state fair

[iowa hawkeyes]

Was a good one. Kids entered 6 divisions in 4H and won all 6. The last pic is neat b/c the winners are on a pedestal and the closest 4 are ours.

I also entered a few and won 1 div. and reserve in another.

 

[Jogeephus]

I gotta ask, how do you judge a pumpkin?

 

[iowa hawkeyes]

the class with the 2 big punkins was strictly by weight. Normally though there are criteria for judging all fruits and veggies. Punkins are supposed to have a 2" stem and be clean and fault free. The Long Island Cheese (the flat tan one) was an exceptional example.

 

[Jogeephus]

I figured there was some guidlelines. Never bothered growing pumpkins here cause white flies and powdery mildew is a big problem with them here. Have you ever tried growing that giant pumpkin? I tried the giant melon but it didn't work out. Gonna try that one again.

 

[Fred]

Congrats on your pumpkins. Great pictures.

 

[iowa hawkeyes]

Sorry I didn't reply sooner. We went on vaca to the Black Hills and school started today. I don't really try to grow 1 big one. I try to grow lots of pretty big ones. :) Just picked two loads today. It's finally dried out enough and I think the best bet is to pick the ones that are ready and put them in the car port thing outside.

 

[Jogeephus]

What did they ever do about the sales tax on pumpkins? I forgot.

 

[iowa hawkeyes]

Our esteemed governor repealed that little law. One of his finer days I must say. BTW, so my first punkin of the season today!

 

[alisonb]

By reading your previous thread it sounded like you were not going to get any pumkins out never mind take any to the fair, well done.
Does the Mosaic Virus occur around there? I am unable to plant any of the cucurbit family here because of the virus. It causes something like 'lumpy skin desease' :shock: . I understand that only very cold weather conditions will kill off the virus.

 

[iowa hawkeyes]

By reading your previous thread it sounded like you were not going to get any pumkins out never mind take any to the fair, well done.
Does the Mosaic Virus occur around there? I am unable to plant any of the cucurbit family here because of the virus. It causes something like 'lumpy skin desease' :shock: . I understand that only very cold weather conditions will kill off the virus.

During the growing season I tend to be a little pessimistic, but this definitely has been my most challenging season. We had a very warm (not too hot though) and very, very wet summer. Now the vines are starting to show powdery mildew (normal) even though we sprayed. I think there is way more foliage this year too and I'm not seeing as many punkins. I don't have Mosiac too bad in my new seed that I plant. I will see it in the volunteer punkins/gourds that come up. Sometimes those volunteers are very pretty and usually sell well.
It'll be interesting to see what I really have out there, it's pretty much a jungle right now. I have the big fair in 2 weeks so I have to start picking next week for that.

 

[3waycross]

By reading your previous thread it sounded like you were not going to get any pumkins out never mind take any to the fair, well done.
Does the Mosaic Virus occur around there? I am unable to plant any of the cucurbit family here because of the virus. It causes something like 'lumpy skin desease' :shock: . I understand that only very cold weather conditions will kill off the virus.

We have a lot of trouble with Powdery Mildew. This year is started on my Zuchinni and is working it's way through all the squash and cukes pretty quick.