Pumpkin Production Issues and

Trials, 2014 - 2015

R. Allen Straw

Specialist

Virginia Cooperative Extension

Slugs

Several Calls

– Losing stand

– Birds ?

– Herbicides ?

– SLUGS!

When examining at

night as many as 7

slugs per leaf

Squash Vine Borer - Larvae

Squash Vine Borer - Adult

Squash Vine Borer

Usually not an issue

in “commercial”

production.

Delayed sprays

– Neonic seed

treatments

– 4 to 5 weeks before

first sprays

Generally use

pyrethroid

insecticides for vine

borers.

– Very effective

– But kill Beneficial's

– Flare aphids

Loss of Thionex after July

Brown Marmorated

Stink Bug

Thrip

Aphids

Options

– Beleaf

– Venom

– Platinum

– Admire

– Be careful with

bees

Rotated with

– Pyrethroids

Magnesium Deficiency

Manganese Toxicity

Fertilization – Bare Soil

Pre-Plant (medium soil test)

– 50 – 100 – 100 lb/A

500 lb/A of 10-20-20 or equivalent

Sidedress at 12” runner

– 31 – 0 – 0 to 62 – 0 – 0 lb/A

200 - 400 lb/A of calcium nitrate

– 34 – 0 – 0 to 64 – 0 – 0 lb/A

100 – 200 lb/A of ammonium nitrate

Fertilization – Plastic Mulch & Drip

Pre-Plant (medium soil test)– 50 – 100 – 100 lb/A

1,000 lb/A of 5 – 10 – 10 or equivalent

8 to 10 weekly applications (beginning 3 to 4 weeks after planting)– Alternate

7.75 – 0 – 0 – 9.6 (Ca)

50 lb/A/week of calcium nitrate

6.875 – 0 – 23

50 lb/A/week of potassium nitrate

10 – 10 – 10

– 50 lb/A/week of water soluble 20 – 20 – 20

Pumpkin Spacing

Traditionally

– 6 – 8’ between rows

– 4’ in-row

– 24 – 32 ft2

Grower Practices

– 3 – 4’ between rows

– 3’ – 5’ in-row

– 12 – 20 ft2

Plant TypeBush

12 – 18 ft2

Semi-Bush18 – 32 ft2

Prolific Vining32+ ft2

Extremes– 12 ft2

– 100 ft2

Spacings for Specific

Pumpkin Varieties

Wholesale

Jack-O-Lantern‘Aladdin’

12 – 24 ft2

‘Gladiator’15 – 30 ft2

‘Magician’12 – 24 ft2

10 – 12 ft2

School tours

‘Magic Lantern’12 – 32 ft2

‘Cronus’48 – 60 ft2

Large Fruited18 – 36 ft2

‘Big Doris’

‘Captain Jack’

‘Early Giant’

Small Fruited (“Pies”)– 12 – 18 ft2

‘Hybrid Pam’

‘Mystic Plus’

‘Pik-A-Pie’

12 – 18 ft2

‘Iron Man’

‘Cannon Ball'

Spacing Work on Varieties

Would like to do

some more spacing

work

Cronus

– HMX 0685

– Optimize Yield

– Optimize Size

Magician

– Tighten up spacings

to make “school tour”

pumpkin.

8 to 12 square feet

Pie Pumpkins

– Optimize Yield

8 to 12 square feet on

restricted vine

varieties

Pollination

Rule of thumb:– 1 hive/A

Observations0 hives/A

Native bees

Cucumber beetles

2 hives/ACompetition

Admire and Colony

Collapse

Irrigation

Most pumpkins have been grown utilizing Dry

Land Production

TrendsOverhead Irrigation (Traveling Gun)

Following annual plasticulture strawberries with

pumpkins, utilizing the mulch and trickle irrigation system

Possible Future Trends - Trickle Irrigation of bare ground

production

Needs:

– 1 to 2 1/2 inches of water/A/week

Environmental Conditions

Year after year we experience times of irregular rainfall.– Extremely Dry

– Poor Distribution

– Extremely Wet

Nearly every year we experience a time pumpkins need supplemental water.

‘Magic Lantern’

Diseases: The Problem with

Overhead Irrigation of Pumpkins

Downy Mildew Microdochium Blight

Trickle Irrigation

Increased yields

– Double and even

triple non-irrigated

Increased fruit size

– 25% larger fruit

Less incidence of

Fusarium Fruit Rot

Yield – Pumpkins/A

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

Bare No Irr Plastic Drip

Irr

Bare Drip Irr

Yie

ld (

no

/A)

Iron Man

Magician

Magic Lantern

Aladdin

Yield – Tons/A

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Bare No Irr Plastic Drip

Irr

Bare Drip Irr

Yie

ld (

ton

s/A

)

Iron Man

Magician

Magic Lantern

Aladdin

Average Fruit Weight – lb

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Bare No Irr Plastic Drip Irr Bare Drip Irr

Av

era

ge F

ru

it W

eig

ht

(lb

)

Iron Man

Magician

Magic Lantern

Aladdin

Weed burn down with

hooded sprayer

Weekly fertigation

Fungicide and insecticide

Pumpkin Growth in Mid-August

Pumpkin Harvest in Early October

MONTH PRECIPITATION TEMP

2004 AVG Percent

DIFF

JUN 4.60 4.81 96% 1.7

JUL 6.10 5.04 121% -0.7

AUG 2.43 3.81 64% -2.2

SEP 8.43 3.84 220% 1.3

OCT 4.03 3.71 109% 6.9

SUM 25.6 21.2 121%

PES-Crossville, TN, Weather Data

Yield – No./A

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

Mulch

100% Irr

Mulch

50% Irr

Mulch No

Irr

Bare

100% Irr

Bare 50%

Irr

Bare No

Irr

Yie

ld (

no

./A

)

a a

a

b b b

Yield – Tons/A

0

5

10

15

20

Mulch

100% Irr

Mulch

50% Irr

Mulch No

Irr

Bare

100% Irr

Bare 50%

Irr

Bare No

Irr

Yie

ld (

ton

s/A

)

aab

b

c c c

Average Fruit Weight – (lb/fruit)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Mulch

100% Irr

Mulch

50% Irr

Mulch No

Irr

Bare

100% Irr

Bare 50%

Irr

Bare No

Irr

Av

era

ge

Fru

it W

t. (

lb/f

ruit

)

a a a

bb

b

Conclusions

Plastic mulch more than doubled yield in 2004.

Irrigation increased yield by nearly 20% in 2004.

A warmer drier growing season may produce more irrigation response and less plastic mulch response.

Some rainfall was effective under plastic mulch. How much still to be determined.

Irrigation / Plasticulture 2012

A trial was

conducted in Floyd

County in 2012

4 Treatments

– Black Plastic & Drip

– White Plastic & Drip

– NT with Drip

– NT without Irrigation

Varieties

– Field Trip

– Apollo

– Apogee

– Gladiator

– Magic Lantern

– Magic Wand

Summary

Plastic Mulch increased yields– Weed Control

Fertigation– Need to pay close

attention to N rates

– Too much can keep the vines vegetative

Differences among varieties

Yield

– Plastic and drip

irrigation tended to

increase yields by 10

to 20%

– Magic Lantern most

noticeable

– Magic Wand some

trend, but not as

obvious.

No-Till Considerations

Preparation is KEY!– NT into sod is a

gamble

– Ron Morse has developed some very good guidelines

– Prepare for no-tillWork soil in the fall

Sow appropriate cover crop

Control the cover at the appropriate time in the spring

– Too short – not enough cover

– Too tall – hard to control

Fertility

– Concern: surface application of urea

– Nutrisphere (?)

Water (Irrigation)

Allelopathic Effects (?)

Which Cover Crop?

Rye

– Most growth

– Best “mulch”

– Grows very rapidly in

the spring

– Use 1 bu/A

– 2 bu/A often gets too

thick

Wheat

– Less growth than rye

– Not as much “mulch”

– Doesn’t grow as fast

– 1 to 2 bu/A

Vetch

– Adds N

– Harder to kill

Cover Crop – 2011 - 2012

Which is Best?

– Barley @ 2 bu/A

– Winter Oats @ 2

bu/A

– Spring Oats @ 2 bu

– Triticale @ 2 bu/A

– Wheat @ 2 bu/A

– Rye @ 1 bu/A

– Rye @ 2 bu/A

Results

– Really didn’t see any

differences

– However, huge

difference as

compared to no

cover

– Time of seeding is

very important

– Rye Rate ?

Rodent Control

Rodents

– Field mice have

been bad the last

couple of years

– Worse in NT

production

– Control

• Admire

• Furadan (?)

• Whatever Means ?

Traditional Planters

For several years:– 4 row - 36” JD 7000

series planter

– Plant the outside two boxes for a 9 ft row spacing

– Use and idler that would cut seeding rate in half

– About 24 to 36 inches in the row

– Problem Seed Metering

Cole Planters

In other areas

something like a one

row “Cole” planter

would be used

Problem:

– Variable seed

placement

Depth

In-Row Spacing

Something about ingenuity?

Some growers

become very

creative!

– One grower fixed a

drag type tobacco

setter to plant

pumpkins:

– Spring loaded film

canister in a PVC

Tee to drop the seed

at the correct

spacing

Problem:

Seeding depth

Hand Planting

Of course if you

wanted accuracy in

planting you could

always do it by hand

Problem:

– A lot of work

– Takes a lot of people

to plant very many

acres

– Sometimes difficult

to plant into NT

Ultimate in Hand Planting

The ultimate in back

breaking planting

labor is the hoe

– Problem:

Back-breaking

Seeding depth

Seeding Goals

What is our goal in

seeding:

– Plant the desired

population without

wasting seed.

– Uniform

Seeding rate (in-row

and between row

spacing)

Seeding depth

What are our best options?

Hand

– Labor intensive and

time consuming

Vacuum Planter

– Very accurate in

seeding rate

– Expensive

– Some older models:

Concern about

uniform seeding

depth

Three Options

Monosem Vacuum Planter

MaterMacc Vacuum Planter

JD Vacuum Planter

Which one do you choose?

?

Farmore Seed Treatment

Syngenta

– Different

formulations

I100

D300

DI400

Cucurbits

– DI400

Disease Control:

– azoxystrobin

– fludioxonil

– mefenoxam

Insect control:

– thiamethoxam

seed treatment for

pumpkins, squash and

cukes

Contains the systemic neonicotinoid – Thiamethoxam

(same insecticide as Platinum™ and Cruiser™)

Also contains 3 fungicides: Dynasty, Apron and Maxim

Downy Mildew

New Strain of Downy Mildew

There appears to be a new strain of

downy mildew that is resistant to many

of our labeled fungicides.

Forecasting:

– http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/pp/cucurbit/

Epidemic Map

New Products for Control of

Downy Mildew

Presidio 4F @3 to 4

fl oz/A

Previcur Flex @ 1.2

pints/A

Ranman 400SC @

2.75 fl oz/A

Revus 2.08F @ 8 fl

oz/A

Tanos 50WP @ 8

oz/A

Rotation is very

important!

Tank mixes are

recommended!

– Chlorothalonil

– Maneb

Microdochium Blight

Powdery Mildew

Fungal Disease Control

Downy Mildew

Gummy Stem Blight

Acrobat

chlorothalonil (Bravo)

Gavel

Previcur Flex

Presidio

Ranman

Revus

Sonato

Tanos

chlorothalonil (Bravo)

Folicure

Inspire Super

Pristine (res. In GA)

Fungal Disease Control

Microdochium Blight

Powdery Mildew

chlorothalonil (Bravo) (?)

Cabrio

Dithane

Inspire Super

Maneb

Pristine

Quadris (?)

chlorothalonil (Bravo)

Inspire Super

Folicure

Fontelis

Pristine

Procure

Qunitec (Melons and Pumpkins)

Rally

Topsin M (R)

Wettable Sulfur

Fontelis Fungicide

DuPont

– Fungicide

– FRAC Code 7

– Penthiopyrad

– Rate

16 to 24 fl oz/A

Tomato

– Early Blight

– Botrytis

Cucurbits

– Powdery Mildew

Strawberry

– Botrytis

Bravo and Sunburn

Sunburn issues with Bravo on mature watermelon.

Could mature pumpkins be sensitive to Bravo?

Grower experience suggests a good possibility!

2008 observations suggest a good possibility!

Fusarium Fruit Rot

Fusarium Control

At least 11 different species of Fusarium that infect pumpkins

Manifestation– It often appears after

periods of stress

Drought

Heat

Sometimes, even during excessively wet seasons

Fusarium Control– Irrigation

– Use of calcium nitrate at sidedressing

– Foliar applications of calcium

– Foliar fertilizer applications (?)

– Use of no-till or minimum tillage systems (?)

– Rotation (?)

Phytophthora capsici (Fruit Rot)

Phytophthora Control

No such thing!!!

Very persistent in the soil– Resting spore

At least 8 years (15)

Alternate host plantsCucurbits

Squash and pumpkins most sensitive

SolanaceousPeppers most sensitive

Green Beans

Phases– Root Rot

– Plant

– Fruit & Foliar

Management– Avoid fields with

Phytophthora

– Avoid low or wet areas

– Ridomil Gold at planting

– Ridomil Gold Bravo applied to foliage

– Presidio

– Tanos

Biofumigation

Caliente Mustard

– AITC

– Very effective on

Phytophthora

Arugula

– Nematodes

Combination

– Caliente 199

– Arugula

– Very effective

Pelleted Mustard

– Biofence

Stem Quality

Control Diseases

– Powdery Mildew

– Microdochium Blight

Vine Health

– Fertility

• Sidedressing

• Foliar

– Irrigation

Percent Bad Stems

Unusual Observation 2013 & 2014

Sclerotinia Stem Rot -

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum

S. sclerotiotum

Control

– Fontelis @ 1 pint/A

– Endura @ 6.5 oz/A

Disease not on Label

– Pristine @ 12.5 to

18.5 oz/A

Disease not on Label

Wildlife Control

Deer Control

Fencing– Expensive

$500 to $2,000/AElectric

Slant

RepellentsBiosolids

Hair

Soap

Human ScentGet to familiar

Lose activity over time

Reapplication

Repellents (cont.)– Blood or Blood Meals

Expense

Longevity

Reapplication

Noise– Air Cannons

Lead Poisoning– Timing

– Time to hunt

Plant Skydd Findings, 2004

Treatments

– 2.2 lb / 5 gallon

Broadcast

– 2.2 lb / 10 gallons

Broadcast

– 2.2 lb / 5 gallon

Perimeter

– UTC

Crops

– Pumpkins

– Snap Beans

– Strawberries

Results

– Worked for 3 to 4 weeks,

then the deer would

move back into the entire

area regardless of

treatment

Plant Skydd Use

Begin applications

prior to any feeding

Spray as a

perimeter spray,

especially where

deer traffic is

expected to be the

heaviest

Apply at 1 cup / 3

gallons of spray

solution

Repeat every 3 to 4

weeks

Post Harvest Handling (cont.)

Store in a cool, dry, dark place

– Cool: 45 – 55 degrees F

– Relative Humidity: 70 – 75%

– Single Layer

Research for the Future

Research 2015– Strip-Till

– Biofumigation(Cost?)

– Herbicides

– Planting Date (?)

– Spacing

– Varieties

– Fungicides

– Cover Crops

Other things of Interest– Calcium Silicate or

Silica Source

– Maximizer

Research for the Future (cont.)

The use of Calcium Silicate– “Old” weathered soils like

most of us have are low in plant available silica

– Therefore, the plant is unable to take up enough Silica

– Silica in the leaves helps resist disease

– Silica can also increase yields 5 to 10%

Results for 2012– Apply Calcium Silicate at

3,000 lb/A. NT

CT

‘Conestoga Giant’

– Evaluate severity of foliar diseases

– Evaluate yield

– No observable benefit from Calcium silicate Marginal Field ?

Research for the Future

Maximizer– 3-18-18 nutrient

broth with Auxin, Cytokinin, GiberillicAcid

– Increase bloom set / flower retention (?)

– Have seen good results in tomatoes

– Foliar applications with Boron

Possible Grower Trial– Make 5 foliar

applications

– Beginning 2 to weeks after planting

– Data Collection Female Bloom

Counts

Fruit Set

Yield

Maximizer Results

5 Trials

– Sparta, NC

– Craig County, VA

– Floyd County, VA

– Hanover County, VA

– Grayson County, VA

General

Observations

– Yield increases of 25

to 33%

Field Trip generally

had 2 fruit per vine

1 out of every 5 to 10

plants had a 3rd fruit

– Slightly Larger Fruit

– Healthier Vines

Research for 2015

Maximizer– 3-18-18 nutrient

broth with Auxin, Cytokinin, GiberillicAcid

– Increase bloom set / flower retention (?)

– Have seen good results in tomatoes

– Foliar applications with Boron

Replicated Grower Trials– Make 5 foliar

applications

– Beginning 2 to weeks after planting

– Data Collection Female Bloom

Counts

Fruit Set

Yield

Questions?

R. Allen Straw

Area Specialist

SW VA AREC

12326 VPI Farm Rd.

Glade Spring, VA 24340

Mobile: 931.261.0973

Office: 276.944.2202

E-mail: astraw@ vt.edu

Fax: 276.944.2206