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Abbotsford, B.C

I have three plants: one is doing really great, with dark green leaves, vigorous vines, and a couple of good fruit. My other two plants are small, have extremely slow-growing vines, and all of the small leaves are slowly starting to turn yellow from the edges. Some of the edges have already turned white. And neither of these plants have very fast-growing fruits.

Another grower in the area has also reported some strange yellowing of the older leaves on the plant. I am wondering what this could be, trying to narrow down the possible problems. My soil shouldn't be the problem; there is definitely sufficient nitrogen. I think I read somewhere that iron deficiencies can cause yellowing of the leaves?

Another possibility is that I could have some strange disease attacking these plants, though what it could be I have no idea. It doesn't match the descriptions of any diseases I know of.

And a final possibility is that they could have sustained fertilizer burn. There are two problems with this last idea though. My other, much healthier plant has been getting the same foliar fertilizing treatment, and it is flourishing. Secondly, there isn't any of the characteristic brown-edged leaves that I equate with fertilizer burn. Can fertilizer burn take on different forms? Could fertilizing too much someone turn the leaves yellow?

Hope somebody can help here. It's a bit late in the season to try and save these plants, but I definitely want to try and prevent this problem in the future. Incidentally, one of my previous year plants which was in the same spot as my 845 Bobier also had the same, strange yellowing of the leaves.

Cameron

7/30/2006 1:06:27 AM

Chico, Ca

we have had similar weird stuff going on.... do you have white fly in your patch?

7/30/2006 3:00:26 AM

Ga.

Look here cam

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/cucurbit/

7/30/2006 6:16:38 AM

Ga.

See if this link will help Cameron..Good Luck...
J
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/cucurbit/

7/30/2006 6:17:18 AM

Wood River, IL ([email protected])

Jeff thanks for the link!

Now that I see what it looks like I think I have Bacterial Wilt, on a 3 or 4 leafs. What should I treatit with? How will I know when it's cured?


Thanks,

Kenny

7/30/2006 10:19:47 AM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/plantsci/hortcrop/pp747w.htm

Cameron, since bacterial wilt is caused/spread by cucumber beetles (which we do not have in BC) I doubt that it is the cause.

You could just be suffering from post rookie year patch disorder. Happens to alot of new growers that grow absolutely huge fruit like you did last year.

Hope you figure it out and can fix it. Keep me updated.

Glenn

7/30/2006 11:23:03 AM

Salmon Arm, BC

Thanks Glenn, I was worried about that also but the patch has picked up greatly after snip and burn treatment. I didn't know that's how it was spread...I feel a bit releived now! phewwwww.

7/30/2006 12:01:51 PM

Macomb County

High organic content can cause a Nitrogen deficency, while high Nitrogen, especially coupled with wet soil can cause a Sulfur deficency. However, an easy first attempt might be to cut back on foilar feeding with fert and switching to another brand. It could be something as simple as the brand of fert you're using is chemically reacting with the unique mineral content in your water or something and not sitting well with your plants. I suspect that because your one plant is flourishing in the mist of all this.

7/30/2006 1:44:43 PM

Abbotsford, B.C

Thanks very much everyone. Yeah, being in B.C is nice, as there are some really bad diseases that we don't get here due to the Rocky Mountains being inbetween us and some of the common pumpkin pests in the rest of North America.

Jeff517: whatever is wrong with my two plants looks somewhat like the pictures shown in this link here. Unfortunately, I have no idea what this actually is, as there are only pictures, no names. Some of the symptoms my plants show are weird white/yellow patches on leaves, extremely fast aging of the center leaves, and hardly growing vines. As well, the tips of the vines are very small, and the leaves are growing very close together and are very small.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/cucurbit/leaf/leaf6.html

GiantJack: I hope it isn't the case that I have problems with the fertilizers I am using. The problem is, I am mixing a whole bunch of different fertilizers together into a "cocktail" that I spray on my plants. Actually, what I do is mix this cocktail with compost tea all in one spray. Is this all right? Now that I think about it, there could be some strange chemical reactions going on in my brew, and I may not be spraying what I think I am spraying.

North Shore Boyz: what exactly do you mean by "post rookie year patch disorder"? Not sure I understand exactly what you mean. If pumpkins respond better to lots of treatment, my pumpkins should be doing a lot better this year; but they aren't. I have done way more stuff this year that I didn't do last year. Of course, the soil is always best the very first year. It is prime valley soil (used to be in the flood zone, so lots of clay & silt), and it is just packed with minerals. But naturally after the pumpkins grew in it it could be a bit depleted.

Cameron

7/30/2006 9:17:04 PM

Abbotsford, B.C

Thats not to say that I haven't been amending my soil though! I added several inches of manure, and in the planting sites, compost was added.

7/30/2006 9:19:02 PM

Ga.

go here,,same link you posted.. http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/cucurbit/leaf/leaf6.html
then click on the pic which looks like your problem..It should tell you whats wrong in that pic...

7/30/2006 10:05:06 PM

Nashville, TN

If I remember correctly from horticulture class:

Fe deficiency - Causes Chloriosis in new growth (yellowing) since Fe doesn't move from old-to-new tissues well..

Mg deficiency - Causes Chloriosis in old growth - since Mg moves from old-to-new tissues.

Most Fe fertilizers also contain S.. Fixes both problems...
Most Mg fertilizers also contain Ca - fixes those problems..

If you've had a rather wet spring - you could have deficiencies in one or both of these nutrients.. Since they bind fairly well with water - and are leached rapidly from the soil..

7/31/2006 9:57:47 AM

Macomb County

Oh definately, if you're mixing different ferts, you don't know what and how they're reacting. Especially when different companies use different qualities and you have no way of knowing unless you have access to a lab. Ask the growers on this site, many can give you list of the ones to use and the ones to avoid.

7/31/2006 10:12:15 AM

ipswich, ma usa

How wet is the area where the plant is effected? If the ground becomes to saturated your roots may become oxygen starved. Once this happens the leaves and future growth become stunted. I have had this problem once in the past and after myself and a few others growers concured with what it was I dug up some of the vines "fluffed" the dirt back up and waited. And new growth did prosper.

John (5150)

7/31/2006 11:14:00 AM

[email protected]

Cameron,

Pictures of these leaves? Top & bottom?

7/31/2006 11:44:07 AM

Abbotsford, B.C

... I don't think the problem is soil saturation. Because again, there is the one plant of mine that is doing really great, and then the other two that aren't doing anything. I do check the soil, and recently as it has been cooler here, I have cut down on the watering. If I scrape a few inches into the ground and it is wet, I certainly don't water!

It is good to know about mixing the fertilizers thing. From now on I think I will spray them seperately again. More time-consuming, but probably the best way to go, I guess.

By the way, I have posted some pictures on my diary that show some of the symptoms my leaves have been showing. Maybe somebody else will know what the problem is, because I still can't figure out whats wrong even with that handy link you gave me, jeff517.

Thanks again for everyone who has helped so far.

Cameron

7/31/2006 11:45:00 AM