Posted on 09/05/2020 7:02:44 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Not blossom end rot.
I should have specified....it is literally the tip end of the swuash shrivellin up....wrinkly....gets soft and wrinkly.
I ate the big one after cutting the arinkly tip off.
Not rotten at all..just shriveling.
It was another dry week here in Central Missouri.
Not much going on in the garden aside from picking tomatoes for BLTs.
Most likely the problem is Blossom End Rot. It is a Calcium deficiency.
Because you’re growing it in a pot, (hopefully with DRAINAGE _ if not, you’ve got other problems) nutrients are washed away with every watering, so it’s not getting what it needs to set healthy fruit.
Check a seed pack to see how much longer you have in your growing timeline to see if this is even worth your effort. If it is still enough time to get mature fruit, then start watering your potted squash with a few tablespoons of milk in the watering can when you water (each day? 2x a day when hot?) and see if that helps with the blossom end rot.
If you can find liquid bone meal (that can be mixed with water) you can use that, too.
“Believe it or not, Japanese Knotweed is also an important medicinal herb.”
I saw three stands of it along one of our country roads between Ridgeway and Hollandale.
It’s coming to get me! Eeeek!
“I see it when I close my eyes at night.”
When I was picking Raspberries for market with my in-laws I would see Raspberry canes in my sleep, too!
‘Dad’ said it would happen to him if he had been on the tractor all day, harvesting corn or soybeans.
Our brains are so weird! ;)
Nope. It’s blossom end rot. I guarantee it. The squash can get mature and still get it. That’s how the squash, big or small, reacts to a lack of calcium.
From further reading, Opo are apparently night flowering (and usually pollinated at night by moths.) We have moths around, so maybe they’ll get the job done. :-)
The night flowering explains the flowers being open when I go out early in the morning, but closed up in the afternoon.
Possibly a fragrant “moth attractant” (as opposed to a light*) would work to bring in more moths. Has anyone ever tried that?
*The garden is >200 ft. from the nearest electrical outlet, but if a light would work as well, I could very easily attach a clip type LED flashlight to the wire fencing / a plant support. I have plenty of rechargeable batteries and some AA flashlights of this type that will easily run overnight. I’d just have to remember them in the morning, as totally exhausting rechargeable batts is very hard on them. Which of my clip-flashlights has the most purplish light (UV content)? Hmmm...
The moths might just cluster around whatever attractant is used, tho’ my experience with non-bug-light porch lights left on is that one gets moths all over the porch. :-)
- - - -
My concern about damaging the growing tips as a “stimulant” for flower production was partially because there are several buds clustered at each tip. I wasn’t sure if any of these are flower buds not distinguishable as such until the tip grows out further (in which case I might be damaging most of my new flower buds), or if the flower buds spring up after the growing tip has ventured further. I think the latter may be the case.
Do anyone know of anyone who has ever tried deliberately damaging the tendrils as a stimulant? There sure are plenty of extras.
I’ve been away a day and a half - will go back out to check in a bit and see how things are going. (There are a couple fires to put out 1st, figuratively speaking.)
Noted on the male & female flower positioning - makes sense.
Since there seemed to be plenty of male flowers when I left, If it seems necessary, I might try using a male flower as a pollen brush. It appears I’ll have to do it at night or get up & go out to the garden with the sun(rise). Boots at the ready, as I’ll be swimming through the dew. :-)
Thanks for all the info.!
I forgot to add, if anyone is interested in a good article with many details about Opo squash (although it doesn’t mention the moths!):
Thank you.
It’s possible that bruising some of the leaves might work. I haven’t found any research on bruising squash to stimulate flowering, so feel free to try different things and keep track of the results.
Ina Garten Is Hosting a Fundraiser for Joe Biden’s Campaign: ‘We Need to Stop Being Divisive’
People ^ | 8/8/2020 | Shay Spence
Posted on 9/8/2020, 10:31:39 PM by simpson96
Ina Garten is raising money — and a glass — for Joe Biden’s presidential bid.
On Thursday, the Food Network star will be interviewing the former Vice President’s wife Dr. Jill Biden for Cocktails and Conversation, an online fundraising event for the campaign.
Though the Barefoot Contessa host used to be a White House nuclear budget analyst in the Jimmy Carter administration, she has mostly shied away from political statements (besides joking that she would serve President Donald Trump “a subpoena” for dinner) during her career as a culinary star. “I’m not political,” Garten tells PEOPLE. “I think if you research you’ll find I’ve supported political programs privately but I’ve never been really public about it—but sometimes you just have to do it.”
“As a country, we need to pull this together. We need to stop being divisive and be positive and supportive and collaborative,” she adds. “[Biden] is a guy who’s been in Congress for decades and has a reputation for working across the aisle, and I think that’s exactly what we need right now.”
(snip)
The lifestyle guru will be also providing a signature drink for the event, which requires a minimum contribution of $250 to attend. Guests will be given the recipe for the cocktail ahead of time, and they’re calling it a “Winning Ticket Watermelon Cosmopolitan.”
(Excerpt) Read more at people.com ...
Wow, you'd think some University Ag student or professor would have done some research / written a paper on that by now... But, I, also, searched online and found nothing.*
Unfortunately, by now I'd be running a very uncontrolled experiment, as multiple other factors we've discussed here (thanks to Diana too) are in play: Fertilization (I am quite convinced the Super-Phosphate helped quite a bit, sunlight (seems iffy by now, tho' the plants generally look healthy where not self-shaded, even keeping track of which flowers are from which plant at this point, as some have sort of grown together as I routed the fast growing vines around the supports, and added support, and definitely slight to moderate damage was incurred on some vines as I did that. (A couple bent stalks within 1-4 ft. of the growing tip would be the moderate damage, damaged leaf stems and damaged or cut tendrils would typically be the minor damage.)
Still, I can give a general "report" here. At present, flowering is going well (esp. if most of the female flowers get successfully pollinated). If (IF!) we get 10 or more Opo fruits to 2' or more length by the 1st frost, and the 1st one fully mature in a straight shape** (for seed for next year), I'll consider the project a big success.
Overall plant growth seems unabated. The supports I'd put up (and added to twice) were getting so overgrown / overwhelmed that yesterday I hauled a rusty old ~10' long swing set that we inherited with the property from "way out back" to the garden area. I placed it in an open spot adjoining the tomato garden and about another 10' from the Opo. Then I ran a couple long straight dead branches from the closest Opo support to the top of the swing set, and ran 2 Opo vines a bit onto the branches. A 3rd can be added when it grows a bit more. (As if there's any doubt!) The idea is to head further growth into a sunnier, more open spot, and keep it off the ground. (I can walk or mow under it!) Whether there is time left to get any harvest there is dubious, but, at least part of those plants will be in more sun. This rig looks, well, "hillbilly" engineered in the extreme, but, I don't care at this point. (Funny, isn't it, that I can say that, but not, you know...!)
Also, soon after you suggested the idea of slightly damaging the plants, on maybe 3 of them I bruised / scratched about 1' below a growing tip and~ 1/32" deep, a 2" x 1/4"(?) area of the vine with a fingernail. I no longer can see that damage (the plant healed) and I did not mark / tag the damaged spots, so that trial is even more uncontrolled, now. :-(
That said, I think one of the scratched plants is the one that fired off 4 more male flowers in a group a couple days ago, but in this case those shot up above everything else. Go figure. If they open again tonight I'll take a step ladder out there and attempt hand pollination. I'll likely rig up a LED flashlight*** as earlier mentioned to try to attract more moths.
*The local University has a large AG school with a sizeable Graduate School. Maybe I ought to contact and suggest to the Dean a research paper. (My Dad, who was a Research (and teaching) Forestry Prof there, and did a lot of research on maximizing tree propagation and production, would smile!!) (If only I'd thought to ask him for copies of all those papers!)
**That's something else I learned - yesterday. If the Opo fruit (and, surely, cucumber fruit too) is hanging free and still curved, it was poorly pollinated. So far, the oldest one is now 6" long and growing straight.
***OT: The smaller 5000K Led light on our back porch attracted 3 katydids (that I could reach) last night. I'll fire up the bigger light tonight, too!) Katydids are GREAT bait and the weather tomorrow looks very good to be out. Oh, please let me get enough time...!
Big bummer. The stray Black Lab that “adopted us” some months ago is MIA. 3-1/2 days now. Too long a story to go into now (I’ve been on here too much today already!) But, he had calmed down and was our chickens’ protector. Now we’re gonna have to be doubly diligent...
On the good side of it, once past the Spring tribulations (documented in past threads here), our 12 chicks (1/2 to 3/4 grown pullets, now) are all doing well. The 6 ISA Browns are almost too friendly! So far, no major pullet / older birds problems out in the yard. (They are separated when in the coops, although the older pullets now roost with a rooster - hoping to make them a sort of separate little independent flock.
Will document progress on the waterers, soon. I may even have an idea that would sell commercially, if any small chain might distribute it and not steal it / send the design to China! Unfortunately, I don’t know if patenting it would be worth the trouble. (Getting a patent that will hold up, these days, is a serious & costly undertaking.)
FWIW (and not part of my “idea” above):
A 90 oz. Palmolive dish detergent container will screw into a female garden hose end and seal reasonably well, it appears. (The soda bottle did not work / leaked badly, forcibly screwed into a female hose end.)
Anyway, it looks like I can cut the Palmolive container to make a good size funnel to securely connect to a short section of garden hose. A cut up milk jug could function as a cover to keep leaves and such out.
Yeah, I know, more hillbilly engineering, but we are on a very tight budget here, since COVID-19...
It’s application time for SARE research grants.
I had been trying to think of what project I could use to apply for grant money. D’oh!
Thank you for reminding me. “Using minor bruising to stimulate flowering on plants that are day-length sensitive, as well as common vegetable species in which the specific variety is shy to flower”! That’s perfect!
Why can’t people just shut up and cook? Annoying. :(
“hillbilly engineering”
Most things on this farm are held together with orange baler twine until they can be fixed properly. I’ve even made a quick dog leash from it when needed, LOL!
Remember, as usual, you can put my signature to any grants you write, LOL! ;)
Great soup I made today, using up the ‘Rock Bottom Remainders’ from the garden. ;)
I’m calling MY version, ‘Italian Sausage and Veggie Soup.’
The only changes I made was adding an extra tomato because I didn’t want to open a can of tomato paste for a few Tbsps. I also added more garlic than called for, because that’s how I roll, and I added two healthy-sized leaves of Kale, one Purple, one Green, stems removed and chopped in the final simmer. I added a ‘splash’ of Pinot Noir as excuse to open the bottle. ;) Extra Parmesan cheese on top when served.
Tonight I am starting the dough for that yummy bread I like to make in the Dutch Oven to go with it, tomorrow. Soup is always better the next day, right? Chilly (50’s) and rainy for the next few days, so soup and homemade bread will hit the spot. :)
https://anaffairfromtheheart.com/no-knead-crusty-dutch-oven-bread/
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