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Europe

Please help. I have discovered this deformation on one of my plants. Should I pull it out?

http://crazy-growers.de/viewtopic.php?p=67459#67459

(I have posted the same picture here on BP in my diary, but it takes some tome for it to be posted. And you know how are things ... when we need an answer what to do ...)

Wishing you all huge beautiful pumpkins :)

6/23/2013 12:50:27 AM

Jericho Vermont

Unfortunately it looks to me like it could be a mosaic type virus. Here is link for you to do some comparison.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/vegetable/cucurbit-problem-solver/leaf-disorders/

6/23/2013 1:16:27 PM

Europe

Thanks John, I was afraid so. It is a pumpkin I was counting on. Do you think I should pull it out? Is the plot contaminated and no more pumpkin is likely to be grown on it in the future, the virus grows into the seeds, so no pumkin for next year should be grown. Right?

6/23/2013 1:49:56 PM

Connecticut

Hi buca-

Sadly it does look like you have a mosaic type virus. From visual diagnosis this is as close as you can get to an identification. If your pumpkin is over 20-days old (and based on my theory, the cells have stopped dividing) so you should not get a misshaped pumpkin. Odds are others in the patch will soon show the same symptoms, but personally I would pull the plant out.

Trying to determine if you can grow there again depends on exactly what type of virus you have. This determination can only happen through a lab screening of plant material. If you have Tobacco Mosaic the residual is around 20-years! For something like Zucchini Yellow the residual is quite low assuming you remove alternate hosts like Pokeweed out of the area. The tests state side can be a little expensive (over $100US) but the information (in my opinion) is well worth it.

I would also highly recommend a nematode screen looking in particular for dagger nematodes as they can winter over viruses and infect your plants next year.

The virus transmission to the seeds is an interesting question. Based on the data I have found the transmission rate is very low, but it does happen.
Link with more info on virus and seed transmission:
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/MsgBoard/ViewThread.asp?b=6&p=406259

    Data is always good to get so that is what I did last year and so far, after extensive research over the winter I have not seen virus in my patch this year, but today marks the one year anniversary to when it was first noticed in my patch last year so every day I get from now on is one more than I got last year.

6/23/2013 9:48:44 PM

Europe

Thanks, I will pull the plant out as soon as possible. It has not yet been pollinated and really, really hope it does not affect the growth of my other plant in this patch.
When I think back, how it grew. It was a perfect seedling. When planted out it started to grow nicely, but he gorth was very compact. A couple of leaves in the middle of the plant wilted like a bacterial wilt. I cut thoose away and aplied a fungicide. I thought it could be something like a burn caused by a white cover I used to protect it from wind, temperature up and downs. Then at about 3 foot the main vine wilted and died. Withour a reason I could figure out. I have trained a secondary to be the leading. And now I have discovered the deformed branch in the picture.
Thanks again, wishing you a virussfree year.

6/24/2013 3:35:49 AM

New Hampshire

Was That grown From the 1770 Lieber? Jim Beauchemin and myself is having that exact thing happening on our 1770 Liebers

6/30/2013 9:46:26 PM