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Stafford, Virginia

Last week there was a couple of questions regarding white spots on fruit. I am having a serious problem still - Am using all the correct fungicide/insecticide/etc,etc and have a staggered application schedule..... I have been losing softball size to 75# fruit. Have looked at all the disease pictures and read all the recommended Cornell lit. Here's the desription: Fruit noticably slows or stops growing. Then a couple of days later small light colored fingernail size spots show - this progresses for a couple of days then the fruit starts to sag/go down. At this point if you move it the stem separates.
Am soaking tools in dilute bleach, removing the dead away from the property, started spraying dilute bleach onto the remaining fruit, have in addition to Ridomil/Bayleton Aliete etc started using Bravo and Quadris(synthisized fro m mushrooms) but: I was leaning in another direction when GADS came on and mentioned the same possibility. Too high a nitrogen level - well I was drip irrigating but since we've had next to no rain for 2 months is it possible that I've concentrated nitrogen and the plants are reacting such?(sort of like a time release). Anyhow does anyone have good references or pictures of "fruit"(not leaf) damage pictures of this sort of poisoning? Next, if this is what I may have going on is a "major" water flush the only thing I can do to push the nitrogen away/dilute? Stressed in Va

7/22/2002 4:53:46 PM

Pumpkintown, SC

Hey - Stressed in Va. I had this same "thing" occur to one of my plants last year. This plant had a total of about 10 male blooms and close to 100, yes 100 female blooms that all aborted just the way you described. I concluded these aborts were genetically based since I tried everything I could to keep one up, not to mention its strange bloom numbers. At least with this conclusion it takes the fault off me:^> The white spots I further concluded were just the beginning stages of the fruit's decay and death. Sorry, no solution from me on this one. I was just lucky I had two planted. The second one grew just fine(different seed stock). Good luck.
PS Where do you go for a weighoff?

7/22/2002 7:15:13 PM

Stafford, Virginia

I'd like to write it off as a genetic thing but....it's nprobably not got a 690Berard,550Mongeon,644Gadberry and 608Gadberry - all doing the same thing. Have lots of male flowers (literally 100's) and very few small female aborts. The few small female aborts I attributed to lack of moisure out at the end of the vine when they are fast growing w/o any root developement on that vine yet to support. At my best point I had 22 pollinated crosses going on all but the 690Berard(which I was using as sort of a "stud"). I'm down to 5 now. Here is what finally got me onto the nitrogen thing - somehow as I was setting the small plants out I noticed a "volunteer" that sort of looked like a pumpkin plant but since thois area had never been a garden before I figured it was probably something that a bird/squirrel had dropped off the fence. In my curiosity I didn't remove it and during the course of the growing I did not treat it the same (chemicals or fertilizer doses as we thought if it was going to be edible didn't what to put all that stuff into it and into us). Well those pumpkin/squash looking things pollinated just fine/and a couple are ready to be removed as I write this. This plant was on the outside edge of the garden and never recieved more than a passing shot of fertilzer.....My wife was conversing w/ another gardener from our county who volunteered that a lot of the gardens around here have gone rotten - and they seem to think that due to lack of rain everybody has sort of poisoned/over-fertilized. Live and learn... but I'd really like to see s0ome pictures of what too much nitrogen looks like fruit-wise! Anyone got any pictures or descriptions? Sagging in Virginia.

7/22/2002 9:01:58 PM

Garden State Pumpkins

Hey John and Nancy I had the nitrogen problem last year! I didn't take pictures was to upsetting. if your soil is sandy loam plenty of just water will leach the nitrogen out. Last year after I stopped any fertilizer the pumpkins did set but way to late for anything. another thing is now that the heat is here the pumpkins will not reach softball size because they never really get pollenated. so what started out as one problem even if it was nitrogen it will appear to be the same problem only because of the heat. I know what your going through. I just sent out a soil sample now since I'm having the same problem this year even though I have been stingy on the nitrogen. we'll see what it sez!

7/22/2002 9:20:11 PM

Stafford, Virginia

I would be very interested in hearing what your soil test results come back as.
I don't have sandy loam - but I did add approx 2 tons of sand and 5 tons of aged/screened/fully composted leaves to my partially clayey virgin garden are(approx 2000sqft). Even thought I did dig deep before doing soil ammendment work it still has some clay below the garden.
Supposed to start to rain some tonight and tomorrow - so in anticipation I watered down the patch heavy yesturday/this pm and and hoping for a flood. I may have opened a Pandora's Box with all the water but either way if I don't do something I won't have any fruit. Probably get fruiting and then create a great fungus environment or simply drown them. Flushing in Virginia

7/23/2002 9:35:52 PM

Pumpkintown, SC

I understand your premise of it not being genitics based on all your different proven seed stock all encountering the same fate. But I too had different proven seeds with only one plant encountering this fate. Plus with my plant putting out soooo many females...And soooo few males I couldn't relate this to any fertilizing extremes that I was familiar with. It was this flower situation that made me think it was genetics more than anything else. The white spots seemed to me to simply represent the dying of the fruit. I just wonder whether our digging a hole in our clay didn't form some sort of subterrainium "planting pot" which, being clay, pools water causing an over-watered plant, thusly causing fruit aborts. Yeh, I may be reaching a bit on this one, but nothing else seems to make any sense to me. Plus, maybe this is what happened to the other people in your county. Kind of an overcompensation problem.

7/24/2002 1:27:59 AM

Stafford, Virginia

Got an email from Eldridge, Iowa about them having a similar problem with white spots, aborts etc. Asked some questions to see if they might have similar soil,conditions and lack of rainfall. The picture they supplied looked similar. The pumpkin in their picture was similar size to those I lost. John Guth

7/24/2002 8:20:45 AM

Garden State Pumpkins

I am in a clay basin also. The soil is about 2 feet deep, but if removed I sure it could be a swimming pool if filled. My root growth is great I cant dig within two feet of the main and at least 18 inches down around the nodes. I've been burying secondaries way down using the soil thickness in place of surface area. crossing the vine and getting rid of leaves that are in the way and leaving the roots down. Definitely haven't had enough rain to fill The "pool" but females aren't pollenating and falling off. Best shot was this morning cool weather etc for the next three days. will let you know as soon as I get the soil tests back. pre season was add nitrogen which i did very sparingly if it tells me I'm high on nitrogen I 'll be shocked!

7/24/2002 3:12:20 PM