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slowpoke_gardener

melons died also

slowpoke_gardener
11 years ago

I am thinking that insects spread disease that killed my melons also. The melons we ate were pretty good, but I just pulled all of them and took most up to feed to the chickens. I also think I need to get some kind of fertilizer to feed my plants, they really seem to get tired toward the end of the season. This is one large hill of Crimson sweet. All the ones that busted because of the rain have already been disposed of.

This is one hill that was planted in my experimental garden.

Larry

Comments (6)

  • Macmex
    11 years ago

    Larry,

    That looks like a good harvest!
    I'm beginning to wonder if I'll get any winter squash, this year. First the heat and drought stunted them, and now, ... squash bugs have swarmed them. It's been a tough year.

    George
    Tahlequah, OK

  • susanlynne48
    11 years ago

    Those look really, really good to me, Larry! One hill? Wow! I am just now getting some little melons on another of my melon plants, but only one on another variety. Keep in mind that all 3 of my varieties are dwarf plants/melons. Yellow Doll Watermelon, Minnesota Midget canteloupe, and Windsor pumpkins. I check them frequently for SB eggs.

    I have been using Jobe's Organic Tomato and Vegetable Food, and I think I like it better than the Espoma. It is a 2-7-4 formula with micronutrients and something called "archaea" which breaks down organic materials for more abundant and faster results. Archeaes are organisms that survive to work in extreme environments, and could Oklahoma BE more extreme? LOL! Anyway, it is proving to be more beneficial in my potting mix AND my soil than the Espoma products, and I use it on almost everything in the garden.

    Susan

  • ezzirah011
    11 years ago

    lookin' tasty to me!

    I tried to start some melons this year but the heat got 'em.

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    11 years ago

    Larry, That looks like a superb watermelon harvest, and I am sorry that the disease problems have plagued your cucurbits this summer. Most years I have to grow all my cucurbits under floating row cover from the day they sprout to keep the cucumber beetles off of them. Cucumber beetles were scarce here this summer, so my plants remained pretty healthy.

    This is the first time in a long time that I've gotten a great melon harvest without using floating row covers. I kept saying I would throw the covers over the plants as soon as I saw cucumber beetles, but then I didn't even see a cucumber beetle until about 10 days ago and it was so late in the season that I didn't bother dragging out the row cover to cover up the existing melon vines. I think they are large enough and healthy enough that the small number of beetles cannot hurt them enough now to ruin the crop.

    I do top-dress my beds with Espoma Garden-Tone in July because the plants do start seeming like they need a boost at mid-summer. If I was a more diligent gardener, I'd top-dress them with an organic fertilizer at least twice a month, but I am not diligent about doing that. If I have any finished compost at that time, I'll layer it onto the beds too, using a small rake to pull back the mulch and put down the compost and then push the mulch back over the compost. I have to do this cautiously as snakes tend to like to hide in the mulch. Sometimes I feed with liquid seaweed which always seems to give them a good boost. I like to use liquid fish emulsion, but have to be careful with the timing. It has a definite odor to it that attracts raccoons, so for me it is better used earlier in the season than later.

    Susan, The Jobe's sounds interesting. I may give it a shot next year. I order my Espoma in bulk, about 300 lbs. at a time, and I am down to my last two bags, and expect to use them this fall. Next year I can try something new. I have not liked Espoma as much since they changed the formula about 2 or 3 years ago, and it pains me to say that, but I do believe their new formula is not good enough.

    George, It has been a hard year for the winter squash and pumpkins. I still have Seminole going, and some of the others produced earlier, but they have struggled with the heat, drought and pests. The Seminole looks great but hasn't ripened any fruit yet, which isn't unexpected. It went into the early corn bed after we harvested the early corn, so it got a bit of a late start. The vines have lots of squash, if they only get a chance to ripen them. The squash bugs were very late to arrive here, but they're here now.

    Dawn

  • slowpoke_gardener
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Susan, this was a large hill. I tried tilling in about 80 lbs. of composted manure, I then raked it up in a donut shaped hill about the size of a large truck tire. The hole in the donut was lined with shredded oak leaves, I then filled the rest of the donut hole with oak shaving and then mulched every thing with old hay. I used the hole as a little pond because I have very tight hard soil that wont hold much water. The pond would hold water and keep it from running off giving it more time to soak in. Its a hard way to try to grow anything, but this is just my second year of using this spot, so it is not amended very well yet.

    Dawn, I have had huge supply of bad bugs this year, I have never had more grasshoppers, blister beetles and cucumber beetles than I have had this year.

    George, I can relate to you problem. I did not even try to grow any type of squash this year. It seemed in the past that I could not keep the squash bugs off of them.

    Larry

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    11 years ago

    Larry,

    I think it is the drought because it was that way here last year, and last year my drought was much worse than it was this year. This year there were fewer bugs than last year. I hope that offers you some hope of a better year next year.

    Even though I am not happy with the number of pests this year, last year was worse, and 2005 and 2003 were much worse. I think a lot of it is that in hotter weather, insects reproductive systems churn out offspring more quickly. Some insects that can take 3 or 4 weeks to produce offspring in regular weather can churn out offspring in 5 days in really hot weather. For example, in high temperatures, spider mites are born pregnant and then can lay eggs when they are only 3 to 4 days old. I think that's why we cannot defeat them....because more and more just keep coming.

    Dawn

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