Green Cow's system

[GreenCow]

The journey continues...small harvest from time to time. Decided to clean out the excess basil and our 1st harvest from a 4' x 4' growbed yielded 4.4 lbs. I think the basil could yield more, but this was our first attempt with the plant. The squash and beans continue to be very productive and have incredible flavor. The cucumbers have succumed to the pickle worm. Almost overnight all the plants and cucumbers were destroyed by these worms. The entry point is the little hole in the cucmber and the results are the second photo.

Anyone have much luck with zuchinni in AP? Ours flower and fruit. The squash grows to about the size of a finger and then dies off. Not sure what is causing this.

I hope to have the new growbeds completed this week. We have two of them online now with about 60 roma tomato plants. They are growing well.

Besides the 250 fry from three weeks ago, three more female tilapia have produced new fry. There are now about 600+ new fish to deal with. More tanks...more growbeds.

Hamish, congrats on your sale and purchase of the new home. When will everything be finalized and you are on the move?

Welcome to all the new members and recent posters....

[GreenCow]

More pictures posted at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/speedbump92/sets/72157605988261517/:)

[alexmac]

Hi Green Cow,
I did not go back through your thread but are your GBs in an enclosed area?
If so the problem with the zucchini is no pollination.
You will have to hand pollinate.
Just take a flower that has no thickening below the petal and insert the stamen into the centre of a flower that has thickening below the petal.
Alex

[Hamish]

Hi Green Cow,
I did not go back through your thread but are your GBs in an enclosed area?
If so the problem with the zucchini is no pollination.
You will have to hand pollinate.
Just take a flower that has no thickening below the petal and insert the stamen into the centre of a flower that has thickening below the petal.
Alex
Or set up a beehive and leave the door of he greenhouse open for a few days :)

Thanks for the well wishes GC - all going well settlement in 3 weeks - moving soon after that. Still waiting on a flood of volunteers from the AP scene to offer to help me move my system ;) I wont hold my breath on that one :D

Great looking squash, beans and basil - are you making pesto?

[Hamish]

Very unusual looking strawberries here http://www.flickr.com/photos/speedbump92/2762209594/in/set-72157605988261517/

[Jonathan Dyer]

G’Day Jim,

I grow zucchinis commercially but from the trial runs I have given them over the past several years I will be giving them a miss this year, too much picking and not enough workers to help, a good crop though. Firstly what you have described as other people have said is a sign of poor pollination, I take it they go yellow and then fall off? Secondly, it can be excessive nitrogen levels, most zucchini family especially pumpkins abort their flowers and immature fruit when there is too much nitrogen it can be a real problem. As well as being a combination of both, this can lead to almost no fruit in worst case scenarios. You can always pick them when they are 10cm long as courgetts if they get this long this also encourages more flower production while reducing excessive nitrogen as the plant is continually putting energy into flower and fruit development. But your most likely case is poor pollination. Most of my pollination is done by ants over bees but, Hawaii has a strong apiary industry and there should be good supplies in you area other than that hand pollination is fine too.

[Hamish]

Good info JD. If there are cucumbers doing well in the system are they also subject to the same nitrogen/polination issues - or are they a different family of plant?

[Jonathan Dyer]

Same family too but each has varying levels of tolerance to excessive nitrogen levels, with pumpkins being very susceptible if not the worst to my knowledge. Poor pollination can happen to every fruit that needs to be pollinated in this way especially in enclosed hothouses. In America, it is becoming more common practice to have bumble bees as pollinators in hothouses, but not so in Australia, here we use hand pollination techniques such as blowers and vibrating pollinating wands (I know sounds bad).

[Hamish]

Electric tooth brush?

[Jonathan Dyer]

An electric tooth brush would work fine too and I’m sure that the adult shop would have something in the colour you like.:p They are suitable for tomatoes, burpless cucumbers, egg plants and most other plants that have a similar vertical growth habit. However, it will not work with zucchinis, squash, rockmelons and most other bushy growth plants, they need to be pollinated by hand, taking a male flower and jamming it into a female flower to put it simply.

[GreenCow]

Hi all,
Thanks for the great info Alexmac, Jonathan and Hamish. The cucumbers are outside, the zuchinni are in the greenhouse. Never thought that could be the problem, but it makes sense. The tomatoes are doing well in the greenhouse because we hand pollenate them. Will start pollenating the zuchinni....hmmmm, wonder what color they are partial to - purple, red or yellow? :rolleyes:

The basil is for pesto. We use about 30-40 lbs. of basil each month at the shop and wanted to get better control over the supply. It is not always available here.

Great pics of the new digs Hamish. Land is prettly level and open for greenhouses and the sorts. Lots of space to expand your system and not worry about the little bit of noise it produces. What is the weather like there? Are you going to need to put in a greenhouse to protect from the weather?

[Hamish]

Probably will need a green house to keep frost off - just talking to the authorities about what I need to do for aproval. I have been looking at this one with interest. But in reality this is a bit premature to be buying things until the place settles http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=280259560702&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=018

[GreenCow]

Hi Hamish,
If the greenhouse is in reasonable contition, that appears to be a pretty good price. To cover one that size here with poly would cost about 500USD in materials. Our greenhouse is 24'x24' and the material to build was $1800USD. Endwalls were extra. Even if you don't know yet, it would be a good idea to have an option of first right of refusal.

[Hamish]

Unfortunatly there is already a bid on the greenhouse - so will have to make sure I have all building inspections done prior to the auction ending - I will have my work cut out for me :) if not this green house then another will come along I am sure.

GC - did you have any issues with mildew on the leaves of your squash or Zuccini? I have just noticed some white powdery stuff on the leaves of my squash or zuccini - cant tell the plants apart so dont know which :)

I read somewhere about milk and water spray being useful so I mixed up about 30% milk to 70% water and sprayed the leaves - is that a correct treatment?

THe leaves seem pretty helthy - and the white fury/powdery stuff was in spots about 5mm diameter and about 10 spots per large leaf. Doesnt seem to be harming the leaf and you can just brush the powder off with your fingers from the hairy leaves. Not sure what it is or if I need to worry about it?

[GreenCow]

Hi Hamish,
We had an issue with powdery mildew, which is what you are describing on the zuchinni. We made a mixture of neem oil, water and baking soda and misted with that. Took care of it overnight and it has not returned. I will look up the formula we used and post it for you. Some folks use the milk method, but we have not tried that method, so cannot comment on whether it works.

Drat the bad luck! On the other bid for the greenhouse. Might be the owner attempting to get some price action. Good luck on the auction.

Sorry, missed the question about the strawberries. Not sure what type they are, but they are really small. Last plant at the nursery and wanted to try some in the growbed. They smell fragrant and taste OK, so I'm assuming they are strawberries. Might be ornamentals....:eek: