24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

With eggplants, it is more about sheen and less about size. You should harvest them before the sheen begins to fade. Early-season eggplants often fade before they reach full-size, and the eggplant in this photo is an example of that (unless my eyes are playing tricks on me). So, pick it now. However, you will find that when the plants get bigger and healthier, the eggplants will grow larger than this before they fade. A normal Rosa Bianca should be the size of a large man's fist.
You can always play it safe and pick them early. No harm in that.

Thanks all for the feedback. Slimy okra the dullness on the first one and the size was throwing me off thanks for explaining! Just had my first seasons harvest of my first vegetable grown from seed; rosabianca!!! So happy! I was gonna have them for dinner but I ended up sauteing one in garlic and oil cause I couldnt wait to try.... best flavor ever!!!


I just picked one of these!! It was yellow on the top, but had a slightly streaked green place that I did not see until I cut it. It tasted great, but could have gone a week or so longer.
I have 4 vines, but only have fruit on one stem of one plant. Hopefully more will come along.....
Nancy

Some of the plants in the photo are clearly maize (in the foreground with the wide ribboned leaves), others are probably grass (with the narrow leaves and thin stems). When the sprouts are very small it can be quite hard to tell from some grass species but as they get large it should be much easier to distinguish.



Whatever the reason for the failing plants, you have too many and they are indeed too crowded. If I were in your position, I would throw out the two bad plants, sterilize the soil (or better yet,use it somewhere else or throw it out), then use the container (be sure to wash it out with PineSol or someother disinfectant cleaner) to transplant one of the good plants.
Whatever the variety you have, you do not need 4 zucchini plants. I have two plants of an unknown bush variety planted out in the ground and I am feeding the neighborhood.
Last year I had another variety that vined more and the four plants just overtook anything in their way so I isolated the zucchini in another part of the yard this year. This years two plants are producing enough for 4 families plus a weekly drop an my mom's exercise group.




Thanks Dave! I took your advice and pulled up one of my plants and I'm sure glad I did! I had 5 full size potatoes there which completely surprised me (we planted the seed potatoes only 9 weeks ago). I think I will re-plant one of the potatoes as a seed potato to hopefully get another crop in the fall.


Yes, Squash Vine Borer. Mine fell victim this year too. I have panted a second crop to see what will happen with a later season planting.
Gotta get those buggers at the egg stage, if possible. Very tiny single brown eggs usually laid on the lower part of the stem. Not to be confused with the squash bug eggs which are an orange cluster usually on the back side of the leaves. Both should be removed by hand when discovered.
The link below I an interesting read.
Here is a link that might be useful: Squash Vine Borer Control

Thanks all for the replies. I slit the plants at the base and started looking for the bugs... to my surprise it was not one or two ... there were families of them 4 or 5. Finally felt the plant would not survive the operation. So pulled all of them out. Infact all of them had SVB damage. - what a lesson learnt - I lost all my zucc plants.
I will be more careful from here and try to protect my winter squash plants now.
Thanks again.
Regards
G

Dan - Hmmm. . . and my seeds are from Johnny's, and they sell to a lot of large scale farms. I wonder?
Well, it has made for some nice visiting -- one of my neighbors today asked me if I'd gotten enough male flowers, so I think that means I can go back to him when the ones I got today are past. And it's working -- we ate the first Zephyr squash tonight, and Costata Romanesco coming tomorrow!

None of those will kill it, but they will help control it. You have to be very regular with your spraying for the remainder of the season. I prefer the milk method myself. Yes, you should remove the heavily affected leaves. I save my Neem for bugs because I'm mean that way >:)

I am also on Long Island and when the heat and humidity hit I got powdery mildew on all my squashes. Tried cutting off the leaves but that did not do it. I sprayed with Neem three times. Once, them two days later again and two days after that again. That stopped it. Make sure you do both sides of the leaves (top and bottom) and the stems also. Plus do both the new clean leaves and the ones already with the mildew. Now I just spray weekly to control/stop the mildew.





Egg cartons work good for seeds or yogurt containers with holes punched in the bottom.
Fun idea, might want to try some indoor growing yourself now to fine tune your choices before you do this with students.
Fluorescent grow lights work best when you keep plants within an inch or two of the tubes. Increasing the distance will result in tall floppy plants that don't grow well. Put together a set up that lets you raise pots or adjust light height and consider the plants different heights if you decide to plant a variety of veggies. Strong light from windows can help some but usually isn't sufficient alone.
Soiless container mixes used in pots with drain holes will give good soil moisture and healthy plants. Larger containers will make it easier to maintain consistant moisture levels, especially over weekends.
Choose varieties that are naturally compact such as many of those recommended for container growing. Tiny Tim tomatoes and dwarf marigolds (not a veggie, I know) are two that could stay manageable and good looking inside. Compact buttercrunch type lettuces and herbs are also good.
I wish you well. I've enjoyed sharing the world of plants with many students. Many have no prior experience with them and most everyone loves the planting, growing, harvesting, eating, etc. And some even like weeding when we grow outdoors!