Has Anybody in this Class ever had a Zucchini Squash Failure?

You are Excused

Why Do We Vegetable Garden?

Save Money? Therapy? Bragging rights? Tastes better than what we can purchase in

the market Specific varieties

– When we want them

EARLY SEASON VEGETABLES

Onions Potatoes

Onions

Purchase early February

Plant Valentine Day Weekend– “Nothing says “Love” like Onions”

At this time also pick-up your potatoes

Onion Varieties

Classed by day length – Short, Intermediate, or Long Day– Short Day onions are best suited for here

Granex Onion– OSO Sweet– Vidalia– Maui– Sweet Imperial

Onions

Texas 1015 Y– Will be sweet where ever grown

Red Onions?

Onion Production

Onions have a very small root system– Drip Irrigation is very useful

Space plants far enough to apart to allow for maximum size

Fertilize with Nitrogen Fertilizer– 1 cup every 20 foot of row every 2-3 weeks

Onion Production

What part of the plant does nitrogen promote growth

Leaves Each leaf is a ring The more leafs, the more rings, the more

rings, the larger the onion

Onion Harvest

Do you need to step on the tops?

No, they will go over on their own– Bulbing is initiated by day length

Dig 7-10 days after tops go over– Store in shady area

Potatoes

You say Patato, I say Potato, let call the whole thing off.

Varieties– Yukon Gold– Red LaSoda– Norland

Both are poor eye producers– Purchase 2-3 weeks before planting

Potato Production

To Callous or not Callous, that is the questions

The Bill Geer potato famine of 1999

Potato Production

Till ground Just barely cover the potatoes with soil Put on thin layer of mulch to keep the soil

“mellow” Lay out drip hose

Potato Production

Do you scalp your lawn? Steal from the neighbors Cover the potato plants weekly Be sure to stockpile enough “Dry Grass”

clipping Plants will set potatoes in the clipping and

you will never have to “dig” potatoes again

Broccoli

Transplants are expensive– One head per plant

Start your own transplants Premium Crop is well adapted Green Goliath Avoid Green Comet A better Fall crop

Cabbage

$.15/Pound – ‘nuff said

Edible Pod Peas

Like Broccoli – better suited for the Fall Powdery Mildew Work well on Hog Panel

Asparagus

Mary Martha Washington – the old standard bearer

UC 157 F1 New varieties

– Jersey Giant– Jersey Knight

Why are they better ? Because the are ALL MALE

Cucumbers

Perform well on a 15 foot hog panel

Burpless slicers are well adapted Dasher II is an excellent choice

Cantaloupe

Ambrosia and Magnum .45 are well adapted Magnum .45 holds up to heat well Pick at full slip

Cottonseed mulch works well for vine crops

Peppers

Are all your Bell Peppers perfect w/4 lobes? Or do you have the “Okie 1 Lobe”? Poor pollination on Bell varieties Hot varieties are excellent performers

– Usually late season

Sweet Corn

You can buy corn for 8-10 ears for a dollar– why are you growing it?

In the past 30 years great changes have been made

“SuperSweet” varieties Warmer soil temperatures needed Only 1 variety can be grown at a time

– Or stagger plantings by 12 days

The Vegetable Garden

Insects Diseases Abiotic problem

– Not caused by insect or disease

TomatoesDiseases

Main Disease is fusarium wilt

Plants turn yellow to brown progresses up the plant

Not control Purchase varieties that are

resistant to fusarium race 1 & 2

Resistance not immunity

Curly Beet Top Virus

Over 80% of the varieties at Bixby

Been in the west for years

Leafhopper is the vector

Plants have severe leaf curl

Stop growing

CBTV

Purpling of the veins Late season less

apparent Outlook?

Tomato Insects Spider Mite

Goldening of the upper surface of the leaf

Hot weather lovers Soap and oil solutions

Tomato InsectsFruit and Horn Worm

Both can be controlled with B.T. products

Usually only on horn worm per plant– Can hand pick– Usually early in the

season

Tomato InsectsStink Bugs

Stink bugs are predatory

Lots of stink bugs due to large moth flights in spring

Stink bugs feed on the larvae

Stink Bug Damage

Unsightly– Reduces salability

Still edible Area damaged may not

be as tender

Abiotic ProblemsBlossom End Rot

Not enough calcium in the fruit

Plant is growing too fast and calcium is going into foliage and not the fruit

Get calcium to plant Fluctuations in

available water?

Abiotic ProblemsBlossom Drop

Tomatoes do not set fruit well when the night temperature is below about 60 degrees or above about 70 degrees

Or when the day temperature is about 92 degrees

Or if the grower has applied excess nitrogen Blossom set spray only help with low

temperature blossom drop

Abiotic ProblemsCatfacing

Incomplete pollination Usually do to low

temperature at pollination time

Abiotic ProblemsTomato Leaf Roll

Do not confuse with herbicide damage

A curling or rolling of the leaves

Occurs in hot weather– Or after cultivation– Or after severe pruning

Abiotic ProblemsHormonal Herbicide Damage

Vapor Drift Can travel great

distances Tomato is VERY!

Sensitive If early enough and

replacement plants are still available – replace them

Birds and Cracking

Pick tomatoes when they start to break color Ripen them indoors Will eliminate bird damage Better color and flavor Even watering will lessen cracking

Cucurbits

Squash Cucumbers Watermelons Cantaloupe

DiseasesMosaic Virus

Spread by aphids, squash bugs and cucumber beetle

Affects most all cucurbits

Symptoms appear on 2nd to 4th true leaf but no on older leaves

No control – a virus

DiseasesBacterial Wilt

Cucumber beetle is the vector

Rapid wilt and death of the plant

Gummy ooze from cut stem

InsectsSquash Bug and Cucumber Beetle

No they do not come with the seed

Both are vectors of many wilts and viruses

Control when they look like small gray ticks

Once Adults 2 bricks or thermo nuclear device

InsectsSquash Vine Borer

2 Generation per year Stagger or delay

plantings Mound dirt around base

of plants Promote adventitious

roots Remove larvae

Delayed Fruit Set

Very common in cucurbits

Most set only male flowers for the first several weeks

Female flowers have ovary at their base

Poor Pollination

Both male and female flowers present

Poorly shaped fruit Pollinate with water

color brush Pollinate early in the

morning

My Potato Gots Tomatoes

Under favorable conditions they will set fruit

Do not save for seed – will not breed true

Toxic – remove so children will not eat

Before We Leave The Garden

A large majority of questions will be on tomatoes and cucurbits

Be aware that mites and aphids can attack almost all warm season vegetable.

Other odds and ends bugs– Asparagus beetle– Cutworms– Loopers

Questions?