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Southern California

I picked one of my pumpkins. The spot where the flower used to be was flat on the ground and had bugs under it. It was weeping then and continues to weep 3 days later. The sap gels but if I move it, the gelled sap falls off and it weeps again. This is a small 20 lb pumpkin, I was hoping to save it for a Jack-o-lnatern.

Is it saveable? Should I not worry? Or should I just get it over with and make a pie?

6/22/2004 11:20:41 PM

In the shade - PDX, OR

This sounds pretty normal for a young fruit that's skin that has been recently damaged. It'll scar but that is about it.

I'd only mess with it one more time just to get something under it. Then leave it alone.

Many people put sand, boards, styrofoam and other material UNDER their pumpkin to prevent bugs, rot etc. from setting in.


Your not rotating it are you?
By picked do you mean that you took it off the vine?

6/23/2004 12:32:16 AM

Southern California

yeah, I took it off the vine.

This is my very first pumpkin patch, and there's a few things I found out I've done wrong. First mistake I found out too late is I planted them all in a huge bunch. I planted all the seeds I got out of one pumpkin in a 5 foot by 5 foot square. Second is I didn't thin. Both these made the patch hard to care for. Now the entire thing is dying from blight. So I've been picking the pumpkins as soon as the skins harden. I have the stuff to kill the blight, but the plants are so thick together, I can't get it all. The vines and leaves are so huge, you could hide a car in it. Seriously!

Oh, well. At least I'm learning for next year

6/23/2004 2:16:58 AM