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Wood River, Nebraska

I caught my numbskull neighbor spraying 2-4-D yesterday in 90+ degree temps!! There is no doubt my plant received some spray drift. My question is: I'm in the fruit set mode and am applying zero fertilizer, there has been no abnormal amount of moisture, yet I had my first ever pumpkin explosion! Was this a result of the herbicide exposure??
dave=stewee

7/16/2003 8:25:12 AM

Nova Scotia

i never heard of such a thing but i do know that some herbicides are full of growth hormones which cause plant cells to explode thus killing fast growing weeds. so it could be. what are the active ingredients in 2-4-D?
but if i were you i would keep watering the same all the time for a couple of dry day's followed by an 1" of rain can blow out most pumpkins at any stage.

7/16/2003 8:39:37 AM

Garden State Pumpkins

If they got hit with 2-4 day ..I doubt they would explode ...keep the pumpkins well shaded sun in 90 degree heat can make that pumpkin explode...if they were hit with the spray it's pretty much over..see KennyB's diary last year. The plants just wilted away. hope for the best that the wind didn't carry it your way and it was just the heat.
good luck!

7/16/2003 8:55:31 AM

Ljubljana, Slovenia

2-4-D is synthetic analoge of plant hormone auxin but much more active and kills the roots because they are the most sensitive to the hormone.
I wish you luck too!

7/16/2003 2:32:10 PM

Massillon, Ohio

stewee, check out this pic....

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=11201

i had some 2-4-d problems due to my version of your "numbskull neighbor", my grandpa (who oddly enough has 50 more years of farming experience than me), spraying and not telling anyone. the growth was WAY messed up for awhile. tom beachy, nic welty, etc all gave me that "you are screwed" reaction because they had never heard of any plant recovering. as you can see in the pic, suddenly all the growth became normal again (!!??). i havent set a pumpkin on the plant yet (i just polinated one today) so it'll be interesting to see what the plant produces after that ordeal. just dont lose hope yet.

7/16/2003 6:12:54 PM

[email protected]

2,4-D is a phenoxy growth enhancing hormone that cause virtually all dicots to literally grow themselves to death. While it would easily kill a pumpkin vine (a dicot), the fruit wouldn't explode as a result of misapplication without you first seeing an awful lot of leaf curling on the vine. I mean really curling!

Actual spray drift is always a possibilty with any formulation of 2,4-D. And while the Amine formulations are not prone to volatility, the Ester formulations can gas off.

So for those who absolutely must control broadleaf weeds in turf that is adjacent to the patch, MAKE SURE to only use an Amine based herbicide if phenoxies are used. And low pressure/high volume equipment is the safest means of application. Forget granulat forms of "weed & feed". They don't work well & quite likely to land in places unintended.

Steve

7/16/2003 7:37:05 PM

Wood River, Nebraska

Thanks everyone for your replies. The first two secondary vines nearest the main do have some leaf curl, maybe the fact that I showered the entire plant in an effort to dilute any possible contact immediately after the spraying caused the smaller pumpkin to explode. Still today I recorded an 8.2 lb. gain on 1 and an 11.3 lb gain on another pumpkin I'm measuring on this same plant.
dave=stewee

7/16/2003 11:09:13 PM

[email protected]

Dave,

I wouldn't want anyone to try this on a Pumpkin (so perhaps I shouldn't even mention it!), but a friend of mine used to stimulate faster establishmemnt of certain plants with very low rates of 2,4-d. When properly used (very difficult), most succeptible plants can be coaxed into some very impressive gains.

Therefore it is theoretically possible the neighbor caused you to grow the new worlds record!

BUT LET'S NO ONE GET THE WRONG IDEA!

We'd more likely ruin the season than cause impressive gains. LOL

Steve

7/17/2003 7:54:06 AM