Oregon Update

Greetings all you'all pumpkin growers out there, it is time for a stunning 
new addition to your Oregon Update email collection.  Weather has been a 
little strange here this late spring.  Humidity and mild temps have been the 
story.  The plants are doing very well health wise and I am waiting for the 
first catastrophe to happen.  One new thing this year is the arrival of 
striped cucumber beetles.  I have seen three this year and all were killed by 
the same route, pulling the head and spinal cord off followed by slowly 
rolling the ends of fingers together squishing guts and any eggs out of the 
anus of the little devils.  Tally sits at 168 spotted, and 3 striped killed 
dead.  My pupil, Erich, is off to Japan spreading the pumpkin growing hobby 
there, and I will be attending the Ohio Valley Growers patch tour in late 
July/ Eary August which promises to be a blast.  Anyway, its time to get to 
the meat and bones of the update.....
Site Sub Zero...  #560 LaRue is doing fairly well but so far we have not 
clicked.  It is a very stiff plant to work with and is blowing the ends off 
the runners including the main runner.  I have trained a nice secondary to 
replace the main, but still pissed me off.  It has blown off 3 secondaries as 
well.  It does have very thick parts and is about 7 feet long out the main 
line.  
Site Zero...  #990 Bax is doing well.  It is a nice plant to work with, with 
very flexible runners and leaf stalks.  It is about 8 feet long now and 
pushing well.  It does have comparatively small leaves and skinny runners, 
but hey, its there to use as a male pollinator, not a competition plant.  We 
all know how well seeds do with the 990 as a papa.
Site One... #738 Stellpflug is doing well.  Sitting at 9 feet long now and 
thick, flexible, and strong.  Immature females are a dark green.  I am 
setting my goal for this plant at nothing less than the Pacific Northwest 
record for squash.  
                 #900.5 Lyons is also doing well at around 11 feet out now.  
This is also a nice plant to work with larger than average leaves on standard 
vines.  It is still to early to tell whether it will throw squash or 
pumpkins, but the early females are promising for they are dark green.
Site Two...  #469 Hester is doing well.  Out at 8 feet it is thick and nice 
to work with med. to large leaves and thick vines.  This #469 is much greener 
than last years plant and Erichs #469 as well.  
                  #825 Shymanski is doing well.  With a main out 12 feet and 
over 18 feet wide it is my 4th best plant.  It had a beautiful 5 lobe female 
open today, but she had no males to play with her.  It is a nice plant to 
work with some large leaves and medium vines.
Site Three...  Erichs Site, #801.5 Stelts is kicking some.  We have been tag 
teeming this plant since it started showing certain signs.  It is 10 feet 
out, with THICK vines and huge leaves.  We are dicing up the layout of the 
patch to allow this one more room.  How does 26 inch leaves sound?  It is 
nice to work and an eye catcher.
                   #469 Hester is doing well after an overfertilized start.  
It is out 6 feet now and normalizing in cell structure.  med./ large leaves 
and vines.  It is a bit stiff to work with still, but getting better.
                   #737 Stellpflug is doing okay.  A little too much tweeking 
by the rookie cracked the main, but it is still plugging along at 5 feet.  It 
is a very thick and beefy plant though.
Site Four...  #879 Holland is sitting as my third largest plant.  It is 
skinny vine wise with rather small leaves, but so was my #827 Holland last 
year that could pump 40 pounds a day into the fruit.  It is easy to work with 
out to 18 feet wide and 14 feet out the main runner.
                  #866 Mombert is doing poorly, no doubt about it.  Darn it.  
It has ribbon vine on the main runner that I am dealing with and the 
secondaries are sluggish due to the main sucking so much juice from the 
plant.  I will set a pumpkin on the main and then try something to fix the 
ribbon vine.  It is out 6 feet.
Site Five...  #946.5 Geerts is doing well.  Not among my best, but steady and 
easy to work with medium foliage and vines.  It is out 8 feet now.
Site Six...  #475 Hester is doing well.  It is three weeks behind the rest 
and already has a 4 foot runner with the thickest main vine in the patch.  
Nice large leaves and easy to work.
                 #697 Ciliberto.  Ouch.  Out 15 feet, 14 feet wide and thick 
vines and large leaves, it is number one here as of today.  Knockin on wood!!!
Site #7...  #935 Lloyd is a carbon copy of the #946.5 Geerts.  It is almost 
freaky how much the two plants look alike.  Steady  and easy to work.
Site P-1...  #720 Hester is doing well, it is Thick with large leaves and 
vines and out 10 feet.  It is easy to work with and showing itself to be a 
possibility for a whole site to itself next year.
Site P-2...  #449 Marcellus is doing well and is my second best plant.  it is 
out 13 feet and is filling out its little pollinator site rapidly.  It is 
nice to work and nice to have around.
Well there you have it, Thats Oregon for ya.  Take Care, and good luck to all.
Brett The Pumpkinguru Hester               

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