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Norton, MA

Part one: Hey everybody. First, I think a little reintroduction is in order: This is Alex Noel. I used to spend a lot of time on this site as a kid, but as adulthood set in, free time quickly drained away. 2008 was the last time I grew a pumpkin at my old home in Massachusetts (as well as the last time I logged in to this site, what a lot of new posts to read, ha!). I now live in rural northeastern Connecticut on one acre, with access to a small amount of the land and some of the resources of my neighbors 250 acre dairy farm! After years off, I found life to be incomplete without pumpkin growing, and slowly rejoined the sport as time and money allowed. I've grown for three seasons out here, 2018 will be number four, but with the large agricultural presence my insect and disease pressures are enormous, and yellow vine decline has infected every plant I've grown. The best pumpkin I've had out here was just 613 pounds, stopped growing at about 38 days (due to yellow vine).

4/16/2018 9:54:37 AM

Norton, MA

Part two: That brings me to the business of the day: I'll be growing this year under a net structure. I found spraying, no matter how hard, how often, and with how many different chemicals to be ineffective at keeping the YVD vectoring squash bugs completely at bay. A long winter of research and planning has led to the purchase of a roll of insect exclusion netting. The roll is 328' long by 28' wide. The netting, sold by Dubois Ag, is labelled as "70gr", which stands for 70 grams per square meter of fabric. It has a mesh size (each hole in the screen) of 0.85mm x 1.4mm, which is approximately as wide, and half as tall, as the hole size in a standard home window screen. It will exclude most of the pumpkin pests we deal with in the northeast, but probably not mites or aphids. It allows 90% of the sun's light to pass through to the plant, is UV resistant so it won't crumble from sun exposure, and has an advertised lifespan of 5 years, but that of course depends on careful handling. I'm going to be using UV resistant thread to sew two 28' wide sheets together into one 56' wide sheet. I'm going to cover two plants with it. A 328 foot long roll, cut in half so that I can sew the halves together to make a wider sheet, will yield a sewed sheet 164 feet long and 56 feet wide. This is twice as much as I plan to use to cover two plants. I should need about 50'x75' to cover my structure and its sidewalls. The stuff is pricey, and so I'd like to sell the other half of my roll: one piece, 28'x164', not cut or sewed. I only need what I have into that half, which will be about $700, including transport from Quebec (where it's sold) to my place in CT. This is the top of the line netting available, and a multi year investment. For a serious grower facing a serious YVD problem, it's one of the only options. I can work out delivery to a middle point if you're in the Northeastern US.

4/16/2018 9:55:30 AM

Norton, MA

It's great to be back, and I'm thrilled to see BP.com looking healthy! Have a good season everyone! Alex Noel

4/16/2018 9:55:43 AM

Michigan

Alex, I just wanted to say welcome back. I'm also back and haven't grown since '08. I remember seeing you on here years ago when I was an active member. My teenage son wants to grow a pumpkin, so I'm back and have a growing partner this time, couldn't be more thrilled! Good luck this season, hope the netting helps solve some issues for you.

~Jessica

5/11/2019 7:08:24 PM