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Rhode Island

im trying a different approach to combat the mr. foaming stup issue.
i realize that soil to jacked and high in nitrogen does contribute but i also think water plays a big roll as well.

a lot of water gets collected by the roots around the base and passes moisture back to the stump. the stump can only hold so much moisture before it becomes stagnent and starts to rot the base.aka----mr. foamy

im going to try and keep a four ft square area around the plants bases as dry as possible this next season. who knows it may work then again?

ill make four 4ft x 4ft square frames from some 2x3 lumber. cover the top with clear plastic and put three ft stakes at each corner to anchor the cover and also keep it a couple ft above the crown.i will only water the base occasionally as need be.
who knows if it will help. but worth a try

1/5/2010 10:01:10 AM

Waquoit Mass

i thought your subject was to be about the keg in the carraige house aka mr foamy lol hamr

1/5/2010 10:23:16 AM

Portsmouth, RI

Pap, that's what I did this past season. I covered the stump with a tarp when it rained or I watered. I started this once the main started to grow and root. I also mounded the planting area about 8 inch's for drainage. My stump made it to the end with no rot or foaming.
Bob

1/5/2010 10:41:11 AM

[email protected]

Theoretically, this should really help in a wet year. Might help with pollinations too.

Improved drainage with deep sub soiling too. I had Alan Nesbit till in massive quantities of Soil Master (calcined clay) for the same drainage concerns...

I know that Ron has tried to get valid lab data for a causal pathogen. We thought sclerotinia for a while. Fusarium was ruled out too.

Jerry Rose did OK by spraying vinclozolin but I don't know if he's still doing it.

LOL FOAMING STUMP DISEASE. What a hodge-podge of inaccurate terms we employ to make up for the lack of science we must endure. Sigh.....BIG MONEY university support just ain't happenin' for us. We don't feed the masses.

1/5/2010 10:45:29 AM

canal winchester ohio

I made up something last year that I used during rainy periods & when the humidity was high & I wanted to keep evening dew off the stump area. It was a 2'x2' piece of Plexiglas with a hole drilled in each corner for a piece of pvc to go thru to form the legs. It works great, water doesn't form on top like you would get with plastic sheets & it can be moved very easily.

1/5/2010 11:33:18 AM

Northern Cambria, Pa.

We have used plastic sheets on rainy days for years now with very good success, but I believe that plexiglass with legs is the way to go since there is less chance of cooking your stump if the sun comes out and you also have better ventilation. I think that is what Don Y. uses also.

1/5/2010 1:04:16 PM

bliss,n.y.- heart of Wyoming County

I have used captan paste. Seems to work fast.

1/5/2010 1:23:05 PM

Indiana

maybe a gutter system to collect and relocate the water? LOL

1/5/2010 2:19:26 PM

Little-TON - Colorado

Mounded? Has anyone mounded there stumps? I used quite a large pitchers type mound last year, sun warms the soil faster, and the water runs off not allowed to accumulate around the stump. I found that PM was a worry if covered.....

1/5/2010 2:47:46 PM

ipswich, ma usa

Dick,

At your age your stump is still foaming!...man must be the all the beer and hot dogs keepin' ya young!! :)

John (5150)

1/5/2010 3:17:40 PM

Joliet, IL

i do crown the patch to specifically drain away from the stumps. i grow from the center of the patch out. my center growing area where the stumps are is probably 10"-12" higher in the center than the outside edges of each spot. the mounded soil in this fashion helps it warm up faster in the spring too. besides that i have pruned stumps meticulously of all small shoots, pop up terts and small leaves as soon as they appear and get a small white plastic patio table to cover them starting in the middle of june. the larger you allow any growth off the stump before pruning them off, the more fissures and cracks that can develope. sometimes an aggessive secondary will crack the stump and make fissures on their own. identify that stress early and take the stress away by styrofome blocking the nearby secondary and or cutting a few tap roots for some slack. you have to be able to feel under your stump where it bends and you can't see, near the ground. small shoots and fissures and cracks under there need trimmed and monitored. i have only lost one stump in the last 2 years out of 6 plants total. it was from a massive cluster of plant material that grew directly out of this under area that i pruned, but too late with rot setting up there. i now also spray 10% bleach about once a week on the stump after pruning/monitoring whether it needs it or not to dissinfect the area. then let it dry and use captan where ever i pruned and cover back up with small patio table. and use 24 hour fans if even a slight hint of rot was cleaned up on or anywhere near the stumps. not sure if i just got lucky or this all did any good, but with more years experimenting on keeping the stumps pruned, covered, and dry...the better we will know if its a cultural problem or strictly a disease problem.

1/5/2010 4:12:39 PM

Rhode Island

lol john a little bit of froth never hurt anyone. except in the patch

1/5/2010 4:51:05 PM

Cologne Brescia Italy

LoL John!

1/5/2010 6:19:24 PM

Ohio

Im doing something similar to what Pap is doing but Im also going to try by cutting only a few tap roots off the main and secondaries closest to the stump. So that it might help in controlling to much water uptake through the stump.
I want to ''try'' to control how much water that is coming up from the stump and the water that also comes back from the secondaries closest to the stump. Trying to prevent a blow out.

1/5/2010 9:22:51 PM

Nikiski, Alaska 99635

I mound the stump, usually trying to keep the stump area about 6 inches above the surrounding grade. I have to water so often due to the shallow root stucture the gound is constantly moist. On a few occasions I have gently dug out the surrounding soil around the stump down 4 or 5 inches and out 2 to 3 inches and replaced the dirt with sand. Allowing full sunlight and good ventilation to the stump area helps keeps things in good shape. When adding calcium products directly to the pumpkin later in the season I will use the excess on the stump and surrounding area. Never have had a problem with stump rot.

1/5/2010 10:34:33 PM

Midway, UT

Move to Colorado Pap. I'm only aware of two reported Mr. Foamy's in all of the time we have been growing pumpkins out here. Not sure what makes the difference between your environment and ours but we rarely see those kinds of problems here.

1/6/2010 1:52:26 AM

Ireland

Pap in Ireland luckly enough none of us growers have had foaming stumps, or at least none were reported.

1/6/2010 3:32:18 PM

Joliet, IL

it seems like the stump and the stem are very similar in character and texture at the latter stages of each of their developments. they not only take on a woodier look to them, but they also seem to be somewhat spongelike when they get wet. when younger, the stem and the stump still have a slick and more water resistant quality to them. the older they get, the more crevices combine with that more spongyish feel to them. they seem to have more water absorbation qualities to them as they get older. not sure if everyone knows what i mean, but the older the stumps and stems get, the more i try to keep them as dry as possible.

1/6/2010 7:46:15 PM

Frankfort Ohio

is the extra roots from the mychorrhizal fungi causeing to much water to be taken up at the stump ?

1/6/2010 8:30:34 PM

Paradise Mountain, New York

I've been growing since 2002. I've never had a foamy stump nor a bad stump with soft spots. Nor any dieases in my patch. I buy 100 pounds of corn meal and spread it over a area of 15' x 100'. Were I'm going to plant my pumpkins, I put it on heavier. I roto till it in really good. I water my stumps all season long. Now here in New York, this past summer we had a very cold and wet summer. Record rains. Stump was perfect when I dug it up this fall. Corn meal is a old timers favorite of Organic fungicide. I'm sold on it.

1/6/2010 8:51:32 PM

Iowa

FYI,Who would have thought that something as seemingly innocuous as cornmeal would have such potent fungicidal properties? Researchers at Texas A&M Research Station in Stephenville, TX, noticed that a peanut crop planted following a crop of corn didn’t suffer the usual fungus diseases. Further research showed that cornmeal contained beneficial organisms that were at least as effective as common chemical fungicides. Somehow cornmeal is able to attract a member of the Trichoderma fungus family, which is a good fungus that kills off disease causing fungi in a matter of weeks.

1/6/2010 8:57:26 PM

Anchorage, Alaska

What would happen if you applied some sort of wax to the stump and stem?

1/6/2010 9:59:40 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

s.krug...Do you know Doc Gipe??? Peace, Wayne

1/7/2010 2:20:54 AM

Iowa

No can't say I do....

1/7/2010 6:43:58 PM

Somerset,Ky

I have herd the Hicks boys use corn meal too!!!

1/7/2010 6:56:17 PM