What caused my pumpkin plant's sudden death?

[webgrunt]

On Tuesday, my pumpkin plant looked fine and healthy. Two days later on the following Thursday, it was dead, and all yellowed from pot to tip. It looks like a plant that's been dead for weeks! Anyone know what can cause such a quick death?

[Ole Dummy]

Kinda hard to say without more information but my first guess would be the Squash Vine Boer.

[rootsy]

I would guess bacterial wilt. Cut a leaf an inch or so below the stem and see how the sap runs out.. if it is yellow or stringy it's bacterial wilt...

Bacterial wilt and powdery mildew are spreading quickly across Southern Michigan at this time... a lot of the pickle cuke growers have lost a good portion of their crop.

I planted a pumpkin variety (small sugar pumpkin) that is not powdery mildew resistant and I noticed yesterday I have some mildew starting on the end of a couple of rows...

If it indeed turns out to be bacterial wilt get busy now with a fungicide and killing cucumber beetles also helps control the spread. Controlling the diseases AFTER they've gotten a foot hold is a real bear.

I have a feeling I am going to be out a lot of sugar / pie pumpkins this year... The larger varieties I planted were treated seed and are resistant to mildews...

[webgrunt]

Thanks to you both. I only had the one plant, so there's nothing I can do now. I'm not interested in disease-resistance--all I care about is flavor. I had a large slice of heirloom pumpkin years ago that was delicious, better than acorn squash and in fact so good I never even reached for the fresh cream butter to melt onto it!

I think I'll try growing one indoors instead. Do pumpkins do well with hydroponics, or should I try to find a large pot?