Pumpkin troubles

[CaptSammy]

Hello all, I am new to the forum, found you all in a web search for help.

I am growing pumpkins this year and they took off like crazy, but then I noticed a couple leaves die away in pieces leaving it looking like a net form of its former self.

Then this morning I noticed that all the leaves on the plant lost their form and drooped, like now made of lose silk rather than stiff.

My soil is heavily amended with organics, nice and lose, and in a raised bed. I have drip irrigation to the base of the plant and it gets ten minutes of drip each early morning with an eight gph drip head. I monitor the water levels in the soil with a meter I picked up at Lowes.

I also noticed this morning that I have many female flowers, not sure if their arrival may have triggered the wilting.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. I just snipped a few of the affected leaves and looked for any odd sap, all looks clear. No bugs noted.

[Cuke]

I haven't grown pumpkins before but it sounds like you are over watering them.Put your finger in the soil,if it's wet then it doesn't need to be watered.

[opabinia51]

I think that cuke has hit the nail right on the head here. Water your pumpkins once or twice a week really deeply for an hour or so and then leave them be.

[CaptSammy]

Thanks for the replies. I turned that drip head off and will watch for any changes.

[CaptSammy]

Well, changed water habits, but the plant continued to wither and finally died. Now the Maxima next to it is doing the same. Big beautiful strong leaves, that wither during part of the day, and start to die completely starting at the base of the plant.

EDIT: Found the culprit. Read elsewhere of vine borers. Went to look and sure enough I have the holes at the base of the vine with expelled gunk. Any known remedy or should I just pull them up and call it quits?

[rootsy]

Too much water will cause pumpkins to damp off.... I use a mixture of fungicide + Carabyl on my pumpkins until they are well established. Applied via sprayer every week or so until 2 weeks before flowering begins...

[JennyC]

You can remove the borers "surgically." make a vertical incision just above the bore hole and locate the worm; remove and squish. Afterwards, it's supposed to help to mound some dirt over the incision site.

This isn't gerat for the plants, of course, but they generally survive, and if your plants are dying anyway what do you have to lose?

By the way, welcome to the forum from another Georgian!

[petalfuzz]

I can't add anything, but I hope you get everything sorted out and save some of your plants!

[mikeingeorgia]

I thought it would be kind of fun for my kids and myself if we planted some pumpkins. When should I plan on planting them to be ready next Halloween? Springtime? I live about 50 miles south of Atlanta.

[Roger]

Most pumpkins have a maturity length of 90 to 125 days from seed depending on the variety : so early July for most of Georgia [right around now] would be a good time to get a few planted in time for Halloween. Check the seed packet for days to maturity when you get them and plant accordingly. 110 days plus or minus 10 days would be ideal.

[mikeingeorgia]

Great! That would be perfect. All of the seeds seem to be disappearing from the store shelves though.

[CaptSammy]

I tore up and sent to the dump my vine borer infested pumpkins and replanted. In general, is it a safer bet to plant my squash and pumpkins in late June here in Atlanta to avoid some of the vine borer risks? I read that spraying the vines with a soap solution would kill borer eggs, what dilution of soap would be best, and which soap? I would really like to avoid the use of chemicals.

Thanks again!

[hendi_alex]

The adult squash vine borer is a pretty large black and orange wasp. You will usually see them flying around the plants when they activily laying eggs. I've laid fine mesh netting over squash plants before, to try and discourage the pests. Problem is mesh would also keep out the pollinators. These wasps and borers are definitely a challenge.

I gave up growing squash for several years. Tried again starting a couple of years ago, and none of the vine borers returned. I'm kind of isolated on a 140 acres wooded farm and my nearest neighbor is at least a half mile away. Hopefully I'm too far away for the borers to find my plants now.

I just read that the borers are mostly active July through early August. If you are replanting now why not cover the plants with fine mesh. Wedding veil material is very cheap at a piece goods store. I've bought the material as a bug net before, bought it a Wal-mart. Cover the young plants from now until they outgrow the mesh cover. By then the active season for vine borers could be over and you can uncover the plants and let the pollenators in.