By gisette
Cukes, Zukes, and Melons '09
Submitted on Sun, 2009/05/10 - 12:45pm
Last updated on Thu, 2009/10/15 - 9:00pm
Posted in
These started life in the kozy coats experiment, but didn't fare too well in that program... I still have a Lebanese squash (Magda) to plant out next week - it was very slow to sprout, but doing well.
2009-05-13: Planted out Magda zuke.
Note night-time temps down to 40°F past two nights (days gorgeous, 60's). Unprotected cukes seem fine.
2009-05-19: Planted new cucumber pearl seeds. Wrapped plants to protect from frost, but the pearl cuke stem broke most of the way through. It kept growing... I just didn't want to keep a plant with so badly broken a stem.
2009-05-21: Removed wall'o'water from cantaloupes. The older one is still about 4" tall and working on buds... Hopefully they'll grow faster with all the plastic out of the way...
2009-06-02: First male cantaloupe flower open, on 9 week melon.
2009-06-16: Female flowers open on zucchini, oldest melon, and tendergreen cuke.
2009-07-04: Planted backup seeds of Magda zuke, Burpee hybrid compact zuke, and Burpee sweeter yet cucumber. They're vying for slots in a big pot, or where the current Magda zuke or cantaloupes are not performing so well.
Harvest tallies:
Magda squash (Lebanese zucchini) : 9, first July 4th.
Japanese cuke : 8, first July 4th.
Tendergreen cuke : 18, first July 5th
Pearl cuke : 2, first July 24 (runty), removed 8/14
Pearl cuke backup (from garage) : 11, first August 12th, removed 9/14
Burpee compact zucchini backup : 1, first August 30th, age 8 weeks, removed 9/18
Cantaloupes: 0, gave up July 17th
2009-07-05: Removed 14 week cantaloupe vine - it failed, possibly bacterial wilt.
2009-07-06: Finally pollinating zuke - really does open male flowers until 10 am...
2009-07-10: Female flower open on 2nd (11 week) melon vine.
2009-07-11: First female flower open on little cucumber pearl vine.
2009-07-15: Another melon vine started wilting as soon as it set some melons...
2009-07-18: Transplanted out 2 week Burpee hybrid zucchini and Sweeter Yet cucumber, plus seeds to grow two more Japanese cucumbers.
2009-07-24: First cucumber pearl (outdoor) - runty, but about 2 months.
2009-07-30: Removed the magda zuke, due to overwhelming fungus problems.
2009-08-03: Moved 6-week Pansy Preservation Project cucumber pearl outside for more light, as the first couple set cukes shriveled.
2009-09-14 / 18: Removed garage-started cucumber pearl, 2nd zucchini, and original Japanese cucumber. All beat.
2009-10-04: Removed youngest Japanese and sweeter yet cucumber plants. Each had one stunted cuke on the vine that I ate underripe. Mid-July was apparently too late to plant backup cukes (this year).
2009-10-15: Picked last tendergreen cuke, oversmall. It's sleeting.
Sat, 2009/05/16 - 10:25pm
#1
Offline
Sat, 2009/05/23 - 5:55pm
#2
Both my cucumbers had a stem broken, folded over, and kept growing & produced!
Sat, 2009/05/23 - 6:31pm
#3
Oh, it looked good to keep going! I didn't remove it until today. It kept growing quite well. I just didn't want to continue with its stem broken at this point. Too big an impediment to it thriving, and little loss, since it was such a young plant.
Sat, 2009/05/23 - 6:44pm
#4
Since I'm already on this page...
Removed the wall o water from the cantaloupes in order to plant new seedlings. Was going to put a cucumber there, but we're really looking forward to cantaloupe, so... a staggered cantaloupe supply would be nice. And they produce a lot less than cukes.
Sat, 2009/05/30 - 3:31pm
#5
Sat, 2009/06/06 - 9:15pm
#6
All look happy, growing along. Cantaloupe has first male flowers, magda squash (Lebanese zucchini) should pop some flowers any day now. Added some bamboo arcs - will try to train the cantaloupe to climb.
Sat, 2009/06/13 - 8:10pm
#7
Sun, 2009/06/14 - 11:20am
#8
I met my first cucumber beetle today, all bright and stripey. 
He was on a lettuce on the third floor balcony. Digging out the new garden from the lawn, I've run into a few grubs, and killed them. It seems early for this nuisance.
Mon, 2009/06/15 - 12:37pm
#9
Hi Gisette,
Looking good! That doesn't look like powdery mildew - some squash have mottled leaves. (I just learned that a couple weeks ago over in the earth box forum). I'll try and track down the link. The zucch I'm growing will have mottled leaves - it's also sets fruit without needing pollination. I'm keeping it under floating row cover for the duration. I detest squash bugs.
http://www.jungseed.com/dp3.asp?c=148&SKU=03526
Beth
Mon, 2009/06/15 - 12:40pm
#10
Mon, 2009/06/15 - 8:37pm
#11
Thanks, Beth! Yeah, that sounds right - the leaves do look perfectly healthy, and the whiter areas look like clear patterning. I've just never grown a zuke with patterned leaves before.
I hate squash bugs and cucumber beetles, too. Alas, the zuke is kinda hanging off a balcony. Not sure how I'd bag it for protection. 
Sat, 2009/06/20 - 1:52pm
#12
The cucumber beetles have definitely arrived, and are doing some damage to the cantaloupes. I've only seen one squash bug so far (not near the squash) and killed it. Seems early for this nonsense... It's pouring rain for another 4-5 days, so even the not-terribly-effective possible treatments, aren't really possible. Did put out fresh ant traps/spikes to cut down on aphid distribution. But short of finding row cover, not a lot I can do right now about the beetles, except kill the ones I can catch manually.
Oddly, I'm not seeing cucumber beetles on the cucumbers. Maybe this they-avoid-Japanese-cukes thing really works?
Sat, 2009/06/20 - 2:18pm
#13
I went ahead and ordered some floating row cover, as Beth uses. Worth a try...
Also pencilled in starting the 2nd planting - indoors - in a couple weeks. 
Really liked that suggestion of Beth's... There is time in the season to grow two batches of the zukes and cukes. Though probably not melons.
Sat, 2009/06/27 - 2:29pm
#14
Got and deployed the floating row cover (thanks for idea, Beth!) on my melons, and it seems to be helping - getting lots more not-gnoshed flowers. I'm not convinced any female flowers have set fruit yet, but at least they have a fighting chance!
I'm about 90% sure I've got some set cukes, maybe 75% sure on the zuke front, 25% on cantaloupe.
Thu, 2009/07/02 - 1:38pm
#15
Hi Gisette,
Everything is looking nice and healthy! Has your weather improved? I love the floating row cover. If I could, I'd cover the whole garden in it 
.
Beth
Thu, 2009/07/02 - 7:35pm
#16
Hi, Beth! Yes, it's been warm and sunny days, cool (but not below 60) nights - perfect. They are much happier! I'm not sure what gives at the moment with the melons, though. The row cover gave them a break from cucumber beetles chomping their flowers, but I'm not convinced they've set any melons yet. 
Now some vines are wilting, some are light green, some dark green. I took the row cover off for tonight, we'll see what happens. Maybe I should lop them down to one vine apiece.
Have some lovely cukes developing. 
Managed to decrease the ant army traipsing through the zukes. Hopefully they'll set some fruit now... It's so sad, seeing un-fertilized zukes go yellow.
Sat, 2009/07/04 - 2:42pm
#17
Good news - I'll probably eat a cuke tonight. 
They're still a little small, but I'm eager and curious. Middling - I may try a zuke, too, though I'm unsure any have been pollinated, some might be big enough to eat. I've started to pull their curled-up flowers off rather than let them fall off naturally, thinking maybe it's soggy flower that's making fruit rot? Read up on the problem on the nets. They suggest pollinating before 10 am. Very few male flowers on this plant... Bad news - one of the cantaloupe vines seems to be dying, and zero fruit have set. Not even any female flowers today. The cantaloupe may be a lost cause...
Planted backup magda zucchini and sweeter yet cucumber (4th variety) today under the seedling lights. I do have one large pot left, and may decide to give up on the cantaloupe.
Edit: I went ahead and tried one of the probably-unfertilized-but-not-yet-rotten zucchini. Raw, it's pretty boring, but it sauteed up with butter and onions well enough. So, can just eat them this way if none of them ripen. (It was about 4" long and plump.) But I think I'll add a plain old "compact bush" zucchini to the backup seeds, in case these don't start setting fruit better. ('Compact bush' meaning something like a 4' hemisphere in zucchini-land...)
Sat, 2009/07/04 - 7:05pm
#18
Cukes are pickled smaller than that, so no reason not to eat it at any stage you want. Enjoy it!
Sat, 2009/07/04 - 7:13pm
#19
Oh, I did! YUMMMMM!
The Japanese cuke was wonderful! I was worried, after last year's Walmart "Japanese cucumber", that there might be multiple varieties... But every cuke I had in Japan, and every pack of cucumber seeds I've had someone bring me back from Japan, are the same excellent cucumber! Oh, it's been a few years! Yummmm!
And the other one is ready any time I want to eat it, too! Though I'll probably try the tendergreen cuke tomorrow, and those are also delicious.
The probably-unpollinated zucchini didn't have much flavor raw. Was OK sauteed with butter and onion and dill. Planted another regular-old-zucchini for a midseason replacement, in case the Lebanese zukes don't improve performance. These are supposed to be a bit nuttier and more flavorful than regular-old-zuke. That may require pollination and a least a little bit of ripening... But it's nice to know I can just eat them as essentially-very-fat-flower-buds in the meantime.
Sat, 2009/07/04 - 7:56pm
#20
Yea!!!!
Sun, 2009/07/05 - 12:19pm
#21
Removed the 14 week cantaloupe vine - died of wilt. 
Still no more female flowers on the other two melon vines. They're back under row cover.
I think what I read online was true re the male zucchini flowers - they close by 10 am. 
Need to get up earlier, I guess...
Mon, 2009/07/06 - 7:52am
#22
Hi Gisette,
Congrats on your first cuc! Nothing like homegrown, fresh off the vine cucs!
Beth
Mon, 2009/07/06 - 11:04am
#23
Yay! Finally have some fertilized Magda squash (Lebanese zucchini). Web research paid off - the dumb plant really does open one male flower a day, which closes up shop by 10 am... I think plucking off closed female flowers also helps keep things healthy.
Wed, 2009/07/08 - 9:58pm
#24
Finally ate a ripe (well, more ripe) Magda squash / Lebanese zucchini today! It's very good! The description said it had a nutty, stronger flavor than usual greenzukes. Maybe cooking it differently, it would have. What I noticed was that it was sweeter and had a much fresher flavor than usual zucchini. (I've never noticed my home-grown zucchini tasting any different than the supermarket variety. They're just fun to grow because they're so monstrously productive and have flowers bigger than my feet and leaves the size of elephant ears. 
)
Anyway, I had a yen for sesame noodles tonight, which isn't the best dish for assessing a veggie's flavor, but it was good!
Also had a great D'Oh! moment the other day about my melons with no female flowers. I'd forgotten how different in age the three vines are. The ones churning out male flowers now are 4 and 7 weeks younger than the one that died. So - no problem. 
I think the row cover is helping them a lot - much less beetle damage. And beetles probably brought whatever killed the first vine. (It had orange sticky goo when a vine was broken, not white threads the way they say bacterial wilt does. But seemed to have the same effect - circulation died.)
There are cucumber beetles on my cucumbers fairly often. But for some reason, they're not doing the Japanese or tendergreen cukes much damage. I only ever see them on blooming male flowers there, not chewing the growth tips to death like usual. And if they've done any harm at all to the Magda zuke, I haven't seen it. Squash bugs, too - all the nasty pests seem after my melons and nothing else this year...
Sat, 2009/07/11 - 2:44pm
#25
My beloved cukes and zukes were the garden star performers this week, harvesting 8 fruit (4 cukes, 4 zukes), and setting more, including the stunted no-light cucumber pearl working on its first female flower. Aw. And the older of the two remaining cantaloupes now has a couple female flowers, so there's hope yet for melons... May plant my sweeter yet cuke seedling in the slot vacated by last week's dead melon vine. One of the zuke seedlings will go in a big pot on the driveway for late-season zukes, and the other seek an adoptive home.
According to the Growbox instructions, you can plant 6 squash in one box. They can't have meant that for zucchini... For one thing, even with cool 70's days, 50's nights weather, the one zucchini plus a tomato can drink 3 gallons of water in a single day... And the reservoir holds 4 gallons.
Sat, 2009/07/11 - 6:59pm
#26
Looks like your stuff is doing pretty well. Yay!!
Sat, 2009/07/11 - 8:34pm
#27
Yup, thanks!
Thu, 2009/07/16 - 5:17pm
#28
Another cantaloupe vine started wilting as soon as it set fruitlets. This seems not coincidental... like it's the setting of fruit that makes the vine suddenly collapse. Did find mention of that online, dunno if it's the cause. We'll see if part of the plant survives or not...
The zuke hasn't had any male flowers this week. Which is kind of a relief. Was having at least one serving of zucchini every day for over a week, and that gets old real fast.
I've been having almost a cucumber a day, too. That part isn't getting old. Yummm...
Sat, 2009/07/18 - 10:59pm
#29
Been harvesting an awful lot of cucurbits this week! (2 more zukes, 6 cukes.) And ... planted more. Since the slot from the cantaloupes was open, planted out my 2-week backup Sweeter Yet cucumber there, and planted seeds for two more Japanese cucumbers in front of it, since these are definitely the right ones! Yummm. I had two backup zucchini transplants, a magda and an ordinary Burpee hybrid "compact bush" (not). And definitely decided I prefer ordinary zukes, though the magda is interesting. So the new zuke got a pot today, and eventually the magda squash will end. A zuke planted outside now in the heat of summer should fruit pretty fast.
Sun, 2009/07/19 - 11:07am
#30
...And my new cucumber in the cantaloupe patch was wilted by morning. I'm so mad - I studied the pulled-up roots, and saw no wormy larval thingies, on all three melon vines, so was sure that wasn't it. And I studied them exactly because that's part of the cucumber beetle thing - breed, lay eggs, and let the larva eat the plant roots. But lo, today there were wormy things swimming around the new cuke's roots. Tried triazicide on that, too - not the foliage, just the soil. (The triazicide instructions include many veggies, but no cucurbits - probably leaves are too tender to stand up to it.) We'll see... Whatever they are, the marigold in the growbox doesn't seem to have suppressed them.
