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Post by gilbert on Mar 31, 2016 18:41:25 GMT -5
Interestingly, I get Powdery mildew quite badly here in Denver, CO, and I don't use spray irrigation. Most squash are killed by in in August. However, High Mowing seeds carries a yellow straightneck, PM straighneck, which is resistant. The problem is, it is not very adapted to my cool springs, soil, or something. It starts off slow, with tiny little plants, unlike my Costata Romanesco zucchini, which shoots out of the ground cold spring or no, and produces loads of fruit. Then the mildew kills the zucchini, and the PM straightneck finally gets around to cranking out fruits. Then it keeps up at a steady clip till frost kills it off.
So I'm going to work to combine these two plants and get the best of both worlds.
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Post by ferdzy on Apr 1, 2016 11:14:17 GMT -5
Sounds like a worthwhile project!
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Apr 2, 2016 0:51:49 GMT -5
Sounds like a good project. Best of luck with it.
It's interesting that you mention powdery mildew problems with summer squash. I don't grow summer squash as much as i do winter squash, but i can't say i've ever had problems with it. I only ever plant bumpy crooked neck squash though and by the time powdery mildew would even set in it would be late summer or fall and i don't think i would be harvesting summer squash at that time anyway. I've had powdery mildew attack the winter squash, but generally i'm able to harvest squash despite that. Again, i've mostly only seen it late in the fall. Although i will say that some years may be more powdery mildew than others based on the weather that season. Last year was a hard year to grow squash, but it didn't seem like powdery mildew was that bad. A long time ago though there was one year that powdery mildew was so bad that it was attacking all the field bindweed heavily!
I don't know if i will get to it this year, but i would like to start a summer squash breeding project where i breed a white skinned bumpy crookedneck squash. Bumpy and crooked, but instead of dark yellow its white.
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Post by steev on Apr 2, 2016 1:18:17 GMT -5
Here in the East Bay, mildew is problematic in warm months as we get the marine layer of fog sucked in by the heat of the Central Valley; bad news: susceptible roses are already getting mildew, as will many squash and other plants; good news: the trees on the ridge are catching fog, dripping it to feed springs that are very useful, as they flow down to the Bay.
Aside from appearance, what is the point of a white crookneck? I'd think the carotenes in yellow/orange crookneck valuable nutrition. Perhaps you have ample carotenes, in any event.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Apr 2, 2016 10:42:17 GMT -5
Aside from appearance, what is the point of a white crookneck? I'd think the carotenes in yellow/orange crookneck valuable nutrition. Perhaps you have ample carotenes, in any event. Purely for looks. Just because i'd like to see something different. A dark skinned when mature crookedneck might also look striking. But there are other possibilities like crossing delicata winter squash with crookedneck and then backcross for crookedneck appearance. If that were to happen you could get a brown cream and green striped crookedneck and who knows that might affect flavor too. The point is, i'd just like to see a little more variety in summer squash than i currently do.
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Post by gilbert on Apr 2, 2016 18:45:27 GMT -5
Yep, summer squash can be boring. There are white, green, and stripped zucchini, yellow straight-neck and crookneck squash, round zucchini, and patty pan yellow squash. That's about it. I'd like to see something more interesting too.
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Post by steev on Apr 3, 2016 21:48:09 GMT -5
Plant some Blue Banana; they're excellent summer squash up to ~9", with a markedly different texture than zukes.
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Post by mskrieger on Apr 6, 2016 10:50:21 GMT -5
From a slightly different point of view, I've heard that foliar feeding squash with manganese sulfate can vanquish PM, if you're growing on soil with marginal manganese levels/availability (the amount of manganese available to plants varies with the pH--very available when pH is under 6, almost entirely unavailable if pH over 7.) Might be worth trying if you're gardening in that kind of situation.
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