I wouldn't freak out too much... do you have pumpkins growing on there? PM kills the plant pretty slowly and you should get some pumpkins, plus as I read pumpkins that have begun turning orange will finish ripening reasonably well off the vine.

My pumpkin patch got hit super hard with PM, and I still got 8 nice pumpkins (small variety), though some may need to do some ripening off the vine/on a dead/dying vine, mine are pretty much dead at this point about 95 days after planting.

Nothing I tried really did much of anything, the disease progressed steadily and linearly no matter what I did or didn't do. I hear people swearing by the milk so I would try that. Perhaps ask in the pests forum someone can give you more info on that.

Thanks, Peter! I do have some pumpkins growing out there but I was really hoping for a bigger crop.

I did ask over in the pests forum and got some good advice. I ordered something called serenade and I have neem oil, thinking of trying both of those. I'm optimistic, if i can just keep it at bay I might be alright.

Your best friend will be dry, sunshiny days. Powdery mildew slows down a little if the weather cooperates, but it sure can spread quickly if you get a few wet days. I can testify to that in my patch! We just had a few rainy/cloudy days and now things have really headed south in a hurry.

I didn't try the neem as I was worried about the bees... but I think it is more or less bee safe, if you don't spray in the morning when they are active at least.

I read the PM feeds on humidity...

For me I want to keep my butternuts alive... everything else I have written off. There are some babies on there growing real slow and I hope the plants survive long enough, now that pollination is pretty much a non issue I may break out the neem myself... I hear it works.

Thanks, guys.

I live outside New Orleans, we pretty much define humidity down here so def got that against me.

I sprayed the neem oil this morning. It is a bit tricky - have to wait until bees are pretty much done for the day BUT have to spray before it gets too hot and sunny or can burn the plants. Hoping I timed it well. I'll let you know if it's helps me at all.

I have come to accept that at this point in the season the powdery mildew is almost inevitable. I have a plant that is about 250 square feet and I would guess that 40-50% of the leaves are affected by PM with more each day. It's been a cool wet summer here in Toronto and it's useless to worry too much about it. Throughout July I was spraying regularly with Green Earth bio fungicide but it did little to stop the PM.

Happily, my pumpkin is now 69" around and over a hundred pounds and still growing (albeit much slower).

I had the PM last year and it'll prob rear its ugly white head again next.

Don't stress too much :)

Thanks, Bruvyman. Yes, I've sort of accepted my fate at this point. I've got 5 nice jack o lantern sized pumpkins out there (and 5 kids) so I suppose I'll call my first year at pumpkins a semi-success, at the very least not a total failure!

I've learned a lot for next year. A large part of my problem is that I had to replant because vine borers annihilated my first go round, so my plants aren't as mature as they should be - I've got plants hit with powdery mildew before they set fruit.

Oh well, somebody should really find a cure for PMâ¦â¦and eradicate SVB from the face of the planet ;)

Congrats on the 100+ pounder! Post a pic, I'd love to see it. Is it an Atlantic Dill? Any tips for getting such a big pumpkin, fertilizer and such?

hi hi guys...this is my second year with a full pumkin garden, last year was very hot and dry, had no prob with PM, but oh man this year i also got it all over. it has been a freecky wet summer. Despite this i have a great crop of pumps in my little garden.

My question is this, if i set up a drip line watering system, so that when i water the leaves stay sun bathed will this cut down on the PM risk??

Slim

Hey Slim,

I think its supposed to help but I water with soaker hoses down below and I STILL got annihilated with PM. Now, do bear in mind my climate is as hot & humid as you can get. Nevertheless, the lesson I've taken from this year is that you must treat for PM before you get it. And as Bruvyman said, it may be a inevitability but being preemptive can at least keep it at bay until your pumpkins are mature - which it sounds like you did :)

I'm all about ground-level watering too but didn't do the trick all by itself for me.

thank you steph.....always looking forward...

Me too! Cant wait to apply all my hard earned lessons to next year's patch :)

Hey Stephanie,

Congrats on getting a pumpkin per child! That is success despite your PM problems.

I think the secret to a big pumpkin is first in the genetics. Mine is an Atlantic dill, but it was from a seed package bought at a garden centre. Next year I'm hoping to have seeds with lineage from a REALLY big pumpkin.

Second is probably soil and sunshine. I made a pitching-mound sized hill for kine to grow on and it was made up of composted manure, soil, and peat moss. I prepped it in the spring since I'm in a new house, but this year I plan to prep in the fall for some super-fertility! We have very clayish soil here, and with the cool summer, I'm pretty happy with my results.

As for fertiliser, I went with a high nitrogen fertile for the first part of the summer and then switched to a higher potassium and phosphate fertiliser later on combined with foliar seaweed spraying.

Here's a picture of my pumpkin. It's the only one I happen to have on my phone and it doesn't have a reference for the size, but the pumpkin is about 75" in circumference now. I've cut back almost all of the leaves since the PM was taking over and because I wanted to re-seed the lawn I had ruined! Planning to harvest it soon.

Bruvyman, what a fantastic pumpkin! Way to go :) I'm very excited to try growing Atlantic Dill next year.

My patch is over and done for the season. PM did it in. I'm lucky to get the 6 pumpkins I did, but at any rate my kids think I'm a rockstar - what more could I ask for? ;)

Thanks much for the growing tips. I'm going to try to get a really big pumpkin next year. I will definitely apply your tips! And thanks for posting a pic of your big pumpkin. Such fun to see!