What did you do in the garden today?

[AleighaAcre]

@Pensmaster do you have any issues with the white meldew on your pumpkin plants? I think you CA climate is similar to our FL conditions. I having had any problems with aphids but the pickle worms, oh my!!!

 

[Pensmaster]

@Pensmaster do you have any issues with the white meldew on your pumpkin plants? I think you CA climate is similar to our FL conditions. I having had any problems with aphids but the pickle worms, oh my!!!

Not yet on the mildew but our humidity in the summer is typically in the 20% range by the afternoon, its 50% in the mornings. Yesterday it was 10% by the afternoon. The aphids got the weak plant and I messed up by not removing it from the garden. Instead I sprayed it with a soap mixture. I tried milk just about every non toxic remedy know to man. It was like I was feeding them, spread to all plants in a week. Thought about ladybugs but no one was selling them at the time. Besides it would have taken a billion ladybugs to help with this.
Thankfully no worms either.

 

[jerryse]

Rain here today . We need some . Hey on pumpkins try the Dickinson variety . It is the type the canning factories grow around here , It is in the Mochata group not Pepo like jack-o-lantern types . No borer problems . Very easy to grow here . Stinkbugs will bother it but they bother all squash and pumpkins .

 

[Pensmaster]

Had to look up Mochata group. They are the long keepers. It's what I use. The chickens love getting them for treats during the winter. Just opened the last one last week and planted some of their seeds. They've come up already hoping for some more for this winter. Nothing special about storage they were in barn throughout our heat spell did fine. It gets too 100* in there at times. I would certainly not hesitate to eat it if I had to.
I'll have to look up the Dickinson variety. I have one called sugar pie just to try something different. It's under my shade cloth I put up for tomatoes. It's doing awesome there. Going to have to put up shade out of scraps I have for the rest of plants. As they are not liking this heat.

 

[Pensmaster]

Ok that's hilarious. It's the one I use for the long keeper. Just didn't know the name. Lady at work gave me some seeds and I've been using it for the past 3 years


And the gal I got them from demands 2 of them every year. She's moved into a small yard and can't have them.

 

[AleighaAcre]

I am familiar with mochas group. I have some butternut growing and planting Seminole pumpkin today. The Seminoles are suppose to be very resistant and was a large part of the Indians diet here in FL.

 

[jerryse]

I am familiar with mochas group. I have some butternut growing and planting Seminole pumpkin today. The Seminoles are suppose to be very resistant and was a large part of the Indians diet here in FL.

Yes this group is very resistant to problems that bother the Pepo group . There are 4 main family groups of squash . All 4 have some called pumpkin . If you only grow 1 squash from each group you can produce pure open pollinated seed . That is if nobody has squash close to you . Ornamental gourds are in the Pepo group .

 

[lazy gardener]

That's not a bad idea @Pensmaster . Or Maybe start a maggot dispenser..

Thought about it but like you I wasn't sure what kind of disease that critter or the fly carried. Not that the chickens are particularly checking for that in the field

Harvey Ussery did a maggot bucket for a while, using road kill, until he had an issue with botulism with his chooks. I'd avoid the maggot bucket... though in theory, it would decrease the fly population.

With all our rain lately, we've seen a couple of big water bugs, really giant cockroaches. I can't deal with those, they fly and make me squeal like a ninny. One crawled over my bare foot the other day as I was changing the brooder water for the nth time. I squealed (big surprise huh?) and did my best dancer's high kick and flick. Bug sailed right into the brooder. Chicks went insane! BIG game of chase! Stupid bug, dead bug. I made my first kissy noises to those little biddies then. But no, I'm still not a crazy chicken lady!

You could have sold tickets.

Yes this group is very resistant to problems that bother the Pepo group . There are 4 main family groups of squash . All 4 have some called pumpkin . If you only grow 1 squash from each group you can produce pure open pollinated seed . That is if nobody has squash close to you . Ornamental gourds are in the Pepo group .

Thanks for the biology refresher! Even if you get some crosses, some of those hybrids can be pretty awesome! This year, it's butternut for me. But, I may end up with spaghetti squash also, and that cross would be a looser, IMO.

 

[NanaKat]

Great idea. I actually googled them to see if I could get one. Cheapest was 12$ so I decided to stick with homemade one. I'll stop at dollar store and see if they happen to have any.

Bamboo cane about 4 feet long 1/2 inch diameter or a dowel stick. a coat hanger stretched into a circle, a triangle net from a gauzy or net type material. hand stitch onto the hanger. Push the hanger head into the end of the bamboo stick and/or use electrical tape to secure it.

 

[NorthTexasWink]

@NanaKat We made those when I was in Brownies! Worked a treat!