Calling Tucson/Southern Arizona Gardeners

[Mike Maurer]

Originally Posted by tuk50

Mike, Post #334. Man, you must have a bunch of them if they eat the butternuts also. If there are no gardens close to you, you might try and not plant them for a couple of years .. I did this a few years ago and it seemed to help. My garden is about 2000sq ft and I rotate squash from one end to the other every year and, yes I plant my winter squash away from the summer squash. Another thing you might try is plant the squash late in the summer just so you will have enough time to harvest .. my squash bugs don't seem to be as bad as when I plant early in the summer. I read somewhere that they hatch only once or twice a year. Hope this helps some. I plant dill around my squash plants as a deterrent and when I walk by the dill plants just get a hand full and throw it over the squash plants. Also I plant squash in holes in the garden like when a tomato or pepper dies then I stick a few seeds in and this seems to help, by isolating them in with something else.

Yes I seem to have a bunch, but then everyone around this general area ( West and north of Albuq.) seems to be as troubled as I am.
I"ll try the Dill, I usually have a bunch volunteer and I'll move some to the squash. I'll try the late move too, I haven't tried that yet. And I'm going to give up on summer squash. Thanks for the tips. I did try just forgetting them altogether for a few years, I had a vine borer problem and that seemed to help. I don't have as much problem with the vine borers, but the regular squash bugs are legion!
Thans again, Mike

[tuk50]

Years ago I had good luck with pyrethium powder.. I don't use any pesticides these days, but if you do try only using lightly on the infested plants only and no where else. this stuff kills everything including bees, so I wouldn't want to use it all over the garden and try to keep it off the blooms.
Are you a fisherman? I visited one of my sons (albequerque) a couple weeks ago and I caught my first muskie in Bluewater. We have a trip every fall to Quemado, but I usually fish for trout while they try for the big muskies.

[Mike Maurer]

Originally Posted by tuk50

Years ago I had good luck with pyrethium powder.. I don't use any pesticides these days, but if you do try only using lightly on the infested plants only and no where else. this stuff kills everything including bees, so I wouldn't want to use it all over the garden and try to keep it off the blooms.
Are you a fisherman? I visited one of my sons (albequerque) a couple weeks ago and I caught my first muskie in Bluewater. We have a trip every fall to Quemado, but I usually fish for trout while they try for the big muskies.

Actually my first passion is Fly Fishing! The 2nd is gardening. I make up to 50 -60 trips a year. Mostly to Northern N.M.and Southern Colorado. Although we've been making a yearly trip to Wyoming and Montana. I haven't done the Tiger Muskie thing yet, however I know Mark Sawyer well, he owns Los Pinos fly fishing shop and he guides over at Bluewater for them and avidly promotes going after them.
Back to squash, I have bees, both Honey Bee's and Wild Bee's and I'm really reluctant to use anything that will kill them. Last year I had several Squash Bees sleeping in the squash blossoms when I'd go out in the morning to get after the bugs. They are a beautiful bee and it is really neat to see them sleeping down in the blossoms. However I know the commercial squash grower must use something, they have really good looking squash in the produce stores and they couldn't possibliy have as much trouble with bugs as I do!
Mike

[tuk50]

Yeah, I'm reluctant to use insecticides too. Your right about the commercial growers... that's why I grow our own produce....

Fly Fishing is my first passion also. I'm getting too old to go much now, but we lived in Flagstaff for about 15years and I spent a lot of time at Lee's Ferry before it became a tourist destination. We stay at Abe's when we hit the San Juan. sorry to say its just wonderful memories now, but I get to go and watch my grandkids try their luck once in a while.

[desertlzbn]

I had no luck this summer with cucumbers. Whiteflies decimated my plants. I still have to plant some winter stuff. Just has not happened yet. I wonder if I go without planting for a couple of seasons if the bugs would be cut down the next time I plant?


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[Mike Maurer]

Originally Posted by desertlzbn

I had no luck this summer with cucumbers. Whiteflies decimated my plants. I still have to plant some winter stuff. Just has not happened yet. I wonder if I go without planting for a couple of seasons if the bugs would be cut down the next time I plant?


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Sometimes that helps, it's like using the ultimate rotation scheme

[tuk50]

Just checkin on you boys and girls... are the winter gardens thriving? Are the baby maters, eggplants and peppers popping up?
Will transplant my first maters this morning when it gets a bit warmer. Trying a few experiments on this first batch. Kept one 6pk covered till mold formed and then used peroxide.. did this last week and the mold disappeared and the babies look strong and healthy.. really impressed ..thanks to tv info, I really thought it would hurt the seedlings, but evidently not. Now with this first pack I'm going to try to graft AGAIN.. LOL. My grandson and I have tried it a couple of times with no luck. rkn problem has limited me to only a few tomato varieties, so we are trying to graft onto some eggplants and a variety of tomato that is my main crop every year that is very rkn resistant.

[flyingbrass]

Hi tuk50,

Not much of a winter garden here, as I was busy with other things and ignored the garden. Planted what I did too late. I have some lettuce growing, but that's about all.

Just got done yesterday amending some of my beds for spring. I hauled home a bunch of fallen leaves from the local park. I sprinkled some alfalfa pellets on the beds, added some compost, and chopped leaves. Leaves are everything from powdered to coarsely chopped. I have about half of those leaves held aside to use as mulch when the weather warms up.

I was going to dig my beds with a shovel, but after raking the leaves off a bed I had put leaves on several months ago, I couldn't bring myself to do all that work and chop up all the worms working their goodness. The bed was loaded with worms. Instead, why not try just feeding/encouraging the worms to do the tilling? So, I'll see how this goes. I do plan to dig and amend a couple other beds. I'll wait until closer to planting time to decide on that. For now, they are also covered in essentially "leaf powder."

My lesson learned here is that keeping the ground well-mulched is important. That, and/or keep something dense growing. Don't allow beds to become bare dirt with nothing growing, else the soil will compact.

I started pepper seeds about 4 days ago. None are up yet. I started tomatoes 2 days ago, and expect the first to show tomorrow or the next day.

Re: peroxide for mold in seed trays, did you use full strength or dilute?

[flyingbrass]

For what it's worth, while daytime temperature highs here have been low-mid 70's nice, I've still been getting a few slivers of ice out of the hose laying across my back yard in the mornings.

So, chilly at night, I presume due to the dryness.

[tuk50]

Your description of the garden sounds like mine. For the last couple of years, I chop anything and everything to be scattered over the whole garden. Yesterday we put about a foot of compost on each of my 10rows(30ft ea.) about a gallon of cottonseed meal, about a quart of soft rock phosphate, a cup of greensand and on the heavy feeder rows like okra, onions etc. we put another gallon of alfalfa pellets then covered all with the mound of horse manure compost. I've only done this for the last two years and am liking it more and more. The only digging anymore is to harvest onions, sweepotatoes and to plant the sets in spring. The worm population has exploded. Four years now and no chemical of any kind. I think it is just now reaching a balance. So far no massive infestations except rkn and the agrivating squash borer.
My bottle of peroxide says 3%, It seems to work any way you use it. My experiments this month have had no effects on the tomato, eggplant and pepper seeds in the seed trays. I let one 6pk of tomatoes stay covered with no air circulation till about 3in tall with two sets of true leaves and the surface of the soil became a moldy mat. The tips of the growth started to twist and stay small. I took an eye dropper and dripped straight peroxide over the seedlings, about a teaspoon full on each of the 6 cells. You could hear the bubbling in the cells and see the typical foam of reaction. Now a week later I potted those six tomatoes into cups yesterday this morning they are strong and perky looking. I was suprised, so I now put about 2 or 3 oz in the quart of water that I use to set the seedlings in as routine.
Side note: I use autozone DE only in my seed trays, haven't tried the peroxide on other soils. Also will be watching those 6 tomato seedlings to see how they keep up with the others in the potting soil of promix-DE-worm compost equal parts. Every spring I start two new tubs of worms in coir bedding with a shovel full of fresh horse manure and by this time of year it is great stuff, fluffy and even the coir has lost its graininess (if thats a word) LOL.

[flyingbrass]

I'm glad the no dig approach is working well for you -- gives me hope.

I potted up my tomatoes today, 14 days after starting the seeds. They have been outside during the day and inside at night (low last night was 38). Days have been so warm this year, the plants haven't really had much of a "cold treatment."

Last year for potting I used Miracle-Gro "moisture control" potting mix with some extra perlite. Last winter was relatively chilly here overall, with a few very cold periods. Even with some additional perlite, the potting mix remained too soggy, particularly with the plants I had potted a second time into larger containers.

This year, I'm trying regular Miracle-Gro potting mix. I bought a big bag of perlite at HD, which should last me a long time. 4 parts MG potting mix and 1 part perlite. We'll see how this works out.

[flyingbrass]

They should grow like crazy from this point. Knock on wood (and I really hope I'm not jinxing myself ).

[tuk50]

Good healthy looking plants... great going.
yeah, I used mg with moisture control Once!
never again.. same problem as you .. in the cool weather it never dries out. Lowes has started carrying Pro-Mix HP with mic. a couple of years ago... I love the stuff, it drains very well, but holds enough water to grow them well.
For my peppers I use a wood based potting soil with coir. I don't ever put pepper seedlings in peat, always too much trouble.

[flyingbrass]

How are things going?

With this unusually warm weather and a freeze unlikely in the future, I planted tomatoes on Feb. 21. Out of curiosity I checked soil temperature that morning. About 3" down it ran 58-63 throughout the garden.

So far, so good, though all my plants grew slowly with this year's Miracle Gro potting mix (regular yellow bag stuff). Seems like it didn't have much in the way of nutrients.

I couldn't believe the worms in my beds. I've never had so many. They are all sizes. The biggest I noticed was at least 10" long. Worms love the deep leaves on my beds.

Today I planted some cantaloupe, and a cucumber is about ready to go in. I made another trellis for some yard long beans, which I've never grown before. I'm not sure when to plant those. I've heard they tend to attract aphids, which are usually worst for me early in the season. Surprisingly, aphids aren't bad so far this year. Yet, anyway. There are very few on my lettuce, but yellow cups smeared with vaseline are catching some.

I'll wait until after the cooler spell predicted for the beginning of March to plant peppers.

[flyingbrass]

Cantaloupe, cucumber, zucchini and such (all the cucurbits) don't like having their roots disturbed. Direct seeding is probably best, but outdoor temps aren't always warm enough.

For a slightly earlier start, I tend to plant seeds in a pot with plenty of room for the tap root, then plant out soon after germination. Keep the soil and roots intact. Out of the pot and into the ground all in one piece.

I planted my cantaloupes the day after they came up. Their tap roots were already at the bottom of the cups. I got my cukes in the ground today also.