2015 Grow-Along Challenge: Squash Wars - Roll Call!

I prefer to direct sow but because of prolonged cool weather, and our garden being 85 miles from our Atlanta residence, I started Straightneck yellow, Black Beauty zucchini and Tromboncino seeds on a heat mat, in paper cups, this past week and moved them out on the deck as they emerged. They are up and looking good. Seeing as how temps have soared I plan on getting the squash cups in the ground as soon as we get there tomorrow. I'll direct sow Spaghetti, Waltham butternut and Long Pie pumpkin while we are there this weekend.

Here are my squash seedlings just about ready to plant. First I have to plant tomatoes. Squash next week.

Those seedlings looking good beebonnet.

Thanks Lily_Love. I can't wait to get them in the garden. How are yours doing?

Everybody seems to be doing good for begginers, except me.

Two feet from where I planted the Rugosa violina butternut that i thought didn't come up, I just discovered a healthy squash plants in the middle of no where. I didn't know seeds could travel underground like that Therefore I had planted two greek red. Now i have three large butternut vines. I planted three winter luxury vines cause they're gorgoreous. Crookneck squash has passed on. So I planted two Amish pie vines.

Some bug is sucking on two of my cocozelle zucchini plant leaves and there are deformed. I just tried washing the leafs with coffee. Come on zucchini. At least my back up isolated zucchini plant is doing great. I got to beat these bugs to the harvest. If they would just wait their turn. This bug is sucking on my nasturtiam leafs as well.

Lastly, I went ahead and planted three more Rugosa fruilina seed. Those plants grow into small summer trees. If all of these come up; y'all welcome to stop by my you buy we fry squash stand this summer and you can have as much as you want.

This message was edited May 12, 2015 2:12 PM

I am withdrawing "Early Prolific Straightneck" after noticing I had six varieties instead of five. Hope I didn't mess anyone up.

Hi everyone, beebonnet, thanks for asking. I have NO idea how my seedlings are doing for I am currently on vacation in Northern Ca. I will be home soon though, I will then find time to up load some pictures. H.C. from L.A. shared that some bugs are working up on his/her zucchini. That led me to have a suspicion that this Squash War is implying that we newbies are wagering war against the notorious SVB (squash vine borers ) and not against one another? Although, I am a newbie at veggies grower, but I did try to battle THE bugs last year when I tried to raise a crop of exotic Asian squash. FYI, I have good and bad news. The bad news first; the SVB won the war! The good news is I won the battle -- well, sorta. Please let me explain. These 2 pictures to show indeed I did succeed.

This message was edited May 12, 2015 9:56 AM

...cont. My failure was with those winter squash; they failed miserably one by one around middle of the season. What has happened was that those borers bored through the fruits before they were matured. Have I harvested those for cooking earlier during the growing season I could have WON the War then! Now that is the rest of the story.

Oh so this squash bug is voracious. My beans and kale normally get cut worms. But I still get plenty of beans and kale so I just let them grow. The spiders, wasp and birds keep the population in check. If the worms get so crowded they move to the top of the leafs birds will get them in seconds.

I don't see a bug on my squash just the damage. The coffee must remove some because the plant put out new leaves today and they are pretty

News Flash!!!!!! I HARVESTED my first 2 Yellow Finn squash. I'll be posting pictures soon. They were small but I couldn't wait to try them! Delicious! Can't wait for more! :)

Wow, Julie. What were you feeding them? My squash that have germinated are getting their first true leaves.

I started mine indoors in March and planted outdoors mid-April. I live on the coast in MS, so they grew fast once I put them outside. Because we have such a long growing season, I'll plant another crop in July for fall harvest.

I'll get pictures posted later.

Hahaha, just like in Real Estate "Location, location, location", nicely done Julie!

Here are the pictures of Yellow Finn. I also added one of 'Blue Ballet' and 'Black Forest' pumpkin to Plantfiles.

What zone are you in? Just curious....

Good job, Julie. After further thought, I decided to forego this challenge and pass on all the squash bugs I would have. No sense inviting problems.

I am in zone 8b.

Thanks!

Nice squash, froggie. I'll bet they were delicious. I have never seen that variety around here but they look to be the perfect size for harvesting for dinner.

Julie, congrats on the squash harvest already.

I like picking them when they are small. Less seeds and much better flavor. Plus it helps the plant put more into reproducing than growing bigger fruits!

Julie those squash look delicious, Congratulations

Excellent job. Yellowfin is a relatively new zuke and seems to be rapidly gaining in popularity. Hope Terry gives double points for first picture in Plantfiles. Be sure to tell us how its tastes , yields etc. Supposed to be one of the few yellow zukes with resistance to powdery mildew. Ditto on Blue Ballet and Black Forest.

Here goes, my zucchini and squash are making flowers.

On my 3rd picture posted. I think what we're seeing is indeed a squash vine borer bug?

I've answered my own question regarding the possible identity of the bad SVB, the picture above shows the adult moth. Wish me luck guys, on battling these voracious bugs.

Here is my one 'Casper' pumpkin vine, a Luffa & a Calabash that were planted in this deep container. One seedling in this container is 'India Long' calabash.

This message was edited May 16, 2015 4:36 PM

My 2 pumpkin vines which were planted in a raised bed in tilled but in poor garden soil. This shouldn't suprise me when I compared them to their sibling vine which was transplanted in a nutrients rich soil in container (the largest plant directly above), the same day. All plants were fertilized last week. In this group; the squash vine growing rate far surpassed the Pumpkin 'Casper'.

Beautiful pics, LIly! I have the SVB's and I'm fighting them. I have more seeds ready to plant in case they get my plants.
I have a small 'Strawberry Crown' squash fruit growing. Have a 'Tatume' that is just about ready to harvest. And 2 'Black forest' pumpkins forming. Just waiting on my 'Blue Ballet' to begin making fruit!

Thanks Julie, so far you're doing great with yours. I'll try to go back to the garden, inspect all my squash for SVB eggs from underneath the leaves tomorrow.
Ah let me try my pic. again. This time it will be upright. #4677.

I think squash bugs lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves, SVBs lay their eggs on the stem....I think

Lisa, I suspected there is more than the 'chicken or the eggs' question here. I believe the SB, and SVB is one and the same in a different phase of development. These bugs laid the eggs, then the larvae "bore" into the stems of the host plants? I will need to do some research to confirm this hypothesis. lol.
Happy gardening.
Kim from Al.

The squash bug (Anasa tristis) is a bug similar to the stinkbug. http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/insects/find/squash-bugs/ The squash vine borer (Melitta curcurbitae) is the larva of a clearwing moth. http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/insects/find/squash-vine-borers/

Yes, two completely different bugs. I just wasn't sure where each of them laid their eggs. But definitely two different entities.

Lily I think your 3rd pic shows a squash bug not a SVB. They are not different stages of the same bug but 2 completely different pests. I've battled both for yrs.

Whoa, Farmerdill, thanks for such informative /educational websites. But why not from Aggie extension but Mn? The time frames reference for these destructive bugs may vary a little for us home gardeners down South? Thanks again, I am learning so much today. Lisa, you were correct. Those are two different bugs! Thanks I was so wrong.

You can see I got started a bit later than some of you. The first pic is from May 4th. We had 1/4" of rain the next day but have had no rain since even though reports say rain is likely three or four times a week. Very discouraging. I'm able to hand water while here but have to be very careful since we are spring fed with a relatively small storage cistern. The vegetable garden is on the first step of our mountainside. The second step has fruit trees some cane fruit and the third is blueberries growing on the edge of the woods.

The second and third photos are the Zucchetta tromboncino. There are six plants that will be thinned down to three. Because of the narrow steps on our south facing mountainside I covet ground space and grow vertically as much as possible. I've installed two 8'x5' cattle panels horizontally and will add vertical posts with EMT pipe if I need to go higher. If successful, the three plants will have 16' to sprawl. The fourth photo shows a few Black Beauty zucchini. There are three plants at the entry to the rear of the garden and two more flanking posts on either side of the walkway. We use old posts in key spots so I won't run over plants when watering. The last photo has been dubbed "the box of spaghetti" I declared SO 1A and drafted him to construct a box from some old decking we've been replacing. The fence line is right up on the hillside with lots of granite rock. I was able to cultivate about 8" down but the box will give me a better bed and protect the squash from errant dogs. It's 24"x33". I'm hoping to grow two in that space. The spaghetti squash started peeping through the mulch yesterday. Long Pie pumpkins are up and have had a first thinning. I'll post a photo soon. I've grown these on the ground for years but am going to try to grow them vertically this year too. Waltham butternuts were seeded three days ago and are still hiding. That's all for now.

Lily, gardening is a learning experience, for all of us...I don't wish to prove you wrong. It's just much easier to fight the battle if you know the enemy.

As far as pests life cycles for your area. Connect your local county extension agency they should have all that info. They emailed the info to me.

MaypopLaurel, those look like a good beginning. Some of my seedlings are still the same size as yours. Happy growing.

1lisac, thanks for the kind words. I really didn't take any offense whatsoever. I was glad to learn from fellow gardeners whether it's here in my neighborhood, at the county extension, or here on DG. For today progress; I checked for bugs, didn't see any. I watered the plants, and fertilized them. I also set out some SVB trap. :)

I remember when I gardened in CA 20+ years ago I had never even heard of the SVB. Squash was the easiest plant to grow anybody could do it. Not sure when that changed.

Same here, 1lisac. CA gardening was sooo easy. I used to grow lots of zucchini and some of the other squash out there. Here I've had little success due primarily to all the bugs.