Yellow Squash rot

[Rob Tucker]

I have yellow squash growing nicely in my greenhouse but have developed a problem with some small squash rotting from the bloom end.

Does anyone know what this might be and how to deal with it?

Mahalo.

[TheYogi]

Calcium deficiency. You can try a foliar spray and/or amending the soil.

http://vegetablegardens.suite101.com/art...om_end_rot

[Rob Tucker]

Mahalo. I will try that out right away.

[TheYogi]

I have the same problem Rob. I found one site that said to crush up (or better yet, blend) eggshells, add them to some vinegar, let that sit for about 10 days, and then add that to the soil. No idea if it'll work, just thought I'd share.

[hooligal]

Yogi, we learned the same technique at the Korean Natural Farming seminar at Rozette's, then repeated at the three day seminar at UH Ag Farm this month. We were told to toast the shells in a frying pan beforehand to remove the egg lining of the shell. Then put the shells in a jar with vinegar, I think it was ratio 1:10 shells to vinegar by volume & don't seal it tight. It DOES expand and bubble, so leave yourself room in the jar you use! When the shells stop bubbling, it's ready to use (typically 7 days, as you said). When it's ready you dilute it with water 1/1000 to put on your plants. Hopefully someone else who went to the seminar will correct any of my numbers if they're wrong.

* I'd rather fail at happiness than succeed at misery *

[emorata]

those solution ratios are correct and you do a foliar spray on the entire plant.

Noel Morata
Check out my blog about living aloha in East Hawaii http://noelmorata.blogspot.com/

[TheYogi]

Thank you Hooligal for so diplomatically correcting me about ratios. I'll try to be more careful in the future. Rob, sorry for almost giving your squash the opposite of whatever osteoporosis is.

[Scott_S]

Rob, I haven't had any luck with squash either, would you post if this helps. Did you start off with some good soil in your greenhouse? I used some miracle grow soil in planters and they still did it, so I'm not so sure about calcium being the culprit.

[hooligal]

Ha, sorry Yogi, wasn't even trying to correct - just regurgitating straight off my notes from the class. The one thing I really wanted to stress was the room you need in the jar - they filled the jar at Rozette's too full & we had an egg/vinegar volcano, lol.

* I'd rather fail at happiness than succeed at misery *

[lquade]

i think the secret is in the type you plant. if i buy seeds i try to get the ones from university of hilo which were developed for our area. or, known varieties from people who had success. i have one i call "erin's squash" that is at least 75 feet long, ended up being kabocha one of my very favorite, has produced well, and is now flowering on its second season, with "volunteers" all over the yard. other types have done nothing. so get what works in your area. (chicks and ducks and sheep **** everywhere might be helping some also) and i do use calcium spray on my tomatoes when necessary.[]