Growing cukes in cages......anyone do it this way?
lizbeth_pa
11 years ago
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jean001a
11 years agoUser
11 years agoRelated Discussions
What is the best potting soil for container tomatoes, cukes, etc.
Comments (10)From left to right: Fafard 3B Fafard 3B 1 bag 3B + 1 bag pine bark fines 1 bag 3B + 1 bag pine bark fines 1 bag 3B + 2 bags of pine bark fines 1 bag 3B + 2 bags of pine bark fines 70% coconut coir + 30% perlite (I normally don't start any scotch bonnet pepper plants in the summer (it is too hot, buggy, and rainy) but this year thought I would give it a shot plus do more in the fall. They last longer than 1 season. We don't get freezes.) Here is just a sampling of some of them. Fafard 3B --great right out of the bag Actually had flowers and now fruit way ahead of others by 7 or 8 days. They have the greatest height and most dense foliage. One of the 4 plants I did with 2 to 1 ratio (PB to 3B) is just as tall and full but one is much shorter for some reason. I expect all of the extra pine bark component ones to do well. The 2 PB to 1 Fafard 3B ratio should be good over the long haul. (They also make a mix called Fafard 52 which I only was able to find once. It was 60% bark.) Fafard 3B is 45% peat and 30% pine bark (one site said 25 % pine bark). I am hoping this also will hold up well --I have used peat based mixes with no pine bark with good results so the pine bark should make it even better as the mix degrades. Coir is plugging along--not quite up to speed with the others but still doing OK. It is the final one of the group. The transplants seedlings I did in coir did awful. There are very good potting mixes on the market and pre mixed makes it super easy . Or buy your own ingredients and mix yourself--that can work equally as well too. Your choice. For many annuals like vegetables --longevity of the mix if you are dumping in raised bed after one season or not reusing is not all that crucial as long as the mix is well draining but nutrient retentive as well. L.O. Can you post pics of your vegetables in the gritty mix? How many times do you expect to reuse?...See MoreBest way to grow peas
Comments (21)My main problem with peas for years has been BIRDS. Cross your fingers that they will be safe this year. I have rigged up all sorts of bird netting. One year TWICE I had to lift up the bird netting to let a bird OUT. Had managed to wiggle under somehow but couldn't get out. Thought about clubbing it and leaving it there dead as an example to the other birds, but am too much of a bird lover. Some birds love pea plants and eat them all up. I used to blame rabbits, but one day I sat in a chair under a tree after surgery, read and watched the garden all day. It was starlings snipping off and wolfing down my baby pea plants. Also, if your seed gets too old you won't get good germination. I used the soaking in water for hours first method and that seemed to have worked pretty well. My peas were planted on Earth Day and are about an inch tall now. Marcia...See MoreHow can I tell if my cukes are being pollinated?
Comments (8)srg215--A female flower of cucumbers and all cubits will have a small cucumber or baby cubit behind the flower. A male flower does not have this swelling and is just a flower. I have never in my 30+ years of gardening pollinated a cucumber and have always had plenty of cucumbers when I have had both male and female flowers. Occasionally for some reason the plants don't produce many female flowers and then you have a problem. If you want to give nature a hand remove a male cucumber flower from the vine and strip off all the petals while holding the stem Now you have the male stamen with all the pollen exposed. Go to a female flower and wipe it gently in the center of the flower. Some pollen will fall into the pistils and your flower is fertilized. You can do 4 or 5 flowers with 1 stamen. This works for any cubit...See MoreHow Do You Support Your Cukes?
Comments (14)Great ideas and pictures everyone! Vegetable gardens are just the prettiest things, aren't they? And gardening in the air is a space saver and necessity for intensive gardening. My little plot of dirt is so small I need all the aerial gardening I can get! Anney, thanks for the website ideas. I've grown other crops under and with my cucumbers with great success. Salads, beets, beans, onions, carrots, even strawberries have done very well under a canopy of cucumbers. I planted Moon Flowers on one side too. So pretty and fragrant at night and attracts more pollinators, too. I love the inverted "V" trellises Grandad and Karl. Very sturdy, practical, and functional for heavy cucumbers and vines, especially the kind that grow 20+ ft. long vines! Very neat and tidy too. fostina, I like your rustic teepee. I made a teepee for my Lemon Cukes out of cane poles and string, but I like yours better. However, I may have to change it out for a metal support as Lemon Cucumbers grow to be monster vines and the yellow balls of fruit are heavy. Last year my Lemon Cucumber vines grew up the fence and then on up into the tip-tops of the plum tree and when it ran out of tree, it hung down like Spanish Moss. Those vines had to have been well over 30 feet long and covered with lemon cucumbers! Nope, I don't think my little teepee will be adequate support for such a cuke as that. Thanks for the images and ideas. ~ sweetannie4u...See Moretesmith
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