23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

What about this? Right at base, but I couldn't find larva. It's like the base of the leaves are rotting, the yellow squash (not shown) had a big split with brown mushy edges but no grub.

Just picked up some Bt and a syringe JIK

Are the puncture wounds on the leaf stems and fruit maybe from squash bugs? And the sawdust looking stuff that doesn't brush off at the base is some sort of mildew or dry rot? I have copper and Organicide (that says it can be used for powdery mildew or black spot on roses, I was planning on using it for the SB nymphs and what I think are leafhoppers anyway)?

I used a mix of vigero potting mix and vigero organic garden soil to fill the main beds, and straight potting mix in the cinderblock holes.

@ Cara Rose,

You have been using expensive stuff and definitely getting rewards for it. Everything looks great.

Looks beautiful. I love your garden! A little jealous I must say!! Can't wait to grow my garden one day just like yours! My peppers aren't even growing flowers!
Would u suggest watermelon on a trellis? Mines on the ground

When the 4-inch soil temperature drops below 80

July 23-26 is right.

What happened to the stem ? Probably harvested too late !!!?

As for the stem, the ground is very hard and the stem broke off when I tried to pull out the bulb.

I had that happen to me last year when I planted late in the season.

I doubt though that what you are experiencing was under the same conditions as what I was working with then. Not enough sunlight during the day was probably my problem. My corn this year just shot up almost 2 feet in a week!
:)

Many of my corns showed tassels when the corns were that short. Shouldn't worry though. The corn should still grow more. Mine grew to about 5 to 6' tall.

But here in California, they were planted around March, and they were all harvested before the 4th of July.

I have the exact same thing - it's a fungal disease, probably Angular Leaf Spot. I have done nothing because the rain is incessant and very heavy. I don't have the resources or desire to spray fungicide several times a day (it has been raining that much). I remove the worst leaves and trellis what vines I can. Still getting fruit and new growth, for now. Angular Leaf Spot (bacterium - Pseudomonas syringae pv. lacrymans): This disease appears on leaves, stems and fruit. Spots are small, angular, straw-colored and watersoaked. Leaf spots often dry and fall out giving the leaf a âÂÂshot-holeâ appearance, similar to those caused by anthracnose. Spots on fruit are usually smaller and circular in shape. Bacteria overwinter in crop residue and on seed. Hard rains splash the bacteria to stems and leaves. The disease may reach epidemic proportions during periods of heavy rains, particularly if temperatures remain high. Crop rotation with non-cucurbit crops is helpful for control of angular leaf spot. Application of copper fungicide will assist in control. Cucurbits, however, are sensitive to copper when young, and repeated applications of copper may cause yellowing of foliage around the edges of the leaves.

Here is a link that might be useful: Texas Plant Disease Handbook

It might be angular leaf spot but mine are actually holes so I'm not certain its the same thing. I have been checking for beetles morning, day, and night and see none.

As I am get new growth, I trim off the worst leaves daily. The new growth seems to be unaffected. I wonder if it has anything to do with the slime mold that formed on my beds at the start of July. I covered my beds with Long Island garden mulch and it literally formed a solid surface on my beds. I removed it as soon as I noticed it and have since covered the beds with fresh compost.

I'm pretty sure once again I'm going to be disappointed with a shortened bounty after a great start. This is frustrating for me because at my old house (5 miles away) I used to have so many cukes that I couldn't even give them all away. Tomatoes too.

LOL! No matter how old you get and how much experience you have, parents never seem to want your advice! I'm nearly sixty and I told my Dad that it was not necessary to paint tar onto the wounds after he pruned trees. He told me that he didn't have a very high opinion of science....which made me wonder why he's willing to go to a doctor, but I didn't say that. Just chuckled and told him that they ARE his trees and he can do as he wants...

Sandpaper, I would second the motion for crowder peas or okra. They both come right up and do very well no matter how hot it is.

Dad said back at Memorial Day "Growing up on the farm, we never planted ANYTHING until May 30th!" I didn't point out that last year his (then) 99-yr old uncle planted his peas in March.

GRAPEFRUIT sized? Good golly!

Hmm.... I see from your list of what does poorly that your soil is more waterlogged than I realised:(.

I suppose part of the problem is that I cannot really conceive of summer rain (we don't have that, here) so I assume wet soil gets drier as the season goes on. But maybe that is not true for you?

I am starting to think the rice farming sounds good :/.

Storm passed us completely by, though there were some beautiful thunderheads to the east. Not even a drop. Yay!

I'm on the other side of the same coin, NJ. I can't conceive of it *not* raining in the summer. I frequently read in gardening books and even on GW here about not getting the leaves of certain plants wet. I've scratched my head for years. Doesn't rain get them wet all the time?

We just got back from a road trip to Victoria, BC a few days ago. It doesn't really rain in the summer there either. It was extremely strange to see brown grass (where it wasn't irrigated) and occasional falling leaves and I was told this was normal in the summer. That just doesn't happen here except in drought years. We saw farms all over BC baling beautiful hay. They could cut and bale at the optimum nutrition level because they totally controlled the irrigation. Time to cut? Just stop watering. Take as much time as necessary to dry in the swath; heck, take a couple extra days to flip the swath and dry it through. It's amazing. We just can't do that here most years. Usually, when it looks like there's going to be a rash of a few days with no rain, farmers are dropping everything - even 9 to 5 jobs in town - to 'make hay while the sun shines'. Even then, it's unusual to get hay off with no rain at all on it. Most of the prairies here support "dry-land" farms with no irrigation setup at all.

In an average year here, I only usually need to water the garden at the beginning, when seeds are close to the surface and yet to germinate. After they've established, I rarely need to pull out the sprinkler. There's at least an inch of rain per week or so and when there's not, the roots dig deep enough that they're good for a few more days until it rains again. This is only my second year doing dry bush beans, but I'm finding it difficult to mature them on the plant because of the short season and because the rain still comes in the fall, though less. Same for the pole beans, though, they're up in the air and do dry off a little faster.

No rain in the winter - just snow, cold and more cold. We can go into the -30s Celcius for a couple of weeks at a time and -40 and below is not unheard of. I don't get to do cover crops. Typically, last frost is within the first week of June (or late May in a good year) and first frost is usually early to mid September (but can come as early as August in a bad year). We can extend harvest into early October by covering on nights where there's frost forecast. Crops mature, but don't really grow much by then.

I've tried mulches a few times, but have discarded the idea. I know it's a great thing for many gardeners, but I find it cools the soil too much and there's not really a need to conserve moisture. Should we go back to drought years, I'd see about trying it again. Right now, though, I need heat heat heat to reach my soil. :)

Squash vine borer

Look through the recent threads and you will find a lot of information about this pest.

Does the main stem look like its rotting away? From the picture that is what it looks like, That is a sign of SVB damage. Read up on it. You may be able to save the plant.

If you had enough voles to do that kind of damage, you would be feeling squishy places underfoot, and running into their tunnels when you cultivate your beds. I'm wondering about rats, who can set up housekeeping in soil cavities beneath trees and shrubs. If anyone near you leaves pet food out at night, rats will come. One night of snap traps might yield some surprises. A week of snap traps will get rid of them.

Thank you all for the comments. I had the squash on my counter so i could take it with me to the garden center to get help there but i won't have time until the weekend so i threw it out w/trash .... It was pretty big (10 inches ) i tried to take good pictures - it looked like something with sharp fangs or claws. - maybe one critter started eating and another came behind to get their dinner!?

I did put out some snap traps a couple weeks ago - inside a milk carton so birds and friendly creatures wouldn't get hurt - and both traps were tripped by morning with no critters but the apples were gone..... That method didn't seem to work well for me and i just don't want to hurt the wrong ones.

Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions!

I will try the netting over new growth as recommended- THANK YOU!

Superb beans. Clearly you have little or no problem with MBB. Maybe winters are cold enough that it doesn't exist there?

pnbrown - Did not know about MBB until you mentioned it, thanks for the heads-up. I did some quick research, will research more in depth to learn if this problem is something I should be looking for in the future. Have never seen signs of them here, do not know if they can survive up here or not at this point. Really prefer not to have to deal with another insect problem...

So no, I am not having any problems with MBB that I can see. I see occasional beans with bore holes and a handful or so are getting chewed on by what I think are field mice. Some are half eaten hanging on the plants with a nice clean cut - have chased a few bunnies out that are getting past my electric fence so I assume they are the culprits of the last problem. All in all losses are minor so far, hopefully things will stay that way.