How cool is too cool for cukes and squash?

[tomc]

Massechusetts, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, has perhaps a tablespoon of soil between the three states warm enough to plant curcurbits and squash before May 25.

Plant your radish, cole crops, and lettuce, before then if you are feeling brave.

[DryFlyRy]

I moved all my stuff including tomatoes, peppers, squashes and melons, out in the hoophouse and all is well. The therm I have out there recorded a low of 40, but the hoop house gets so hot during the day that my guess is that the soil in all the pots warms up a good deal and retains that heat very well during the colder temps at night and everyone remains happy. I'll give them another week or so in these conditions before I move them outside.

[TheWaterbug]

Release the hounds!



My butternuts are emerging:



as are the watermelons:

[rainbowgardener]

I don't know what that 97 is, but it didn't sound right to me, so I looked up LA CA weather


10 Day Forecast - °F | °C View the Detailed Extended Forecast »
wed thu fri sat sun mon tue wed thu fri
may15

P Cloudy
72°59° may16

P Cloudy
71°60° may17

P Cloudy
70°59° may18

Sunny
70°59° may19

Sunny
76°62° may20

Sunny
81°63° may21

M Sunny
80°61° may22

Sunny
76°60° may23

Sunny
74°58° may24

Sunny
73°59°
Details for Wednesday, May 15
Partly cloudy skies. High 72F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Evening: A few passing clouds. Low 59F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
UV Index: 10 (Very High)

According to intellicast, you are actually in cooler weather than I am. It will be 86 here today and then in the upper 70's after that. But it is just as well. 97 would not be good weather for anything to be sprouting in to.

[TheWaterbug]

It was really just that one day that was really hot. The rest of the week has been pretty normal.

My Kabochas are doing well, but my butternut squash shoot disappeared. It got buried when I watered, and I expected it to push through again within a few days, but it never did . Maybe it got slugged.

4 out of 5 watermelon hills also got nibbled. Squirrels may have been the culprit, here, as I see evidence of one plastic cage being dug around/under and then knocked over. The remaining cages have holes near the bottom for vines to go through, and they're probably large enough for a squirrel to wriggle through.

I may have to put on some of my row cover material and tack it down all the way around.

[skiingjeff]

Well, I planted a few cukes before we left on May 9th - only one sprouted

So now I've replanted and it is warmer. I have also transplanted the summer squash and peppers into the garden. We are mostly having lows in the 50's with some nights in the 40's but so far the plants are doing fine.

I'll just watch the forecast for lows because some of these rainy days might drop and I'll have to maybe cover them.

At this point, I've shut down my seedling operation in my basement and all my transplants are either in the garden or outside in pots. Let's hope we don't get a REALLY late frosting.

[TheWaterbug]

My Kabochas are doing well, but my butternut squash shoot disappeared. It got buried when I watered, and I expected it to push through again within a few days, but it never did . Maybe it got slugged.

4 out of 5 watermelon hills also got nibbled. Squirrels may have been the culprit, here, as I see evidence of one plastic cage being dug around/under and then knocked over. The remaining cages have holes near the bottom for vines to go through, and they're probably large enough for a squirrel to wriggle through.

I may have to put on some of my row cover material and tack it down all the way around.

I'm thinking it some sort of flying insect. Here's my cantaloupe planting:



See the chomp mark in the middle of that leaf? I would imagine a caterpillar-type pest would eat from the outside in.

So I covered my cages with Agribon and put soil all around, so they should be protected unless I've trapped the culprits inside.

But it's been nearly 3 days since I did that, and there's been no further damage, so I think they're safe.

My Kabochas are fine; I think they got big enough fast enough to outgrow the damage. Same (I think) with my Hubbard, which has finally sprouted.

So now I'm thinking my butternut got eaten by this same pest. I replanted a few days ago, so I'm hoping they come up soon.

[TheWaterbug]

My Kabochas are fine; I think they got big enough fast enough to outgrow the damage. Same (I think) with my Hubbard, which has finally sprouted.

*sigh*



This is my Kabocha plant, and it's just about starting to put out male flowers. Something is chomping on it, and it's too big to cover now.

Does that look like caterpillar/insect damage? Or does it look more like peafowl pecking at it? I'm more accustomed to seeing leaf damage from the outside in, like the leaf just to the upper-left of center.

The big leaf to the right of center has tons of little holes in the middle, but no damage at the edge.

[jal_ut]

I don't think that is peacock damage. Did you look on the underside of the leaves for bugs/ worms? Go out at night and look with a flashlight too. Slugs and snails work at night.

[TheWaterbug]

I don't think that is peacock damage. Did you look on the underside of the leaves for bugs/ worms? Go out at night and look with a flashlight too. Slugs and snails work at night.

I just checked the underside of all the leaves, and I see no critters.

I'll go back out in a few hours when it gets dark. With a flashlight. And a vengeance.

[TheWaterbug]

The good news is that I didn't see any slugs, and I haven't seen a repeat of that type of damage.

The bad news is that the peafowl are definitely eating it now:



The good news is that they appear to be growing fast enough to keep up with the damage, and they're starting to vine a bit:



I think I have a couple of male flowers starting, too.

The cages will go right back on when the female flowers appear.