pumpkin production issues and trials, 2014 - 2015
TRANSCRIPT
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