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Entry Date
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Nick Name
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Location
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Wednesday, August 27, 2014
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BatCaveN8
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The North Coast
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Entry 24 of 34 |
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Sorry to hear of the stumps failing, both grafted and non-grafted. GSB is a very difficult disease to manage and Carolina Cross has a higher than normal susceptibility to crown rot. Going forward, contact fungicides sprayed on the stump is recommended every week. Daconil is recommended along with others. Another grower noted that pumpkin growers paint the concentrated daconil product onto the stump with no issues. I cannot condone improper usage but it may be effective.
As for next season look for seeds from northern melons. They will have less chance of being problematic in the future. This still is not ideal. GSB is something that will need to be dealt with continuously and it affects this hobby every year with catastrophic failures. It is recommended for growers to use farming practices that reduce the incidence of GSB. The best practices can be found online. One of which is selection of seed that has been produced in the arid southwest or one that has been disinfected and treated with a fungicide. This is not yet an option for Carolina Cross (but it is very possible).
While the grafts that I produced failed due to GSB, I was told that most likely they were successfully disinfected but re-infected with GSB later in the growing season. This concurs with the fact that I saw no signs of the disease during the grafting procedure. Where and how they were re-infected I am not sure. Contact and systemic fungicides would of offered a bit more protection early.
The growing of Carolina Cross as a whole would improve with seed disinfection and treatment. The only way to manage GSB is with known clean seed, clean soil, and an exact fungicide schedule. This is true for both grafted and non-grafted growers.
Good luck
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