24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening


Hi, a few years ago I was stuck in a problem like you, In first place I tough that my seeds was wrong but after a few test I can saw that my seeds was not the problem because the seeds were well so, a friend of mine recommended that the cucumbers plants need some type of support to keep them off damp ground, where diseases have a heyday. I highly recommend you take a look to this article and tell me what did you think. I tell you this because you use a vine variety and any that are vining type can climb the trellis. Actually I'm using a type of Hortomallas and I have very good results.
http://www.hortomallas.com/en/grow-squash-cucumbers-and-melons-vertically/


Here is a link to many photos of the so-called "jewel" beetle family, the iridescents. You should be able to ID from the pics.
But if you found only one then it is highly unlikely you have or will have any infestation. And what did the damage may even have already moved on. But it would be difficult for one beetle to do much damage unless we are talking about only a handful of plants?
If you feel you have to treat the plants then DE (diatemaceous earth) is relatively safe to use.
Dave


100 days they should be dying by now but give them a little more time you should be ok, Planted mine about the second week of April and the red potatoes are just now dying but the white still are green but their starting to change, Never tried cutting the vines I just let mine die then wait about another month to dig except for a couple to eat right away.


Nice.when did you plant them? The tops had died back already? Mine got planted late and are taking forever to die back. They are green and healthy and flowered already. No signs of being done anytime soon. I've heard of cutting off the vines and then letting the potatoes cure, but I always just wait for them to die back naturally. I would like to use the space for other things this year.


Lime alone in dust form is an old time remedy for fungus issues long before all the fungicides and such available today. I have memories of being sent out to the garden as a 10 year old to "dust" the plants and then we got to play in the sprinklers to wash off. Good times! :)
Dave

Well, I was just thinking of making up some Bordeaux someday instead of buying fungicide. Copper sulfate is dirt cheap. Lime is too. So cheap you can only get it in 50# bags. Now, to me, with alkaline soil, lime in quantity is an environmentally toxic substance. I wonder if anyone sells 1# bags of lime for a dime apiece. Ebay maybe? Actually, the copper fungicide concentrates on the market are fairly inexpensive. VASTLY cheaper per unit volume than the ready-to-use stuff. In general, ready-to-use stuff (insecticide, fungicide, etc.) is a real rip-off.
Bordeaux has lime in suspension, which means you need to shake it really hard to get the stuff suspended enough that it won't clog. Yes, I guess Bordeaux would be somewhat more harmless to humans and to the environment than the diammonium copper salts that are used in most fungicides. That's not really bad stuff, but somewhat more of an irritant.
I didn't know that lime was once dusted for fungicidal properties. I know that dusting with lime and soot was done routinely back in the day, but I thought it was to discourage insect pests.


Love that seating area you have! I am doing one myself now. So peaceful to sit in the garden with my morning coffee.
I do all raised beds. I find it far easier for weeding and many other issues. I also lay a 4" base of RCA on top of the grass to help further prevent voles/moles from getting nosy. If you have burrowing animals, I highly recommend stapling 1" hexagonal wire fencing to the bottom of the bed. It prevents the animals from getting through and allows the roots to grow deeper. They go right through the RCA base into the ground here.
Beautiful growth you have there, very nice pics!

They're looking for food and your corn tassles ain't it. Neem oil isn't very poisonous to ants. Many folks claim neem kills ants, but none of the manufacturers do unless it is done as a suffocating treatment. You have to wet the ants directly. Since there are gazillions of ants, that's hard to do.
They're opportunistic little darlin's but almost always harmless. Also, they don't live there but live off-site, so to speak. Look for a line of ants on the ground coming and going; usually the same single line.
Never spray ants and thus your food too, no matter how "harmless" they claim the poison to be. If you want them gone, spray a single line of the poison of your choice (not neem) across their trail. They will sicken and die before they get to the plant, and those on the plant, when they leave, won't be back.










cherry tomatoes and purslane twig salad is the best.
Ready for harvest in late summer? By the time I see it popping up, it's big and edible. It grows fast where I am. Quite big in just a few weeks. If I were you I would harvest shoots while they are thin and tender, and not wait until they are tougher. (It's actually a lawn weed, for me.)