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Canton, Mass

Hi Everyone, Sorry for such a simple question, but this is only my second year growing. I did a search and couldn't find too much. I've just had three pumpkins rot on the vine. Two of them, the bottom just about turned to liquid. The other it was more the blossom end. I have been using an over head sprinkler. All three of them were on 2" Styrofoam with an inch or two of sand on that. The first two to go were smaller and on the shady side of the patch.

I want to know what did it, so it won't happen again. Could it have been too much water to the whole patch? I ran the sprinkler 16 minutes a day at 6 or 7 in the morning. Then, when the temps went over 85 degrees, I would run it for 3 or 4 minutes an hour. Was it not enough drainage at the pumpkins. Some of the Styrofoam I drilled holes through, some of it I didn't. The sand did look wet, once I thought to look at it. Or was it something else? I used Daconil once a week, applied with a little hand operated sprayer.

Thank you for your help and knowledge,
Matt Tate

p.s. I'm trying to put pictures up in my Matt from Mass growers diary

8/14/2019 12:26:55 PM

Colorado

How big were they when they rotted. They may have not been set.

8/14/2019 2:02:12 PM

ipswich, ma usa

Matt,

Are you coming to the NEGPGA Picnic and patch tour at the Topsfield Fair? A great place to meet local growers and world record holders plus visit some patches, eat lobster and drink beer! Look in the thread for the information on it.

8/14/2019 2:47:39 PM

Upa Creek, Mo

Were the pumpkins getting sprayed with sprinkler each day multiple times a day, or did you have a tent structure over it to keep it dry?

8/14/2019 2:56:21 PM

Canton, Mass

Hi CoJoe, The first two to rot were smaller I hadn't started to measure them yet. One was getting larger maybe 2+ feet in diameter and the other was more like a foot and a half. The pumpkin I lost today was between 550 and 600 pound, depending on if you went by circumference or Over The Top.

8/14/2019 5:24:08 PM

Canton, Mass

Hello Smallmouth, Yes, the sprinlker went on in the morning for 16 minutes and then if it was above 85 degrees, it would come on once an hour for 3 or 4 minutes. It was one of those oscillating sprinklers with like 15 little jets to make an arc of water. It was in the middle of my patch and would cover the whole patch, plus a little bit. The patch is about 30 feet by 60 feet, with two plants, one at each end to meet in the middle. I put a tarp over my biggest pumpkin, once I knew it would be the one. The rest of the pumpkins were way behind him in growth. The tarp was up on poles about 4 feet in the air and was 5 foot by 5 foot square with ridge in the middle to shed water to either side.

8/14/2019 5:31:02 PM

Colorado

the nice orange fruit was obviously set.You can lose the fruit from a split in the pumpkin(where air gets in the cavity) or the plant isn't feedling the fruit from disease,vine borers messing with a feeder vine,rot in the vine or rot in the pumpkin stem. Your pumpkin went down(quit growing) probably a week or more ago and your seeing what is called a stinky leaker.Id check the main vine and stump for rot,did you loose leaves at all.Some root diseases show some other symptoms ,besides the fruit quiting and rotting such as rotting in vines,yellow fluid in vines and leaves dropping in the stump area of the plant.

8/14/2019 7:16:09 PM

ipswich, ma usa

Guess not...oh well great place to meet, eat and gather information first hand.

8/20/2019 10:23:41 AM