We are getting close to the typical average last frost date at March 3rd. So now is the time to start some cucumber, squash or melon seeds indoors.
Starting Mix
First, you need some seed starting mix. You can use ready-made mixes, or you can make your own by using potting soil mix you have on hand. Since I always have some potting soil mix on hand for use in containers or up potting starts, I use that. I suggest screening it through a ¼ inch hardware cloth sieve to take out any larger pieces which might block the seeds from poking through the mix.
Once the soil is hydrated, add it to the seed trays. Since cucumber, squash, and melon seeds are larger seeds, they are planted at about twice their size or roughly ½ inch depth.
Next, place your starter tray on a rack or designated place, covering it with a humidity dome. If you have plant-start heating mats, they can be very helpful by warming the soil, but are not absolutely necessary. It is customary to “bottom” water seeds, so add water to the tray your seeds are in. The soil should be moist enough from the initial wetting process described above, thus only a little water should be needed in the tray. Add water only when soil dries out slightly. After about 15 minutes, if any water remains in the tray, drain it. The humidity dome should stay on until the seedlings begin to show.
Seedlings
The Armenian cucumber seeds in these photos germinated over five days from February 17th through the 22nd with the humidity dome being removed on February 22nd.
At this point the seedlings should be placed under grow lights slightly above their height. Adjust the height of the light as the seedlings grow. If the grow lights are too high, the seedlings will likely become “leggy,” because they are stretching to reach more light. This will cause them to be weaker due to the main stem being too long and thin, and likely top heavy. The first set of leaves on the seedlings are the cotyledon leaves. The next set of leaves you will see are the first true leaves and the cotyledon leaves will likely drop off.
Preparing Plants for the Garden
Hardening off is the process of acclimating the new seedling to the outdoors. This starts by moving them outdoors the first day for perhaps 2 hours. This continues daily, increasing amount of time of outdoor exposure each day for about 1 week. By then your new starts should be able to handle being transplanted into your outdoor garden.
If you prefer not to jump start your growing season by starting seeds indoors, cucumbers, squash, and melon seeds can be started in the ground in late March. Just be sure to check the long-range weather forecast to see if any possible freezing temperatures might happen.
Tim Long has been a UC Master Gardener in Stanislaus County since 2020. All photos are by the author.
/h3>/h3>/h3>- Posted by: Gale Perez
Just published in the Weed Technology journal...
Herbicide Screening for Weed Control and Crop Safety in California Melon Production
Authors: Travis M.Bean, Scott Stoddard, Lynn M. Sosnoskie, Adewale Osipitan, Pratap Devkota, Guy B. Kyser and Bradley D. Hanson
Abstract
Weed management in cantaloupe and other melon crops, is important to maximize fruit yield; however, there are few registered herbicides available in California. Several independent herbicide trials were conducted at University of California field stations in Davis (Yolo County), Five Points (Fresno County), and Holtville (Imperial County) from 2013 to 2019 to evaluate both registered and unregistered herbicides and incorporation methods (sprinklers, cultivation, or none) for crop safety and weed control in melons. Although specific treatments varied among locations depending on local practice and research objectives, ethalfluralin and halosulfuron were used in all experiments and bensulide and S-metolachlor were evaluated in 4 of 6 site-years. Additional herbicides included clethodim, clomazone, DCPA, napropamide, pendimethalin, sethoxydim, and sulfentrazone. Among registered herbicides, halosulfuron, halosulfuron + ethalfluralin, and ethalfluralin + bensulide combinations provided consistently beneficial weed control across all site-years compared to the non-treated control. S-metolachlor performed as well as the best of the registered herbicides tested at each site-year; while moderate injury was noted at the Davis location this did not reduce melon yield. The method used to incorporate preplant herbicides had a significant impact on weed control efficacy but varied by location. Mechanical incorporation of preplant herbicides resulted in improved weed control and yield compared to sprinklers. Early season weed control, whether by herbicides or hand weeding, resulted in significant yield increase in most site-years.
To read the complete article, visit https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/weed-technology/article/herbicide-screening-for-weed-control-and-crop-safety-in-california-melon-production/0093B08E910C2F0C64EF43EBFBE38016.
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- Author: Mike Hsu
UC Cooperative Extension advisor tests ancient technique, new to California melons
As growers across California navigate severe drought, supply-chain challenges and rising inflation, reducing inputs has become an existential necessity. And for watermelon growers, a new twist on a thousands-year-old practice is showing real promise.
In the summer of 2018, watermelon growers brought a pressing problem to Zheng Wang, who had recently joined University of California Cooperative Extension as the vegetable crops and irrigation advisor for Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Merced counties.
Growers were seeing an increasing number of their cartons rejected by supermarkets and other buyers because of the melons' inconsistent quality, and Wang wondered if the ancient technique of grafting would help the state's melon growers, who plant about 10,000 acres of the crop each year.
Although California is the No. 3 watermelon-producing state in the U.S. (behind Florida and Georgia), there has been relatively little research on the melon across the state.
“Watermelons seem to have attracted not too much attention compared to other cucurbits, both Extension- and research-wise,” said Wang.
Fresh from his postdoctoral work at The Ohio State University on grafting fresh market tomatoes, Wang knew that vegetable growers understood the theoretical benefits of grafting, which combines a scion (the above-ground part of a plant) with the sturdy rootstock of a related plant.
But watermelon growers needed to make sure the added expense of using grafted plants would pay off. They were looking for science-backed evidence that the technique could actually reduce costs overall, while maintaining or boosting productivity.
“Sometimes as farmers we want to test a new cultural practice or crop product,” said David Jarrett, field manager at Van Groningen & Sons, who grows watermelons in the San Joaquin Valley. “A person like Zheng can set up a meaningful experiment and he has the tools for qualitative and quantitative analysis; Zheng knows how to measure a hunch and assign it a verifiable number measuring success.”
In his first trials in partnership with growers in 2019, Wang tested whether they could plant fewer watermelon plants, spaced at greater distances apart, while producing a stable yield of high-quality melons. The idea was that grafted plants, which are more vigorous and grow larger leaves and wider canopies, would produce consistently marketable melons that could be picked up to seven or eight times during an extended harvest season.
“That way we can make one plant equal ‘two,'” explained Wang, noting that non-grafted plants tend to produce only two or three picks of good melons, with quality declining rapidly afterward.
Grafting shows 'a lot of potential for the future'
After two years of trials, the growers determined, with strong confidence, that watermelons planted 4-5 feet apart could produce a yield equal to – or surpassing – that of plants 3 feet apart (the standard for their non-grafted counterparts).
According to Wang, growers reported that, on average, their successfully grafted fields produced 15% to 25% more watermelons than non-grafted fields per acre, while using 30% fewer plants and the same amount of water and fertilizers.
With the potential for greater profitability, grafting could be a major boon during a particularly challenging time for growers.
“California agriculture is stressed competing for finite resources such as land, water, fertilizer and other safe but effective chemical tools, but outside of this realm we can improve some of our crops by grafting,” Jarrett explained. “Just as many tree crops are grafted, we are learning that other crops can be successfully grafted too; the goal is to create a heartier plant, which may grow better in marginal soils with reduced inputs.”
Confidence in the technique has led to a significant increase in the planted acreage of grafted watermelon across California – from less than 250 acres in 2018 to more than 1,500 acres in 2021. At the same time, growers have adopted 4 or 5 feet as the new “standard” spacing for their watermelon plants, enabling them to reduce their populations while maintaining or boosting yield.
“Using grafting has kind of opened a new channel in the watermelon world, and for all vegetable production in California,” Wang said.
Next up for Wang is testing various combinations of scions and rootstocks. This year, he began variety trials with rootstocks of various cucurbit family members (like hybrid squashes, Citron and bottle gourd), with hopes of producing results that watermelon growers could use to decide the best options for their local conditions.
“In sum, there are a lot of unknowns – but also a lot of potential for the future,” he said.
/h3>/h3>- Author: Anne E Schellman
In August we featured an article by former Environmental Horticulture Advisor, Ed Perry, called "Save the Right Seeds."
This article discussed how to successfully choose which vegetable seeds to save to plant in your garden next year.
Now, we wanted to follow up with tips for how to save your chosen seeds. Master Gardeners Royce Rhoads and Heidi Aufdermaur taught this class last year, and plan to teach it again in 2021.
Here is a list of items to gather. Most likely you already have most of them:
-Tomato
-Marker and masking tape
-Knife and spoon
-Jars and rings; or just use paper cups
-Paper towels or cheesecloth
-Fine mesh or strainer
-Paper plates for drying
-Letter envelopes
Most people save tomato seeds, so let's go over the steps to save them. Tomato seeds have a gooey covering over them that needs to be removed first.
Allowing the seeds to sit in water lets “good” bacteria break down that covering. The empty seeds will float and you can skim them off. The seeds you want are at the bottom of the jar.
Step 1: Label the outside of your jar with masking tape and a permanent marker.
Step 2: Cut tomato, scoop out seeds & put into jar.
Step 3: Fill your jar, with the seeds in it, 1/2 full of water. Cover with paper towel/cheesecloth.
Step 4: Two days later, skim off floating seeds and remove.
Step 5: Wait a few more days until a film forms on the surface (fermentation* process).
Step 6: Strain the pulp through a screen until seeds separate. Spread onto labeled plate until dry for a few days.
Step 7: Label a paper mailing envelope and add seeds. Make sure to include the date.
Your seeds can last up to 4 years if stored in a cool, dry, dark place. Did you save any seeds using this post? If so, please tell us how you did in the comments below!
Vegetables such as peppers, eggplants, and melons are much easier to save than tomato seeds. Just remove and spread them out to dry. Squash seeds are also easy, but may need a little bit of cleaning by straining and rinsing with water.
While working outside, gardeners and farmers may discover pest problems they need to answer quickly. To meet this need, the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources has recently published the Vegetable Pest Identification for Gardens and Small Farms card set.
This travel-sized guide is a convenient and quick way to keep a pest management reference in your pocket. The set of 53 full-color cards contains photos and information about common insect and mite pests as well as plant diseases, nematodes, abiotic disorders, weeds, and vertebrate pests. The cards focus on sustainable pest management for vegetables, melons, fruit trees, and other crops commonly grown in small-scale farms and backyard gardens. Also included is information on general predators, lady beetles, parasites, and insect pathogens to help you identify “good bugs” in the garden and farm.
Vegetable Pest Identification for Gardens and Small Farms is based on the best-selling book Pests of the Garden and Small Farm. The cards were created by Mary Louise Flint, Andrew Sutherland, and Karey Windbiel-Rojas from the UC Statewide IPM Program. Order your card set today from the UC ANR Catalog online.