From Damaged Vines to a Thriving Harvest: What Happened Beneath This Pumpkin Patch?
When a garden is struggling, we naturally look at what we can see above ground. Yellowing leaves. Wilting plants. Damaged stems. Pest pressure.
But sometimes one of the most important parts of the story is happening where we can’t see it in the soil around the roots.
A 2025 field case study at McDaid Pumpkin Patch in Paw Paw, Michigan, gave us an opportunity to look at both.
Over approximately three months, a pumpkin crop facing significant vine damage not only made it through the season and produced a strong harvest, but the biology measured in the soil around those plants also changed dramatically.
Fungal biomass increased 610.9%. Beneficial protozoa increased 466.7%. And bacterial-feeding nematodes went from none detected to 105 per gram of soil.
So what happened?
It Started With a Pumpkin Patch in Trouble
By late summer, the McDaid pumpkin patch was under serious stress. Vine-borer larvae had damaged the bases of the plants, rot was developing, and people worried the crop could be lost.
The soil itself looked rich. But when it was examined under a microscope, a different picture emerged. The initial soil assessment showed plenty of bacterial biomass, but comparatively little fungal biomass. The fungi-to-bacteria ratio was just 0.06, and no bacterial-feeding nematodes were detected.
Beneficial protozoa were present, but their numbers varied considerably across the samples. Taken together, the baseline assessment suggested a soil food web that was heavily dominated by bacteria and lacked some of the higher-level biological activity researchers were looking for.
It reinforced an important point: Soil can look healthy without necessarily having a well-developed soil food web.
An Emergency Re-Rooting Strategy
With the vines already damaged, the goal wasn’t simply to fertilize the plants and hope for the best. Sarah McDaid removed the rotting portions of the vines and pressed healthy sections into new areas of soil to encourage them to establish new roots.
GROZOME® was mixed into the soil at these new rooting points. The mounds were top-dressed with a combination of site soil and GROZOME, and the roots and surrounding soil were also treated with GROZOME.
We made several applications between the initial August assessment and the November follow-up. Essentially, the plants were being given new places to establish roots while the biology surrounding those roots was being supported at the same time.
Then came the really interesting part.
Three Months Later, They Looked at the Soil Again
We performed a follow-up assessment in November. The changes weren’t subtle.
Bacterial Biomass
Initial: 6,303.81 µg/g
Follow-up: 7,040.02 µg/g
Change: +11.7%
Fungal BiomassInitial: 351.63 µg/g
Follow-up: 2,499.81 µg/g
Change: +610.9%
Fungi-to-Bacteria Ratio
Initial: 0.06
Follow-up: 0.35
Change: +483.3%
Beneficial Protozoa
Initial: 76,688.63/g
Follow-up: 434,568.91/g
Change: +466.7%
Bacterial-Feeding Nematodes
Initial: 0/g
Follow-up: 105/g
Newly detected
Fungal Biomass Increased More Than Sixfold
One of the biggest changes was in fungi. Fungal biomass increased from 351.63 µg/g to 2,499.81 µg/g—a 610.9% increase.
At the same time, the fungi-to-bacteria ratio moved from 0.06 to 0.35.
Why does that matter?
Fungi are an important part of the soil food web. They participate in decomposition and nutrient cycling and help create connections throughout the root-zone ecosystem.
The goal isn’t to have “more fungi” simply for the sake of having more fungi. It’s about developing a more complete biological community instead of one overwhelmingly dominated by a single group of microorganisms.
Beneficial Protozoa Increased 466.7%
There was another major change further up the soil food web.
Beneficial protozoa increased from approximately 76,689 to 434,569 organisms per gram—an increase of 466.7%.
Protozoa graze on bacteria and, through that process, help connect bacterial biomass with nutrient cycling in the soil.
Think of the soil food web as exactly that: a web.
Having bacteria is important. But healthy soil biology isn’t just about accumulating microbes. It’s also about developing relationships between different levels of organisms.
And the next finding made that especially interesting because, for the first time, bacterial-feeding nematodes appeared. At the initial assessment, researchers detected zero bacterial-feeding nematodes.
At the follow-up? 105 per gram.
These aren’t the plant-damaging nematodes gardeners often hear about. Bacterial-feeding nematodes occupy another level of the soil food web and feed on bacteria.
Their appearance suggested that the lower levels of the food web were capable of supporting organisms at a higher trophic level. So instead of simply seeing “more microbes,” the follow-up showed signs of a more developed soil-food-web profile.
What Happened to the Pumpkins?
This may be the best part of the story. The damaged vines continued growing.
They continued setting and filling fruit. And ultimately, the pumpkin patch completed the season with a strong harvest.
That’s particularly notable considering where the crop started: vine-borer damage, developing rot, and a real possibility of losing the plants.
But there’s an important distinction to make. This wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove that GROZOME alone caused the recovery.
The damaged tissue was removed. Healthy vines were re-rooted. GROZOME was applied several times. The season progressed. And the plants continued their normal development.
All those factors contributed to the outcome.
What we can measure is what happened to the soil biology during that same period and those changes were substantial.
What This Pumpkin Patch Can Teach Us About Soil
Perhaps the most interesting lesson from this case study isn’t about pumpkins at all. It’s about how we think about soil. We tend to judge soil by what we can see: its color, texture, moisture, or how much compost we’ve added.
But there’s an entire ecosystem beneath our plants that we can’t evaluate simply by looking at it. In this case, soil that appeared rich initially showed a strongly bacteria-dominated biological profile.
Approximately three months later, testing documented:
-
610.9% more fungal biomass
- 466.7% more beneficial protozoa
- A fungi-to-bacteria ratio that increased from 0.06 to 0.35
- Bacterial-feeding nematodes, which had not previously been detected
At the same time, the damaged pumpkin plants established new root points, kept growing, and finished the season with a strong harvest.
That’s what makes this case study so interesting.
It gives us a glimpse into something gardeners don’t normally get to see: the changes taking place beneath the surface while plants are recovering above it.
Building Better Biomes
Healthy soil isn’t defined by one bacterium, one fungus, or one number on a laboratory report; it is an ecosystem.
Bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, roots, organic matter, moisture, oxygen, and countless biological interactions all contribute to what happens beneath our plants.
The McDaid Pumpkin Patch case study doesn’t tell us that one product or one practice will produce the same result in every garden.
What it does show is something worth paying attention to: Over approximately three months, a struggling pumpkin patch recovered and produced a successful harvest while measurable indicators of its soil food web changed dramatically.
And sometimes the biggest changes in a garden are the ones happening where we can’t see them.
Want to Learn More About GROZOME?
GROZOME® Plant Probiotic supports the living biology beneath your plants. Its diverse microbial community helps support natural soil processes like nutrient cycling, organic matter breakdown, and a biologically active root zone. Whether you're growing vegetables, flowers, houseplants, or an entire garden, GROZOME makes it simple to add beneficial biology to your soil.
Ready to dig deeper? Learn more about GROZOME and how to use it in your garden.
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About This Case Study
This was a field case study documenting before-and-after observations, not a replicated controlled experiment. The intervention included removal of damaged vine tissue, re-rooting, multiple GROZOME applications, seasonal change, and normal plant development. The study demonstrates an observed association rather than establishing that GROZOME alone caused the measured biological or crop changes.
Results may vary depending on soil conditions, climate, management, application practices, and sampling methods.