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Ohio

I dont have a foaming stump this year so far, knock on wood but been thinking about this the past few years,,..is it really worth it to go through the hassle of trying to save a foaming stump by drilling holes in it , pouring peroxide inside it, using all kinds of different fungicides on it ,building a small tent over it, using fans to dry it out...etc?? So lets just say you do get that foamer to quit leaking after a week of messing with it and its finally dried out, would that stump and its roots below the infected area really be helping your pumpkin anyway?? I don't think anything(water/nutrients) can pass through that area anyway, do you? Why not just remove the stump and let whats left of your main vine and your secondary roots continue to feed your pumpkin. What do guys/gals think?

7/20/2014 9:50:31 AM

Central Illinois

If the stump is working at 20% after it heals then thats 20% more than what you would have by chopping it off.

Vines can still live with 3/4 of it broken off, so any extra you can get out of it will help.

Just my rookie thought

7/20/2014 10:23:50 AM

Farming- a bunch of catastrophies that result in a lifestyle

I had 7 of them. Yes. 7 foaming stumps! What fun. NOT. For a week I cleaned, pared, cleamed, sulfured, copper, fans. 6 of the 7 stumps are alive and well with no more crazy foaming, so yeah. To me, all that work was worth it as I still have full healthy stumps.

7/20/2014 7:16:12 PM

Lexington, Ky

You posed a similar question a few years ago and I seriously considered just cutting the stump off all my plants around day 45 healthy or not. This was after growing one of your seeds to 984 pounds with the main vine removed right at the stem in mid July. That plant had plenty of vines after the pumpkin and perhaps that's way it continued to grow so well. I agree, it's a lot of work to baby a foamer as I did on the 895 Hester that went 1003 pounds. After drying the foam, the worry really set it....I struggled day and night, hours at a time, fighting myself on whether I should cut or leave it. In hindsight, it wasn't worth the mental anguish. After the weight off, I pulled that stump and I promise you it was contributing nothing to the plant. It was pure luck that the ooze didn't make it to the fruit and kill it. We can do all the poking, drilling, draining and drying in the world but we can't be sure that we've taking care of the junk that might continue to flow towards the fruit.

7/21/2014 12:56:21 PM

Rhode Island

to me the base is just a starting point.a location where the plant was first developed from seed, call it the initial vine start--thats all it was.
if you can keep it healthy all season? your all the better for it. if you lose it due to foaming or rot? ( over watering can help contribute to both )then the rest of the main and plant you have grown will support great growth as well.
we always do everthing in our power to save a foaming stump. most times we are successful.if you cant? your still in the game if you dont allow the foaming to run down the main vine.

7/23/2014 9:10:39 AM

Ohio

Little late getting back to this post sorry, but if i have a foamer, im not going to chance that 20% of the stump might still be working, chances are, even if you catch it early after you see foam the other percent you think your saving that might still be helping the fruit just a little ,really isn't and could be hurting the plant and fruit more then helping it. id rather get the bad part out of there with out chancing that 20% that what u think was working just killed your plant or stopped fruit frowth later on . Once a part of a plant dies i think it would be very hard to bring it back to life by dumping fungicides and poring peroxide into a vine and expect it to dry up and then heal up and start working normal again just seems impossable to me unless the plant was part human.

7/27/2014 9:01:28 AM

Ohio

Whats up Wex! Whats up Pap!

7/27/2014 9:02:58 AM