23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
I had a similar problem a few weeks back. I hand picked all the little worms off (yuck) and then covered up with row covers and they seem to be all gone.
I think you can also use some sprays - BT I think is what was suggested to me. I'm sure someone more experienced on here can verify.
It's cabbage worms. They are little green caterpillars that are hard to see on the plant if you just glance over it. You'll find them if you look. BT is best to use for control when the caterpillars are young. Wasps are good natural predators and hand picking helps. Row covers or tulle works to keep the adults from laying eggs in the first place but they won't work if you already have them on your plants (unless you get rid of them first before covering).
Rodney
This post was edited by theforgottenone1013 on Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 16:44
It's too late for the onions in the six pack to bulb but they are usable at any time. Plant them and either snip off the greens for use like chives or let them grow and pull them as green onions.
A half inch seems deep (to me) for onion seeds but there are too many variables to know what caused them to not sprout. Try sprouting them in cell packs or flats for transplanting.
Rodney
I also use tulle, but I remove them when the female flowers come up.. I'll get plenty of squash before the SVBs get to the plants, since it probably takes around 3 weeks until you notice their attacks. (7days for eggs hatching, at least 2 weeks for grubs to grow big enough to cause any damage.)
A couple of issues I see:
- the plants under the covers alway seem more spindly and thinner stemmed. I wonder if the reduced light make them grow longer and thinner. The ones I remove the cover earlier seem to bulk up and grow more bush-like.
- Sometime aphids find their way in. Bad news. They are safe from predators in there and multiply quickly.
They look normal to me. All squash does that, the older leaves yellow and die as the plant continues to vine out to newer and greater things. It's the main/new growth to care about and yours look healthy and fine.
If you're referring to those small "dead spots" on the leaves, my cucumbers do that every year, and probably some of my zucchini too. I've never known what it was, but it's never harmed production and the overall plant thrives.
This post was edited by loribee2 on Fri, Jun 20, 14 at 21:25
I am by no means up on squash since I only grow zucchini.(Courgettes) However, the last two pictures you showed and identified as yellow straight neck squash look exactly like my yellow zucchini. Are you sure that's not what they are? I usually grow a variety called Jemmer. It does sometimes start to bulge in the middle if left a little too long but it is definitely a Zucchini. I always grow yellow so I can see them to pick and none get overlooked to grow into monsters.
Thai yellow is ripe when it turns a rich deep yellow, but there are other thai varieties that start yellow and turn white when they're ripe (sorry, can't remember name of that one).
Gardenerenthusiast, your eggplant looks great.
Ha! I eat the mushrooms form the garden) Not all of them, of cause, but few edible kinds. I specially prefer Black-staining Polypore - the spores got to my flower bed with city compost, and now every year it "blooms" there on the decomposing roots of old oak stump. If picked young, taste and texture is similar to beef steak when cooked! CAUTION! Do not eat mushrooms form the garden if you are not an expert in mushrooms)(I picking wild mushrooms from my childhood, but I will not try a mushroom I don't know, or the one i think, I know, but with poisonous look-a-likes existing. )
OK, so Hansel, Gretel, and Fairytale aren't maybe what I'm after.
Slim Jim, if 4-6 inch fruit, is a bit small, but not bad. I see one reference to it that calls it out at 10 inch fruit, though! Louisiana Long Green look OK, but I think I'm not partial to green fruit. Japanese Long Purple might do it, but the 24-30 inch plant size seems way small. As does Pingtung Long. The Slim Jim plants are larger. I put my Ichibans on medium tomato wire frames (about 3 feet high), and it's perfect. So those with the smaller fruit have the larger plant?
Interestingly, these are ALL heirloom.
I have to say that Ping Tung has been pretty prolific for me. No complaints about production, and it loves the heat and humidity. EDIT I grow in earthboxes and all the eggplants I've tried grow well; it's just a question of finding varieties I really like.
I just want my ichiban, darn it.
This post was edited by conchitaFL on Sun, Jun 22, 14 at 16:58
AFAIK even seed eaters feed their chicks on protein rich insect and larval foods. I welcome any birds to my garden that want to come. To me it's worth netting the berries and protecting seedlings to have birds around to enjoy watching and to keep down larvae, etc. I like to see how a robin will often accompany me when I'm weeding or digging watching for any tasty morsels I turn up. (European Robin, not the same as the American robin). In our tiny overcrowded island gardens are an extremely important habitat for birds.
Some years we have tried to feed the birds year round. Other years, they disappear after the first month of spring feeding and we stop filling the feeders until the Fall.
This year, with new larger vegetable beds, that had a fair amount of directly sown seed, I stopped filling the feeders a little sooner than usual. I definitely didn't want the squirrels in the yard who seem to enjoy disturbing seedlings in the ground and in pots sometimes.
But even with the feeders not filled, we seem to still be attracting a fair amount of birds. I've seen a pair of catbirds, and I think I saw and heard a pair of Carolina wrens the other day. We have English sparrows all the time, which I'm not that thrilled about, but tolerate them rather than struggle to keep them out of the yard.
We do have a birdbath, three of them that we keep filled. I would feel awful not to offer water to birds in an area where there is really no bodies of water very close by. I love to watch them and really enjoy the sound of them. BUTâ¦this year, we have new large trellises made of cattle panels for the vegetables and it ended up they are directly across from the bird bath, so the birds are perching on the trellis and leaving droppings. I'm considering moving the bird bath away from the vegetable garden, hoping that will keep them from using the trellises as perches.
Thanks for your help. I am so sad, as I have worked very hard to get my plants looking good, and. . . What about the rest of my garden, will it be okay? Does the blossom that turns black mean blight as well. What are the signs I need to look for. I noticed when I was digging a black and white or yellow and black caterpillar type critter. Do you know anything about this. I have been spraying with Neem oil extract. ??
This post was edited by mzcountrychic on Sun, Jun 22, 14 at 13:30
I am so sorry.
We had a storm come through a couple of days ago the knocked down some of my tomato plants too - built up the dirt around them and tied them to the fence they are planted along. Hopefully they will recover.
Looks like yours got tons of water which overwhelmed them. If it were me I would leave them alone and see what happens. Can you plant a second round of plants as a back-up? If the black was on the end of the fruit I would say blossom end rot - perhaps the over abundance of water is the cause.
The caterpillar may be an Armyworm. Need to remove and dispose of.
Here is a link that might be useful: Armyworms
Actually ammonia converts nitrites to nitrates and produces nitrogen which are both fertilizers. I give a yes vote as well.
Jon
Many thanks!