Thursday, February 24, 2011

Growing Organic Basil


BASIC BASIL FACTS

Growing organic basil (pronounced bay-zul) is both easy and rewarding. We use it as a fresh herb all summer in various dishes, especially Asian and Italian cuisine.

Sweet basil is typically the most common variety you'll find if you're planning on growing organic basil.

Tropical areas in India and Asia have been growing basil for at least 5000 years.

The name basil comes from the Greek, βασιλεύς (basileus), and means "king," and it's a member of the mint family.

When to Plant basil

Because we reside (through no choice of my own) in a Northern climate area, we always plant basil indoors about 6 to 8 weeks ahead of the last frost.

Basil needs around 70 to 80 days to reach maturity, although if you're careful not to overdo it you can remove a very small amount of lower leaves ahead of that time.

As there are many varieties of basil you can grow, check with your local seed distributor or a reputable national seed supplier.

You can either plant or transplant basil after the last frost of the spring. Basil is a warm weather plant and while it doesn't like temps below 50°F, we've been able to grow some varieties in our area.

best location to Plant basil

Basil is a sun lover; in Southern climates it requires around 6 hours a day, and as you move North to our area, it needs about 8 hours daily.

Make sure not to crowd your basil plants; air circulation around the plants is required for plant health. Fungal diseases almost always begin in damp conditions where your plants can't dry out by noon.

Basil is a semi-fragile plant, so it should be protected as much as possible from the wind.

Preparing the Soil to plant basil

Basil, like many herbs, likes soil that drains well and is nutrient rich. Organic basil should grow well with organic compost and/or composted manure.

The pH range for growing basil is between 6.0 and 7.5.

Basil is a heavy Nitrogen (N) feeder, and compost, composted manure, or bloodmeal are good sources of Nitrogen

Basil does very well in raised beds if your soil doesn't drain well. Our soil is pretty rocky, and although it's a bit clayish, the rocks help it to drain well.

Adding composted materials to clayish soils also helps it to drain well, and helps retain water in sandy soils.

Prepare your soil to a depth of 6 to 8 inches by mixing in 2 to 3 inches of compost or composted manure into about a 6 inch cubic foot area where the seed or plant will be planted. That's about the size and depth of an average garden shovel.

Choosing the right Seed Varieties for your Area

Basil typically grows between 12 and 24 inches tall. The varieties we grow up North average about 12 to 14 inches tall, but tropical basil will usually grow up to 24 inches.

Choose your seeds based on the climate zone you live in (your seed supplier will know what varieties grow best in your zone).

Also, check with your county extension for diseases that may afflict basil in your area and choose seed varieties that are resistant to those diseases (such as fusarium wilt) if there are any.

Germinating Basil Seeds

Basil seed germinate best at around 65° to 85°F; at 65°F your seeds will germinate in 10 to 14 days and at 85°F they'll take 5 to 7 days.

Basil seeds, like most seeds that you plant in shallow soil, need a modicum of light, either artificial or sunlight, to germinate.

If you're planting outdoors (not recommended in the Northern climate zones), wait until night time temperatures are above 50°F.

Saving Seeds

If you've planted "heirloom" basil seeds, you will have the ability to save your seeds for next year's crop.

If you plant disease resistant varieties, they're typically hybrid seeds and you won't be able to harvest the seeds to plant next season.

Personally, and I may get into trouble with seed purists, am not opposed to using hybrid seeds, although GMO seeds may be an entirely different animal (literally).

We'll be posting an article on GMO soon. We'll look at all sides of the argument over GMO, and explain the difference between sysgenic and transgenic GMO (Europe outlawed GMO's, or so we've been told, but they outlawed transgenic, not sysgenic GMO).

OK, now that I'm back from that rabbit trail...let's save some seeds.

First, make sure your basil doesn't seed until fall. Let the flower and dry, then pick the dried flowers and lay them on a jellyroll pan or similar.

Let them sit for a few days, then bounce the tray on your table or countertop lightly, or tap the bottom of the pan and let the seeds roll out and collect them.

starting basil indoors

It's always the best practice to use a sterile potting soil to start your plants indoors. For starting basil seeds, it's a good idea to add a bit of lime (dolomite) and sand to your mix (also sterile).

There are lots of containers to start your seeds in...if you have the budget to do it, soil blocks are the most environmentally sound way to start seeds, followed by peat pots or "jiffy pellets," then any re-useable plastic tapered seed tray or container you may have laying around.

Just make sure if you're using cottage cheese or yogurt cartons that you poke some holes in the bottoms to allow for proper drainage.

Plant 2 or 3 seeds about ¼ inch deep in the potting mix. You'll want to plant extra in case one or two fail to germinate which is common with many herb varieties.

Once your basil seedlings have 4 true leaves, thin the plants to the strongest surviving plant per cell or carton.

Transplanting to Outdoors

As you approach the final frost date for your climate zone, you'll want to prepare your basil for being transplanted to your garden.

This process is called "hardening off" and is kind of like weight-training for plants (very loosely speaking).

Move your plant trays out of doors for a couple hours a day to start with (not too much sun initially), and increase the out-of-doors sunlight hours for one or two weeks.

The reason you do this is that you may kill or stunt your plants if you don't prepare them for transplanting, just like you wouldn't run a 10K race without pysically preparing (unless you're completely bonkers!).

You'll want your basil plants to have 4 to 6 mature leaves when you transplant them, and if possible, don't transplant them if the night temps are falling lower than 50°F.

The optimal daytime temperature for most basil varieties is about 85°F

Your soil should be prepared per our instructions above. When planting your basil plants, slide the soil and root mass out of the pot (unless you've used soil blocks or peat pots).

Using a small garden trowel, create a hole large enough to accommodate the soil/root mass, and lifting the plant very carefully (I grasp the whole plant in the palm of my hand), slide it into the hole and gently pack the dirt in around the roots.

We plant our plants about 12 inches apart. This allows them plenty of air circulation which helps them avoid moisture-related fungal diseases. You can make double or triple rows, spacing the rows 6 to 12 inches apart, and then 30 to 36 inches between the doubled/tripled rows.

You may also trim the tops back to 6 inches or so in height to encourage lateral branching (and more leaves).

One thing I should also mention is that you can also root basil from cuttings from mature plants.

Planting Basil Seeds in Your Garden

As previously mentioned, unless you live in a warmer, Southern climate zone, we suggest you start your plants indoors.

If you live in a more Southern region, you can seed your plants directly in your garden.

Again, make sure your nighttime temps are 50°F or higher; this will typically mean your daytime temps are also at least 70°F.

In the same way as outlined above, make your rows in doubles or triples, but plant 8 to 10 seeds per inch. Same as above, plant the seeds approx. ¼ inch deep.

Why so many seeds? They germinate more sporadically most of the time if started outdoors, so you'll want to be able to make sure you've got plenty to choose from when you thin them out.

Basil is a delicate seedling, and the soil should not crust over after planting. You can either lightly mist the soil a couple times a day or add a light layer of vermiculite over the seeds to keep the soil from developing a crust.

Successfully Growing Basil Until You Can Eat It

As previously discussed, you should thin your plants to about 6 to 12 inches apart for the best results.

You can eat the plants you thin, or they also transplant relatively easily. Pinch back your plant tops to encourage the plants to become bushier.

This also will help the flavor of basil and keeps it from going to seed, at which point it becomes flavorless and woody.

Basil doesn't like to dry out or get too hot. It will go to seed or stop growing, so it's a good idea in hot climates to plant in an area where they can get afternoon shade. We don't have to worry much about it here in the great white North.

If you do see your basil starting to flower and go to seed, just pinch off the tops of the plants (not the flowers).

Pinching off the flowers as they form does not stimulate new foliage; in fact it encourages flowers to form in the axils of the leaves thus reducing the yield of the plant.

Mulching will help keep your basil plants cooler in the summer heat. We'll cover that in the next section.

If perchance, you get a late cold snap, use row covers to protect your basil from a frost.

If you've prepped your soil per the instructions in the above section on preparing your soil, you shouldn't really need to fertilize your plants during the growing season.

Jenny's Tip - When you're growing basil, spray the plants with a liquid organic leaf spray fertilizer. We highly recommend Organic Garden Miracle™. OGM™ naturally stimulates your garden plants to produce more plant sugar in the photosynthesis process. That in turn creates a more robust plant, more produce from your garden, and better and sweeter flavor from your crops. And they have a really good warranty!

Mulching & Weeding

Mulching with grass clippings, chopped leaves, or barley straw helps both to retain soil moisture and control weeds.

If you don't mulch, make sure you don't let the weeds take over your basil patch. Basil doesn't compete very well with weeds.

Weed carefully close to your plants and cut the weeds off at ground level if they're too close to the plants.

Watering Basil

If you use organic mulches like grass clippings, it will help keep you from needing to use as much water on your basil.

Basil needs about 1 to 2 inches of water every week to 10 days to make sure the roots have enough moisture.

If you dig down a couple inches near your basil plants, and the soil is moist, you probably don't need to irrigate.

As with most plants, drip irrigation is better than overhead watering with sprinklers, but if you don't have that option, water in the early morning so your basil plants have a chance to dry out by noon.

If your plants stay wet, you'll likely have problems with mildew or fungus.

Finally, if you overwater basil, it can make the leaves lose flavor.

Companion Planting and Rotation Considerations

Starting with plants that basil plays well with...

Growing basil next to tomatoes is supposed to help their flavor. We did it last year, but honestly, I didn't have anything to compare it to, and as we used OGM™ last year, the flavor was outstanding on all our tomatoes, both near and away from the basil.

Basil is said to repel thrips, flies, and mosquitoes; funny thing, I didn't know mosquitoes bothered veggies, but I'm thinking I'll put a few plants in my bedroom!

Basil grows well around petunias, oregano, peppers, and asparagus as well.

Petunias apparently fend off leafhoppers, some aphids, Mexican bean beetles, and asparagus beetles.

Hot peppers also are supposed to prevent root rot and fusarium in basil.

Plants that don't play well with basil?

Rue, which doesn't play well with sage either, and rosemary, which basil will eradicate.

Although I've read that basil should be rotated on a 2-year rotation, we've had no problem with planting it in the same area 2 years in a row, but maybe I just like to tempt fate!

Harvesting Basil

You can pluck leaves from your basil once it has about 8 leaves.

Snip the top of the plant off, leaving 4 leaves; this will encourage the plant to expand laterally (it'll get bushier).

You should be able to harvest leaves up until the first frost in the autumn.

Alternate the plants you harvest so that you'll have a steady fresh supply of basil herbs.

You can harvest one or two times weekly.

basil Storage

Basil is good mainly for fresh eating, but can also be dried, although it loses much of it's flavor when dried.

To dry basil, tie the basil stems together upside down in a warm, preferable dark area for a week or so.

You can also use a food dryer and lay the stems in the trays.

Remove the dried leaves and seal in an airtight container (I use mason jars) and store the dried basil in a cool, dark area or root cellar. It should keep for a year.

Another method I consider now to be superior is to quickly blanch the leaves (a quick dip in boiling water suffices), then freeze them in airtight zip lock-style bags or another airtight container.

Basil will keep in your fridge for a week or more, but it loses flavor over time, so it's best if you keep your crop rotating until the first fall frost.

One of the main ingredients for pesto is basil, so one way we preserve basil is to make pesto, put it into airtight containers, and freeze it (omit the cheese and add it upon thawing if your pesto recipe includes it).

Preventative and Natural Solutions to Common Pests

Japanese beetles and grasshoppers like to eat basil leaves (can't blame them for that, can you?!).

Row covers are probably the most effective way to deal with these pests. You can also spray them off for temporary relief.

Slugs also like basil leaves. Diatomaceous earth is effective in ridding your basil patch of slugs, but it has to remain dry or you need to reapply it after a rain or irrigating.

Environmental factors

Root rot disease is a group of fungal diseases that cause the roots of many plants, including basil, to rot and die prematurely, taking the entire plant with it.

Planting basil in sunny areas with well-draining soil and moderate watering will usually prevent this fungus from destroying your basil plants.

If your basil plants happen to contract root rot, dig up the dying plants and dispose of them to an area where they can't affect other plants (such as your garbage can).

Downy Mildew usually develops on the lower leaves only as that's where moisture often stays.

Again, don't overwater, choose resistant varieties, and don't crowd your plants.

You can treat your plants with a homemade fungicide spray if you do spot some downy mildew.

You can also make this organic fungicide spray using bicarbonate of soda (baking soda). In a gallon of water add a couple drops of organic olive oil, a couple drops of environmentally-friendly liquid soap, and 3 tablespoons of baking soda. Spray it on your basil leaves to effectively control all of the above fungi.

You should rotate your basil to a new area if your plants are affected by downy mildew.

Fusarium wilt is a soil-borne fungus that causes various plants to suddenly wilt and usually strikes when the plants are mature.

Early signs of fusarium wilt include brownish streaking in the stems and leaves suddenly dropping.

Once again, overwatering is key in bringing this disease on, so if your soil drains well and you don't overwater, you'll likely not see much of this disease.

Of course, you can plant resistant varieties as well, but if you do have an outbreak of this disease, the pathogens can last in the soil up to 12 years; don't plant any mint family members in the area for that long.

Bacterial leaf spots or basil shoot blight is another damp condition disease. It shows up with spots on the leaves (hence the name) and premature leaf loss.

You can plant resistant varieties, but also follow the no-crowding rule, don't over-water, and plant in soil that drains well, or add enough organic matter so that it does drain well.

And, of course, if you do have an outbreak of leaf spots, rotate your basil away from that area next year.

Lastly, gray mold; as basil is an herb and herbs are susceptible to gray mold, it is important to remove affected leaves or the entire plant may die.

Don't harvest the plants during rainy spells or when wet as the pathogens may spread from plant to plant.

Of course, don't overwater. Plant in well-drained soil. Rotate your basil out of the area next season. And if you aren't morally opposed to hybrid seeds, find resistant varieties if gray mold is a problem in your area.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Growing Organic Zucchini


DELICIOUS ZUCCHINI TIDBITS
Zucchini is a "summer squash" and therefore doesn't store long term like winter squash such as butternut or acorn squash.
When you're growing zucchini, you need lots of bees. Bees pollinate your zucchini. Some of our friends got only a few zucchinis last year because they had too few bees in their area.
In the U.S, we use the Italian name for Zucchini. In Italian it means "plant."
Much of the English-speaking world uses the French name for zucchini - courgette. Growing zucchini in the UK, S. Africa, Ireland, New Zealand, and Greece is equivalent to growing courgette.
WHEN TO PLANT ZUCCHINI
Growing zucchini is relatively simple compared to some garden plants.
Zucchini requires approximately 40 to 60 days to begin producing mature fruit.
Here in the inland Pacific Northwest, we usually plant zucchini about mid-May, just after the last frost.
If you live in the Southern U.S., you can plant zucchini as early as February or March, depending on your altitude and climate.
While we get all the zucchini we need from a dozen plants, some have recommended starting new zucchini plants every couple of weeks for the first 6 to 8 weeks of spring to keep new plants coming into bear during the summer as younger plants produce more zucchini faster.
When doing successive plantings, allow at least 70 days space in front of your last frost date to plant the last planting of zucchini.
If you live in Northern areas like we do, you can get a head start with your zucchini by starting them indoors.
BEST PLANTING LOCATION FOR ZUCCHINI
In order to get the most zucchini, give it lots of sunlight; 8 hours a day or more is best in Northern climates, and at least 6 hours daily in Southern climates.
Zucchini likes well-drained garden soil heavy amounts of compost and/or composted manure mixed in.
As mentioned above, zucchini prefers warm to hot weather. We had an OK crop last year, but because we had a cool summer, our crops were down from hotter summers.
ZUCCHINI'S FAVORITE SOILS
Zucchini does best in slightly acidic soils with a pH level around 6.0 to 6.5, but will still grow decently as high as 8.0.
Compost and/or composted manure provides the needed N-P-K (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) requirements for Zucchini.
If you need to supplement your soil's nitrogen levels, you can also add blood meal.
If you need to supplement your soils phosphorus levels, you can add bone meal.
You can also add wood ash to your soil if it needs potassium.
In the past, gardeners dumped about a bushel (40lbs) of manure in a hole beneath where zucchini was to be planted. It is more difficult for most gardeners to access that quantity of manure now, but if you blend a few pounds of composted manure or compost where your plants will be, it should be sufficient.
Compost and composted manure also provide trace elements to your garden as well; Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc, Sulfur, Boron, Cobalt, Copper, Iron, Iodine, Tin, and Molybdenum.
You can purchase an N-P-K tester and a pH tester at your local garden supply if you're not sure what your soil needs and your plants aren't performing well.
In the fall, rototill or spade your garden leaves and debris into the soil. This allows it to decompose through the winter and prevents pests from having shelter through the winter.
CHOOSING THE BEST SEED VARIETIES
Zucchini will grow in most climate areas, so finding a good variety is not difficult.
While zucchini is susceptible to powdery mildew, we've not had problems with it as we don't crowd our plants and we water them early in the day.
Powdery mildew resistant varieties are also being developed, so you can probably purchase those seeds this year.
GERMINATING ZUCCHINI SEEDS
Zucchini requires soil temps over 60° and under 105°F to germinate properly. They will simply not grow at colder soil temperatures.
The optimum germination temps are in the range of 85° to 95°F. Your seedlings should pop up within 5 or 6 days at this temperature.
When you're growing your seeds, make sure the soil is moist but not saturated or you'll risk fungal diseases.
If you're in a Northern climate, you can use black plastic "mulch" to warm your soil up; this will help your seeds germinate more quickly.
STARTING ZUCCHINI PLANTS INDOORS
When starting zucchini plants indoors, use a good sterile potting soil from your local garden store.
If you use garden soil, because your home or greenhouse is warm, the warmth helps bacteria in your soil to grow and may harm your seedlings.
You have several choices for potting your plants. We recommend soil blocks first, then peat pots, then plastic pots or trays. Our biggest issue with peat pots is that they don't decompose as quickly as we think they should and we're not sure that's good for the roots.
Plant your zucchini seeds 3 or 4 weeks prior to transplanting the seedlings to your garden.
Plant 2 seeds per soil block, pot, or tray cell about 1 inch deep.
When your seedlings are a couple inches tall, snip the weaker seedling off at the soil level with scissors.
TRANSPLANTING ZUCCHINI
You may be able to transplant a little earlier to your garden if you lay down black plastic mulch to warm the soil.
If you do this, you may need to use row covers to keep them from freezing.
Your plants should have at least 4 "true leaves" when you transplant them.
You need to "harden off" your plants before transplanting. This is a simple process that entails moving your plants outdoors for longer periods of time for a week or two and reducing their water.
The best time to transplant zucchini is on a cloudy day or early in the morning. Once you've transplanted them, water them to make sure they've got enough moisture.
Use a garden trowel to dig a hole large enough to fit your zucchini and its soil, soil block, or peat pot into. Pack soil lightly around your plant, keeping the same soil level around the plant.
Your plants should be spaced 2 to 3 feet apart (we do 2), and the rows 4 to 5 feet apart (we usually have just one row, so we allow 3 feet on either side).
PLANTING SEEDS DIRECTLY TO YOUR GARDEN
We don't generally plant zucchini indoors because it doesn't typically end up ahead for some reason, but this year we may try using black plastic mulch to get a head start.
You can plant seeds before the last frost if you've warmed the soil with black plastic and use row covers. We'll let you know how it works for us.
Using a soil thermometer, check your soil temp; if it's around 70°F you can plant 2 or 3 seeds together at about a 1 to 2 inches deep, 24 to 36 inches apart in rows 4 or 5 feet separated.
Once your plants are a couple inches tall with 4 or more true leaves, thin them down to just one seed per hill; choose the strongest plant.
GROWING ZUCCHINI SUCCESSFULLY UNTIL HARVEST-TIME
As mentioned previously, black plastic mulch and row covers are effective for giving your growing zucchini an early boost in the spring.
Black plastic helps keep the weeds under control and keeps the soil moisturized.
Keep your plants well-watered, but don't drown them!
I mentioned that some of our friends didn't get many zucchini last year because they had too few bees last year to pollinate their zucchini.
If they'd known about hand-pollinating, they could've had plenty of zucchini. Just use a small brush such as a paint brush, and brush it first across a male flowers and then across a female flower to pollinate your zucchini. You'll get all the zucchini you want and probably more, at least if the weather's not too cold.
Another idea some have used is to put an ad on Craigslist inviting bee farmers to place some hives on your property. We actually had a beekeeper contact us last year to do this, but we didn't have good access to our property, so he went elsewhere, but we had plenty of pollinators anyway.
If you don't have a beekeeper contact you (which is more likely), plant flowers that bees like near your garden. Foxgloves, Echinacea, and Petunias are just a few flowers that bees love.
Pruning your zucchini once the main stem gets to around 36" in length helps your plant to concentrate on producing flowers and fruit instead of leaves.
Encouraging secondary rooting by burying the vine later in the season provides a boost to your plants.
Jenny's Tip - When you're growing zucchini, spray your plants every couple of weeks with a liquid organic leaf spray fertilizer. We highly recommend Organic Garden Miracle™. It naturally stimulates your garden plants to produce more plant sugar in the photosynthesis process. That in turn creates a more robust plant, more produce from your garden, and better and sweeter flavor. And they have a really good warranty!
Aside from Organic Garden Miracle™, if you've properly prepared your soil, you should get a great zucchini harvest through the summer.
MULCHING & WEEDING
As I've mentioned a few times already, using black plastic as a mulch works great both for warming your soil and keeping the weeds down.
After the soil temps have reached around 75°F, organic mulches, such as a few inches of grass clippings or straw will add nutrients to your garden soil and foil bad weeds, plus retain soil moisture.
Don't pile mulch on the growing zucchini plants themselves or the will suppress these plants also.
As zucchini roots tend to be shallow, hand weed (carefully) any weeds that are close to your plants.
Zucchini plants will quite naturally stifle most weeds once the plants are mature.
WATER THAT ZUCCHINI!!!
Depending on your soil, how hot the summer is, and whether you've mulched or not, most zucchini require one good weekly watering of about an inch of water, or more.
Sandy soil needs watered with less water but more frequently with less water; water drains out of the your soil faster if it's sandy.
During the summer, don't overwater as it may cause your zucchini to rot. It's a bit of a balance, but don't underwater either as zucchini requires plenty of moisture to produce good fruit as well.
Don't water your zucchini in the afternoon (isn't that a song?) unless you're lucky enough to afford drip irrigation as it may encourage mildews or bacterial wilt.
ZUCCHINI'S COMPANION'S AND ROTATION
Zucchini loves a flower called borage as it chases of the tomato hornworm, plus it attracts bees. Some say it also improves your zucchini's flavor and makes it grow better - I haven't found any scientific evidence for that one, but it sounds good on paper.
Marigolds and nasturtiums are good at repelling beetles and squash bugs and also attract bees to your zucchini patch.
Peas, beans, and other legumes benefit zucchini because of their nitrogen-fixing qualities.
Radishes are said to fend off cucumber beetles; plant them with cucurbit family members such as watermelon, squash, and cucumbers.
Potatoes apparently slow down the growth of squash, although I have to say I didn't see this last year when they were planted close together.
While zucchini and other cucurbit family members can be planted next to each other, it's best to rotate them to other areas of your garden to discourage the various diseases that afflict family members.
HARVESTING ZUCCHINI
Zucchini matures rapidly in warm weather and have a propensity to become, as we call them, "footballs." This just means they get too large to eat - the centers become seedy and the outside becomes pithy.
Harvest zucchini when they are under 2 inches in diameter and around 6 to 12 inches long.
Oversized zucchini can be composted; however, it's better not to permit squash to get too big as they'll drain the strength from your plants for awhile and delay new fruit development.
Check your plants every couple of days (or daily) during the warmer part of the season as they usually produce lots of zucchini during the summer heat.
To harvest your zucchini, use a sharp paring knife to cut them from the plants; if you don't have a knife on you, you can use a sharp twist and pull to harvest them.
Some cooks deep fry zucchini flowers in batter or eat them in salads. I've not tried either, but maybe someday I will.
STORING ZUCCHINI
Zucchini doesn't store in the winter; and they don't store well in the summer either. They are so prolific, though, that you can usually depend on frequent fresh pickings to assuage your cravings.
Lay your zucchini loosely in your vegetable drawer of your refrigerator at no higher than 45°F for up to 5 days (in our experience). If you don't eat them, compost them.
Canning zucchini or other summer squash isn't a good idea; it'll turn to mush. However, we'll slice up excess zucchini, blanch it for 60 to 90 seconds in boiling water, and freeze it in zip lock-type plastic bags. It's grand in the winter to add home-grown organic zucchini to soups or casseroles.

PREVENTATIVE AND NATURAL SOLUTIONS TO GARDEN PESTS

My most unfavorite subject is garden pests. After I've worked hard and dreamed of tasty organic zucchini, the last thing I want is some nasty little insects and their larvae enjoying my food while I go hungry (although that might not always be a bad thing - maybe I could lose those extra pounds). Fortunately, there are some effective organic solutions to controlling many pests.
The most evil zucchini pest is the cucumber beetle, which comes in striped or spotted varieties.
These beetles will eat both the leaves and fruit of any cucurbit family member, including summer and winter squashes, melons, and cucumbers.
They also spread bacterial wilt just in case eating your plants isn't quite enough.
We're opposed to the use of chemical pesticides for many reasons, some of which are that these pests begin to become resistant to pesticides; also pesticides take out both good and bad bugs.
Row covers are the best natural defense against these voracious beetles.
Infestations can be dealt with using an organic permethrin (comes in both organic and inorganic), but again, if you don't have to resort to any insecticides your garden will be better off.
Another malicious pest is the squash vine borers. They normally emerge about the time the vines begin to extend out across your garden.
Squash vine borers are about an inch long, plump, and white with a brown head.
They are the larvae of a little moth with dark obverse wings and light back wings and a red abdomen. The moths lay eggs in the late spring or early summer near the bottom of your squash vines.
The borers materialize about a week afterward and drill a hole in your vine to get inside them. You'll see a small hole and green excretions below the hole. And you'll see the vine expire rather abruptly.
To thwart squash vine borers from decimating your crops, first, keep your eyes and ears open for the moths (they have a hum when they flutter that's atypical of moths).
You can also employ yellow-colored bowls full of water to ensnare these moths; they're attracted to the color, and will fly into the bowls and sink.
At this time, it's a good plan to use row covers for a couple weeks until the moths vanish again. make certain you cover up the edges of the row covers with soil to shut out the moths.
If your plants commence flowering at this point in time, you can hand pollinate your squash if needed. Don't use insecticides as they can also destroy valuable insects that pollinate your crops.
If you notice that a borer has created a hole previous to the plant wilting and dying, you can at times cautiously cut a hole in the vine and take out the borer. Cover the vine and the hole with dirt as it frequently will send roots into the soil from the cut area.
If you discover a vine that's been killed by a borer, cut back the vine and destroy it.
Another rapacious nuisance is the squash bug. Early in the season, this bug eats mostly foliage and can be destructive to seedlings if not controlled.
Distinct from cucumber beetles which decline in destructive activity from beginning to end of the gardening time of year, squash bugs get more copious and detrimental as the summer progresses and start to eat the fruit as it ripens.
Squash bugs are brown to black and more than a half inch long typically.
If crushed, squash bugs have a nasty aroma. When I was a youngster we called them "stink bugs" although there may be a different bug that actually bears that name more rightfully.
In the spring, fully-developed squash bugs lay orderly clusters of eggs on the underside of your zucchini's foliage. The nymphs stay beneath the leaves throughout this time which can last for several weeks.
Vigorous plants seem to have good resistance against these vermin.
Row covers early in the season help manage these pests as well.
If your garden isn't vast in size, you can look at the undersides of your leaves and squash any eggs you find and hand pick adults and nymphs and drop them into a pail of soapy water to drown them.
One way to entrap bugs is to lay out boards or newspaper in your garden. Pick up the boards or newspapers in the morning; these bugs will gather together under these objects and are much easier to seize than when they're on your plants.
Rototill under all cucurbit relatives in the autumn to diminish areas near your garden where they can overwinter.
Aphids are also widespread pests that can be found on the undersides of your squash leaves. You'll know they're there if you see the foliage turning yellow and crinkling or curling.
Aphids suck the sap from your plant leaves and leave a sticky material behind. The lone beneficiary of this process are the ants, who gather the sticky syrupy stuff.
The best answer to the aphid problem is to bring in ladybugs to your garden. They feed on aphids and are very successful in eradicating these green, gray, or brown bugs.
An additional solution is to "wash" them off with a hose and high-pressure squirt nozzle or an organic insecticidal soap.
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
Zucchini seedlings may be affected by a set of fungi that cause "damping off."
Damping off fungi will assault the seeds, seedlings or very young plants and cause a kind of rot that contaminates the roots or bottom of the plant causing abrupt growth and collapse in typically (in our experience) less than a day.
If you're planting in trays, use germ-free potting soil, disinfected trays, and stay away from using your garden's soil.
You can make germ-free potting soil by getting it very wet and placing it in a metal container in an oven at about around 200°F and heating the soil to around 160°F for about 30 minutes.
Use a meat thermometer to confirm the temperature, and turn the oven down a bit if the temperature exceeds 165°F.
Cool the soil to at least 90°F before planting your seeds in it.
Also be aware that too much wetness is frequently part of the cause of seedlings damping off.
Water your plants with lukewarm water as cool temps are likely to promote damping off fungi.
Powdery mildew is one more mildew that can have an effect on your zucchini plants, but appears totally different. It's whitish and powdery and grows on squash leaves and stems.
It is also caused by too much moisture, but heat and moisture rather than cool weather and rain.
If the leaves are contaminated, they'll frequently die. If the contamination is severe, it can kill the entire plant.
If you are able to, steer clear of overhead watering. If not, water early on in the morning so the plants can dry off by midday or so.
If you keep pestiferous bugs under control and mist your vines and leaves with a compost tea or a baking soda solution, you probably won't have an problem with this disease.
Other solutions consist of organic sulphur sprays or a weak solution of milk and water (9:1).
If you spot any of this mildew, annihilate your vines at the end of the season and rotate your zucchini to a fresh area next gardening season.
You can also obtain seed varieties that are resistant to fungi such as downy and powdery mildews.
Bacterial Wilt is a malady that's spread by contaminated cucumber beetles.
As these beetles feed on leaves, the wounds which have the bacteria start to generate other areas of dull green patches.
Bacterial wilt can spread swiftly to the whole plant within a couple of weeks.
Controlling cucumber beetles is the best protection against bacterial wilt. Row covers are an effective prevention if sealed around the edges with dirt.
If a plant is infected, pull it up and dispose of it right away; if it's entangled with an uninfected plant, kill the infected plant and let it die and dry.
Rotate your crop out of the vicinity next season. Rototill all squash, melon, and cucumbers under in the fall to diminish cucumber beetle overwintering areas.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Growing Organic Muskmelons And Cantaloupes


MUSKMELONS / CANTALOUPES / SPANSPEKS / ROCK MELONS
If this article on growing cantaloupes was written in Australia, we'd call them "rock melons." Or in South Africa, we'd be writing about "spanspeks." Here in the U.S. we call them either muskmelons or cantaloupes.
You're better to live in a warmer climate for growing cantaloupes, but you can successfully grow some varieties in cooler climates like where we live in NE Washington.
If you want to make some good money growing muskmelons, grow and sell them in Japan. As of September 2010 they were selling for over $30USD at food markets in Japan.
Muskmelons are members of the cucumber family, as are squash and watermelon, and therefore are very similar in growth patterns and nutritional requirements, especially with watermelon.
WHEN TO PLANT MUSKMELONS/CANTALOUPES
Muskmelons or cantaloupes? These terms will be interchangeably used throughout this article.
Short-season cantaloupes ripen in approximately 65 to 75 days, whereas the average cantaloupe ripens in about 85 days.
Short season types ripen between 65 and 75 days. Full season types ripen around 85 days. STOP
Whether you're planting seeds directly to your garden or transplanting your melon plants, never plant in soil temps below 60°F.
In Northern climates, you'll need to start your plants about 4 weeks ahead of your target transplant date.
In Southern climates, you can direct seed once danger of frost is past and your soil temps are at least 60°F.
If you live in a cooler climate, you may have no choice but to start the seeds ahead of time in small pots.
WHERE TO PLANT CANTALOUPES/MUSKMELONS
Protecting these melon plants and protecting them from cold temperatures will produce better results. The more warmth your vines get, the more fruit your plants will produce in at harvest time.
Muskmelons require full sun and plenty of heat. Give them the sunniest spot in your garden with good air circulation. You want your melon plants to dry out quickly after a rain to prevent diseases.
Cantaloupes like it hot and thrive best at temps of 70 to 95°F.
They like well-draining soil that has a good amount of humus (rotted matter like manure, compost, leaves, etc.)

PREPARING THE SOIL
Cantaloupe and Muskmelons require a pH level no lower than 6.0 up to about 7.5.
These melons need a good amount of calcium in the soil to prevent blossom-end rot.
Melons prefer soils with a pH between 6.0 and 6.8, which indicates adequate calcium availability—an important guard against blossom-end rot.
While melons need the big three nutrients, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (potash), or N-P-K, they have less need for nitrogen than many fruits and vegetables.
If you have not-as-good draining soil, you can improve your drainage by creating 6 to 8 inch raised beds.
Rototill or spade 2 to 4 inches of finished compost and/or well-composted manure 6 to 8 inches deep into your rows before planting your melons.
If you don't have enough compost to cover your rows deeply with, use concentrated amounts where your plants will be located.
This pre-composting of your soil provides the needed nutrients for your melons, distributes moisture evenly, and helps their roots get sufficient oxygen.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT SEED VARIETIES FOR YOUR AREA
It's a good practice, before ordering seeds, to find out from your county extension what seed varieties area resistant to fusarium wilt or other diseases common to cantaloupes/muskmelons.
GERMINATING MUSKMELON/CANTALOUPE SEEDS
Melon seeds are typically useable for up to 4 years after you've purchased them initially, provided you've stored them in a cool, dry, and dark location.
You'll need a soil temperature to be a minimum of 60° to 100°F, although the accepted optimal temperature would be at 85° to 90°F.
Seedling should emerge at around 3 to 5 days if the soil is at 90°F, and at about 10 to 12 days if your soil temp is 70°F.
Don't allow your soil temps to drop below 60°F or your seeds will simply rot.
PLANTING MUSKMELONS/CANTALOUPES INDOORS
It is recommended for planting seeds indoors to use a sterile potting soil so as to allow your seedlings the best chance at germination and survival.
Plant your seeds in tapered plastic pots, soil blocks, or plastic trays for easy transplanting.
While some gardening sites recommend using peat pots, we aren't crazy about them...they do not decompose as quickly as we like, so we're recommending soil blocks for those who prefer to not use plastic containers.
Cantaloupe seeds need light to germinate, so plant your seeds ¼" to ½" deep so that they'll get some light.
We plant 2 or 3 seeds per pot, and if all three come up, we select the biggest one after the plants have at least 2 true leaves - around 2 inches tall - and snip the others off at soil level.
TRANSPLANTING YOUR SEEDLINGS TO YOUR GARDEN
As with most fruits and veggies, we strongly recommend that you "harden off" your muskmelon seedlings.
This entails moving them out of doors during the daylight hours - into the evenings later in the process - for 7 to 10 days, as well as reducing their water gradually as well.
Don't fertilize the seedlings during the hardening off process, and make sure that they are protected if the weather becomes very windy and/or rainy.
Your seedlings will be around 3 to 4 weeks old when you transplant them. They'll have at least two true leaves and be at least 2 inches tall.
Minimum air temps should be around 70° to 75°F during the daytime and 60° to 65°F in the night time.
If you live in a Northern climate, we strongly advise using a black plastic "mulch" to warm up the soil before planting.
When you transplant your muskmelons, make sure you handle them carefully; don't disturb the roots.
Transplant to your garden early in the day, or in the evening to avoid stressing them.
If you're planting to rows, space your plants 2 to 4 feet apart, and make the rows 4 to 6 feet apart. If you're planting hills, 4 ft apart should be fine, but check your seed packets for recommendations as some varieties sprawl more than others.
Set your plants just a little deeper than they were in the pots so that there's a bit of an indentation at the base of your seedlings.
Water your seedlings thoroughly - but don't drown them!
Use row covers to protect them for the first few days from the sun and pests. You can leave them on until the plants flower if you need to protect them from various pests (discussed below).

PLANTING SEEDS DIRECTLY IN YOUR GARDEN
In Southern climates, you have the advantage of skipping the previous sections and planting your seeds into the garden.
Make sure your soil is a minimum of 60°F. If you need to aid the soil temperatures in getting to that level, it's a good practice to use black plastic to bring your temps up.
If planting in rows, we typically space our plants about 2 feet apart and our rows 4 feet apart. It is a good idea, though, to plant seeds every 4 to 6 inches and thin your plants once they're a couple inches tall.
If you're planting hills, space them at least 4 feet apart, on center, and plant 5 or 6 seeds on each hill, later thinning them to 2 or 3 of the best seedlings.
Outdoors you can plant your seeds from ½ to ¾ inch in the soil as the sun will penetrate deeper than grow lights if you plant your seeds indoors.
Lightly pack your soil around the muskmelon seeds; don't pack the soil so tight it forms a crust.
Row covers may be beneficial early in the season to keep your plants warmer and keep bugs out. Make sure you remove them by the time your plants flower, though, or the bees won't be able to pollinate your muskmelons.
If your soil doesn't drain well, it's a good idea to mound your soil either in hills or rows. In our area, because our soil is so rocky, we don't need to raise our beds and the cantaloupes do just fine.
Make sure you know the variety of seed your using as some plants will sprawl further than others, so your plants and rows may need to be spaced wider than what we do.
GROWING MUSKMELONS/CANTALOUPES SUCCESSFULLY UNTIL HARVEST TIME
If you've planted seeds in hills, thin the seedlings to the strongest two or three plants once they've reached 2 to 3 inches in height.
If you've planted in rows - we usually prefer rows, but either way works well - thin your plants to about 1 every 24 inches.
Cantaloupe needs bees for pollination. If your area is light on bees, look on Craigslist or in the classified papers to see if there are any beekeepers willing to place hives on your property.
Make sure you don't use pesticides - they'll wipe out the bees. Also, as this is about growing cantaloupe organically, we'll give you other suggestions below for dealing with bad bugs.
You can trellis cantaloupe if you have a very small garden, but you may need to support your fruits with a "fruit sling" (we use old nylons).
If you've properly prepared your soil using plenty of compost/composted manure, you shouldn't really need to add fertilizer during the season, but you can side-dress with composted manure mid-season if your plants need more nutrients.
Jenny's Tip - When you're growing cantaloupes/muskmelons, spray them with a liquid organic leaf spray fertilizer. We highly recommend Organic Garden Miracle™. OGM™ naturally stimulates your garden plants to produce more plant sugar in the photosynthesis process. That in turn creates a more robust plant, more produce from your garden, and better and sweeter flavored muskmelons. And they have a really good warranty!
MULCHING & WEEDING
We've already discussed black plastic as a mulch when growing cantaloupes. It helps warm the soil and it suppresses weeds. However, you will need to use drip irrigation with black plastic as overhead watering simply won't work.
It's best to lay out your drip lines before laying down the plastic, then make sure you lay the plastic down in the heat of the day and stretch it as tight as you can over the rows.
Organic mulches like woodchips or straw can also be used when growing cantaloupes, but don't apply organic mulches until soils are warmer than 75°F.
Applying organic mulches too early keeps the soil cool, resulting in slow growth and shallow rooting.
If you're not mulching and have to use manual weed control methods, be careful to not pull weeds around the base of your growing muskmelons or you may harm the shallow roots.
We cut off the weeds close to the plants with scissors to allow the cantaloupe plants to gain the upper hand over weeds without harming the plants.
Early in the season, I find it's easy to control the bulk of the weeds by rototilling between the rows, and later in the season you can just pull the large weeds that'll poke up between the vines.
WATERING MUSKMELONS/CANTALOUPES
After planting, make sure you soak your seed area well, but don't drown the seeds or seedlings.
While drip irrigation is desirable, not everyone can afford it. If you have to use overhead watering like we do, make sure you do it early in the day so the plants dry out completely by noon.
We haven't tried it, but we've heard that furrow irrigation is also very effective.
Watering early or using drip systems will help prevent foliage diseases that are quite common in cucurbit (squash) family plants.
As it gets late in the season, and the growing muskmelons are about the size of baseballs, decrease watering; this helps the fruits to mature and prevents the fruit from splitting.
COMPANION PLANTING AND ROTATION CONSIDERATIONS
Good companions for growing cantaloupes include:
Beans which supplement your garden with nitrogen that it absorbs from the air.
Radishes are reputed to protect your muskmelons from squash borers, carrot flies, cucumber beetles, and leaf miners - these pests like radish leaves best, but don't really harm radish plants.
Mint is said to help control ants, aphids, flea beetles, and rodents.
Onions ward off fruit tree borers, weevils, aphids, rust flies, moles, and some root nematodes.
Marigolds and Nasturtiums repel bugs and beetles away from your muskmelons. They also attract bees which help to pollinate your squash flowers.
Oregano is also said to benefit squash in keeping away many pests.
Corn is a great companion for squash family plants including muskmelons/cantaloupes. Corn produces lots of pollen and attracts beneficial pollinating insects.
Corn also provides shade to the melons in the afternoon heat, and the melon vines and leaves lessen weeds and preserve soil moisture.
A bad companion for melons are potatoes. Potatoes inhibit the growth in melon plants.
You don't necessarily need to rotate melons annually unless you're having issues with verticillium wilt, fusarium rot, or mosaic virus.
Because summer and winter squash, cucumbers, and melons are of the same family, though, it's a best practice to rotate your plants out of an area next year.
WHEN TO HARVEST
Cantaloupes/Muskmelons separate from the vine when ripened, unlike watermelons and other cucurbits.
If you note that your melons have changed to a yellowish or tannish color from their normal greenish color, and that the skin has gotten rougher and duller in appearance, your melons are close to ripe.
When the base of the stem appears to be cracked, lift the melon up and if the vine separates easily, the melon is ripe. The underside will also usually have a pale yellow appearance.
If your weather is hot, harvest the melons daily; if temperate, every other day should be fine.
Take care when harvesting not to damage the cantaloupe vines.
SAVING CANTALOUPE/MUSKMELON SEEDS
Once your melons are fully mature and separate from the vine on their own, the seeds will be ready to harvest.
Note that you cannot save seeds from hybrid varieties - not to be confused with GMO seeds. These seeds are cross-pollinated with other varieties to create disease resistance but cannot be used for any further cropping.
So, if you're growing what is now termed a "heritage" seed, you're good to go. Just scrape the seeds out of the muskmelon, wash them in a bowl of warm water, and scoop the clean seeds onto a dry towel and let them sit in a warm, dry area for about 3 days.
Store the seeds in a cool, dry place for next years garden. Placing the seeds in a zip lock-style plastic bag and freezing is a great way to preserve these seeds as well.
MELON STORAGE
We've had very good results placing our harvested cantaloupes in the fridge for up to 2 weeks at about 40° to 45°F.
You can freeze cantaloupe after scraping the seeds, removing the skin, and cubing it. I like it fresh though so I don't do this myself.
PREVENTATIVE AND NATURAL SOLUTIONS TO COMMON PESTS
Aphids are also common pests that can be found on the undersides of your muskmelon leaves. You'll know they're there if you see leaves turning yellow and crinkling or curling.
Aphids suck the juice from your plant leaves and leave a sticky substance behind. The only beneficiary of this process is ants, who harvest the sticky sweet stuff.
The best solution to aphids is to import ladybugs to your garden. They feed on aphids and are very effective in ridding your plants of these little green, gray, or brown bugs.
Another solution is to "wash" them off with a hose and high-pressure spray nozzle or an organic insecticidal soap.
Cucumber Beetles are a striped beetle that is about 3/16" in length, greenish yellow, with three black stripes running down it's back.
The spotted cucumber beetles is pretty much the same but with a dozen spots on it's back.
Regardless of what these beetles look like, they're pretty nasty pests that eat your cantaloupe/muskmelon plants and spread bacterial or verticillium wilt to your plants.
To prevent these beetles from getting to your plants, you can use row covers before flowering to keep them away from your plants.
If the problems get too serious, you can use organic pyrethrins or organic rotenone to deal with these critters.
Pickleworms are nasty little worms that come from ugly moths. These guys don't mess with the leaves; they go straight for the fruit.
Row covers early in the season are effective at keeping pickleworm moths away from your cucurbits - squash, melons, and cucumbers.
One effective remedy for pickleworms is powdering your plants with diatomaceous earth.
Food grade diatomaceous earth, which is composed of powdered fossilized algae, possesses razor sharp edges which are innocuous to most animals but fatal to insects.
When insects such as slugs, thrips, fly maggots, aphids, grubs, caterpillars, or mites ingest diatomaceous earth, it punctures their guts and they die from dehydration.
You do have to keep the powder dry though or it doesn't work. You'll have to re-apply after watering or a rain.
Squash Bugs are probably another prevalent pest. They suck the sap from your cantaloupe plant leaves, leaving them initially speckled; then the leaves wither and die.
Controlling squash bugs is easier if your soil has lots of nutrients and your plants are healthy.
Get rid of anything around your garden, such as old boards or anything they can hide under during the winter.
It also helps to rototill or turn under your garden in the fall to eliminate places these bugs like to hide in.
To get rid of the bugs, hand-picking usually works in a garden as it's not so large as to take more than an hour or two per week for a few weeks in the summer.
When you pick these bugs and nymphs, have a pail of soapy water to drop them into...the soap breaks the capillary action of water so the bugs immediately sink and drown in the water.
If you find eggs attached to the underside of leaves or stems, simply crush the eggs.
Lay a board or two in your muskmelon patch overnight...the bugs will congregate under the boards at night. In the morning, lift the board and capture the bugs and drop them into the soapy water pail.
Organic compounds such as rotenone and pyrethrins are also effective if you have a heavy infestation of these varmints.
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
Muskmelons/Cantaloupe will sometimes be flavorless. This can be caused by cool weather or poor soil nutrients. Or picking the melons before they're ripe (this is really common if you purchase cantaloupe at the supermarket).
Smooth rinds often are caused by cool weather. These melons will often also have poor flavor as well.
To prevent lack of soil nutrients to cause lousy-flavored fruit, pay close attention especially to the potassium in your soil, but also the magnesium and the boron.
Another problem we touched on earlier was poor fruit setting. This is caused by lack of pollinating insects in your area.
As I wrote above, you may be able to find a local beekeeper to put a hive or 2 on your property, or you can hand pollinate. Wet weather or plant crowding can also have a negative affect on pollination.
Fusarium wilt is a soil-carried disease that affects cantaloupes. It results in the collapse of your plants when the weather is too cold and wet.
Powdery mildew is another mildew that can affect your melon plants. It's whitish and powdery and grows on curcubit leaves and stems.
It is also caused by wetness, but warmth and humidity rather than cool weather and rain.
If the leaves are infected, they'll usually die. If the infections is severe, it can kill the whole plant.
If you are able to, avoid overhead watering. If not, water early in the morning so the plants can dry out by noon or so.
If you keep insect pests under control and spray your vines and leaves with a compost tea solution or a baking soda solution, you most likely won't have an issue with this disease.
Other solutions include organic sulphur sprays or a weak solution of milk and water (9:1).
If you spot any of this mildew, destroy your vines at the end of the season and rotate your cantaloupes to a new area next gardening season.
The best prevention is to plant resistant varieties of muskmelons/cantaloupes.
Downy mildew is a leaf disease and is caused by a fungus with a long Latin name. If you really want to know the name, let me know and I'll copy and paste it in a reply.
This mildew usually isn't a problem unless you have a cold spell in the 45° to 55°F range for a month or longer.
The mildew shows up initially as yellow patches on your squash plant's leaves, then turns brown or tan with gray or white downy fuzz below it. Then it progresses to black patches and the leaves and sometimes the plants shrivel up and die.
To prevent downy mildew, grow squash varieties that are resistant to it.
Also, allow space between your plants so they don't stay wet too long.
And if the conditions appear favorable for the disease to appear (i.e. a long cool and rainy spell), spray your leaves with a compost tea. To make the tea, put compost in a bucket and fill it with water; when it settles out, fill your sprayer with the brownish water and spray your plants leaves with it.
Muskmelon seedlings may be affected by a group of fungi that cause "damping off."
Damping off fungi will attack the seeds, seedlings or very young plants and cause a type of rot to infect the roots or base of the plant causing sudden growth and collapse in usually (in our experience) under a day.
If you're planting in trays, use sterile potting soil, sterile trays, and avoid using your gardens soil.
You can sterilize potting soil by getting it very wet and placing it in a metal container in an oven and heating it to around 160°F for about 30 minutes; the oven should be heated to around 200°F.
Use a meat thermometer to check the temperature, and turn the oven down a bit if the temperature exceeds 165°F.
Cool the soil to at least 90°F before planting your seeds in it.
Also be aware that too much moisture is often part of the cause of seedlings damping off.
Water your plants with warm water as cool temps tend to encourage damping off fungi.
And the last one we'll deal with are Leaf Spots and Fruit Rot. These are caused by fungal disease and include rotting fruit, lesions on the vines, holes in the leaves, and brown-colored spot on the leaves.
Rotating your crops to new areas on a 3 to 4 year rotation will help alleviate these problems.
Reducing moisture can help also - using drip irrigation or watering early is helpful. Don't crowd your plants. Keep the melon patch weed free.
To avoid these diseases don't grow melons in an area where any member of the squash family has been grown for 3-4 years.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Growing Organic Pumpkins


Pumpkin Facts

If you're growing pumpkins, you'll pretty much be following the same guidelines as you'd follow for winter squash.

The most ancient evidence of growing pumpkins dates back to around 7000 B.C. in Mexico.

Farmers in the U.S. are currently growing pumpkins at around 1.5 billion pounds per year; gardeners add many more to that.

One of the favorite usages of pumpkins is for the Halloween "holiday" when much of the populace carves goofy faces in their pumpkins and put candles in them. If you really want to know why, Google it.

When to Plant Pumpkins

You'll need about 80 to 120 frost free days when growing pumpkins to allow them to mature.

You can begin growing your pumpkins indoors about 4 weeks before your last frost date. The soil should be about 60° to 65°F at 2 inches depth.

If you use floating row covers, you can transplant pumpkins to your garden a couple weeks before the last anticipated frost.

If you live in warmer areas you can plant your pumpkin seeds directly after the danger of frost is past, typically around the end of March or mid-April.

You'll want to plan to have your pumpkins mature by late summer or early fall. The larger the pumpkin, the more days they take to mature.

Where to Plant pumpkins

Pumpkins require at the very least 6 hours of full sunlight daily.

Growing pumpkins require garden soil that drains well and has plenty of organic materials blended into it.

Your soil ideally should have a pH balance in the range of 5.8 to 7.5; right in the middle of that is the best pH level.

Your soil needs sufficient levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, most of which are achieved with the liberal application of compost and/or composted manure, bone meal, blood meal, and the like.

Preparing Your Soil to Plant Pumpkins

Pumpkins need copious amounts of soil nutrients which can be supplied mainly with compost and composted-manure.

The best way to apply your compost is to lay out where your hills will be and mix several inches of compost into about a 2 foot diameter area about a foot deep.

If you're rototilling rows, add 2 to 4 inches of compost, composted manure, etc., and rototill it to around 8 inches deep.

You can also mound the soil where your plants will be to aid in the mixing in of compost or other organic matter.

Other items you can add to your soil are alfalfa meal early in the season for nitrogen, and feather meal later in the season, ground oyster or egg shells for calcium, greensand for potassium, and kelp meal for trace nutrients.

Choosing the right Seed Varieties for your Area

If you have a small garden, it's good to note that pumpkin vines can occupy up to 100 square feet.

Pumpkins, at least most varieties, are too heavy to trellis, but do grow well in larger garden areas.

Contact your county extension office to find out if there are common diseases in pumpkins in your area. If there are, get recommendations for seed varieties that are resistant to those diseases.

Diseases that afflict pumpkins are covered in detail in the latter part of this post.

Seeds and Germination

Pumpkin seeds are usually still plantable 6 years after you've purchased them from a reputable seed supplier.

Pumpkin seeds won't germinate in soil temperatures lower than 60°F or higher than 105°F. The optimum germination temp is between 86°F to 95°F.

The seedlings should emerge in about 5 days at the optimum temperature range if they are in full sunlight or under grow lights (fluorescent lights are OK).

If you're seeding directly to your soil, you can use a black plastic mulch to heat up your soil. Secure your plastic with soil (make sure all edges are covered with dirt), and cut holes for seeds.

Your garden soil temperature shouldn't be no lower than 60°F to 65°F to germinate your pumpkin seeds.

Starting Pumpkin Plants Indoors

Plant your pumpkin seeds in peat pots or soil blocks 3 or 4 weeks before the last frost. You can use tapered plastic pots as well, but peat pots and/or soil blocks are better options.

Use a good potting mix or starter mix to start your pumpkin seeds in. These mixes are readily available at your local garden center.

If you want to create your own potting soil mix, you can purchase mixing loam soil, sphagnum peat moss, and perlite at your local garden store. Adding compost to this mix will create an optimal starter mix.

Don't use garden soil as it has lots of weed seed, fungus spores, and bugs in it that aren't optimal for starting your pumpkins indoors.

If you want to grow a pumpkin plant or more in containers, you'll need to get at least a 10 gallon pot.

Mix 9 gallons of potting mix, a couple cups of alfalfa meal, half a cup of feathermeal, half a cup of powdered eggshells or oyster shells for calcium, half a cup of greensand for potassium, and a few tablespoons of kelp to cover your trace minerals.

Plant three or four seeds about 1" deep. Don't thin until the plants have at least 2 true leaves; leave the 2 best seedlings and after one is about 10 inches tall, choose the best plant and clip the other off with a scissor.

Transplanting Pumpkins to Your Garden

Before you actually transplant your pumpkins to your garden, you'll need to "harden off" your plants.

To harden off your pumpkin seedlings, move them outside during the daytime and cut back on watering.

Your plants should have 2 or more true leaves at this stage and it will have been 3 to 4 weeks since you originally planted them.

As pumpkins prefer warm temperatures, ideally the daytime temps will reach 75° to 85°F daytime and 60° to 65°F nighttime temperatures.

However, if you live as far North as we do, you may not hit those temperatures until 2-4 weeks after transplanting, so it might be advisable to use row covers and black plastic ground cover to help your pumpkins to get a good start.

You need a minimum soil temp of 60°F to plant your squash, so plant them in an area that gets lots of sun.

If you're planting in rows, space the rows 4 to 6 feet apart and the plants about 2 to 3 feet apart in the rows. If you have a larger variety of pumpkin, you might want to plant them 3 to 4 feet apart in the rows.

When you plant your pumpkin seedlings, dig a hole large enough to place the peat pot, soil block, or soil mass into; then pack soil in around the plant.

Make sure the soil is moist but not too wet; you shouldn't be able to pack a tight dirt clump with your hand or it's too wet.

Plastic mulch, set down a couple of weeks prior to your anticipated transplant date, is a definite help (how much of a help depends in good part on what kind of plastic mulch you use--the traditional black is the least helpful).

Planting Pumpkin Seeds Directly to Your Garden

Once your soil temps have stabilized above 60°F, you can plant pumpkin seeds in your garden. You should make sure that you're past the danger of frost.

If you're hilling your pumpkin area, make your mounds about 4 to 8 feet apart and plant 4 to 6 seeds about one inch deep and about 1 inch apart in a circle or square configuration.

If you're planting in rows, the rows should be 4 to 8 feet apart, and the seeds should be planted 6 to 12 inches apart.

Once the seeds have germinated, you can thin your plants to one every 18 to 36 inches, depending on whether they're larger or smaller pumpkin varieties, and what your garden soil can handle.

Getting the Most Out of Your Pumpkins

Once your plants have at least 2 true leaves, thin them to 2 or 3 plants per hill, or 18 to 36 inches apart if they're in rows.

Pumpkins have male and female flowers. Male flower will appear first, 40 to 50 days after germination. A week later female flowers will begin to emerge.

If you have plenty of insects, pollination should be no problem.

If you have too few insects, you'll see the female flowers begin to drop. To avoid this, you can hand pollinate by using a cotton swab or a small brush to take pollen from the male flowers and dispense it to the female flowers.

Early in the season, make sure the pumpkin plants aren't choked out by weeds.

Hand pull any weeds within six inches of the pumpkin plants, the surface hoe the weeds that are further away, and rototill weeds more than a foot away from your squash plants.

Once the vines have covered the ground, you'll not need to weed much in your pumpkin patch the rest of the season.

It's a good practice, about half-way through the season, to side dress your pumpkin plants (about 6 inches from the base of the plant) with compost, composted manure, or alfalfa meal.

Pruning smaller pumpkins from your plants will help the remaining pumpkins to get bigger.

It's also a good idea, if you have squash borers in your area, to mound dirt around the base of your plants to discourage them from laying eggs.

Jenny's Tip - When you're growing pumpkins, spray them with a liquid organic leaf spray fertilizer. We highly recommend Organic Garden Miracle™. OGM™ naturally stimulates your garden plants to produce more plant sugar in the photosynthesis process. That in turn creates a more robust plant, more produce from your garden, and better and sweeter flavored squash. And they have a really good warranty!

Jenny's Tip #2 - If you're growing smaller pumpkins (the size of a volleyball or smaller), you can trellis them and as the pumpkins grow, you can use pantyhose or similar to make a sling to hold them up.

Mulching & Weeding

Early in the season, black plastic may be your best mulching option as it warms the soil and suppresses weeds.

Grass clippings or Straw, spread around your pumpkin plants, both help to throttle pesky weeds and conserve soil moisture.

You won't want to apply these types of mulches until the soils reach about 75°F as mulch tends to keep your soil cooler.

One of the biggest assets of mulching is that because pumpkins have shallow roots systems, you won't have to disturb them much by weeding.

Watering Pumpkins

When growing pumpkins, depending on your climate, they should be watered between 1 and 2 inches weekly.

If you mulch, you can use somewhat less water, but still check your soil's moisture level frequently during hot, dry spells.

If you water once per week, especially if you've mulched, that should be adequate.

Water enough to get about 6 to 8 inches into your soil. Light watering of pumpkins is virtually useless.

If your soil is sandy, use a smaller amount of water, but water a couple of times per week.

If your pumpkins are trellised, you may need to water a bit more than if the plants are rambling across the ground.

As with most vegetables, drip irrigation or soaker hoses are the preferred watering method. However, if you only have overhead sprinklers, water early in the day so as to reduce risk of fungi and mildews.

Companion Planting and Rotation Considerations

Good companions for growing pumpkins include:

Beans which supplement your garden with nitrogen that it absorbs from the air.

Pumpkins help corn roots retain moisture.

Radishes are reputed to protect your pumpkins from squash borers.

Mint is said to help control ants, aphids, flea beetles, and rodents.

Onions ward off fruit tree borers, weevils, aphids, rust flies, moles, and some root nematodes.

Marigolds and Nasturtiums repel bugs and beetles away from your squashes. They also attract bees which help to pollinate your squash flowers.

Oregano is also said to benefit squash in keeping away many pests.

Bad Companions for winter squash are potatoes. Potatoes inhibit the growth in squash plants.

You don't necessarily need to rotate squash annually unless you're having issues with verticillium wilt, fusarium rot, or mosaic virus.

When to Harvest pumpkins

Like most winter squash, pumpkins are ready to harvest when the skin is hard and you can't puncture it with your fingernail.

We usually wait until the first "killing frost" to harvest our pumpkins. By this time the skins are usually a dark orange and the stems have hardened.

I always use a pruning shear to cut the pumpkin stem from the vine, leaving around 3 inches of stem. This helps protect the pumpkins from rotting and provides a handle for picking it up.

It's a wise practice to wear some type of cloth or leather glove when handling pumpkins as the dried stems are quite abrasive.

Handle your harvested pumpkins with care. Bruising or injuring the skin will affect the storability of pumpkins.

Storing and/or Preserving Pumpkins

Pumpkins store well through the winter. We've often still had pumpkins into June if they've been harvested with care.

A basement area, dark space in your garage, a crawl space under your home, or a root cellar are typically ideal locations for pumpkin storage.

If a pumpkin has been bruised or cut during harvest or when moving into the storage area, use these first as they'll rot more quickly in storage.

You can cut out the rot spots and bake, steam, or otherwise cook pumpkins with no negative effects to the flavor or nutrition of the remaining portions.

You can steam and freeze pumpkins as well as can pumpkin if you don't have an appropriate storage location.

Beware: it may be difficult to get the pumpkin hot enough to kill all the bacteria that is recommended if canning a puree, so it may be best to cube the squash and can it in a little sea salt and water.

We have experimented with pumpkins and kept it in warmer areas of our home at 65° to 70°F through the winter and still had plenty of pumpkin to eat all winter.

Preventative and Natural Solutions to Common Pests

Cucumber Beetles are a striped beetle that is about 3/16" in length, greenish yellow, with three black stripes running down it's back.

The spotted cucumber beetles is pretty much the same but with a dozen spots on it's back.

Regardless of what these beetles look like, they're pretty nasty pests that eat your plants and spread bacterial or verticillium wilt to your plants.

To prevent these beetles from getting to your plants, you can use row covers before flowering to keep them away from your pumpkin plants.

If the problems get too serious, you can use organic pyrethrins or organic rotenone to deal with these critters.

Another nasty pest is the squash vine borers. They typically appear about the time the vines begin to spread out across your garden. Fortunately, they don't attack butternut squash, cucumbers, watermelons, or muskmelons (cantaloupe).

Squash vine borers are an inch long or so, quite fat, and are white with a brown head.

They are the larvae of a small moth with dark front wings and light rear wings and a red abdomen. The moths lay eggs in the late spring or early summer near the base of your pumpkin vines.

The borers appear about a week later and drill a hole in your vine to get inside them. You'll see a small hole and green excretions below the hole. And you'll see the vine die rather suddenly.

To prevent squash vine borers from decimating your crops, first, watch for the moths (and listen...they have a buzz when they fly that's unusual for moths).

You can also use yellow-colored bowls filled with water to trap these moths; they're attracted to the color, so will fly into the bowls and drown.

At this point, it's a good idea to use row covers for about 2 weeks until the moths disappear again. Make sure you cover the edges of the row covers with dirt to seal out the moths.

If your plants begin flowering during this time, you can hand pollinate your pumpkins if necessary. Don't use insecticides as they can also kill beneficial insects that pollinate your crops.

If you discover the borer has created a hole before the plant wilts and dies, you can sometimes carefully cut a hole in the vine and remove the borer. Cover the vine and the hole with dirt; much of the time it will send roots into the soil from the cut area.

If you find a vine that's been killed by a borer, cut back the vine and destroy it.

Aphids are also common pests that can be found on the undersides of your pumpkin leaves. You'll know they're there if you see leaves turning yellow and crinkling or curling.

Aphids suck the juice from your plant leaves and leave a sticky substance behind. The only beneficiary of this process is ants, who harvest the sticky sweet stuff.

The best solution to aphids is to import ladybugs to your garden. They feed on aphids and are very effective in ridding your plants of these little green bugs.

Another solution is to "wash" them off with a hose and high-pressure spray nozzle or an organic insecticidal soap.

Squash Bugs are probably the most prevalent pest but are somewhat easier to control than borers. They suck the sap from your pumpkin plant leaves, leaving them initially speckled; then the leaves wither and die.

Controlling squash bugs is easier if your soil has lots of nutrients and your plants are healthy.

Get rid of anything around your garden, such as old boards or anything they can hide under during the winter.

It also helps to rototill or turn under your garden in the fall to eliminate places these bugs like to hide in.

To get rid of the bugs, hand-picking usually works in a garden as it's not so large as to take more than an hour or two per week for a few weeks in the summer.

When you pick these bugs and nymphs, have a pail of soapy water to drop them into...the soap breaks the capillary action of water so the bugs immediately sink and drown in the water.

If you find eggs attached to the underside of leaves or stems, simply crush the eggs.

Lay a board or two in your pumpkin patch overnight...the bugs will congregate under the boards at night. In the morning, lift the board and capture the bugs and drop them into the soapy water pail.

Organic compounds such as rotenone and pyrethrins are also effective if you have a heavy infestation of these varmints.

Environmental Factors

Blossom-end rot causes your fruit to develop a black rot on the end of the squash. Hot weather/lack of water, and a calcium deficiency, are the main cause of the rot. It can be prevented by making sure your plants have water and if necessary, add lime to the soil before watering.

Downy mildew is a leaf disease and is caused by a fungus with a long Latin name. If you really want to know the name, let me know and I'll copy and paste it in a reply.

This mildew usually isn't a problem unless you have a cold spell in the 45° to 55°F range for a month or longer.

The mildew shows up initially as yellow patches on your squash plant's leaves, and then turns brown or tan with gray or white downy fuzz below it. Then it progresses to black patches and the leaves and sometimes the plants shrivel up and die.

To prevent downy mildew, grow squash varieties that are resistant to it.

Also, allow space between your plants so they don't stay wet too long.

And if the conditions appear favorable for the disease to appear (i.e. a long cool and rainy spell), spray your leaves with a compost tea. To make the tea, put compost in a bucket and fill it with water; when it settles out, fill your sprayer with the brownish water and spray your plants leaves with it.

Powdery mildew is another mildew that can affect your winter squash plants, but looks entirely different. It's whitish and powdery and grows on squash leaves and stems.

It is also caused by wetness, but warmth and humidity rather than cool weather and rain.

If the leaves are infected, they'll usually die. If the infections is severe, it can kill the whole plant.

If you are able to, avoid overhead watering. If not, water early in the morning so the plants can dry out by noon or so.

If you keep insect pests under control and spray your vines and leaves with a compost tea solution or a baking soda solution, you most likely won't have an issue with this disease.

Other solutions include organic sulphur sprays or a weak solution of milk and water (9:1).

If you spot any of this mildew, destroy your vines at the end of the season and rotate your winter squash to a new area next gardening season.

You can also purchase seed varieties that are resistant to fungi such as downy and powdery mildews.

Another fungus with a long Latin name causes a blight called "black rot." Black rot is found mostly in warmer and more humid climates such as the Southeastern U.S., but can also show up in winter squash and pumpkins in the cooler climates.

Black rot is a gummy blight that attacks the stems and leaves of squash plants. It is usually brought on by too much moisture.

Black rot will survive on dry plant matter or in the soil. It will live there for over a year.

It lives on dry plant material or in the soil, where it can survive for more than a year. It is necessary to rotate your squash crops to a new area if this blight hits your plants.

To avoid black rot, irrigation should be managed to minimize free moisture on leaf surfaces, and a minimum two-year rotation cycle is a must.

Again, overhead watering should be avoided, but if you have no choice, water early in the day.

You can also make an organic fungicide spray using bicarbonate of soda (baking soda). In a gallon of water add a couple drops of organic olive oil, a couple drops of environmentally-friendly liquid soap, and 3 tablespoons of baking soda. Spray it on your squash leaves to effectively control all of the above fungi.

Fusarium fruit rot is a soil-borne fungus that can afflict your pumpkin crop.

You can see this problem in slightly sunken lesions with purplish-red margins. A white fungal growth will develop often in the center of the lesions. It can spread with watering.

Crop rotation and planting resistant varieties are the best defense against fusarium fruit rot.

Straw mulch can help reduce fruit rot by preventing pumpkins from contacting the soil directly.

Don't store pumpkins showing the described symptoms as they'll rot quickly in storage.

Angular leaf spot is a bacterial infections that creates spots that have a water-logged appearance and are guided by the leaf veins, giving them an angular appearance.

Warm, wet weather is a promoter of this infection, and if things dry out, the holes created by this disease may be outgrown.

Prevention of ALS starts with clean seeds and resistant varieties. Also, don't crowd your plants as moisture creates the condition in which this disease thrives.

If you have only overhead watering, do it in the morning. Spray your plants with the homemade fungicide mentioned above if symptoms appear.

Just when you thought it was safe to grow pumpkins, along comes the mosaic virus.

Mosaic is spread by aphids mostly. Your pumpkins leaves will develop irregularly, both in shape and size, and the fruit may have the same symptoms.

Preventing aphids from infecting your plants with row covers may be the best option. Diatomaceous Earth also works well, but only if it remains powdery (not wet).

You might think by this point we'd have nothing else, absolutely nothing else that could affect your pumpkin crop, but unfortunately we still need to mention bacterial wilt.

Bacterial wilt goes back to your cucumber beetles; if they're around when your pumpkin seedlings emerge, they may infect your plants early.

Bacterial will appears when the leaves start to wilt into an umbrella-shaped appearance, then the whole plant collapses and dies.

As you might imagine, controlling the cucumber beetles will control bacterial wilt, so if your growing your pumpkins organically, row covers are the most effective prevention early in the season.

Most fungal infections can be controlled by planting resistant varieties, rotating your crops, and using the homemade spray mentioned earlier.

Everything else can usually be handled by controlling the bugs with row covers, diatomaceous earth, and pyrethrins if it gets serious.