Bill's Garden in June

[JamesL]

Lookin' good Bill! You are going to have a great harvest this year!

[MissS]

What a great garden. All of your grafting has sure paid off. Your plants look terrific.

[b54red]

So far I don't have any definite signs of fusarium on any plant but I do have one that shows a hint of the affects of fusarium but it could just be an unhealthy plant. Usually after my plants have been in the ground for 2 months over half are dying of fusarium so the grafting is definitely a huge plus on the soil borne disease front.

I am just about certain now that one drawback to the grafting is later ripening of fruit. Obviously the rootstock are affecting the speed with which the scion variety grows and ripens fruit. I thought last fall that some of my varieties were awfully late in starting to blush and this is being confirmed this year. With the high temps we are having now some of these varieties should have started to blush nearly two weeks ago. The earliest grafts were planted out 70 days ago and there are at least 10 varieties that always produce ripe fruit for me in that length of time.

I also think that some varieties are producing smaller fruit than would be normal in an un-grafted plant. At first I thought this might be due to the number of fruit but I am seeing this even on some with few fruits on the vine. I don't think this is true for all varieties because some appear to be totally normal in fruit growth and some may even be growing larger than normal. I will have a better picture of this phenomenon as the season progresses.

Bill

[JJJessee]

I'm interested in your conclusions on the graftings' fruit performance, Bill.
I tried one grafting this year. The scion seemed to take, but I set it in the light too soon and lost it.
But I kept the scion stump and it sprouted a sucker on the lip of the stump. It's going on three foot now, so it was partial salvage.

[BucksCountyGirl]

I don't know what kind it is but it isn't nearly as good as the variety I have grown for the past 10 years or so that for some reason Burpees quit carrying. The variety that was so productive and dependable was called Butter Bar hybrid and it was the most vigorous and productive squash I have ever grown. It was far superior to any type of yellow zucchini I have ever seen and I only really needed two or three plants to have all we could eat and give away.

Bill[/QUOTE]

Agreed, Bill! I was so sad they stopped carrying it. I'm having a hard time finding an acceptable substitute but the hunt is on...

[b54red]

Went out and watered again this morning at daylight and found to my delight that a few of my grafted plants are showing fruit with a little bit of blush on them. With the heat we are experiencing now I don't think it will be long til I am picking a good bit of fruit.
Of course that is dependent on the birds, squirrels and mice leaving me some. The squirrel population has exploded around here again and that has me worried but my pack of miniature dachshunds are more worried. They must have sore throats by now with all the useless barking they are doing every morning and afternoon as the squirrels dart from tree to tree well out of their reach. I guess hope springs eternal.

Bill

[b54red]

I started picking on the 19th finally but most were small or split. These are photos of the ones picked from the 19th through today except for the ones we ate and I did give a good bag to my dentist this afternoon. The greener ones needed picking because we have had several inches of rain in the past couple of days and I had a lot of split tomatoes a day before they were fully ripe. Two weeks without a drop of rain then 2 inches in less than 24 hrs is asking for trouble. Took these tonight on the back porch with my phone so they may not be too sharp.

[JJJessee]

Nice haul, Bill. Same rain situation here, but I'm still a couple of weeks from a blush outta my main crop. How do you use your crop?

[efisakov]

I love dachshunds, we have our own 11 years old and still playful girl. How about some pictures of miniature dachshunds.
Your tomatoes look so good. Nice garden. My are just starting to set fruits.

[LMinAL]

Wow!!! Really nice Bill. I'm just getting a few blushing here in central Alabama. Glad all your hard work with grafting and such has been successful!!!

[MissS]

What a nice harvest. It seems that your grafting was well worth the effort. Even if the fruits are showing up smaller you still have fruits to harvest. How do they taste? Do they taste the same as if they were not grafted?

[Dewayne mater]

Awesome! I can't believe how far behind you guys are this year compared to N. Tx. I've been picking for a month and probably have picked 85% of all that I"m going to pick for now. Squirrels are killing me too. They cleaned Solar Flare plant that had no fruit even to blushing stage. They love that tomato! We've had several days of cooler weather and rain, so, maybe I'll get lucky and get some late fruit set.

Nice job.

Dewayne Mater

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Dewayne mater

Awesome! I can't believe how far behind you guys are this year compared to N. Tx. I've been picking for a month and probably have picked 85% of all that I"m going to pick for now. Squirrels are killing me too. They cleaned Solar Flare plant that had no fruit even to blushing stage. They love that tomato! We've had several days of cooler weather and rain, so, maybe I'll get lucky and get some late fruit set.

Nice job.

Dewayne Mater

You might be getting some rat damage. They tend to come back to the same area every night. Squirrels also can do a lot of damage especially in a dry spell. You might want to set out a bait station and in a few days you will know if it is rats because you will find one or two dead ones in your garden. You can locate them by the smell.

Besides my dachshunds I am keeping my sons two miniature dachshunds for a few weeks while they get ready to transfer to another location. You should here them every morning and evening barking at the squirrels in the trees. They all got out of the fence this morning and had to round them up. It's kinda like herding cats. They have been ignoring my electric fence lately so I guess I'll have to turn it on again to remind them to stay out of the garden. Only problem with that is I'm the one who is always getting shocked by it. I've never considered dachshunds to be that bright but they seem to be one up on me when it comes to the electric fence.

Bill

[Dewayne mater]

Bill - I'm 99% sure its squirrels because I keep catching them in the act! At first they were happy with sungolds and black cherry. They can eat one and spit out the skin in no time flat! Then they discovered Solar Flare and lost the taste for anything else!

I keep finding 3/4 eaten tomatoes on top of my fence too and almost was able to snap a pic earlier this week of 3/4 eaten green tomato next to a squirrel holding a green tomato on top of a fence. At least eat the whole thing before starting the next one!

Also, I put out rat traps which have been undisturbed. I can't use poison because my Maltese poodle Waffles likes to hang out in the garden under the shade cloth and I could never forgive myself if she ate rat poison!

I haven't pulled out the bird netting, but may have to, since I think that'll slow down the furry tailed rats!

Enjoy your harvest!

Dewayne mater

[b54red]

Dewayne, if it is squirrels then a good pellet rifle is the only solution I'm sorry to say. I killed over 50 one year when they were raiding my garden badly. I fear they are experiencing another one of those population explosions here again and I may have to seriously start thinning them if they start raiding my garden again. So far they have done little damage and I can live with that and so can they.

I wasn't talking about just putting out rat bait. I was talking about using a bait station that is weighted down so nothing bigger than a rat can get to the poison. I have lots of small miniature dachshunds that regularly venture into the garden and have never had a problem. The biggest thing you have to worry about with a bait station is the dogs eating the poisoned rat but mine don't have any inclination to do that. They will sometimes pick them up and put them at the back door for me though.

Hopefully you are only dealing with squirrels because as much damage as they cause they are amateurs at destroying fruit when compared to a pack of rats.

Bill