24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

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grandad_2003(9A/sunset 28)

IMO First time gardening & garden plots are the most difficult. Many folks have "thrown in the towel" after their first year of gardening. Second year is generally a bit better but can also be somewhat difficult. Your word "experiment" is right on. But the experiments are never ending. The results and subsequent information gained from gardening experimentation helps to develop your gardening methodology.

iMO weeds are the number 1 problem. Tackle this and things become a lot more controllable... The suggestions above are great....hoeing, hand weeding, black plastic, leaf/straw mulch are all great for weed control. I find all methods to be appropriate and each may work better for a specific vegetable. E.g. In our deep south (hot) climate, I find black plastic is great for squash, watermelon, strawberries, & cantaloupe; but not so great for tomatoes, eggplant or bell pepper....which seem to prefer leaf (in my case) mulch.

I use an electric fence for critter control. But, I realize that this may not be suitable for everyone.

I hope you don't give up....& decide to keep your "experiments" going in the years to come.

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glib(5.5)

Granddad and me are two of the most enthusiastic electric fence pushers. An electrified, strong fence extending underground is a gardener best friend. The best I had was chainlink, only four feet tall, with a hot wire right above it. The deer could easily jump it, but I had the good sense of baiting the wire with peanut butter. I even saw a deer touching it, it jumped several feet in the air and the whole herd was off to the races.

The fence went down to the ground and outward a foot (just under the surface) and no critter could dig under it. It was pretty amazing to have a groundhog burrow ten feet from the fence, a deer trail 8 feet from the fence, and a pristine garden.

Nowadays, too many kids around, no electric fence, I have a 8 feet deer fence on top, rabbit fence below, extending underground. The rabbit fence has needed overlapping chicken wire, because juvenile rabbits were still coming in, but so far this summer has been break free.

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gumby_ct(CT it says Z5)

Try the flashlight at night mentioned. If nothing is found check the soil below, they form a cocoon about 1in below the soil line. Search for pix of the SVB cocoon so you know what to look for.

You can also check the main stem and leaves for a single orange/reddish spec which would be an SVB egg.

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annew21(7b NC)

My method is to follow the frass up the stem and find where it ends. That's usually where the borer can be found. Use the smallest tools you can find for the "surgery" so you do the least amount of damage to the plant. If your plant was big and healthy when it was attacked, it very well may survive even if you never catch the borer.

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ccabal(7)

My chicken love the SVB grubs. When I pull up the vines, and they see me with the vines and knife in hand, THEY COME RUNNING!!!

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elisa_z5

Thanks all. I'll go out with a knife tomorrow!

ccabal -- love the image of your chickens coming running :)

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carriehelene(5 Upstate NY)

Found a couple of growing watermelon and female pumpkin flowers today. Awesome knowing what I'm looking for!

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springtogarden(6A)

Yeah :)! One of the best crops to grow. I make sure to have at least one growing from that family. Oh who am I kidding, I always have several ;)

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zeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin

In the high desert you probably need shade cloth this time of year, to cut down the sun exposure.

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drscottr(7)

I might suggest folks consider Proteknet. I used it to cover my bean towers and keep the Japanese Beetles and Mexican Bean Beetles off the plants. It comes in a wide roll, has a stretch nylon consistency, doesn't tear, and lets water and light through.I initially used bags of compost to hold down the netting but that doesn't even seem to be needed. The material is heavy and doesn't blow around at all. The stretchiness allows the bean vines to grow over the top of the tower without issues.

I got tired of hand picking 100's of Japanese beetles off the plants every day. I'm really sold on this product after using agribon and other similar products unsuccessfully before. The agribon just tear too easily and blows around.

The downside is that proteknet is expensive.

Scott

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

There are many thing that can cause what you describe so without seeing at least a picture of them I can't say if it is mag deficiency or one of the other possible causes. But if it is then the normal dilution for epsoms salts is 1 T per gallon of water and normally only a one time application is all that is required to correct it. But yes, they need to be diluted, not sprinkled on the ground, to be effective.

Dave

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

Bad case of powdery mildew and water-drought issues/damage. The plant is likely past salvaging. I'm sorry but the fungicides only help if you catch it early. Fortunately you have time to replant.

But the main issue is likely the 5-10 mins per day watering. Overhead, if that is the only way possible, is ok but daily shallow watering never is. By doing so you created shallow rooted, totally water-dependent plants that are so stressed they can quickly succumb to pests and diseases and they are seldom very productive. Then when gone for so long they couldn't cope without those daily doses of water.

You want to develop a water regimen that is based on a weekly, never a daily activity, and for much longer periods of time. Less frequent but very deep soil moisture levels that encourage the plants roots to develop deep into the soil where the nutrients and water are is best. And plant mulching is crucial, especially in hot climates.

Hope this helps but also be sure to read through some of the wealth of information already here on successfully growing both, how to water properly, and why mulching is so important..

Dave

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krissy Canto

Well I guess I should snip the leaf off so new can grow. The pots big enough, it extends out sideways but I coulnt fit it in tge photo if Ibwanted it up close to show the flowers. I use that pot every year with good results except this year. I can try and add soil but im afraid to damage the plant. The e plant is higher then where the picture shows it extends above, but ive gotten eggplant fruit on shorter plants actually.

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krissy Canto

I snipped off tge leaf and it helped. I have two little eggplants hopegully they will grow healthy.

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farmerdill

some of the "burpless" varieties are parthenocarpic.

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Stu Zone 7a

That is probably what I have- that or all the bees I have been getting are working the neighbors gardens pretty good! I got these as seedlings unfortunately before I started growing from seeds and had just a short description on the tag- which was mostly filled with recipes- that should have been my first clue! Hadn't read anything in my research about male and female flowers growing off the same junction before though.

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Heather HR

Elisa your post made me smile. Thank you nature girl. We pulled it and nice and pretty bright red roots. Not sure where it came from. We have it no where else in the yard but did add a new bag of garden soil this year.

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zeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin

Pigweed can be introduced by manure, and the bristly seed heads can also hitch a ride on your shoes from elsewhere. It is an amaranth, and the young leaves are edible; at one point I allowed a few plants to grow in my garden each year (along with lamb's quarter) for early cooked greens. In the 3rd photo, the plant midway down the left side (before the seed head appears) is at a good harvest stage. There are foragers here who walk the edges of farm fields, harvesting the wild amaranth in large quantities.

Pigweed is not as hard to deal with as some weeds, but if allowed to go to seed, it will produce thousands, so it should be removed before the seed head appears. If the bristles are already present, dispose of them outside the garden.

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

It sounds like it could be an inconsistent moisture levels. Cukes are so water dependent, so soil moisture level responsive. They will quickly swell during periods of heavy rain or over watering/overly wet soil - like if he had lots of rain just as they were forming - and then they shrink (even to the point of going hollow) if water availability falls off. It can result in some very strange appearing cukes.

Dave

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wertach zone 7-B SC

I told him to start watering them deeply and less often. He said that he was watering them every other day.

I also told him to stick his finger in or dig down 3 or 4 inches and see if it was damp that far down.

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maplegarden172(7a)

I use deere row drip tape and fertilize with organic liquid fertilizer via a mazzei injector. I buy my fertilizer but if you make your own you I would think a screen on the venturi would be needed. The drip tape or drip emitters would be the limiting factor for particle size, not the injector. The mazzei injector have no settings, I bought the smallest one and use it for about 2000 feet of drip tape. You have to calculate the flow rates and can adjust in/out pressure to change flow. I think other companies have adjustable injectors.

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wayne9892

Just curious if this thread is still active? I have spent a great deal of time studying various injectors, and purchased an EZ-flow. Then after more reading decided to purchase an EC/PPM meter to test the distribution. Now I know that due to flow and pressure variations, this type of system can never deliver consistent fertilizer. Anyone else going down this path?

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farmerdill

Same genus but different species with cukes and cantelopupes. C. melo (Muskmelon) subspecies inodorus Honetdews , spanish melons etc) C. sativus (cucumber) , C. metuliferus ( horned melon), C. anguria ( West Indian Gherkin), C. homofructus (aardvark pumpkin), C. myriocarous (Paddy melon). A genus can have species with quite different Characteristics.

The genus solanum as a example covers some 1500 species including the common Irish potato and the eggplant.

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noinwi

Might it be one of the round zucchini varieties?

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

<didn't really mean to rub anyone the wrong way about it though. I wasn't aware we were tight on space here and friendly conversation was frowned upon. Ah well, thanks for letting me know the rules as I am new here.>

No "rubbing" intended and friendly conversation is encouraged. It was just a request for the basic info on zone and location most include with their name so the attempts to answer the questions can be more relevant. But I do apologize for the "far north of Canada" typo as I intended to type "the far north OR Canada" - far north of the US - and didn't catch the mistake.

Neem has proven to be effective in controlling the flies that lay the eggs if you can spray them directly but I can't say whether its oil has any penetration effects or not. I would think it would be difficult to prove whether the Neem actually killed the larvae or not but perhaps someone has overcome that issue.

Dave

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tishtoshnm Zone 6/NM

FWIW, spinach is pretty frost hardy so it is great when one has unpredictable spring/fall weather. Spinach salad is a (reasonably) good anecdote for walking outside and seeing all the frozen blooms on one's fruit trees in the spring.

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Recognize this fungus on my cuke?Or is it even a fungus?
Posted by jbarrypeconic
2 Comments
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jbarrypeconic

"dog vomit" slime mold?

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drmbear

Not so much on your cuke, but definitely in the wood mulch - a common thing.

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