23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

My Gretel eggplants from last summer went gangbusters on me this summer! I refreshed the potting mix, feed them regularly, and pick the fruits very often. The sooner you pick them fruits, the sooner it throws off new blooms.

Also, my "Pot Black" eggplants (perfect for containers) continue to produce. I pulled what I thought was my last harvest this past weekend, and today, the plants are full of blooms again!

Linda.

That's actually an important point, that for eggplants, you need to pick them to start more fruit. With a small plant, trying to grow a fruit, the plant won't increase in size, nor will it generally flower again, until you pick that fruit. Then, BLAM! the plant starts growing fast, and lots of flowers appear.

Good call...I'm only familiar with broad mite damage on ornamentals.

Evidently it's a bigger issue on fruits outside of where I'm at.

Thanks Jean, That's precisely what it is!

Just wondering, did you ever eat this squash? How'd it taste? I just harvested a volunteer squash that looks EXACTLY like this one, but haven't cooked it up yet.

This particular one I harvested early (when it's still green) and cooked it like a zucchini - thin slices, sauteed. I like it better than zucchini because it's sweeter. I have also harvested one that had just started to turn tan. It's more like a butternut and at that time the seeds and skin were still edible. I just cook another one that the stem has started to turn brown. I guess it's a butternut squash after all. I saved the seeds. Can't wait to see what comes out next year because it's being grown with another type of squash next to it.

I found out one thing: the stem that holds the squash is SO strong. I tried to pull it off the vine and broke the vine instead. (I let it climb the chain link fence.) I could barely cut it off with my shears.

Just a quick follow-up report. A month ago I took the tulle netting off to see what would happen. Today I just harvested two normal-looking, full-sized butternut squashes that got started after the tulle came off. So I think the lesson here is that for this particular variety at least, if you allow normal fertilization, you'll get normal fruit. If you don't, the plant will go parthenocarpahtic, and try its best to do something, fruit-wise.

I have not yet cut open the new squash, but I suspect they'll be full of seeds.

OK, here's closure. We ate the normally pollinated squash (actually a week ago, but I just got around to this post today), and the squash were PERFECTLY normal butternuts. Large size, and full of seeds. See photo.

So the same butternut squash plants that will go parthenocarpathic, if you keep the pollinators off (small size, no seeds), are quite happy to produce normally (large zie, lots of seeds) if you let the pollinators back in.

Pretty neat. Let that be a lesson to those using row covers, without pollinating manually.

I agree about too much water, but am not sure they need high nitrogen fertilizer. Too much Nitrogen now will just put on rampant top growth and it's really too late for another fruit set anyway. I'd recommend some well balanced fish emulsion on a light dosage (I prefer organic fertilizer). And let the soil dry out just a little between each watering.

Go ahead and pick the peppers that are fully orange, that's what you are going for. All peppers ripen from green to red/yellow/orange sooner or later. Thats when they are the sweetest and the best to eat. Once you pick some peppers the plants will likely grow a bit more.

As far as the ones that are rotting, you can cut them off and eat any salvageable pepper from them. It's common to lose some peppers from blossom end rot.

Good luck,
-Mark

About picking, agree with Mark. The yellow ones are not going to get any bigger. So there no point keeping thenm on the bush., Unless you except and want then to turn red !

Pritavit is sold by Osborne seed co., and probably others too. It's an F1 hybrid so I can't save seeds unfortunately.

Thanks! I'll check them out.

I will try the hot pepper approach what dilution would work best.

Has anyone used the scarecrow sprinklers against squirrels? I can see frightening a deer, raccoon, possum, or cat with one. But squirrels are pretty resilient to water. In their tree-top nests, they get rained on all the time. So I have to wonder if they'd just laugh off a scarecrow sprinkler. Bath time!

I'm not sure, but in the linked article it sounds like they are talking about "flower sprouts", the somewhat new veg that Johnnys seed company is pushing.

The only reason why you would cut the tops off regular brussels sprouts is to promote even sizing of the sprouts for full stem harvest.

Of course, you can eat some leaves if you want but I personally think kale is much tastier....

-Mark

No, Mark, I assure you they talking about Brussels Sprouts. They are so ubiquitous here that you only need to say 'sprouts' and everyone knows you mean Brussels Sprouts. The tops are cut off after the sprouts have been harvested. As I said, they are sold as a separate green vegetable in their own right here in the UK. There is no tradition here of cutting off the tops to promote growth, only to harvest them as greens.

Until you have tried sprout tops I would not dismiss them. We eat them a lot in winter - they are tender and delicious, not tough like the lower leaves, which we do not eat. If you Google 'Sprout tops' you will get a lot of hits for recipes.

Here is a link that might be useful: More on sprout tops

we leave all roots in especially legumes, it all adds and all helps.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

I chop up all the residue...tops and bottoms and mix them into the soil a bit along with any amendments....and perhaps plant a cover crop if growing time permits. Things are really nice by spring planting time.

same plant

last photo

Well like I said, I haven't tried using tulle. I was just giving a suggestion based on old posts.

disappointed in row covers/will netting work for cabbage moths?
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cornucop/msg0422501923825.html

French Tulle Netting
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cornucop/msg0505305828412.html

Help me kill the Flea Beetles eating my Eggplants!
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cornucop/msg0620524021153.html

The last two links say that using tulle keeps out flea beetles.

Rodney

French or Nylon tulle comes in many shades of color and tightness.Tighter ones can keep all insects out, even mosquitoes. So you wouldn't want to cover cucurbita with it because you need pollinators.

Thank you guys so much! I can deal with ugly potatoes! :)

Next season try (or tell the dudes planting to try) scab resistant varieties...especially if lowering the pH isn't an option.

It won't 100% wipe out the issue, but it helps moderately to greatly lessen scab depending upon variety selection.

You use those same planters for lots of crops, don't you?

Did you make them yourself?

I've used them for potatoes, beans, peas, and cukes. They came with the house. Just cleaned them up a bit and painted them. They're pretty old and made of pressure treated wood. Very heavy, not sure I'd recommend them.

Tokyo Bekana?

@ jrslick : That is absolutely right! I eat this veggie all my life and still don't know it has a japanese name. Thank you very much jrslick!