RE: Creeping Death

Chad,

Check for mites. Exclusive use of Sevin can result in mite outbreaks. 

Hold a sheet of white paper beneath a leaf. Gently tap the vine so as to
dislodge the mites. Now use a magnifying lens if your over 40 or just plain
bight light if under 40. Stare at the tiny specks. The ones that move are
mites.

Report back please.

Stephen Jepsen
CT GS&PGA Director Emeritus
GPC Executive Committee


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pumpkins@hort.net [o*@hort.net] On Behalf Of
Chad A. Weaver
Sent: Sunday, August 16, 2009 6:18 PM
To: pumpkins@hort.net
Subject: Creeping Death

First I'd like to thank everyone who has responded so promptly to everyone's
posts this year.  This is my first year attempting to grow anything, much
less a giant pumpkin!  The information I've learned on here will undoubtedly
be put to good use during the rest of this year and my second attempt next
year!

Now my problem.  Through various other errors and animals I'm down to one
plant.  I've got a single fruit set and it is around the 80 pound mark.
Growth has been slow at around 3 lbs a day for the last couple of weeks.
Now growth has tapered off even more and I haven't seen any significant
growth in the last couple of days.  I think the problem is in the lack of
vine and secondaries.  Early on before I even knew what a male flower looked
like I was aggressively removing them.  Turns out I was also aggressively
removing the secondaries before they even grew.  I learned my error, but the
plant had about 3-4 of main vine with no secondaries.  The plant continued
to grow in spite of my vengeance and set a fruit at about 14 feet and had
secondaries that were about 8 feet at the longest.  Now creeping death has
set in.  Starting from the beginning of the plant and moving towards the end
the leaves are browning, secondaries wilting, and dieing off. It has been a
slow death that will now apparently consume the entire plant within the next
few weeks.  I water regularly with a soaker hose.  It's on a timer and does
15 minutes every morning.  I had a few light doses of organic miracle grow
early on, and then a dose off pellet fertilizer that was around 3-15-18 or
something to that effect.  I've also had about 3 doses of Sevin since June.
The death seems to continue in spite of anything I do or don't do.

I had hoped for better success this year, but will take the pile of learning
experience I've gained instead.  Every other problem I've successfully
diagnosed and fixed, but this baffles me.  Any wisdom would be gratefully
accepted.

Chad Weaver
Hutsonville, IL

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