Garden Advice

Last year I remember someone recommending pulling smaller ears off of sweet corn for better health and ear production.

Would pulling some of these smaller squash off help?

yield boost / stop rot will help a lot

https://www.amazon.com/Southern-Ag-Stop-Blossom-End-Tomatoes/dp/B00ACPDIL6/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2CO5BEOZJS3KI&keywords=stop+rot+for+tomatoes&qid=1558398860&s=gateway&sprefix=stop+rot%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-4

lots of brands but it generally goes by blossom end rot treatment , stop rot , or yield boost it is a calcium supplement.

any garden store should have it.

it works well on tomatoes but it works wonders on squash and cucumbers spray every other week and be ready to pick very regular fruit of the cucumber and zucchini squash families will jump in size inches a day so you can't take breaks in picking check every day to every other day and try and pick at that nice 8-10 inch tender range for zucchini.

calcium is the building block of cell walls in plants , but it gets locked in the soil easily , the supplement is applied with a sprayer to the leaves,

While blossom end rot can be caused by calcium magnesium deficiency most of the time it's a water imbalance( to much to little). Before you waste money on a product you don't know if you need get a soil sample and see what you have to begin with. What some people think is blossom end rot in young squash is actually fruit that failed to be fertilized, I see it earlier in the season.

As far as pinching off smaller fruit I wouldn't, those plant look like they are doing well. Only time I pinch bloom off is if plants have bloom at transplant.

If you're gonna pinch one off, don't do it in the garden!!!
If that's zuchinni, you can't hurt a zuchinni noway nohow.

^^^this

Some of those smaller crooknecks batter fried (blossom and all) are mighty fine eating.

or pickled

Just regular batter?


Recipe?

Gonna have a bunch of them might as well try different ways to enjoy them.

Apply an inch of water per week, all at once rather than applied daily. Makes stronger roots, which is how the calcium is taken up. Some people put down Epsom salt, but that is magnesium rather than calcium.

We throw a tums in the planting hole for tomatoes and peppers, no more end rot here.

No end rot yet but I appreciate the info.

They get water when it rains

Blackboard chalk is the same thing, minus the sugar, and a lot cheaper. Chalk can be used in place of Tums if you can stand the taste

a seasons Yeild boost is 8 dollars , hardly a garden supplement that can produce the kind of results I see when using it every other week.

too much and too little water lock the calcium up in the soil even if you tested.

I am not growing in a green house ,it wil rain 3-4 days then nothing , yes I can water but can hardly keep enough on when it is bright sun and 90 degrees , I do run a soaker hose around the squash so that I can better water without causing fungus issues.

even then just being outside and our weather can do that.

Cucumbers are coming along nicely. I was informed today that I should put some angled wire so they will climb.

Anybody else done this?

I grow the Bush cucumbers. They suit my needs.

As far as all the blossom end rot concerns go, I found that hilling and mulching my plants resolved that problem.

I save my egg shells for awhile and freeze them. Then I crush them up and add them when I plant my tomatoes and peppers. Then throughout the summer I crush them and sprinkle on the top of the soil around plants. This has helped me with blossom end rot. Also throughout the winter I scatter egg shells throughout the entire garden.
Slow release, free, and organic. Works for me. But also watering does play a part in blossom end rot. To much, to little, and don't let especially tomatoes go to bed with wet fruit and leaves. I know you can't control rain but water if needed early in the day.

I didn't even plant yet. I hope tomorrow.

I add barn lime to raised beds in the fall, so where tomatoes go it will be good in the spring

Live stock pannels make the perfect trellis for cucumbers

Squash blossoms battered and fried are tough to beat! Regular batter, pancake batter, beer batter, even just an egg wash and then some panko will do the trick.

I like to keep cucs off the ground. Some heavy cattle panels propped up with heavy stakes work well! Or you could use kages. I think I have a pic of the cattle panel from last year...

I like that set up.

I'm doing the cage thing around the tomatoes.

.

Looks Good

Wow! Nice garden. I just planted my cucumbers, squash and pumpkins today. Wife starts them I the house late winter. All the rest is in and the beets are up and bean are just popping through and I haven't seen a carrot yet.

I thought the Brussels Sprouts would be hit first by rabbits but it was deer that got a cantaloupe plant last night. I'm hoping for lost of memory.

It's me again. lol

Heard a number of varying opinions On spraying sweet corn.

I haven't sprayed anything yet, am I too late?

Also I fear I have made a mistake on the cantaloupes. Only planted one row. No sign of one yet. Anything I can do to help them?

Planted two rows of cucumbers the same time.

I don't spray my corn until it starts putting on kernels, thats when the worms start getting into it. Looks like you are still a couple of weeks away. I only planted 6 hills of cantaloupe and there are a few the size of marbles to ping pong balls, and we just pickled 8qts of cucumbers.

On 5/30 I complained about the lack of cantaloupe action.

Guess I should have complained about my vision.

I got away from tomato cages years ago. I now plant in rows between 2 cattle panels. You can plant more in less space. I do peppers the same.Space the rows 6 or 8 feet apart and can run the tiller right down the rows.