Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 100 Entries. Monday, April 21 View Page Hi everyone, here's my first entry for 2008. We are WAYYY behind weather wise here. The frost just came out of a north facing concrete apron last night here at my house. Still ice on most of the lakes. No patch pics here yet so here's one of my pets from last hunting season. Unfortunately he's no longer with us. Monday, April 21 View Page Here's another shot. I had 6 consecutive pictures of this deer within 6 minutes. All great shots. Unfortunately he's no longer with us either! I ate my tag last year which is rather common. Let em go so they can grow!! Monday, April 21 View Page Oh yeah...this is a giant pumpkin site! A few major changes this year. First off we are back to tilling. We have a 4 man joint effort going this year. 19 plants between all of us. 4 different patches. Plenty of $$ in amendments / pesticides. Everything is on a firm calandar. Unfortunately we already fell off the bandwagon due to sloppy untillable patches!! We are ready to rock and roll. Besides some minor soil tweaks I don't believe we have excuses this year. Need a little help from Ma Nature though. Tuesday, April 22 View Page Just because there has been a bit of interest in the deer. The 10 pointer scored about 142 gross inches (with all points fully intact). The 13 pointer was about 139" gross. Monday, April 28 View Page Started 26 seeds between the 3 of us this weekend. Special thanks (in no particular order): C&P George and Becky Drew Brooks Scott Ron And of course Joe for the ringer....YESSSS it germinated! Wednesday, April 30 View Page As of this morning everything has cracked the soil except for my 772 and 1073. I have plenty of 1073's and will start more today. 772's are scarce....C'MON BABY!!! Thursday, May 1 View Page Unfortunately the 772 didn't survive. I think I may have had my media a HAIR to damp. 7-8 are thriving, but of course it had to be my favorite that didn't make it. Just a little tiny rotted root poking out of the shell and I'm well aware what rotted roots look like! Started some more backups this morning. Trying to fast track another 772. Monday, May 5 View Page Here's my gnarly looking 998. Pretty cold here for transplanting, but it's time. Friday, May 9 View Page I was DEAD SET on growing a 772 Poirier this year. Out of over 20 seeds I started every single one came up fine except BOTH my 772's :( Unfortunately I banked so heavily on that seed that I still have an open spot in my patch. Plan is to grow the 1046 Bowles which is also very orange, but also has the benefit of heavy. I'll be planting it alongside a 1445 Marsh (1407 cross) and letting them race. Friday, May 9 View Page Picture above is the 772 after 8 days in the pot. Nice club and it just stuck. Not even starting to split the seed. It may have done so eventually, but we are plain old out of time here. I started that seed last Thursday and 6 others Sunday. The Sunday seeds were ALL up in 4-5 days while the 772 was still in the dirt :( I'm beyond disappointed. On a positive note all my others look great. Loooong road ahead. Thursday, May 15 View Page Here's my 3 year old's first crack at her own pumpkin. Of course Dad will help, but this is HER plant. This is 24 hours after emergence. Out of over 20 seeds started either the #1 or 2 most vigorous (behind a 748 Pukos). Go figure. It's a 183 Bossworth. She LOVES Cinderella so we are growing something for her with Cenderella genetics that can still go big and orange. Thursday, May 15 View Page Also should mention my daughter LOVED Kevin Marsh's 1445 at Stillwater last year (1407 cross). It had a GIANT sag which made a perfect seat. Therefore she refers daily to the "sit pumpkin." She begs me to grow her a sit pumpkin! I told her you never know what shape they can be and she's starting to understand (I hope). Though I do not have a 1407 I do have a 1445 in my patch. It's currently in a drag race with a 1046 Bowles. Tuesday, May 27 View Page Big storms here this weekend. Baseball sized hail 5 miles from my house. I was on pins and needles watching 3/8" hail hit my hoops. Thankfully nothing shredded. A few others in the area weren't as lucky and sustained some pretty severe plant damage. 37 here this morning and now it's becoming obvious that we are falling behind. We need HEAT. Still not a single 80 degree day this year. I'd say 2-3 nights max with lows above 50. Thursday, June 5 View Page My best plant the 1068P was just wiped out by a nice storm. The wind literally uprooted my 12" deep buried fence posts (snow fence). Hoop slid right across the 5' long plant and flipped it over and sheared all the secondaries off. Roots sticking straight up! Somehow the tip survived. I threw a pile of dirt on the main and left it. One year anniversary of my big storm damage from last year....grrrrrrr. This folks is why they make BEER!!!! :( Friday, June 6 View Page 1068P with it's own personal compost pile. I have 2 large hoops and 4 small hoops. So 998 and 1073 had to stay in the weather last night. Their fences held so no wind damage, but they are full of bullet holes from hail :( Friday, June 6 View Page Hers's my 1402 Bos. Very nice plant. Notice no sticks to train vines. I do use them a little, but I also don't like the idea of stabbing all my nice roots with sticks when it's really not needed at all to get a nice plant...so we'll go with that theory this year. Once I get secondaries out past the roots of the basal crown I'll use more sticks if needed. Friday, June 6 View Page I believe with all the crap weather we are only about 4-5 days behind with most plants. I have a couple that are probably 10 days behind. Monday, June 16 View Page Here's what I do to TRY to prevent wind damage. It's been tough here. We have had 2 nights with 50ish+ east winds here. Very very rare to get big east winds. Saturday night we had 60ish gusts from the west. I basically have all plants surrounded by fence, but it's still not enough. The big gusts Saturday night split my 998 main vine....ouch. Monday, June 16 View Page Also of note I spotted my FIRST cuke of the season Saturday. I have not sprayed a contact pesticide yet and have no plans to do so in the immediate future. Last year I'm certain they came in May. Monday, June 16 View Page Hers's the 998. Looking NNE in this picture you can see why we deal with wind. I'm on top of a small hill in the middle of farm country. I due have a good wind block of fence line to my south. Plant is about 9' and I believe I've only lost one or 2 secondaries on this plant due to wind....yes that's a good thing here. Monday, June 16 View Page Change of plan. I saw a cuke eating a leaf on the 998. He wasn't dead so here comes the first shot of contact about 3 weeks behind schedule. Tuesday, June 17 View Page Kailey's 183 as of last night. Just laying down. She likes pruning males. Unfortunately she struggled to differentiate between flowers and secondaries and we sacrificed a secondary as a learning lesson. Oh well....I've lost secondaries on all the competition plants. We are just hoping to get a solid orange fruit on the 183. How will explain to her if the thing splits :( Thursday, June 19 View Page 1073 C&P last year June 19th. This was shot just days before she went down to Pythium. Thursday, June 19 View Page And 1073 this year June 19th. Easy to now see how far behind I think about everyone is. We went from one extreme to the other. This plant looks much more beaten than the pic shows also. Lots of torn, bent / nasty leaves. Plant is about 7'. I think the 19th last year I was out 15++. If that's the case this plant is very near 2 weeks behind last year. YIKES!!!!! The real scary part is I have 2 other plants much much smaller than this as you can see one through the fence. Thursday, June 19 View Page Oh and just so everyone knows if you want to bait rabbits plant sunflowers. Little buggers have eaten every single one out of my patch and seem to have even spared several rows of beans! Just about ready to swap liquid fence for an alloy....but I do like bunnies :) Friday, June 27 View Page Plants now in FAST GROWTH stage. To this point I have been culling all females. No pollinating yet. I have females opening in the next couple days and those will be my "OH Chit" pumpkins in case the next one down the line fails. Otherwise my keepers are still in the tips for the most part and will be ready around the 4th or so. Should have PLENTY of beef pushing fruit behind my 4 biggest plants. I think I'm going to hold out until about the 10th for my smaller 2 plants. Friday, June 27 View Page Also of note I did notice just very subtle hints of yellowing on a few 1402 leaves this morning....which scares the heck out of me after last year. I was on schedule for another preventative spray and I hope there isn't anything there to prevent. Friday, June 27 View Page On a most positive note my 1073 has absolutely gone hog wild growing vines. It has gone from easily my 4th largest to as big as anything in a matter of about 3 days. Just about ready to bust out the whip to try and tame the beast! Monday, June 30 View Page Plants are looking great so far. Pollinated a 1068P this morning with a 1445 Marsh (1407 cross). Tell me that's not a HOT HOT HOT cross! I don't even want to post how far from the crown I'm pollinating as nobody in WI will believe me :) Monday, June 30 View Page Spotted what I'm certain was my first SVB today. Stupid me thought I had a bumble bee land on me so I swatted and missed and as it flew away I saw orange and black. I dare those grubs to take just one bite. Thursday, July 3 View Page 672 x 998 1073 x 998 Thursday, July 3 View Page I believe I'm going to lose my 998.6 plant. I had a massive main vine split as a result of wind. I have done everything I could to keep it dry, but it's finally beginning to fill with sludge and get soft on the bottom. Plant is still growing awesome for now, but I'm afraid that may come to an end. On vacation now for 3 days. Bleach / fan and we'll see when I get back! Thursday, July 3 View Page Kailey with the 183. First female and first male. ....complete with Dora bandaid and undies! Monday, July 7 View Page 998 x self this morning. Only 6 lobe I've ever seen. Wednesday, July 9 View Page 672 x 998 lobe 1068 x 998 4 lobe 998 x self 5 lobe All nice looking flowers and all should be the last pollinations on competition plants. Thursday, July 10 View Page Had to do surgery on the 998 main last night. It would be dry for a day then fill with foam. Even with captan / fan. I cut the bottom out and opened the split up with a rock. In theory this should prevent rot, but we'll see. Still need to get a fruit set! Thursday, July 10 View Page I ran home at 11:00 to shut off the sprinkler. 1/2" of water. Noticed a small bleed area on the 1402 fruit. Ran home again at noon and it was a little more than a bleed area! Holy crap I was wondering what that explosion was that I heard from work!!!! All the time I've spent on the plant and unfortunately I believe my other set will abort. Could be done with the 1402. Friday, July 11 View Page 183 Bosworth day 6. This is a nearly perfectly round little ball. Beauty. 183 x 998. I planned on culling in favor of a 183 x 1046, BUT not sure I could explain that to the kid! We'll see. I don't really feel the need for a 998 cross...but it was what I had. I wanted ORANGE. Kailey is becoming a true grower however because when I showed her the "other" fruit this morning she asked why hers isn't that big!! Rut ro. Friday, July 11 View Page 0.7" of rain yesterday / last night total. Add that to the .5" I watered yesterday morning (I always assume it won't rain here) and I have a little more than I'm comfortable with...especially after 1402's demise :) 95 and humid today....YIKES!!! Monday, July 14 View Page We had another nasty storm Friday night. Once agian growers in Deer Park did not fare well. About 75% of Joe's plants were flattened like pancakes and all fruit look like they were rubbed with sandpaper. He's on vacation for a week which is probably best for him. That leaves me to whip things back into shape. A have a nice pile of plant parts going and hope to have things looking pretty ship shape by the time he gets back. His plants will end up with the spider pruning method though that wasn't the original plan :) Monday, July 14 View Page On the other hand my plants are looking great. One spot was flattened Friday night and we had 40ish gusts all weekend so it was hard to keep stuff down. Fruit look ok :) and after this week hopefully we will have all keepers on fabric and ready to roll. Tuesday, July 15 View Page Looking pretty decent in the patch. I'm running 3 patches while 2 slackers are on vacation. Only 18 plants so a piece of cake :( I have fabric set on 4 plants. Culling an early set on my 672 then fabric will go under the second pollination (10 days old) soon. The second was 3" smaller than the first on D10, but that doesn't concern me. I like the fact that it will have a ton of plant for later feeding. Tuesday, July 15 View Page I might post some pics soon or not :) We'll see how things go. It seems like everyone wants to sandbag this year so I may as well join the party. The 1046 is a beauty. Bright yellow already. Might have to take pictures of that one. Keeper set is a 5 lobe. Second one down the main was a PERFECT 6 lobe. Too bad that one wasn't first...a little late for my liking. Without looking for sure I believe all my keepers are 5 lobes except the 998. 998 is a 6 lobe...and perfect. Vine split did dry nicely...for now. Tuesday, July 15 View Page Borer in secondary 998. Went in near the base of a leaf then took our part of the vine. Completly severed leaf and some wilting downstrean clued me in. Merit / Talstar and still that little sucker ate. Hmmmm. Saturday, July 19 View Page 183 Day 14. This is a BEAUTY but will not grow to it's potential due to vine positioning...or lack thereof. I will probably cut the stem most of the way and let it go or completely remove. Two more down the line will be keepers for sure. Was 25" on D10...and growing VERY well now. Saturday, July 19 View Page Here's the 1046, also growing very well now. Not even the tiniest nick in the skin....hoping to keep it immaculate looking. Tough with a 1 year old and 3 year old in the patch, but this is going to be a show stopper. The skin looks fake it's sooo shiny :) Saturday, July 19 View Page Still trouble setting on the 1402. That's the only plant without a growing fruit. 998 is a HUUUUGE beautiful plant, but pumpkin is still young. Fabric sand set on all growing fruit, all vines behind fruit terminated but a select few. Monday, July 21 View Page More storm damage. 50ish winds rolled a few of my oldest vines...the ones with finger thick tappers! Oh well. Not sure how plants that look old now will fare in September, but you do what you can. Monday, July 21 View Page 998 aborted. My perfect 6 lober with a dozen keeper secondaries each side pushing the fruit....dohhhhh. Most beautiful plant I've ever grown also! Unfortulately the growth out near the main tip isn't looking very good. The good news is this plant backs up to my 1073 which is growing "a little bit." Monday, July 21 View Page 998 aborted. My perfect 6 lober with a dozen keeper secondaries each side pushing the fruit....dohhhhh. Most beautiful plant I've ever grown also! Unfortulately the growth out near the main tip isn't looking very good. The good news is this plant backs up to my 1073 which is growing "a little bit." Only the stong survive I guess. Monday, July 28 View Page RIP 998.6. Pulled the plant this weekend. It was not growing and didn't look good. Probably sending a sample to the lab today. 4 pumpkins are a go so far. If my 1046 makes it through it's going to be a beauty. Shot of 1046 from the deck yesterday morning. Monday, July 28 View Page Also of note we have (3) 672 fruit going in the area here. All 3 doing well. Not sure if anyone else has one going??? Wednesday, July 30 View Page We finished cutting the #1 off the 183 Bosworth Saturday. Even after starting to cut the stem at about D15 it still finished estimating exactly 100#. #2 and #3 taking off. #2 is longER shape, but appears that it will have dill rings...ish. Wednesday, July 30 View Page I believe I'm going to be down to 3 nice pumpkins. Here's the show stopper. Wednesday, July 30 View Page Nice background in this pic with farm in the distance. 672 of my own. 1030 x 1231. Showing some color. D25 for both 1046 and 672 today. Neither will be posting real big #'s by the first of August. Wednesday, July 30 View Page Here's round 2 (and round 3 if you look close) at the 183. One challenge is 2 and 3 have VERY short (1") stems. #2 also appears to be developing dill rings...like 3 of them! I think my 1 year old walked away with my popsicle stick, but I believe pollination was the 10th +- a day. 3 year old was never an issue in the patch...very coordinated. At 1.5 years old Amber has gotten 3 main tips this season and a couple secondaries. Thursday, July 31 View Page 1402 Bosworth + 1/2" water = split. Both sets on this plant split at about D12 after watering. Not sure what the deal is. This was also a very nice sized fruit...though ugly. Plant goes to the burn pile this weekend. 4 plants left, 3 decent pumpkins. Sunday, August 3 View Page 1068 is toast. I'm 99% sure it's pythium. Roots rotted almost completely from the crown. I've been doing preventative sprays, but apparently to no avail on this plant. I'm fairly sure 998 went down to the same thing...though cannot verify at this time. 1402 which backed up to 1068 less than 4' away looked perfect and had a MASSIVE crown. I couldn't set a fruit so pulled 1068, 1402 today. Down to 2 plants in my primary patch. 3 competion fruit remain. I was hoping to have 3 fruit for weigh-off...but things ain't looking pretty here! Sunday, August 3 View Page The good news is 1073, 1046 and 672 are still growing. Not super with the cooler weather (I hope it's the weather), but they are growing. 1073 plant looks questionable in a few spots, but perfect in others...scarily it backed up to the 998. D30 for 1046 and 672 tomorrow. Monday, August 4 View Page More bad news....then there were 2. 1073 split this morning. BUMMER!!! This was a big pumpkin folks...maybe when I recover I will disclose a bit more info :( Caulked for now, but not sure how long I want to leave the salt in the wound :( :( Monday, August 4 View Page 1402 crown. No pumpkin so it got the yank. Once agian thanks Brooks for the seed. It was fun while it lasted. This is some biiig plumbing. And it's still early! Monday, August 4 View Page 1402 main vine about 14' from the crown where my first set was. Still huge and there were roots out here bigger in diameter than my thumb! Unreal. Very healthy looking root system on this plant, but leaves were questionable. To the lab it goes for diagnostic. Tuesday, August 5 View Page Shot of Kailey's 183 on her 4th birthday. Estimating over 200# now. As of now this little plant has grown about 350# of pumpkin. Pretty impressive IMO. Tuesday, August 5 View Page Still bummin about the 1073, but the hurt isn't so bad. Estimating well into the 600's. We'll see if she wants to keep growing. Thursday, August 7 View Page 183 is impressive. As mentioned before I'm not exactly sure of pollination date, but it should be about July 10. That would make today D28. Fruit is taping 230" or 265#. HOLY COW. That's after growing a 100# fruit upstream and one on the vine downstream right now that's over 100#. This thing isn't supposed to throw size is it??? Lol. Tuesday, August 12 View Page Little update. The 183 will break 400 in the next 2 days. Once again that's with a 150# sucker downstream. Averaging over 20 / day. 1046 is giving me stem fits. Found first signs of rot today, but nothing major. Fan / daconil and back in business....I hope. The pumpkin leans way forward which is really pulling on the vine and it's tough to keep up. Weather has been tricky as well. 47 degree lows Sunday / Monday. Ish. Talk about putting on the brakes. Wednesday, August 13 View Page One word.....Disaster. I lost BOTH pumpkins last night. 1" of rain and they both blew the blossom. I just don't know folks. 3 years growing. 1 fruit on the scale. Probably 500 hours a year++ in the patch...something's not adding up. Wednesday, August 13 View Page Pic last night after the rain. About 650# D38. Wednesday, August 13 View Page My own 672. Only solid pumpkin I've grown :( Taping 700++ D38 and doing close to 35 / day. This one was going to get big. Wednesday, August 13 View Page All 3 pumpkins split this year after soaking rain. So that tells me I'm underwatering though I water OVER an inch a week. Tough lesson. Wednesday, August 13 View Page oops...last pic a week old. Try this one. It got bigger. Wednesday, August 13 View Page This one too. 250# bigger. Thursday, August 14 View Page D40 672: 148.5C, 89E, 92S 752.5#. 10D avg 33.3#. Maybe just a tiny hint of slowing down a couple # / day. D40 1046: 134.5C, 84E, 90S 620# (not quite 650) 10D avg 23#...and this one has slowed. 183 Bozzzzzz. D35 (or close) 412#. Averaging over 21# / day the last 5...and that's peak growth so far. Saturday, August 16 View Page Watch out Nekoosa. I might not have a scale breaking pumpkin (at least a solid one), but I've got some big tomatos :) I spose those will split too :) Tuesday, August 19 View Page 672 D45 159.5, 93E, 98S 350.5" 903# 5 day avg 30.2#. I was away this weekend and the split re-opened so I hope it keeps growing...who knows. Will hit 4 digits by the weekend at current rate. Only need 2.5" in the next 5 days to hit the 1400 benchmark. At current rate CC should be about 166-167 which is the extreme high end of the 1400 chart. Hey the charts are fun to look at...that's it. 1046 D45 144, 88, 94 326", 729#. Not sure who the goof ball is measuring this one, but it grew too much over the last 5 days. Split is looking gooey. Tuesday, August 19 View Page D40 183 Bosworth. 122-81-85 507#. Fruit down the line over 200# I believe. 19 / day avg on the big fruit. Not even split...yet. Saturday, August 23 View Page D49 for the 672 x 998. First fruit ever in my patch over 1K. Taping 364 today. I only measured because I knew it would crack 1K today. THIS IS WAYYYY COOL! Off my own seed!!!!!! Still packing 28# / day but we'll have the 5 day average tomorrow. HOLY COW!!! Monday, August 25 View Page 1046 still growing. I covered it with a heavy blanket the other night. Pulled the blanket next morning and there were holes in it, the fruit (not through), and my sheet. Let's just say it was his last supper as he was in the trap this morning :) Friday, August 29 View Page Harvested the 1073 today. Gains on the tape were averaging 5# / day. Fruit taped 934# and weighed 1140 on a truck scale (weighed truck empth then with fruit). I was VERY careful to get an accurate weight! HOLY COW 22% heavy. 1140 UOW Stevens 2008. Cross is 1073 Carlson / Petersen x 998 Pukos. Seeds will come out late next week after it entertains on the road side for a while. Thanks Short Round and Marc! Friday, August 29 View Page Measured other fruit today. Need a seasonal goal re-adjustment on 672...so I did that. I have a special opportunity with 672 if it stays healthy. Very special. 1046 is about done. Might make a display fruit next week. 183 is slowing down. Hope for 750 range and 22% heavy on that one too!! Tuesday, September 2 View Page Pulled both the 1073 and 1046. BOTH crowns had a few rotten roots. My my what could have been on the 1073 with HEALTHY roots! 1046 is going down fast I believe. Not even sure if this one will make the trip roadside. Tuesday, September 2 View Page 1140 UOW. 1073 Carlson / Petersen x 998 Pukos. Perfect 5 lobe pollinated July 5th. I believe I had 7 vines behind the fruit one side and 10 on the other. 12' sides. This was a very easy plant to grow. Peak growth average over 5 days was 35.2#. That was D20-D25!!!!! It was 533# at D30. Growth dropped SHARPLY after D30 probably due to rotten roots. Wednesday, September 3 View Page Cut the 1073 last night. 6-7" thick at the blossom where the split was. Unreal. Pumpkin appeared to be nearly flawless inside. There was a bit of a crown in the bottom which is odds as I used sand. Lots of seeds, but lots of rotten seeds. I didn't count, but I wasn't able to retrieve as many as I hoped. Wednesday, September 3 View Page Ooops. Not 1073. Should be 1140. Not used to it yet. Thursday, September 4 View Page Cut the 1046 to retrive seeds last night. 7% heavy at 869. 869 Stevens UOW. 1046 Bowles x 998 Pukos. I got a pretty decent seed count. Still need to weed out the immature seeds, but I think I might have a couple hundred. Friday, September 5 View Page Check that. Only 4% heavy on the 1046 so I believe that is considered right on to the chart at +- 4%. Est 833. Friday, September 5 View Page 672 final tape 386" actual weight 1160. 3.5% light. This fruit had a BIG dill ring toward the blossom. All the way around and under the fruit. Only 1.5" thick there. The "giant butt crack" wasn't near as bad as I thought. Just a hump in the bottom. Not thin. The potential dill ring problem will hopefully be solved with the addition of the 998. Blossom about 6-7" thick. VERY thick / heavy on the stem end and top. Pictures coming. Tuesday, September 9 View Page 41.2 at my house this morning. Frost below the house. 28 at the Ailts residence this morning. Friday, September 12 View Page 672 final pic. It slowed VERY rapidly and had a bit of mold inside when cut. This was a very nice looking fruit IMO. Very wide, yet quite high. Friday, September 19 View Page Well, if you've had a tough season read the following excerpt from my patch: Friday, September 19 View Page I lost 3 plants to disease early. 998, 1068 Papez, 1402 Bosworth. All root rot and fusarium oxysporum. Friday, September 19 View Page I proceeded to set 3 nice fruit. 1046, 1073, 672. They ALL split. Friday, September 19 View Page I had my DAUGHTER'S 183 Bosworth left in the patch. It stopped growing last week at 750#. I HOPED it was due to old age. Stuck my finger right through the bottom this morning. CAN'T BE!!!!! Friday, September 19 View Page So that's a wrap. 6 competition plants = 0 pumpkins. Daughter's plant still has a 350# nasty looking thing. Unbelivable. Somehow this is still fun....how's that you say??? Friday, September 19 View Page ...because of moments like this of course! Monday, September 29 View Page My neighbor John Hopkins entered his 672 Stevens in the Stillwater event this past weekend. The fruit weighed heavy at 822# and was voted prettiest of the 31 entrants. Joe Ailts lost one to disease earlier that was the same color but even better shape. This seed can go very big and very orange. NICE! Thursday, October 9 View Page Here's the 822 Hopkins grown from my 672. Fruit was more filled out at the snout than at the shoulders, but went a little heavy. Color was very very nice. Thursday, October 9 View Page The pumpkin received the Howard Dill among 31 entries. Notice the scarring on the top of the fruit. When off-loading AFTER the event the rope on the harness broke and the fruit fell on the trailer upside down. Somehow no cracks in the fruit. Thursday, October 9 View Page And here is a shot of John's 748 (1370 Rose x 1231)Pukos fruit. This is 748 x 998 and I believe the only x 998 cross ever made. Fruit is more orange then the pic shows. Weighed right to the chart. The 822 is in the background. Monday, October 20 View Page There's a new carver in town (my wife Amy). This is the 729.5 Hopkins (748 Pukos x 998). The pumpkin was donated to a local business for display. This was Amy's first attempt at carving.