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Issaquah, WA

Hello-

My name is Chris and I have had problems with foaming stump in my path the past couple years. My screen name on big pumpkins is P and P (pilot and pumpkin grower). My brother and I grow in the Seattle, wa area. We are looking for a way to prevent foaming stump from occurring again. We have come to the conclusion that we were over watering. In addition our soil was far far too high in organic matter. Too much compost the past couple years.

This year we plan on adding some loamy already broken down dirt and a sand to our patch to bring down the organics and increase drainage. Which will help. We are looking for any other suggestions. I have attached our latest soil test before any amendments were added. Our total patch area is around 600 square feet and the dirt is mostly compost/manure and local blend. We have been adding too much compost I fear over the last 3 years. 33% in organic matter.

We appreciate any help or guidance you might have regarding foaming stump prevention. The April 2010 SNGPG article has a lot of good guidence. Any help would be much appreciated. We have not done our spring prep yet and are looking for info.

Thank you for your time.

Chris Blume
Chrisblume2@gmail.com

P- 491ppm
K-346ppm
Ca-3485ppm
Mg-549ppm
%k 4.4
%Ca 73.2
%Mg 22.4
K:Mg 0.19
Ca:Mg 3.27
CEC 18.8
ORGANIC MATTER 33.0%

4/9/2013 2:57:39 PM

Issaquah, WA

*Spring Prep, hahahaha

4/9/2013 2:58:28 PM

Colorado

Hey Chris, this is just my opinion, but I think a few others have observed this as well. If you terminate a good number of vines in a short time frame, and don't have a pumpkin on the vine that is big enough to be putting on good solid daily gains, at least in my opinion, it seems to lead to a higher likelihood of a foamer, the thought being that all the water, etc. being taken up by the plant doesn't have anywhere to go as many vines are terminated, and you don't have a big "sink" into your fruit yet. end result may be that it all foams out the stump. so careful timing of events may help. good luck.

4/9/2013 4:18:14 PM

Germany

Same observation here, I had one foamer in 2011 and this was a plant which was devoid of a decent number of growing vine tips quite early in the season (I ran out of space and had to terminate alot). Keep some (or better some more) vines growing.

4/9/2013 6:46:30 PM