Pumpkins again

[jab]

I posted earlier about all my pumpkins and winter squashes rotting from the inside and was informed it was a fungus. I have also read about this problem in the newspaper where it was rampant in the mid-west this year. We had to buy three pumpkins from the supermarket to replace mine and they too have rotted from the inside.

My questions are: Is it safe to put these rotten pumpkins in the compost or should I discard them in the woods on my property? And what precautions should I take for next year to prevent another occurrence? Right now I'm thinking of not growing any next year to break the cycle. Also, do the abundant squash bugs (not the vine borer) play a roll in transmitting the fungus?

JAB

[JoeSpareBedroom]

When you spoke to your local cooperative extension, what did they say about this? Since the fungus also affects commercial crops, someone must know the specific type of fungus.

[Pat Kiewicz]

Well, I had one buttercup squash rot in the garden and one carving pumpkin rot before Halloween. The one in the garden went into the township compost program (along with the frost-killed vines) and the carver went into the first compost bin. Whatever remains of it next spring will be added into a new compost batch, which should get plenty hot. (I send the old squash vines away because they are so long, tough and hard to chop up by hand. As I bring plenty of leaves in from outside, it's no big loss.)

Any that rot in storage go out with the regular trash. And, in a typical year, a few do.

Parts of the country (the Northeast in particular) were just hammered with rain this year. Some areas had droughty conditions early in summer followed by above normal rainfall in late summer. (Which is rather the wrong way around for squash.)

If you have some way of arranging a good, hard, deep freeze this winter and a more even distribution of rain next summer (especially, avoiding heavy extended rain as the fruit is ripening), you might accomplish something.

Otherwise, plant in rich, well drained soil, do your best to manage insects, and cross your fingers.