BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

@ronott1 I did have them on my zukes and summer squash one yr. The little ones and eggs. First and only time I've resorted to sevin, got the spray. Late blight on tomatoes is devastating. It happens when they fruit, one day beautiful, next black and dead. It happened that yr they blamed it on Bonnie Plants, and I started all my own, it's airborne. I use copper fungicide anytime they look iffy. Hard to use it when it rains everyday :-(
Powdery mildew almost killed all my zukes and summer squash one yr. I already got a lot of fruit off them and all the sudden it looked like they were hit by a hard frost! Died! Somehow they came back from the ground, regrew and we got a bunch more fruit just before winter hit.

Beer can, every fall I rotor till the dried up crops into the ground to compost before I plant in the spring. It never fails that in the spring, I have what I call volunteer seeds start rooting all over the place! Tomato, watermelon and pumpkin squash seeds can how up anywhere on the plot.

@DesertChic I've saw them in seed catalogs. How do they compare to regular pickling cukes? I usually only grow pickling ones and eat them fresh also. This yr I did pick up 12 straight eight slicing cuke plants, planted in three tubs just to try them. The others I direct sowed seeds, many of them because I usually lose most to slugs before they get leaves, didn't expect over a hundred to survive Lol!

Beer can said:

@ronott1 I did have them on my zukes and summer squash one yr. The little ones and eggs. First and only time I've resorted to sevin, got the spray. Late blight on tomatoes is devastating. It happens when they fruit, one day beautiful, next black and dead. It happened that yr they blamed it on Bonnie Plants, and I started all my own, it's airborne. I use copper fungicide anytime they look iffy. Hard to use it when it rains everyday :-(
Powdery mildew almost killed all my zukes and summer squash one yr. I already got a lot of fruit off them and all the sudden it looked like they were hit by a hard frost! Died! Somehow they came back from the ground, regrew and we got a bunch more fruit just before winter hit.

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Squash bugs are a big problem here. I have seen them every time I grow squash--along with white flies.

Have you tried spinosad?

ronott1 said:

Squash bugs are a big problem here. I have seen them every time I grow squash--along with white flies.

Have you tried spinosad?

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Checking it out! Had them hit once, probably will again and I would like to find 'natural' alternatives to pesticides. My father in law turned me on, er told me about thuricide for our cabbage, he's a old krout , Lol! Sure does keep the cabbage loopers out! And a non pesticide...

Beer can said:

Checking it out! Had them hit once, probably will again and I would like to find 'natural' alternatives to pesticides. My father in law turned me on, er told me about thuricide for our cabbage, he's a old krout , Lol! Sure does keep the cabbage loopers out! And a non pesticide...

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Thuricide sounds interesting. I'd imagine it would work for sweet corn to. I might give it a go when the corn starts to silk.

Natural alternatives that are toxic enough to kill insects are still toxic.

I give up on the "all natural" ideologies a time ago. There is nothing natural about planting non native species in a strange and hostile environment. I try to garden responsibly. If there is an organic option that is a more responsible option, then it is preferred over the others. Because a compound is organic in nature, does not necessarily mean it is less toxic than it's synthetic counterpart. I would agree when it is.

It is always going to require extra care and maintenance forcing non natives. Our taste buds want one thing, but we want to live somewhere else.

We eat what we are accustomed to. If we are able to adjust our expectations as we can and do with meat, we can do better. What that means is different things for different people. It does not have to be a native. It should however, be well adapted on it's own.
I still grow things that I need to spray, but more and more, I have been getting away from it. Especially in long term plantings like trees and shrubs.

I am not suggesting anything, but sharing a perspective.

For fruit I have almost completely gone with natives. Rabbiteye Blueberries, Muscadines, Blackberries, Hybrid Persimmons, Paw Paws, Mulberries, Passion Fruit etc. I do not have to spray any of these. I do have Figs, but they do not require any spray here. Plenty of fruit and no spraying.

I like to emphasize fruit.

I live in the humid southeast, and we are challenged by many pests, funguses, blights, viruses, etc. Most non native fruits require a regular spray schedule here.

My best and native nut tree is the Pecan. No spraying. I also enjoy some native Black Walnuts. They are ore of a treat than anything else, for me.

I try to time the vegetables as smartly as I can. I plant some things early, and some things late trying to avoid peak seasons for certain pests or weather extremes that stress them and make them more vulnerable.
As much as I hate to, I go with bush beans. I can get my crop(s) faster. The longer they are in the ground, the more likely I need to spray. I may settle with an early crop of Potatoes rather than spraying. I plant a little more than what I need.

I have a patch of Jerusalem Artichokes that I appreciate more and more. They are essentially free food once established.

When I do feel like I need to spray, I go with what is cost effective and effective. I go with what I can get reliable information on. Then I follow the directions.

DesertChic said:

The only cucumbers I can get to grow here in the desert SW are Armenian cucumbers...but they're HUGE. I grew them the last two years and got cukes that were nearly 2-feet long and 3-4 inches in diameter. That's a lot of pickles!!!

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Yuck, lol. I'm curious, what else have you grown successfully? I tried to garden for the first time last year with several varieties of watermelons.. oh boy was that a surprise. As in total failure surprise...

Started mixed sweet corn a couple months ago but am finding them to require excessive watering*every day, even twice on the hotter days) so either I planted at the wrong time or a wrong variety for our climate.

Kind of feeling like I should just give up. Too dry, too cold, too hot for almost everything it seems.

Kev said:

Yuck, lol. I'm curious, what else have you grown successfully? I tried to garden for the first time last year with several varieties of watermelons.. oh boy was that a surprise. As in total failure surprise...

Started mixed sweet corn a couple months ago but am finding them to require excessive watering*every day, even twice on the hotter days) so either I planted at the wrong time or a wrong variety for our climate.

Kind of feeling like I should just give up. Too dry, too cold, too hot for almost everything it seems.

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Shade cloth over the beds has improved our garden yields - summer TX sun is just too hard on things when you don't have any natural shade in the form of trees and bushes. We also put down straw for mulch to help keep the moisture in the ground where it belongs. We've been on water restrictions for the last 5 years or so because of the drought we've had, and the use of the shade cloth and straw mulch helped a lot compared to when we did not use them.

FLOODING again!@@