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Framingham, MA

Powdery mildew has gotten the better of my plant at this point and I am pruning off the dead leaves. We had several days of intermittent heavy rain and by the time I could resume spraying things were out of control.

Questions:
(1)Is it okay to put the dead leaves in the compost pile to use in the pumpkin patch next year or am I just inviting an even worse outbreak?
(2)I sprayed this season with a mixture of 2 tablespoons of baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon of Dawn concentrate per 1.2 gallons of warm watwer, but only on the tops of the leaves. I think I need to hit the undersides of the leaves as well - am I right?
(3)I've read somewhere on BP.com that foliar feeding with kelp or seaweed can forestall PM - any input on this? Okay to combine this with the baking soda approach?
(4)Any other hints for dealing with PM in an organic way for next year would be most welcome.

9/22/2005 3:59:30 PM

addison Il

we dont put any leaves infected with pm in our compost pile just for saftey sake. when your treating for insect or for diesese both top and underside of leaves should be sprayed. fish emulsion i have heard is used not only as a fert but as a pm preventitive if you want to go organic theres a site on the web i have seen called gardens alive but then again im a newbie and yu should wait to here from others here all i know is the key to powdery mildew is preventive mesures re dont let it start and if you do treat it right away as it spreads fast good luck with your growing season
and i wish you the best

9/22/2005 5:10:51 PM

Topsfield, Ma.

Everything in the patch here goes to the town compost site !
Can't take any chances of ANYTHING wintering over with only a two plant patch. Had great succes with Neptune's Seaweed emulsion keeping PM in check. Resorted to Compass this season as an additional control and can say it works. PM has now shown up big time on squash, zuc's, LG's, and other stuff that didn't get full sprays of NH or Compass, but AG's are still clean ! Best of luck, Duff

9/22/2005 7:40:40 PM

Montoursville, PA

We may still burn here. I like to gather up all down wood trimings and top them off with the vines. One fire gives me two or three shovels full, of home made potash. Any disease has been cooked and the compost pile thanks me.

9/22/2005 8:53:28 PM

Montoursville, PA

Kelp or seaweed, fish and black strap molasses does a lot, of good things, for the patch. A strong healthy plant goes, to work, setting up it's own resistance, to the milldews.

There is a healthy relationship between each one, of the above and any other player. Each one is better when, in association with one or more, of the above, healthy plant items.

9/22/2005 9:00:39 PM

Sioux Falls, SD garyboer@dakotalink.com

My squash and zukes always get a lot of PM, the pumpkins get none or less. . .doesn't seem to matter if I cart off remains to dump or till them in or rotate areas.

9/22/2005 10:12:41 PM

addison Il

wait a second you can use ashes in a compost bin?

9/23/2005 10:56:39 AM

Western NY

doesn't PM die with a hard freeze? unless the center of your pile stays warm all winter (i suppose it could), it shouldn't be a problem in my opinion. also, why worry about it in compost unless you're making a compost tea for the leaves? Pm isn't going to attack the roots.

and yes, you can use ashes in the compost bin, just in moderation.

9/23/2005 11:00:44 AM

Covington, WA

PM will always be around regardless of whether you removed affected plant material or not. I see no reason not to compost the pumpkin leaves. You could start a new patch in an area that has not been used for pumpkins at any time and end up with PM if you don't do something to control it. I have stayed ahead of the worst of the PM this year spraying Neem oil and have managed the aphids with that as well. It's getting a little worse now, but I have fallen off the pace with the spray schedule due to time constraints and my historic weight gains after the end of summer are negligable anyway. For me it's not worth the effort or expense to attempt to control it at this point in the season. I personally have more concerns about composting materials that have been treated with chemical fungicides and insecticides. My garden feeds my family as well as producing competition pumpkins. I prefer to keep the use of manufactured chemicals in the patch to a bare minimum.

9/23/2005 2:51:04 PM

Billerica,Massachusetts

toss it out or burn it.

9/23/2005 3:59:06 PM

Itzetown City

I agree with Chris, PM is coming out of the nowhere, every year and it has its own rules. It doe'nt matter what is in the ground, PM is coming one way or another. And consider a lot of destroyed leaves have found their way into the ground long before you clean the patch and cannot removed when you clean the patch.

9/23/2005 4:10:35 PM

Puyallup, WA

I had a heavy infestation of PM last year. I plowed everything into the soil last fall. This year, the PM was much less(less rain) ...sooooo, you know where I stand on this issue.

9/29/2005 6:08:05 PM