Starting Okra & Squash From Seed

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MorpheusPA
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Re: Starting Okra & Squash From Seed

Post by MorpheusPA » June 25th, 2011, 10:42 pm

Aphids--small arachnids (edit: correction, they're not, I was thinking of mites)--absolutely detest simple soap in water, 1 tsp per gallon.

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Michael Wise
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Re: Starting Okra & Squash From Seed

Post by Michael Wise » June 25th, 2011, 10:51 pm

Thanks, Morph!

Any particular soap? Dish soap?

How would you go about applying? Wetting to the point of drip? More? Less?

Wonder if that would piss the stink bugs off, too.

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Re: Starting Okra & Squash From Seed

Post by MorpheusPA » June 25th, 2011, 10:57 pm

Anything's fine. Hand soap, dish soap, shampoo, as long as it's not an anti-bacterial (which you seriously don't want to eat).

Wet all leaf surfaces to runoff. On the rare occasion that I use this method, I use a cheap 1 gallon sprayer. Hose end works fine, too. Soap is not toxic, and will actually loosen the garden soil a bit.

It annoys, drives off, or kills small insects by blocking air from getting in their spiracles. They kind of smother to death. Spider mites and aphids are particularly susceptible. Stink bugs will probably laugh at you. Japanese beetles certainly do; they just get clean and shiny before flying off.

And my bad, it's mites that are arachnids. Aphids are true insects. :-)

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Re: Starting Okra & Squash From Seed

Post by Michael Wise » June 25th, 2011, 11:01 pm

Cool. Thanks!

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Re: Starting Okra & Squash From Seed

Post by Michael Wise » July 28th, 2011, 12:29 pm

Well, the squash were a bust. Got control of the aphids and ended up with Choanephora Wet Rot. I only watered with a soaker hose and when the ground was dry enough that I couldn't poke into it with my finger. At which point I would water pretty deep.

Anyway, here are some okra pics.

As I said in the tomato thread, I wasn't able to get out in the garden for a couple days and okra doesn't wait.

Hopefully these aren't too big and I won't have to throw them away. Afraid they are, though. :D

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp32 ... fc2356.jpg

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Re: Starting Okra & Squash From Seed

Post by MorpheusPA » July 28th, 2011, 1:24 pm

That stinks. I never heard that squash were difficult, but maybe that particular cultivar just wasn't happy there. Will you try again?

That is some large okra you got there. :-)

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Re: Starting Okra & Squash From Seed

Post by Michael Wise » July 28th, 2011, 1:36 pm

From the little research I've done, that fungus is in the soil and there isn't a lot you can do about it. I will readily admit that I haven't researched a lot into it. Saving that for winter. :)

I'll definitely try again, although I'm thinking of moving the whole operation to raised beds. My organizational skilz are obviously lacking, and my current garden is a tangled mess of tomato vines and okra plants. It is hard to navigate at the moment. I thought I was giving everything a lot of room, 3+ feet, but conditions got crowded quick. Perhaps the reason for my squashes demise.

I think I can better maintain some semblance of organization with raised beds spread out a little more. I have a 1/2 acre to work with, but with septic tank, junction box, and field lines taking up quite a bit of space right in the middle of the property, above ground planters seems the best place for me to go. I don't want to damage any of the septic parts for sure.

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Re: Starting Okra & Squash From Seed

Post by MorpheusPA » July 28th, 2011, 1:43 pm

You can do a lot of container vegetable gardening and I've seen it done beautifully as well. It helps with the fungus, too--you get it, it kills a pot, you dump and sterilize the pot, replace the soil, and go on with your life.

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Re: Starting Okra & Squash From Seed

Post by Michael Wise » July 28th, 2011, 1:44 pm

Not a very good pic, but this is what my wet rot looked like.

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp32 ... ecc0c7.jpg

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Re: Starting Okra & Squash From Seed

Post by MorpheusPA » July 28th, 2011, 1:46 pm

Um. Ew. Fungicides don't work? Maybe ask Andy about Serenity to suppress it.

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Re: Starting Okra & Squash From Seed

Post by Michael Wise » July 28th, 2011, 1:48 pm

MorpheusPA wrote:It helps with the fungus, too--you get it, it kills a pot, you dump and sterilize the pot, replace the soil, and go on with your life.
This was my next biggest reason. Still not knowing what type of foe I'm dealing with in wet rot, sometimes its just easier to take my ball and go home. Move above ground and bring in soil from elsewhere.

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Re: Starting Okra & Squash From Seed

Post by Michael Wise » July 28th, 2011, 1:50 pm

MorpheusPA wrote:Um. Ew. Fungicides don't work? Maybe ask Andy about Serenity to suppress it.
I will, thanks.

I couldn't find any good info on suppression in my brief searches.

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Re: Starting Okra & Squash From Seed

Post by Michael Wise » July 28th, 2011, 1:56 pm

http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0874/ANR-0874.pdf

Other searches have agreed with the above link.

I did, however, just find a link on another gardening forum that mentioned a fungicide(can't remember the name, having some effect if sprayed daily. I'll look into it and post back if it leads anywhere promising.

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Re: Starting Okra & Squash From Seed

Post by MorpheusPA » July 28th, 2011, 2:02 pm

Sounds lovely. Remind me not to get it under my toenails. :-)

I don't have any clue if Serenity as a preventative would work or not. It may be that this spreads too fast for that to help.

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