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Post by canadamike on Feb 22, 2010 22:05:23 GMT -5
Shit, they say a sucker is born every minute but I never can find one On a more serious note, here is a comment Raymondo sent me in a pm, with permission to copy it here. It shows the toughness of Lunéville in a new environment where we had not tested him : high altitude dry climate: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike, I think it's one of the best I've tasted, and a reasonably small seed cavity. I only grew one just to try it out and it was planted in very poor soil and rarely got watered. The plant produced four melons. One disappeared, I know not where. Of the remaining three, I've eaten one and I am eagerly awaiting the other two! I planted very late so they did well to ripen in such a short time - about 75 days from transplant. I'll be growing out the remaining seeds next season and I'll be making sure I get plenty of pure seed for future use. Thanks for sharing that little beauty Mike. Ray -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- See? I told y'a
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Post by ottawagardener on Mar 9, 2010 7:34:57 GMT -5
So you did tell us. It's seem more and more interesting.
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Post by cortona on Mar 11, 2010 18:17:15 GMT -5
thanks blueadzuki this seed vendor is something realy realy interessant,. ihope to order some seeds from this guys! alllooks very very interessant!
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Post by blueadzuki on Mar 11, 2010 18:42:02 GMT -5
No prob. While you're at it you may want to pick up a pack of the wild luffa seed as well (it's in the gourd section) its a bit bitter to eat (if you stir fry young luffas) and a bit small to use for washing (the pot scrubber recommendation they make really only works if your fruits are unusually large for the strain) but if you have some spare trellis or something else they can climb on, its a very nice ornamental
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Post by wildseed57 on Apr 8, 2010 13:49:01 GMT -5
Hi Mike that is quit a list you have, I'll be watching for your results as I have a passion for sweet melons, i have a problem with meldew and other melon diseases that make growing a good heirloom or sweet melon very hard. So I'll watch and kep my fingers crossed that you find one that is really good that is also resistant. I like a lot of the larger types also, so I will be interested in what you find out about them and how much room they take up as I grow in raised beds. George W. Z5-6 MO. USA
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Post by canadamike on Apr 8, 2010 18:41:32 GMT -5
In melons, I have grown supposedly disease resistant hybrids, all the Stokes one, and NONE was really better than the others when diseases decided to strike.
Apparently, spraying milk is a good way to prevent diseases, I dunno, but I can vouch for sulfur.
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Post by wildseed57 on Apr 9, 2010 10:06:21 GMT -5
Thanks Mike, I usually start, spraying things down with a deluted mix of water and liquid lime & sulfur which I also use on my apple and peach trees, to kill mildew. I delute it down even more for my melons I even use soda water which helps some. The liquid lime and sulfur mix is good at killing mildew on legumes. Last year I had a very hard time keeping mold and mildew from killing everything as Every time I thought I had it beat it would show its ugly face again I think it was the only thing that kept a good part of my garden going. Sadly my melons didn't make it all the way and I only got one poor melon. George W. Z5-6 MO.
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Post by canadamike on Apr 9, 2010 21:06:45 GMT -5
If I might, and it is not proven scientificly but comes from field observation, kelp extracts DO help strenghtening the plants. Foliar feeding is the ultimate unsong hero of gardening. It has SUCH an impact on plant health and disease resiatance. There is a kelp extract that is only available in liquid form, called AGRI-MER, that has been designed/extracted in a very different way, not using lye to extract the nutrients, but it is a natural process, Instead of being dark brown like any kelp meal/juice it is still green. It is only being released into commerce this year, but the company, a small one with a genious nerd as a founder, has made it's way into the ''traditionnal chemical greenhouse operators'' for years, selling hundreds of tons of it in the small Quebec professional greenhouse market. The company, based on studies of efficiency they could provide, just signed a contract with RONA, Canada's second largest hardware/gardening chain. They will provide me with all I want free, so my very ''public'' gardens will be trial grounds for them. I have no doubt about the product from the start, having a degree in sciences, including chemistry ( although it was a long time ago ;D). Their seaweed extract is GREEN, not brown ( caused by the potassium hydroxyde extraction process..read ...close to lye) and way way thicker and more concentrated than the other brown stuff, and also smelling way more natural. The company, very open minded, is also brewing one of my suggestions, the lab analysis should ( I hope) confirm what I lived in real life in the garden....but it is none of your business I have to act like an important man here ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Anyway, go foliar feeding if you can....it makes all veggies bigger and better, with much longer shelf life.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Apr 9, 2010 21:52:24 GMT -5
Michel, you keep saying "foliar feeding". What PRECISELY do you mean? I am picturing something applied to the leaves? I have a feeling I've asked you this before, but I can't remember. I hate to say that because I'm terrified that when you realize how ancient I am you won't love me anymore! ;D
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Post by canadamike on Apr 26, 2010 17:44:48 GMT -5
Foliar feeding is just spraying plants, buttaking care to spray the undersides of the leaves. Many scientists argue that from 75 to 90% of the planet's fertilizers come from the sky, in the form of free radicals, molecules of gazes that where split by thunderstorm then picked up by water in the air. The molecules are then transformed either into rain or dew. The undersides ( especially but not exlusively) od plants leaves have small mouths called stomatas that drink that dew, or take part in the oxygen/Co2 exchange. These mouths open up mostly when it is cool, at dawn or dusk, but especially in the morning. By spraying kelp or else, you use that extraordiary ability plants have to load them with minerals and fertilizer. IT REALLY WORKS. LIKE IN REALLY REALLY REALLY Kelp and alfalfa tea will give you , as an exemple, tomatoes or cucumbers with an extended shelf life, I am not even talking taste here, but darn I should ;D
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Post by wildseed57 on Apr 26, 2010 20:09:47 GMT -5
Mike it sounds like you have quite a good thing going, I like the foliar feeding of Kelp idea, when i lived on the wst coast i would make trips to the beach after a storm so i could get a truck load of kelp or seawed depending on how you look at it and would compostit into a very good compost soil mix that made things grow like crazy, so using it as a foliar feed to boost a plants system would be a logical step, as it is loaded with minerals and micronutrients. I wonder if making a biorich soup with worm castings fed with alfalfa and other mineral rich matter would work also/ George W. Z5-6 Mo.
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