Questions Questions Questions

[Phins Fan]

Ive been growing for a few years now (6 actually) and typically have decent luck but always have some die out or not take off at all so I have a few ?'s for the more experienced gardener. When I made the new garden for this year I started with 100# of Miracle Grow planters soil, 8 40# bags of manure, and 2 50# bags of peat moss before I tilled about 6" deep. I than built mounds to grow everything on and put weed guard over them as I HATE weeding. A little white rock for color/ambiance. Here goes:

Yellow (summer) squash:



What would cause the plant on the right to "mold"? I have had this happen a couple of seasons and still get crops from those plants but they typically die off sooner that the others.

Tomatoes:



Is there a feeding regimen For the plants? ive tried them a few seasons and have never gotten as far as I am this year. they typically die off before flowering.

Cucumber:



(Pictured on the right side) I have a trellace of leftover fencing that is about 1 foot off the ground. The vines have already filled up the space I had available and still growing. Woild I kill the plant if I cut the vines to install a taller trellace?

I appreciate any feedback and help as I enjoy gardening and the fruits of my labor.

 

[sreece]

I'm addressing only your question about the cucumbers. Why don't you install a taller trellis right next to the one already in place? Your cucumbers would not be happy being cut off from their current trellis in order to install a new one!

 

[Phins Fan]

Install a taller 1 on top of the current? I was afraid they would start to grow in between and I wouldn't be able to get at them when its time to crop

 

[sreece]

I often grow my cucumbers in a 4 ft wide bed with 2 rows of trellising (wide enough mesh to reach through) and I have no problem harvesting them. Hope that gives you a good idea of a way to resolve the problem.

 

[finkikin]

I grow cucumbers vertically on the fence. A cheap trick I learned was to get some old hangers out of your closet and screw them to the fence and angle them so that the vines use them for support as they grow longer. Works great and easy to harvest them!

 

[Jal_ut]

Cucumbers: I have never trellised cukes. Let them sprawl on the ground.
Tomatoes: Looks like they are a little light in color. Yes some fertilizer may help them.
Give them something with NPK in it and apply as per instructions.
There are other reasons that they sometimes die. They should not die from lack of fertilizer.

Powdery Mildew: Mix one part skim (low-fat) milk with 9 parts of water. 2. Place in a spray bottle. 3. Spray on plants affected by powdery mildew. Repeat weekly

Here is one recipe. Do a Google search for Powdery Mildew/milk for some more info.

 

[the1honeycomb]

GReat info guys I grow my cukes in poys next to the fence and just let them grow there. easy growing and easy picking.

 

[Northernfox]

Looks like you have received some darn good direction if you are a more visual person check out my tomato video. there are some tips in there that might help focus your plants on fruit.

the zucchini you will have to look at the leafs and pay attention. some yellow varieties silver in the leaves that is not a mildew problem. you can try some cures for it if you like. I would search YouTube for it. I believe it is a peroxide solution.

 

[mountain man]

You've a lot of good suggestions so far, I like jal_ut's suggestion: let the cucumbers sprawl.
Northernfox, Don't remember seeing you using plastic containers in any of your videos.

valley

 

[Northernfox]

Valley,

the tomato video shows my plastic containers. some are ones I got from my mother in law and some are from the failed Citrus Trees experiment from last year

 

[Phins Fan]

Thanx for all the suggestions folks!! Ill be sure to try some out later on. As far as the cukes I know I can let them grow on the ground but liked the idea of keeping them suspended some way which is why I tried a trellace. I think Ill just go with a larger vertical type on top of what I have and go from there. Jal ut - Those types of ideas for getting a heartier plant is why I joined. I would have never thought milk would help solve that. The tomatoes - Ive never fed them past what I started in the soil which is probably where Ive been failing. Ill be sure to get some food on the way home and go from there. Thanx again!!