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Ohio

For me who i still get hit by some disease like PM and eaten up by insects even though I spray I think the main reason this is, is that Im not to hitting every little bit of green I see that im spraying. I think my problem and other growers as well is even though they spray on a regular basis they are not taking the time hitting the entire plant and just kinda spot hitting places, mainly on hitting the spots that can be reached the best. I look back now finding my self spraying from a distance on parts of the plant I couldn’t reach and not really getting close enough and just half a$$in the spraying part that I thought was good enough.
I think Im going to focus more on the spraying part of it to make sure I get every part of the plant I see green and take that extra minute to make sure EVERYTHING is sprayed.
I think this will cut back on my plant shutting down early and give me a extra couple weeks near the end of the season for a little more growth for my pumpkins.

Every notice when you have been spraying on a regular basis that the top side of your leaves look good (because they are easy to reach to spray) but when you look under some of your leaves you sometimes find these little micro see through white bugs crawing around ,or find them little cluster of brownish red eggs, or the little white powdery spots starting? I think that’s from the half a$$ spraying that we though was good enough to get us by. So this year Im going to focus on the spraying part to see how much more plant life this will give me.

Anyone else find this happing to them?

2/27/2007 4:48:25 AM

Farmville, Virginia (mfowler@hsc.edu)

I agree Brooks, I think that is why so many experienced growers are moving towards the use of systemic insecticides and fungicides. Anyone have any idea what the best systemic insect and disease repellants are? Sure would love to know!

Mark

2/27/2007 4:55:46 AM

Wood River, IL (kennyw_49@yahoo.com)

Brooks, I find that's one of the aspects of growing AG's I find hardest to deal with. As a new grower last year I had very good mentor who told me everything I needed to apply before I needed to apply it. But my problem was without seeing somebody do it. You don't really understand you have to hit every little green spot on the plant. I thought waving the sprayer like a magic wand was good enough. It wasn't till halfway through the season that I figured out I wasn't doing it right. I learned a lot last year, and I now have a better understanding as to what it take to grow these pumpkins. Kenny

2/27/2007 6:30:01 AM

Roselle, IL GJGEM@sbcglobal.net

Yes- until I got a Stihl back pack blower. Great coverage& half the time.

2/27/2007 9:02:14 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Coverage is key. Use the right equipment & make sure to always use a quality surfactant that was engineered for what you're applying. It makes a difference.

2/27/2007 12:08:32 PM

Www.extremepumpkinstore.com

Yep, get a Stihl.

2/27/2007 1:24:20 PM