From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Midwest

I am really thankful for all your advise. My new problem is rot where the pumpkin stem/leaf stem and the vine meet. Yesterday the base of the leaf stem was brown/gooey and this morn it was 3/4 off. Now, there's a split starting in the vine. It's troubling me because the pumpkin stem connects to the vine on that spot too. I put Captan on the split but I'm not sure it will save the pumpkin stem from falling off. Should I take that leaf off? Thanks, Greg

8/18/2005 1:45:48 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

Just a nu-B here, but leaf removal at stem/vine junction is something I do early...as the pumpkin starts to grow...also a fan at that junction to help dry it out might help. Hope this helps. Peace Wayne

8/19/2005 9:39:02 AM

Long Island,New York

Yes...take that leaf clean off. Then scrape any wet gooey brown stuff off and paste with captan or something like that. I always advise to find some non-captan powdered formulation of fungiside/insecticide. Captan is nasty stuff, you can't help but use your fingers to press it in and around good...gloves or not. Then, if you're a fat pig like me, you're sweating by now and probably instinctively wiping your brow (and not with your feet) which is awefully close to your eyes...Captan will cause permanent eye injury if you get it in your eyes. There are "Tomato Dusts" and Vegetable Dusts" that work just as well. Check the labels.
Keep that stem end clean, dry, and check it as often as possible.

8/19/2005 2:52:28 PM

Midwest

The leaf rotted through and the vine is really damaged there where the leaf and pumpkin stem connected to it. I did what you said LI and pasted with captan. There's another tertiary growing from the same junction. I terminated it about 2ft out. Would you remove that too? Well, it's looking ugly and the pumpkin is growing but slower. What are my chances for recovery?

8/21/2005 1:57:34 PM

Long Island,New York

Well...point blank is that if the rot took out part of the vine that flows to the fruit you won't recover. You will likely continue growth at a slower pace until either the rot takes over of the season ends. These things are funny...it doesn't take much to get the plant to switch interests to another operation...like another fruit, or new green growth....once the damage is done we have no control over it. Keep it as rot-free as possible by keeping it dry and ride it out.....
As for the tertiary...hmmm....is it doing anything troublesome like adding stress to the growing fruit or anchoring the vine keeping the fruit from growing? If not , and its not restricting airflow or otherwise making it hard to get at the stem or keeping the stem from drying out I'd leave it. If not, whack it off.

8/21/2005 2:17:53 PM

Long Island,New York

If the tertiary is doing bad stuff then whack it off...sorry...I even confuse myself these days.

8/21/2005 2:19:05 PM

Midwest

LI
You didn't confuse me at all. I'm amazed at how accurately your description is to what's probably happening to this plant now. I've seen the pumpkin slow way down while other pumpkins seem to get going. The tertiary this pumpkin is growing on is really a '4'iary because this pumpkin is growing on a tertiary. This tertiary was growing like gang-busters and, at one point, was putting on 1.5ft per day and was the second vine to put on a female. When the female was pollinated, it put on weight faster than any of the pumpkins on my secondaries. That's just an amazing thing to me. My other plant, Pukos-Holland, has leaves almost 4ft tall because it's blocked by a shed. I hope this plant does what you said and some other fruit benefits because of this problem.
Thanks,
Greg

8/22/2005 1:59:31 PM

Long Island,New York

Greg...if you look at a semi-unattended plant (theres a few in my patch--come on over !) you'll see that where a fruit has been pollinated on a secondary, the tertiary at that fruit is ten times as strong and long as other tertiaries on that vine. Its as if the plant sends all the juice to a developing new fruit until the fruit gets a bit bigger then the fruit seems to suck the life out of the vine so nothing else grows well on the vine. If the fruit fails the plant seems to redirect....within a few days somewhere else is growing bigtime...its cool to watch. One of the benefits of only getting to see your plants every three days (if there is a benefit at all) is you get a broader picture of whats going on....

8/22/2005 2:44:22 PM