My poor zucchini as been stuck under a row cover for most of its life. This is the first year I've successfully kept the vine borer out of the zucchini. Of course as you can see above the zucchinis have outgrown their cage and were trying to break out.
I took their row cover off today. It was pretty hard to remove the clips and such on one side as that side is just a wall of cucumbers. I had to get some string up to keep the weak branches from blocking my path totally. I think they are weaker than normal as they don't see a lot of wind under a row cover. Also the row covers holds them up.
Most of the leaves were fine and not showing any powdery mildew or damage, but a few looked like this. They were being farmed by the ants. The good insects can't get under at all to get rid of the aphids so they really took over on certain leaves. I cut them off and tossed them into the compost
I've only had a handful of zucchini so far this year. I'm wondering if the row cover is worth it. I just can't keep the flowers pollinated well and the plants don't grow as well underneath the cover (unlike other plants that seem to thrive under a cover). It won't be long before powdery mildew takes over the plants and they all die off. So do I get a better harvest this way? Or just a later one? Probably the latter. And the cover is a lot of work. I think next year I won't bother.
On better news I succeeded in forcing my fennel to flower. A few weeks ago I cut off some of their roots about 6" from the plant. Not all the way around or anything, but just enough to stress them out a bit and convince them it was time. I want those fennel seeds. And boy are they sending up blooms. Tons from each plant. I only have five plants. I'm hoping this is enough to keep them viable for a lot of years. Seed to Seed recommends ten plants if I remember correctly (not a sure thing). I've only got half that. I guess I'll find out down the road.
The "to cover or not to cover" dilemma is one with which I often wrestle too. I find that covering the plants adversely affects their ventilation, light levels and watering.
ReplyDeleteHopefully your zucchini will relish its freedom and produce an abundant late crop. I've had mostly good results with my coverings so far this year, the ants and aphids do take advantage but not to the extent that I thought they would. My chard is surprisingly aphid and leaf miner free and my cutting greens are thriving in the less intense light.
ReplyDeleteI'm forever the optimist when it comes to covering the zucchini. My plants didn't grow that well undercover either but I feel that it has to do with inadequate bed prep....or so I keep telling myself. I'm just so thrilled to be vine borer free - giving that up would be very difficult.
ReplyDeleteI tried to grow zucchini in my greenhouse last year and had the same challenge of trying to pollinate the flowers myself - much easier when plants are in the open air so the bees can get to them!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your zucchini dilemma. The vine borers don't seem to have affected my plants but all of my delicata squash plants look dead. I'm seen the vine borers in my garden but my plants seems fine. I started mine a bit early this year in soil blocks and they got off to a really good start before the cucumber beetles came.
ReplyDeleteI had the exact same netting/aphid problem with my broccoli & brussels sprouts. I bought tall hoops & netting to allow the brassicas to grow to full height and keep the cabbage moths off, only to discover many thousands of aphids on the lower leaves. A few mornings of hosing off the lower leaves, then replacing all the netting led me to mentally compute the hourly cost of the food, reflect on the tyranny of vegetable gardens, and finally, to realize the netting was keeping all the beneficial aphid predators out. Off came the hoops & netting, gone are the aphids. But I don't know now what I'll do with the netting next year.
ReplyDeleteI started my summer squash late this year since the squash bugs invaded my garden killing the winter squash and cucumber, but they are somewhat under control now, hope they don't kill the summer squash and melons.
ReplyDeleteAt least the vine borer is one pest we don't have to contend with ... yet!
ReplyDeleteI had the same problem when covering the squash and had limited success with hand pollination. Also, unless I had the edges very well sealed, the squash bugs could just crawl in under the cover. I didn't cover this year and so far no SVB and only a few squash bugs.
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