23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
A few years ago I might have agreed with Dave about transplanting cucs but there are often good reasons for starting indoors. One of my best reasons is to know the germination of plants and adjust planting routine accordingly. Another is that the cucumber beetles won't be devastating them as they emerge.
I like to plant both ways but I'm leaning to indoor starting when a good stand is important. Like other cucurbits you want to transplant before they start growing into each other. Mine are in the ground a week and I'm expecting them to takeoff any time now.
I notice you're not answering where you live, so I'm guessing you've figured out that you put them outside way too early. :) Generally, you don't want to put tomatoes outside until the LOWS are consistently above 50 degrees, and peppers until the LOWS are above 55. That's typically a good couple weeks after your last frost date, unless your long range forecast says differently. Baby those damaged plants as an experiment to see how they do, but don't count on them as your main crop; you may not get much from them even if they survive. Since you say you have others in pots that are still OK, put them outside when the daytime temps are in the 70's, but bring them all inside at night until the lows are above 50-55. Peppers like it warm, warm, warm, even warmer than tomatoes. Good luck!
Hi, To answer your questions:
1)Site - Hill, tranche, or as is? see #3
2) Soil amendments or new soil? I have compost, shredded leaves, pit moss, can buy any mix they sell in stores. Watermelons love rich soil. I typically plant mine in Pure compost and will add 13-13-13 though out the year
3) Is it enough space for Sugar Baby? I can let it grow to my compost piles behind. If you can let them grow in your compost pile you will be happier in the long run. As long as they get 6+ hours sun
4) How many should I plant - one or two? If two - how close to each other? You typically want to plant them 36-48 inches apart. The vines can grow 10-25 ft in length so make sure you have the space (10 feet min).
Hope that helps and let me know what you decide.
In my (limited) experience, not really. You can do a bit of training, but the vines are brittle and difficult to control. You can kind of direct it in one direction but trying to keep it in one direction only I don't think will work out. If they can sprawl out in 3 directions, then ok that might work.
This is a picture of my Small Sugar pumpkins from last year, at maybe 65% size. This is 2 plants but mostly just one in the picture. As you can see, it is taking over. They had like 10x10 space in the garden but that wasn't even close to enough. They grew out over the Spirea, onto the ground.. it was a mess. That fence is 6' high.
This is in the garden when they were maybe 40-50% size - 2 plants
Just recently I had my own experience with Burpee selling something on an in-store seed rack but having no information online. So now if I come across something on a Burpee rack that sounds interesting and have never heard of before I'll look it up prior to buying.
Rodney
Thank you for all the answers. I am in zone 7a in northeast OK. I haven't had any trouble with birds eating my plants. I have never grown watermelons but have had success with cantaloupe. I may not have enough space for the watermelons but we'll see how it goes.
Hi, it looks to me like it has either been cross polinated with another member of the melon family, or it wasn't sure if it wanted to grow a fruit or a leaf. As in roses, which aren't related. Sometimes they will grow thorns on the flower petals as the petals and thorns are also considered leaves. Just a thought.
Watermelons will only cross with citron and other watermelons. And if the OP's melon is the result of cross pollination, which seems unlikely, then the crossing would had to have happened to the parent plant that produced the seeds this plant was grown from.
Rodney
http://www.veggiegardener.com/preventing-powdery-mildew-on-cucumbers-squash-melons/
Milk, baking soda and a drop of detergent (wetting agent).
It seems your test is only for P, K, Ca, Mg, pH and OM%. While this does reveal some potential issues it is a very incomplete test. What is revealed here of course is that you are quite low on Potassium and several good recommendations have been given for that. Your Ca and Mg and pH are quite adequate so you don't need to bother with limes.Keep in mind Greensand (if you use it) contains alot of Iron and Magnesium, and you're already more than sufficient in Magnesium. You may also be high in Iron for all we know. That's something you need to be aware of, many soil amendments contain additional minerals that may not be good. For example, I won't use chicken manure in my garden because I already have high levels of Phosphorous and Potassium.
I particularly like to know the Sulfur level because it is an important mineral for plant health and I also use a couple of soil additives that contain Sulfur (gypsum and ammonium sulfate), And since my Sulfur levels are reasonably low, I don't worry that I might be getting too high in Sulfur, for the time being anyway.
If it were me I'd want to know the Sulfur content, and all those others honestly. What if your Zinc levels are way low? They're probably not but I'd be curious.
The exchange capacities look pretty good from my limited understanding, excepting K which we understand.
I use a test that covers all the minerals listed in your report, and a few more. It costs $35 which I don't consider cheap but I value the information. It includes amendment recommendations per 1000 square feet. I did this for the last two years but will likely only do it every 2nd or 3rd year going forward.
What type of worm system do you have? Mine is just a tote with holes drilled in, so I rarely get liquid seeping out. Not an expert, but I believe that its very concentrated, so you do have to be careful with spraying or using unless well diluted. It's usually a sign of too wet conditions within (which I also will admit that mine is right now, as I just fed them a bunch of frostbit watermelon discovered hiding in the back of the freezer that didn't get turned into sorbet).
I use my castings by top dressing them on my container plants (mostly herbs). I have also been using them mixed into the mix when potting up my seedlings. Haven't had enough left to make tea from yet, but will probably do that later in summer and sub that for a fish/sea feeding on the herbs, but I'm not personally a fan of spraying.
It is quite a fun list. I'm on my second year with a pair of blueberries myself, but just had to replace one that didn't make it overwinter. What types of containers are you using for all the veg? And, I'll work on getting over jealousy of the tropicals like avocado!
I always remove the mulch and scratch it in the top layer of soil as others have mentioned, and I think it says on the bag. I also do container gardening, but still strive to create an active food web in my mix (and yes, worms do find their way into containers). The reason I remove the mulch is my garden is small so I don't mind and my mulch layer is about 4-6 inches deep so it would take some time for the ferts and things to get down to the roots which is where I want it. I also want to avoid them washing away, because like I mentioned I am container gardening. Secondly, the organic granular fert I use has a bunch of beneficial microbes that I am looking to get into the mix immediately and I really don't want it in my mulch. These microbes break down the fert so it can be accessible to the plants and by doing this it also speeds up composting, basically meaning my mulch will break much faster than I really wanted. I use it for moisture retention. The soil amendment part is just a bi-product for me too. I am sure if I had a large plot on regular dirt I would just broadcast too.
Not flea beeltes, holes too big? Probably slug damage like annew says.
Also agree, looks like slugs eating your plants. Try going out just after it gets dark, when they become more active. Pick them off your plants and drop them in a bowl of soapy water.