LET THE GAMES BEGIN FOR 1998 ...

Hello All.. as I see some recent talk of Florida and the Southern Cup
Challenge... I thought I'd drop a quick note... Trying to get a jump on
the season here -- I have started a few seeds --- and am glad to see a
Brock 702 & 599 -- and a "Snowed-In" Shellie Cramer 550 - quickly come
up... 

Unable to bare the thought of only growing two plants here --- I have
luckily found a local farm (Hunsader's -- www.hunsaderfarms.com) that
has been very willing and helpful in putting in a few EXTRA plants --

I had two different plantings there last year -- March thru ??? May --
and another crop July thru October... The March planting was wrecked
with a late April very heavy rain (10" in 3 days) --- the field I was in
was partly to mostly flooded... a severe rot set in and all was
eventually lost... --- The plants looked and grew very well thou... so
I'm excited that things may turn out much better this time... 

My July planting went pretty good --- very nice big plants --- but the
fruit wouldn't catch up to the plant size for some reason... I lost a
few 200's but did have a number of 100-150's  --- The warm climate
during this time could have been a factor with fruit size.. The
Hunsaders report that there Big Max fruit were way below normal size as
well...

Anyway... I still feel this early part of the year may offer the best
hope for a nice giant(s)... I'll be trying a number of plants at the
farm and hope to get an early look at some of last years stock.. 

I've also been trying to beef up the soil here at home ---- just tilled
in a nice cover crop of winter rye... hopefully the soil is somewhat in
balance and I might have a couple of nice plants get going for me here.. 

Ever since my initial January - June '96 459 -- I've had trouble
producing at the house.. This year thou I'm hoping to give it a good
effort and maybe break into the 500 bracket... I'm hoping to start some
seeds near monthes end for the 2 small gardens here... (Hopefully Brock
will have some good suggestions by then that he can relay to me )

Joe -- you'll need to have that Cup ready by June --- and I'll pass it
up the SouthEast Coast as the year goes by... I'm excited to see Barb on
board now and gearing up for a good season... I think that puts the
grand total of Florida growers up to two now.. I've been trying to push
the Glasier's to join us down here --- and predict they'll make over
this way by the year 2005-2010 


Seriously thou.. I'm looking forward to this season... but am also
interested in seeing all of you have a super year too... 

I would also like to again thank the many growers that have helped me
along the way and who have also been very generous with seed... 
I'm also glad to see a very good interest and input from the group
which  makes this sport/hobby much more interesting and colorful...(via
the net)

Anyway... I'll try to keep everyone posted a bit...(wish me luck ---
maybe a prayer or three)  Thanks for all the help.. Good Luck to
everyone this year...

Tim,

Florida --- where giant pumpkin growing is practically 24-7-365

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