World Record Falls... twice

Sorry for the guy that was 1845... since Wallace went 2,009 lbs over the weekend...
Big Pumpkins - World Record Pumpkin

Here's others that have come in so far for 2012, as well:
GPC Weigh Results 2012

Looks like Mark and I have a long ways to go... and at least one farm to buy before we get there.  =)

Misc Late Season Updates

Aside- my pepper harvest... round 1 of 2.  Turned into 6 pints of awesome medium green salsa.

One of Mark's leaves... he definitely averaged larger than mine...

As you can see, with still a couple weeks to go, the Arends plant is in serious decline

A friend of mine's kid - look what we found on our farm!  About 65 lbs =)... would be nice to have full sun/space.

Pumpkin hammock working out well for a late season MT 76.0.

Final look for this year's hester... will be coming off the vine this week, as growth has stopped, and most of the plant is dead.

Pumpkin hammock visible in the background, harvested the MT pumpkins on the right and left.

Giant sunflowers turned out great- the one closest is probably 16-18" in diameter.  Will dry, harvest, salt and package the seeds.  =)

Final design for Pumpkin Dolly 2000 - cartop cargo net, and longer dowels to hoist it into the car.  Will test out this week.

MT 76.0 in the back (about 50 lbs), about 35 lbs to the left, and small Prizewinner.  Harvest #2 for salsa batch #2 in the front.

Final chart before weigh off.  We leveled off at about the same time, but unfortunately I couldn't maintain any late growth as my vine started dying.  That will be the key for us in future years, growing the pumpkin throughout September.  OTT measurements indicate that Mark's should fall around 175 lbs, and mine should be about 135 lbs.  Will update following weigh off.

Chart Nerd Update

Slowly closing in for the weigh off... leaves are starting to die off or succumb to mildew now, though.  I think it's probably true that both of us will have about 1 lb or pumpkin for every leaf we grew on the plant.

Pumpkin Transport

The weigh off date is tentatively Oct 3rd, 1 month from now.  Between now and then, I have to figure out a way to transport it, safely, to Mark's house.  After a visit to harbor freight for a basic moving dolly, and some elastic netting, I used other 'found' materials around the house...

Step 1- dolly and cargo net

Step 2 - reinforce the top of the bed

Steps 3-4, reinforce the bottom of the bed, and add handles to lift it into the Jeep.

Step 5 - added padding (thermarest) to keep from too much jarring, and tested cargo net in order to keep the pumpkin in place... but since the pumpkin is about the size of 5-6 basketballs, will need one more cargo net and will tie them together.

Visit from Mark

Mark checked out the pumpkin over the weekend.  After putting a spell on my pumpkin, it only managed 1/2" of growth for the weekend.  With 85-90 degree temps the next several days, however, am hoping to close the final 5" gap between our pumpkins in the last 4 weeks.