I haven't tried it so can't comment any more specifically than that.

Now, let me think - I have a large half wine barrel, that could certainly handle a lush Squash in the middle or back, with lower growing and trailing stuff all around the edges. So it really depends on the container. Those livestock watering troughs would work too, I think. Remember to provide drainage if you use something like that. One side of a kiddie pool could also handle a squash plant or 2, I think. All containers are certainly not alike.

Try a daily spraying with milk to see if that clears it up. Caught early it can work out. Otherwise you have to make a call between using a fungicide like sulphur (organic and human/pet safe) or letting the plant go to plant heaven. Often the PM will allow the plant to grow and produce fruit, but it just depends. Definitely avoid getting the leaves wet when watering as this just helps the fungus.

I am including a link to an article on milk as a fungicide

you can also try some hydrogen peroxide sprayed on. dilute it down a bit. of course the less dilution the faster and stronger.

one idea is to change the PH on the plant so PM will not grow. not sure but I wonder if some lime might do it. mix a little lime in water and try spraying that on.

I think baking soda works this way. a little baking soda in water sprayed on changes the ph and should stop the PM.

try not to use poisons. they are not needed. why poison yourself with poisoned food.

It's a shrub with greyish, round summer squash and looks as if it might be raised in a large container. (Got some blossoms already, even though I planted it late)

My other question is you use support for your zucchini? Never thought of that. Is that to keep air circulation at its best? I'll have to try your technique.

Thanks.

Kate

Believe it or not I've got tomatoes with 75-100 tomatoes growing per plant! Even on my north side I've tackled carrots, broccoli (still working with the broccoli), a dozen different herbs, radishes and beans, beans, beans! All on my north facing container garden on my upper deck! I just move them around when they need it.

Also I have learned a little secret I will share.... rain water! I have a converted trash can that is my rain catcher. When it rains I hook up the gutter downspout and even in a light rain it will fill (50-60 gallons) in 15 minutes! When I first started with the rainwater I noticed that the growth stages were healthier and rapid with the rainwater. I'm not kidding when I tell you that I can see where the plants started receiving rainwater each watering. On my lavender there is actually a difference in the growth pattern. Don't let me scare you with the trashcan rain barrel. Its painted and looks great on my deck (we did put a spigot on the bottom and now I can dip a pitcher or run the hose to each plant). The best part is I don't have to haul water through the house. Best wishes, Tracy

Al

I have GOT to see that. I have 2 plants per 18 gallon container and they are huge! growing great though. I could imagine 3, but 6?

Where I live, zucchini is the only reason we lock our doors - house AND car.

Al

As a side note, my zucchini in the pot in the 5:1:1 is outperforming the one I have in the ground that was planted about 6 weeks earlier. In fact, ALL of my container grown veggies...mostly toms and some peppers, are out performing those in the ground.

;)

I was really just teasing - having some fun, but I really do have relatives & neighbors who supply all the zucchini and summer squash I could EVER think of using. ;o)

Al

I grow zucchini to eat the blossoms. It's a treat; my aunt fried them country style, coated in Saltine crumbs, and my wife uses an Italian recipe from Marcella Hazan. Good both ways. And the best part: The more blossoms you eat, the less zucchini you have to sneak into the neighbors' houses and cars.

I'm growing them in the 5-1-1 mix this year in a big pot. So far so good.

red_chucks

Al

I'm also growing zukes in 5 gallon buckets. I may have missed this, but I'm interested in how people are supporting the plants. What method do you think is best? Tomato cages? Attaching chicken wire to the buckets and to a nearby porch railing, then letting them spread out on the chicken wire? I'm not sure what to do here. Trellis on the wall? Thanks for the help!

If no one comes around to answer on this thread, start a new one with the question in the title. Sometimes new questions get buried in older posts like this one, and they don't get seen by everyone.

Here's another pic of my zuke gone wild...

:o)

Tom

Al- ummm...I think I am going to better understand what you mean about having to lock out the zukes! Just harvested my first one three days ago, I have another one that is HUGE that needs to be harvested today, with another one growing next to it that will be ready in probably 3-4 days...and I only have one plant!! Tom- you WILL have zukes coming out of your ears...but I think Al will be happy to take some off your hands. :o)

Here's the first two so far:

Too bad the squirrels ate my squash plant. I sure would have liked to have had one to saute up with these guys...squash that is, not squirrels. ;o)

iriegirlfran- I am new to growing zucchini, so I can't offer a whole lot of advice, but I'll start with what I know. First, do you have any female flower blossoms or male? You can tell by the width of the stem supporting the blossom. If it is long and thin, it is a male, the thick ones are from female blossoms. If you don't, then that's the problem.

If you have both, you can try hand pollinating if you aren't getting enough flying friends to pollinate them for you. I've not done that, but it involves taking a q-tip or other device (others may have better recommendations for what to use) and take some pollen from a male flower and rub it on the stamen in the female flower. I hope I explained that correctly!

Also, have you had any zucchini start and then rot away at the blossom end, i.e. blossom end rot (BER)? I have only had one thus far, and hopefully no others will occur.

Good luck, and if you are having more trouble, start a new thread and ask your question in the title. This one's getting old, so I may start a new one to help facilitate a fresher thread for everyone this year growing zucchini that has questions.

:o)

Fran - that's normal in the beginning stages of growth, you either have all males or all females initially depending on the variety you're growing, so there's nothing to pollinate. If you see the fruit, you have the female bloom, if all you have is a stem bloom, you have the male....If you do have both and you're not seeing bees or other cross-pollinators then you'll need to break off a male bloom at its peak and spread some pollen on the female bloom at its peak, but my guess is that the plants are small and you're seeing one or the other.

Tom

Very common during early growth, I do have a variety (Butterstick) that's just the opposite, puts out tons of females before the male blooms come along....

The main thing to remember is that they will get huge, up to 6 feet in width, so do account for that in any instance.

It might be wiser to keep your containers for less hardy plants like herbs and such, but if you are rooftop gardening or something, you have no choice.

Good luck!

Michelle