ZUCCHINI

[b54red]

My absolute favorite is a yellow zucchini called Butta. It is extremely productive and the plant gets quite large even though it is a bush type. The biggest bonus is that it will get quite large before having much if anything in the way of seeds and the outer skin remains tender until it is quite large or old. I usually plant three plants and give away most of the squash because it produces far more than we can eat. I keep SVBs away by dusting the base of the stem with Sevin dust.

Bill

[tarpalsfan]

Originally Posted by kath

Let me know if you'd like to try Raven, Dark Star, or Midnight Lightening- I'd be happy to put some in the mail tomorrow.

kath

Hi, I ordered Raven Zucchini this season. Did Raven do well in your garden? It is hard to grow Summer squash here. I have hopes for Zucchini this year.

I am a "Kath" also!

[Andrey_BY]

I really like mini-zucchini.

[kath]

Originally Posted by tarpalsfan

Hi, I ordered Raven Zucchini this season. Did Raven do well in your garden? It is hard to grow Summer squash here. I have hopes for Zucchini this year.

I am a "Kath" also!

Hi, Kath!

Raven has been in my garden for at least 8 years and has beat out the competition for earliness, compactness, dark color, taste, resistance to mushiness when cooked, and resistance to early death from bugs/disease...until last year when Midnight Lightning, which, although a larger plant, was still relatively well behaved and was the earliest by a few days, more productive and outlasted Raven by weeks. Another trial between those two along with Dark Star for 2018.

kath

[Black Krim]

Originally Posted by kath

Hi, Kath!

Raven has been in my garden for at least 8 years and has beat out the competition for earliness, compactness, dark color, taste, resistance to mushiness when cooked, and resistance to early death from bugs/disease...until last year when Midnight Lightning, which, although a larger plant, was still relatively well behaved and was the earliest by a few days, more productive and outlasted Raven by weeks. Another trial between those two along with Dark Star for 2018.

kath

If I might ask, does this mean you dont have a problem with that bug (larval stage)that drills thru the vine at the base????

[kath]

Originally Posted by Black Krim

If I might ask, does this mean you dont have a problem with that bug (larval stage)that drills thru the vine at the base????

Yes, we have squash vine borers, but it's hit and miss as to whether or not the plants go down. I get a few started really early and also succession plant them, so that helps. Some years we get more zucchini than others, but many times we have them until fall.

[Black Krim]

I was hoping you had another variety that was immunt to the vine boror like the butternut squash.

[kath]

Originally Posted by Black Krim

I was hoping you had another variety that was immunt to the vine boror like the butternut squash.

Wouldn't that be great?! Sadly, no- zucchini's are the only other squash I try to grow other than butternut for that very reason. Everything else takes too long to mature and I never get ripe fruit from them before they die.

[Father'sDaughter]

I've had borers in my plants every year, but still had successful zucchini harvests. Check the vines every day for frass, and the moment you find any dig out the borer by cutting through the vine the long way and squash(!) it. Then pile dirt over the vine at the surgery site.

I've learned that as long as the vine is not completely severed, the plant will continue to grow like nothing happened. And, if I eliminate all the early borers, I don't have any more problems with them as the season progresses.

[mensplace]

used to be a tar mixture used for sealing grafts. bet that would help around the bottom, especially if dusted with malathion gasp!

[Black Krim]

How about BT instead???

I was thinking about giving a dusting to the stem to get thru the prime borer season. From what I have read, after the moths lay their eggs for the season, the moths die and that is the end of laying for the season. Just the maggot to deal with.

Sealing a wound with dirt seems counter-intuitive. My thought when I have read covering the cut with soil in a number of places is, dang, doesnt that intro disease into the wound?

Mensplace-- have you actually used tar?? Perhas any grafting goop would work???

[mensplace]

What I suggest is a very thin paintable solution that dries instantly and comes in a small, yellow, plastic jar with brush inside that is easy to use. Used to be folks used beeswax and rosin that had to be heated. That would kill the plant. I was thinking of a thick, sealing effect that would be easy to use. The malathion was just for an instant kill additive after the paint.

[pmcgrady]

I went to the local store today, and they had frozen bags of spiral cut Zuchini , kinda like spaghetti squash. Right next to a frozen bag of "riced" cauliflower ...

[Black Krim]

Originally Posted by mensplace

What I suggest is a very thin paintable solution that dries instantly and comes in a small, yellow, plastic jar with brush inside that is easy to use. Used to be folks used beeswax and rosin that had to be heated. That would kill the plant. I was thinking of a thick, sealing effect that would be easy to use. The malathion was just for an instant kill additive after the paint.

That is the stuff Im looking for !!!! For the tree grafting, but I can see it would work nicely to seal the wound on the sqaush vine. Great idea.

Watched a fellow use hot wax to seal after grafting, and I said "ouch" just watching the graft recieve that hot wax.

[Black Krim]

Originally Posted by pmcgrady

I went to the local store today, and they had frozen bags of spiral cut Zuchini , kinda like spaghetti squash. Right next to a frozen bag of "riced" cauliflower ...

The price put a spiral maker on my wish list.