24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

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.


The posts I were referring to are kind of old plus they were on the Organic Gardening forum. And the discussions are about how the soap kills bugs, not about it's surfactant properties. So I don't know if the same rules apply for what type of soap to use or if it matters.
Rodney
Here is a link that might be useful: Insecticidal Soap Discussions

The Ashley cucumber is a smooth slicer. I grew them tis year along with Munchers (prickly pickling) and County Fair (prickly pickling). Cutting cuke off vine with sheers is best.
I have some round, fat, bottleneck anomalies and I suspect it is the rain and cooler than usual temperatures. This kind of behavior is usually at the end of the season but
our whole summer has been anything but a typical South Carolina summer.
Target leaf spot is ravaging my plants (so much heavy rain EVERY day for weeks) but still producing fruit and new growth, so I am happy. Still managed to get some pickles put up and make some Tzadiki.

If it is bacterial wilt from the cucumber beetle there isn't much you can do. Pull the plant and dispose in the garbage can away from your garden and/or compost.
Go to the link below and search other possibilities.
Your other plants look wonderful - mine are full of Angular Leaf Spot due to the constant heavy rains.
Your tomato looks like it might have Early Blight. Remove the leaves and spray with a fungicide is the recommended action.
Here is a link that might be useful: Cucurbit Problem Solver

I have problems with rabbits. Without a fence I would never get broccoli.. I transplanted 30 a few years ago and woke up to having half the plants eaten to the ground. I decided to get some fencing when I came home from work that day but when I arrived home that night there were only 2 1/2 left standing.
I now use 3' chicken wire with the bottom 8" bent at a 90 degree angle at the ground. I then use garden staples to secure the wire to the ground then mulch over top to try and keep the weeds from growing. It's a giant waste of space but has to be done until I can eliminate the rabbits from the neighborhood. The fence is hideously ugly and an embarrassment but at this point it is only way I can grow certain crops.
I probably average 5-6 rabbits per year with the bb gun but after what I've seen this year - I'm not sure I'm making a dent with those rodents. 1-2 blackbirds with the bb gun usually gets them to move on however. Smart creatures.

I can't tell you by the bite marks but I have a hunch it might be racoons. Squirrrels are not nocturnal so I don't think it could be that. Maybe rats but racoons are pretty dexterous and wiley... You might want to cover your bed with some deer netting and stake it into the ground well to keep the rascals out.


i rake it every week and weed whenever i can. this picture was taken 2 days after a very heavy rain. most of my tomatoes and bean plants were tilted, so had to spend my time in making them straight again.
I agree with what you say, but I am concerned if I will do more damage than actually improving the soil while trying to amend it.
kevin.. i love okra. i saw 3 little pods yesterday. i am so excited.





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