23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
I assume you mean bacterial wilt. If so, then the only way to protect your plants from it is to not let cucumber beetles munch on your plants. You must kill every cucumber beetle you see because the beetles are what carry and transmit the wilt. You might be able to protect your plants if you cover them with either floating row cover or with tulle. However, you'd have to take it off to allow bees in to pollinate which could also let in the beetles or you'd have to hand pollinate yourself. Also, I believe that the County Fair variety of cucumber is resistant to bacterial wilt (haven't grown it though).
Several years ago there used to be a very interesting discussion about homemade cucumber beetle traps on this forum but for some reason it's not on gardenweb anymore. So traps might be something to look into.
In my own experience, I have found that I don't have a beetle problem if I grow cukes on a bi-yearly basis. If I grow cukes for two years or more in a row, I have a major problem.
Rodney
Sounds like my black walnut challenge some years ago.
They sound more like gourd than squash.
If they taste good, the I is worth the challenge. Here is what I would do:
Drill them ( upside, as they stand firm) === heat your oven to 300F === bake as many of them as you can , to make it pay for the electricity. You can also put some water at the bottom of the pan to soften the rind a bit., === after cooking, split, take the meat use it === if too much freez for pie making
AND FINALLY, NEVER , EVER AGAING BE TEMPTED TO PLANT THEM...hahaha
Could the seeds have been switched? I found a reference to "Cannon ball gourds" for crafters - picture attached.
Here is a link that might be useful: Cannon Ball Gourd
Save it and eat it! I hear it's put in quesadillas sometimes. I think I've also heard it has a strong, perhaps acquired taste, but I can't find any corroboration via googling, so I might be wrong about that. Anyway, if you can do something with it, why toss it?
"the mulch has a hard solid feel to it and only loosens up when you dig into it with your fingers"
That's the statement that I was basing my previous comment on. The only way to know if it allows water through is to check your soil under the mulch. If the soil under the mulch is moist then water can get through it and it should be fine, the fungus isn't a problem. And/or you could sprinkle a small amount of water on the surface of the mulch and see if it soaks in. If it soaks in then it's fine. If the soil isn't moist underneath the mulch then I'd remove it.
Rodney
Thinning them down to a couple plants will help the remaining plants grow better. So will the addition of some nutrients.
And no, you shouldn't have separated them when you planted them. Even as seedlings they don't like their roots being disturbed too much.
Rodney
I have the same thing - we are in the same area. It's some type of leaf blight which a fungicide would help control but with the CONSTANT deluge of rain it is next to impossible to spray and have any lasting effect.
I am harvesting what I can, removing the worst leaves and chalking it up to a very, very, very wet summer.
Here is a link that might be useful: Cucurbit Leaf Disorders
Yes, it's a slime mold. But the name is very misleading because these unique organisms are not molds nor are they fungi. As a matter of fact, they aren't even related to molds or mushrooms.
Not harmful in any way to you or your plants and they are not toxic.
yes that can happen, it doesn't seem to cause any issues, like mushrooms it is living off rotting material in the soils.
len
Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page
yep if spuds are healthy then use them, we do.
len
Here is a link that might be useful: lens instant potato patch
Agree with Kevin. Bell peppers are very susceptible to sunscald and even if it was BER it wouldn't necessarily be lack of calcium but more the inconsistent distribution of the calcium throughout the fruit - that is usually due to watering problems.
Have you successfully grown colored bell peppers in the past? It can be difficult to do in the home garden since once peppers are left on the plant to turn colors the plant tends to slow or shut down further production. many find that to actually get colored bells they need far more plants simply because of the decreased production one gets from each plant. But some varieties work better than others.
Dave
I don't know if this is what you're referring to, but last year I grew sweet yellow and green/red peppers. They initially produced a ton of peppers, then it took forever for a second wave to be produced and there weren't that many in the 2nd round. Maybe that's what you're experiencing? I'm not sure why, maybe I didn't fertilize enough....or maybe that's just normal.
This year, I am doing foliar feedings of diluted epsom salt/H2Oto help with BER, (but only during the evening or early in the AM on a cloudy day). I have already had some sunscald, also.
Guess it depends on what you like to eat. Personally I can find lots of uses for them fresh and dried. Salads, steamed as a side dish, lightly fried as a side dish, grilled, diced on top of fresh tomatoes, on baked potatoes, great on a hamburger either fresh or grilled, any thing you would use chives in, scallion pesto, in scrambled eggs, in spaghetti sauce, diced into meatloaf, as a taco burrito topping, etc.
Check out all the posts about them over on the Alliums Forum here. The search there pulls up lots of discussions on growing and using them. And you can find cooking recipes for them over on the Cooking forums here not to mention Google using 'scallion recipes'.
Dave
With all the rain cedar rust is a problem for many this year. It is a fungus so your spray should control it - won't cure it but just control it - until the weather dries out some. Once it dries out and warms up the pepper plants should pick up.
However, I have to agree that it sure sounds like you are awfully heavy on the fertilizers - especially in a manured bed. Too much causes far more problems than too little fertilizer so I'd back off on it if I were you. ;)
Good luck.
Dave
I have, what seems to be, the same problem. I took some leaves to a local knowledgable nursery for identification. She said it appears to be fungal in nature but couldn't identify it for sur. probably rust. She recommended I send samples to the State entomology lab here in Maine for free identification, which I have done. Suggest you do the same in your state before applying haphazardly.