Question:
My yellow crockneck squash grows to about three to four inches long and then stops. The skin turns a darker color and then they rot. They get lots of sun and I’m watering daily. What am I doing wrong?
Answer:
You have a vegetable disease called Blossom End Rot. Blossom End Rot is a common, non-parasitic disorder that attacks tomatoes, peppers, melons, squashes, and cucumbers. With melons, squashes, and cucumbers, the immature fruit rot like you described. With tomatoes, and peppers a brownish. tan blotch develops at the bottom of the fruits. They do mature and are edible. There are a number of causes for this such as heavy applications of nitrogen fertilizers, and the lack of Calcium in the soil but the primary reason is irregular watering and wet soil. Over watering is a major problem with your plants. Blossom End Rot is problematical early on with squashes, and cucumbers while with melons, tomatoes and peppers it shows up mid-season and beyond. The watering pattern will vary depending on soil type, drainage and temperature and definitely not every day. Squash, cucumbers. melons and peppers are shallow rooted and like to be kept moist. Tomatoes are watered less often because of their deep roots. On average, weekly should have been the norm for April and May and every five to seven days now. You extend the days between watering and insulate the roots with a one to two inch layer of mulch. Gardeners are learning how much mulch matter when it comes to water conservation, weed reduction and root insulation from the direct sun. Our weather does fluctuate from week to week so should your watering schedule. Each spring, you should mix Agricultural or Oyster Shell Lime into the soil along with the traditional soil amendments. This will provide the necessary Calcium.
Question:
Our peach tree bears a lot of fruit; however, before they ripen some will fall off. Why is this occurring and what do we do to prevent it?
Answer:
There is a certain amount of fruit drop that is customary with Peaches, and Nectarines along with Apricots, Apples, Pears, and Plums. It’s called the ‘June Drop’. The ‘June Drop’ is Mother Natures way of balancing the fruit load on the tree. It’s important to supplement this by doing some additional hand thinning. With Apples and Pears, you need to thin the fruit clusters down to two or three fruits. Also, I’d completely remove those clusters on the outward third of the branches to prevent the limbs from breaking. Peaches, Nectarines, Plums, and Apricots are thinned leaving enough space between them for each fruit to develop without touching. The space should be equal to three to four times the size of the mature fruit. Also you can have fruit maturing on both sides of a branch. Fruit tree thinning is important to prevent limb breakage, improves the fruit size and quality of the fruit.
