bleach spray

[b54red]

Originally Posted by jtjmartin

Bill:

This has been - by far - the best ever season for squash thanks to your advice on:

1) bleach spray - it's worked wonders
2) sevin around the stem for vine borers

I've never had such pretty, big plants. And, they are still alive and not wilting from the borers.

My wife requested more squash this year - she's gotten it with more to come.

Jeff

P.S. Feel free to send some rain this way.

I'm glad it has helped. I don't know why so many people are so adverse to doing such a simple trick as dusting the lower stem of squash plants with Sevin to protect against SVB. Since you are only putting it on the lower stem and the mulch or soil right next to the stem you won't be consuming it and it doesn't bother the bees that love squash blossoms. The diluted bleach spray came in real handy down here this year on the squash with all the rain we had. I never had any mold on mine or SVB. I finally had to pull my plants because we were very tired of squash and the plants had gotten huge, taking over too much of my garden.

I don't know if you and your wife like yellow zucchini but if you do you should try one called Butta. It makes like crazy and gets very big before any seeds develop and it tastes very similar to a yellow crookneck. It has a creamy very light yellow color that doesn't turn that dark yellow color and the skin remains very soft and thin.


I would have loved to send you some of that rain we were having a few weeks ago. Since then it has been more reasonable in the amount that we have been getting but the problem has been the frequency of light rains increasing the diseases and humidity. We only got about one and a half inches of rain in the past week but it rained at least 7 or 8 different times.

Bill

[jtjmartin]

Originally Posted by b54red

I'm glad it has helped. I don't know why so many people are so adverse to doing such a simple trick as dusting the lower stem of squash plants with Sevin to protect against SVB. Since you are only putting it on the lower stem and the mulch or soil right next to the stem you won't be consuming it and it doesn't bother the bees that love squash blossoms. The diluted bleach spray came in real handy down here this year on the squash with all the rain we had. I never had any mold on mine or SVB. I finally had to pull my plants because we were very tired of squash and the plants had gotten huge, taking over too much of my garden.

I don't know if you and your wife like yellow zucchini but if you do you should try one called Butta. It makes like crazy and gets very big before any seeds develop and it tastes very similar to a yellow crookneck. It has a creamy very light yellow color that doesn't turn that dark yellow color and the skin remains very soft and thin.


I would have loved to send you some of that rain we were having a few weeks ago. Since then it has been more reasonable in the amount that we have been getting but the problem has been the frequency of light rains increasing the diseases and humidity. We only got about one and a half inches of rain in the past week but it rained at least 7 or 8 different times.

Bill

Bill:

Butta is on the list for next year!

[b54red]

I am going out in a few minutes and fertilize the heck out of my butchered tomato plants and see if I can get some more growth and perk them up after all the leaf removal they have been through lately. It may be a waste of good fertilizer because we got another good rain day before yesterday. Fighting the persistent summer diseases with these afternoon showers is beginning to feel futile. It is hard in this heat to get up the energy to spray the plants with fungicide only to have it washed off a day later or an hour later. Oh well enough complaining for one morning. Back to the garden I go.

Bill

[crmauch]

Bill,

In your sprays you might want to consider a 'spreader-sticker' to add to your spray mix, it might let you have two mild rains before all the chemical is washed off, rather than just one.

But you'd need to check whether a 'spreader-sticker' is compatible with your particular spray.

Best of luck and hope you are feeling better.

[brownrexx]

Originally Posted by b54red

I'm glad it has helped. I don't know why so many people are so adverse to doing such a simple trick as dusting the lower stem of squash plants with Sevin to protect against SVB. Since you are only putting it on the lower stem and the mulch or soil right next to the stem you won't be consuming it and it doesn't bother the bees that love squash blossoms. Bill

To each his own but I garden organically and so do not use products like Sevin. I am happy that it is being applied in a way that is not hurting the bees but I do not know that it is not penetrating the plant stem or being absorbed by the roots and leaving a pesticide residue in the fruits. I prefer not to use it at all and I still get more than enough squash for my family.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by brownrexx

To each his own but I garden organically and so do not use products like Sevin. I am happy that it is being applied in a way that is not hurting the bees but I do not know that it is not penetrating the plant stem or being absorbed by the roots and leaving a pesticide residue in the fruits. I prefer not to use it at all and I still get more than enough squash for my family.

Use Surround on the stems or foil.
Worth

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Use Surround on the stems or foil.
Worth

I tried the foil thing and it was only effective on about 50% of the plants the two years I used it. I guess the small worms must be able to get under it or something but somehow they got in the stems covered with foil for the first 6 to 8 inches.

Bill

[HoustonHeat]

Bill

Have you seen and effects on insects? Good or Bad bugs?

[b54red]

Originally Posted by HoustonHeat

Bill

Have you seen and effects on insects? Good or Bad bugs?

I assume you are asking about the Sevin. I have seen no bad affects on any of the good bugs like honeybees that flock to my squash blossoms every morning right after the sun comes up. The only affect I see on SVBs is that I don't see them anymore. I would not use Sevin on the whole plant because it would have a terrible affect on bees that love squash more than any other thing in the garden.

I have used Sevin on cucumbers and squash a few times when the pickle worms got really bad early but I would try to spray just the fruits as much as possible. Since then I have found a better poison without it being as much a threat to the good bugs and that is a mix of Permethrin, DE and Dawn which I still try to spray mostly on the fruits. I tried it for the first time this year and was amazed how well it worked and since it was sprayed late in the evening there was no contact with bees and little with the other good bugs because most of them seemed be on the plants in the following days but the pickle worms almost disappeared overnight. If sprayed on the whole plant and all the leaves and blossoms it will devastate the insect population good and bad. I only do that to tomatoes with spider mites where it is a life and death struggle and nothing else has worked so well at getting spider mites stopped.

Bill

[HoustonHeat]

Bill actually I was asking about the bleach spray? Thanks for the info. I will try the spray.

[tryno12]

Bill, how do you buy the DE, as in Swimming Pool DE filter media? Thanks
Pete

[b54red]

Originally Posted by HoustonHeat

Bill actually I was asking about the bleach spray? Thanks for the info. I will try the spray.

I have never seen any harmful affects of the bleach spray on either good or bad insects. I guess it is just too weak to bother them much. I suppose if you added enough bleach to the mix it would make some insects sick but then it would also damage plant foliage at that strength.

Bill

[b54red]

Originally Posted by tryno12

Bill, how do you buy the DE, as in Swimming Pool DE filter media? Thanks
Pete

Pete, I believe the swimming pool filter grade is not food grade and has too much silica in it. I bought the 50 lb bag from this company online. It is rather cheap but the shipping is fairly high for that much. There are lots of other vendors selling it so it is easy to find online.

https://www.earthworkshealth.com/dia...arth-products/

Hope this is of help.
Bill

[tryno12]

Bill, would it need to be food grade to use on flower beds and vegie garden if one washed the fruit(tomatoes) well before consuming?

Pete

[RayR]

Pool grade DE is calcined at high temperatures which transforms a lot of the silicon dioxide into crystalline silica, that dust is dangerous to breath in. Only use the natural food grade DE dust in your garden.