23,822 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
cooperbailey

A Follow up:
All the patients survived the emergency surgery. After I stomped on the worms, I covered the stems with leaf gro- a local awesome compost- as that is all I had on hand, and figured what the heck.
All of the plants are thriving and growing huge- and blooming- no squashes at all yet, however. I would have thought I would see some by now.
Thanks for the help.

    Bookmark     July 26, 2013 at 4:10PM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
springtogarden(6)

Thanks for the update :). I learn so much when I see what works and doesn't work for others.

    Bookmark     July 26, 2013 at 9:33PM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

I assume you have already explored much of the online resources on Mexico gardening and even tho Cozumel has a very different environment much it might still apply?

And that you know that since importing seeds and plants is going to be heavily restricted by customs you may be dependent on what seed crops you can find locally. Corn obviously, local varieties of dried beans, peppers, tomatoes, and squash.

I'd also suggest contacting the various universities that have agricultural programs for information on irrigation needs, fertilizers, planting dates, etc.

I did find one publication titled "VEGETABLE GARDENING IN
THE CARIBBEAN AREA" I linked below (although it is dated 1967). Be patient, it takes forever to load.

Good luck with your project.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Vegetable Gardening in the Caribbean

    Bookmark     July 26, 2013 at 7:27PM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
glib(5.5)

If it is limestone, it is basically the same mother rock as Yucatan, so take a ferry and go look at the markets and buy seeds on the mainland. Not sure how close a seed store will be, the area is a tourist trap, but there are numerous villages on the road to Merida, you should not have to travel far. On top of what Dave suggests, chayote, malabar spinach, amaranth, eggplant, sweet potato, okra, watermelon and melon should all be available and easy, some in the rainy season, some in the dry season.

    Bookmark     July 26, 2013 at 9:16PM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
veeta

thanks sunnibel. Just yesterday I noticed one of the female flowers had shriveled and the ovary appeared to be swelling. I start things at the "right" time pretty much but everyone else always seems to be harvesting pounds of everything before I am!

    Bookmark     July 26, 2013 at 10:40AM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
sunnibel7 Md 7(7)

You're welcome! Gardens are like kids- you should always resist the urge to compare yours to everyone else's! They are each unique and do things in their own time... And besides we all secretly know our own garden is the most awesome. ;)

    Bookmark     July 26, 2013 at 8:57PM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
kathyb912_in (5a/5b, Central IN)

I use basic shop lights, as well. One alternative to hanging them from the ceiling is to mount them on an open shelving unit. I repurposed a set of 3' wide sturdy plastic shelves that I'd originally used to store kid toys by setting a 4' piece of 2x4 across the top and attaching hooks to the bottom of the 2x4. The 4' shop lights hang on a very short chain from the hooks so that the top surface of the lights is just under the top shelf. (Think of a sandwich - wood on top, top shelf in the middle, lights below. The shelves are an open weave so there is plenty of air-flow.)

With this set-up, I don't adjust the lights up and down as the plants grow -- I adjust the seedling trays up or down by stacking books, shoe boxes, etc., under them. As the seedlings grow, I remove a book from the stack to keep them a couple inches below the lights.

This isn't a high-volume operation; it's easy to run out of space in late spring when everything is getting big. But it's quite space-efficient. The shelves fit easily in a corner of my dining room. Add a small fan and a timer and it's pretty low maintenance.

Incidentally, you can buy smaller all-in-one set-ups like you describe online and they look very cool. But they are very expensive and you can't fit very many plants at one time. For comparison, mine was less than $50 -- a basic shop light fixture, one cool & one warm bulb (not fancy grow lights), a couple strong hooks, and a timer, plus scrap wood from my garage and existing shelves.

This post was edited by kathyb912_IN on Thu, Jul 25, 13 at 18:10

    Bookmark     July 25, 2013 at 6:09PM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
woohooman San Diego CA zone 10a

Nice little setup lilydude.

Uscjusto: I do it sort of like kathyb. I have some book shelves in an insulated room in the garage(not too cold or hot ambient temps). I bought a cheap fluoro unit and a couple "daylight" bulbs from Home depot for $30 or so. Attached the chains to the bottom of one shelf and I do the book "roulette" thing like kathyb does on another shelf below the top one. It's easier to do the book thing since not all veggies grow at the same height and rate.

Kevin

    Bookmark     July 26, 2013 at 7:36PM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
ltilton

The tomato/potato is experimental on my part. I alternate it with other fungicides like daconil.

PM is what it's specifically listed for. It's not an all-purpose fungicide. I wish it did double duty for DM, too, but alas not.

    Bookmark     July 18, 2013 at 5:41PM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
newyorkrita(z6b/7a LI NY)

Sprayed all my squash again with the Neem. Really want to get back on top of this powdery mildew stuff. Already today the squash look so much better than they did on Monday when I last sprayed them. So today being Friday that means 4 days in between sprayings. Now I should be able to go back to weekly spraying. Actually I would like to keep to a spray in just under a week. That should work well.

I had to wait until late in the day, I just came in from spraying. Not that it is hot. I could have sprayed in the middle of the day as temps are really mild. But the bees were out all over the squash all day. Lots and lots of honeybees. I don't honestly know what they were doing but they were at it ALL day. Not in the flowers, they were landing under the leaves and then looking like they were eating or vacuuming along under the leaves. And only on the leaves that had powdery mildew. How really strange. I guess eventually they had enough and went home or it just got late.

I was using my battery powered wand sprayer again. Found a spray setting that works really well and the spraying didn't take as long to do this time as it did the first time I used the sprayer.

    Bookmark     July 26, 2013 at 7:23PM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
AiliDeSpain(6a - Utah)

Hmmmm well looks like I have some differing opinions :) the vines do look pretty strong. Dave what kind of slings do you make?
Sherm, thanks for the compliment! Its my first time growing winter squash so I'm pretty excited!

    Bookmark     July 26, 2013 at 2:01AM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
kalindi615

I don't intentionally tressil any of my heavy vines, but they always climb my fence. When they do I "sling" them with really cheap knee high panty hose. I slip the fruit in the sock and tie the to to the fence. The panty hose expand with the growing squash or melon and I have yet to have one tear open. I started doing this with ones that had runs in them when I needed a quick sling, now I buy a pack at the store every year just for this purpose.

    Bookmark     July 26, 2013 at 1:19PM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

Ye, sorry. Link below is to same question from earlier in the week with more info.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: To late to plant corn?

    Bookmark     July 26, 2013 at 12:49PM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
hobbiest

Saw some of that today as I was picking.

Wondered what might have done that kind of damage.

    Bookmark     July 25, 2013 at 11:28PM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
2ajsmama

I did see a few insects that looked like red ladybugs but moved faster a week or so ago. Trying to remember if they were on the beans or something else, but I'm sure it was somewhere down in that 3000sf area (or the edamame just across the road from it). Not sure if it was Mexican bean beetle or bean leaf beetle. I haven't seen any eggs or larvae.

http://extension.entm.purdue.edu/fieldcropsipm/insects/bean-leaf-beetle.php

Raining right now, but maybe I can get out to spray this afternoon. Rain expected Sunday too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mexican bean beetle

    Bookmark     July 26, 2013 at 7:06AM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
AiliDeSpain(6a - Utah)

Wow not sure if i should be jealous. We have been in the upper nineties to hundreds for the entire month.

    Bookmark     July 26, 2013 at 2:05AM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
MzTeaze(6a)

It's been hot here EVERY DAY...til today when it was barely 65ðF.

Thank goodness the temps are supposed to be back around 80ðF tomorrow.

    Bookmark     July 26, 2013 at 2:48AM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
Creek-side(5)

Nothing to worry about. Every now and then you get one of those. I heard recently that this type of thing.has to do with variations in the water available to the plant during the growth of the cuke, but I'm no expert.

    Bookmark     July 25, 2013 at 10:03PM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
seysonn(8a WA/HZ 1)

That is not funny, but rather normal . Probably you think that all the cucumbers should look like the ones in the market !!
Is it pickling type? BTW, it is ready to be enjoyed.

    Bookmark     July 26, 2013 at 2:46AM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
X5150X

@uscjusto nothing strange about it. There's always that one post from the "holier than thou" person.

Yup, bigger and better.

    Bookmark     July 25, 2013 at 4:11PM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
nancyjane_gardener(Zone 8ish North of San Francisco in the "real" wine country)

@uscjusto nothing strange about it. There's always that one post from the "holier than thou" person.

I don't see that as "holier than thou". I was wondering about such a quick move myself? Usually you have a minimum of 30 days, and usually you know ahead of that time.
I haven't rented for a long time, but most of those rules are the same, unless you get a 3 day eviction notice. Nancy

    Bookmark     July 26, 2013 at 1:27AM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
hobbiest

My Blue Lake bean plants usually go full tilt until about now. They are slowing down as of late. The Mexican bean beetles set in about now as I noticed a few leaves today that had larvae under them. Grabbing all that I can before the carnage begins.

I yank them all up and put them in a trash bag and then start the 2nd crop before Fall.

    Bookmark     July 25, 2013 at 11:25PM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
shermthewerm(8 PNW)

My beans have yet to get vigor.

Not quite sure about that. Planted seeds June 1st. Vines are over 10' & look healthy, but are just (barely) starting to flower.

Ash, maybe next year try some pole beans along with your bush beans. That's what I do, & usually it works...just not for me this year.

    Bookmark     July 26, 2013 at 12:08AM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX

They often fail to fill out the tip due to lack of complete pollination. I had a terrible time getting mine to set this year. Many runted out.

    Bookmark     July 25, 2013 at 11:10PM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
CaraRose

Some kind of bagworm moth, would be my guess.

    Bookmark     July 25, 2013 at 10:52PM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
myluck(5 In)

Its a bag worm. Ussually found on pine trees and if there is a lot of them they can strip a tree of all its needles really fast. Check out your spruce and yews they like the short needles best. I've seen them strip a 6ft blue spruce in a couple of days and crawl dragging their bag to the next tree. They are bad news if not dealt with.

    Bookmark     July 25, 2013 at 11:08PM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana

edie, They start by pecking at the tips and work down. Once some learn that, it is bad unless you sock the ears. If you think earworms are bad for the ears, you ain't seen nuthin yet.

    Bookmark     July 25, 2013 at 7:50PM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX

Wayne:

You haven't seen Texas earworms. The ones on the tips are no big deal. When they hit the sides and base of the ear it gets ugly. The real killer is racoons. They take everything.

    Bookmark     July 25, 2013 at 11:07PM
Sign Up to comment
© 2015 Houzz Inc. Houzz® The new way to design your home™