Re: 20 Mule Team Borax

Steve Haberman, take a bow!!!

--- On Wed, 9/2/09, Russ Stokes <rstokes@wi.rr.com> wrote:

From: Russ Stokes <rstokes@wi.rr.com>
Subject: 20 Mule Team Borax
To: pumpkins@hort.net
Date: Wednesday, September 2, 2009, 7:43 PM

A while back, I reported that one of my AG's had a severe split on the stem
side.  This was a result of 2-3" or rain in a 24 hr. period.  Initially, I
poured in Daconil concentrate into the stem and noted that it drained through
because of a large split in the bottom of the stem.  I coated everything as
well as possible with the Daconil and then used a systemic fungicide to treat
the plant.  A couple of days later I noticed that the cracks had gotten
larger, to the point that you could see inside the cavity of the pumpkin.
Someone from this site (sorry, memory issue) recommended using 20 Mule team
Borax to fill in where the stem had split.  I made a bit of a paste and
carefully filled the stem and dabbed it so it closed up the cavity and then
backfilled everything with Borax strait from the box.  I used nearly a third
of a large box.  I have managed to keep the stem dry, mostly due to the fact
that the weather has improved.

Having been a long time grower of AG's and other pumpkins and squashes I
would
have bet the house that the pumpkin would end up as one big smelly pile of
pumpkin slop.  But so far, it has continued to grow and I estimate it at over
600 lbs.  It's going on day 32 since it was pollinated.  So thanks to the
person for the recommendation for using 20 Mule Team Borax.

Russ Stokes
Burlington, WI

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Pumpkin-growing archives: http://www.hort.net/lists/pumpkins/
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PUMPKINS

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Pumpkin-growing archives: http://www.hort.net/lists/pumpkins/
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PUMPKINS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index