Strawbale Gardening - no weeding, no hoeing, no tilling

ljk: sounds like blossom end rot.

Stress will play a large part, but will usually correct itself out.

We've had some temp swings, hot, cold, windy weather.

Too much and too little water and fertilizer will also play a factor.

Have you got more details?

Kent

 

Not sure what details you need, but here goes;


The garden looks pretty good, lots of buds and blossoms everywhere.

I water when I think it is needed, but not everyday. I use Miracle grow once a week.

The squash start out looking good and firm, and then when they get to 3-4 inches the end (furthest from the plant) starts to get mushy. I have had 5 or 6 do that and I am worried all my crop will be like that. :-(

Thanks for your help!!

 

Sounds like classic blossom end rot - a calcium deficiency issue that can be caused by several things such as uneven watering, too much nitrogen, weather, etc, as I mentioned earlier.

If the plants are looking healthy, just continue your routine and they should grow out of this problem.

Tomatoes have the same problem.

BER is major agricultural problem that is NOT cured by sprays on the plant, egg shells in the planting hole, etc.

So, don't fret, I've had the same issues.

Kent

 

Anyone else have wilting issues? Every time it gets sunny and hot all my plants (except tomatoes) get severly wilted. As soon as it cools back down they come right back. :?

 

One of the tomato leaves toward the bottom looked kind of funky yesterday,like curled inward,I had watered in the morning though...

 

Thanks!

 

Typical, especially for young squash and cukes in new bales, until they get a good root system in place.

As you mentioned, they bounce back after the sun gets off them and they get a little water.

 

Does anyone have a problem with the backs of their tomato leaves turning silver and papery? My tomatos are absolutely loaded with both fruit and blooms. So far only one plant is having the silver leaf issue. I've not been able to identify a fungus, bacteria, insect or blight that could cause this. Any suggestions?

 

About the only thing that comes to mind would be white mold,found this on the web:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/okgard/msg041402286858.html?10

 

I have little 2 inch squash on my plants. :hurray:

 

Me too! Saw it last night.

 

No little squashes yet on my plants, but I see some itsy bitsy maters. After the rain the past few days, my plants have really taken off.

 

A few updated pics from today

Cukes




Squash & zucchini




Peppers




Corn - trying this for the 1st time in bales




Tomatoes

 

You have quite the garden there Kent. I wish I had the space.

From now on I think I will move zuccini and squash a ways from everything else. Those plants are so large and have big leaves they are crowding everything else a bit.

How do you get such nice peppers Kent? Mine always look near death.

What is that around each plant? Looks like potting soil.

 

Rick: yeah, those squash can get pretty big on you.

This year I got a lot of my plants a little early and ended transplanting them from the 4 packs into 4 inch pots, so they had a lot more root system which I think is better.

My peppers in years past always started out slow, looked a little sickly, but then snapped out of it.

This year they have done much better from the beginning.

I put some commercial 0.5-0.5-0.5 manure around each plant, plus some Osmocote slo release pellets.

I like for my plants to get some food each time I water rather than just jolt them all at once with Miracle Gro.

 

I also spread some manure around. How often do you put manure out? RIght now I am putting mg every week.

 

Rick: I probably won't put any more commercial manure out. I'll let the Osmocote do it's thing and do some MG as needed.

 

Has anyone...

gotten fireants in their bales yet. I discovered one last week and 2 more this week..I am so aggravated. I suppose I will be chasing them all summer from bale to bale. If anyone has any suggestions or has dealt with them in their bales...please share or offer any tips.

Thanks!

 

http://www.lowes.com/pd_200943-316-..._Spectracide_42948573984294965815_4294937087_


Try this stuff

 

Thanks Craig,

I'll pick some up and give it a go!