WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD VOLUME 7, FEBRUARY 14, 2014

Free Republic | Feb. 14, 2014 | greeneyes

[JRandomFreeper]

That's Eric's picture. If I lived somewhere like that.... what am I saying? I'd never live someplace that cold. I'd be hitchhiking to somewhere warm.

/johnny

[Black Agnes]

Ya, no doubt.

It’s been way cold enough in my area this winter. We don’t need anymore thankyouverymuch.

[JRandomFreeper]

I've got an uncle that used to build black powder cannons. That's the projectile for one. ;)

/johnny

[tflabo]

Now thats a table your dear old Dad crafted. Wouldn’t it be cool if it was still around today? Then you could use it in your world of Mizzou greenery productions too.

[SisterK]

I wondered. I mean, it looks a little primitive. Almost like a GIANT lead fishing weight. But it is still a game changer.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

No doubt folks can figure out we're raising peppers and tomatoes in a little hot house. Seeds were started January 20.
We will have some plants to give away to friends.

The Lake of the Ozarks rarely freezes over like it has this year. Someone across from us was walking out on the ice with an eight foot 2 X 4, as if that would be an insurance policy after breaking through. Hah !

Thanks for picking up and posting my pictures. Cheers to greeneyes for keeping the Friday garden chat going...

—Eric

[tflabo]

The obligatory rebel tobacco picture.

Ya know its like become the official icon of TWGT. What are we gonna do when its green, leafy glory eventually goes up in billowing smoke? ('

[JRandomFreeper]

I've got 180 in the cold frame, waiting on Easter to go into the garden. By May, I'll be posting pictures of my grandkids, lost in a forest of tobacco. ;)

/johnny

[bgill]

Ditto, here. I hardly got any peppers or tomatoes last year. I don’t like dealing with so many transplants (about 125 so far and more to come) but after the last 2-3 years being so hot and nothing producing, I don’t know what else to do. I still got late starts on the tomato seeds because I couldn’t get starting mix.

I’m going to pot up some squash for the first time because I NEVER get zukes and maybe get only 3-4 crook neck (0 last year) because of the vine bores. I found that June is SVB’s season in MN but couldn’t find info for TX though I’ve seen them all summer and into fall. By getting summer squash seeds started inside, hopefully they’ll get a head start. The summer squash are going to get the few peat pots I have because they don’t like to be transplanted. Winter squash is supposed to be a bit more resistant to bores (as is supposedly tatume and tromboncino which are on the wish list but need to use what I have) so they’ll have to be content with whatever transplant containers. This year’s squash is also getting moved outside the garden to less of the hot sun.

[JRandomFreeper]

Here in the DFW area, we're just less than a month away from the average last freeze date. Stuff can start going out (in theory) after the 13th of next month.

Some stuff I'll wait for the mesquite to bud, but some stuff, I'll be willing to risk putting out after the equinox (March 20th).

/johnny

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

You can minimize squash vine borer damage by looking for small brown eggs , generally laid at the plant basal stem.
Early vigilance at the base of squash ,zuchinni , cukes , and pumpkins can eliminate damage by physically removing the eggs.
If you see sudden wilting of plants , look first towards the base, sometimes the eggs can be laid under plant leaves.
If your plants get hit by borer , you should see 'frasse', or a small pile of plant material like sawdust .
If you find a borer hole, you can slit the vine laterally to locate the larva and remove it by hand or use tweezers. The plant will heal itself.
Also, if the damage is at a leaf joint, you can mound up moist dirt and the plant will set root there as well , so all is not lost !
The only time a plant will become a lost cause would be if the entire stem has been girdled (interruption of water , nutirents).

The squash borer overwinters in a sturdy coccoon as an adult, looks like an elongated black and red/orange bug.
Mateing occurs generally in early summer (roughly june)near the plants as the adult is now a moth.
Also , mateing and laying of eggs generally occurs around , or just before sundown as a moth; they follow an erratic flight path.
The laying of eggs can be prevented by plants being covered by a ground cloth arround the times of the moth mateing, or flight (sundown).
Other controls: chemical phermone (sex attractant)trap available at many garden stores
Plant Hubbard squash as an attractant near the phermone trap, as they are attracted to the large Yellow blooms.
Staple an index card near the plant base,tight to the stem; also hand crimp aluminum foil tight to the base (will expand with the plant growth).

[Marcella]

“Check in your bountiful garden’s catalog, IIRC, they have information on which varieties are best for several seasons.”

I got their catalog along with others and I didn’t look in any of them since I already had seeds. For heaven’s sake, I should have read the Bountiful one at least - the info. I need is in there. Tomorrow, I’m reading that catalog and looking in the others, too. Thanks so much for pointing me in the direction of these catalogs - I’m glad I didn’t pitch them.

[Black Agnes]

The most resistant variety of winter squash are the c. moschata varieties. Those need a lot of heat units so I’m not sure you’d have a good result in MN. You might try the ‘earlier’ varieties of butternut squash though.

The next most resistant varieties are the c. mixta varieties. IIRC cushaw varieties of winter squash are mixta.

I take one of those little bulb like snot pullers that they sell for babies and fill it with DE and then puff it under my squash plants on the leaves/stems. Repeat after rain or heavy dew. I usually do this in the late evening after the bees are gone.

Between selecting resistant varieties, mulching thoroughly and using the DE I haven’t had a significant SVB issue in several years now. Where I live we have 2 and sometimes THREE rounds of the little stinkers.

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

Dang , I just read what I had typed out ,
and boy do I sound 'frumpy'.
Sorry about that !

[Marcella]

Thanks, copied your information.

[bgill]

No, you didn’t. Good advice.

[bgill]

I’m in TX. The info found was from MN. Sorry, didn’t make that clear. Yeah, I have a big bag of DE but doesn’t seem to slow them down.

[Black Agnes]

The other thing I do is encourage them to root at every leaf joint. C. moschata varieties want to do this (and seem to be better at it!) than any other variety of winter squash. This way if/when the borers get ahold of one part of the plant the whole thing doesn’t die. This unfortunately rules out growing them on a trellis.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I'm not doing a thing yet - other than getting my store set for Spring and helping others pick out seeds and supplies! :)

[rightly_dividing]

Mmm... Trinidad Scorpions....Hot peppers