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Location

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Michigan

I am a first year grower and I was wondering about composting my pumpkins is it alright to use them in my patch compost or will they contaminate my patch like tomatoes do to their growing area .Will the spores that cause decay live through the winter into next season.and how many years can I grow in the same area or don't I have to worry about this as with other crops.
Craig

11/7/2004 10:51:42 AM

[email protected]

If the fruit went down to Alternaria or fusarium like fruit rots, then I'd keep them out of the patch. But if they finished the season sound, I'd lay them down in the patch. Frost & bacteria will consume them over winter. Spring tilling finishes it.

11/7/2004 11:16:49 AM

Michigan

Thanks, what about using the same patch year after year is this ok as well.
Craig

11/7/2004 1:33:24 PM

[email protected]

Some soil borne pathogens do build up over time. If signs of these are prevalent, then alternating crops is advised. If not, fumigation or agressive drenching fungicide programs might be required.

I'm thinking bad stuff like soil borne Fusarium, Phytophthora, Schlerotania, Rhizocytonia, etc.

Soil borne vascular disease are tough to manage with fungicides. So if possible, patch rotation is always a good idea. Sanitation should be a concern regardless.

It seems like you're thinking the right way.

11/7/2004 3:19:48 PM

White Plains, NY

I certainly don't think decaying pumpkins should be added to the patch!!!!!!!!!!!! My carved pumpkins show many types of fungus as they decay. For what little good they do in the patch they are not worth the risk!

Mine go in the mulch pile, away from the patch. In the spring/summer the results go around trees but still not in the patch.

11/8/2004 8:29:39 AM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

Not to knock anyone here. What do you guys think eats all those leaves and manure we put in our patches. Fungi and lots of them. They are always present in your soil and the popuplation explodes when the food and conditions are optimal. Then when they die they make the minerals in there little fungi bodies available to the plants. Not to mention the waste they produce and the CO2 they produce. Which in turn produces carbonic acid, which in turn breaks down the minerals. Then the cycle starts all over.

11/8/2004 9:29:38 AM

White Plains, NY

Linus I agree.

Maybe I should have said its not worth the risk in regards to infecting the soil with diseases that attack pumpkins. Rotting pumpkins that harbor "bad" stuff are more likely to be passed on to new pumpkins. Vines as well are not recycled to the pumpkin patch. Manures, leaves, etc. are less likely to harbor bad things that are specific to pumpkins.

I have limited land so I'm careful about what I put into the soil so I have happy pumpkins.

11/9/2004 11:12:33 AM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

If these pumpkins came from your garden the fungi is already present. By allowing the pumpkin to decay you are allowing the system to build up a tolerance to these "Bad" things, and create a checks and balances system. Sort of like the human bodies immune system. Now if I were to suppress my system somehow such as with Chemotherapy, or my patches with a massive fumigation. I would be worried about disease. I am not an organic person in my Giant Pumpkin Patch. I would like to say I use preventitive measures and don't go to far across the line and majorly upset the system.

11/9/2004 11:54:31 AM