Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 20 Entries. Thursday, April 29 View Page Today was the day..I transplanted my two plants. 275 Van Hook and the 1180.5 Pukos. Did all I could. Here they are under cover. Friday, May 14 View Page My poor plant..hail storm May 14 about 4pm...yikes...do you think it will survive? Saturday, May 15 View Page Here is my 1180.5 Pukos,,,I think I see the tip and it looks good. Saturday, May 15 View Page My poor 275 looks dreadful....not sure if the tip got broke or not..but will give it a day or two and may have to replace it. Sunday, May 16 View Page Two days after the big hail storm..main looks good. Sunday, May 16 View Page Here's the other plant, I dont like the look of the hole in the main. Its not allthe way thru but its right at the beginning. I have another plant that could take its place that is not damaged at all, so we need to make a decision. We had more rain today but I made sure my hoops stayed up and I kept an eye on the temp inside. Hopefully no rain on Monday or Tuesday and perhaps the soil will be dry enough to work in. Boy those weeds sure grow fast after a rain. Wednesday, June 16 View Page Here is my patch and my plants look wonderful! Monday, June 21 View Page Can anyone tell me what is wrong with this leaf? Im stumped. Tuesday, June 29 View Page The patch look wonderful. Hopefully it will look this good come August. Two plants each pollinated. Wednesday, July 7 View Page Heres the stump on my 275 where the softball size hail balls hit. Healed up real nice. Saturday, July 10 View Page My 1180.5 Pukos is done for. Went this morning and this is what I found. What a heartbreak. We had a week of over the top temps, 90-100 and then about a 1/2 inch rain yesterday and guess it was just too much. Final measurement was: 106-69-67= 242 OTT. Was gonna be a bird bath. Day 22. I dont know why it grew so dang fast, I hardly gave it anything but kept it soil moist and some kelp. The plant really grew. Main out to about 20 feet, pumpkin set at 16 feet out, sides filled in at 15 feet one each side, nice green color, no disease or insect pressure. I was ready, but guess not this year. Monday, July 12 View Page Heres what it looked like the next day, took a shovel to it and got it out of the patch. I as I tended my plant, I cut off the third vine growth and flowers..so now I have no females..I do see one at the tip of the main..about 10 days from opening, so we shall see what will happen. Might as well grow something on this huge plant. Monday, July 12 View Page Here's a slice from the pumpkin,look at the split ready to happen...there were about 5 or 6 of these all around the inside of the fruit..guess it was gonna split no matter what. Monday, July 12 View Page And if the split wasnt enough for me..here is the main vine, the stem was way too short and when I went to cut it, the main split lengthwise. Thankfully the female flower on the secondary is before this split main. Does it ever end. This year I was going to leave more vine after the fruit for a just in case.. I was also going to have to make a better tarp cover to keep the water out of the bird bath and well, dont have to worry about any of that now. Thursday, July 15 View Page So today, I see these leaves...I have no idea what is happening here. Wasnt it enough that I lost a pumpkin already? LOL If anyone can give me an idea, perhaps I can figure it out. Wednesday, August 11 View Page I cleared out vines from the patch, where I had to cut the main from the stump, I found this on a few of the vines..Can anyone tell me what this is? I do have two small pumpkins growing without a stump. Thursday, August 12 View Page As I was clearing out the patch, I found this... it goes right into my sweet tater row...set a trap and we'll see what we get. I bet its a dang ole rat. My husband got chickens in a chicken tractor and well, Im sure the rat is eating well..LOL Monday, August 30 View Page Logo for Kentucky Giant Pumpkin Growers, designed by Wayne. Sunday, September 19 View Page Jamei Drum aka "Jed" wears the SKUNK CAP with pride. Sunday, November 7 View Page The 511Fraley 2010 (1180.5 Pukos x 275 VanHook) Won the Howard Dill Award at Nancy KY Weigh Off 105-85-79= 269, estimate 416lbs, actual 511 lbs, 23% heavy! Too bad there were no mature seeds inside, guess it had alot of growing still to do but had to cut it for the Weigh Off. DANG, would have grown this one for sure.