24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

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n2xjk

Something to watch with Kandy Korn is the tip of the ear can poke out of the husk when it matures, making it very attractive to birds.

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Jim's(6 East end of Long Island)

Whoa, thank you VERY much for that. I just checked on them and found they grow 8'+! I'll have to net over the bed I suppose.

Thanks for the heads up.

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israelithyme

Marianne and Sulani62,

Thank you! That sounds like a wonderful rule to go by Marianne (this is my first time growing eggplant but definitely won't be the last and that is a rule I won't forget :)

Sulani -- did you get a good harvest from yours? We've got 4 Pandoras and 4 Astrakom eggplants in the garden and the Astrakom's started off having 4 or 5 fruit on each plant at a time but production now seems to be falling off with them quite a lot (about one per plant). Guess it is a good thing that the Pandora's are just starting to fruit.

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sulani62

Can't say I did. I got so many bugs on the plants, most of the leaves got chewed up. Plus letting the fruits sit on the plants didn't help.now I know better.

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theforgottenone1013(MI zone 5b/6a)

If you can hardly find the outside of your borderless raised beds because weeds have overtaken both the pathways and the beds. Or if while you are harvesting bush beans you find yourself spending less time picking beans and more time pulling weeds just to get to the plants.

Rodney

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karlsmom(5)

Or if your husband goes into the garden with a weed eater -

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wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana

I trapped about 12 mice and voles in my sweetpotatoes last year with mouse traps. I like the new type that operates by a raise loop that sets and releases...peanut butter.

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digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

Agree with Wayne that baited traps are quite effective in eliminating mice in the garden. I just use the old fashioned, cheap wooden ones you set (with care ;) and bait with peanut butter. And yes a mouse can nibble 1/2 through a corn stalk over night.

Dave

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grubby_AZ Tucson Z9

Since soybeans need lots of sun, grow three feet tall and around, and are also dependent on day length, I'd never try it.

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farmerdill

In doors I would not try. Easy as green beans to grow in the ground tho. Just take a little longer.

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digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

Agree with the others. Trying to contain a butternut and its vines to a limited area is futile. It will go where it wants. I don't understand about the raised bed sitting on top of a rock bed but if that means the squash will be laying on rocks you will want to put a layer of straw mulch or something under them.

Dave

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laceyvail(6A, WV)

I've been using the following technique for butternuts for several years and it works great. I have a non raised but permanent bed garden and I can't handle an immense butternut wandering everywhere. Also, I visually inspect every single leaf throughout the growing season about twice a week for squash bug eggs. Here's what I do. When I can see that there is a good fruit set and the vines are getting to the 5 ft length, I cut off the growing tips of the vines, and any side vines that are starting. This keeps the plant in bounds and makes the leaf inspection not quite so daunting. I get great squash and have gotten as many as 18 butternuts from two vines growing in one hill.

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Richard Gomes

Does Neem oil work on stink bugs? I used it this morning on them before leaving for work.

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jean001a(Portland OR 7b)

Yes, marmorated stink bug. A nymph (youngster). Home-use pesticides don't work on them. (May knock them down but they recover.)

Better is to be very direct: Flick into soapy water or squash on sight.

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theforgottenone1013(MI zone 5b/6a)

"I believe that corn is an exception here, in that, for example, sweet corn and field corn cross pollinate and the effects are seen in the first generation. Of course, in that case, the fruit is the seed."

The same holds true for beans and peas. If cross pollination occurs, the pods will still grow true but when dried the seeds inside can be different than what was originally planted.

Rodney

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Louise

I'm growing melons for the first time this year. Since space is limited, I chose smaller varieties, papaya dew and Minnesota midget cantaloupe, so I can trelles them. Everything I read says that any cross pollination will not be apparent in the fruit. But, some of the developing melons are football-shaped like a papaya dew with the end to end striping of the cantaloupe. Has anyone seen this before?

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Friend or foe in veggie gardenyellow flower volunteer
Posted by lafontainemegan1234
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ZachS. z5 Littleton, CO

Puncture vine... Looked that up myself too. Turns out I'm very familiar with it, but only knew them as goatheads. Wretched things, used to dig them out of equipment tires and have actually gone through a tire on a Kawasaki Mule on me.

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tishtoshnm Zone 6/NM

Devil's eyelashes? So very appropriate. The seeds/goatheads survive for millennia, waiting for enough moisture to germinate or for you to be stupid enough to till the soil and bring them up. Any time I see it, it gets pulled immediately, even if it is growing in a parking lot crack. It is a compulsion.

It turns out that we do have desert spoon, too. However, it and all of our cacti, agave, are on the natural parts of the property, where I do not weed (we are on acreage). They are no fun when we are collecting rocks. I think buffalo bur first made it into my garden with a load of wood chips from the transfer station. At first I was curious as it did look like watermelon leaves but once I saw those burs, I pulled it. Curiosity ended there.

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Arlene Pauly

I've been cutting them open and looking in side and but at this early age I think they all look like zuchinni seed pattern ? - (chickens eat them either way so it's all good - I just didn't know if I should eat it - I guess I will try it ) thanks

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little_minnie(zone 4a)

It all depends what all varieties are around you of the same species. Summer squash and many winter squash are the species C. Pepo and they all cross. The diversity of culinary use in the species is too high to think a volunteer will be good for anything, unless you last year planted a very limited amount of varieties. Like if around you was just summer squash and some acorn/ dumpling types they may be good to eat as immature. But if you had pumpkins and gourds it wouldn't be worth bothering. C Pepo is not a good species to let freely cross.

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Marianne W (zone 10A)

Not according to Native Seed/SEARCH. They show the berries with blossom end pointing down.

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wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana

I raised them for some years from the old Garden Catalogs like Shumway. They seem to have dropped them any more. The photo at the top is close, but not quite like the usual picture of them.

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zeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin

That looks more like a mechanical injury (such as from wind) or splitting caused by excess water. The plant seems to be buried too deeply, which may be a contributing factor.

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weirdtrev

That is not one plant that is 8 or 9 plants that were never thinned. Each stem is a separate plant. Sometimes they come that way from the store. It makes it look like a fuller healthy plant in those big containers, so they look more worthy of the price tag. That should have been thinned to 2 or 3 plants

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winorchids(nor CA, USDA 9b, sunset 7/14)

I thought so (about the material) but I went to 2 local nurseries and neither had any and finally went to a Friedmans (like Home Depot) and this was what they showed me they had. I thought maybe since it mentioned it "blocks insects" that I was just wrong about the material. Oh well. At least I knew enough to be worried it would kill my plants with the greenhouse-like effect! I am a bit baffled that it was impossible to find given how often I've heard it mentioned here and other gardening pages. I have tulle I can use.

Do you really think it is too late to apply given that I have not yet had a run in with/seen these pests and these are in containers (not in ground) and the planting medium was fresh at time of direct seeding a month ago? I assume if they aren't in my containers yet then I wouldn't be trapping them inside with the cover, but only preventing them from finding my plantings to come. Does it not work this way? The websites I've read mentioned some of these pests become a problem in July so to prevent then, if you hadn't earlier. Or is my newbie pest logic off completely?

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Jean

Bridal tulle from the fabric store works well at less cost.

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June Trinh

if they are anything like tomatoes, they won't set in extreme heat. that may be why they produce flowers in July and August but you won't see fruit till September.

if it was daylight sensitive, it wouldn't produce flowers at all until the right time

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laura_al (zone 10; sunset 24) Santa Barb

I put in six plants this spring, Toma Verde, that I grew from seed. I lost a few to cutworms, but had back up plants, so I was able to replace the lost ones. Now the smallest plant has full sized fruits. the largest plant, sprawling and covered with flowers is just starting to get little lanterns. they are definitely fun and interesting to grow. I try to give them a shake every day.

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drmbear

I prefer my jalapenos ripe red, and I grow a lot of them. I think the flavor is improved immensely over when they are still green - though I will harvest and eat all the green ones at the end of season just before frost. Plus, if you want to make anything like chipotle, it is best done with ripe jalapenos. The great flavor just hasn't developed in green ones, in my opinion.

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beesneeds(zone 6)

Ripening on the plant is for sure a preference.. some peppers I like to pick fully ripe, others at the.. hmmm, juvenile stage? Not sure what that green fully sized but not turned to full ripe color is called.

And I for sure understand the "don't feel it in the kitchen" action. I professionally cook most of the week, and don't always feel up to doing canning at the end of the day, lol.

I've left peppers on the plant before.. what's the worst that can happen, the pepper gets extra ripe and turns color? So what. Every pepper from juvenile to full on ripe has it's own characteristics, and all of them are good IMO. Honestly, with some peppers, it's harder to wait till fully ripe, hehehe.

Something I really love is a product called "green bags". It's a produce bag that's meant to help extend shelf life of produce. And they really do work well. I've often picked a couple peppers at a time as they are good, or beans, or other produce... and kept the bag in the crisper drawer of the fridge for days till I either have enough of whatever, or the gumption to face the pickling.. and the first pick 3-5 days ago is just as good as todays pick.

For example, yesterday I picked eight wax and banana peppers- not really enough to bother pickling up. But I have another dozen or more peppers that are almost ready over the course of the next 5 days or so. Which would make a small batch of canning. So I tossed the peppers into a green bag, and into the crisper.. and those will hold till I get the rest picked for pickling.

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