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East Bend, North Carolina

We finally got some rain in North Carolina on Friday. I have been battling a soft spot on one of my pumpkins for a week or so and had one of my biggest go down on Thursday. A good year is going bad very quickly. I really want to have something to take to the weigh off on Sept. 26th and was wondering what the majority of you more experienced growers would do after all the rain we got. I have been watering what I could, but not much due to the serious drought we are having. I do not want to lose the few other good pumpkins I have and am considering cutting them and putting them on a trailer in the basement until the weigh off week after next. So I am asking, what would you do?

9/14/2007 9:46:30 PM

Farmville, Virginia ([email protected])

Darn good question, I'm battling a soft spot here to. What are you doing for yours? I've thought about cutting mine off also but would love to see some opinions here first.

9/14/2007 10:43:25 PM

East Bend, North Carolina

I have cut away all of the soft area that I could and have had either a fan or hairdryer for a little while blowing on the spot. I also have been applying Captan powder to the area as well. I hope it will dry out but all this much needed rain will probably not help this any. I just hope I can get it looking better before the fair so maybe they will still let me weigh it. I lost a large (for me anyway) pumpkin off the 1010 Frantz on Thursday. This year is starting to go from fairly good to bad in the matter of a week.

9/15/2007 7:22:09 AM

Long Island,New York

Cut one and risk one. Cover the bases.

9/15/2007 8:49:47 AM

Rhode Island

tough call but , if your not sure about leaving it in the patch then cut it and puit her in a cool area for a couple weeks

9/15/2007 8:51:22 AM

Georgia

I have a soft spot on my 1041 Mckie and want to save it badly. I painted Daconil on it and made a thick paste. We also have been in a drought but also got a good rain yesterday. I keep it covered witha tarp on cloudy days and when its sunny I let the sun hit it real good. So far its like Viagara its hardening up real nice. I think it will make it just keep it dry and try a little bleach spray every once and a while.

9/15/2007 8:53:59 AM

Georgia

One question for yall this old farmer down the road who grows prizewiners to sell harvests his pumpkins early some times. He cuts the vines and sticks them in water jugs or tapes bags of water on the cut vines. He tells me this helps them not lose as much weight when cutting them early. Is there any truth behind this Im wondering. Thanks

9/15/2007 9:19:09 AM

Carrollton, Ga.

Hey Jason,
i have seen pics where people do this when they pick them to carry to the weigh off. heavy hitters too. so i think it would help for a couple of days anyway.
take care,
doug

9/15/2007 10:57:47 AM

Georgia

Thanks Doug I cant really see it hurting at all. You think it would probally help keep water going to the fruit so I might give it a try this year if Im lucky enough to get one to stay together.

9/15/2007 11:17:54 AM

East Bend, North Carolina

Jason D., This is only my second year growing. Last year I planted too early and had to pull my largest at the first of September. The fair was not until the end of September so I put it on a pallet and trailer and put it in my basement and put the ends of the vines in jugs of water. It is a good idea from what I have heard but just don't let it stay too long because the vines got really saturated and started to go soft and rot. This gradually worked it's way up the vine until it got to the stem and rotted the stem almost all the way up into the pumpkin itself. I had to keep it coated with Captan and had a fan blowing on it for most of the month it sat there. I finally got it stopped but no telling how much weight the pumpkin lost setting for a month off the vine with a fan blowing and drying it out. Moral is just keep an eye on it and be careful.

9/15/2007 12:46:39 PM

Georgia

Thanks for the advice rkeaton and I dont plan on doing it for to long just a couple of days before weigh off.

9/17/2007 9:06:20 AM