Surviving Minnesota!

[lvie]

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That makes perfect sense to me as I have experience that same event. Hmmmm. . . . hence a rain barrel. I never had the desire to capture rain water until now. Thanks Ralphie!

 

[duluthralphie]

When I first began reading this thread there was this contributor that sat at his computer early in the morning with his cup of coffee in his hand. I say 'his' only because he has a male name on this thread. He would conjole his fellow chickeners to get up out of bed or to get signed on to contribute to the conversations of the morning because he was bored, or waiting, or accusing each of us of not doing our share of the conversation. Hmmmm. . . . .

It was good and it was fun.

I began hoping out of bed in the morning, throwing on something warm and then heading for the computer to sign on to read what he had to say that morning. Kind of reminds me of 'You've Got Mail' Some mornings that other chickener wasn't on the computer yet, or was on but had not posted so I became hurried to get on before him just as a tease. Come on . . . . where are you? MY coffee is already made and I am waiting.

'I am first' and good morning is a fun game and thank you for participating. It is going to be cooling down here and there are cold winter mornings acoming. I predict that this game will pick up this winter and we will have many laughs about it. I think we should create some new ground rule to go with it. I dunno what that could be but . . . . . . you may have suggestions. Just ONE new item to add for the first one on in the morning. LOL - a selfie to show them at the computer first - NO WAY! I was just kidding. I certainly would never want to be first if that were a requirement.

When I saw the selfie rule, I thought you were just trying to get a peek at me in my undies! I am glad you took that off the list. I have been working late and after I eat and watch a TV show or read a little it gets too late for an old guy like me to get up at 5.

I am sure when the days get shorter and I am into my winter routine I will be back to my 5 AM posts.

 

[lvie]

Good morning!

I really thought, being a teenager and back at school for the year, and into sports as you are, that you would want to relax without your phone for awhile on a holiday morn and just dream alittle while you lay and wake up.

LOL. GOOD for you I love Layers. and Good Morning to the firsty of the day! Whats for breakfast?

 

[lvie]

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Yes, I am sure of that too.

 

[jerryse]

These are mature borer resistant Zuke . These were open pollinated . So not saving seed .
I saved seed from this open pollinated one . It was early and may have crossed back to normal Zuke . Yea shotgun breeding . No other squash were blooming at the time .
Here is a healthy vine that produced the 2 green ones . I crossed the 2 vines by hand pollination a few days ago .
So the history of these I crossed zuke and pear shaped ornamental gourd . Gourds are borer resistant . Last year I got busy and did not hand pollinate . So F2 generation was open pollinated . Punnet square or Menadal's law of inheritance at work . Next year I may cross back to Zuke to improve fruit and set bush type . This years seed could produce bush , semi bush and long vine .Not all will be resistant is my guess . The bugs will let me know which are resistant .

 

[duluthralphie]

Jerry how do you "hand pollinate"? Do you place a plastic bag or something over the blossom you want to pollinate and use a q tip? Then cover until the fruit sets?


Will all squash type plants cross? Say a hubbard with a buttercup? Gourd with a Hubbard? and so on.

 

[ejb3810]

If all of this rain continues as it has been I believe I will convert my low lying areas to wild rice production. If that is successful, I will also raise Blue winged Teal which is the only duck that is quality table fare.

No geese will be considered here, as they are vile and disgusting animals. They are feathered manure spreaders!

Autumn is fast approaching and in fact may have arrived here in the Northland. It is actually my favorite season but generally lasts only a few days before we experience the onset of Winter weather.
Ralphie, with all your other complications you may be hard pressed to put up an adequate supply of winter heating wood for the Sasquatch family at Togo? Perhaps you could persuade BC to make the short trip over there to take care of that for you?

 

[jerryse]

Jerry how do you "hand pollinate"? Do you place a plastic bag or something over the blossom you want to pollinate and use a q tip? Then cover until the fruit sets?


Will all squash type plants cross? Say a hubbard with a buttercup? Gourd with a Hubbard? and so on.

I tie the blossoms shut with a string or flagging ribbon the night before . Then open them and put pollen on the female flower and tie shut again . I mark the vine or fruit with a ribbon . FYI you must use 2 different vines . Selfing from the same vine does not set fruit .There are 4 family groups of squash that are commonly grown .You must stay in the same group to get viable seed . C. Pepo is the largest group . This includes ornamental gourds , Zuke / summer squash , Jach-o-Lantern , Acorn , Spaghetti and such .

 

[jerryse]

Here is another of the F2 that did not meet my standards to breed from . More gourd like and long vine . I still use them to fry or make Zuke bread . Just get them before the shell gets hard and seeds are still small .

 

[jerryse]

male blossom . pollen already gone due to pollinators .

Female blossom with small fruit attached .





Gourd . Yes it came our of the original pear shaped gourd .

This one has ridges like Acorn . So probably crossed in by the bees last year .

Same plant . Tender frying stage .

Same plant that produced the green and yellow one .

Pumpkin and a Cushaw . Seeds are pure as they are in different family's from each other and the Pepo group .

I fried some of this yesterday . Skin and all .

Some faint warts from the gourd in its lineage .