Looking for best squash support

[Guvnah]

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But if anything my PM problem this year knocked out some varieties that I won't be wasting time with again. No Big Beef and no Juliets, no Cherokee and definitely no Early Girl bush, those were the big losers... Going to save seed from my sole Early Girl survivor and see if her babies don't have some of her resistance

The problem with saving seeds from hybrids (like Early Girl) is that next year's plants aren't likely to be actual Early Girls. They'll be some mix of whatever pollen fertilized the Early Girl flower.

For the record, I have had the best luck with Champion variety here in Colorado. But each area is different. I used to do best with Beefmaster when I lived in Massachusetts. And also an heirloom Russian OxHeart variety in Massachusetts. But both of those let me down here in Colorado. this year I also put in Cherokee Chocolate (which did OK last year) and also a new variety I tried called Glacier. Both got early blight this year right out of the gate (though we had an unusually wet spring this year.)

 

[lazy gardener]

My understanding is that tomatoes are for the most part self fertile, but will accept pollen from near by plants. That's why it's recommended to give those plants a shake or two if the air is very still when they are setting blossoms. Open pollinated tomatoes, if given enough space will breed true for successful seed collection. Of course, if you are raising hybrids, all bets are off regarding what the fruit will be like next year. I saved some chocolate colored cherry tomato seed from a grocery store tomato this winter b/c I liked the flavor of them. The ones I bought were round, the ones I grew were more grape shaped, but had the same good flavor and color. If you have garden space, and the inclination, experimenting with saving seeds and hybridizing plants is a great past time!!!

 

[shortgrass]

The problem with saving seeds from hybrids (like Early Girl) is that next year's plants aren't likely to be actual Early Girls.  They'll be some mix of whatever pollen fertilized the Early Girl flower.

For the record, I have had the best luck with Champion variety here in Colorado.  But each area is different.  I used to do best with Beefmaster when I lived in Massachusetts.  And also an heirloom Russian OxHeart variety in Massachusetts.  But both of those let me down here in Colorado.  this year I also put in Cherokee Chocolate (which did OK last year) and also a new variety I tried called Glacier.  Both got early blight this year right out of the gate (though we had an unusually wet spring this year.)

Yep, DH won't even TRY anything but Champions lol... And my grandma is who started me on early girl...going back about 20 years, hand pollinated, so I'm not worried about having accidentally hybridized it I tried an Early Girl "bush" this year. It was the first casualty lol... Back to square one next spring!

Did you have problems from all the rain we got this spring? At first I loved it, thought "yay finally a nice wet spring!"... But by the 3rd week of mucky water logged strawberries and chlorosis, and things weren't germinating right, and we lost things from that late frost... Then slammed with mildew... Ugh it was a trying year for sure!

I couldn't remember what the other variety she had such good success with...all I remember is it had "boy" or "beef" in the name lol... So, Beefsteak, Big Beef, Big Boy...ugh I have had to try them all... Just can't find any that can compete with the Champions, yet.... I want bigger, meatier, for canning... Champion is delicious fresh, no doubt about it...

 

[shortgrass]

My understanding is that tomatoes are for the most part self fertile, but will accept pollen from near by plants.  That's why it's recommended to give those plants a shake or two if the air is very still when they are setting blossoms.  Open pollinated tomatoes, if given enough space will breed true for successful seed collection.  Of course, if you are raising hybrids, all bets are off regarding what the fruit will be like next year.  I saved some chocolate colored cherry tomato seed from a grocery store tomato this winter b/c I liked the flavor of them.  The ones I bought were round, the ones I grew were more grape shaped, but had the same good flavor and color.  If you have garden space, and the inclination, experimenting with saving seeds and hybridizing plants is a great past time!!!

It is! So much easier and cheaper than breeding projects with chickens lol


My mom found some "blueberry" tomatoes this year... Little plants, little tiny dark blueish/ purple tomatoes...quite tasty! Wonder if they aren't related varieties...

 

[shortgrass]

My preferred squash and cuke support is my chicken run. Hardware cloth on the bottom 4 feet prevents the girls from getting to the stems and leaves. The leaves shade the run during the summer. I share the harvest with the girls and they look forward to their afternoon snack. Thought I had powdery mildew on my squash, too, but found the true culprit to be squash bugs. Hopefully the hens will get them out of the ground as they're a bear to get rid of. I understand they've been especially bad in my area this year.

That's beautiful! I'm envisioning the hardware cloth at the bottom; genious

 

[Guvnah]

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Did you have problems from all the rain we got this spring? ...

My tomatoes got "early blight". That's usually triggered by leaves staying too wet too long. One variety in particular got it really bad, and really early. Variety is "Glacier". It spread to just about all the other plants, though the Champions were least affected.

I'll be getting an organic copper spray for next year. It's supposed to help ward off various blights. If we have another wet spring, I'll apply it early.

And, of course, I'll be rotating the tomatoes to a different location.

Early blight: http://www.planetnatural.com/pest-problem-solver/plant-disease/early-blight/