crinkly stems / chemicals

I've just noticed something weird on my backup plant.  On a couple of 
the biggest leaves, the stems are very crinkled looking... almost like 
an accordion fold.... though the tissue seems to have integrity - it's 
firm, the color is good, and all that - and I don't think it's been 
traumatized at all.  Is this just a genetic variation of this plant, or 
do you all think this is the beginning of some sort of problem?      

What an effect this pumpkin growing has on us... although I've been 
growing things all my life, I have never given two plants this level of 
scrutiny before.  Every morning, every evening, I am inspecting every 
little detail.  Oh!  The hairs on this stem are a little longer than 
those over there, what could this mean??   And, I'm not happy to say I 
have been killing things and using scary chemicals.  My yard used to be 
a haven for pretty much any living thing.  Not so any more.  I've 
drenched the ants with diazinon because I don't want their strawberry 
root aphids.  I've seen spiders bailing out and (good!) worms dying ugly 
deaths.  I don't even want to think about what happens to the birds who 
eat the writhing worms. 

I better grow a terrific pumpkin this year - I'm not sure I can keep 
going down this particular path.  I don't think I would mind selectively 
killing the pumpkin threats.  I can smoosh a cucumber beetle under a 
rock.  But these chemicals have so many repercussions - and I probably 
don't even know the half of it.  

Is there anyone out there successfully growing large pumpkins without 
using these scorch-the-earth chemicals??

Beth

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PUMPKINS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index