Help me PLEASE with pumkin problems..I am a first year......

31 Jul '06 6:38 am

Hello everyone!
I need some help with my garden. I have a small piece of land in East Texas and decided to grow some pumpkins for the kiddos to have their own pumkin patch come October. Well they spouted well in the sandy soil...I added some long term feeder suplliment to the soil when planting and everythign was fine. Until this morning. I noticed a whiteish tint to some of the leaves vines a couple of days ago. I didnt think too much about it. ( Forgive me I am NEW ) Well I usually water at night time ...It like 100 everyday here and I usually dont go out to the garden until late night when things cool down. So I am guessing that this is a fungus. I searched and have searched on the internet for detailed pictues and HELP with this stuff but cant find anything in laymans terms that is not scientifically written. I am NOT Botinist nor a college grad. Im just a simple guy TRYING to bring my son and our neighbors a smile come Hallows Eve.

SO I have a bunch of musk melons about 10 plants doing really well. They are bearing fruits and doing fine. I have one watermelon plant that is trying to produce. And then I had the 10 Pumpkin plants. I read that once they have problems their is NO saving them. So this morning I killed 5 of the worst condition plants.The leaves wilted over night and they looked terrible. I did NOT water last night. But thats not the issue because I dont water every night anyways.

But these leaves with the White tints on the leaves near the veins of the leaves. This is what I cant figure out. What is it? What do I doabout it? Will it spread to my other plants...the musk melons and watermelon?

PLEASE PLEASE HELP all you experienced. I found alot of pumkin sites but NO issues witbh pictures and steps to help.

Thank you for your time.

I look forward with your responses and suggestions.

Scott Bush
East Texas
USA

Ok here are some Pics of the Pumpkins..Thanks for replying
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31 Jul '06 7:46 am

Hi Scott. I have a few pumpkin plants on the way as well. Is there any way you can get a photo of your plants and a close-up of the problem. This wold help with the diagnosis a lot.

But from what I am hearing from you, I will tell you what I think.

Pumpkins need a lot of food to keep happy. I understand you put some fertilizer in the soil when you started out, but my suspicion is that this is not enough. I had some pumpkin plants the first year and I was shocked to find they were losing color and leaves were fading. I was in a right state, as you seem to be now. My sister-in-law has a farm and she has great success with her garden. She told me the plants had sucked all the nutrients out of the soil and now were starving. I bought some Miracle-Gro general purpose plant food and started my plants on a regular feeding and they recovered in a short time and were nice big plants. Now I keep an eye on the pumpkins I have and I feed them as the package advises every week.

If your soil is sandy then I suspect that it has not much nutrients to give and has given all it can. You need to feed your brood and water every night, deep watering once a week - meaning to soak the soil. The Miracle-Gro is mixed in a watering can and sprinkled over the whole plant, leaves and all get a sprinkling and the roots get a good watering of the magic juice. Pumpkins need lots of water and food to grow big.

Your whole garden will benefit from a good feeding at least every other week. Personally I don't trust those time-release fertilizers. I prefer to do the timing myself and that way I know what's gong on. I prefer Miracle-Gro and have had good results, but this is not an advertisement for them. Check at your local garden center and see what they are using and what they suggest to use. You want something you mix in water and add as needed. Don't fall for that "time-release" stuff. I think it's a gimmick.

That's what I can tell you without seeing a photo.

Christopher

31 Jul '06 8:55 am

See the wilting happened over night..Very scary.

31 Jul '06 10:34 am

Large leaf plants, like pumpkins, droop their leaves in the heat of the day. This is a protective measure, natural, so don't be alarmed by it.

If you feed your plants today (or tonight, rather, don't feed or water them in the heat of the day or this can burn them) you will see them slowly improve over the next few days. They are in distress due to the lack of food and only being a plant, they will take a few days to respond to a feeding. Be careful not to over feed them as this can cause problems too. Start a weekly routine of feeding the recommended amount and give them time to respond. Your sandy soil will drain quickly so watering every night is important, I would think. I water my garden in the evening so the roots can have a chance to soak up some moisture before the sun tries to cook it out of them.

If you forget to water them and they become dangerously dry, then trickle some water directly to the ground around the roots and be careful not to get any water on the foliage, or it will burn for sure. scorching the leaves and you will see this by the edges turning brown and crispy.

Have patience, my friend, and allow them to respond.

Christopher

31 Jul '06 7:52 pm

I agree with Christopher about the heat wilt, you need to water and fertilise regularly they are gross feeders and drinkers. The white appearing on the leaves sounds to me like powdery mildew which pumpkins,courgettes etc are susceptible to. Organics use Condys crystals(potassium permanganate) or if your not organic inclined you can spray with copper oxychloride.Dont pull any more out though as the powdery mildew doesnt usually affect the pumpkins.

Help me PLEASE with pumkin problems..I am a first year......

Help me PLEASE with pumkin problems..I am a first year......

In the Pumkin Patch.

Here are some other pics ..ANY ONE HELP !

Heat wilt.

Heat Wilt