Fall garden and SVB's

[tedln]

I never saw an SVB on my spring garden. I did have my yellow crook neck under netting so they couldn't get to it. The squash plants finally just wore out in mid summer with the heat. I pulled all of them, reworked my beds and replanted about three weeks ago without the protective netting. They have some really nice squash on them that I will harvest tomorrow. I did see a couple of SVB's hovering over the squash plants so I sent them to SVB heaven or hell with a fly swatter. I haven't seen any since. I noticed today, I have a good population of really large predatory wasps checking under every squash leaf and on every stem looking for grubs and other insect pests. I also have a large population of Texas Long Legged Flies which feed on aphids and other small pests. I guess I am in pretty good shape with the exception of grasshoppers. I'm looking forward to an extended cool, moist period to eradicate the grasshoppers. I've planted some lettuce in a couple of beds as well as some more Swiss chard. The grasshoppers usually eat the newly germinated lettuce and chard as soon as it appears.

I tried something new (to me at least) to plant my lettuce seed evenly spaced. I had a large spice bottle with the shaker lid on top. I filled the jar almost full with sand and added the amount of lettuce seed I wanted to plant. I shook the jar to mix the sand and seed and then applied it to the bed with my sand shaker. I could see how dense I was planting because the sand was much lighter in color than the dirt. The lettuce germinated evenly spaced as I wanted.

Ted

Ted

[LindsayArthurRTR]

I am SO gonna steal your idea!!!

[gixxerific]

I hope those SVB don't get you. I had one last zucchini that was still going and actually had a fruit on it a few day's ago. I checked it today and it was separated at the soil damn SVB.

Good use on the spice bottle. I use Parmesan bottles for spreading fertilizer, they are great cause they are big and hold quite a bit of whatever you are spreading in your case seed. I haven't used them for seed yet but that's not a bad idea.

[tedln]

I'm pretty sure it isn't my idea. I don't think many original ideas exist in gardening. I usually describe something I am trying and the next ten posts will normally be from someone telling me it has always worked for them or why it didn't work for them. I do hope it works as well for you as it appears to work for me. I will purchase some purple top turnip seed next week. It is really, really tiny seed. It should also work well with the sand shaker. I tried to simply hand broad cast turnip seed last year and then spent the first month after germination hand thinning the turnips. I don't know why, but with small seed; it always seems if a little is good, more is better. I then spend a lot of time thinning.

Ted

[tedln]

Dono,

I've lost a lot of squash plants over the years when the stem splits or rots right at the soil interface. It always seems to me to be more of a damping off condition rather than SVB's. This year, I planted lots more squash seed than I planned on letting grow to full size. Within a couple of weeks, I would thin out the weaker looking plants. Normally some would also die due to the stem rot (damping off) at the soil level. I would keep thinning the bed until I only had the number of large healthy plants the beds would support.

Ted

[gixxerific]

can a 2 1/2 month old plant get damping off?

[garden5]

can a 2 1/2 month old plant get damping off?

I wouldn't think so . That sounds like SVB to me, at least, that what's always been the culprit when my squash plants separate at the base (there's always that tell-tale frass).

I'm thinking you should be safe, Ted, since the SVB have probably completed their life cycle and are tucked safely away underground, dreaming about infecting next-year's crops .

[tedln]

Near the end of summer, I always have to cut back the amount of water to the beds. As the heat declines, less moisture is taken up by the plants and less water evaporates from the soil. If the soil surface stays wet a lot, I will usually lose plants to stem rot (I think it is the same as damping off) right at the soil level. I've checked the stems for SVB indicators and simply haven't found them. If my upper soil is mostly an organic mulch, the stem rot doesn't seem as bad. If the soil surface is dirt, the stem rot seems more common. Those are observations in my garden. I have no idea how realistic they are.

I also lost a lot of half grown cucumber plants in the spring to the same malady. The soil around the plants was staying excessively moist. I added soil and mulch to my cucumber bed to raise the elevation of the cucumber stems out of moist soil. A few plants had started developing the rot at the soil level. I piled the new dirt and mulch around those stems burying the rot. Those plants then thrived.

Ted

[LindsayArthurRTR]

2 cups boiling water, 1 tsp dawn, 2 tsp chamomile tea. Steep for 24 hours and then strain it. spray where you have the fungus. This is great stuff for new seedlings as far as damping of fungus. Didn't lose a single seedling this year! I spray it daily until they are past the point of damping off. Not sure if it's the same as what you've got though.

[garden5]

2 cups boiling water, 1 tsp dawn, 2 tsp chamomile tea. Steep for 24 hours and then strain it. spray where you have the fungus. This is great stuff for new seedlings as far as damping of fungus. Didn't lose a single seedling this year! I spray it daily until they are past the point of damping off. Not sure if it's the same as what you've got though.

I've used the chamomile tea/ water solution as well, and lost only 1 plant to damping off . However, I did not use any Dawn, and I watered them with the solution instead of spraying. I'll probably try spraying next year. I'd be worried that the soap would be too much for the young seedlings.

[kgall]

I LOVE the parmesan bottle for fertilizer!!
RE SVB- The day I spotted SVB in my garden I planted a new row of squash where my potatoes had been, 65 days ago I believe.I wasn't sure if I would get a crop but I have! I have not seen any SVB on this new row of squash!

[garden5]

I LOVE the parmesan bottle for fertilizer!!
RE SVB- The day I spotted SVB in my garden I planted a new row of squash where my potatoes had been, 65 days ago I believe.I wasn't sure if I would get a crop but I have! I have not seen any SVB on this new row of squash!

That's probably since by the time they got big enough for the SVB to infect them, the SVB had moved on to the next step of their life cycle: almost all of them have now burrowed under-ground to hibernate (probably not the right term ). They will emerge as adult moths next spring and lay eggs on the squash plants in order to start the vicious cycle all over again.

Well, at least they're gone for now.

[kgall]

At least now I know when to plant my squash!!!

[tedln]

In the southern states, with longer summers; we sometimes get a spring and a fall SVB swarm. Each swarm only lasts about ten days. They seem to be more related to temperature than anything. I wish I could predict the dates for the swarms, but they don't seem to be that constant.

Ted

[garden5]

In the southern states, with longer summers; we sometimes get a spring and a fall SVB swarm. Each swarm only lasts about ten days. They seem to be more related to temperature than anything. I wish I could predict the dates for the swarms, but they don't seem to be that constant.

Ted

Man, that's right, I forgot about that. I think you're right about the temperatures making a difference on the emergence dates rather than the dates. The differing temperatures are probably how the SVBs know that the spring has arrived and begin to mature.

I've read that putting up floating row covers can prevent a lot of infection of the SVB as long as you put them up while the adult moths are flying, but before they lay their eggs.