Every pumpkin I got this year turned white and mushy in various stages of growth. From one as big as a basket ball down to one the size of a soft ball. I know they need water, but I guess they got too much this year.
Don't think you're the Lone Ranger, Tom. My nephew in Illinois who ordinarily raises a big patch of pumpkins that he allows the local school kids to raid just before Halloween is giving up raising for them the next couple of years. The borers started in his patch last year by wiping out some but killed all of them this year. When he called me earlier asking with to do about borers, I told him that I stopped the borer by wrapping the base stems with foil along with spreading diatomaceous earth around the base. Of course, that's almost impossible to do in a large patch unless it's your only job. :)
Does anyone know another method of deterring or destroying borers?
John
Open the stem lengthwise with a razor blade and pull out the borer. Plant something else next year.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
Thanks for the replies, but what kind of spray kills the borer adults without killing all the pollinators? I'd like to know because the work I put into raising squash is a pain.
The floating row covers work, but the size of the patch make it prohibitively expensive for a guy who operates a fork lift for a living. It also means a lot of hand pollination. :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
My acorn squash did the same thing. I was looking forward to huge amounts of acron squash, since it's my favorite. It's not normal to have so many rot (nearly a dozen). The rainfall and massive lack of sunlight was too much for them. The vines & leaves actually wilted and DIED when the sun finally came out, it was too intense for them. They require copious amounts of sunlight. Keeping them off the ground is also a requirement to keep them from rotting. Put a flat stone underneath each of them next year.
In better news, the spaghetti squash and butternut squash were all very nice, except for a few rodent scratches on the butternuts.
Dan
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