From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Frisco, TX

I'm a first time grower in Atlanta, GA. I have a pumpkin that is 66" around and is about 30 days old. Today I found some spots on my main vine that are rotten! Is there anything I can do to save the vine? Adjacent secondary vines are rotting too. Too much water? Too much heat/humidity? I had put a layer of sand under the pumpkin and had covered the vine. I later removed the sand and wonder if that caused it to rot.

7/23/2008 8:09:57 PM

San Jose garysand@pacbell.net

dig out the rotten stuff and mix 20% bleach and water get a cloth and rub it all over the affected area you just took out keep it dry and repeat the bleach solution the next day.

who knows why this happened? but I really dont think the sand was the issue, it just happens with these things.

7/23/2008 11:27:58 PM

Dummer Twp - Ontario

Are you sure they are rot spots and not Squash vine borer entry points?

7/25/2008 5:28:07 AM

Frisco, TX

Thanks Gary ad Lil Patch. I found squash vine borers in my vines. It is pretty bad, I cut off three vines that had multiple leaves affected. Today I went all over the plant and dug out any I could find, cut out the rotten stuff, poured the bleach water on it and then sprayed the whole plant real well. At least I got to try growing one for the first time. It is fun and a lot of work. Thanks for your advice. My pumpkin is 6 ft. around but there was a borer about 15 inches out from the stem in the main vine. Hope it lives.

7/25/2008 8:55:00 PM

Bemidji Minnesota

Try using a syringe (3ml) and needle (1.25" 18g), to inject pesticide into the vine.

I tried it on my Hubbards this year, and it killed the SVBs nicely.

I use cheap OrthoMax from Walmart, but it still worked.

7/26/2008 6:52:19 PM

Frisco, TX

Thanks for the advice. I will get a syringe and give it a try. It has been almost a week since I made all those cuts to pull out the svb's and the vines and leaves are looking better. My pumpkin is growing about two inches a day so I hope that is a good sign that it may not die. I had a small crack and could not find Captan anywhere in the area. So scraped the bad stuff out of the crack and let it dry and sealed it with silicone caulk. LOL, I got hit with a lot of bad stuff all at once. I can see you need a sense of humor and patience with this hobby!

7/30/2008 12:10:43 AM