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Napa Ca.

My 735 pukos has started oozing a clear gel, coming out near the stem in one of the cracks. Is this a sign of bad things to come? Like a split?

8/13/2007 11:49:08 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Two schools of thought:

1.) Leave it alone since the ooze is like blood & fights infection.

2.) Wash with 5% bleach, dry it, dust with Captan & set a fan on it 24/7 to keep it dry.

It's a crap shoot either way. Many fruit have finished fine this way & other haven't.

Either way, you should check the main to make sure it isn't causing stem stress. If the ooze is mostly coming from the stem I wouldn't lose sleep over it. If there is a stem end crack starting in the fruit then some action might be justified.

Pictures?

8/14/2007 12:46:10 AM

southwest MO

If you keep the pumpkin growing you should be ok if its just small split(s)ozzing on the front of the pumpkin. The problem is when it goes down these places will begin to rot very fast, making the pumpkin unpresentable. I dont think its a reason to cull a pumpkin but I certianly wouldnt carry on those genetics either... IMHO

8/14/2007 1:03:31 PM

Georgia

I have a pumpkin that stem was oozing and I realized it eas because of bad position of the vine. It oozed a lot and I put daconil on it. Its healed over but tonight Id like to clean it up real good. So I just mix a little bit of bleach with water and clean it up??

8/14/2007 1:17:04 PM