On Thu, 13 May 2010 22:42:57 -0400, Jeff Thies
wrote:

Billy wrote:
In article ,
Jeff Thies wrote:

I planted by seed this year and didn't do a good job of marking which
was which. What I thought were watermelon plants, clearly aren't. They
have leaves like cucumbers but seem to be in clusters, rather than
alternate. They also have stronger points on the leaves than cucumbers.

My hope is that I'm growing something other than just cukes! Not a
big deal as eventually I will know! It seems like there should be a
cucurbit taxonomy reference, but I can't find it.

Jeff

Seems like you bit off a big one.

The book you want is
Cucurbits (Crop Production Science in Horticulture) (Paperback)
~ D Decker-Walters (Author), R W Robinson (Author)
http://www.amazon.com/Cucurbits-Crop...rticulture/dp/
0851991335

My library doesn't have it, and at $60, Amazon is out of stock.

http://delta-intkey.com/angio/ looks like it could be useful, but I'm
out of my league with it.


It is an odd thing isn't it, I couldn't figure it out either.

I suppose the thing to do, as David suggested is to better mark them.
Sharpie on peat pot was a bad idea, as was photographing the trays with
the seed envelopes adjacent. I suppose those plastic sticks and a
sharpie is the way to go.

It is remarkable how similar the leaves are, and looking at pics
online is hopeless.

On another note, I just ran across this from UA:

http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/indexes/anrho.php

I mention that only as a resource that is extensive and readable. You
seem to collect those!

Jeff

I finally figured out a way to mark plants. I always use separated
trays and plant a row or more of 6.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/265e7xe
The row gets a label. The label is a popsickle stick written in dark
pencil or ink. When I move the seedlings into a larger tray each
plant gets a marker. I keep the markers with the plant at least until
I get them into the ground. That way I do not plant all acorn squash
instead of zucchini (green and yellow), butternut, cucumbers and
watermelon. Once they are in the ground I don't worry about it. I
will know for sure when they start fruiting. I plant my cucumbers
around a 5' tomato cage.

I am somewhat obsessive about my tomatoes. I plant many varieties and
it can be hard to tell the difference between the various Romas or the
red slicers. I track the yield on each variety to see which ones do
the best here and which ones we think taste best. I print out a plot
and try to be very careful as I plant. I keep a copy of it in a
plastic sleeve pinned to one of the cages. I do it on the computer so
I can always make another copy if needed.

I said it was obsessive.

--
USA
North Carolina Foothills
USDA Zone 7a