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Sacramento, Ca

So everything was going fine until around the last week in july when i noticed that the leaves were turning brown and dieing. At the start of the year I had a soil report done and amended the soil accordingly. I have the plant on two 2GPh emitters which run on a timer for 4 hours a night three times a week. i was adding aprox one bag of Mircle Grow by a hose sprayer once week from the first week of June to about mid July. I noticed the plant dieing around the end of july. Any ideas what caused this? Also, the pumpkins continue to grow but slowly.
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=119663

9/6/2009 11:05:55 PM

Rhode Island

no way to know for sure without a leaf tissue test. some form of disease by the sound of it.
vascular and air born diseases are the biggest problems we face.
soil nutrients help the fruit and plant grow but disease left unchecked will put you out of business fast.
ps------watering at night is never a good idea. this also promots diseases.

9/7/2009 7:36:52 AM

Sacramento, Ca

Thanks for the info pap. I always thought that watering at night was a good idea as long as you got the water on the ground and not the plant. Can you clarify that?

9/7/2009 10:52:10 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Soil tests help identify nutrient deficiencies. Correcting deficiencies is good but does nothing to prevent the various foliar diseases we all encounter.

Have you been following a good insect & disease prevention program?

9/7/2009 11:06:08 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Yikes! That looks worse than powdery mildew & may have been downy mildew. Too late to be sure now.

9/7/2009 11:52:02 AM

Annapolis Valley Nova Scotia

Man, did you upset someone, it looks like your patch has been attacked with a weed killer!

9/7/2009 2:58:47 PM

Adams County

Daaaaaaaammmmmmmmmnnnnnnnn. dont have a clue to what it is. but it sure dont look right, hope someone can figure this out . so it dont happen agian

9/7/2009 4:16:19 PM

Coventry R.I.

Look,s like you burnt all leaves and vine,, from usuing to much mircle grow for that length of time.

9/7/2009 7:38:13 PM

Buffalo, New York

wow, i thought my plants looked like $hit.......

9/7/2009 8:20:26 PM

Brooklyn Corner, Nova Scotia

Any chance you may have over did it with sevin or similar product. Last year a member of our club incorrectly read the application rates and burnt the h#$l out of a very promising plant.

9/7/2009 9:17:06 PM

Sacramento, Ca

I don't use any fungicides or pesticides in my garden. I did have watermelons and casaba melons in the same patch. The watermelons got severely infected with downy mildew. I did a lot of research and then took some leave samples today to a California Master Gardener. It is most definitely caused by downy mildew. The amazing part is how fast the plant got defoliated. It only took a month to get in the shape it is in now. It still has lots of green at the base of the plant but I was just outside looking at it and those leaves are infected too. That patch will not be getting the AG's in next year, I made a patch the middle of the summer that will be for them next year.

9/7/2009 9:29:22 PM

Cochecton, NY

I had a plant crap out on me too about 4 weeks ago! I just dug it up and burnt it. I would love to know what went wrong, but my ocd would make me neglect work more than I already have, so I will just roll with the punches.

9/8/2009 11:47:30 PM