Re: Shriveling Leaves

I've been having the same trouble for two years now.
First, the leaves start wilting badly in the heat of the day, (because they
aren't getting enough water.)

Then, the leaves closest to the diseased area start to die first.
If you look closer, you may find a mushy spot in the vine.
Or, you may see a whitish "sap" leaking fron the base of the plant.
It can stop as suddenly as it started.
And it can totally wreck a healthy plant.
This month, it's in my giant Andersen 815 vine.
I've had sick vines grow decent sized pumpkins with barely any main vine left.
Last year, I had a fast growing pumpkin that had reached 350 pounds as was
fast putting on weight.
Then, the vine went down....fast!
Turned to mush.
It seems if the vine can remain fairly intact, and the disease can hold off
some, the pumpkin can still get very large. But it can also strike you out
of the blue.
This particular plant had been sick earlier in the year, but after a
fungicide treatment,the disease went dormant. 
Then, with a pumpkin growing like a wildcat it killed my vine.
Talk about heartbreak!
It seems to come after hot, humid, rainy periods.
I've had my plants tested and they could find nothing, other than secondary
bacteria.
That left me with no answers and sick vines.
It had hit me once this year already. About a month ago.
Then, after it ate thru the main vine of one plant, it went dormant.
I was treating the roots with a systemic fungicide called 3336.
It seemed to help.
But, after two straight weekends of heavy rain, it's back again.
I'm trying to fend it off as best I can with 3336, but I don't know what
will happen.
I do know you may want to stop watering around the base of the plant for a
while.
Once it dries up, it seems to stop for a time.
I've been told it's everything from Phytophthora to Fusarium wilt, to
something called Cylindrical rot.
But, the tests come up negative, and yet I still have the problem.
I'm gonna try something called "Root Shield" next year that is supposed to
give you a better chance at avoiding these diseases.
But, I'm screwed for this year.
It's really hard to fight a disease when no one seems to know what the hell
it is.
If you fnd out anything please let me know.
Tim


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At 09:59 AM 8/18/98 -0400, you wrote:
>Dear Carlsons:
>
>It is truly amazing that your pumpkin continues to grow without a
>stump!  
>
>To be more specific about my problem, first the leaves on the vine
>wilted slightly in the heat of the day. I have seen this before, so,
>initially it didn't worry me. Then, beginning with the leaves closest to
>the stump, the edges turned brown, then yellow and the entire leaf
>shriveled up to brown. Then this continued down the rest of the stem.
>The same thing has happened to one of my blue hubbard squash plants.
>What is strange is that both plants are surrounded by other healthy and
>vigorous vines. I don't know what it could be other than what Pumpkin
>Flower suggests, bad luck. Again, there is no evidence of borers or
>squash bugs.
>
>Any advice would be appreciated.
>
>-Stacey
>>


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