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Southern Illinois

the past four years i have been raising atlantic giants,the first year i bought my seed,there after i keep the seed from the best pumpkins i raise,but this year i decided to plant a different variety,prize winner hybrid,i have never had any disease problem of any kind,but this year it looks like i have powdery mildew that started in the prize winner patch,and is spreading to my atlantic giants,so what i would like to figure out is did i buy seed that came from a patch that had powdery mildew,can it be transferd that way,are has my luck just run out

8/17/2002 2:57:06 AM

Long Island,New York

A couple points:
1.)Yes, you likely bought seed from a patch that had powdery mildew.
2.)No, you didnt get it from the seed, its just that almost everyone everywhere gets PM sooner or later !!! Consider yourself lucky three years in a row and just a normal guy for the fourth year.
3.) I would bet, and I may lose, but I'd say you had powdery mildew before...just didnt have it bad enough to make a mental note or do something about it. The spores drift with the wind from far away places .....
4.) Ag's actually a semi-resistent to PM...perhaps the prizewinners are subjected to the samespores and are less resistent. Its been a long hot and dry summer, the plants are stressed, I would expect many more "problems" in a year like this as resistence and overall health of the plants are likely lower and more susceptable to rots and diseases....I know Im having it rough here due to weather stresses........good luck...G

8/17/2002 7:52:29 AM