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Jericho Vermont

We had a bad storm here in VT and hail shredded my whole patch. The plants are still alive but not sure for how long. Does anyone have a suggestion to help keep my leaves and plant alive? Should I spray captan on the leaves? Thanks for your comments. John

7/2/2004 4:29:30 PM

Eugene, OR

Welcome to the club that no one wants to join! I'm also a first year grower who's patch got shredded by a brief hail storm just a few days ago. Thankfully, the plants are now on their way to recovering. See my diary for pictures of the damage if you're interested. Check out the General Discussion board for a couple of posts relating to hail damage also.

According to other more experienced growers who have had hail strike their patches, these pumpkin plants are tougher than nails and do recover. Joe Pukos' patch was all but destroyed by hail and he still managed to grow a nice size pumpkin in '99. Here's a good link showing what his patch looked like and how he managed to salvage the season.

http://www.pumpkinnook.com/commune/featpic3.htm

Do you have any pictures you could upload to this site? As long as the crown and main are OK and you have a good root system in place, they should recover for you. Don't give up!

More experienced growers will surely chime in with more help.

Good luck!!

Brian

7/2/2004 4:44:54 PM

Jericho Vermont

Thanks Brian I will check out your pictures. I have one plant with a main of 15 feet and a pumkin ready to pollinate soon. I am thinking I should wait a little and pollinate one that comes a little later to take stress off from the plant. I have done a foliar of seaweed and molasses and the leaves are upright but very shredded. Thanks for your reply.

7/2/2004 5:25:34 PM

Jericho Vermont

My plants look identical to Brians only smaller in size. The stump looks fine and is quite large. Should I try a chelate calcium foliar spry as well?

7/2/2004 5:41:24 PM

Appalachian Mtns.

The calcium will help, I'm a "big" fan of foliar calcium.

7/2/2004 7:08:48 PM