Fall cucumbers
 

I have had really good luck this year with my fall cucumbers which is not usually the case. Usually whiteflies and the heat are devastating on fall cucumbers down here but I set them out down at the bottom of the garden which gets a lot of heavy shade after 2 pm and mulched them very heavily and ran them up strings with tomato clips as extra support. Both Sweet Success and Orient Express have both fared well this time. I did have to replace a few of the plants the first week due to the extreme heat killing a few of the baby plants within a couple of days of setting them out.

Bill

Bill what variety/ies do you normally plant for your late crop? I would like to find some cukes that would give me a late crop.

jon:wait:

I put out some Diva plants a few weeks ago, and I'm not sure how
they are going to fare.
Between foliage diseases and worm attacks, the plants don't look especially healthy.
My broccoli plants I set out at the same time were totally devastated by a major worm infestation.... guess I didn't get the dipel(BT) on them soon enough.... :(

Lee

Wicked healthy cucumbers plants, after 3-5" rain , this shot is plants from July which died, i put new seeds in the pot. This is then 2nd pot of cucumbers this year.

[QUOTE=peppero;432401]Bill what variety/ies do you normally plant for your late crop? I would like to find some cukes that would give me a late crop.

jon:wait:[/QUOTE]

Orient Express and Sweet Success.

Bill

[QUOTE=Lee;432402]I put out some Diva plants a few weeks ago, and I'm not sure how
they are going to fare.
Between foliage diseases and worm attacks, the plants don't look especially healthy.
My broccoli plants I set out at the same time were totally devastated by a major worm infestation.... guess I didn't get the dipel(BT) on them soon enough.... :(

Lee[/QUOTE]

Lee I usually include Diva as one of my spring cucumbers but since disease, heat and pests can be quite a problem sometimes in the fall I left them out. I have never had much luck with them in the fall as they tend to be more sensitive to the harsher conditions of fall.

I just started my broccoli and other fall seeds a week ago. As slow as the cool down is getting here I may have to delay planting them if it isn't cool enough in the next month or so. I usually have trouble deciding when to start seeds for fall and winter crops because of our erratic weather. It is still far too hot to even think of setting out something like broccoli now as it would head before it got 8 inches tall in this heat. Of course it might suddenly cool down like it did last year and I won't have anything ready to set out.

Bill

Finally the pickle worms have hit my fall cucumbers and I had to dust with Sevin this morning. Other than a couple of weird green fat grub looking worms that bored into the new growth in the top of a couple of vines the fall cucumbers have been pest free this year. Oh well it was nice while it lasted. I guess the nematodes will get them soon.

Bill

I just harvested my first 4 cukes yesterday. 1 of them had pickleworms in it. The plants are massive and just getting started so I'd better hit everything with BT.

[QUOTE=feldon30;433297]I just harvested my first 4 cukes yesterday. 1 of them had pickleworms in it. The plants are massive and just getting started so I'd better hit everything with BT.[/QUOTE]

BT has never worked well for me with pickle worms. I used to use it when they first appeared but for some reason that is one of the only few worms it doesn't seem too effective on. Maybe it is because they just bore straight in instead of munching on the surface like cabbage worms. Even the Sevin is not 100% effective on pickle worms but it does get most of them very quickly.

Bill

I'm just worried about the Sevin because of the bumblebees.

[QUOTE=feldon30;433368]I'm just worried about the Sevin because of the bumblebees.[/QUOTE]

I only apply it very late in the evening when there is no bee activity. I've still got a lot of bees this year even after the little cool spell we just had. This year I have had more bees than I have seen in at least a decade.

Bill

Picked 30 more cukes. Going to have a good batch of pickles for sure.

This year has been really unusual because even though I didn't plant very many cucumbers in the fall each one is doing far better than my spring plants. I think the cooler nights have something to do with it and the lack of pests that were a real pain on my spring plants.

Bill

Outside of Sevin, any organic methods to prevent pickle worms?? They got to the cukes last fall as well as the Cantaloupe that were next to them. I have BT already. Will that do?

Thanks,

Greg

Row covers at night. You can remove them during the day to let your pollinators do their job. Covering at night prevents the pickle worm, Diaphania nitidalis, from laying eggs.

You can use cheese cloth or go to a fabric store and buy tulle. Just sew the pieces together and toss over the plants come dark.

You can build a cheap square type frame a bit higher than what you expect your cuke plants to grow out of pvc pipe. The cheap 20 foot for about 2 bucks 3/4" works good. Just design it in a box shape and you can even tack the fabric down permanently on one side , so you only have to toss the row cover back on to the top of the frame for easy pulling down at night.