Re: Sudden AG Pumpkin Death (Almost)

>I have a question on what would cause an AG pumpkin with over a five foot
>vine to suddenly die ( or almost die). One day the plant looks great, the
>next day the plant looks like someone let all the air out of it as it
>leaves and vine were spread out flat against the ground.
>
>The vine and leaves looked OK and the vine did not have a split. I pulled
>on the vine where it was planted and it popped right out. It looked
>like the vine had rotted just beneath the surface. Did not see any traces
>of bugs, moles, or gophers. New white roots were growing from the vine, so
>I did not pull it completely out of the ground. I covered it up with dirt
>and now the plant has some life. I realize that I will not grow a large
>pumpkin from this plant (if any), but since it is in the middle of a 30x30
>foot area, I am going to give it a try. The vine roots have also dug into
>the ground.
>
>Does anyone have an idea what might have caused the problem? It reminds me
>of damping-off, but I would not expect that on a five foot vine. The
>plant has not received an excessive amount of water and I have used
>Sevin on the plant since it was small. It also did not look like
>Sclerotina Stem Rot as I did not see any cottony growth on the leaves or
>stem.


George,
	I had a similar thing happen to a plant last year. Had about a 14
foot vine when it occured. The base of the plant was rotted off right at
the ground level. I let the plant go and didn't pay much attention to it.
It didn't grow much for awile. After a few weeks I noticed it start to grow
again at a slow rate and later on it grew a little faster. It set a pumpkin
in sept. but it never reached maturity. If I was to guess, I would say it
may have reached 150 lbs? At the end of the season I noticed the vine tap
roots were very large and healthy. However these roots never rotted??? For
not having a stump ,this plant grew fairly large.
	I would say let your plant go. Bury all the vines and see what
happens. Also I mentioned this to the group last year and I remember some
replies that stated it may have been phytophora root rot.


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