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  • From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Variety observations
  • Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2010 22:28:05 -0400


On Aug 14, 2010, at 9:42 PM, <clearviewfarm AT bluefrog.com> wrote:


Has there been any downy mildew pressure in your area?  If so, have you seen any cucumber or melon varieties hold up to that at all?  It has wiped out my first planting of cukes and has hit my second, as well affected my muskmelons.  So far, no signs of any in the summer or winter squash.

Kurt Forman
Clearview Farm
Palmyra, NY 14522


We have definitely got the downy mildew in both cukes and melons. It has nearly finished off the older leaves in the middle of some plants, but outer leaves are still alive, and we are getting some crop; though the crop is certainly diminished, and I don't know how much longer the plants will last. The progress seems to not be very fast, though.

I'm growing Blacktail Mountain watermelon and Hannah's Choice cantaloupe because those held up longer than anything else the year the downy first came through. Cucumbers are Marketmore 76, County Fair, and Little Leaf. So far the Little Leaf might as well be called Little Fruit, and it seems to be dying faster than the County Fair; but it did look today as if it might be setting fruit on the outer portions of the plant, so maybe will get something off it after all.

To the best of my knowledge this downy mildew doesn't affect either summer or winter squash. For three years now I've lost melons and cucumbers to it sooner or later, and a number of different varieties of both summer and winter squash haven't seemed bothered at all. 


-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale






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