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USA north carolina

Good day big pumpkin family. I decided in april I wanted to grow pumpkins in a corner plot of land in my yard that was cleared of brush and 10-15 trees in february of this year. That led med to discover giant pumpkin growing. The last months have been a whirlwind of learning for me. For example that I entered the game way late without fall soil test, amendment, retest, and much more. The more i have read and learned the more I realize this season was not set up for success due to lack of prep and planning learning things after it was too late to incorporate them. However, since I already germinated some plants in doors (atlantic dill, cinderella, jarrahdale, knucklehead, casperita, and cushaw) i figured just enjoy the ride and learn as much as possible this year even if i dont grow anything giant.
atlantic dill germinated in doors June 25 transplanted july 13. (i know late had issues with getting a fence put up.
soil test i didnt learn about western labs until late so i used a sendoff from amazon which showed ph 6.92, N 35.45, phosphorus 1.65!?, and potassium 89.2. it tested the micros which seemed ok compared to several resources. im not sure how accurate any of this was so i added lots of organic compost tilled in the week before planting along with a 20-20-20 because of fear of inaccurate test and low soil nutrition. Added gypsom and a 50 lb bag of slow release nitrogen because of high clay in soil as well as a lot of remaining wood chip debris in soil left over from tree removal that i understand will sap the N in the soil. Important to note these trees were cut at ground level mulched and then a skid seer pushed most top layer of brush, mulch away. Stumps deep into ground still present. The tilling wiped out all the roots about 18-24” deep. I tried to start using some boards more but its been tough to inspect as much as I want and still getting used to this part of the process.

8/23/2022 12:26:27 PM

USA north carolina

Set up a drip irrigator with fertigator after reading that’s the way to go only to find out the type i bought does not deliver enough water to the space im using and i didnt distribute lines correctly etc. next year will get something similar to what i seee in grow diaries. in the fertigator i have used spoon feed approach of the 20-20-20 with some added N from other product to combat my perceived likely N deficiency that would develop and promote Vine growth. Did not use myco at transplant but added some around week 3 and have regularly used with a (soil, compost, myco, kelp, humic acid blend to cover nodes). Along the way I purchased and used some cal-mag, protek silica, companion max (started last Wednesday because of solid week of rain). used ph up/down where needed to correct Ph and used ec meter for salt levels. My water is well water with new water purification and softener with Ph of 7 out of line with ec of 100 at tap.
From transplant I have battled 95f hot days so realized i needed to mid-day mist. i started coming home at lunch most days to mist with garden hose to cool them off as i had some mid day wilting, slow growth, and possibly a little sun scald. I bout a couple thousand sq feet of black plastic to put down however as soon as I started battling extreme heat in conjunction with some drainage issues in a couple areas in the plot (not directly in the atlantic dill side) I worried about using the plastic cover and have held off.

8/23/2022 12:26:46 PM

USA north carolina

From first week of transplant i started using copper fungicide and neem every 7 days. I used weak solution of perm up once then had aphid issue develop and feared poisons after were killing the good insects so havent used anymore. I saw ONE cucumber beetle first week then no more. after about 2-3 weeks i started noticing some aphids and occasional squash bugs. See ants regularly as well as tiny spiders. added captain jacks dead bug brew to rotation and started using diatomaceous earth couple times on leaves but mostly along vines. Last week put 1500 lady bugs out there and have 1500 more to place this week after the diatomaceous earth wears off to help with the aphids and maybe spider mites but again not a massive problem I don’t think.

OK. SO much information and if you read all of that. Youre awesome. I have read no less than 500 post and threads here in the past months and figured more information would help than less. Oh I started with 6 atlantic dill with plan to cull to maybe 2-3. I culled a very week one early on. Then two more since. The most recent I culled because I was concerned it may have had some downy and it was in the way of my strongest plant growth direction.

8/23/2022 12:27:01 PM

USA north carolina

On to the issue at hand. I have noticed some yellowish lesions on many plants (atlantic dill as well as Cinderella casperita jarradhale) first leaves. It didn’t seem to progress. Friday noticed more yellow with browning of some leaves of the atlantic dill I culled. My strong plant looked good with only some leaf damage to a couple from picking off squash bug eggs. Since Friday my strong plants earlies leaves on main vine took a turn and don’t look great in some places.
Pictures are easiest to understand. Going to see if I can add some pictures of the atlantic dill and some other leaves in the space from other varieties. Any thoughts are appreciated. Out of extreme fear last night at 1am I ordered invigorate, ranman, bravo, procure, mancozeb, and alliete. I should have been using a better program from start but with starting last minute and not being set up for success anyhow I couldn’t rationalize dropping the 1k on all these fungicides but now I feel like if I didn’t do it I would be mad that I didn’t try.

8/23/2022 12:27:15 PM

USA north carolina

Just waiting on the images that i uploaded to get approved. hope everyone is having a good day.

8/23/2022 12:45:00 PM

Mission Viejo, CA

Welcome to the message board! There's a lot of information here and clearly your first year is starting off with more info than I had for years.

I looked at the pictures- you may have some disease there but diagnosis from just looking at photos is left to the experts. I will tell you that I dealt with disease for years before I decided to actually TEST the soil and tissue for pathogens. Once you know what you have, you can treat it effectively. Until then, its a guessing game. Think of it like taking your car to a mechanic and telling him it won't start. Without diagnosing anything, they start replacing parts- the battery, then the starter, then the alternator, etc. That sounds like what you are planning with all those pricey fungicides.
Powdery mildew gets every single grower at one time or another. If I wait until I see it, chances are I have lost the battle already.
Pests are somewhat regional, and other growers in your area are the best source of information on treatment.

8/23/2022 3:08:09 PM

Mission Viejo, CA

Those tiny spiders sound like spider mites. They are capable of infestation at such a level that they suck the life out of the leaf tissue and the plant just goes to hell in a handbasket. They are also one of the things I treat for before I see them.

8/23/2022 3:11:35 PM

USA north carolina

Kevin- thank you for the response! testing soil for what is there is definitely on the agenda. i learned western labs did that recently and emailed but should have called. I work in the medical field as a PA but in orthopedics but regardless should have done that test. it is a little price but cheaper than all the poison i just bought. I will see if i can go ahead and get that set up. might now help this year but if there is to possibly be a year two its needed.

the spiders on the ground look bigger than spider mites but ill try to get pictures and google. i just thought they were young wolf spiders since only thing from me and the forest is my new privacy fence at edge of patch.

again thanks for the response

8/23/2022 4:35:21 PM

Central NY

Hey hiller…welcome to the site.. I got halfway through reading your posts, ready to try an answer a question but I started taking notes instead. Lol. Sounds like you have a good grasp of what’s going on. Learn some of the feeding programs used by the pros while your soil catches up to the rest of the knowledge you've accumulated. Best of luck. This can be a real fun hobby!

8/24/2022 8:14:11 AM

Grittyville, WA

The mancozeb might help. It has manganese and zinc which you may be short on.
Looks to me like you might want a fertilizer with more micronutrients. I think the straight 20-20-20 could feed the roots and pumpkins pretty good but the lack of micronutients in a straight macronutrient product will be hard on the plants health. ...Just an opinion, not necessarily the truth.
Be careful not to water too much.

8/24/2022 2:16:43 PM