always weigh light according to the old equations let alone the new ones. For example my 717 is 40 pounds under the old equations, 90 pounds under the new ones. |
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September 7th |
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Measured the big one this morning and was disappointed in the growth. Only 20 pounds over the last three days (down from 43 the three days before). Not quite sure the cause of this. Maybe the fruit is getting "old" but its not quite 60 days so would expect some growth yet, The temps outside have been cool but under the plastic have been close to ideal so not sure if the fault lies here. Possible that the plastic is "blocking" some of the sun and causing the slowdown. Most likely is the Great Pumpkin God doesn't want me to break my old record and is therefore causing the pumpkins growth to slow. Ah.... The joys of growing giants! Will measure again in three days. |
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September 9th |
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Measured this evening because its getting hard to do it before work in the morning. Five day averages 4 pounds/day for Blakes, 8 pounds/day on the 1016 and 735, and 11 pounds per day on the 927. The big one is now estimated at 740 but is getting very difficult to measure because the blossom end is sagging down. So I'm measuring maximum circumfrence so that I can be consistent. Judging by the weight gains it looks like the plastic is paying off with nearly twice the average weight gains per day.
Blake's Pumpkin = 529
1016 = 566
735 = 637
927 = 740
16 days to the weighoff. Estimated weight on the big one could go as high as 900 (doubt it 850 would be great. |
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home |
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September Diary Continued on Next Page |
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