From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Nh

I've never had this happen but wanted to ask the community for advise. Past couple am's I noticed gooey mucus like stuff on or just around my plants stump. I thought it was from a slug or something. After this am however, im beginning to think this is what "foaming stump" must be. I've read several different approaches to this problem and the advice goes from on extreme to the next. my early season fruit aborted this year. I managed to set a fruit around the end of july. Its only the size of a basketball. its growing but doesn't seem to be hitting its stride. I don't know if this is because its not quite reached its stride or the stump issue. most of the plants secondaries are cut and buried. my main is still going however only cause I was able to train a secondary to take over after the tip snapped. ive excavated a little soil around the stump and over all it seems quite rugged. was really hoping to grow atleast a few hundred pounder for my 19 month old boy who seems to only want to help me out with the pumpkin. I know this subject has been touched upon in various areas of the message board. I would really appreciate any advise that would possibly help us reach our goal. thankyou very much

8/12/2013 9:57:45 AM

Nikiski, Alaska 99635

Sounds like your describing my stump on the 1789 about a week ago. If it is indeed a foaming stump you are catching it in its earliest stage. I probed the mucus like area you described at ground level which was about the size of a grape and my finger went into the cavity of the stump. Once I penetrated the cavity a foamy like substance flowed out the side, didn't smell to good either. Although I caught it early on the lower internal flesh of the stump was already beggining to degrade. Fortunately for me I had an 18 inch vertical main directly above the stump which allowed the fluid from the foamy stump to stay in the lower portion of the main and not fill up and migrate down the main from what I can see at this stage. From this accessment I decided to cut a couple of large windows 5 inches above ground level and a couple of inches wide. Once I could see inside the stump with the aid of a flashlight I scraped out all the degraded flesh I could, sprayed a 10% bleach 90% water solution on the effected area dried the best I could and then applied a sulfur powder and then a fan. The way it was weeping afterwards I knew it was probably a for gone conclusion with our wet humid conditions that I would eventually end up cutting the whole stump lose to protect the rest of the main. In fact that is what I did 4 days later. I removed 6 to 7 inches of the stump from the ground to the main, made sure all rotten flesh was gone ( mirror and flashlight are needed ) applied sulfur powder and a fan placed directly beneath cut off main. Currently it has stopped weeping and is dry ( check diary ). All I can say is every situation is different and there are numerous ways to approach the problem but if it is foamy stump you have to get a game plan together quick and go with it. Mr foamy stump won't wait for you.

8/12/2013 2:41:10 PM

Commack, NY

Good advice. First poke around a bit and see how bad the situation is. Sometimes it can be limited to the outside layers of the stump if you're lucky. If that's the case then scrape, bleach solution, fan, sulphur and cross your fingers. Other times its not so pretty and a more drastic approach is needed. Don't give up though, last year I lost the stump and first 2 feet of main on one of my plants when the fruit was only 16 days old. With some intervention similar to what was done above, and a little luck, It ended up weighing 1279.

8/12/2013 6:16:35 PM

Nh

Thank u both so much for the advice. I will do my best and never give up!

8/12/2013 9:21:46 PM