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long Island

My leaves have turned brown and very brittle. If I try to touch them with my hand they disintegrate into dust.

They did not wilt and this happened over a long period of time. Maybe took three weeks from the first symptoms to the actual disintegration stage.

When I foliar sprayed with that extreme blend stuff it seemed to make the leaves much worse.

Most of the leafs are brown with a bit of copper color. Looks just like rust.

It does seem to be spreading to the newer growth over the past day or two.

Should I remove all the rusty leaves?
Are they still producing for the plant?
I think the ones that are petrified are dead.

I would love to know what caused this so that I can prevent a recurrence next year.

I will post the pics as soon as I get my camera back from my sister in-law.

I wish I had more leaves. If I cut all the crusty ones off I will only be left with maybe 20 or 25 half decent leaves on the plant.

8/31/2010 4:14:14 PM

Www.extremepumpkinstore.com

Wally,
Extreme Blend has been used successfully by many growers. When leaves are older and tired, or diseased, any foliar can do damage to them.
If you feel that you have problems with your plant a Tissue test would be the best course of action, followed by a soil test in the fall, amend the soil, put it to bed and retest in the spring, and add whatever iws necessary to balance your soil.
A&L in modesto California does a great job, I have been using them for soil tests for 6 years and tissue tests for 3 years.

8/31/2010 4:58:23 PM

long Island

Hi tom, I checked out all of the pictures that google has to offer pertaining to pumpkin leaf diseases. Nothing seems to match what I have. The older leaves have it the worst but it does seem to be spreading a little bit each day. I did notice that the tops of the leaves seem to be the most affected. The underside of the leaf doesn't seem so bad. The older leaves that have had it the longest have kept there shape but dried out to the point of crumbling into dust when I touch them. That cant be good.
The leaf stems seem to be completely healthy. The vine is fine, and the pumpkin still seems to be growing.(for now).
When I get that camera back I will post a few pics.

8/31/2010 5:33:16 PM

Upa Creek, Mo

Check under the leaves, do you have mites of some sort? I noticed the same symptoms, but got to them in time. It starts out spotted like sandpaper over the leaves getting worse and worse until they are completely dehydrated and crumple up. This is the bad time of the season for Spider mites too. See link.

http://urbangardenmagazine.com/2009/08/spider-mites-suck-hydroponic-pests/


What extreme blend are you referring to? I have been using the Extreme CO2 from them with no problems. Best of luck to you.

Luke

8/31/2010 9:17:29 PM

long Island

Thanks Luke. The leaf in the link that you sent me looks just like my leaf. I did the tap test on a PC of white paper. Nothing was on the paper. I am however convinced that this is spider mite damage. I will be taking a much better look at those leafs tomorrow. Maybe I will be able to find the little buggers.

I would like to take this time to clear up any misunderstanding about the extreme blend.

I am not in any way blaming the extreme blend for the problem on my leaves.

I overhead watered today and the leaves looked worse after that. I am not blaming the water either.

The problem on my leaves has nothing to do with anything that I have sprayed on them.

I am pretty sure my next new post will start out,
"My spider mites suck"

9/1/2010 12:54:22 AM