Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Caring for cukes
John Arbogast
Landscape consultant John Arbogast answers your questions every Thursday. Send questions about your lawn, garden, plants, or insects to:
Dear John
5102 Greenfield St. SW
Roanoke, Va. 24018
Or send an e-mail. Answers will be given only in this column. Please don't send pictures or samples.
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Q: I have been searching for a cause that might be keeping my cucumbers from growing and producing properly. I have tried different varieties of cucumber and none of them have been as prolific as I have hoped. The vines have dried up and died by mid-season in past years. Why has this happened and what should I spray for it?
A: Cucumber plants need plenty of water, abundant sunshine and busy bees that can pollinate their blossoms.
Early morning is the best time of day to water. For water conservation purposes, pour water from a watering can or gently aim the garden hose at the base of the vines. This is much better than spraying the whole plant with a hose or sprinkler.
It might be a little late for your first planting. But a second crop of cucumbers can be planted. Try a new planting in a sunny spot now.
An easy way to tell if your cucumbers have been receiving adequate sunshine in past years is to remember their proliferation of leaves vs. flowers. If the vines have produced mostly leaves with few blooms, they didn't get enough strong sun.
A population of foraging bees is needed by most cucumber varieties. Unfortunately, there just aren’t as many bees around as in past years. You can try to lure more active bees to your patch by planting bright flowers, clovers and mints in scattered nearby locations.
Vines drying up and dying by mid-season could have had bacterial wilt disease. Take a fresh sample of wilted cucumber vine to a local garden expert in your area for diagnosis and control recommendation.
Bacterial wilt disease is spread by spotted or striped cucumber beetles. The bacteria is not harmful to people. But it grows inside the vines, clogging the pipe-like system that carries moisture and nutrients throughout each part of the vine.
Because most garden disease controls are fungicides, they have little to no affect on this bacteria.
An easy test to see if bacteria is growing inside the plant is to cut the vine near the base. Take a knife and slide it over the cut section and pull it away slowly. If you see milky-looking, fine strings pull out from the cut end, that's proof of bacteria growth.
Q: Is it true that the organic fertilizer Milorganite will deter deer?
A: Milorganite has been written up in the gardening mass media recently, but I haven’t seen any data or research saying that this organic fertilizer works as a deterrent.
I don’t believe that the Environmental Protection Agency has approved Milorganite as a deer repellant yet. To me, that approval is an important legal recommendation.
