23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Not sure about that. Gregor Mendel did his experiments on peas, and he was looking for effects that recessive genes had on the pods (that is, the fruit). I guess, simplistically, the way I look at squash fruit are squash pods for the seeds within. The fruit is, in fact, the seed.

I too am sure that you can get fruit with one plant. The question was whether you'd risk problems from recessive genes. I suspect that doesn't happen very often, because I suspect that lots of plants are fertilized from their own flowers. But if you're doing hand pollination, and have a choice, that's a useful strategy.

Mendel was growing the seeds of a cross to see the effects on the pods (the genes expressed in the next generation.)

It's always a good idea to give your plants a good look when you buy then and again when you get them home (as a form of double-checking).

Nurseries are generally open air vectors for all kinds of pests and when one is managing 100s-1000s of plants, they can't get them all...and they're not going to spray anything powerful enough that people can't access the plants for 24-48 hours.

Squash Vine Borers - nasty!

I wouldn't. I'd plant something not in the pepper family instead. But you can try. If it turns bad also then the virus is already in the soil there and it will need to be dormant for a season to die off.

If from the same seed source and you grew these from seed yourself then the odds are the rest of the seed is also contaminated and should be pitched.

Dave

Ugh.. Really stinks loosing a plant.. I just hope my tomatoes don't get infected. They are doing so well.

I tried almost everything including organic untreated potatoes. I put it right in potting mix, and it rooted, but no soots. Oh well, better luck next time. I grew 4 slips last year that my father in law brought up from Florida. This is what they looked like when I dug them up, and yes, they take a LONG time to mature especially up north. I used black landscape fabric.

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Edweather, those are beautiful sweet potatoes you harvested. I used the toothpicks method to suspend my sweet potatoes over water with about a third of the potato or less in the water. I've gotten lots of beautiful slips. When the slips are about 6" long I put them in a canning jar with a couple of inches of water in the bottom. They developed roots so fast I couldn't believe it. I hope I get as nice a harvest from each of mine as you did.

The sweet potato leaves from the one potato that developed a little sprinkling of white on them have died and it looks like it's spread to a couple of leaves on the potato I had next to it and the newest leaves on it have died. Isolation and destruction time. No matter, I have plenty more slips on the first sweet potato growing like weeds.

The sticky yellow paper will trap all though. It sounds like in the US there is a real problem with bee reduction, seems a common theme in a lot of the posts I've been reading here. If they do visit your garden, they too may end up getting "stuck".

I'm glad I don't have to hand pollinate my squash or cucumbers. Right now I am having a hard time giving enough away. I haven't seen many bees this year but I have something pollinating my plants. You will probably have the same thing even if you don't see any bees. Once the plants get started they should take off and you won't have to worry about them.

because that is what most soil mixes call for.

What soil mixes call for lime? Commercial bagged mixes sometimes include some lime but how much if any all depends on the company recipe.

If you are using a specific recipe to make your own mix and that recipe calls for adding lime then that recipe should tell you how much to add and which type of lime to use. Otherwise it is just guesswork.

My question is, if I don't add lime is it going to cause problems for the plants I'm growing in the soil mix I created?

There is no way to know the answer to that without knowing the pH of the mix. It is the pH that determines whether the plants will have problems or not. That is why most people buy mix that is already pH balanced rather than try to make their own.

Dave

kawaiineko:

I'd go over to the container forum, tell them exactly what your soil mix consists of, and ask them if they think it needs some lime. However, a cheap, reliable ph test will tell you where you sit. Lime usually is added for 2 reasons -- adjust ph and deliver calcium and magnesium. But there are different ways of delivering these nutrients to your plants without raising/lowering the ph.

Kevin

@pnbrown I'm a bit intimidated at the idea of growing any kind of bean. Just not familar with their growing process I guess.

@SunshineZone7 Maybe I planted them earlier, I was thinking it was April sometime. They're still green and bushy and I don't think I should have dug any out yet actuality. I saw a few bubbles in the soil and brushed some aside and saw that first big one and got excited and dug up a small section and stopped when I saw so many tiny ones.

@Silverkelt I'd like to say I get the Kec's because of research but I actually just grabbed the first seed potatoes I could find at a nursery. ^_^;; They were really good. My fiancee who is a picky eater (really picky, pizza and hamburger helper only!) enjoyed them.

In the picture, the Potatoes are up against the fence row.

This post was edited by Syntria on Mon, Jun 10, 13 at 10:20

Congratulation! I too planted potatoes (red) this year for the first time but used an old clothes basket to plant them in. I remembered hearing about this on the radio. As the plants grow you add more dirt. Simple! What I didn't remember was you plant more potatoes as you add layers! So I wound up with plants about 4 1/2 feet high (two clothes baskets) but potatoes in the bottom 10 inches. Next year! It was fun though and they tasted great.

Spittlebug spit?

Not normally on the ground but can be. Sometimes it drips from a tree above the ground.

Here is a link that might be useful: Spittlebug Spit

Sort of looks like a spider web with dew on it to me...

Agree. My experience is that broccoli quits when temps began to exceed 100 degrees regularly. In a cool spring like this one I can cut sideshoots till July. I have never been able to go into July however and most years plow down the remaining plants in June. If you are inan area that does not have high temps in the summer you can go all season. I could do that in the mountains of Virginia.

Here are some interesting tips - not so much air temperature as soil temperature. Tips are how to keep soil cooler when the air temps. rise.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bolting Broccoli: Growing Broccoli In Hot Weather

Ouch. That's a good point, and a scary picture. I usually just drape the tulle over the squash, but if they do this kind of thing, that's not a good strategy. Any suggestions on how tight the weave should be?

You mentioned Agribond - it as well as the others brands of row covers come in several different weights. Some are too heavy to use during the summer as they trap too much heat. You want to buy the "insect barrier" weight they all offer. It is very light-weight and made specifically for the use you need.

Linked one example of it below but there are many sources. With basic care it lasts for years.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Super-Lite insect barrier

What are you using as compost? Looks like you over-fertilized. Did you follow the direction on the fertilizer container?

Thanks all so no is thinking disease or fungus, based on the last three seasons my confidence is low but I'll go back and buy a few more now that the weather is warmer. As far as compost it's mostly tree leaves and grass clippings with some kitchen scraps, the container fertilizer was in a pretty low dosage.

Here, my biggest tomato trusses of fruit are my first so I would seriously cut my production if I pinch the first buds. Heat cuts fruits production later in the summer.

My peppers are different. I get one pepper early at he first split and it seems to hold the plant back if I don't remove it.

That's a good point, spicedham, In zone 5, that is a consideration. And I normally only get one harvest from the pepper plants, but I've never removed the initial peppers and flowers, so I'm going to try that on half of mine this year as an experiment, because I have two of each variety.