Hi all! First year growing pumpkins on purpose (had some in the compost in years past lol) and they seem to be doing well. The stem is worrying me though because it looks like squash borer damage, but the plant is seemingly doing well.
Should I be concerned about this stem? Also is it odd that the pumpkins are already orange?
by ILoveShihTzus87
3 Comments
This is 100% borer damage and you will lose the plant if you don’t do something about it. I use a blade to make one cut lengthwise through that whole area that looks funky, I peel it open as gently as I can, and use a pair of dedicated forceps to remove the borers. My plants bounce back after. You don’t have much time as that looks pretty bad.
Yep, total SVB in the first picture. Hopefully you can dig them out to save the plant!
And I have a bunch of pumpkins that are already turning orange. I wound not be concerned about the color, pending what type(s) you are growing.
My sugar pumpkins turned orange early, too. I treated the svb, buried sections of stem to promote rooting and so far so good