"John Savage" wrote:
Mildew is the bane of cucumbers and zucchinis. When
you water don't wet their leaves. Poke the end of the
hose into the soil near the plant and gently soak the soil
that way. Avoid splashing the leaves.I believe the
homemade remedy for mildew is baking soda and milk,
not oil. Full cream milk at that. I haven't tried it myself.

Don't have a mildew problem on the cuke leaves. Had
the black spot on some roses. I think I read to use a little
corn oil to make the baking soda stick... but I had
problems getting a squirt bottle to work using baking
soda and oil so I gave up on that. Ended up cutting all
the rose bush leaves off, and tried some fertilizer and
after a couple weeks nothing seemed to happened so I
went to Home Depot and noticed that the stuff there for
roses seemed to indicate potassium so I chopped up
some banana peels in a blender and put that into the
dirt around the roots of the rose and watered them. A
month later there were not only leaves, but roses as well
and for the next two months we had some nice roses.

I think the Yamato cucumber seeds I have are sterile. I
didn't see any female flowers blossom. Something just
isn't right for them. Coffee grounds kill them. :-) I'm going
to plant some more seeds and try the banana peel thing
on them and see what happens. I'll try them in a sunnier
location. The soil here drains super quick. So maybe I'll
mix some sphagnum peet in there as well.

There aren't too many bees around. There are alot of lady
bug type bugs and wasps though. I see wasps everywhere
and have seen some nests in different places. There's a ton
of lizards everywhere as well. I was feeding the lizards
some cabbage worms over the summer. It's amazing to
watch the little lizards. They look like the lizards in Jurassic
Park and I get the feeling that those that created the move-
ments of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park took it straight from
the little garden lizards that run all over Florida.

I've got some corn stalks left over that I'm going to take
down. The corn stalks I'm noticing are soapy sometimes,
they seem to be basic (opposite of acidic). Does anyone
know if corn stalks are basic and can be used to raise the
PH? :-) I'm speaking from high school chemistry and
knowledge that soap and oil are basic (alkaline). Is that
correct?

I'm reading that potassium is alkaline. I'm not sure on
just how alkaline it is though and if that makes banana
peels alkaline. I would think so but if someone can comment
on that, and guide me in some way, that would be great!

Thanks for the clarifications, John.

--
Jim Carlock
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