insect damage/pumpkin harvest

21 years ago

This is really a two-part question:

I have a couple of pumpkin plants in containers that have fallen victim to a worm that bores tiny holes and weakens and splits the vines, along with producing small masses of some kind of tan wet rot -- is this vine borer damage, and are my plants goners, or is there anything I can do? They're everywhere, but the majority of the plant still appears to be fairly perky.

Second question: I have two pumpkins, one on each vine, that are beginning to turn the ripening color of this particular pumpkin (Rouge Vif d'Etampes, if you're interested) and I'm wondering; is leaving the pumpkins on the vine until the plants keel over is a good idea? Or should I harvest them now and let them ripen out on the stoop or wherever? I don't want the infested pumpkin plants to ruin their pumpkins if/when the infestation (whatever it is) finally sends the plants to that big kitchen garden in the sky. Size is not a concern; I just want to keep my harvest, and possibly eat it at some point.

Thanks!

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Comments (3)

Gourd_Guy
21 years ago
You`re screwed. That is indeed the @*?##! squash borer that is having its way with you. They will eventually overwhelm and kill your plant. It`s kind of early for pumpkins to be ripening - this may be normal(I`m not familiar with the variety you`re growing), or it may be a premature reaction to the damage being done to it`s vine. My experience has been that If you leave pumpkins in a borer situation, they will get drilled as well. If I were you, I`d check them carefully-I`d bet even money they have some damage already. I can grow a field full of gourds, but I suck at pumpkins. One day, I`ll figure them out...
{{gwi:854414}}
sandbagger
21 years ago
Yes. You've been attacked...and attacked good it seems. The sawdust stuff is vine borer poops. You can slice the vines longways and pull the grubs out one by one and reburry the vines. You can inject the vines in the area of the borer with regular strength contact insecticide (methoxychlore is what I used to use ) and get them that way. In either case there is sufficient vine damage to bring on early maturity.The fact that the vines are holding up means you have sufficient additional rooting at the nodes to mature the fruit. Rouge pkns look mature well before they are so I'd leave them on the vines as long as possible to mature.They won't hold up long if cut early/not mature.
The way to beat the borer is two-fold. Warrior T or any other Llamba Chohalthron (spelling wrong I know) or triazide as contact preventative sprays and admire or merit (grubbex with merit) as backup systemics. I used to get killed evry year. Haven't had one since I started with Warrior-T.
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laschlee
Original Author
21 years ago
Thanks for the info, Gourd Guy & Sandbagger, although I hate to see my worst case scenario confirmed -- it appears that a couple of energetic worms have indeed made it into the two pumpkins. Darn. Well, at least I can enjoy the color for as long as the two pumpkins stick around, so I have them sitting out on the stoop, like a couple of bad-prognosis survivors. I'll be filing this year under "learning experience" and attacking like crazy next year, before I get as much worm damage as I have now.

At least I have some recourse against my insect pests; my next door neighbor has a vegetable patch and a couple of bored teenagers, and, well, I assume you can guess the rest.