23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

I lost a bunch of my broccoli seedlings, leaves all eaten clean off the small plants, more than once, along with lettuce seedlings eaten to the ground, and carrot leaves eaten. I am spraying the seedlings with Sevin at this point, but it is probably too late for Broccoli. I have a fenced in garden and no one has left any signs of digging in, or eating anything bigger than a seedling.

If I give fall gardening a try again next year, it will be with row covers for sure. There's too many pests to try and sprout seedlings in midsummer, especially ones that grow slow and weak due to the heat.

Gophers cause my disappearing veggies. They will take out a 3 x3 section or so, leaving nothing there. They have so much to choose from they only eat their favorite plants. In spring I had to replant tons of peppers and broccoli.

Freezing would be really easy, and if it did not have to be in the freezer long term, then it could be taken out if I needed the freezer space.

Thank you, Tim

We got weevils in our pantry last year! YUK!
My daughter used to work for a pest control company and said you have to dump EVERYTHING and wipe everything down with a bleach solution! We then did the thrift store round to find glass and plastic containers for everything we keep in the pantry. We would just cut out the label and/or instructions and tape them to the containers so we knew what to do. No problems since. Nancy

I've read with interest how neem oil is relatively save for bees, but I've just come in from my zucchini patch where the powdery leaves are covered with bees who are unmistakably gathering the powder, or eating it. Most had full pollen pouches. I've observed this for the last few days, and finally able to believe my eyes, decided to google to see if anyone else has had this experience.

I found a woman who posted on a site that she observed lady bugs eating the powder off her powdery leaves and took a picture of it.
I'll try to upload the address.

Consequently I have grave doubts about spraying the leaves at any time when the bees are actively harvesting the powder. Yes, I know it sounds weird. I would love to hear from anyone else who might have some experience with this. Why would fungus be a beneficial substance for bees or lady bugs????

No bees were eating my powdery mildew, that's for sure. :)

The Immunox didn't do much. My plants are pretty much all dead at this point, except for butternuts which seemed to be more resistant. Still got a nice harvest, though.

I've grown ginger in pots for years. It should continue to do fairly well in a bright indoor spot in the winter. You should watch the development of the root; I've had ginger root grow big enough that it broke through the side of a plastic pot. Store bought ginger gets around four feet tall, and can make very nice clumps. If the root is starting to get too big, just cut some of it out. Depending on the variety, you might also get some flowers on your plant; not very spectacular, but certainly interesting.
Renais

That's helpful. Thanks. So basically, the limiting factor is the root getting too big for the pot. But as you say, that's just a matter of cutting some of it out. But it just keeps growing after that? I guess every year or so I have to do some delicate poking through the soil to see where the root is.

I'm experimenting with growing tomatoes in different sized modified 5 gal buckets. Some are full 5 gals without the water reservoir, some are 5 gal less the reservoir. The ones on the right are Big Beef Hybrid, the ones on the left are Early Girl Hybrid. I've also set up 2 large containers with 2 each of the same to compare. They are all watered with a simple gravity/siphon system I cobbled together to simplify watering.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Yes I have!

I successfully use thin 4' bamboo sticks and plastic wire tie. I just lightly insert two sticks in the ground crossing right under the branch you want to support, tie crossing with wire tie and let branch rest on the crossing. It is very mobile, you can do it where you most need it.

I have some folding tomato cages, nice for storing flat, but also easier to add at this time of year. If you can find some (mine came from a big box store) at this time of year, they will support your plants.

It's my understanding that the Bean beetles migrate northward every year so the pediobius wasps have to be used each year. Essentially you're setting up a new ecosystem every year where enough bean beetle larvae survive to act as wasp hosts for several yearly generations.

See, that's what doesn't make sense to me, setting up a situation where you can't grow a crop without importing an expensive exotic parasite.

There are certainly better ways to manage MBB, but they aren't quick.

I had the same experience last year with Big Daddy - Copra and Ringmaster weren't much different. I decided for me - I was not far enough north geographically for those long-day onions to bulb-up. I think I was right. None of the long-day onions we planted stored well for us.

This year we wanted to try Highlander because there are not that many intermediate-day onion options - and Highlander was touted as an early maturing onion. It was a good decision because the onion grew very well here and bulbed-up nicely. You can see the difference between Highlander and the other long-day onion bulbs if you compare them in the photos? The other long-day onions apparently didn't have sun and temperature necessary to complete their growth - the bulbs are narrow and elongated - the necks are thick because we had to pull them to protect them from freezing temps - and like I said - they did not store long!

What method do you use to cure your onions ? photos would be nice.

Your vines aren't vigorous enough to support big melons. You may not need weekly fertilizer but you need enough to grow big vines. They also need enough water. It sounds like your soil may not be good for melons. You might need a large raised bed of fertile soil. Agree that a hole in clay soil isn't best. If the clay drains slowly melons won't do well.

To grow big melons your vines need to look like this.

My melons look just as runty as yours! I, too, have clay soil and my melon management was similar. I have two moon & stars melons that have remained the size of my fist for over a month.

...I'm thinking that I might give up on melons unless I can provide it with better soil.

I don't know if there's time for a 2nd crop here.

How long do limas keep in the fridge if you keep them in the shell? I've been blanching and freezing green beans for days on end, wonder if I should do the same with the pound of limas I got (off about a dozen plants - I don't know if that's good or bad yield).

Agree with Jean. Squish them aggressively. The good news is they are fairly slow especially early or late in the day.

The other good news is their numbers seem to be much lower this year.

squishing them will make your fingers stink. Put a cup of diluted dish washing liquid under it and shake it down into the cup. repeat as many times as needed.

Maggots? really? They are thin and tiny and jump.

1/4 inch & white, living in coffee grounds & worm compost sounds like potworms. Google potworm image to see. If I remember correctly, putting a slice of milk-soaked bread will attract them & then you can discard the bread. I don't think they're harmful to the plants, though.

I suspect it's partly rotate crops, also be certain to remove all crop debris at end of season.

More from UC -

Here is a link that might be useful: bean weevil

Thanks for the info... I actually wasn't here to remove old crop debris last year, which may be part of the problem.. I removed the debris early spring... I grew beans this year where I grew squash last year....

I know all beans are toxic to a certain extent... I noticed these bugs like the supposedly less toxic beans more than the more toxic beans... Same species of beans (lima) but different cultivars...

I also have one isolated white seeded hyacinth bean plant that I'm growing this year and it's having a hell of a time growing seed.. I got one good seed out of the 20 pods that it has grown so far this year... I grew the purple type last year and there were NO weevil problems and perfect seed...

Yes - to reiterate what lacyvail said - these brassicas are tough once established but at this time of year they should have been transplanted and growing in their places for several weeks already. We just had our first picking of curly kale tonight and we'll be eating it until next March/April. The plants are two feet tall already. The seed came from these people. They are a a UK firm but when I googled there were plenty of US suppliers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Winterbor

I understand and normally I would start earlier. However, our summers get way too hot and it makes it a bit tricky. For example, last year it was 90 one day and 60 the very next day. There was no slow cool down and it stayed in the 60s for the rest of the time until it cooled down more. I planted my broccoli when everyone told me to last year according to my zone, and it all bolted. I can grow them indoors but they get too big and there is nowhere to store them. So I am experimenting this year. I might only have young leaves to eat and that's ok with me. I am just trying to get it down an area that is 6a but really could be 4a and 7a at different times in the season. It is such a weird place to grow in! I think it is because it's sort of a mountain area and we used to have 80s all summer and strong cool winters with lots of snow. I appreciate your guys help! You have all inspired me and gave me some new varieties that I would never had thought of :). I really love this forum!

Different traits can show up in individual plants.. I grew a hybrid squash from the neighbors two years ago... Some plants had a classic pumpkin shape and others had a shape like the one in your picture... Four color morphs appeared, dark green, light green, solid, and stripped... They all tasted the same but I'm sure that it can be an issue also..

Looks like some delicata or little dumpling got into the mix somewhere.