From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Portland, CT

In the future I would skip the perlite. I've had good luck just growing straight on plywood.

8/18/2026 12:05:25 PM

Spencer, MA

Ride this out or panic bring it to a fair this weekend? Don't know what the rest of the underside I can't see will be like

8/18/2026 12:35:00 PM

Spencer, MA

Yeah the perlite was a cool experiment, but I would love to grow on mill fabric if I can get some next year. It's too much work to see it potentially go to waste because of a bad selection of base layer.

8/18/2026 12:36:26 PM

Portland, CT

Are those spots solid or soft? Yeah its tough since we don't know what's going on on the underside. Also is it still growing at a decent rate?

8/18/2026 2:14:07 PM

Spencer, MA

I couldn't feel anything soft that would indicate a deep rot, but I was scraping away what seemed like superficial residue from surface splits. I'm just curious if the source is worse underneath or if this is an isolated issue and I can see it all - because this happened right where I added an additional board for the Pumpkin to grow over.

As with most things I will monitor, alcohol and fan, take advice from the sages, and make a game time decision.

Curious of anyone's take on how bad it would need to be underneath and here for the GPC to disqualify it as DMG.

8/18/2026 2:51:27 PM

Grittyville, WA

Is it damp under there? Do you have a way to lift the pumpkin? I'd wash all the red/brown areas with daconil and then keep it dry until the weigh off. At which point you'll need to devote some time to cleaning off all the foreign substances.

8/18/2026 8:46:53 PM

Grittyville, WA

I think the perlite could work but I would go with a thicker layer of it. I wonder if we ought to be using something like clay because it would not puncture the skin. I have used "low disease" loamy soil. Many growers have used sand.

8/18/2026 8:57:33 PM

Grittyville, WA

The analogy for why a thicker layer might he better would be like stepping your heal onto a dry pea. If you step on only one it hurts, but if you jumped into a deep pit of them, it would not hurt. They would move around and absorb your weight.

8/18/2026 9:03:27 PM

Spencer, MA

Thanks, Little Ketchup! More thoughts on perlite. What I used had a lot of perlite dust. If I had sifted that out there would be less moisture content and more airflow. However what I've noticed is anywhere I put a fan it will blow away the perlite. I had a very thick base under the pumpkin of it, but I think the leading edge of the pumpkin acted like a plow and made it shallow. I could be wrong. I'll devote a post to my findings after I've lifted my last kin.

8/19/2026 12:45:58 PM