James Boudreaux, Professor, and Stephen Crnko, Extension Associate, LSU Ag Center School of Plant, Environmental and Soil Sciences, Baton Rouge, La., and Andre Brock, Assistant Extension Agent, West Feliciana Parish, St. Francisville, La.
Serious outbreaks of powdery mildew have devastated cucurbits crops throughout the Southeast in the last several years. Powdery mildew has not been a serious problem in Louisiana on cucurbits; however, it could become a problem in the future. This plot was an attempt to evaluate powdery mildew-tolerant pumpkin varieties under Louisiana conditions.
Eighteen powdery mildew-tolerant pumpkin varieties and four non-tolerant varieties were planted at Burden Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., and at Dan Cline's Farm in St Francisville, La. Varieties were obtained from Abbott & Cobb, Johnny’s, Harris Moran, Siegers and Seedway. The plots were planted in late June to mature in late September and early October.
Each variety was evaluated for size, maturity, yield, shape, color, condition of the handle, amount of ribs, type of vine and condition of the vines. The plots at Burden were evaluated twice on September 24 and October 10, 2009, while the plots in St Francisville were evaluated once on October 1, 2009.
The results of the different evaluations were combined with an average determined for each category. The top varieties were determined by how many times the variety was in the top of the different categories. Results of the evaluation appear in Table 1.
Magic Wand, a medium-early powdery mildew-tolerant variety from Harris Moran, was the leading medium-size pumpkin variety in the test. It made medium-size (15 -20 pounds), dark orange, round pumpkins with good-plus handles and ribs. The pumpkins were made on a semi-vine-type plant. The vines were in good to fair condition at the time of evaluation.
Magic Lantern, another medium-early powdery mildew-tolerant variety from Harris Moran, was the second best pumpkin in the test. It had good to fair yields, a round shape, dark orange fruit with a good to very good handle and good degree of ribbings. The fruit were borne on a semi-viny-type plant that was only in good to fair condition at the time of the first evaluation.
Gargoyle, a medium-early powdery mildew-tolerant variety from Harris Moran, was the best small-type pumpkin (5- 10 pounds) in the test. It had good yields of round, dark orange pumpkins with a very good handle. The ribs on the pumpkins were only good to fair; most small-type fruit have a minimum amount of ribbing. The fruit were borne on a semi-viny-type plant that was in good condition.
Growers are encouraged to try these varieties on a small scale to determine how they perform on their farms before making big plantings.