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Hi from Westchester County NY!

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2022 5:48 pm
by catgrows
Hi! I am Cat and I’ve been growing tomatoes (and all sorts of vegetables and flowers) for a while but only started growing from seed about 5 years ago. I typically stuck to Cherokee Purple and Early Girl til I discovered the gigantic tomato gardening communities on social media. Last year I grew about 15 different varieties and this year will be about 40. I grow in raised beds and grow bags here on the NY/CT border in Zone 6B.

Other than tomatoes I have reined in my super hot pepper obsession and am on a never-ending quest for really tasty summer and winter squashes that the vine borer won’t kill.

Happy to find this place to feed my tomato obsession and meet some new tomato growing people!!

Re: Hi from Westchester County NY!

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2022 6:23 pm
by eyegrotom
Welcome to the Junction

Re: Hi from Westchester County NY!

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2022 6:43 pm
by Whwoz
Welcome to the junction from Down Under @catgrows , you will find plenty here to feed your vegetable obsessions, regardless of type. We maybe tomato focused by enjoy talking about any vegetable

Re: Hi from Westchester County NY!

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2022 6:57 pm
by pepperhead212
Welcome to the forum!

Re: Hi from Westchester County NY!

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2022 7:43 pm
by Tormato
catgrows wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 5:48 pm Hi! I am Cat and I’ve been growing tomatoes (and all sorts of vegetables and flowers) for a while but only started growing from seed about 5 years ago. I typically stuck to Cherokee Purple and Early Girl til I discovered the gigantic tomato gardening communities on social media. Last year I grew about 15 different varieties and this year will be about 40. I grow in raised beds and grow bags here on the NY/CT border in Zone 6B.

Other than tomatoes I have reined in my super hot pepper obsession and am on a never-ending quest for really tasty summer and winter squashes that the vine borer won’t kill.

Happy to find this place to feed my tomato obsession and meet some new tomato growing people!!
Welcome to the forum.

That's quite a quest for really tasty summer and winter squash that the squash vine borer won't kill. The best resistance is found in the more solid vines of the moschata types. However, they are not the best tasting winter squash. The maxima types are generally considered to be the best, but they don't have good SVB resistance. And for summer squash, the pepo types are by far the most grown, and again have little borer resistance.

So, what to do?

Well, there is a moschata grown as a summer squash, Zucchino Rampicante. One of these years, maybe I'll get around to trialing it.

I haven't tried it because I have had very good success "foiling" the SVB. I place some aluminum foil around the base of the squash plants. It's worked for me almost all of the time with lots of sunny days. Some say that the sun reflection off of the foil is what keeps the borer away. It doesn't work that great when it's a lot of cloudy days. And, somewhere off to the side of the garden, I'll have one or two sacrificial plants that I want the SVB to go to, leaving the rest of the garden alone. No foil with the sacrificial plants.

Re: Hi from Westchester County NY!

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2022 8:12 pm
by foxtailferns
Tormato wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 7:43 pm
catgrows wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 5:48 pm Hi! I am Cat and I’ve been growing tomatoes (and all sorts of vegetables and flowers) for a while but only started growing from seed about 5 years ago. I typically stuck to Cherokee Purple and Early Girl til I discovered the gigantic tomato gardening communities on social media. Last year I grew about 15 different varieties and this year will be about 40. I grow in raised beds and grow bags here on the NY/CT border in Zone 6B.

Other than tomatoes I have reined in my super hot pepper obsession and am on a never-ending quest for really tasty summer and winter squashes that the vine borer won’t kill.

Happy to find this place to feed my tomato obsession and meet some new tomato growing people!!
Well, there is a moschata grown as a summer squash, Zucchino Rampicante. One of these years, maybe I'll get around to trialing it.
I grew rampicante for the first time last year and it was ignored by the borers and (most of) the squash bugs that are usually a huge problem for us. We let them mature all the way before we ate them. I'm not a huge fan of winter squash, but this has a firmer texture and I really liked the flavor.

Re: Hi from Westchester County NY!

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 5:46 am
by worth1
Welcome from Central Texas.

Re: Hi from Westchester County NY!

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 6:18 am
by AZGardener
Welcome to the Junction!

Re: Hi from Westchester County NY!

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 8:32 am
by mikestuff49
Wellcome!

Re: Hi from Westchester County NY!

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 9:50 am
by catgrows
Tormato wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 7:43 pm
catgrows wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 5:48 pm Hi! I am Cat and I’ve been growing tomatoes (and all sorts of vegetables and flowers) for a while but only started growing from seed about 5 years ago. I typically stuck to Cherokee Purple and Early Girl til I discovered the gigantic tomato gardening communities on social media. Last year I grew about 15 different varieties and this year will be about 40. I grow in raised beds and grow bags here on the NY/CT border in Zone 6B.

Other than tomatoes I have reined in my super hot pepper obsession and am on a never-ending quest for really tasty summer and winter squashes that the vine borer won’t kill.

Happy to find this place to feed my tomato obsession and meet some new tomato growing people!!
Welcome to the forum.

That's quite a quest for really tasty summer and winter squash that the squash vine borer won't kill. The best resistance is found in the more solid vines of the moschata types. However, they are not the best tasting winter squash. The maxima types are generally considered to be the best, but they don't have good SVB resistance. And for summer squash, the pepo types are by far the most grown, and again have little borer resistance.

So, what to do?

Well, there is a moschata grown as a summer squash, Zucchino Rampicante. One of these years, maybe I'll get around to trialing it.

I haven't tried it because I have had very good success "foiling" the SVB. I place some aluminum foil around the base of the squash plants. It's worked for me almost all of the time with lots of sunny days. Some say that the sun reflection off of the foil is what keeps the borer away. It doesn't work that great when it's a lot of cloudy days. And, somewhere off to the side of the garden, I'll have one or two sacrificial plants that I want the SVB to go to, leaving the rest of the garden alone. No foil with the sacrificial plants.

Yes! Moschata is the winner against the borer. But I may just try the foil this year because I really want my Italian varieties of zucchini to grow! My winners for a more summery squash has been centercut squash which is a smaller rampicante hybrid that’s vining and excellent (grew rampicante too super productive but not quite the texture I want!) this year I’m trying a Korean squash that’s actually a bush type called King Ka Ae.

Winter squashes that have won has been the Long Island cheese pumpkin, butternut, Yokohama squash, Koginut squash. Those are a little easier to find though. Planting Dutch/Pennsylvania Crookneck this year for eating and beer brewing.

So that’s my other obsession 🤣 thank you for the welcomes!!!

Re: Hi from Westchester County NY!

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 10:07 am
by catgrows
foxtailferns wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 8:12 pm
Tormato wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 7:43 pm
catgrows wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 5:48 pm Hi! I am Cat and I’ve been growing tomatoes (and all sorts of vegetables and flowers) for a while but only started growing from seed about 5 years ago. I typically stuck to Cherokee Purple and Early Girl til I discovered the gigantic tomato gardening communities on social media. Last year I grew about 15 different varieties and this year will be about 40. I grow in raised beds and grow bags here on the NY/CT border in Zone 6B.

Other than tomatoes I have reined in my super hot pepper obsession and am on a never-ending quest for really tasty summer and winter squashes that the vine borer won’t kill.

Happy to find this place to feed my tomato obsession and meet some new tomato growing people!!
Well, there is a moschata grown as a summer squash, Zucchino Rampicante. One of these years, maybe I'll get around to trialing it.
I grew rampicante for the first time last year and it was ignored by the borers and (most of) the squash bugs that are usually a huge problem for us. We let them mature all the way before we ate them. I'm not a huge fan of winter squash, but this has a firmer texture and I really liked the flavor.
Rampicante is fun and prolific! We ate them both ways and they were good but took up so so much space 😂
F54054B8-611F-4923-84BF-97604D45579D.jpeg

Re: Hi from Westchester County NY!

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 10:30 am
by Tormato
catgrows wrote: Wed Mar 30, 2022 9:50 am
Tormato wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 7:43 pm
catgrows wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 5:48 pm Hi! I am Cat and I’ve been growing tomatoes (and all sorts of vegetables and flowers) for a while but only started growing from seed about 5 years ago. I typically stuck to Cherokee Purple and Early Girl til I discovered the gigantic tomato gardening communities on social media. Last year I grew about 15 different varieties and this year will be about 40. I grow in raised beds and grow bags here on the NY/CT border in Zone 6B.

Other than tomatoes I have reined in my super hot pepper obsession and am on a never-ending quest for really tasty summer and winter squashes that the vine borer won’t kill.

Happy to find this place to feed my tomato obsession and meet some new tomato growing people!!
Welcome to the forum.

That's quite a quest for really tasty summer and winter squash that the squash vine borer won't kill. The best resistance is found in the more solid vines of the moschata types. However, they are not the best tasting winter squash. The maxima types are generally considered to be the best, but they don't have good SVB resistance. And for summer squash, the pepo types are by far the most grown, and again have little borer resistance.

So, what to do?

Well, there is a moschata grown as a summer squash, Zucchino Rampicante. One of these years, maybe I'll get around to trialing it.

I haven't tried it because I have had very good success "foiling" the SVB. I place some aluminum foil around the base of the squash plants. It's worked for me almost all of the time with lots of sunny days. Some say that the sun reflection off of the foil is what keeps the borer away. It doesn't work that great when it's a lot of cloudy days. And, somewhere off to the side of the garden, I'll have one or two sacrificial plants that I want the SVB to go to, leaving the rest of the garden alone. No foil with the sacrificial plants.

Yes! Moschata is the winner against the borer. But I may just try the foil this year because I really want my Italian varieties of zucchini to grow! My winners for a more summery squash has been centercut squash which is a smaller rampicante hybrid that’s vining and excellent (grew rampicante too super productive but not quite the texture I want!) this year I’m trying a Korean squash that’s actually a bush type called King Ka Ae.

Winter squashes that have won has been the Long Island cheese pumpkin, butternut, Yokohama squash, Koginut squash. Those are a little easier to find though. Planting Dutch/Pennsylvania Crookneck this year for eating and beer brewing.

So that’s my other obsession 🤣 thank you for the welcomes!!!
For the foil, cut a square from a roll of standard aluminum foil. Then from one corner, cut a slit to just past the center of the square. Slip the foil around the squash stem to the center of the foil, then slightly overlap the foil over itself. I usually build up a bit of soil around the stem first, as I'm looking to have the foil around the stem to be 2-3 inches above the surrounding soil line, the outer area of the foil at the soil line. That 2-3 inch area is where the SVB does most of its work. The outer edges of the foil need to be weighted down, small stones work well. One could use the larger heavy duty aluminum foil, but I never have.

As for winter squash flavor, I don't think that I'll ever find one that beats Tetsukabuto F1. It is a maxima X moschata cross, that needs either a maxima or a moschata for pollination. It is simply cut in half, seeded and baked. No need to add any spices, no need to process. It has a dense, creamy texture served right in its half shell, if one doesn't want to bother with spooning it out. It is not the type of squash that one would want to cube, then cook.

Re: Hi from Westchester County NY!

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 10:59 am
by catgrows
Tormato wrote: Wed Mar 30, 2022 10:30 am
catgrows wrote: Wed Mar 30, 2022 9:50 am
Tormato wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 7:43 pm
catgrows wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 5:48 pm Hi! I am Cat and I’ve been growing tomatoes (and all sorts of vegetables and flowers) for a while but only started growing from seed about 5 years ago. I typically stuck to Cherokee Purple and Early Girl til I discovered the gigantic tomato gardening communities on social media. Last year I grew about 15 different varieties and this year will be about 40. I grow in raised beds and grow bags here on the NY/CT border in Zone 6B.

Other than tomatoes I have reined in my super hot pepper obsession and am on a never-ending quest for really tasty summer and winter squashes that the vine borer won’t kill.

Happy to find this place to feed my tomato obsession and meet some new tomato growing people!!
Welcome to the forum.

That's quite a quest for really tasty summer and winter squash that the squash vine borer won't kill. The best resistance is found in the more solid vines of the moschata types. However, they are not the best tasting winter squash. The maxima types are generally considered to be the best, but they don't have good SVB resistance. And for summer squash, the pepo types are by far the most grown, and again have little borer resistance.

So, what to do?

Well, there is a moschata grown as a summer squash, Zucchino Rampicante. One of these years, maybe I'll get around to trialing it.

I haven't tried it because I have had very good success "foiling" the SVB. I place some aluminum foil around the base of the squash plants. It's worked for me almost all of the time with lots of sunny days. Some say that the sun reflection off of the foil is what keeps the borer away. It doesn't work that great when it's a lot of cloudy days. And, somewhere off to the side of the garden, I'll have one or two sacrificial plants that I want the SVB to go to, leaving the rest of the garden alone. No foil with the sacrificial plants.

Yes! Moschata is the winner against the borer. But I may just try the foil this year because I really want my Italian varieties of zucchini to grow! My winners for a more summery squash has been centercut squash which is a smaller rampicante hybrid that’s vining and excellent (grew rampicante too super productive but not quite the texture I want!) this year I’m trying a Korean squash that’s actually a bush type called King Ka Ae.

Winter squashes that have won has been the Long Island cheese pumpkin, butternut, Yokohama squash, Koginut squash. Those are a little easier to find though. Planting Dutch/Pennsylvania Crookneck this year for eating and beer brewing.

So that’s my other obsession 🤣 thank you for the welcomes!!!
For the foil, cut a square from a roll of standard aluminum foil. Then from one corner, cut a slit to just past the center of the square. Slip the foil around the squash stem to the center of the foil, then slightly overlap the foil over itself. I usually build up a bit of soil around the stem first, as I'm looking to have the foil around the stem to be 2-3 inches above the surrounding soil line, the outer area of the foil at the soil line. That 2-3 inch area is where the SVB does most of its work. The outer edges of the foil need to be weighted down, small stones work well. One could use the larger heavy duty aluminum foil, but I never have.

As for winter squash flavor, I don't think that I'll ever find one that beats Tetsukabuto F1. It is a maxima X moschata cross, that needs either a maxima or a moschata for pollination. It is simply cut in half, seeded and baked. No need to add any spices, no need to process. It has a dense, creamy texture served right in its half shell, if one doesn't want to bother with spooning it out. It is not the type of squash that one would want to cube, then cook.
Ooooh thank you so much! The experimentation will continue!

And definitely checking out seeds for that tetsukabuto!!

Re: Hi from Westchester County NY!

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 1:36 pm
by Tormato
Cat,

PM (private message) sent.

Re: Hi from Westchester County NY!

Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2022 12:51 am
by indysun
Welcome Catgrows! Lived in Lake Katona as a child 1950-1956