garden questions

[Keye]

Must be a lot of gardeners in this crowd so maybe someone can help me.

Everyone of my squash plants bit the dust. Alive one day and dead the next. Pulled the plants up as they died and the roots were cut just below the surface. Dug around a little and found a couple of white grubs. Could these be my problem? If so how do you kill the things?

One other thing, my tomato plants do not have nearly the number of blooms as they usually do. Think I heard one time that extremely high temperature would keep tomatoes from setting blooms. Anyone else every heard this?

[gator]

Originally Posted by halfblind

Must be a lot of gardeners in this crowd so maybe someone can help me.

One other thing, my tomato plants do not have nearly the number of blooms as they usually do. Think I heard one time that extremely high temperature would keep tomatoes from setting blooms. Anyone else every heard this?

Don't know about the squash but my tomatos have the opposite problem, I have lots of blooms and few tomatos. On two plants right now I have/or have had, probably 50-70 blooms and have 6 tomatoes (none ripe yet) and two of those have Blossom End Rot. A neighbor told me that the first 15-20 blooms died because when the night time temp goes below 54° it will kill the blooms.

George

[JackLeg]

Cut worms on the squash plants. Yep, tomatoes need night temps in the low 70's or better. You can really help this by spraying them with BloomSet, a calcium based product that will set fruit and prevent blossom end rot. Spray them weekly, or as often as new blooms appear. Then pull off some small tomatoes to insure bigger and better ones. M2CW

[DaveO]

It is very possible that the grubs are eating on the root system. Although the presence of a few grubs usually doesn't cause much problems. Populations of 5 or more per sq. ft. area is an acceptable level. Controlling the grubs isn't an easy task. Short of a soil fumigation with methyl bromide (which is very hazardous) there really isn't a good way to get insecticide to the grubs in the soil. Also there are different insecticides that are effective based on the season and life cycle of the grub. You can use insecticide product containing either Carbaryl or Trichlorfan for control in the spring or fall. For control in the summer (like right now) it's best to use insecticides containing either Cyfluthurin, Imidacloprid, or Halofenozine. You should find these compounds listed on the products ingredient listing. Your best bet for non-toxic control is dealing with the source of the grubs, mainly Japanese Beetles (also May and June beetles). Jap beetle traps are a great way to capture and interrupt the mating cycle of the beetle. You interrupt/stop the mating cycle for a few season you will have a marked reduction in the number of the white grubs.

You are correct about the high temperature and tomato blossom drop. Daytime temps above 90° and night temps around 70-75° will render the pollen sterile and the flowers can't continue into fruit. The nighttime temperature seems to have the greatest influence. The plants aren't ruined, as soon as the temps drop some they will continue doing as they should. Another possibility is sun exposure. The plants should be getting at least 8-10 of sun a day. Less than that they will have reduced flower production.

WAKE UP NOW sorry to bore y'all


Dave

[woodlaker2]

As has been said here by others the grubs could be a problem, but in that your squash plants were looking o.k. one day and the next they were dying suddenly I suspect you may have moles or voles at work on the root system. I'd suggest you go to the NC State Univ. website and surf to gardeniing and vegetables for threads on your specific problems. They have a lot of useful info. and data sheet by specific crops. Or, take your plant(s) to your County Extension Office and ask the agent for help in identifying both the problems and the possible cures. Lastly, if you've not done it before, do a soil test (again the County extension office will help you here) to determine the makeup of your soil and what plant nutrients are needed. Doing a soil test is really a basic requirement to good gardening as it will provide a lot of data you can use to get ready for next year's garden (yeah I know you want solutiion this year but it's never too early to plan ahead). Just be prepared for it to take some time as this is an extremely busy time of year and the county offices all send their samples to NCSU for analysis. Good part, it is free unless you want to something more sophisticated like testing for heavy metals which I don't think you need. Good luck.

[adowden]

I have to agree with Ray. I think it may be a mole, vole, or shrew. My parents have had the same problem with many of their flowers. The top is in tact and all the roots are gone.

Amy

[Keye]

Maybe should have mentioned one other thing. I have(had) two rows of squash that are seperated by four other rows. The four rows have tomatos, peppers and eggplant. Nothing but the squash has been killed. This is just kind of strange to me. If it is cutworms I would also expect to see them on the tomato plants. I have seen what a cutworm can do to a tomato plant overnight. I am almost positive it is not moles.

Any other thougts?

[McRabbet]

Keye,

In all likelihood your problem is Voles, not Moles. Voles are Vegetarians while Moles are Meat eaters. See this information from NC State University.

[Tar Heel]

Sounds like squash vine borers to me. They have wiped out many plants for me over the years. One possible deterent is to cut a 2 liter drink bottle into 3 inch high rings. At the time you initially plant the squash plant, push this 3 inch high plastic collar into the ground and put the plant it in the middle of the collar. This worked for me in the past.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2153.html

[jeff...]

Originally Posted by McRabbet

Keye,

In all likelihood your problem is Voles, not Moles. Voles are Vegetarians while Moles are Meat eaters. See this information from NC State University.

Are you saying remember V for vegetarians and M for meat when it comes to oles?