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  • From: "William H Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT illinois.edu>
  • To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Zucchini problem
  • Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 07:03:08 -0500

Pollination is even more important than irrigation for well-developed squash
and cucumbers. I've been growing both for many years, through some pretty
hot summers, always on plastic mulch, which increases heat. I've also grown
quite a few hybrids, including trials of some of the recent new varieties.
If you don't provide honeybees, you may be cheating yourself out of crop
potential. You need to ensure that both pollination and irrigation are
optimum. You'll still have some off-shaped fruit, but it shouldn't be more
than 5% of your crop.

Bill
William H. Shoemaker
Sr. Research Specialist, Food Crops
University of Illinois - Crop Sciences
St Charles Horticulture Research Center
535 Randall Road, St Charles, IL, 60174
630-584-7254, FAX-584-4610
wshoemak AT illinois.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of
Allan.Balliett
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2010 6:06 AM
To: Market Farming
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Zucchini problem

incidentally, our summer squash production has been miserable this
year. I assume the extreme heat and drought (we do irrigate)
contribute substantially to this, but I'm wondering if using 'the
latest' hybrid squash seeds is also hurting us. We are on black
plastic this season.

What say? Anyone else have heat related production problems from
summer squash, yellow or green? In my head, of course, squash WANTS
all the heat you can give it...

Also, for market, is it standard to plan to harvest bush squash like
beans: figuring on only 2-3 weeks of harvest per planting?

Thanks

-Allan in WV where the well publicized coming rains never came
yestersay (well, I take that back, I think we got 5 BIG drops)
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