Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 76 Entries. Tuesday, January 28 View Page Hi guys. It's been a long time since I kept a diary on this site. I did this for the first time in 2017, and then I grew Russia's first giant pumpkin. This year I will try to be less lazy and take regular notes. A lot has changed over the years. In 2024, I grew the heaviest pumpkins in Russia, weighing 1801lb and 1700 lb, among others. I don't want to stop there, and this year my goal is to break the 2205lb mark. To do this, I am building a greenhouse and have acquired many good seeds. My favorite will be the 2365 wolf seed. I'll show you the other seeds later. Also this year, I am the co-organizer of the Russian Giant Pumpkin Growing Championship, the final of which will be held in the first half of September.   Tuesday, January 28 View Page My pumpkins of 2024 663.5 Chusov 2024 (970 Schlaefke х 2319 Stoeckl) 150 Challenge   Tuesday, January 28 View Page 699 Chusov 2024 (2319.3 Stoeckl х Self)   Tuesday, January 28 View Page 1115.5 Chusov 2024 (1042.8 Molek x 2319.3 Stoeckl)   Tuesday, January 28 View Page 1700 Chusov 2024 (893 Chusov x 2319 Stoeckl)   Tuesday, January 28 View Page 1801 Chusov 2024 (2183 Mendi x Self) Russian largest pumpkin   Tuesday, January 28 View Page HA HA   Tuesday, January 28 View Page And now I want to show you some photos from the exhibition of giant pumpkins in the Moscow Botanical Garden.   Tuesday, January 28 View Page more photo   Tuesday, January 28 View Page more photo   Tuesday, January 28 View Page more photo   Tuesday, January 28 View Page more photo   Tuesday, January 28 View Page And this is me and my onion, which weighed 7.3lb. Russia's Heaviest onion   Wednesday, January 29 View Page You have to plant a giant onion before anyone else. My onion is 70 days old, it looks good. Significantly better than last year.   Wednesday, January 29 View Page A 120-watt LED illuminates it 11 hours a day. I water it every day with a complex mineral fertilizer of 800 ppm. I give you amino acids once a week.   Thursday, January 30 View Page I decided to try to grow a giant watermelon right at home in winter. To do this, I use 600 watts of light and a 100-liter growbag. He now weighs 39 lb.   Thursday, January 30 View Page As you can see, my 893 pumpkin grew into my 1700 pumpkin. I am ready to send several sets to those people who definitely want to plant pumpkin seeds 893. Just write your comment under this entry and I will be able to send them to the first 4. I can also put some seeds from my pumpkins this year in these kits. But only 4 sets. I tried to send seeds to the USA and European countries, everything worked out. I will send the seeds for free.   Saturday, February 1 View Page Today I transplanted my onion into 5-liter bags. And last year, my onion was 4 times smaller at this time.   Monday, February 3 View Page My giant homemade watermelon feels good. I will cut it off in 1.5 months.   Tuesday, February 4 View Page I'm talking about giant pumpkins on the Moscow radio. I think that's exactly what people want to hear about at 9 a.m. on their way to work Ha-Ha   Wednesday, February 12 View Page My giant onion is 83 days old and it looks good. I don't know how it will end up in the end, but so far I like it.   Thursday, February 13 View Page If you can plant only two pumpkins, which of these seeds would you choose?   Sunday, February 16 View Page The construction of my 1,722 square foot greenhouse has begun.   Wednesday, February 19 View Page I think you know what that means! This year, the first GPC weigh-in in Russia will take place!   Friday, February 21 View Page My greenhouse is almost ready. I want to plant two pumpkins in it, allocating 860 square feet for each. Do you think 860 square feet is enough for a pumpkin to gain a mass of 2200lb+?   Tuesday, February 25 View Page My greenhouse is almost ready, it remains to cover it. I plan to plant 2 pumpkins in it and 5 more pumpkins will grow in the open air.   Thursday, February 27 View Page The giant homemade watermelon already weighs 58 pounds. I put him on the scales to monitor his progress.   Friday, March 7 View Page Yesterday, I transplanted a giant onion into 60-liter growbags. I use white peat and agroperlite. Surprisingly, it's a warm spring, but the nights are still cold. I put a heater in the greenhouse to keep the onions warm.   Friday, March 7 View Page The onion is about 106 days old. This is the second year I've been trying to grow a giant onion.   Sunday, March 23 View Page My greenhouse is ready. Tomorrow I will germinate 2365 and 2020! I'm very worried. But in any case, I have spare top seeds.   Sunday, March 23 View Page At night, the temperature outside dropped to -13 degrees Celsius, but the temperature in the greenhouse did not drop below 7 degrees Celsius. The onion continues to grow. This is my second attempt to grow a giant onion, last time the largest onion weighed 3325 grams. I wonder how much weight you'll get this time.,   Monday, March 24 View Page Soaked the seeds. After about 6 hours, I'll bury them in a pot and keep the temperature at 30 degrees Celsius. I think everything will be fine. The first sowing is in 2365 and 2020. The next sowing will be in a week, and then on April 14th. I plant 7 pumpkins in total, 2 of them in the greenhouse.   Sunday, March 30 View Page 2365 go, go, go! 2266 more sprouted.   Sunday, March 30 View Page Yesterday I dripped the heating cable. There have been warm days, but a cold snap is expected ahead. I don't think it will harm my plans.   Friday, April 4 View Page Today I installed a hoophouse and turned on the soil heating. I was thinking of planting the pumpkins in 7 days.   Friday, April 4 View Page Pumpkin babies are doing well. On the left are sprouts from my seeds, which I planted a little earlier.   Monday, April 7 View Page A typical spring in Russia... Just kidding, it's actually a weather anomaly. A lot of snow fell and it became very cold.   Monday, April 7 View Page My greenhouse was covered with snow. I wasn't prepared for such a snowfall, but everything seems to be fine.   Monday, April 7 View Page The giant onion is doing well. He is warm and he continues to grow. The base circumference is 12 inches.   Wednesday, April 9 View Page A great winter day for pumpkin transplanting   Wednesday, April 9 View Page Despite the snow, it is comfortable inside the greenhouse. It cannot be otherwise, because the ground is heated by a cable, the air is heated by an infrared heater, and LED lamps make up for the lack of light.   Wednesday, April 9 View Page On the right sits a pumpkin sprout 2266.   Wednesday, April 9 View Page At this time of the year, I don't see the point in additional lighting. But because of the layer of snow that is on the roof of my greenhouse, it is very dark inside.   Thursday, April 10 View Page Today I managed to knock most of the snow off the roof.   Thursday, April 10 View Page 1 - the temperature in a large greenhouse. 2 - temperature in the pumpkin hoopehouse 3 - outdoor temperature. Indicators in Celsius.   Thursday, April 10 View Page And here he is, 2365 Wolf. A backup pumpkin from my seeds is planted nearby. She's a little older, so she's bigger.   Saturday, April 12 View Page I have installed a camera that will record the timelapse of pumpkin growth.   Saturday, April 12 View Page There is no snow on the greenhouse anymore, the sun has returned. There are two pumpkins growing here, 2266 and 2365.   Saturday, April 12 View Page There's still snow outside. But in a few days, I'll plant a 2147 Marshall pumpkin in this hoopehouse.   Saturday, April 12 View Page This is a pumpkin sprout 2020 Paton. It is the only one that sprouted from 4 seeds and its root and cotyledons immediately rotted by half. But as you can see, he has survived and is starting to grow, I think I can find a place for him.   Sunday, April 13 View Page The giant onion inspires hope. I've been taking very little care of him for the last month. Watering once every 4 days. I was away most of the time, so I didn't even air it out.   Sunday, April 13 View Page I completely forgot to tell you that I cut a giant homemade watermelon.   Sunday, April 13 View Page His weight was 29.7 kg (65.5 lb).   Monday, April 14 View Page 2365   Monday, April 14 View Page 2266   Monday, April 14 View Page These are the main fertilizers that I will use. This is a local Russian manufacturer of Buisk Fertilizers. There is a complex fertilizer for the soil, water-soluble fertilizers with auxins at once, individual trace elements in chelated form and much more. A total of almost 850 kg.   Tuesday, April 15 View Page And this is a 2177 Ford. I want to say thank you to Jim, Ruben and Eduard for this seed. Guys, if it wasn't for you, it would never have made it this far to Russia.   Wednesday, April 16 View Page Today I discovered that one onion has split. I'm going to plant a giant Sutherland tomato in her groubag.   Wednesday, April 16 View Page I hope I have enough onion for at least one to reach the finish line.   Wednesday, April 16 View Page 2365   Wednesday, April 16 View Page Today I planted pumpkin 2147. I want to say thank you to Dale Marshall for this seed.   Thursday, April 17 View Page 2266   Friday, April 18 View Page 2365 grows a very strong pumpkin.   Tuesday, April 22 View Page It feels like 2365 is growing too fast. The plant is 23 days old.   Tuesday, April 29 View Page It's cloudy now, there's no sun. This is what 2266 looks like today. The plant is 29 days old.   Tuesday, April 29 View Page The 2365 looks much more powerful. The plant is 30 days old. It is 7.2 feet long.   Wednesday, April 30 View Page Today I planted a pumpkin 2177 Ford.   Thursday, May 15 View Page My 2365 plant. The plant is 45 days old and in a week I will pollinate the pumpkin.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page Hello everyone. Summer hasn't arrived yet, and I've already pollinated two pumpkins. 2365x2266 2266x2365. Pumpkin 2147 will bloom in 10 days.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page Plant 2365 looks good. I noticed that in the greenhouse the leaves do not burn in the sun and do not even wither.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page The secondary vines look pretty   Tuesday, May 27 View Page Here is 2266 for 2 dap. This is twice as much as it was 2365 for 2 dap. I know it doesn't mean anything, but it's always quite exciting at first. Every day you approach a pumpkin in the hope that it has gained a lot of weight, but it has grown just a little bit. You begin to convince yourself that it's not the time yet and very soon she will grow up properly. Especially depressing is the fact that in the first 20 days the difference between pumpkins can be huge. I always want the pumpkin to start growing quickly as early as possible.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page Plant 2266 looks much more modest than 2365. The leaves are smaller and the vines are thinner. They grow up side by side and receive the same nutrition, but develop in completely different ways.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page 2147 will grow in the open ground. It's warm days now, and it's good for him. In 10 days I will pollinate a female flower, I hope everything goes well.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page My biggest onion at the moment. The circumference is 22 inches and the height is 18 inches.   Saturday, May 31 View Page 2365 Dap10