Last year I bought a pop up net (3 X 6 X 4 ft (high) - like a tent from Gardener's Supply.
http://www.gardeners.com/Insect-Pop-Up-Net/VegetableGardening_SpaceIntensive,38-767RS,default,cp.html and grew wonderful broccoli and Brussels Sprouts with no worms or bugs for the first time ever. Slugs were the only issue but they were dealt with by sprinkling Sluggo around. As a result I am thinking this year of growing Parthenocarpic Zucchini varieties in hopes of avoiding the Squash bugs and Borers.
I would like to hear of other's experiences growing parthenocarpic Zucchini inside to avoid bugs and whether they produced well under those circumstances. I have started a list of possible varieties. I have grown Parthenon (Partenon) outdoors in the past but can't remember if it did any better than my other varieties.
Growing Parthenocarpic Zucchini and Cucumbers under cover
I tried growing Parthenon once years ago and got almost nothing for my trouble, so I didn't do it again. I was wondering about newer parthenocarpic varieties, too, because my squash were decimated by squash bugs last summer even though I covered them until they flowered and also used neem spray. It was really discouraging. No problems with cucumbers, though.
Would you use the low or the high pop-up for squash?
This message was edited Dec 15, 2011 7:51 AM
I grew PARTHENON zucchini this year and it was the only one that did very well. It survived the squash vine borer and kept producing under the 100 degrees of our crazy summer.
I will plant it again next year together with Zucchetta Tromboncino.
That's good to know. Did you grow it under cover? I don't have much of a problem with svbs, especially since I started using silver mulch, but the squash bugs have generously stepped in to take their place as destroyers of squash vines. I had good luck with Zucchetta Tromboncino until the sb population exploded.
No I don't use covers.
Here the biggest problem is teh Squash Vine Borer ... almost impossible to grow zucchini at all !
SVBs are our biggest problem also, followed by wind damage. I grow zucchini Segev and cucumber Little Leaf under cover. They both do extremely well. Segev is a grey zucchini, Italian style. Little Leaf is a pickling type cucumber. I grew Thunder cucumber last year and was not impressed by it. For yellow squash, since there aren't any parthenocarpic varieties, I grow those under cover and get lots of baby squash, but only a few larger size. You can always hand pollinate if needed.
The Little Leaf cucumbers are very light green when grown under cover and completely seedless.
Thanks for the input, everyone.
Since I already have the high pop up I will use that for this summer but might consider the lower one for squash. The mistake I made was buying the double tall one (3 X 6') when it would have been better to buy two separate tall ones (3 X 3 ft.) each since then they would both face my walking path with the backs to the fencing. With the longer one the side runs along the fence and I have to sacrifice garden space to allow me to step in and access the two end openings. But the tents work great as long as you reinforce the stakes with extra stakes (bamboo stakes work fine). A high wind or snow can cause them to fold in. Fortunately they are very flexible and recovered nicely after our freak snow fall in October this year!
Interesting to hear your good luck with the silver mulch. I wonder if aluminum foil would work as well. The squash bugs have also been more of a problem or me than the SVB. I grow my squash in Earth Boxes but may use those particular ones for something else this summer and plant the squash in EB's elsewhere to confuse the bugs. Is that even possible (to confuse them!)? LOL
So now I think I will definitely try the Parthenon under cover and hunt for the Segev. Has anyone tried Diva cucumber? That seems very popular and is easily available.
I like Diva cucumber a lot, but of course it's not parthenocarpic.
I noticed that on the Gardeners Supply website only some of those popups have zippers, and some people said that it was a pain to have to take the zipperless ones off and put them back on again to tend the plants. Do you think a lower popup would work for squash? But they apparently have no zippers.
Aluminum foil might help; I know people have used it successfully. It didn't seem to do as much for me as the actual silver mulch, placed over the full 30"-wide row. Neem is supposed to be good for squash bugs and it did get them in check at first, but then I didn't pay as much attention and lost the battle.
GG, perhaps you are confusing Diva with a different cucumber but according to Johnny's Seed (http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-5540-diva.aspx) and other seed companies (http://www.2bseeds.com/cucumberdiva.shtml) Diva produces only female flowers and is parthenocarpic although I have never grown it.
Thanks for bringing to my attention that the tall 3 X 3' pop ups don't have zippered openings. I just assumed they did. I will not order any of those but the lower ones should be easier to manage in terms of lifting off or putting over plants. Yes, I think the low ones would be fine for squash but I will just continue using the 3 X 6 tall one since it is so practical to get into to fertilize or weed around the plants as necessary. I encountered little weeding because I mulch heavily with straw but I did have to get in to sprinkle the Sluggo and harvest the Broccoli. My Brussel Sprouts actually grew taller than the 4 feet of tent and bent over. But that was unusual due, I'm sure, to our excessive rain this summer. The low ones sound excellent for lettuce, arugula and Swiss Chard.
Silver Mulch will be something else I will try as well! Thanks for the tips.
Gardadore, you're absolutely right about Diva; I didn't know that. I've ordered it from a couple of different places and didn't even notice that it was listed as parthenocarpic! It's definitely an excellent cucumber, though.
Great, Diva will be on my list of new varieties to grow next year!