Overwintering Spinach
biblion
12 years ago
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defrost49
12 years agopixie_lou
12 years agoRelated Discussions
Diseased spinach: white wilted leaves
Comments (4)Yes. Leafminers. Some make serpentine trails. You have the blotch-forming kind. To manage them this year, keep an eagle eye on the spinach plot then, as soon as you see the beginning of a new blotch, squish that small area between your finger tips. Then next year, plant in a different space and immediately protect with floating row cover, loosely bloused but tucked in along the edges. This avoids the insect which lays the small white eggs on the backsides of the leaves. The reason for the new site is that the insect spends part of its life in the soil....See MoreToo late to plant anything? Zone 5 question...
Comments (10)Good to see that Justaguy2 would go out on a rather firm limb on this question and that Makalu would have some wise encouragement. Persephone, it is difficult for gardeners who are otherwise such a hopeful bunch to discourage others. Once again, I've let a few dates slip by me this year. A recent one was finally getting around to trying to overwinter spinach. Now just when exactly was it, that I was supposed to plant the seeds?? Regardless of the air temperature your seedlings may experience once, and if, they emerge - soil temperature is critical for germination. Generally, the soil is warmer at this time of year than during the Spring, however, it is cooling quickly. I just put a thermometer in the soil in the most protected part of my yard - temperature, 42°F. There has been a big cool-down since it finally made it to 70°F in early July. If you look at the link below you will see the days to germination of some of the crops you've been thinking about. Note that it would take me 51 days to have the carrots germinate even if soil temperature would hold steady. Even a quick crop like lettuce takes 15 days. My spinach would be 23 days. If I was to plant spinach now it would be mid-October before it would emerge. Average minimum overnight temperature in my location is 35°F thru the month of October, 28°F during the month of November. Probably frost would occur at least half the nights during the plants first 2 weeks of "growth." Actual growth is just not going to happen. Get the soil ready and plan, plan, plan . . . for Spring. Steve Here is a link that might be useful: Days to Germination for Vegetables/Temperatures University of Minnesota...See MoreOverwintering Spinach?
Comments (6)It shouldn't need any protection in your zone, except maybe from hungry deer (I've heard they're all over the D.C. suburbs). One easy thing to do is clip branches from one of the Christmas trees that get put out for recycling, and lay them over the spinach for a bit of protection as we go deeper into winter....See MoreSmall white dots on spinach leaves New Picture
Comments (31)From unh.edu website: These are not spores, insects, or eggs, as many people believe. They are trichomes. Trichomes are hair-like outgrowths from the epidermis of the leaf, and many plants (including spinach) produce them. Trichomes come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and have different purposes. In the case of spinach, if you look closely with a microscope, you can see that there is a little hair that comes from the leaf surface, and a big glob at the end....See Moremad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
12 years agobiblion
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12 years agodefrost49
12 years ago
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